“Perhaps—” Ren Xiyang started.
Alexius looked at him with hopeful eyes.
Before Ren Xiyang could continue, a group of children with grey and silver hair entered the room.
Alexius put away his sad expression and straightened up.
“Good evening, your Highness,” the children greeted. “Good evening, Earl Rosewood.”
Alexius courteously greeted them all back, as did Ren Xiyang after hearing Alexius say their names.
The children then went and sat down.
More and more children came in. Some entered by themselves; others had adults leading them over. And just like how the adults separated into factions, so did the children.
In the past, the Rosewood family had been allied with other fire-magic families. For example, Marie Rosewood nee Cordovan was from the Cordovan family; and Solicitor Carmine from the Carmine family had come to work for the Rosewoods. However, due to the decline of the Rosewood family’s power, those other families had started to drift away from the Rosewood family.
As it were, the two youngest Cordovan kids who came in joined a group of fire-mage children.
Aside from the faction lines, there were two other points of division: magical power (or lack thereof), and legitimacy. Ren Xiyang could sense who were mages and who weren’t—his sensitivity to non-fire magic had increased. And he could deduce which children were “illegitimate” using Alyssa’s memories, Rian’s lessons, plus how children with the same hair and eye colours treated each other.
Most of the illegitimate and magicless children gathered together, ignored by the other children. There were only a few charismatic children who integrated with the ‘popular’ groups—or those with siblings that pulled them along for one reason or another.
Regardless of their statuses, Alexius greeted every single child with a courteous smile. That smile dropped when a young blue-haired boy strode in.
“Good evening, Prince Alexius,” the young Blewitt boy said, his chin tilted up imperiously.
“Good evening, Young Lord Günter Blewitt,” Alexius replied reluctantly.
Günter Blewitt, the youngest spoilt child in the Blewitt main family, gave a snide look at Ayden Rosewood. “Tired of Prince Rian and moving onto Prince Alexius now, are you, Earl Rosewood? Cousin Alexius, you should be wary of a person with an origin like him.”
Ren Xiyang glanced at this little kid, expressionless.
Alexius frowned. “Cousin Günter—”
“Don’t worry, your Highness,” Ren Xiyang said calmly. He couldn’t be bothered arguing with a kid.
Alexius restrained himself. He smiled falsely at Günter. “Thank you for your words of concern, Cousin Günter.” Then he turned and went to greet the next noble children—the two youngest Schausses. “Good evening, Lady Cassiopeia Schauss, Young Lord Perseus Schauss,” he said.
Günter Blewitt shot Alexius an annoyed look. He grumpily plopped himself down on a nearby sofa.
Cassiopeia Schauss had come in with her second brother Perseus Schauss. “Good evening, Your Highness. Good evening, Earl Rosewood,” the two greeted.
Ren Xiyang looked at two Schauss siblings. Unlike the time at the funerals, this was a more appropriate time to talk. “Lady Cassiopeia Schauss, Young Lord Perseus Schauss, I heard that you’re both advanced in healing.”
“And I’ve heard that you’re very advanced in combat,” Perseus replied politely.
“Combat is only useful in uncertain times. Healing is useful at all times,” Ren Xiyang said. “Have you learnt about pathogens and viruses yet?”
Perseus frowned slightly. “Pardon, Earl Rosewood, but what do you mean?”
Cassiopeia glanced at her brother, not quite understanding what he was asking. After all, she knew exactly what Earl Rosewood was talking about.
“I know,” Alexius said excitedly. “Those things are all germs! They cause disease, and they can spread through contact, on surfaces, through the air that we breathe…”
Other nearby children and the servants in the room were secretly and not-so-secretly listening. Their eyes widened as they heard about germs for the first time.
Realising what was up, Cassiopeia also feigned surprise. “That’s—that’s really curious, Your Highness. We’ll have to study it more, right, brother?”
“Does our father, Duke Schauss, know?” Perseus asked.
