Two days passed in relative calm.

Deon maintained his monotonous training routine, which was steadily increasing in pace. Even his breaks weren’t devoid of learning, as he spent them poring over various books in his room. However, he didn’t neglect the small joys that brought him comfort, like his coffee with milk.

As for the incident with Vierenna earlier, it hadn’t repeated. In fact, she simply returned to her usual self as if nothing had happened.

Deon himself didn’t bring up the matter again, but he made a mental note to be more cautious and sensitive with his words around her. Though she seemed aware of his actions, she never commented on them. She simply remained who she was.

As for Yven, well, she was still the same awkward girl she had always been—if not more so.

It seemed she had suffered significant mental damage from the series of awkward situations she had endured so far. Though she tried her best to perform her duties flawlessly, she still made mistakes from time to time.

At the very least, she had developed a slight immunity when it came to being around Deon. She no longer apologized for every little mistake she made, though her awkward demeanor hadn’t disappeared—something Deon still found amusing.

Now, Deon was sitting cross-legged on his bed, holding a blue cube glowing with a bluish-purple hue. His eyes were closed, but in his mind, he was entirely focused on the luminous threads forming the complex patterns.

However, unlike the light blue color they had when he first started, the threads now carried a bluish-purple tint.

It wasn’t as if Deon hadn’t noticed the change during his first days of training, but it had been so slight and insignificant that it didn’t even warrant a thought. However, by the end of today’s training, the blue color had started shifting toward purple.

Deon had considered heading to Vierenna’s room to ask about the meaning and cause of the change, but it was late at night now, and Vierenna was someone who slept early, unlike him.

So, Deon left it for the morning, knowing she would barge into his room as usual.

By now, he had grown numb to her constant invasions of his privacy. The sad part was that Deon himself felt she had the right to do so.

If she didn’t, his struggle with his training would be far more challenging. She seemed to notice things even he overlooked, always redirecting him onto the right path. If Deon were left to his own devices, he would always make mistakes out of ignorance.

For instance, she had noticed that Deon’s mana regeneration rate was slower than what his talent should allow. She had been able to pinpoint the issue—Deon wasn’t even trying to regenerate it intentionally; he was leaving it to the natural process of mana regeneration.

As it turned out, if Deon focused on regenerating his mana consciously, he could do so.

Of course, Deon was clueless about how to regenerate mana properly, so he was doing it wrong as well. While he had tripled his mana regeneration speed compared to before, he was still hindering his true potential.

In this issue, too, it was Vierenna who had helped. Of course, she hadn’t stopped complaining, pointing out his incompetence while highlighting how amazing she was as a sister. But in the end, she always helped. And day by day, Deon began to agree with her claims as facts.

Of course, Deon would never admit that to her.

SIGH

With a tired sigh, Deon rested his head on the pillow of his massive bed. He didn’t bother putting the cube back into the gray box with the spellbook; he just placed it beside his pillow and drifted off to sleep.

Though he felt exhausted, he was also excited for tomorrow. His intuition told him so.

…

Deon opened his eyes with renewed excitement. He rolled over in bed to face the ceiling, stretching his arms upward.

The sunrise was still hiding behind the distant mountains, and darkness enveloped Deon’s room.

‘Why not try that?!’

With that thought, Deon’s left hand began to glow with a bluish-purple light. The light initially wrapped around his entire hand in balance, but with each passing moment, it started losing stability, attempting to spread up his wrist.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘It’s hard to control mana at this early stage, let alone direct it to form a spell.’

In an instant, the light vanished as if it had never been there, and the room returned to its previous darkness.

Deon sat up on the bed. He was about to get up to fetch the gray box but remembered the cube was beside his pillow.

‘Convenient.’

He reached for it, holding it in the familiar position he had already grown accustomed to, and began his training.

Although he said he would wait for Vierenna to explain the reason behind the change in the threads color, Deon still wouldn’t waste a moment of training.

And so, he began his usual morning routine.

Deon’s training continued until Yven entered his room to carry out her usual tasks.

She moved cautiously, careful not to disturb his training.

Deon suddenly had the urge to surprise her to see her reaction, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

He didn’t think the young girl could handle it; she was already doing her best, and Deon felt it would be wrong to make her work harder just for his own amusement.

‘I’ll settle for coffee with milk today.’

It was something Yven had memorized and prepared for him every morning, so he didn’t need to remind her.

