"Dad?!!"
I got cut off by a voice. I turned around and saw a shocked Knox standing there panting because of all the running.
"Knox? Why are you here and not in the training grounds?" the man said.
"I- um...hehe" Knox was nervous since he didn't have any excuse.
'Did he just call him dad? That means he is...Duke Syle Romet!!!!! the second strongest duchy!! He is also known for his cold nature but everyone knows that he is a person who loves his family more than anything. What is he doing here?'
I was in my thoughts not realising I was still on the ground. Suddenly I felt two arms around me which picked me up, making me flinch. It was the Duke Syle who picked me up from the ground, causing me to stand on my own two feet. He also had red hair and blue eyes just like Knox. Knox looks just like him but his younger version.
"Are you okay? You fell pretty hard, didn't you?" he asked me, looking concerned.
'He doesn't look that cold to me, he seems like a nice man.' I thought.
"I'm okay. Thank you for your concern, Duke Romet" I bowed to him.
"Ho Ho, you sure have changed, you are calling me Duke and not Uncle, also bowing and stuff haha." he said chuckling.
"No need for such formalities, Sabi, you can call him Uncle like you used to." Knox said and I nodded.
"So, Knox De Romet, you haven't answered my question yet?" he looked towards Knox with a serious look.
"Oh come on, Syle, leave the kid alone. I asked your father-in-law to leave him today." a voice came from which I recognized immediately.
"Daddy!!" I exclaimed and ran towards him, he spread his arms and swung me in the air. Soon after Anne and Prince Aiden came too.
"DADDY!!!!" Anne shouted and ran towards Uncle Syle and he did the same, swung her in the air.
"You two sure are slow..." Knox mocked Anne and the Prince, making them scoff.
"Knox! She is your little sister and he is the Second Prince, behave" Uncle Syle said, making Knox shut up and Anne showed him her tongue that made all of us laugh.
"Don't you think you're going a little hard on him?" Dad said.
"*scoff* You'll know once you'll have a son" Uncle Syle said.
"Who knows? Maybe I'll have another daughter" Daddy said, flipping his non-existing hair while Uncle Syle just rolled his eyes.
"How are you so sure?" Uncle Syle said.
"I have a hunch," Daddy said.
'Your hunch is wrong, Daddy' I thought, sighing at his overconfidence.
"Huh! you have a hunch? then it's completely wrong" Uncle Syle said which offended Daddy.
"It was right when Sabi was born!!!" he argued.
"It was luck!" Uncle just added fuel to the fire making Daddy more offended and they started bickering.
Oh, I didn't mention? Dad and Uncle Syle are best friends, they studied together in Academy and my parent's love story also bloomed there. Mommy also studied there and No, there was no love triangle since Uncle Syle already liked someone, yup! It's Aunt Rosaline. Both Mommy and Aunty were juniors, classmates and ofcourse best friends from that time.
Mom is the oldest among them. She joined the academy late because of some financial issues, she doesn't seem the oldest one at all. I got to know about it when me and Dad had a sleepover together that night after ditching Mom, he told me about his love story, it was so sweet.
"Stop it you two!" a voice stopped both of the arguing parties, it was Mom.
"*chuckle* You two will never change" another voice spoke. It was Aunt Rosaline.
'Aunt Rosaline? What is she doing here? She is sick! Walking this far is too much for her body' I got concerned as I heard her voice.
I looked behind and saw Mom and Aunty holding hands more like Mommy was supporting her to walk. I signaled Dad to put me down and he did. I ran towards Mom and Aunt and greeted them.
"Good afternoon, Mommy and Aunty" I greeted as they smiled and greeted me.
"Aunty, you are sick, walking too much is not good for your body and Mommy you have a baby in your stomach you should also take care of your health!" I said, concern visible on my face.
Both of then smiled as they saw me getting worried for them, then Mommy said,
"We know my baby, but the doctor said that walking once in a while is good for her. As for me? your Daddy takes good care of me." she said, making Dad smile proudly at the compliment.
"Yes Sabi, I'm okay. I'm really happy to see you worried for me" Aunt Rosaline said, patting my head.
"Okay so kids! We adults want to talk to all of you so follow us please." Mommy said and went towards the lounge which was very huge.
She made Aunt sit comfortably on the couch and then got seated beside her, as did the males. We also got seated in front of them.
"So the reason we gathered here is because we wanted to tell you that you all are going to be the Second Prince's study partners and play mates from now on!" Mommy said, making the three of our mouths drop open.
"WHAT??!!!!" me, Knox and Anne said in unison making everyone flinch, including the Prince.
'So that's why he is here! wait! this wasn't mentioned in the novel! Or was it?' I thought, getting confused.
"Why? You don't like it?" asked the Prince in a little sad voice.
"N-no, that's not what we meant! I-it's just we were...shocked. Yeah, we were shocked that the Prince, 'The Prince' is our playmate, so we couldn't believe it haha" I said trying to handle the situation while the adults chuckled.
"Oh okay" the little blonde boy said and passed an innocent smile.
'Ack- the cuteness!!!!! I'm gonna die. Ahhhh!!!! but how did this innocent boy turn into a throne hungry monster?' I thought.
Aiden Moore, the Second Prince, is also one of the male interests. There are a total of four interests. The Archduke, the Second Prince, the Archmage and The Holy Knight Captain which is our Knoxy.
