“So, what are you doing today, Little sis?”

My oldest sister, Amber, asked. It’s become rather like a routine for us lately while we are having breakfast. So, this time I figured I’d make that routine a little more interesting.

“Well I’m planning on scaring the crap out of some noble children. I’ve been waiting three years till I was old enough to go out without Mum’s permission so I’m going to make the best of it” I replied with an evil grin.

A few days ago, I had my fourth birthday but due to some circumstances I couldn’t yet leave the confines of my room unattended. The great me, a child who reached the god realm at the age of four with only casual cultivation, was grounded. Yeah, it was embarrassing for me. Having two of the most respected identities in the kingdom but yet I was grounded for making a sex joke with Grandma. Oh, and ‘mums’ is like a plural for me to refer to both parents. It get’s annoying after a while so those things end up sticking.

“You do realise you are just going to get grounded again once she finds out, right?” The drastically more mature little girl who wanted to name me Butterfly asked.

“Eh, it’s so worth it. To see all those stuck up noble twats pissing themselves and running for mummy will be amazing. Want to tag along? As long as the other nobles don’t dob you in, I’ll be blamed for it all and they won’t even know.” I offered coaxingly.

“I’m fine with it. Tomorrow is a school day anyway so even with being grounded I’ll still see my friends.” Amber answered dismissingly. She’s picked up a bit of grandma’s ‘whatever’ personality, which I appreciate quite a bit. It is certainly useful for situations like this.

“Hmm, okay fine. But only if Jasmine is there. I’m still annoyed with the rumour she started recently.” Emerald agreed with the purpose of revenge.

Two weeks ago the noble child in question started a rumour about whether I really existed or not. No one has seen me save from the rare glimpses of servants and my family so she believed it funny to question my existence. Unfortunately for her, she miscalculated the relationship my siblings have with me and has earned their ire, not a good position to be in with two princesses of the kingdom. It will pass over fairly quickly so long as she does nothing stupid but I rather question that outcome with someone dumb enough to question the existence of a princess.

“It should be easy enough to arrange. With my first appearance the noble children will naturally try to gain a favourable impression with me and as a result, I doubt any of them will be willing to disregard my suggestion of activity. As long as she is in the common room, you’re revenge will be sated whether she follows or not.” I promised easily. I’ve been planning this for a long time, naturally I am confident in my planning.

“What do you mean by getting revenge even if she doesn’t come?” Emerald asked in confusion.

“If she chooses to disregard the princess and abandon the crowd, she will be ostracised by the other nobles. If she stays behind or if she follows, as long as she is there the results are the same.” Amber answered for me.

“If she actually does stay behind I would begin to pity her. After starting a rumour about my non-existence and then avoiding my event she would just bring misfortune onto herself by refusing to attend. If she attends, it will just be getting even but if she does not her life will be hard for the foreseeable future.” I added in as an after thought.

“My grudge is not to the level of ruining the childhood of a young girl. If it does happen, I will find a way to mitigate the damage it does.” Amber replied with a sigh.

“Hoh? How irresponsible of you, Scarlet. Scheming in plain sight, you might just be overheard.” Grandma said casually as she scared the hell out of my sisters.

“You know grandma, if I didn’t have the confidence to scheme like this in plain sight I would be doubting you’re abilities. You did promise me no outside interference would appear today after all.” I said with a smile.

“Ah, the cute little girl who could barely talk full sentences without panicking has become a political snake. How disappointing.” She said with a fake regrettable tone.

“As an outsider I feel rather offended that the one who taught her that was the one who said it’s regrettable.” Amber cut in with a glare.

“Hardly, I only helped her get the words out in the open. They where always there in the beginning anyway, she just needed help expressing them. If anything that queen god of ours is the one who taught her to be a skilled politician.” Grandma said, totally shifting the blame unknowingly onto myself. I can’t really deny it though. I always analyse everything I do, say and think before accepting it. Being a genius comes with the disadvantage of an unusually active mind.

“Should we not get going? A venue will be chosen before we can manipulate it if we are too late” Emerald reminded us.

