The words coming out of her mouth surprisingly didn't chill the warm atmosphere between them.

Nor did Sol's expression change or he spoke anything to comfort her.

Feeling pity for her?

Saying that everything would be alright?

Those kinds of words and actions with nothing to back them up were nothing more than pure hypocrisy.

What's more, did she need his pity? No, she didn't. Edea wasn't some weak woman who needed a young little boy to act as if he understood her pain.

"I wonder. Generally, people at this moment always have an awkward expression and become very uncomfortable or try to comfort me. But, the same has never happened in your case even after I explained what being a witch truly meant."

"If you don't share someone's pain, you can never understand them. But just because you understand them doesn't mean you can agree. That's the undeniable and bitter truth."

"...Oh?"

"You have lived for a very long time. Saw more than I have ever seen or can even imagine witnessing and experienced more than I have experienced.

"Your pain is yours and yours alone. Trying to act as if I understand its magnitude would only be the height of arrogance."

A lonely smile began to form on Edea's face, it was a truly logical reasoning, she was about to put an end to the subject.

"But…"

She stopped herself from speaking and looked at Sol curiously as she waited for him to continue his words. She was immediately struck by how bright his smile was as words flowed out from his lips,

"It doesn't matter how much pain you have. Nor does it matter that I am unable to understand your sufferings. No matter what happens, I will always share everything with you. Master you know. I really lo…"

"[STOP]"

The world suddenly halted. The sound of insects chirping. The flow of the breezing wind. The vibrant blue and green colors faded entirely, giving way to a world without colors, a monochrome world full of black and white.

This was Edea's most powerful skill. Time Stop. This world was her domain and as such in this space her control over time was absolute. In this space, she was God.

Still, the witch of time, One of the first five witches, A being so powerful that countries trembled at her name.

*Huf* *Huf* *Huf*

Was breathing hard while trying to regulate the heavy blush plastered all over her beautiful face. After some time passed,

*Sigh~*

She sighed heavily as she slumped in her chair, all the strength leaving her lithe body while covering her face with her hands.

"I am way too easy."

She chuckled wearily. She knew what Sol was about to say. She wasn't inexperienced about love. But this was even more so because…it wasn't the first time she had to stop time because of his ensuing confession.

"I can't let this old woman drag him down."

The true effects of the curse truly manifested only when doing anything sexual in nature. But, even the acknowledgment of loving feelings between the two was enough to bring some bad luck to him.

'On this subject, he is different from Mars.'

Like Sol, Mars had also developed a crush of sorts for her. But, he was simply too shy and never managed to gather the courage or resolve to even try confessing to her.

'Hahaha! It was rather cute seeing him stammer as he tried to find the words before ultimately giving up.'

She had always found Mars to be a cute child she was taking care of, and even if she could have developed any feelings for him, his personality and her curses made it extremely difficult for it to happen.

But, Sol was different.

'Perhaps I should try to distance myself from him after his awakening?'

She was rather weak to the straightforward type of men and she didn't wish to destroy Sol's future by making the mistake of really falling in love with him.

"Well, it's time to go back then... [REWIND]."

Once again this whole dimension was her world, her domain. A pocket dimension created by her sister East, the witch of Space. As such she could manipulate time as she wished while being here without incurring any backslash. Rewinding the discussion to a few minutes ago was nothing for her.

-----

"The third curse is the curse of infertility. A witch's body is cursed to never be able to give birth."

Edea smiled weakly as she heard those words once again.

It wasn't the first time she had reminded time because of Sol and with the way he was, it would most likely not be the last time either.

"Beautiful summary. Now, we will study the difference between magic and witchcraft."

Passing time with him was always an absolute delight for her.

Even though they should never be lovers, these few fleeting moments always helped her bear her lonely and sad existence.

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----

Once the lessons finished, Sol left through the secret door and watched intently as it changed back to a simple wall.

He always felt a sense of incongruity when entering and leaving that place. The time axis in that dimension was messed up. Sometimes it would be faster and sometimes slower. He was never told the exact ratio either and stopped trying to guess it two years ago.

"How long did it last today?"

He had a far better way to get the accurate time.

"Just about one hour, my prince."

A shadow appeared next to him before revealing itself.

Even though it was impossible to discern her features because of the ninja-like clothes she was wearing. The same clothes gave away her identity as a woman and a quite buxom one at that.

"I see. An hour. Hum. I am a little tired now, do I have any other appointments today?"

"Yes. The next one is your study of history and other scholarly subjects. Once finished, you have an appointment with Lord Gerald at the training barrack for your weekly horse and wyvern riding lessons. Once finished, you will have the rest of the afternoon free and finally, in the evening you have a dinner appointment with the supreme daughter of Castitas."

Sol pinched his brows. Being a prince was great and all. But it was also incredibly taxing on both his body and mind. He didn't even dare to imagine how it would be to become a king.

'Well, complaining serves no purpose. I should just go at it.'