“Healers at the Capital Hospital are investigating this,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Then he should know,” Perseus said.
“I can tell you about germs too,” Alexius said eagerly. “They’re really, really tiny, and they’re everywhere—”
Rian, who was finally able to make his excuses and head into the young people’s area, came just as his little brother finished having fun telling others about germs. He looked at all the pale faces of the noble children and servants alike and then looked at his sprightly young brother. How annoying, Rian wanted to be the one to tell them about germs!
Alexius spotted his brother. “Big brother! Come here!”
Rian came over, nodding in greeting to the others in the room. “Nice haircut, Earl Rosewood. Good to see that you wore the clothes as I told you.”
“I should say the same about you,” Ren Xiyang said drily. He had noticed how similar his clothes looked to Rian’s.
Alexius pouted. “Rian…”
“What is it?”
Alexius pulled Rian’s arm and whispered into Rian’s ear. “Why didn’t you show me all that magic earlier? It’s not fair…”
Rian smirked. “Why don’t you try to figure out how to do something similar yourself? Not too hard for you, is it?”
Alexius glared at his brother. As expected, unhelpful!
Ren Xiyang looked at the smug Rian and sighed in his heart. “Your Highness, Prince Rian, could you do us a favour and show the ice flowers again?”
“Oh, very well,” Rian said. He held a hand out, palm up. Ice crystallised in the air, turning into beautiful flowers. Eyes in the room focused on him. Rian smiled at his attentive audience, and smoothly transformed the flowers into various species—this kind of in-place transformation was a key marker of direct magic manipulation. He basked in all the awed and jealous looks.
The only person who wasn’t amazed was Ayden Rosewood. “Earl Rosewood, could you do me a favour and show the fire flowers?” Rian asked.
“Very well.” Ren Xiyang crossed his arms. Slowly, flowers of fire and light appeared around him. By controlling the heat temperature, he could modify the light wavelength and therefore the colour.
Alexius let go of his brother and went closer to Earl Rosewood again, his glowing eyes reflecting the flames. “That’s even better than Rian’s!”
Rian: “…”
Ren Xiyang’s lips quirked up as Rian’s lips turned down. “Thank you, your Highness.”
Günter Blewitt huffed. “Are you trying to show off, Earl Rosewood? All beauty and no substance. Can you truthfully tell me that none of your duels were orchestrated?”
Ren Xiyang sighed in his heart. Why was this kid talking again?
Rian glanced over at his most annoying cousin and smiled. “Günter, Earl Rosewood and I will be duelling tomorrow. You are all invited to come and watch at the Imperial Palace duelling grounds. But before then, aren’t you hungry? We have many delicious foods, including some unique to the Angio Kingdom for everyone to try today.”
On cue, servants came in, bearing circular trays with small plates. There were both Angio dishes and standard high-class Sedaverian dishes.
The noble children still standing went and found seats around the lounge room and waited to be served.
Naturally, Ren Xiyang sat with Rian and Alexius. Tierri Mauveine, son of the Prime Minister Duke Mauvine, also sat with them.
For some inexplicable reason, Günter Blewitt joined them. After eating one morsel of food, he asked bluntly, “What book did you get those spells from, anyway?”
“It’s direct magic manipulation,” Alexius answered, annoyed. “You wouldn’t know.”
“You don’t know either,” Günter taunted. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Perhaps Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood used direct magic manipulation, but a spell could also recreate the same effect,” Tierri said, trying to placate the two boys.
“You’re not an ice mage, what do you know?” Günter retorted.
Ren Xiyang sighed inwardly. He waved over a nearby butler and asked for a cup of milk and a cup of water.
Alexius’s eyes flashed. “I want some milk too!”
“As do I,” Rian said.
Günter looked down on them. “You’re all little kids!”
Tierri said, “Pomegranate juice for me.”
“Rose and honey,” Günter said pompously.
The butler served them drinks and returned to serving out food.
“You must need milk because you’re small,” Günter said to Ayden.
