King Edward’s POV

Inside my office were the two adults that were fighting, and the two children that were probably the cause of the fighting. They were sitting on a sofa across from each other. The room was completely silent. I was staring at them as they were staring at each other.

“So? What exactly happened here?” I asked but no one answered.

“Lilia?” Having called her name, she answered.

“I saw this person aiming that cane he’s holding at Lumina and kicking her slime into the wall,” She said while having her arms crossed, still staring at persona across him.

“I only did that as that slime of hers is quite aggressive.”

“That’s a lie! Her slime would never attack someone,” Lilia retorted. What she is saying is believable. Within the week they stayed here, that slime never showed any signs of aggressiveness to anyone here in the castle. It was even quite obedient and always on that little girl’s side.

“Break it off for now. I want to hear what the other side has to say,” Sensing that the tension was starting to ramp up again, I decided to quickly step in.

“Sir William?”

“This little girl right here was cornering the Prince into the wall with her slime. I just wanted to ask what she was doing as I was concerned about His Highness’ safety.”

Hearing William say Prince made Lumina’s blood drain from her face.

“The slime also suddenly jumped towards me. I interpreted that as an attack and quickly defended myself.”

“Lumina?” I asked the now pale child besides Lilia.

“I- It’s because he kept following me wherever I went! I-I was scared so I decided to confront him since I believe that I- I should confront my fears!” She said, stuttering her words.

“Prince Emir? Why were you following Lumina around the castle?”

The little prince did not answer. The only response we got was his ears getting red.

“Your Highness?” Asked William to the prince beside him.

“I- it’s because I was lost..” He replied in a low tone.

“And?” I asked, urging him to continue.

“I- I saw her and wanted to ask for some help but..”

“But?”

“...” Again, he stayed silent.

“But?” I repeated my question.

“Sh- she was just so pretty that I.. I was hesitant to approach her..”

There it was. The cause of all this commotion. It was all because of a small misunderstanding between children. I looked at Lumina and found her slightly smiling and blushing.

“Y-Your Majesty,” After a moment of silence, Lilia decided to call me.

“Let me think for a moment.” I replied and the room once again went completely silent.

How did it come to this? I asked myself as I recall the talk that I had with Lilia after rescuing my daughter from the abductors.

*+*

After tending to the sleeping child on the bed, Dr. Gustavo gave a short explanation to Lilia about the child’s current situation, greeted me, then left. I asked Lilia who the child was. She explained that she found this child in the forest being attacked by an obsidian wolf, which is weird since obsidian wolves typically avoid any man-made settlements. I should send some Knights to scout the forest tomorrow. I noted to myself.

“Lilia, how about finally joining my ranks?” I asked the dark-skinned elf in front of me.

“Your Majesty, how many times have we had this talk already?”

“Now, now. Don’t be too hasty with your response. I’m adding something new to the table. Maybe this will make you change your mind this time.”

“What is it?” She asked.

“Answer my question first. What do you plan on doing with this child?” I wanted to clarify her relationship with the child as Lilia is not the type of person to just take care of an orphan by herself.

“Hmm..” She said, then stopping for a second to think.

“I will take care of this child. I’ll adopt her. She doesn’t speak Apolian so I doubt that she’ll have an easy time living in the orphanage.”

She doesn’t speak Apolian? Where could she be from? People in the neighboring Countries all speak Apolian, even a lot of demons living near the Evergreen forest know how to speak it.

“Then I think it would be in your best interest to consider my offer. If you join my ranks, I’ll let her live inside the castle. I promise you that she’ll have a peaceful and happy life. If you want, you can live with her in the castle too.”

“I don’t think that you’ll continue this offer after knowing what she is,” She looked at me seriously.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s a demon,” She said while showing me a broken horn in her hand.

“This..”

“It’s her horn. It got broken off from the kidnapping.”

Lilia knows better than anyone that I’m cautious about demons. A demon once disguised herself as a human and managed to infiltrate the castle as a maid. She tried to assassinate us, the royal family. She was found out early but unluckily managed to poison my wife. She’s currently bedridden and needs to be healed daily.

