Back in Percival’s room later the same day, I made a mess with the books, to make people at least suspect I read them. No time for that, I was afraid. I wish I had the Death March guy’s ability to read stuff and take notes from the item box. Or the other story’s crafting from the item box. No luck on either venue.

I left my room to find some snacks. As I went by, I could see the effect of my activated perks on the palace staff. The maids stared at me with longing eyes, the crafters had renewed respect. The subtle effects of my passive social Perks. Maybe I should get more of them. I opened the Perk list for my current Class and browsed. As I saw the list, I could see why the Empire was so powerful. Their Classes all had access to exclusive Perks. And exclusive meant the System ranked them high in the rarity ladder, making them even stronger.

> * Imperial Presence (very rare): +2 Charisma. Shift all reactions of imperial subjects by two steps in your favor.

> * Imperial Leadership (very rare): +2 Mind and Charisma. Learn the Leadership Proficiency 25% faster.

> * Imperial Commander (ultra-rare): +2 Endurance and Charisma. Increase the number of troops you can control by 50%.

> * Imperial Army Training (rare): +2 Strength and Endurance. You learn Combat proficiencies 10% faster.

> * Lancer Captain (very rare): +2 Dexterity. When fighting with a spear or lance with troops under your direct command, they gain +10% accuracy, evasion, and damage.

> * Spear Prodigy: +2 Strength and Dexterity. Learn the Spear Proficiency 25% faster.

> * Imperial Diplomat: +2 Willpower and Charisma, Learn the Diplomacy Proficiency 25% faster.

> * Imperial Spellcaster: +2 Willpower and Magic. Learn the Spellcaster Proficiency 25% faster.

> * Warrior’s Presence (very rare): +2 Strength. You gain +1 Charisma against Martial Classes for every 100 points of Combat proficiencies you have.

Those used up my nine unspent 3rd rank picks from the previous life. They converted into [Imperial Lancer] Perk choices. The random bonuses aside, I grabbed thirty Attribute points. Not bad. Onto the fourth rank. The difference in power level was impressive.

The Perks below were intended to be one of a kind, where a person would get one at the end of a long career. However, for me and my stockpile of traits accumulated from my previous lives, several opened up for me.

> * Combat Veteran (rare): +3 to all Physical Attributes, +30% to your lifespan. Every year during your birthday, you gain 1 Fast-growth point in the three lowest Combat Proficiencies you have above 50. You must’ve trained these Proficiencies during the year.

> * Imperial Magister (ultra-rare): +5 Mind and Willpower. Your pupils learn 25% faster.

> * Imperial General (very rare): +3 to all Physical Attributes. Double the amount of troops you can control.

> * Imperial Scion (very rare): +5 Charisma, Ego. Shift reactions of nobles and courtiers two steps in your favor.

> * Imperial Wizard (very rare): +5 Willpower and Magic. Every year on your birthday, you gain 1 fast-growth point in Spellcaster.

> * Imperial Heir (ultra-rare): +2 to all Attributes. Shift all reactions by one step in your favor.

> * Imperial Champion (ultra-rare): +5 Strength and Endurance. Add half your Strength score to Charisma for challenge checks.

> * Imperial Alchemist (very rare): +5 Mind and Luck. Every year on your birthday, you gain 1 fast-growth point in Alchemist.

> * Imperial Enchanter (very rare): +5 Dexterity and Soul. Every year on your birthday, you gain 1 fast-growth point in Enchanter.

> * Imperial Smith (very rare): +3 to all Physical Attributes. Every year on your birthday, you gain 1 fast-growth point in Metalsmith.

> * Imperial Scholar (very rare): +3 to all Mental Attributes. Learn Mystical Proficiencies 5% faster.

> * Imperial Minstrel (very rare): +5 Charisma and Luck. Shift the reactions of people who hear you perform by 1 step in your favor.

> * Imperial Diplomat (very rare): +3 to all Mental Attributes. Every year on your birthday, you gain 1 fast-growth point in Diplomat.

