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Ivan and Lester had just finished their meeting. Ivan brought a problem concerning spell-casting speed to Lester.

“Ivan,” Lester called out.

“Yes master?” Ivan turned around.

The moment Ivan turned around, his legs felt weak and shaky. All Ivan wanted now was to disappear. “Master what is wrong.”

“DON’T EVER KEEP ME WAITING.” If a stare could kill, Ivan would be killed from Lester’s eyes. If words could manifest physically, Ivan would have been torn to shreds.

“Yes. It would not happen again.” Ivan was shaking in his shoes.

“Leave.”

“Yes, have a good night’s rest, master.” Ivanbowed as Lester walked away.

After a few minutes of bowing, Ivan concluded that his master had left the area.

“Phew~that young man can really be scary at times. The look in his eyes; it was as though he was looking directly at my soul.”

Ivan was a mage of high intellect but had no talent for element manipulation. If only knowledge were truly power; he had knowledge but had not the ability to use it to its full potential; he could only help others grow...

Ivan walked back to the outskirts of the forest, where his carriage and disciples were waiting for him.

“Welcome Educator!!”

“Welcome Educator!”

“Welcome Educator!”

Ivan was a mid-ranking keeper of knowledge, and as a result of his position, he had the capacity to take in disciples. Ivan presently had three disciples; he took them everywhere; it was part of his training for them.

“Let us go back home.” Ivan was visibly shaken; his knowledge-hungry mind was extremely feeble and soft.

His three disciples saw this and knew what had happened. ‘The great Sage scolded him!’

They had never met Lester; at least they had never seen him during an appointment. Of course, every citizen knew who Lester was but they didn’t know that he was the great Sage their master talked about.

“I wonder if I would ever get to meet the Great Sage?” The first disciple said to no one in particular.

"Yeah, me too.” The second disciple responded.

“Same here.” The most junior disciple added.

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Soon enough, Lester got home. He got home to the deepest thorn in his flesh; his mother was dreadfully sick. Emilia, Lester’s mother, fell sick a few months ago.

The warm, energetic smiles he saw when he came back from his daily training. The words of encouragement and smell of freshly cooked food that filled the air as he walked into the chamber that he and his mother lived in were all but just memories.

Lester’s mother had a lot of servants assigned to her as she was loved dearly by the king, but she chose to cook for Lester every single day.

The warm smiles were replaced with weak, sickly smiles; the words of encouragement turned to sad parting words. He no longer had the appetite to eat, his mother was too weak to cook for him; his world was falling apart... She was his world.

It wasn’t as though the king had not done something to help with Emilia’s disease; he had done something—a lot of things, actually. It seemed that her time had come; who would have known that a few days ago, the bright and sunny Emilia would suddenly lose her spark?

“Welcome back, Prince Lester!” Lester’s personal maid bowed as she came up to greet him.

“Thank you; how is my mother doing?” Lester was somewhat absent-minded as he asked the question.

“She is well; she is in her room. My lady wanted to see you the moment you came back.

“Right.” Before the young maid could finish her sentence, Lester was already out of the hallway.

“Such a bright boy. It is a pity that my king can’t see his potential, tsk tsk.” The young maid shook her head as she walked away.

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“Mother! You sent for me?!” Lester was in such a hurry that he did not even bother to knock.

“Cough, cough. My son, you are back. How was your training today?” Emilia tried her best to put on a smile, at least to take away the tension Lester came into her room with.

Emilia, a woman who was confined to a wheelchair, was sitting comfortably in her chamber, which was specially built for her by the king. The chamber was located in such a way that Emilia could see the beautiful sunset every evening.

She would eagerly wait for the sun to set and watch as the sky transformed into a canvas of vibrant colours. The king had made sure that Emilia’s chamber was designed to provide her with the best possible view of the sunset, as he knew how much joy it brought her. It was the least he could do.

For Emilia, watching the sunset was a daily ritual that brought her peace and happiness, and she was grateful to the king for his thoughtful gesture.

“It went well. Mother, how are you feeling?” Lester’s heart was in pain as he already knew the answers to his questions.

Emilia before him was simply a shadow of her former self; her soul was already at death’s door. The pain in his heart was simply unbearable, but he had to be strong for his mother.

“I am well. Sigh… Come, I have something to tell you.” Emilia’s serious and sombre expression seemed to spell out the worst case for the mother and child.