Ren Xiyang ignored him, giving his attention to the food. Each small plate had an even smaller beautifully shaped canape on it. Ren Xiyang ate a dozen different plates: flaky pastry, barbecued meat, rich cream cheese, smoked fish, creamy potato, tiny little vegetables on top…
“Here, try this,” Rian said, moving some of the Angio dishes over. They were special sea foods and unique hams from the Angio kingdom, expensively imported, served with a little pasta or polenta.
“Thank you.”
“I should thank you, Earl Rosewood,” Rian said with a slight smile. “You help save tonight’s menu. These particular dishes were made by Angio chefs from imported Angio ingredients.” He glanced at the other boys seated with him. “You should try them too.”
“Then I will,” Alexius said promptly. He wasn’t going to miss out!
After the savoury dishes were the sweet desserts.
Once Rian finished eating dessert, he stood up.
Ren Xiyang glanced at him. Unfortunately, making eye contact was a mistake.
Rian’s eyes sparkled. “Earl Rosewood, stand up, accompany me around.”
“…Yes, your Highness.”
“Okay!” Alexius said, also getting to his feet. “Don’t follow us,” he added to Günter.
“I’m going to find my parents,” Günter retorted. He got up and walked away, though not before glancing back. No one coaxed him to return, so he continued to the main hall in a huff.
Rian suppressed his feelings when he saw Alexius standing next to Ayden, on Rian’s far side. “You should stand next to me,” he chided.
Alexius smiled mischievously. He pushed in and stood in between Rian and Ayden.
Rian: “…”
Rian grabbed Alexius’s shoulders and physically moved him so that he was separating Alexius and Ayden.
Ren Xiyang glanced at the two brothers, speechless. Could they not even restrain themselves in public?
“Come on,” Rian said, not giving Alexius any time to complain. He walked over to the nearest circle of children from the main eastern faction (who were water, wind, and plant mages), greeted them, and then asked, “I had input into the dining menu tonight, did you have any favourites?”
He made serious note of their responses. After warming them up with this question, he proceeded to ask each person a different question, be it about some aspect of their current studies, or a known hobby. Occasionally, he would bring Alexius or Ayden into the conversation, for example—
—“Earl Rosewood is very interested in plant magic. Can you show him your favourite spell?”
—“Oh yes, I believe Alexius is also reading the history and customs book too. We’ll see who finishes it first!”
The young children—all under 15 years—were different from their adult counterparts that Rian had known. As children, many of them were innocently flattered to have his attention.
Rian hadn’t been overly friendly to other children when he was truly twelve. But now, he wasn’t going to underestimate the usefulness of connections. After all, they would grow up and become the future of Sedaveria…and they were more likely to listen to Rian’s words than their parents, and could in turn help Rian convince their parents to do something.
After establishing some rapport, Rian bade them a good evening and went to the next group of children.
There was a group of white and blue haired children trying out different ice spells they knew, but unlike the floating ice flowers that Rian made, their ice shapes fell after casting. One smart child recalled an ice-attack spell—those ice pieces flew!—and almost accidentally hurt their friend if it weren’t for Rian suddenly interceding.
“Are you trying to make this?” Rian asked, after greeting the sheepish children. He showed off the floating flowers again.
“Yes…” one child admitted.
“It’s done using direct magic manipulation,” Rian said. He gave them a wink. “Once you can cast nonverbal spells, come to me or Earl Rosewood and we’ll teach you how.”
More than one child perked up. “What if I can cast nonverbal spells by tomorrow?”
“Well, come to us to schedule a session.” Rian leaned in and lowered his voice, “But don’t tell Count Aegean!”
One of the children was Count Aegean’s daughter, Lady Lucie Aegean. She giggled, knowing her father’s personality well. “Okay, I won’t!”
A group of plant-mage children were making actual flowers, though they also fell to the ground. One daring girl presented the best flowers to Rian. Rian gracefully accepted the flowers, and then glanced at Ayden. For some reason, Ayden looked unperturbed.
