The king waved me off, and me and my small team of servants hurried out.

“Iris,” Kairos muttered to himself.

I glanced at him curiously. I couldn’t discern anything from his expression, though. I sighed as I looked forward.

Val was waiting right outside the doors to the dining room, arms crossed. The moment we walked out, he stood up, eyes scouring my form for anything out of place, “Excellent. Let us go, your highness.”

The soul-searching was much more exhausting today than it had been any other day. I found it so much harder to get up. It was practically impossible to hear Val’s words, but I still found myself replying to something.

“You’re weird,” I muttered to the ground, the words hazy.

What was I replying to? Was that even an appropriate response?

Val sighed, “How am I weird for holding concern over your wellbeing?”

How…

“Because giddy mad scientist types don’t do that,” I replied quietly, my vision slowly returning.

“Not in any genuine manner. Maybe it wasn’t, though. I shouldn’t have presumed. My mistake.”

I didn’t realize I was thinking aloud, vision going dark the moment I tried getting up. I collapsed.

The next day I woke up to someone shaking me awake, groggily falling out of bed. I felt like a wet newborn kitten.

Forcing myself to my feet, I found myself accidentally dragging Elizabeth to the ground.

“Ugh, sorry,” I managed.

More servants appeared, the maids helping me up.

“Are you okay, Elizabeth?” I asked, looking at her. She flushed, nodding. Then I hesitated, “Shit, you’re not Elizabeth, I’m sorry. Ugh, I’m the worst.”

“Everyone says Monica and I look alike,” The real Elizabeth reassured.

“I appreciate you Elizabeth, but I’m not so prideful as to refuse to acknowledge when I’m wrong,” I muttered, looking between Monica and Elizabeth.

Both looked plain with dark hair and light eyes, but Monica looked a lot like what I used to, her light eyes almost looking empty. Elizabeth looked a lot like what I’d hoped I’d look like if I got lucky one day.

“I’m sorry Monica. I’ll make it up to you somehow,” I managed, staggering as I was led to the bathroom.

I almost drowned. I found myself falling against someone’s sturdy chest in the dark.

“You said you were fine after Professor Lance’s sessions with you,” Silas said, hands catching me before I fell.

“I usually am,” I muttered, yawning, “Ugh, exhausting my body, magic, and emotions sucks. Whatever, let’s go.”

Does coffee exist in this world? I bet I would love it. No, in fact I would absolutely adore the taste of coffee right about now. The caffeine would inhibit my ability to feel tired and restrict my blood vessels. It would feel divine.

“How long do the sessions typically last?” Silas wondered.

I shrugged, pushing off of him and walking toward the training ground. He followed me.

“I have no idea. It typically lasts pretty far into the night. I think it ends around midnight?”

Silas scoffed, “If that were the case, you’d have only slept a few hours last night.”

I nodded groggily, “Yeah, it’s weird. I feel really energized after he does it. Poor Kai tried keeping up with my sleep schedule. Wasn’t a great idea for him.”

Silas sighed as he walked next to me. We walked to the training grounds. Silas had me do some basic sword swings, as well as taught me how to properly parry. Blocking wasn’t really a thing done in swordsmanship, but he taught me what few stances would work.

The afternoon hit before I really realized it, my exhaustion making my only focus the instructions I was getting.

Silas instructed me to copy his spells once more, this time telling me to go through every element I could think of.

I found out that just like a square and a rectangle were different elements, an even triangle and an uneven triangle were different elements, too.

The uneven triangle was a vaguely purple-pink color. Magenta? Regardless of the color, I’d accidentally blinded myself for a bit due to it.

I also realized that magic was based off of math, not specifically geometry, and started messing with algebraic equations.

“Could I do something simple like…” I wondered.

Two times two is four.

The circle didn’t change its color.

Right, okay. I want it to be two inches by two inches. That makes four.

No.

Okay how I want it to be two inches long with two inches leeway for width, using two to the power of two, which is four.

…

Okay, fine. How about… an area of three feet by one for the spell to reside within. How about the energy output being two to the power of four? That’s… What, two, four, eight, sixteen? So the area of the spell would be sixteen total, the perimeter around the spell being two, right? Because the spell is based off the number two, so all the energy within is sixteen, but the energy outside is—

My spell shot out prematurely.

Oops.

The circle looked like it was on fire, and a large explosion echoed out.

Ah.

FIREBALL!