“Yes… Mother.” It seemed like an eternity as Lester walked towards his mother.

“The sunset is beautiful, is it not?” For some reason, although she talked about the sunset, Emilia looked instead at Lester’s face.

“It is really beautiful— MOTHER? YOU ARE CRYING!” The sight of his mother’s tears broke his heart. “Mother, don’t cry I am here I will always protect you, I promise.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Mffh… I believe you my son; the sunset looked so beautiful, is all.” Emilia said as she tried to wipe her tears.

‘Mother has always been bad at lying…if only…sigh.’ Lester was truly sad but he still had to comfort his mother.

“So, about what I wanted to tell you. You know, life is like the sun, and now I am at my sunset.

“Mother! Don’t say this, please.”

“Hahaha, you are really handsome; you look very much like your father.” Emilia said with a weak smile.

"Mother, please, let us not bring him up now.” Lester looked the other way, averting his mother’s conflicted gaze.

“Do you hate him? Your father?” Emilia asked.

“No, I don’t hate him. I love him so much; he is my father after all but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge me. Mother, am I not good enough?” The emotion had risen; he was vulnerable now…he just let it all out.

Although Emilia was in physical pain, the pain she felt as she saw her child’s eyes glisten with tears, ever ready to fall,.

“You are good enough. In fact, the very best, but your father has a narrow mindset. Promise me that you will prove him wrong.” Emilia had a great resolve in her eyes.

Emilia had no elemental affinity; she was a mortal, much like Chelsea; she was born into a wealthy family in the West. She was the only mortal in a family of water mages.

It was not an unknown phenomenon; everyone knew about it but it was rather hard to come by. Two mages could copulate and their of spring would normally have one element, or on rare occasions have none of the two; having the two elements of both parents was as well very rare but not as rare as having a variant as a child.

After a bit of time, the two parted ways. Lester was supposed to take his dinner. “I promise.”

“I love you, my son.” Emilia at this moment had a warm smile, although her eyes shone with sadness and pain.

“I love you too, mother.”

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“Thank you; your meal is exquisite as always.” Emilia raised a gentleman.

Lester was in a good mood now, as a result of the talk with his mother.

“My Prince, shall I run your bath?” His personal maid asked.

“Yes.”

After a bit of time, Lester was fresh and was ready to spend time with his mother. “Mother,” Lester knocked at the door to his mother’s chamber. “It’s me,” Lester got no response so he tried again. “Mother? Are you there?”

Still no response. “Mother?! I am coming in.”

As he stood there, straining his ears to pick up any sound, Lester couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease creeping up on him. The silence around him was deafening, and it was in that moment that he realized he had a bad feeling. It was the kind of feeling that makes your stomach churn and your heart race—the kind that only comes when you know that something is terribly wrong. For a young boy like Lester, there was no worse feeling than this.

Lester opened the door to see his mother sleeping peacefully on her bed. “Mother, is everything OK?”

He walked closer. Something seemed wrong; she looked really pale. He touched her and her body seemed colder than normal. Lester could not simply jump to conclusions yet; he moved closer, she was not breathing. Her heart wasn’t beating.

Time seemed to slow down; his world shattered before him. “MOTHER!!!” Lester screamed in frustration, with the hope that she would wake up if he shouted hard enough. To put it simply, it did not work.

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That evening it was confirmed that Emilia was not with them any longer. She had transcended into another realm. It wasn’t easy for Lester to take in, he should have stayed back with his mother; at least spent her last hours with her.

Lester really didn’t know how to take this well; he holed up in his room. He just could not bring himself to the conclusion that his mother had died. He was all alone now.

Emilia was the king’s spouse; at least she was a concubine. She deserved a bit of respect. As per tradition, she was buried a few days after she was confirmed dead.

During those times, Lester wanted nothing else but to die. But he had to keep going, at least for his mother’s sake. The king never came to visit; he was always too busy. This truly added a bit of fuel to the fire of pain burning in Lester’s heart.

“My Prince, please come out and eat.” Lester’s personal maid begged.

“Just go away! I don’t want to see anyone!!” Lester was in so much pain that pain turned to aggression over time.

Lester didn’t pay attention to himself these past days; he didn’t eat. He didn’t bathe; he totally disregarded everything; he was simply going down.

“I know that you are broken; I understand—”

“You understand NOTHING!” Lester was simply lost in pain, anguish and sorrow.