After talking to all the children in the lounge room, Rian showed Ayden the decorated garden, where there were other children too. Then they went to the main hall, where the rest of the children could be found.
That evening, Rian took the utmost care to talk to every under-15-year-old at the event, including non-magical and illegitimate children, including the stand-offish shadow mages and lightning mages. His attitude to all of them was equal: he didn’t show extra favour to any child.
Once he was done, he turned to Ayden (and ignored Alexius). “I’ve finished talking, shall we head to the ballroom now?”
Dancing had begun not long ago.
“I don’t want to dance,” Ren Xiyang said. “I’ll leave first.”
Alexius poked his head in between the two. “Right now?”
“I have a duel tomorrow,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian gave him a sceptical look.
“Prince Rian is a powerful mage, I need to prepare,” Ren Xiyang deadpanned.
Rian’s lips quirked up. “Oh, Earl Rosewood can’t dance? I’ll have to rectify that for the next ball.”
“No thank you,” Ren Xiyang declined.
Alexius’s eyebrows went up. Oohh, Ayden’s weak point!
“I’ll be going now,” Ren Xiyang added firmly.
“Then I’ll walk you out.”
Ren Xiyang nodded. That was fine.
Across the main hall, Queen Mira had noticed her two sons with Earl Rosewood. She noticed how Earl Rosewood’s clothes were similar to Rian’s. She knew that Rian had given those clothes to Earl Rosewood. She saw Rian and Earl Rosewood leave the hall together.
Yet, her Rian had never gone out of his way to play and gift clothes to other noble children before. What was it about the young Earl Rosewood that made Rian—and even Alexius—act that way? Whatever it was, she didn’t think it was simple.
Rian: *gets given flowers*
Rian: …Why isn’t Ayden jealous?!! I just received flowers from a girl!
Rian: *thinks he doesn’t show favour to any children*
Rian: Earl Rosewood! Play with me!
Ren Xiyang: (-＿-)
“Perhaps—” Ren Xiyang started.
Alexius looked at him with hopeful eyes.
Before Ren Xiyang could continue, a group of children with grey and silver hair entered the room.
Alexius put away his sad expression and straightened up.
“Good evening, your Highness,” the children greeted. “Good evening, Earl Rosewood.”
Alexius courteously greeted them all back, as did Ren Xiyang after hearing Alexius say their names.
The children then went and sat down.
More and more children came in. Some entered by themselves; others had adults leading them over. And just like how the adults separated into factions, so did the children.
In the past, the Rosewood family had been allied with other fire-magic families. For example, Marie Rosewood nee Cordovan was from the Cordovan family; and Solicitor Carmine from the Carmine family had come to work for the Rosewoods. However, due to the decline of the Rosewood family’s power, those other families had started to drift away from the Rosewood family.
As it were, the two youngest Cordovan kids who came in joined a group of fire-mage children.
Aside from the faction lines, there were two other points of division: magical power (or lack thereof), and legitimacy. Ren Xiyang could sense who were mages and who weren’t—his sensitivity to non-fire magic had increased. And he could deduce which children were “illegitimate” using Alyssa’s memories, Rian’s lessons, plus how children with the same hair and eye colours treated each other.
Most of the illegitimate and magicless children gathered together, ignored by the other children. There were only a few charismatic children who integrated with the ‘popular’ groups—or those with siblings that pulled them along for one reason or another.
Regardless of their statuses, Alexius greeted every single child with a courteous smile. That smile dropped when a young blue-haired boy strode in.
“Good evening, Prince Alexius,” the young Blewitt boy said, his chin tilted up imperiously.
“Good evening, Young Lord Günter Blewitt,” Alexius replied reluctantly.
Günter Blewitt, the youngest spoilt child in the Blewitt main family, gave a snide look at Ayden Rosewood. “Tired of Prince Rian and moving onto Prince Alexius now, are you, Earl Rosewood? Cousin Alexius, you should be wary of a person with an origin like him.”
