"I don't want to do this anymore," Titania said as she slammed her body on the bed. It's been three weeks since she started her bridal lessons. It was too hassle, but she did her best to get over all of it as the competitive person she is.
Her first lesson was table etiquette. Since they're not really aware of her knowledge because she's not a noble from the human race. It was hard at first, but she aced it soon after. Next is the proper posture. She even received a lot of nagging because she's too ungraceful for the teacher.
Next to that is her basic lessons about Tharain. It is the name of the Fantasy world where she is currently in. Her teachers are more curious because the Fairy Queen is the most famous guardian of the Alynthian Empire, yet she almost knows nothing about the place and its culture.
The Fairies are one of the greatest treasures of the Alynthian Empire, which were bestowed upon them by Asherah, the Goddess of the Sea.
Titania groaned as she tried to touch both of her feet. "Why do I have to suffer like this. It hurts."
She loved the history lessons but what she really hated the most was the Dance lesson. Her feet are sore, and she gained blisters due to her teacher making her dance like crazy. She's just thankful that Titania is such an elegant person and her body still remembers how she used to do.
"That damn Duke. He even sent the strictest teacher." She complained as she remembered the cold stare of her dance teacher, Madam Evelyn. She is known to be the best dance teacher in the whole Alynthian Empire. She also teaches students from other nations.
"I want to go back," Titania said as she rolled over on her bed and began bumping her head on the pillow. She would prefer to study Math than this continuous lesson to become a proper bride for the Archduke.
"Shall I bring you jasmine tea? It might help lift up your mood." Marie suggested, and Titania looked at her while pouting as she nodded. "Right away, Milady," Marie said happily and rushed out of the room.
Titania let out a deep sigh as she continued to toss and turn on her bed. It's her first-ever break after her tight schedule. "Is it okay for me to keep doing this?" She murmured to herself.
She's getting worried that she's not doing anything that might help her find clues on how to go back. She let out an audible sigh as she looked up into the high ceiling. But her relaxed face immediately turned into a frown after seeing something that irritated her.
"What are you doing here?" She raised an eyebrow. It was Astra; he's been casually floating in the air inside her room. She doesn't want to waste her energy on this man that she still thought to be a woman.
"Can't you see? I'm relaxing up here." Astra said as he continued to float above her. Titania didn't want to pay him more attention; she was too tired, and so she chose to just close her eyes and take a nap. These past few days were stressing her out. It would be such a waste to focus on this man instead of sleeping.
That's what she thought, but as soon as she was about to fall asleep, she heard loud noises coming from her closet. She angrily opened her eyes and took a deep breath before standing up. She grunts as she starts walking towards the walk-in closet.
"What are you—" She couldn't even finish her sentence due to shock after opening the door of the walk-in closet. She blinked her eyes three more times to ensure that everything she saw right now was real.
It's almost like a different room now. All Titania's clothes are gone and everything that was in the closet.
"What did you do?" She asked the magician while roaming her vision through the whole room. The room's interior changed into a shade of red and black.
It was filled with different books and many tools that she couldn't understand, like those rooms from fantasy stories belonging to sorcerers or magicians.
"I made a shortcut to my room in the Magic Tower," Astra said while munching on snacks again. Titania gave him a tired look. It has also been three weeks since Astra began coming in and out of her room. It's as if he lives there.
"And why did you chose my closet?" Titania's forehead furrowed while trying to understand what was going on inside the mind of the young magician. But it was too hard for her since his mind was like a vast maze.
"Because… Why not?" Titania wanted to pull her hair out due to frustration, but she tried her best to calm down because her body didn't really belong to her. She took a deep breath as she looked back at the magician.
"You know, I have a better idea," Titania said as she walked inside the room without even asking for permission. "Why don't you bring me to the Capital and help me let loose?" She displays her brightest smile, which makes the young magician look at her in disgust.
Astra raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms near his chest. "You said you're tired?" Titania didn't bother answering. Instead, she widened her smile and even displayed her bright, sparkling crystal-blue eyes.
"Can you stop smiling like that? It's creeping me out." What Astra said didn't faze Titania at all as she moved closer to the magician.
"Why would I do something usele—" He was smacked right in the head before he could even finish his sentence.
He looked up in shock just to see Titania with a nasty glare and immediately subdued after hearing Titania cracking her knuckles and was about to choke him.
They've been getting along well in the past three weeks, or more like Titania has been forcing Astra to do whatever she wants.
"Fine!" He said out of defeat. "You're such a brute!" Astra said with angry tears in his eyes while Titania just giggled with excitement.
Astra angrily opened a magical portal, thus made Titania looked at the man with judging eyes.
She never thought of him as capable because she would usually see him eating or snoozing around whenever he had time.
"Stop looking at me with your ugly eyes." Titania went back to reality after that.