I thought for a bit, then gave her an answer. “I’m fine with it, in one condition. I will assign a personal maid for her that will keep watch and regularly report to me. Is that fine?” She’s still a child. As long as I can make someone watch her, it should be fine.

“If you’re fine with her being a demon then I also don’t have any concerns,” She replied.

“However, I will only join your ranks in one condition,” She added. “I will only take orders from the members of the royal family,”

“A Royal Knight then?”

“I don’t care what position you give me. I just won’t be taking any orders from anyone except you and your family.”

“Very well. I’m fine with your condition. I’ll appoint you as a Royal Knight. There will be a ceremony for your conferment of knighthood.”

They moved to the castle as soon as the demon child woke up. I assigned Ceres, the current head maid, to be her personal maid as she’s well educated and highly trained when it comes to combat.

*+*

After I finished recalling everything that had happened, I decided to finish this small meeting we are having.

“Ceres,” I called to the maid behind Lilia and Lumina.

“Yes Your Majesty?”

“Stricter lessons,” After I said this, Lumina, once again, became pale as a ghost.

“Yes Your Majesty,” she responded then gave a small bow.

“Lilia and William.”

“Your Majesty,” They both said at the same time.

“You should’ve both handled the situation better. You were the adults there. What if these two children learn to be rash because of the both of you.”

“We apologize.”

“You should be apologizing to each other. You too Lumina and Prince Emir.”

“I apologize,” Lumina spoke up first and lowered her head, still blushing.

“I - I’m sorry too,” The Prince replied, even redder than before.

The two adults apologized to each other soon after.

Lumina’s POV

I’ve been forsaken! No, no. I’m not overreacting! You just don’t understand how scary Ceres can be when she’s teaching me! She’s really strict and won’t let me take a break until I do the task perfectly.

“Good luck Lumina,” Alicia, who was observing the whole thing, whispered, then shot me a smile. Ahh! She’s totally making fun of me.

I mean, sure. Maybe it’s a little, teeny weeny bit my fault but.. Sure it’s entirely my fault! My stay here in the castle made my head big. This was the wake up call for me to stop being too proud.

“Excuse me,” Said the Prince and his aide as they passed through the door of the office. Everyone was on their way to the dining hall to eat dinner.

When I heard that the child I pinned on the wall was a Prince, I was scared for my life. I don’t have a high position in the kingdom, on top of that, I’m also a demon. If they want to they can probably have me hanged. When I heard the Prince say that I was pretty and he had a hard time approaching me, I took that chance to act bashful in hopes to charm him even further. I still want to live.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Prepare for a lengthy lesson next time, okay? Miss Lumina?” Ceres whispered to my ears which sent shivers straight through my spine.

“Please? Mercy?” I whispered back, hoping that she’ll lighten my punishment.

“You heard what the King said,” She replied while showing me a scary smile.

“Let’s start walking Miss Lumina,” She added, pushing my back lightly.

*+*

*Slurp*

I took a loud sip from my cup. I’m currently drinking tea on the open balcony in the castle. We just finished eating dinner earlier. Everyone introduced each other once again then ate dinner. There were extravagant foods on the table. Whole roasted chicken, lamb soup, steak, and a lot more. Since I needed to act ladylike I couldn’t really enjoy eating the food in front of me at the time.

“Lumina, how many times do I have to tell you that you need to stop doing that? It’s unbecoming of a lady.” Ceres, who was standing behind me, lectured.

“But it was hot.”

“Then blow on it. Don’t slurp loudly. It doesn’t look good for someone living in the royal castle.”

I lightly sighed through my nose then lightly blew on my cup to not accidentally spill some of the tea.

“That’s better, but you still have a long way to go.”

“What? Even blowing a cup has proper etiquette?”

“Of course, so prepare yourself. You will be learning all of this in our next lesson.”

I looked at her, still holding my tea cup. She gave me a gentle smile. Hey lady, your face and what you’re saying doesn’t really match.

“I will be turning you into a proper noblewoman.”

“But I’m not a noble.”

“Ara~ didn’t you know? Lilia will be appointed as a Royal Knight soon. I have also heard that she will adopt you.”

“Wasn’t Lilia already a Knight?” I asked, then took a sip from my cup.