Ren Xiyang glanced at this little kid, expressionless.
Alexius frowned. “Cousin Günter—”
“Don’t worry, your Highness,” Ren Xiyang said calmly. He couldn’t be bothered arguing with a kid.
Alexius restrained himself. He smiled falsely at Günter. “Thank you for your words of concern, Cousin Günter.” Then he turned and went to greet the next noble children—the two youngest Schausses. “Good evening, Lady Cassiopeia Schauss, Young Lord Perseus Schauss,” he said.
Günter Blewitt shot Alexius an annoyed look. He grumpily plopped himself down on a nearby sofa.
Cassiopeia Schauss had come in with her second brother Perseus Schauss. “Good evening, Your Highness. Good evening, Earl Rosewood,” the two greeted.
Ren Xiyang looked at two Schauss siblings. Unlike the time at the funerals, this was a more appropriate time to talk. “Lady Cassiopeia Schauss, Young Lord Perseus Schauss, I heard that you’re both advanced in healing.”
“And I’ve heard that you’re very advanced in combat,” Perseus replied politely.
“Combat is only useful in uncertain times. Healing is useful at all times,” Ren Xiyang said. “Have you learnt about pathogens and viruses yet?”
Perseus frowned slightly. “Pardon, Earl Rosewood, but what do you mean?”
Cassiopeia glanced at her brother, not quite understanding what he was asking. After all, she knew exactly what Earl Rosewood was talking about.
“I know,” Alexius said excitedly. “Those things are all germs! They cause disease, and they can spread through contact, on surfaces, through the air that we breathe…”
Other nearby children and the servants in the room were secretly and not-so-secretly listening. Their eyes widened as they heard about germs for the first time.
Realising what was up, Cassiopeia also feigned surprise. “That’s—that’s really curious, Your Highness. We’ll have to study it more, right, brother?”
“Does our father, Duke Schauss, know?” Perseus asked.
“Healers at the Capital Hospital are investigating this,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Then he should know,” Perseus said.
“I can tell you about germs too,” Alexius said eagerly. “They’re really, really tiny, and they’re everywhere—”
Rian, who was finally able to make his excuses and head into the young people’s area, came just as his little brother finished having fun telling others about germs. He looked at all the pale faces of the noble children and servants alike and then looked at his sprightly young brother. How annoying, Rian wanted to be the one to tell them about germs!
Alexius spotted his brother. “Big brother! Come here!”
Rian came over, nodding in greeting to the others in the room. “Nice haircut, Earl Rosewood. Good to see that you wore the clothes as I told you.”
“I should say the same about you,” Ren Xiyang said drily. He had noticed how similar his clothes looked to Rian’s.
Alexius pouted. “Rian…”
“What is it?”
Alexius pulled Rian’s arm and whispered into Rian’s ear. “Why didn’t you show me all that magic earlier? It’s not fair…”
Rian smirked. “Why don’t you try to figure out how to do something similar yourself? Not too hard for you, is it?”
Alexius glared at his brother. As expected, unhelpful!
Ren Xiyang looked at the smug Rian and sighed in his heart. “Your Highness, Prince Rian, could you do us a favour and show the ice flowers again?”
“Oh, very well,” Rian said. He held a hand out, palm up. Ice crystallised in the air, turning into beautiful flowers. Eyes in the room focused on him. Rian smiled at his attentive audience, and smoothly transformed the flowers into various species—this kind of in-place transformation was a key marker of direct magic manipulation. He basked in all the awed and jealous looks.
The only person who wasn’t amazed was Ayden Rosewood. “Earl Rosewood, could you do me a favour and show the fire flowers?” Rian asked.
“Very well.” Ren Xiyang crossed his arms. Slowly, flowers of fire and light appeared around him. By controlling the heat temperature, he could modify the light wavelength and therefore the colour.
Alexius let go of his brother and went closer to Earl Rosewood again, his glowing eyes reflecting the flames. “That’s even better than Rian’s!”