----

History was boring. But still necessary. Sol never underestimated something necessary. After all, knowledge was power.

His lessons mainly detailed the past kings as well as the diverse important events.

"One of the laws of the kingdoms is that all crown princes or crown princesses must wear a name related to a star or a planet. His majesty Jupiter was the first king. After him were Pluto, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and finally his majesty Mars, the eighth king."

Sol listened to the information attentively. After all, this information revealed something incredible.

'The solar system in this world is the same as the one in mine. Does that mean that I am on earth?'

It wouldn't be impossible. He had always heard of the multiverse theories.

This was even more so when he associated the diverse myths of this world. Asmodeus for example was one of the princes of hell and represented lust in his old world. Meanwhile, here, he was the beast representing lust.

'Well, not like it matters in the end.'

Discarding those faraway thoughts, he put his attention back on what his teacher was saying.

Thankfully, the lesson didn't last long and he left the room to go towards the ballroom where he took his regular dancing lessons.

Once finished he continued toward his lessons in ways of the nobles and different untold rules.

Once Sol finished with the boring but necessary lessons, he was now free to do what he really wished to.

Walking quickly towards the stable while keeping his noble appearance, Sol barely managed to hide his excitement, until he found himself face-to-face with another person.

"Prince Sol, I am happy that you took your precious time to come learn from this old man. I hope you had a beautiful day."

Sol smiled at the words of the white-haired old man bowing in front of him.

Right now, he was outside the tower, but still close to it. He understood that he shouldn't go too far as long as he didn't awaken and obtain a reliable way to defend himself, he had to be very careful.

"Do not worry lord Gerald. You are a man I respect very much and taking lessons from you has always been a pleasure."

Finishing his piece, he began to walk towards the office building while Gerald always remained half a step behind him as he followed Sol.

Once they entered the office building,

"*Pfft* Hahaha, little Sol I must say you are acting more and more like a true prince. I remember the snotty brat that was looking at my horses with stars in his eyes ."

Sol felt his shoulders relax a little as he smiled at Gerald's nostalgic remarks,

"Uncle, I already told you that I don't mind if you treated me more casually even outside."

Gerald shook his head in denial and chastised him.

"You know I can't do that Sol. I represent the previous power. It doesn't matter what people know. But as long as we are in public, I must treat you as the prince you are, otherwise, I would be seen as trying to grab more power."

A sigh escaped Sol's mouth. Politics, politics, and more politics. He knew it was necessary but it didn't mean he had to like it.

Gerald wasn't his biological uncle. Just one of the retainers of the previous king before Mars— Neptune. Still, he really respected him and always felt uncomfortable seeing someone the age of his grandfather bow in front of him even though he knew this was how things were here.

It didn’t help that Gerald did not need to bow to him? After all, he was a member of the Highland family, one of the four Duke Families and while Sol was the crown prince, it wasn’t enough by itself to command such a respect.

Gerald gave an encouraging smile as he understood Sol quite well. This was one of the reasons he liked the young lad. He didn’t let his title go to his head like so many young shit heads from noble houses.

"Enough chit-chat. You should already be rather tired. So let's get this done quickly. Anyway, you already grasped the basics and just need more experience, who will you choose this time?"

"My usual ones. Black and white."

"Hahaha~!" Another loud laugh escaped Gerald's lips as he chortled, "Those two are your private property now, they never let anyone else mount them."

Sol smiled. White was his horse. A rare breed of nightmare horse. A rank D species. Black was his wyvern, a rank C species of the Draconic branch.

Wyverns were an extremely devolved form of Dragons. So much so that in the legend, dragons saw the wyverns as inferior creatures not unlike how humans saw apes. Still, they were cool and since he was half-dragon, all dragons-related species always obeyed him without question.

"You are right uncle. Let's go."

Riding was one of his favorite lessons after all. Partly because of the coolness of the act and partly because he was able to interact freely with the man he regarded as his dear uncle, like the father he didn't have.

“Oh. Now that I think about it. How about the heirs of your family?”

While Gerald was his surrogate uncle, he was the real grand uncle of Athena and Mars.

Sol’s question prompted Gerald’s face to darken a little,

“The situation on the border is quite tense. Wratharis is causing problems again as they try to test our defense system.”

Out of the seven countries, while Lustburg had waged war with many of them, their most recurring enemy was Wratharis, the country of Beastkin, from which Setsuna and technically Milia were from.

The current Leader of Wratharis seemed to be quite belligerent so he was a real pain in the butt.

Unlike Sol who had still yet to awaken, both Athena and Ares had already done so long ago and were members of the army thanks to their talents. Athena in particular was a great force in the battlefield because of the special skills of her spirits.

Sol sometimes wondered if the name of people in this world could affect their personalities.

“Well, we are here. Take your wyvern.”

“Let’s go.”

The riding lesson lasted all afternoon. Flying in the air was perhaps one of the most exhilarating things he could do but he knew that he could not let himself fall too much in this feeling.

He had to stay sharp. After all, this was going to be a huge night