“No she’s not. Also Knights and Royal Knights are completely different. Knights are just nobles whose purpose is to keep peace in the general populace and the first to charge to the enemy’s settlement if necessary. Not even every knight are nobles, most of them are commoners. Royal Knights are the Elite fighters in the kingdom. One of them equals that of a hundred knights, or even more. They’re there to change the tides of battle if necessary. They also only take direct orders from the King or Queen.”

“Isn’t that something amazing then?”

“Of Course! One can only hope to be appointed as a Royal Knight. As of now, there are only 4 Royal Knights, which will turn to 5 soon,” She gleefully explained.

“So you can also act like this huh?” I asked, looking at her smugly. I’ve never seen Ceres this excited. Most of the time, she acts gracefuly and elegantly.

Her smile quickly turned to a frown and she struck my leg with a long and thin stick.

“Your legs are too spread out again,” She said pointing the stick upwards.

“Where did you even hide that!” I asked, rubbing my stinging leg.

“I always have a stick near me. How will I educate you otherwise?”

“You can just tell me what I did wrong! You don’t have to hit me with a stick!”

“You’re acting very unladylike again Miss Lumina,” She glared at me, slowly raising the stick in her hand.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was wrong! I will be working hard to be more ladylike from now on!”

“That’s good to hear then,” She said then hid the stick under her skirt.

What’s under a woman’s skirt is a mystery.. Oh wait, I’m also wearing one.

“Are we interrupting something?” Asked Alicia, walking towards the table where I’m sitting. Behind her was the third Prince of the Kingdom of Frelvia, Emir Wahres-Eis. I rose from my seat, lifted both sides of my dress lightly and curtsied.

“No you aren’t. Good evening Princess Alicia, Prince Emir.”

“Good evening,” Greeted both of them.

Still in curtsy, I apologized once more to the prince. “Prince Emir, I would like to apologize once again for the rude behavior I have shown you earlier.”

“It’s alright. It was just all a misunderstanding,” He replied, now more composed than ever.

“Your Highne-” Before I could finish calling him, he cut me off mid sentence.

“E- Emir, Emir is fine.”

“Then Emir, I thank you for your kind consideration.”

I waited for them to take a seat then took mine.

“Ceres.”

“Yes, Miss Lumina,” After I called her name, she immediately knew what I wanted her to do.

She skillfully prepared two cups of tea and gave one to Alicia and Emir.

We sat there drinking tea in silence for a while. Unable to take the deafening silence, I spoke up and broke the ice.

“Th- The stars sure are nice.”

Welp there it goes. My mouth just moved on its own.

“I-it sure is,” Replied Emir. “D-o you like stars Miss Lumina?”

“Lumina is fine too, but yes. I love looking at the stars,” I said as I reached out my hand upwards. Remembering a certain scene from the past.

“Forget about that for now. What kind of place is the Kingdom of Frelvia?” I asked. finally having thought up a topic.

“What kind of place? Let’s see.. It’s a cold place?” Emir replied. Seeing that he was struggling to answer, Alicia lowered the tea from her mouth and answered the question herself.

“Since Frelvia is located in the northern part of the continent, the temperature is lower compared to here.”

“Have you been to Frelvia Alicia?” I asked.

“I have. They even have these white things falling from the sky. I think they call it… Snow was it?” She looked at Emir, asking for confirmation.

“Yes it’s called snow.”

“This snow was everywhere. On the road, on the roofs of the houses, even their fields. If we play hide and seek there, I bet Lumina will always win,” She let out a giggle.

“That’s true..” Emir added, looking at me.

I can see that. With my white hair, I can just sink my body under the snow and I would be hard to find.

“I want to see snow..” I said in a low tone. Living in a place that had a subtropical climate, I’ve never experienced touching snow. I’ve only seen it on television.

“I- I think I can make some snow right now.”

“Really?” I looked at him, elated.

“It’ll take time but I think I can do it,” He said, taking a stick with a blue crystal at its tip out of his pocket.

He walked farther away from us, “I will be starting then.”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then…

He started drawing things on the floor with the stick he’s holding.

“Umm.. Ceres? What is he doing?”

“He’s drawing a magic circle.”

Drawing a magic circle? Where’s the cool chants? The flashy movements? My expectations have been betrayed.