Rian: “…”
Ren Xiyang’s lips quirked up as Rian’s lips turned down. “Thank you, your Highness.”
Günter Blewitt huffed. “Are you trying to show off, Earl Rosewood? All beauty and no substance. Can you truthfully tell me that none of your duels were orchestrated?”
Ren Xiyang sighed in his heart. Why was this kid talking again?
Rian glanced over at his most annoying cousin and smiled. “Günter, Earl Rosewood and I will be duelling tomorrow. You are all invited to come and watch at the Imperial Palace duelling grounds. But before then, aren’t you hungry? We have many delicious foods, including some unique to the Angio Kingdom for everyone to try today.”
On cue, servants came in, bearing circular trays with small plates. There were both Angio dishes and standard high-class Sedaverian dishes.
The noble children still standing went and found seats around the lounge room and waited to be served.
Naturally, Ren Xiyang sat with Rian and Alexius. Tierri Mauveine, son of the Prime Minister Duke Mauvine, also sat with them.
For some inexplicable reason, Günter Blewitt joined them. After eating one morsel of food, he asked bluntly, “What book did you get those spells from, anyway?”
“It’s direct magic manipulation,” Alexius answered, annoyed. “You wouldn’t know.”
“You don’t know either,” Günter taunted. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Perhaps Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood used direct magic manipulation, but a spell could also recreate the same effect,” Tierri said, trying to placate the two boys.
“You’re not an ice mage, what do you know?” Günter retorted.
Ren Xiyang sighed inwardly. He waved over a nearby butler and asked for a cup of milk and a cup of water.
Alexius’s eyes flashed. “I want some milk too!”
“As do I,” Rian said.
Günter looked down on them. “You’re all little kids!”
Tierri said, “Pomegranate juice for me.”
“Rose and honey,” Günter said pompously.
The butler served them drinks and returned to serving out food.
“You must need milk because you’re small,” Günter said to Ayden.
Ren Xiyang ignored him, giving his attention to the food. Each small plate had an even smaller beautifully shaped canape on it. Ren Xiyang ate a dozen different plates: flaky pastry, barbecued meat, rich cream cheese, smoked fish, creamy potato, tiny little vegetables on top…
“Here, try this,” Rian said, moving some of the Angio dishes over. They were special sea foods and unique hams from the Angio kingdom, expensively imported, served with a little pasta or polenta.
“Thank you.”
“I should thank you, Earl Rosewood,” Rian said with a slight smile. “You help save tonight’s menu. These particular dishes were made by Angio chefs from imported Angio ingredients.” He glanced at the other boys seated with him. “You should try them too.”
“Then I will,” Alexius said promptly. He wasn’t going to miss out!
After the savoury dishes were the sweet desserts.
Once Rian finished eating dessert, he stood up.
Ren Xiyang glanced at him. Unfortunately, making eye contact was a mistake.
Rian’s eyes sparkled. “Earl Rosewood, stand up, accompany me around.”
“…Yes, your Highness.”
“Okay!” Alexius said, also getting to his feet. “Don’t follow us,” he added to Günter.
“I’m going to find my parents,” Günter retorted. He got up and walked away, though not before glancing back. No one coaxed him to return, so he continued to the main hall in a huff.
Rian suppressed his feelings when he saw Alexius standing next to Ayden, on Rian’s far side. “You should stand next to me,” he chided.
Alexius smiled mischievously. He pushed in and stood in between Rian and Ayden.
Rian: “…”
Rian grabbed Alexius’s shoulders and physically moved him so that he was separating Alexius and Ayden.
Ren Xiyang glanced at the two brothers, speechless. Could they not even restrain themselves in public?
“Come on,” Rian said, not giving Alexius any time to complain. He walked over to the nearest circle of children from the main eastern faction (who were water, wind, and plant mages), greeted them, and then asked, “I had input into the dining menu tonight, did you have any favourites?”