> * Imperial Assassin (very rare): +5 Dexterity and Luck. Every year on your birthday, you gain 1 fast-growth point in Assassination.

All the unspent Perks from my previous incarnation became a bunch of random bonuses and 175 Attribute Points. Best of all, they wouldn’t feed {Surpasser}. I loathe admitting that the investment was paying off. Slowly, but surely.

I still had this life’s Perk allowance, but I needed to first fuse my Classes. Now that I rejected Loki’s offer to become a [Valkyrie], I needed to find my own way. The first step to do that was to set up a lab and check my blood hormone levels. I needed to see what was happening in my body.

----------------------------------------

Phased, I dove down the stone floor and went underneath the palace. First I checked for any secret tunnels, rooms, or passages. I found three secret tunnels leading out of the palace, designed in a way to make it hard for people to come in from them. Some drops and chutes would be nigh-impossible to climb from below as people escaping would use a little chute cart that moved over a bed of razors pointed downward. The cart could move over these blades going down but would get stuck going up. And once anything reached the bottom of the chute, a trap triggered that raised the blades forming a deadly maze for anyone not the size of an ant. The trap needed to be reset from above. Magical wards protected the chute-trap from tampering.

But I got the gist of the tunnels. One was in the library, another in an unused cellar in the private wing, and the third at the back of the throne room. Despite not being the main palace it had a throne room for any formal occasions that would never happen. In my nine years, I’ve never even heard of it.

I found the perfect spot for my workshop two hundred meters below the palace and started to work. Panels of Force magic created paper-thin cuts in the bedrock as I went around, separating a huge block from the surrounding earth. I removed the block into my item box, forming a big void. The ground shook a bit as the stone above the room settled, lowering just a few millimeters. I used Earth magic to repair the micro-fractures that appeared on the bedrock above and dusted the floor.

A {Summon Wind} spell filled the vacuum and allowed a person to breathe inside. Next, I carved the ceiling to round it, reinforcing the dome as I went. At the center of the square room, I grew a tree so I could use it to easily teleport back and forth. Magical lights, the fifteen copper variant anyone in Windemere could buy dotted the dome, providing the tree with light. Enchanted rods planted in the dirt bed gave the tree water and food.

It reminded me of Minecraft. A large cubic room with naked flat stone walls and a single tree growing out of a tiny patch of dirt. And just like Minecraft, I started to furnish the room. Wind magic enchantments on the corners of the room would circulate, moisturize, adjust the temperature, and purify the air, keeping it breathable and breaking down poisonous components. Around the tree, I expanded the patch of dirt and grew grass in a circle matching the tree’s crown. A wrought iron fence separated the grass from the stone around it.

Next, I dug a moat one meter wide and deep around the fence and Nenandil filled it with water. I set a rune word enchantment at the bottom of the channel to keep the water pure, drinkable, and circulating. Parting the fence at the cardinal spots, I placed small wrought iron bridges for a single person arching over the moats. On a whim, I embed tiny slivers of gemstones to the bottom of the channel, enchanting them to glow. Now the water looked like it had a multicolored sky underneath it. The lights reflected in the water would cast random kaleidoscopic patterns on the tree leaves.

I grinned. It looked as magical as it actually was.

I laid polished hardwood boards over the stone floor, with runic words on the underside to enchant each board with durability and self-repair. They wouldn’t get dusty, moldy, or soggy whatever happened to them. On one side I placed a small gazebo with a tea table for four. After looking at it, I replaced a ring of planks underneath the gazebo with dirt and grew a bush fence around the gazebo, with crawling vines climbing the structure. A snap of my fingers made the vines bloom with hundreds of colorful flowers.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

If Rhiannon saw me growing flowers, she’d have a heart attack.

I placed a few benches and stretchers around the gazebo and a few flower bushes surrounded by wrought-iron fences no taller than a person’s hand. I needed birds and insects here to complete the atmosphere. Since getting actual animals would be problematic, I settled for enchanted runes on the gazebo and in the fences that would summon the illusion of birds and butterflies and bees. These would act like real animals, flying around the gazebo, garden, and tree.