“Drawing? Do all mages do that to cast magic?”

There’s just no way. If mages fight like that, then they’re gonna be useless, especially on a battlefield.

“You can but mages typically use a type of casting that is almost instantaneous called flash casting when fighting an opponent.”

“Then why isn’t he flash casting?”

“Flash casting requires intensive studying on one spell alone. You must memorize every nook and cranny of the magic circle of a spell. Prince Emir being able to draw a magic circle and cast magic at a young age is already amazing as it is,” Ceres explained.

“Magic can also be activated through chants, but even that needs a lot of studying. You still need to memorize the magic circle of a spell.”

“Isn’t learning magic really tedious then?”

“Of course. Just like the way of the sword, the path to becoming a strong magician is also not an easy one.

We continued chatting to ourselves while Emir continued to draw the magic circle on the floor.

“Can you use magic Alicia?”

“I have not studied magic yet. Father said he’s going to find me a tutor to prepare me for the Academy.”

“Can I..”

“Join you?” She finished my sentence.

“Yes! Can I study magic with yo-”

“No,” She closed her eyes then took the cup to her mouth.

“Ahh! Please?!” I crawled towards her. She opened one of her eyes and looked at me still sipping her tea.

“No way..” I sat back on my chair dejected. Magic is one the things that caught my interest ever since coming to this world. Being gated away from it makes me feel depressed.

“Hahaha.”

.

Alicia was laughing at me to the point that there were tears in her eyes.

“Of course you can. You’re so easy to tease,” She said, wiping the tears off her eyes.

This girl…

“I’m done,” Emir spoke up in the middle of our banter.

“Do it whenever you’re ready,” Alicia said to Emir.

“Here it goes.”

He pressed the crystal part of the stick on the center of the magic circle that he drew. The crystal lit up, spreading its light on the lines near it. The magic circle slowly lit up from the center to its edge. After completely filling the magic circle with light, the temperature around us began to drop.

“It’s starting to get cold.”

The dress I’m currently wearing isn’t exactly that thick as the climate here in Ludenburgh isn’t particularly cold.

Moments later, snow began falling from the sky. Its scale wasn’t really that big as the snow seems to only fall on the balcony.

“Amazing..” Whispered Ceres.

It was indeed amazing. Suddenly seeing snow falling from the sky feels magical. Well maybe because it was made with magic. I tried catching a snowflake with my tongue.

“As expected. It didn’t have any taste.”

“I think.. This is as long as I can keep the spell running.”

As he raised the stick he’s holding from the ground, All the light from the magic circle vanished. The surrounding temperature also slowly returned to normal. I clapped my hands at the sight that we saw. Alicia and Ceres followed soon after.

“That was amazing Emir,” I praised him.

“Indeed. I would like to do something like that in the future,” Alicia added.

“It’s nothing compared to my brother’s though..” He said as he scratched his head.

This kid..

“Don’t compare yourself to others that much! What you showed us was the most beautiful thing that I have seen since coming to this w- place!” That was close. I almost slipped there

“Thank you,” He blushed while thanking me.

Doesn’t this kid like me too much? I silently sighed.

We continued our talks until late at night and went to our separate rooms after.

*+*

“How about this one?” I asked the maid behind me, who was fixing my hair. I’m currently preparing myself to go outside of the castle. For the first time in a while, I would finally be able to go out again!

She grabbed the thin, blue ribbon that I was pointing to and tied my hair to a side ponytail. Since my left horn has been broken off, I didn’t need to hide that part so I was trying out other hair styles.

“Are you fine with this?” Ceres asked after finishing tying my hair. Ceres just told me that apparently, King Edward already knows that I’m a demon. Naturally, she was also informed about me. She was also told to hide the fact that I’m a demon.

“Hmm.. You know what, I think the bigger ribbon looks cuter. Can you do that please?”

“Understood.”

She took the bigger ribbon that was on the table in front of us and started to replace the small ribbon tying my hair.

“Can you do a braid?”

“Yes I can.”

“Can you please braid the hair here and bring it towards the side ponytail?” I pointed to the left side of my hair. I was trying out some hairstyles that I’ve seen some anime characters use.

“Understood.”

She silently did what I had instructed her.