"How could you call Titania's eyes ugly?! Are you blind?" She couldn't believe it and was about to keep on rambling, but Astra pushed her to the portal and immediately placed a black cloak on her to hide her appearance.
Titania stopped venting her anger when she heard loud noises and a lot of people surrounding her. The enormous black cloak was covering her eyes not until Astra pulled it up just for her to see well.
She smiled as she roamed her vision and saw a market-like place that looked like it came out from a fantasy novel.
Her mouth gapes in awe as she continues to watch these people talk to each other in a language unfamiliar to her, yet she still understands it. 'Weird but awesome,' is what she thought.
She learned all about the history of the Alynthian Empire in one of her lessons. It was much more interesting than the one they have on earth, is what she thought.
It was said that the Alynthian Empire was once ruled and founded by the Goddess of Prosperity, Alynthia. It was believed in the history of the empire that the goddess Alynthia discovered a vast land with nothing but soil, her nature of wanting everything to prosper made her decide to create an Empire of her own.
As she began creating a whole Empire, she noticed something missing. Humans. If there are no humans in her empire, she realizes that no one will continue what she has started. And so, a fateful encounter happened.
The goddess of prosperity met a wanderer searching for food to take back to his family. His name was Luthren. The goddess took an interest in this poor but kind wanderer and decided to make him the Emperor of the Empire that she created.
The goddess dreamed of making the empire one of the most powerful in the whole of Tharain. As she continued to guide and helped the people of the empire, it naturally grew and continued to develop as the years passed by. When the goddess died, the empire was already considered the most powerful and prosperous among all.
The continuous blessings of the Goddess of Prosperity on the Imperial Family helped the empire immensely. And now, the capital city of the Alynthian Empire was named after the Great Emperor.
Luthren is known for its beautiful structures and generous people. It is a famous tourist place for the whole of Tharain because of its stores and items found only in the Luthren capital city.
"I'll leave you now," Astra said and was about to go back to the Magic Tower, but Titania immediately clung to his arm and gave him a death glare.
"If I'm going to have fun, you have to stay beside me," Titania said as she tried to act cute in front of Astra, but the magician just flicked her forehead, thus making her feel pain once again.
"Stop doing that. It's disgusting." Astra acted like he wanted to vomit after seeing Titania act cute.
"I won't take responsibility when Sylvester finds out about this." Astra sighed in defeat, making Titania smile wider as she held onto Astra's hand and pulled him towards one of the stalls near them. Astra was about to get ready to buy because he thought it was a food stall, but he was wrong.
"What's that?" Titania asked the owner of the stall, filled with things that she had never seen before.
"I see you have good eyes, young lady. This is a magical item that came directly from the Magic Tower." Titania listened with curiosity while Astra just rolled his eyes. "You see, you push this button, and then voila! A magic portal will come out." The man explained happily and made Titania clap with glee.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Astra looked at Titania in disbelief. She didn't even bat an eye after Astra made a magic portal in front of her, but now she's looking like an idiot watching the marketer selling that cheap tool?
"How much is this?"
"Since you're a pretty young lady, how about 5,000 rubis?" Titania looked at Astra with pleading eyes, telling him to buy it for her.
The currency of the Alynthian Empire and other small kingdoms is called Rubis. It was named after the second emperor. He was the smartest Emperor that created this medium of exchange for goods and services.
"Why would you need that trash?" Astra was immediately smacked once again on the back of his head. "This woman will pay," Titania said as she pointed to Astra.
The fun starts as Titania runs around like a happy child buying everything that she see's interesting, using Astra's money, though. Astra can't retort whenever she uses her eyes at him because it makes him want to throw up due to disgust and end up doing what she wants.
"Damn you, thief," Astra said while they were walking in the middle of the streets with their black cloaks on and candy apple in their hand. He was forced to pay for the magic portal because Titania accidentally damaged it, or that's what she keeps on saying. He looked at his almost empty wallet with pain in his eyes.
"You called me a woman and even made me pay for that trash? You've got nerves." Astra was about to flick her forehead once again, but she immediately dodged it and let out her tongue to tease Astra more.
"If you're not a woman, then that's plain sad." After saying that, Astra quickly wrapped his arm around Titania's head and did a headlock on her. "Can you feel my hard and broad chest?" He asks as he continues to headlock the young fairy.
"Stop it, idiot!"
"The Archduke is back!" They stopped from goofing around after they noticed the sudden fuss by the people near the gates. Then the sudden sounds of the trumpets made Astra stop from head locking Titania and pulled her to the sides far from the gates.
"Why are we hiding?" Titania asked as she peeks into what was going on.
"That's the sounds they make for warriors that successfully came back from a war," Astra explained while Titania was trying to see those warriors. She saw a very familiar colour of hair and a familiar figure.
She gasped as soon as she realized that it was the Archduke.