Yven soon finished her work and left the room with the same cautiousness.

She glanced at Deon, who was still sitting cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, and smiled.

‘Success.’

She seemed genuinely happy to have completed her work without embarrassing herself. Yet, despite her happiness, she still moved carefully.

She exited the room, gently closing the door behind her.

And there, her smile reflected her true joy.

‘A real success.’

Had Deon seen that, he wouldn’t have stopped laughing for a while. But unfortunately, he was still immersed in his training routine.

With the laundry basket in her delicate hands, Yven made her way deep into the castle, her destination already clear in her mind.

More time passed, and this time it was Vierenna’s turn to enter Deon’s room. Except she barged in without a shred of regard for his feelings, training or not.

“Good morning, baby brother!”

Vierenna announced her entrance with an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm, enough to pull Deon out of his focus.

“Good morning, dear sister,”

Deon replied with a broad smile that belied his true feelings.

However, Vierenna seemed wary.

“What are you doing? Are you mocking me?”

She took a cautious step back, her hands shielding her chest as if to protect herself from him.

“We’ve talked about this… I’m your sister. I can’t…”

Deon, uncharacteristically, didn’t react to her words. But he couldn’t stop himself from interrupting her. She had a tendency to make any conversation… weird.

“I was seeking the wisdom of my wise sister, and I'm lucky enough that she found her way to my room.”

A look of understanding flashed across Vierenna’s face, quickly replaced by a disappointed expression that she made sure Deon noticed.

“Oh, that! For a moment there, I thought you were after my body... So, what is it? And just so you know, you're still under suspicion.”

Deon took a deep breath, ignoring her last remark.

He tried not to think about the events of the day before yesterday, but how could he? What did she expect from him when she was the one starting conversations with inappropriate comments? In the end, Vierenna convinced herself that Deon was guilty of something toward her. And he didn’t defend himself; he had learned to accept defeat against her. It had only taken a few days since his arrival in this world to realize that.

Sometimes, you just can't win. But with Vierenna, winning was a concept for the ignorant.

That had become Deon’s new belief.

“I wanted your advice regarding my training with the cube. As you can see, the mana flowing along the patterns in my consciousness has changed color. It used to be light blue on the first day, but now, while still blue, it has a purplish hue.”

Vierenna took a few steps toward Deon’s bed and sat across from him. She took the cube from his hands and closed her eyes to examine it.

Seconds passed before Vierenna opened her eyes, a proud smile lighting up her beautiful features.

She brushed her white hair aside and leaned closer to Deon.

“Congratulations, baby brother! You’ve completed one-eighth of your mana training within the first tier, and in record time that is.”

She went in for a hug, wrapping her arms around him tightly, not giving him any room to move. The hug lasted less than a second before she pulled away.

“I need to be cautious,” she said with a wink.

“Anyway, I’m proud of you. This is the bare minimum where you can start learning beginner spells. But as we discussed, we’ll postpone that until you complete a quarter of your training in the first tier—essentially, double what you’ve done now. Keep in mind that as the quality of the mana in your body improves, the intensity and difficulty of progress will increase.”

“So the change in mana color reflects its improved quality?”

Vierenna clapped her hands once, the exaggerated sound startling Deon.

“You figured it out yourself—well done, frightened one. Though I should be the one scared,”

She said with mock seriousness.

Deon rolled his eyes dramatically but didn’t say anything to counter her claim. He had learned to live with helplessness.

“So, what now?”

Deon asked, his expression serious. He was genuinely interested, though his primary concern was steering Vierenna’s thoughts in another direction.

“Now, you’ll continue your training as usual. Once you reach the second milestone, I’ll guide you in the concept of spellcasting. But not today.”

Again, Vierenna clapped her hands, louder this time. Deon didn’t flinch, much to her disappointment.

“Today, you’ll meet your knight.”

Deon nodded, his interest piqued. He was also relieved by the change in subject—or so he thought.

Vierenna smiled with a mixture of seriousness and teasing directed at Deon.

“And let’s not mention the part where you wanted to do unspeakable things to me the other day.”

‘What did I do to deserve this?’

"We don’t want her thinking poorly of you, which, technically, you are."

“I’ll keep that in mind,”

Deon replied, his expression one of utter despair.

Vierenna, being who she was, beamed at the sight of his reaction.

“Good, very good.”

Oh, how she loved toying with him.