Yeah, that would be bad. If they have already decided to go someplace else, even my presence won’t have enough influence to change that. Cutting off the conversation, we left towards the common room. In reality, it was just a massive ball room that was used for nobles and important officials to gather and socialise while they weren’t doing anything else. There was always food there along with several games, an indoor stream that looked utterly beautiful and a few other decorations. The theme of the ball room was like a cross between a grand and lavish, well, ball room before it merged into an indoor garden. Naturally, it’s quite popular for parties due to that feature as well. The noble children had a spot that was acknowledged as their own by the other nobles.

Once inside with grandma stalking from the shadows (no, she just mixed in with nobles. She’s not an assassin) we didn’t attract much attention at first. Seeing the two princesses come in with another noble or several isn’t very uncommon and since our area had a route far enough away from the distance where they would politely greet us on our journey, it was obvious we didn’t attract attention at first.

But soon, one or two caught sight of my appearance and began to whisper. Within a few seconds, I had the full attention of all the adults in the hall. Naturally, grandma said that I was the third princess and everyone knew within seconds but they where still stunned with my appearance. It is expected for a princess to be beautiful with out bloodline and status of being cultivators but I was obviously at another level. I was a god after all, one that if full-grown would have had an appearance beating a god when I was still a normal mortal. With my cultivation? Even as a four year old I am impressive. There’s not really a way to describe being flawlessly perfect. In the end, now the only thing which will increase my beauty is age and my personality. If I have a crappy one, naturally it is not as good as an elegant one.

There are forty realms to reach god. Once you do, there are ten realms until you reach the strength cap. I’m a third realm god currently. In reality I am unnaturally perfect due to both the cultivation and the base form along with my unique features, pale skin and rich lips. Even if I get hurt, perfection is so far engrained into me now that my actions would naturally be as such. Cultivation doesn’t just increase beauty and strength. It also increases the natural grace, something which I already had a lot of. I could be chopping a body up with an axe and a savage grin while still seeming graceful.

So naturally, I was the centre of attention. The only sound I heard from the nobles was when some more information was passed among themselves but otherwise, they where barely even breathing loudly. Well, other than my Grandma. She really couldn’t care less about their reactions to me. Even on our first meeting, a glance was all she spared me before talking with my parents so why would she do more now? She judges people based on personalities, not looks. Though I’m not really sure how she ended up with Grandma Airhead in that case. Maybe she just genuinely likes that sort of person or even she doesn’t understand?

Either way, I ignored the looks. Regardless of their curiosity I knew acknowledging them would mean I would be required to approach them and to suddenly reverse my current path in the favour of attention would be unfitting and as such, we made our way to the corner the noble children had reserved for themselves without even sparing the crowd a glance.

Originally, this corner itself was created to be a place for the children to socialise during balls so although it is tucked away behind a massive tree with tables around it, there is still a side-door that food is constantly being brought through for the young nobles. It is simple fact that children would be uncomfortable spending the whole event socialising with the adults of the hall so this place is considered a retreat for the children. While they are still expected to socialise with many of the adults and make regular appearances during such events, it is still a place for them to escape the ball. Of course, the adults have one as well, it’s just a little more public.

My point to that is the children had not noticed my scene yet and while I could see them, they could not see me. I decided to play with them a little. Signalling my sisters to go on ahead of me, I sat in a branch directly above them and waited to see how long it would take for me to be noticed. Cultivation alone wouldn’t help against someone as superior to them as me so sight would be what they would need to rely on.

“Good morning princesses.” The first girl to notice my sisters greeted.

“Hello Trinity” Amber greeted in return. Everyone in the group of around thirty noble children had noticed them now.

“Ah, you are just in time. We where just discussing what we should do for the day. Do you have any suggestions?” Another girl directed at my sisters.

“Actually, my sister had one” Amber replied easily, prompting everyone to look at Emerald.

“Scarlet is with us today. She is the one who had something she wanted to do.” Emerald shrugged dismissingly. Some simply had a disbelieving look but a few chose to look around and naturally found me directly above them before freezing. They didn’t say anything but naturally the others noticed the actions and followed their eyes before copying them. I had to admit that with the enchantments to make the tree blow softly in the wind, I would have been quite a sight to behold.