This central area was surrounded by building walls, making it look like the secluded secret garden inside a square mansion. I used an illusion of the sky to cover the roof, making sure it would reflect the day and night cycle of the surface. But the sky would always be pleasant to look at, blue with a few white clouds. It wouldn’t reflect the weather.

The reason I took this much care in designing this area is the girls. I wanted to bring them here and get their minds blown in this secret garden. I still needed to make them both fall in love with me.

To finish the day, I enchanted the stained glass windows to resist impacts and reflect light, blocking sight of what was beyond the fake walls. Beyond the building walls, things would remain naked stone. I would use my {Shadow Workshop} to fill in the void.

Anyone who arrived here through the tree would think they were somewhere else on the surface. Exactly like I wanted.

It was almost dawn when I returned to my chambers to pretend to be sleeping.

----------------------------------------

“Why did you lock yourself in your room all day? If Amina hadn’t stopped the knights, they would’ve bashed the door down!” Mona bemoaned, obviously irritated for not seeing me for a whole day.

I offered each of them one of my arms as we walked into the garden. The normal one. With a flower on each hand, I felt like the king of the world. I didn’t know if they were in love with me yet, but I was a lost cause. Right now I would burn down the Empire to keep them safe.

“Amina knows what she’s doing. In this palace, only Her Majesty and I can overturn her word,” I declared. “And she’ll make sure you are cared for. You can trust her.”

“Don’t say that! It sounds like you’re going away,” Madge said from the other side.

I clinched my elbows closer to my body, dragging them with me. I leaned my head to touch hers and felt Madge’s warmth infuse me. “Never. I’ll never let go of you. I hope you aren’t bored with me around.”

“How could we be, Your Highness?” Mona mockingly asked. “We live to serve,” she sighed.

I bumped her hips with mine, drawing a surprised yelp. “Serve?”

“As your companions,” she poked her tongue out and missed a step to find my foot. I swear she had a Perk for that. However, I was orders of magnitude stronger now. I barely felt her lady-stomp, which made her mad.

“Companion, eh?” I smirked. Mona blushed and looked away.

“If Your Highness wishes for more...” She mumbled bashfully.

I checked around, nobody was listening. I couldn’t sense any lingering spells either. I stopped walking, making the two girls stop too. “Madge, Mona, listen to me,” I said as I caressed both of their arms over the long sleeves of their gowns. “I have a large place in my heart for both of you. You have no idea how important the two of you are for me.”

Madge’s breath accelerated. Mona blushed a deeper red. Her ears looked like they would grow and turn into a fox-kin’s so red they were.

“Let’s sit by that tree,” I pointed out. “And get in the shade.”

“Finish what you started,” Mona whimpered, her voice breaking. “Your Highness!”

I unfolded my arms to grasp their hands. They were as stiff as their scared owners.

“I won’t go anywhere and won’t let you escape either. Now, the tree. Shade. Sit down.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” Madge submitted.

With my fingers intertwined with theirs on each side, I led them to the tree. They sat down leaning against the trunk and I knelt in front of the two girls.

“My ladies,” I started.

> > Contested Charisma check successful.

I didn’t ask for that.

“We hear you, Your Highness,” Madge replied. “Speak your mind. We are ready to listen.”

“Yeah, shoot it!” Mona added.

I let out a peal of crystalline laughter. “Listen well then, my ladies. For I’ll speak the absolute truth from this moment until I kiss your hands one time each.”

> > Contested Charisma check successful.

Shut up, System.

Madge had her lips parted, breathing through the mouth. Mona stared at me like she would extract the truth out with her glare.

“To [Prince] Percival, Madge, and Mona are as important as Rhiannon. His life would be incomplete without either of you.”

Madge pressed her lips together, her white orbs moistening. Mona wanted to call bullshit.