“True. But I know this: My lady would be heartbroken if she saw you this way. Please think about her,” a few moments of silence ensued after she spoke those words. Soon enough, the audible sounds of her walking away were heard.

‘I think about Mother, right? Right?’ Lester began to second-guess himself and his memories of her last time with him. The sounds of the maid’s footsteps resounded through Lester’s mind, taking him back.

The time they spent together, the words she spoke to him. “Promise me that you would prove him wrong.”

Lester had been so engrossed by pain that he didn’t remember the talk he had with his mother. He was covered with guilt—the guilt that he wasn’t strong enough.

He was sure that if he had enough power, he could do whatever he wanted: save his mother. “I have been foolish!”

Lester stood up from his crouched position in a corner of the room and dusted himself. It was at this time that the sound of his caretaker’s footsteps was no longer heard. Her footsteps had brought him to the light.

Lester bolted towards the door and into the hallway.

“Maria!”

“Yes, my prince?” Maria was at the end of the hallway, about to disappear into the corner when she heard her name and turned around. “I want to talk with you!”

“Yes, my prince.” Maria walked back towards Lester’s room.

Since that time, Maria has always been by his side. To Lester, Maria was his only family; his father was just there so that he could fulfil his promise to his mother.

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Back to the present, Lester looked at the unconscious Denzel on the huge water altar. Lester had his signature sinister smile on his face, his eyes as sharp as ever.

Lester had the eyes of a predator looking at his prey—the look of wicked ecstasy. “My prince, please, you are scary. You might kill Denzel with that look.” From a hidden door, a young woman in a cloak walked into the hidden room.

“Hahaha. Maria, don’t be that way. His soul is strong.” Lester said with a warm smile.

“~mmuha.” Maria walked up to Lester and kissed him. “How have you been?”

“I have been missing you~” Lester said with a smug grin.

“You really haven’t changed, have you?” Although Maria said this, her facial expression seemed to betray her.

“You didn’t miss me?” Lester asked, feigning sadness.

“I did, I did. Are you happy now?”

“Yes, I am happy now.” Lester and Maria were simply all smiles.

“It’s good to be back!” Maria said as she took off her cloak, tossed it into the air, and it dissipated into nothingness. So badass.

Maria was simply beautiful; her features were exposed as she took off the cloak. She had characteristics of a godlike being: black luscious hair, her sleek curves. Her countenance seemed to call out magnificence.

“Lester, could you like to stop looking so intently? It is getting hard to breathe.” Maria could feel his hot gaze upon her white skin without even looking at him.

“Sorry about that; you are so beautiful. You haven’t aged a day since that day.” It was true, Maria hadn’t aged one bit from the time she knew Lester.

“Thank you. Yes, by the way, your bride, how is she?” Maria asked as she sat down on thin air close to Lester.

“So tell me, how was the god realm?” Lester asked, trying to change the topic.

“Nothing much; Amal is still as crazy as always. This time he sent Vilholin to take whatever was closest to Kai and destroy it. He was in your class, right?”

Lester thought for some time. He really did not put much thought towards Kai; he only behaved that way because he was engaged to Darcy. “Yeah, but I don’t think he came back for this session.”

“That makes sense; I think he wants to get revenge.” Although Maria spoke so seriously, her attention was on Lester this entire time.

“Revenge?” Lester asked.

“Yeah, Vilholin killed his lover, Chelsea Walter,” Maria said as she fiddled with his face. “Why don’t you want to grow a beard? It would be appealing to me.”

Lester held her hand that was fiddling with Lester’s clean-shaven face. “Maria, I thought you said you didn’t want me looking at you so intently; that rule doesn’t apply to you?”

“Not really, I made it, so...”

“That’s so biased you know, and I don’t want to grow a beard, no yet.” Lester said as she lifted Maria into the air and placed her on his lap. “You don’t find me appealing?”

The way Lester looked at her, the desire in his eyes made Maria gulp; her heart was beating at least two days per hour right now. “I do, very much~” She managed to say.

The two love birds totally forgot what they were talking about. They were lost in each other’s eyes. The flame of passion burned brightly in the pair of eyes as they stared at each other.

Maria loved Lester’s dominant side; on the other hand, Lester could not get enough of Maria’s cocky nature. Time simply froze for them.

They had been together for the longest of time, it was not a guess nor was it a speculation, it was clear that they could not do without each other.

Although Lester was a human mage and Maria was a being above the gods, they had found each other… Well she found him.