But of course, I am much too dramatic of a person to let myself lose this golden opportunity. Suddenly, I vanished and reappeared about a foot off the ground, slowly falling with a small puff of my skirt so that my decent looked to be in normal speed but skipping everything in between, as if I really was only a foot off the ground the whole time. That was much more interesting than a slow fall all the way down.

“I know a few interesting places in the castle that you haven’t been to before” I said with a soft but sweet voice. Ironically it was the shock of hearing my voice that snapped them out of it simply because of how nice it sounds.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Scarlet. And where would these places be referring to, if I may ask?” The oldest among them asked. You gotta give her props for how quickly she composed herself.

“Hmm, well this castle is very old with a lot of different people creating secret rooms, passages and retreats. While these are interesting to explore though in and of themselves, there are two rooms in particular which would be quite amusing to explore. Consider it a test of courage, if you will.” I said vaguely.

Saying a few more lines to convince them, I had the entire group following me, although with an obvious amount of hesitance and caution. For my first stop, I was taking them to the laboratory. The way to open the laboratory was quite interesting. A normal picture, just like any other, had to be destroyed on the wall in it’s exact location. I’m assuming they made it as such in order to guarantee that it wasn’t accidently discovered as putting a picture up and then destroying it is a very deliberate action, especially as there weren’t any nails to hold it meaning mana would have to be used. It works on a mechanism that if mana is put on that rectangle space and then violently dispersed, it would open the room. It is quite genius really. With this, anyone layering mana over the walls to trigger hidden mechanism’s would not realise it by accident and with the control it takes to replicate without a picture it is almost impossible anyone would notice the laboratory. Whoever made it was quite impressive indeed.

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Of course though, I explained to them how it works. If nothing else, it is an escape route for the nobles in the case of an attack and with two entrances, they would not have to fear being boxed in. Once I have finished using it to scare them though, I will be repurposing it into a secret hang-out spot instead while bringing many fun activities into it.

“How where you able to find such a place, sister?” Emerald asked me before we went in after I explained the mechanism.

“I had a lot of free time to read through old letters, documents and books once you had both gone to school and our parents where busy with administration issues.” Truthfully, I really did do that but it wasn’t how I found this place.

Before any more questions could be asked I activated the mechanism.

“From what I can tell, this used to be a secret laboratory. It seems the person here was originally trying to create potions to physically strengthen and improve their own body. Due to that desire, there where a lot of animal test subjects but thankfully she didn’t do any tests on another human save herself. It can of course still be argued at the morality of such an act but strictly speaking there where and are no laws against her experiments other than it being a hidden practise. Due to how old the place is, it is unknown what her goals where or her true identity but seeing as the construction of this place would be picked up by other cultivators unless she was five realms above them, it is plausible to reason that she was either a very strong cultivator or a very well-connected one.” I explained to them as we filed in.

“You weren’t kidding when you said a courage test. This place is creepy, it even gives off a bad vibe” The oldest once again talked first. I was a little surprised she could sense that but it’s not enough to be notable.

“Yes, it is. But all places have their worth. While this mechanism is the only entrance, it can be opened from the inside as well by pressing the button. On the opposite side of the room, there is a similar button that can be used to escape but unlike the entrance, it is only a one-way doorway. Naturally, a place with one entrance and two exits is a good one to lose pursuers or hide in the case of a disaster. I am planning on repurposing the room in the future but for now, you should all go and explore what it’s like now. Not many chances to explore such a place come to us as the children of important families after all.” I explained to them. Earning a few nods, they split off into groups of two and three to look through the laboratory.

Obviously, in such a castle this lab is quite big. Based on my observations there where even dragons used in here occasionally as live test subjects so the room itself is well-reinforced and sound-proofed, one of the reasons why I desire to repurpose it. The other is that in total it is close to fifty kilometres big on the inside and fifty metres from the out. Honestly, it is quite impressive that the owner could place down such a massive space manipulation array so I assume they where atleast in the 25-30 realm range.