I laughed loudly as the ground shook. I found myself staggering, but I was grinning, my eyes sparkling.

“Fireball!“ I cried out, cackling as another small spear of fire shot out, only to suddenly expand.

I giggled.

“That’s enough for today,” Silas said.

I turned to him, gaping, “Aw, what? I haven’t done every equation I know yet. I haven’t even gotten to the quadratic equation…” I whined.

Silas stared at me for a long moment, “I do not believe you need whatever that equation may create. It is already impressive enough you have found a new element of magic.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Huh? New? Aw, no way! You can’t call yourself a wizard without knowing fireball, you’re saying no one else knows that?” I complained.

“Not that they have mentioned, no,” Silas sighed out, looking weary suddenly, “Do you not wish to save energy to heal the servants?”

I hesitated, slumping, “Yeah, I do.”

“Then let us end for today. I will see you at dinner.”

“Bye loser,” I said as I turned and sprinted away, a newfound energy within me.

The flames of destruction glittered in my eyes. My unhinged grin didn’t fade even as I went to my room, finding more servants around. The dude without a hand wasn’t there, and no one else had severe injuries, so everything worked out pretty well.

“I hear you have mixed expansion and fire magic into something destructive,” Val commented as he walked into my room, “Do you have a name for the…”

Val trailed off when I glanced over. I was still grinning.

“Explosion,” I agreed, “And it’s not a mix of fire or anything. It’s just putting a lot of energy into a really small space. It naturally comes undone if you shoot it.”

“I can see why the servants all left with pale expressions,” Val mused, “Have you been smiling like that this whole time?”

“Knowing fireball is the pinnacle of being a wizard,” I claimed, knowing my eyes were glittering, “You can’t call yourself a wizard or sorcerer or anything if you can’t do something stupidly destructive like that.”

Val sighed, “I had not realized you had such a violent personality.”

My grin widened, and I was practically bouncing on my feet.

“You’re actively creating a destructive spell that could level castles at the level you use it at,” I refuted, crossing my arms. My grin didn’t fade, though it did go from unhinged to teasing, “You agree with me, don’t lie.”

If anyone on this planet would gush over magic with me, it would be Val. He was as excitable about it as I was.

Before he could respond, my door slammed open, Mercury and Pelias practically falling over each other.

“You destroyed the training grounds!” Pelias cried out, arm swinging wildly as he tried shoving himself in front of Mercury.

“You found a new branch of magic?! Can you teach me?” Mercury begged, leg slamming into Pelias’ ankle.

Pelias crashed to the ground, but he reached out, and soon Mercury fell to the ground. Both struggled and writhed.

“Get off me you tyrant,” Mercury clawed at the ground toward me.

“Everyone on this planet should know it,” I agreed amicably, watching their scuffle on the floor.

“Actually math is kind of not very advanced here, is it,” I wondered, “Because that’s like the third easiest form of math and you’re telling me no one’s created it yet?”

“I would like to know it as well,” Val mentioned, raising his hand.

I glanced at him, “Well yeah, sure. It’s just exponents.”

“C-can you teach me too?” Pelias asked, face twisted into a grimace as Mercury shoved his face away.

I shrugged, glancing to the side, “K—“ … Right. Kai was on break, “Uh, James. Can you get me some paper and some stuff to write on?”

Soon I was surrounded by people, many I did not invite to my office. I wrote down simple equations.

“Okay, this is what I’m teaching you,” I mentioned, gesturing at the numbers.

“That isn’t in our language,” Val sighed, his voice sounding weird and echoing in my mind.

I hesitated, “Oh,” I fixed my mistake, “I came up with a lot of symbols because I didn’t know how to write for awhile.”

“A code?” Pelias asked curiously, looking at the numbers.

Mercury looked at the page with a dark expression.

“Yus. Anyway this is a plus sign,” I gestured, explaining each of the symbols and what they meant.

“So what’s the small number next to the big number, then?”

“That is exponents. That is the equation you use to create explosions,” I continued.

The lesson lasted a few hours. Not because it was difficult to explain, but because I kept getting distracted whenever someone showed me this world’s symbol for whatever I showed them.

Dinner was taken to my room, and I glanced up to see that many people were in my room. There was Pelias, Mercury, Lucius, Val, Silas, and Kairos, as well as the servants currently giving us food. I stared at Kairos for a long moment, feeling my cheeks burn as I recalled my blunder earlier.