When the Archduke coincidentally turned his head to Titania's direction, she immediately sat down and hid behind the people celebrating the return of these warriors.
"He's going to kill me if he knew that I let you out," Astra whispered to Titania as he tried to pull her.
"I haven't had enough!" Titania accidentally said in a loud voice which made the other people look at them. She received a flick on her forehead because of that.
Although she wanted to punch the man beside her, she held it in because Titania knew she had made a mistake for talking in a thunderous voice.
"I never knew that he's fighting on a war these past few weeks," Titania said as she rubs her forehead. It's all making sense to her now. She didn't see the Archduke for the past three weeks because he was fighting in a war.
"Let's go back. If the maids noticed that you're missing, I'd be doomed." Titania giggled after seeing the scared expression on Astra's face. But the man immediately pulled her to the magic portal he quickly made, and they escaped from the Archduke's line of sight.
On the other hand, the Archduke noticed a familiar presence while riding the exquisite black horse raised by him since he was a kid. He saw Titania's golden hair from afar, and that made his forehead furrowed.
"Is there a problem, Sir?" His knight Daniel asked as they continued to ride their horses towards the Imperial Palace to report to the Emperor.
"No. I just thought I saw my pet rabbit." The Archduke said without a glimpse of emotions in his eyes.
"You have a pet rabbit captain?" Ryker, one of his knights, asked with excitement.
"Yeah. It has a golden fur and is very mischievous." He added, which made the other knights look at each other with confusion.
"Blessings and glory upon the Emperor of the great Alynthian Empire." The Archduke kneeled down and lowered his head in front of the Emperor. He arrived in the Imperial Palace, and before his very eyes was the throne that was supposed to be his.
The other Imperial Knights went to their quarters as commanded by the Captain.
"You did great, brother. As expected from a powerful man like you." Emperor Lennox showered him with compliments showing how happy he was with the good news that the Archduke brought back.
"I hope you didn't forget your promise, your majesty." The Archduke said as he raised his head and looked at the Emperor with his deep purple eyes that continued to glow with the help of the bright light from the chandelier above them.
"I do remember making a promise before you go to the war." Lennox smiled and looked at his cousin with warmth in his eyes. "That if you won the war between the Yusea Kingdom in three weeks, I'd grant you your wish," Lennox added.
Lennox's eyes beamed with curiosity. "I know you're not a material person, but what could my strong and powerful brother wish for?" It is rare for the Archduke to make a condition before fighting in a war, and it seems interesting for the always bored Emperor.
"I want to marry Titania." The smile on the Emperor's face slowly faded after hearing that name. His hands began trembling as his eyes widened in shock.
He never thought that his cousin, who is known to reject many beautiful women and even came from respectful families, would make his way to ask him for the hand of Alynthia's well-known guardian.
"W-Why would you ask me that?" Lennox couldn't help but stutter as he was having a hard time hiding what he truly felt. "You should gain the Fairy Queen's permission first, brother." Lennox tried to look at his cousin's eyes, but it didn't help him calm down. Instead, he felt even more scared.
"We are already planning for the engagement party." The Archduke said with his unchanging expression and made Lennox stood up from the throne in shock.
"She… accepted your proposal?" Lennox couldn't believe what he had just heard.
He's been chasing Titania all his life but was always rejected by the young woman. He proposed when she reached the age of 17 but was rejected. He tried once again when she reached the age of 18 but still refused.
And so he chose to lock her in a cage so that no one could see her but him. Although that also failed because of unknown reasons, Titania got out of the cage and escaped.
"She was missing months ago…" Lennox said in a small voice. "Where did you find her?" He asked as he sat back down on the throne while looking at his cousin, hiding the anger in his eyes.
It wasn't the first time that things didn't go his way. That's why he's becoming more and more frustrated day by day.
"I found her at the South. Near the Sherfield City." Archduke Sylvester answered.
"D…Did she say something?" He noticed the anxiety in Lennox's voice but pretended to be oblivious and ignored it.
"No. Titania didn't say anything in particular." Sylvester lied and tried to look deeper into the Emperor's eyes.
"But how did the two of you plan to get married? You said you were not interested in marriage before. What's with the sudden change of mind?" Lennox tried his best to sound sophisticated, but his desire to know the truth was taking over.
"It wasn't a sudden change of mind. I have been interested in Titania since the very beginning."
The Emperor's grip on the arm of the chair tightened as he bit his lower lip. Of all the people he could be rivals with, it was his cousin. The cousin that saved him a thousand times, the only one that he can't lose.
"I know you like her as well. That's why I am ready to be punished as fit to your taste, your highness." Lennox flinched after hearing that from Sylvester's mouth. Although he said that, Lennox couldn't do anything, nor was he allowed to do anything.
"I will agree to this marriage… But in one condition."