What was creepy about it though is most of the test subjects are still here, even if they are long dead. Intimidating equipment, dried blood, test tubes and glowing glasses with brains and organs. There’s even a massive book in a middle with hundreds of thousands of names that have been crossed out from past animal subjects that where killed in the experiments. Occasionally, I would hear screams and see the nobles huddling close to each other in this creepy place but after around an hour, we all came back in to meet at the centre of the room, next to the book.

“Why would someone do all this?” One of the younger nobles asked.

“A lot of reasons, really. They might have been trying to strengthen their own cultivation and body, maybe it was to heal others or cure a disease and maybe they even where trying to create chemical weapons. It’s obvious through the test subjects that it was something to do with manipulating the bodies physiology through chemical mutation but what they where trying to and maybe did achieve is unknown” The oldest once again answered. Her name is Crystal. Since I’ve been referring to her as the oldest from now it was getting a little old.

“Can’t we work it out from analysing the bodies?” Another girl asked. She was in the mid-range for age. This time I answered though.

“Unfortunately, no. They where very careful to not leave any notes behind and it has been too long to be able to determine the chemicals used in the experiments properly. From the results we would find it would be impossible to link it to a precise formula. The only reasons I know of the body strengthening research are from the bone density of the skeletons being higher then their mana naturally should have allowed.” I explained. Plus, I want to keep this place a secret so taking it in for testing would be stupid.

“How do you plan on repurposing this space, sister?” Amber asked me after a small silence.

“I have my ways. When it’s ready, I will show you all again as a sort of before and after scene. Anyway, there is still the other room to check out. If you think this is bad the other one will make it look like a dream.” I foreshadowed with an innocent smile, making them shiver.

Still, surprisingly no one backed out from my subtle challenge. I guess they are nobles. To believe them not to be up to a little courage test would probably be considered insulting. But seriously, the next room was insanely creepy and in a weird way, beautiful. I couldn’t deny the allure of the place, even if it is morbid and twisted. But isn’t grandma’s dickhead collection the same? It is still funny though so why can’t something morbid be beautiful?

“I suggest you close you’re eyes once this is open. Seeing it from the inside will be much more dramatic” I cautioned them. Surprisingly the only ones who didn’t follow my commands where my two older sisters. The others didn’t even hesitate.

Once I was inside I told them to open their eyes again. As soon as they did, they all visibly flinched and took a step backwards with a few even falling over. It’s a rather simple entrance, really. A door in the middle of the wall behind us with smooth walls, floor and roof and a railing blocking off this little observation platform from the rest of the room. I naturally positioned them at the railing for when they opened their eyes so they saw the full scale of the room.

Burning chains trying to drag the skeletons back down into the fiery pits of hell (at least that’s how it looked), skeletons mouthed into painful expressions embedded in the walls trying to claw their way out and from the roof, spikes sticking through the skeletons limbs to position them at differing looks of fiery rage and pain. Throughout it all, there where different coloured hollow glows emitting from the eyes of every skeleton and at the end of the hall there was a throne with a unicorn skeleton on the right and a dragon skeleton on the left. Above, there was a phoenix with flames still burning on it’s wings and in the throne itself was who I assumed to be the skeleton of a previous queen within her self-made crypt. It was both beautiful to look at and extremely morbid, with every single one having their own different expressions and looks expressed through their bones. She must have spent a lot of times studying bones to be able to make this place.

The nobles where both horrified and unwilling to look away. The room stretched fifty kilometres wide and eighty long with this platform being about half way above the floor. With the fact that we are cultivators it is obviously possible to see it all in great detail. What I liked most about it was obviously the throne. In front of it, off of the platform there is a hydra skeleton that looks like I loyal dog, guarding it’s master. I wonder, did she kill herself to make this or did someone else? Whether she made the room or not, I am not sure but either way it is beautiful in it’s own right.

In total, we stayed there for around half an hour before we all went out to go shopping in one of the new malls made specifically for wealthy spenders. Marble pillars, statues, indoor water fountains and potted plants as well as crystal chandeliers where all through the market. In total, it was around three stories high with escalators and stairs throughout the whole thing. The shops where all spacious and open with varying styles based on the owners who built them and there where occasionally bands playing classical music throughout the place. The food court… well, let’s just say imagine the most luxurious food and looks of the place as you can and then add a bit more. There was even an indoor theme park in one section of the place.