I looked back down, “Yeah. So anyway, who wants to further destroy the training grounds with me? A fun group activity.”

“After we eat, I need to continue with my efforts to heal your soul,” Val refused as food was set before us.

I hummed in agreement from where I sat next to him as I eagerly awaited the food, “Oh, okay. Man, this is great. We should have dinner like this more often.”

On the couch I sat on, facing the door and the other couch, there was Val, me, and Mercury. Across from Val was Silas, across from me was Pelias, and across from Mercury was Lucius.

“This? You mean without Aph and with an irrelevant here?” Pelias scoffed.

It took me a moment to realize who he was talking about. He went to the Academy, so the only one who wasn’t family or a Professor was Lucius.

Huh, that’s right.

Shouldn’t they have been in the Academy when the garden party happened? Val was here by the king’s orders, and Silas only arrived after the Academy year ended, so why had Mercury and Pelias been here the whole time?

What made them come back?

Were they here the whole time? Did I just not notice them leave?

I rolled my eyes, “Don’t talk shit about someone who can kick your ass.”

“What? That bastard can’t beat me in a fight!” Pelias refused. Nuh-uh, Pelias whined petulantly.

“He’s not fucking crazy like Lance and Silas, but he’s definitely stronger than you,” I refused. Yeah-huh, I responded just as petulantly.

“Yes, I would say that’s a good descriptor of the professors,” Mercury agreed, reaching up and ruffling his own hair, “I’d had the misfortune of watching them fight, earlier.”

“Lance won, right?” I asked, looking at Mercury.

“Neither did,” Mercury muttered, his eyes serious as he regarded me, “Father arrived and told them to stop.”

I hummed, looking straight at Silas and staring at him. My expression was blank, and I stared at him until he both met my gaze and looked away.

Val stormed off, huh?

I shook my head, going back to the food. Soon, the very colorful and wild food was finished.

My days went similarly past that, and Silas eventually got me to remember more than just three spells at any given time. He mentioned that if I was able to create my own spell by the time I arrived in the Academy that it would have me passing the practical exams for magic, at least.

Which was code for good luck, I have no faith.

Rude.

The days seemed to grow shorter the moment everyone who was capable at time management grew busy, even Kairos off to prepare the castle and his information network for his shift in location.

Val had to leave the same time Silas did to prepare for the new Academy year, so I found myself sleeping normal hours again as I exercised with the sword and practicing magic.

I already had a spell I wanted to create. It was a mix of light and explosion. I was hoping it would work by the time I got to the Academy, Lucius taking some time out of his day to help me figure out the appearance of the spell.

It was a rectangle cut into two triangles in a circle, fireworks written crudely in the center. The color was very pretty, creating a red and white fire as explosion was mixed with light.

The spell circle itself didn’t look as pretty nor as nice as literally any other spell I’d ever seen, but on the night before Aphrodite and I left for the entrance exam, my hand rose to the sky, and a blast of light screamed from my hand.

The loud whistle caught everyone’s attention, and everyone looked up as the explosion blasted outward, sound magic mixing with light and explosion magic.

I stared up at the red fireworks. I adjusted the equation only slightly, thinking of the way light refracts. Normal fireworks relied on gunpowder and different metals to change the colors, but mine didn’t.

Soon reds, yellows, and oranges all filled the sky in bursts of light and noise.

The circle changed, becoming silent as I added more light to the night sky.

When’s the last time I’ve seen fireworks? I really missed the sound, but I heard it every year. I felt like I’d not seen them in much longer.

I relaxed, watching as the colors faded from the sky after falling.

“You should get some sleep,” Kairos said as he walked up, “You have a long journey ahead of you, tomorrow.”

I thought. Yeah. Being stuck in the same carriage as Aphrodite for a week is going to suck. I should get to bed.

Turning after the last of the light left the sky, I walked to my room. Kairos followed me.

His hands were warm when they caressed me, helping me into my nightwear. I reached out before he could leave, capturing his lips and dragging him to the bed with me.

The night ended hours later.

Much to my chagrin, the Academy arc started as I woke up. I could already hear the bustle of the castle as Orphos the dog-boy wreaked havoc.

Right. I forgot about that. The entire Esmer-Gold family was late because some werewolf loser decided to sneak into Aph’s room and take her as his own.

“I should probably write down what I know so I don’t forget,” I muttered as I sat up.

Great. A new day.