Cordelia sighed, looking at him up and down.
"You can't be here if you are rude to everyone!" she stated.
"I'm not rude to anyone, but you. " Noah chuckled and turned to walk away. However, Cordelia appeared in front of him again.
"I am the Princess, the only human with beasts' magic!" She glared into his brown eyes.
"O-Okay, " Noah stuttered and walked away into the garden. Cordelia raised an eyebrow in surprise.
A prince walked to her, bowed."I'm Nilsson, my lady, you know my family, you were once in our country, a long time ago."
Cordelia smirked grabbing a glass of wine from one of the maid's tray.
"I can't remember such a name, are you sure my mother wasn't pregnant with me? Cause I did most of my journey before I got born." She winked at him giggling.
"Oh, but I'm sure we played a lot. Cause I'm a perfect soccer player, but you kept dragging the ball onto yourself by using magic. "
Cordelia laughed, "I'm sorry I can't control my power, sir, actually cause the school has vanished due to the war, I can't get lessons from anyone," she confessed.
She gestured to walk into the garden with him and he followed.
"What about witches who live above the highest mountain, aside from the deepest river in the lost jungle?" Nilsson puzzled.
"That does not exist, Nilsson, whoever has the gift, hides it from others! so there is no teacher who I can learn from. " Cordelia said in a weak voice looking down at her foot.
The prince drank a bit of his champagne before lifting her chin, using his thumb.
"I bet those witches can help. You must find your faith, grab your chance." He said.
"With all of my heart, I am happy you think so nicely about me; I'm afraid I should reject, as an heir of the throne, I have more duties to take." she turned and walked back in the great hall to greet other guests.
Noah was behind a tree, listening to them all the time. When Cordelia disappeared, he stepped out of the tree.
"Nilsson!" He called out to the prince. Nilsson turned to see who is calling him and got surprised when noticed a stable boy just called him by his name.
"Oh, I'm sorry, your grace. I keep forgetting my place." Noah added, "she looks stubborn, but we need her more robust since we are under attack of the beasts, who have power, and we only have a sword and shield we can't fight them without magic."
Nilsson nodded," How can I help?"
Noah shrugged, "We have to take her to the lost jungle and find witches who can train our princess, or she might get too dangerous for herself and us!"
"You know we can't find the lost jungle so easy, right?" Nilsson murmured and raised an eyebrow.
Noah shrugged, "It appears when you need it from all of your heart."
Nilsson furrowed his brows," How do you know these things?"
"I know," he suddenly got the nerve and stared in Nilsson's eyes intensely without moving.
"You have to help in this matter." For a few moments, Nilsson stayed there freezing, the eye contact was not long but it most certainly did feel like forever. Finally, Noah stopped staring at Nilsson's eyes, and his face turned innocent, again smirked.
"Alright, let's do it," Nilsson accepted; Noah bowed and raised an eyebrow.
"Now I should get back to work if I may," he stepped away to the stables. The prince looked at him, walking away, and got back to the great hall.
Princess sat beside her father, again looked over at the crowd.
"I should tell you something, Cordelia"
"What is it, father?"
"I Wasn't a king, but your mother's husband, now you are old enough to can rule yourself." He confessed
"What do you mean?"
"In my mother's house tradition, women are the queen, not a queen I mean the queen as a ruler; Sharon married me to give her a daughter, as she could still have royal blood, but when she has gone, you were too young to rule, so I did your duty, but now it's your responsibility to do." He said looking at her right in the eye.
Cordelia's eyes widen in surprise till now she thought she was an unqualified princess… now believes that she is a shitty queen too!
"But father, with my lack of control over my powers, how can I rule? What if it's not a gift? What if it's a curse? And turn me into a beast who burns my own kingdom?" she said in a small voice as she looked at the marble floor.
Her father laid his hand on hers, kindly giving it a warm squeeze.
"You are not a beast, Cordelia, you might have that beast's ability, but you are yourself. You have a pure heart and your mother's blood."
"I will do my best to make you proud," she admitted.
"I know, my precious daughter, now have fun, you will have lots to do for tomorrow. "
Cordelia nodded in agreement taking another glass of wine to drink.
A few hours later, the king announced that his daughter would be the queen on the next sunrise after getting blessed with the rays of the moon and blinking stars, all the crowd cheered for the king's daughter and the magician queen.
Nilsson raised his glass of wine to her and drank, Cordelia found herself mirroring him, Noah heard them from the stables and saw them through his mind with a slight smirk on his face.
"She will screw everything," he chuckled, shaking his head in disappointment as he kept brushing the horse in front of him.
At night when the stars were blinking out of the window, the princess stood looking up to the moon tried to imagine her mother; the harder she thought, the less she remembered, till she suddenly saw a face stick behind the window. It wasn't a face; it's Noah's. She opened the window to let him in immediately.
"What are you doing here?" She furrowed her brows and folded her arms.
"Just wandering around, you can't see normal people work out?"
"It's not working out! It's climbing from the window! You may lose your life!" she protested
"Oh come on, you won't kill me just because I like to climb."
"I mean, you may fall from the building and die!" She sighed.
"You care?" He smirked.
"Fuck off and get out, " Cordelia got annoyed.
"Queens, don't say that! "
Cordelia made a fire with her hand, looked at him half-jokingly and half teasingly.
Noah chuckled, "Okay, wait, I need to talk to you "
"You?"
"Yeah, just listen for once in your life!" He sighed, gazing at her eye, "I should reveal a secret, and you have to hear, " he grabbed her arm, dragging her into her chambers, closed the door.
They talked and talked Cordelia got more serious every moment when he finished his words.
"It is half of it, half of the secrets," Noah said.
"What should I do now?" she puzzled
"You have to hurry to get ready to fight. Instead of putting your ass on the throne and drink." He stated in a harsh tone.
"Okay, be polite!" Cordelia said already getting used to his impolite speech.
"I command here." He said pointing at himself.
Cordelia giggled "Fine smart boy, let me think. "
Noah nodded, "Fine, you think," he sighed, lifted his arm made her slumber with a quick move of his hand. Then picked her up, walked out, and disappeared.