But, of course, since we are cultivators the clothes are a mix between the prettiest they could make and the most practical. Practically all of the clothes where made from rare materials with some even stretching up to realm thirty beast skins and furs that merchants bought in auctions. There where casual, formal, battle, defensive and unique clothes in the various shops in the place. Personally, it is my first time being here and I have to say I am impressed. I’ve never really got into clothe crafting before so mine where just based on use and not looks. It makes me consider learning some techniques for clothe making. Of course, I have my favourite outfit that I like wearing as well that I will be sure to find somewhere in this huge shopping centre since I haven’t been able to get it so far in this life.

Personally, my favourite clothes to wear would be a black hooded fluffy jumper, zip up. I like leaving it unzipped so my shirt can be seen underneath and with the hood, it snuggles up to my neck which I’ve always really liked. For the pants it would be a blue-black sort of colour pair of jeans and the shirt is usually a light white and slightly loose shirt. In general, this outfit really brings out my hair and face and I really like wearing jumpers. Showing skin doesn’t scare me but I just don’t feel comfortable if I’m not in long clothes. Since I can control my temperature, it’s not like I need to wear something else and to me, it’s just my favourite set of clothes. I’m sure everyone has that one look that just goes really well together and for me, that’s my look. But don’t be mistaken. I can easily pull off a lot of other looks as well, I just prefer that one. I’m really picky when it comes to the details on my favourite looks like the exact shade, fluffiness and colours but even then, I should be able to find an outfit here that suits my tastes and then make it my normal clothes. I’m a princess, not a doll. I’ll dress up how I want.

Seriously, wearing dresses all the time is seriously inconvenient to cultivators so it’s not a weird thing that most don’t wear them. The more of you’re body your clothes cover, the less you get damaged from attacks and the less you have to worry about someone perving on you. It’s easy to look good in stuff other than dresses and business clothes so unless I have to, this is going to be my main outfit, maybe with small changes to it every once in a while like a different shirt or pair of jeans.

Anyway, I got side-tracked. Obviously I bought like ten different variations of my outfit but I also bought a lot of other clothes I liked. Shoes… they are a bit of a sore topic for me so I’m not even going to mention them. Handbags are just a hindrance with spatial rings. In the end, it is just used for fashion and honestly, it doesn’t suit my outfit anyway and attaching a string to yourself when cultivators might attack is a bad idea. I killed a god by accident because my hand got caught on her handbag as I was jumping away from them after unleashing an attack. It pulled her into it and shredded everything above the waist instead of dodging like I was expecting.

Maybe if I was wearing a different outfit and I didn’t mind looking like a fashion idiot for wearing a handbag when I have storage rings I’d give it a go but it is an unnecessary accessory for me and practically every other cultivator so it’s not very popular other than special circumstances. I do where jewellery though. My main dimensional storage ring is made out of mana crystals (super rare, slave gods had to give it back to me, not me buying it) and it is linked with my life essence. Basically, if I get a certain distance from it, it will teleport back to me, it’s owner and no one but me can access it. Destroying it is practically impossible as long as there is mana in the mana crystals and it also looks good. The reason mana crystals are so rare is because they have to form from massive amounts of mana and then have no access to mana again. If it has mana before you try crafting it into another form it is almost impossible.

So, with the fact that it can store absolutely ridiculous amounts of mana that can be used at will it is very unlikely it will ever break. A first realm cultivator could put their mana pool in it and it would take a god to break. So when I god puts mana into it? Well, they are super rare for a reason. But in the end, they still aren’t perfect. What’s perfect is the inventory-like power I have in my soul since even if I die I still have it and it’s content but I don’t use it for anything other than my mass book and magic notes collection. If I die and lose my memories at least I have this as a backup and a note written to myself.

