After the whole oath of death thing, things went back to normal. Well kind of.
My grandfather was terrified when he heard that the gods wanted to give me more blessings. The doctor began theorizing that maybe the reason for my sickness was due to god's blessing and my body trying to assimilate it. Also, the trauma I received didn't help much.
Well, the gods did give the reason to think of that since they told my grandfather and everyone else present that they wanted to give me 'more' blessings than they already had.
Nevertheless, now I am healthy enough to take long walks by myself. I have noticed from my walks that my room is located in the most profound part of the castle, if you want to reach my room you have to know well the structure of the castle to be able to reach it. If you don't know where you are going you will get lost. The whole castle is a complex maze with many doors and corridors that look the same but are different.
Several items are covered in blankets, as it is such a big castle with not so many servants to clean it. Also, some rooms are sealed from not being used for so long. Paintings that look as if they are following you with their eyes, stuff that suddenly moves without reason.
Such an old and big castle would be haunted. God damn it.
[It's time for your daily training, please commence to put more barriers in your first mana circle.]
Ah, after that day this blue screen wouldn't leave alone. I was able to restore my mana circle with its help. So, I guess it isn't so bad. The breathing techniques I had been using were enhanced thanks to Navi's help. Yeah, I named the blue screen Navi. Don't judge me.
Mana is everywhere; in creatures, plants, the air, the water, etc. Creatures capable of utilizing Mana store their energy in Mana circles, a storage system within the body. Each creature then proceeds to create more mana circles to protect their main one as well of developing barriers in their first circle for more protection.
The first mana circle you create is the most crucial, if you fuck up as I did in the start, you could have the risk of never getting it back. This is why in this world magic education begins when you reach the age of 6. Your body is a bit more prepared and the creation of your first circle can go more flawlessly.
According to Navi, nobles wanted to be always one step ahead of each other. They made their children start way earlier. Their greed and reckless approach towards their child's first-ever circle resulted in them permanently damaging their 'core' circle and their ability to perform Magic at all. If it wasn't for the blessings this body already had I would be magic-less.
Some of those children even lost their lives because their bodies weren't mature enough to hold magic or even create a core.
I was lucky to even be able to reconstruct it again. Now because of this, I have to reinforce my first mana circle many times. The usual is 50 barriers surrounding your core, not many people are magic-gifted as others so the norm has become just 25.
Such a norm are the commoners, but knowing how many barriers your core has is considered a secret just for yourself.
As time passed by people began to ignore magic training as the world was now on peace. The usual became 25 and the norm became 12. Breathing techniques became obsolete and now humans recur to magic stones and making a contract with either spirits or fairies to be able to be considered 'strong'.
Navi has told me to make a total of 100 barriers surrounding my main circle. Yeah, a 100.
The reason is simple, as I have told you before I fucked up when I first created it. 50 barriers wouldn't be sufficient to protect my first circle. According to Navi, 60 would have been more than enough, but in this world, there are a lot of people who want me dead or want to use me just for power.
It's better to be safe than sorry, right?
From now on, I have been rigorously training with Navi, I have been expanding my mana and destroying it to make it ten times stronger than the normal barriers used here. My body's muscles have also been influenced by this, just as I spread my mana and create a barrier I follow up by destroying it and recreating ten times, and with that follows my muscles.
It is arduous and it hurts. I have lost count of how many times I have passed out and Navi having to heal me through her system. It felt like if I was being tortured instead of being taught.
Such training Is being taught inside a dimension within her system to avoid interruptions from my family. Time passes differently in Navi's dimension than outside. 10 minutes can become 2 months. There is no way of knowing as Navi is the one who controls it and time change according to her teachings and the length of them.
Thanks to her I was able to finally obtain the online shop, it is not mine yet as I do not have 3 mana circles so she is the one who manages it.
She barely gives me shit though.
The time I have spent with Navi is longer than my time I have spent with my family.
The pain has become a usual thing and I no longer feel it or I have just decided to unconsciously ignore it. Pretty sure if someone tries to torture me now I wouldn't feel shit.
.
.
.
After 2 years inside Navi's realm, I finally created my first ever mana circle with 100 barriers. 2 years in her realm has only been 2 months in this place.
"Adela, baby. You are 4 years old, next year is soon coming and you will be 5. Do you wish for anything?" My grandfather has recovered his youth and now he looks younger than he did when I first met him. That doesn't mean he has stopped fretting and stressing over anything that concerns me.
"I want to have access to the library."
"Eh?! You already have access to it though…"
"… Um then, I would like my own library?"
"Everything in here is yours! Ask for something more! Be selfish! As your grandpa, I must spoil you!"
"Ah, then a tutor?"
"No! you will get one when you become 6 years of age!"
"Didn't you tell me to ask for anything selfish Oldman?!"
"Adela! It's too dangerous!"
"I just want a tutor to teach me how to read and write shit!"
"Who the fuck taught you that word?!!"
Our bickering has become usual in the castle, the servants will laugh silently as they saw our exchanges.
News from the capital has also arrived and now the royals, the imperial family, had no other choice but to have as fiancée to the crown prince the young lady of the Ducal house Cordelia. Florence Reina De Cordelia, a year older than me. So, she is 5 years old and the crown prince is 6 years old. Not a lot of difference between them.
The servants made sure to spread rumors of my health getting worse by each passing day, and the imperial family had no other choice but back down on making our household give me off as a fiancée to their royal brat.
When the news came to our castle we threw a big party. Everyone was happy with the good news. The imperial family has always been obsessed with Titania's blood, when they knew of my birth they didn't waste time in making my grandfather and my parents make me their royal brat's fiancée. All the men and woman in the imperial family is obsessed with our bloodline. Every princess born in the imperial family has always gone crazy as a Titania Oberon male has never fallen in love with them.
As such, for years the princesses will leave the empire so they don't meet any man of our family. It still doesn't mean that the princes born into that family are any better.
'I hope a daughter is born from your household so we can finally become family as our ancestors wanted us…'
Each of them has never hidden their obsession as well. So, the Grand Dukedom of Titania Oberon is always careful when meeting them.