“We were born on the same day. We fed on the same teats. We played together, bathed together...”

They looked away. I shouldn’t have mentioned all the hundreds of times we were naked together right now.”

> > Contested Charisma check successful.

Fuck you, System.

I knew I shouldn’t tell them I loved them as my sisters. But I wanted to tell them the whole truth.

“The three of you, Rhiannon, Madge, and Mona occupy a spot in my heart that no other mortal will ever dream to climb to.”

Without facing me, Mona rolled her eyes, probably thinking it was weird to bunch them with my mother.

I produced a sheathed sword from the item box, a steel one I forged myself. I held it flat on both hands before them like an offering, with the pommel facing north and the tip facing south.

Madge looked at me and we made eye contact. She whispered, “no.”

I didn’t oblige, “I’m not ordained yet, but would you accept my knight’s pledge? That’s how sincere my feelings are.”

> > Contested Charisma check successful.

Gods damn you, System. No, wait, they already do that.

The knight’s pledge was how a knight promised to guard a Lady’s safety and honor with his life. It was used when a knight joined a house, when a knight married a lady, and when a knight was assigned to a female member of the Royalty.

“Put that sword away, Your Highness,” Mona rejected my offer without much volition behind her words.

“Yes, we are not worthy,” Madge agreed.

I would’ve crumbled with fear of rejection if I didn’t have steel mental and spiritual Attributes backing me. Just like my Strength of over a hundred allowed me to bend iron pipes (not steel), and my Dexterity allowed me to dance on a tightrope, Willpower, Ego, and Charisma did their heavy lifting. Yet even with superhuman mental resilience, I still had a knot in my throat. Maybe a little more oomph.

> > [The Leader]

“It’s not for real, I’m not an ordained knight. The sentiment behind it is sincere, please, accept it.”

> > Contested Charisma check successful.

Madge sighed and put a hand over her heart as she stood up. “State your pledge, knight,” She said, following the rite.

“I, Percival, pledge my sword to Lady Madge, to be her defender, champion, shield, and companion until the day I die or my lady deems my service unworthy.”

She took the sword and unsheathed it. Holding the blade upright, she kissed the fuller.

“I, Madge, accept Sir Percival’s pledge. May he be my defender, champion, shield, and companion, until the day I die.”

At this point, the Lady had several options. She could set a term, accept the pledge as it was given, or change it. Madge went for the perpetual one, where the knight had recourse to evade. He’d either stay by the Lady’s side until either died or suffer dishonor and be cast away from Imperial society.

She sheathed the sword and placed it on my shoulders, one at a time. Glancing at Mona, I knew she wanted to do it too. After I got the sword back, I turned slightly to face her, and she was so excited she could blow up if something happened.

Then something happened.

“What are you kids doing?!?!” Marion's desperate question rang from behind us.

I made the sword vanish. “Nothing, Marion. Calm down. We were just pretending.”

“No! Not my girls! You cannot! This is not right even if you are pretending. Madge, Mona, come with me!”

I knew why she was so desperate to stop what we were doing, in many ways. One, they were commoners, and I was an [Imperial Prince]. Two, Mona was my twin sister. She feared we would take this pretend game too far and do something siblings shouldn’t. Three, Mona was my twin sister, and we both were female. It would spell doom to this palace if it leaked.

I waved my hand, using a military signal meaning to halt. Having the girls attend all my tutoring sessions paid off as they stayed where they were. I grabbed Marion’s shoulders and looked into her eyes.

> > [The Cosmos Within]

“Look at me, Marion. You are like a second mother to me. I won’t let anything harm the girls, especially myself.”

<{Say nothing},> I sent a {Royal Order} through {Silent Voice}.

Marion sucked in her lips and stared at me like an al’Mi-raj caught by a manticore. She slowly nodded.

I released the {Royal Order}. Bawling and trembling, Marion hugged me. The weeping girls resonated with their mother's emotional distress and came to hold me too.

I knew it wasn’t yet time to introduce them to the secret garden.