The other jewellery I have isn’t as special in a practicality value. It is to a certain extent but not to the level of my old equipment that I haven’t reclaimed yet. I have a single necklace that Mummy and Mother gave me on my fourth birthday and an armband. Both are made out of varyingly spectacular crystal constructs with the armband being a gift for my first birthday. My second and third birthday where a lot of other things but it’s not really something to go into considering that throughout all my birthdays I got hundreds of gifts. The jewellery though was the one’s my parent’s personally gave to me so it’s special.

I think something I really like though was a gift my sisters bought me on my fourth birthday. It’s a hair clip of a primrose, one of the darker variants (I don’t really like bright vibrant colours, darker looks better) that sit’s on the left side of my head. It is really beautiful honestly and even if it’s small, maybe around five centimetres, it is still something that stands out as amazing to me. I genuinely do love it since it goes so well with my hair and every time I look in the mirror, I remember how excited they where for me to open my gift. All four pieces of my jewellery are important to me, one for practicality and three for personal reasons, but I admit that one’s my favourite.

Overall, the shopping was quite fun for me. I actually ended up getting changed into my favourite clothes around half way through the day when the shopping was finished. Our escorts sent it home while we wandered into a massive gaming complex. There where roller coasters above and below was an arcade. There where game’s everywhere and we spent the rest of the day in the place messing around on them and roller coaster, multi-player games and little fun things like a wheel of fortune and a claw teddy bear machine. The claw was kind of rigged though. It was traveling around really fast and there where gaps between the teddies so you had to hit the button when you thought you could get it. I could get them due to my reflexes, cultivation and processing speeds but only one of the other nobles got one without my help and that was by luck. Still, I guess they wouldn’t make money otherwise. It’s reasonable to do an abnormal claw grabber game when you have enhanced minds, reflexed and skills.

Eventually though, we had to go back home. For one, most of the other nobles had school in the morning and two, staying out past dark is dangerous for a regular kid, let alone us high-profile’s. All three princess’s and thirty one nobles wandering around together at night? Yeah, even if I’m a god I’m still sceptical about that. Maybe if everyone knew I was a god It would be okay but I feel like even that wouldn’t stop parents from wanting their children home for dinner and I agree.

Once we got home, the story about everything we’ve done today was told to our family (except the lab. Labs a secret) with varying levels of enthusiasm and we had a good dinner laughing together and telling stories. It feels really warm to have a family and I know that I appreciate the feeling a lot more than most people do as I know what its like to lose them. I know I’ll never get over my obsession for strength but atleast now I have a reason to want strength and I have my own desires. I may still want it but that doesn’t mean I will discard what I have now for it. This is the best I have ever felt, with the love of having a family again and being close to my sisters. I may be a god but even a god deserves a family.

Friends though… I still feel like the only candidate for friendship in the group is Crystal and even then she seems a little stiff around me. Plus, I’m four and she’s sixteen by body. It won’t be so easy to develop a friendship with her unless I am atleast grown up mostly. Since she won’t age physically in such a short amount of time due to her cultivation once I finish my growth, it will become a lot easier for her to talk to me. The way I’ll look when I’m old enough might make her avoid me though. I like being perfect with undefinable beauty but it’s also a fact that the more beautiful you are, the harder it is to make friends as they either look at you in awe or jealousy. Occasionally though, you will meet someone beautiful as well that connects with you and becomes your friend or someone who just genuinely doesn’t care. Most likely, my friends will be the second option, as far as I know.

I know it sounds vain when I put it like that but I also know that people have trouble getting along with both the strong and the beautiful due to feeling as if they are in their shadows. I’m not going to give up either of those traits so in the end, it means I won’t have many true friends but I don’t mind that. I’d rather one or two friends I can treat like family then ten or twenty who are nothing more than a weak and fragile friendship.

Over the last four years, the nobles are the first children other than my sisters that I have talked to and honestly, probably the only children which I even have a chance of being friends with. I don’t have confidence that I can make friends with someone without status or power in school. In the end I will just be a figurehead everyone looks up to but is to scared to talk to. Maybe I’ll meet someone who I can talk to but even if I do, what will the other students do to them? The school I will go to will be the top school in our nation. That means there will be rich and powerful students everywhere. If they get in with power alone, they will be supressed by the rich kids. If they get in by money alone, they will be supressed by those more powerful than them.