“It’s perfect! Thank you!” I said as I inspected my hair in the mirror in front of me.

“Can you please tell Lilia I’ll be going down soon. I need to prepare myself some more.”

“Understood,” She bowed at me then left the room.

With only me being the only one in the room, I went in front of the bigger mirror located in the closet and did a quick spin.

“Hehe. Aren’t I cute,” I said to myself.

“Hmmm,” I heard someone mutter.

I was confused and scared for a second but continued my actions.

“AHHH!!” I found someone looking at my reflection in the mirror. The source of the sound was the goddess.

“So loud,” She said, covering her ears.

“What are you doing here!?”

“What? Am I not allowed to visit you now?” She said as she floated through the air inspecting my hair.

“Don’t touch mee!!” I said as I waved my hands towards her. It didn’t connect, my hands just went through her body.

“Why can’t I hit you?!” I asked irritatedly.

“Why would you hit me? Shouldn’t you be thankful to me?” She said while checking the clothes in the closet.

“I’m the reason that you’re having a comfortable life here in the castle,” She added.

“I guess that's true… But at least tell me first when you’re gonna visit me!” I complained further. I don’t know if she saw my talk with Ceres or what I was doing, but I hope she didn’t.

“What talk?” She asked.

Ah. I forgot she can read minds! NOOO!

“Oh you mean this one?” She said in a teasing manner and smugly smiled at me. Suddenly a screen-like object appeared in front of me. It was playing a replay of Ceres tying my hair, and me spinning in front of the mirror.

“AHHH! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFFF!!” I screamed at her. I was waving my hands at the screen in front of me in an attempt to dissipate it, but my hands only went through it.

“Oh, I know!” The video on the screen stopped playing.

“Finally decided to stop playing with me?” I asked in an annoyed tone.

“What in the world do you mean?” She snapped her fingers and the figure in the video changed. It was my body from my previous life.

“No. Please no..”

“Enjoy!” She said, then the video on the screen started playing again. This time, it was my old body doing all the actions I did earlier.

“IT’S CRINGEYYYY! STOPP!!!” I pleaded for her top stop the mental torture she’s doing on me but she just laughed it off and increased the number of screens.

After a while, I was on my knees, out of energy. Not even enough to stand.

“What’s this? Tired already?” She asked me while checking under my skirt.

“You’re wearing cute underwear too now huh?” She laughed.

“Can you please at least not sexual harrass me.. Just what do you want?”

“You’re so boring. Where’s the person that said ‘he’s gonna make a harem in this world?’”

“I- It’s still here! Just not yet! I still don’t have any information on how to turn back into a guy.”

“Too many reasons,” She sighed then snapped her fingers once again.The screens surrounding me disappeared one by one. I slowly stood up and looked at myself in the mirror. Everything that was a mess, my hair and my dress, returned back to how it was before she came.

“That kid, the Prince, Emir was it?”

“Yes”

“I want you to make him like you more, to the point that he falls in love with you,” She explained while floating around the room.

“What are you saying? He’s a kid you know?”

“Are you still doubting me? After what you’ve experienced you’re still doubting me?”

“I guess that’s true.."

"It's not like you're gonna do something weird," She said while playing with my hair.

You say that like that in itself isn't weird.

"What even is the purpose of making him like me more?" I asked as I feel that doing that isn't exactly morally correct.

"I can't tell you yet. Just know that it will be important for you in the future."

"Can I not do it? It just feels... Wrong.." Playing with people's emotions isn't exactly my cup of tea.

"You can."

"Then I-"

"If you want everything you've built up to collapse," She interjected.

Am I really in that bad of a situation? After thinking for quite some time, I decided to ask what she wanted me to do.

"So? What do you want me to do?”

“You know that he already somewhat likes you right?”

“I think so?”

“You only need a little bit of push then you should be good.”

“And?”

“In your little trip later, there will be a little accident. Do your best to keep him safe. That’s all.”

“What’s the accident?”

“Figure it out by yourself.”

“Huh? Then how am I gonna save him?” There was no response.

I turned around to look for the goddess but it looked like she was already gone.

“She’s gone again..” I loudly sighed before I stepped out of my room. I should focus on the task given to me for now.