A few days passed with Alex training in the morning. Sometimes Ariana would join in, but she mostly trained in the evening when Alex was not training, saying she did not want a distraction.
On a sunny, bright day, as Alex finished training, he noticed someone entering the training ground. He tried to focus but only caught a blur, so he quickly called his sword from his dimensional space and got into a ready stance. Suddenly, his defenses became useless as hands gently covered his eyes from behind. From the feel of the hands, Alex immediately recognized who it was.
"Princess, you will get my sweats attached to your dress," Alex said dramatically as he removed her hands from his eyes and turned to see the princess smiling.
They have met many times during the past nine years. She would come to Drakethorne Palace, tell him tales of her, and they would gossip. He would get jealous as he listened to her talk about the outside world and her adventures. He had never seen the outside world, only some pictures in books and tales of others.
Princess pouted as she met Alex's gaze evenly,"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Eva?" Alex put both his hands up in surrender and just gave a mischievous smile.
Princess gave a light punch to his bare naked chest that was filled with sweat and dirt.
Alex looked at the princess's red gown, which had gotten covered in his sweat. He sighed,"My parents are going to beat me if they see I have put my sweat on their dress."
Princess looked down at her dress and smirked at Alex as she snapped her fingers; a fairy appeared beside her and cleaned the gown in the blink of an eye. No matter how many times he had seen this fairy, he would always get mesmerized by her use of magic.
They both exited the training hall, and Princess went to the drawing room, and Alex went to his own private chambers.
- - -
At the dining room filled with white marbles and a chandelier hanging above, a long table was set at the centre, at the center of the honor seat was occupied by the Grand Duke, and beside him, his wife, Sera Azurestorm, and his daughter, Ariana Drakethorne, occupied his left and right seats.
Alex had changed into a cozy, expensive linen tunic and pants before entering the dining room. He was surprised to see someone he had not seen for a long time: Empress Catherine Fairwind. She rarely visited, unlike the Princess, and hadn't come to the palace in quite a while. She still looked the same as before, with no wrinkles or signs of age.
Alex wanted to take a seat beside his sister, but Princess had taken that seat, so he sat beside his mother's seat, facing Princess's face. Beside Princess sat Empress.
They began lunch, with servants and maids running and placing new dishes, crafted with meticulous care and skill, onto the plates.
Lunch went smoothly, with a few discussions aside from a few things about the princess's experience at the academy. She had joined the academy one year ago and would be in her second year soon. He would perk his ears as she told him about the academy and her peers; he had listened to her talk about it and would always find himself more intrigued.
The academy, Silverine Academy, was at the centre of the continent, in a sovereign state called Silverine, named after the academy, which bordered different empires; one of them was the Evernight Empire. The Academy and the state operated itself with no interference from other empires; it was made collectively to nurture future generations to fight against demons, a rare achievement in itself despite having previous hostility among different empires.
- - - -
In the drawing room, both families were seated on the sofa, their discussion mainly about empires and demons, while the empress and princess constantly steered it toward the academy in between the discussion.
Empress looked at Sera, meeting her gaze evenly and with a resolute face, she said, "Sera, I think you should enroll Alex in the Silverine Academy. He is already 14 years of age; if you delay it any longer, it would hamper Alex's growth." Normally, children who have reached the age of 13 join the academy, but in rare cases, they join later, mainly nobles who first master their family techniques before joining.
- - -
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