He made serious note of their responses. After warming them up with this question, he proceeded to ask each person a different question, be it about some aspect of their current studies, or a known hobby. Occasionally, he would bring Alexius or Ayden into the conversation, for example—
—“Earl Rosewood is very interested in plant magic. Can you show him your favourite spell?”
—“Oh yes, I believe Alexius is also reading the history and customs book too. We’ll see who finishes it first!”
The young children—all under 15 years—were different from their adult counterparts that Rian had known. As children, many of them were innocently flattered to have his attention.
Rian hadn’t been overly friendly to other children when he was truly twelve. But now, he wasn’t going to underestimate the usefulness of connections. After all, they would grow up and become the future of Sedaveria…and they were more likely to listen to Rian’s words than their parents, and could in turn help Rian convince their parents to do something.
After establishing some rapport, Rian bade them a good evening and went to the next group of children.
There was a group of white and blue haired children trying out different ice spells they knew, but unlike the floating ice flowers that Rian made, their ice shapes fell after casting. One smart child recalled an ice-attack spell—those ice pieces flew!—and almost accidentally hurt their friend if it weren’t for Rian suddenly interceding.
“Are you trying to make this?” Rian asked, after greeting the sheepish children. He showed off the floating flowers again.
“Yes…” one child admitted.
“It’s done using direct magic manipulation,” Rian said. He gave them a wink. “Once you can cast nonverbal spells, come to me or Earl Rosewood and we’ll teach you how.”
More than one child perked up. “What if I can cast nonverbal spells by tomorrow?”
“Well, come to us to schedule a session.” Rian leaned in and lowered his voice, “But don’t tell Count Aegean!”
One of the children was Count Aegean’s daughter, Lady Lucie Aegean. She giggled, knowing her father’s personality well. “Okay, I won’t!”
A group of plant-mage children were making actual flowers, though they also fell to the ground. One daring girl presented the best flowers to Rian. Rian gracefully accepted the flowers, and then glanced at Ayden. For some reason, Ayden looked unperturbed.
After talking to all the children in the lounge room, Rian showed Ayden the decorated garden, where there were other children too. Then they went to the main hall, where the rest of the children could be found.
That evening, Rian took the utmost care to talk to every under-15-year-old at the event, including non-magical and illegitimate children, including the stand-offish shadow mages and lightning mages. His attitude to all of them was equal: he didn’t show extra favour to any child.
Once he was done, he turned to Ayden (and ignored Alexius). “I’ve finished talking, shall we head to the ballroom now?”
Dancing had begun not long ago.
“I don’t want to dance,” Ren Xiyang said. “I’ll leave first.”
Alexius poked his head in between the two. “Right now?”
“I have a duel tomorrow,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian gave him a sceptical look.
“Prince Rian is a powerful mage, I need to prepare,” Ren Xiyang deadpanned.
Rian’s lips quirked up. “Oh, Earl Rosewood can’t dance? I’ll have to rectify that for the next ball.”
“No thank you,” Ren Xiyang declined.
Alexius’s eyebrows went up. Oohh, Ayden’s weak point!
“I’ll be going now,” Ren Xiyang added firmly.
“Then I’ll walk you out.”
Ren Xiyang nodded. That was fine.
Across the main hall, Queen Mira had noticed her two sons with Earl Rosewood. She noticed how Earl Rosewood’s clothes were similar to Rian’s. She knew that Rian had given those clothes to Earl Rosewood. She saw Rian and Earl Rosewood leave the hall together.
Yet, her Rian had never gone out of his way to play and gift clothes to other noble children before. What was it about the young Earl Rosewood that made Rian—and even Alexius—act that way? Whatever it was, she didn’t think it was simple.
Rian: *gets given flowers*
Rian: …Why isn’t Ayden jealous?!! I just received flowers from a girl!
Rian: *thinks he doesn’t show favour to any children*
Rian: Earl Rosewood! Play with me!
Ren Xiyang: (-＿-)