The Paizi Empire consists of 2 Duchy and 1 Archduchy setting aside from the Marquis, Counts and Barons. The current Archduchy is higher in status but the Niam Duchy and Romet Duchy are higher in power as I mentioned before that Duke Carlos is the strongest right now, even compatible with the Royalty. Even the Emperor fears the Duchies, the Duchies are extremely powerful. Carlos Niam and Syle Romet are currently the best swordsmen in the Paizi empire.
As for the Archduchy, they are not that strong to compete with us. The current head is Mike Folls who is currently not in his right mind, in my words. After the death of his wife whose reason of death was complicated childbirth, he blamed his son for his mother's death and remarried. I mean if he was that much in love with his wife, then why remarry? But in a few years the Archduchy will rise when Roan Folls, our third interest, will take over, he will become the most powerful Archduke that ever existed.
Then there is our last love interest, Adrian Miko, The most powerful Archmage of the Continent, he was someone who was feared by everyone. About how he met Anne? One day he was injured badly because his mana went out of control and Anne found him and treated him without any fear and so he fell in love at first sight. He protected her and made her happy but when he confessed his feelings she rejected him, his whole world crashed in front of him and that's how he became a psycho who killed everyone for fun.
As for Aiden Moore, The Second Prince of the Empire also known as The Nation's Treasure because he was a born genius and was very talented. He was the right hand man of his brother, the Crown Prince, although they had different mothers they were really close with each other but something happened which made them fall apart and that something was that the Second Prince fell in love with Anne.
When he went downtown after disguising himself as a commoner, poor Anne thought he was in need and helped him and he fell for her kindness. And just because he was not as powerful as his older brother and the Emperor, he tried to kill his older brother to become the Crown Prince and gain authority. He became a power thirsty monster.
'That's right! He met Anne when he went downtown in disguise so what is he doing here? Did the plot change now that I have entered the story?' I thought looking at the innocent boy.
"Sabrina, you remember yesterday I left in a hurry!" Mommy asked.
"Ah yeah, just when you were about to tell me why Daddy didn't allow me to learn 'swordsmanship'." I said highlighting the word swordsmanship.
"Ahaha yeah that" Mommy said awkwardly.
"WHAT? SWORDSM-" Uncle Syle shouted due to shock but Daddy put his hand over his mouth shutting him up.
"Later." Daddy whispered to him in a low voice to which he nodded.
"S-so your Dad called me because a messenger from the Palace came with a message from the Empress!" she said with astonishment.
'So Fannie was right. Way to go Fannie!!!' I thought, admiring Fannie's detective instincts.
"And?" Anne asked.
"And she requested us to make a visit to the palace since she had something to discuss, the same happened to the Romet's. So we went there early this morning. When we met her, she requested us to take in the Second Prince as your playmate and study mate as the Crown p-" Mommy was saying but stopped and glanced at me, leaving me dumbfounded.
"What?" I asked, confused.
"N-Nothing, *phew*" she sighed in relief and continued,
"So, as I was saying the Crown Prince has left the Palace for sometime and won't be returning soon so that the Second Prince won't feel lonely she insisted on this as you all are his age fellows."
"What about the Consort? She didn't object?"" I asked as she is his real mother.
"Nope. She was present there and also wanted the same" Aunt said.
'What the heck? She was present there? but isn't it normal for the Empress and the concubines and consorts to not get along' I thought confusingly.
"Oh you don't remember maybe? The Empress and the Consort are close friends and it was the queen who introduced the consort to the Emperor." Mommy said, making me choke on air.
'WTF? What kind of abnormal story is this??? Aren't these stories like this where the Empress and Consorts hate each other and kill each other, also plot with their kids and use them to harm each other, but what in the world of strawberries is this? The Empress and the Noble consort are friends, not even simple friends but close friends!!! Also the scariest man in the entire empire is a fool for his family, a cold duke who is sweet in reality. Ughhh! I'm gonna get mad at this point!!!' I was deep in my thoughts when Knox shook me up.
"Hey! Are you daydreaming in the middle of a conversation? So bad *tch tch tch*" he said, mocking me.
I went near his ear making him tense up and said, "Shut up! tomato head!".
"YOU-" he was about to throw hands but sat back quietly after earning a glare from Anne.
'Haha sucker!!' I smirked in victory.
"So now you know the reason. So I want all of you to get along, okay?" Aunt Rosaline said smiling.
"O...kay" we said a little low.
"I didn't hear you" Uncle Syle said, gesturing with his hand on his ear.
"OKAY!" we three said in unison.
"So Prince Aiden, I hope you get along with our kids, especially Knox..." Daddy said to the Prince while smiling but I can see behind that smile he is saying 'Stay as far away as possible from my daughter'.
"Yes I will" the Prince said earning a nod from the adults as they stood up to leave.
"Sabi, show him around the house and the garden, and be friendly. I don't have to tell you that now but still" Mommy said smiling.
"You too, Anne baby, be a good girl" Aunt Rosaline said, pecking her cheeks.
"And you too Knox, Behave okay?" she said, turning to Knox who was waiting for his turn to get a kiss from his Mother, even though he tried to hide it but he couldn't. She chuckled and kissed his cheek as well. After that they all headed out as I could hear Daddy and Uncle bickering again.
"Hey what was that swordsmanship thing?"
"Shut up"
"Hey! Where are you going? Tell me!!!..."
Leaving the four of us alone...