It had been four years since the king's fourth wife, aka Madeleine, Quentin's mother, had died. Since then Quentin's world had completely changed. He was only nineteen years old at the time and still in the process of finding his identity, aka not knowing what to do. All Quentin knew was how to survive in the palace environment. This means that he must do his best to please his family and stay away from the conflict over the title of crown prince.
A parrot came to him and spoke eloquently. She forced Quentin to learn magic and reluctantly gave up on forcing him.
Quentin didn't care about mage much less being one of them. What the prince knew, in his current era, being a Mage was a joke. They could summon wind and rain and monsters but they weren't all that useful. Often the Mages were present for performances at party events. Including his mother Madeleine.
Quentin couldn't figure out how his mother Madeleine had hidden his true identity as a powerful Mage for decades. Even he himself didn't know. All this time she had been acting like a graceful woman who could put on a small show using her magic.
A year ago, Quentin tried a recipe for a magic potion from a note he found among the thousands of other notes tucked away in his mother's secret basement cupboard. The shape-shifting potion was said to have it written that the potion can change a person, to be more handsome or beautiful.
He finished his potion and was about to make someone taste it. Quentin brought the potion home and summoned his loyal castle workers. Quentin asked them to drink it, except for Penny, who at that time had permission to visit her uncle's house.
It was the beginning of the complicated chaos that took place in his castle. The potion did not work as expected. The palace workers would turn into animals in the morning and turn back into humans at night.
Quentin had no idea that replacing Pine tree roots with other tree roots could make such a significant difference. Freyja the bird had a hard time stopping her nagging since that incident, she was often worried that Quentin would again carelessly make potions.
The seventh prince was still trying to make another potion that could heal his workers. But he still couldn't find the right formula. There were thousands of parchments containing recipes for magic potions in his mother's cupboard, Quentin had to read them one by one. Often in the research process he finds interesting recipes and puts them into practice—forgetting his obligation to look for an antidote.
His current castle was a safe and free place for him to conduct magic experiments. Because all his workers already know how terrible his abilities are. They did not dare to reveal Quentin's identity to anyone for fear that the prince would be angry and would not give the antidote.
Penny herself dared not reveal it, even though she did not drink the potion. They all kept working for him and hoped to find an antidote. Last month, Quentin gave the antidotes. However they had not fully recovered. Every full moon for three days they will transform into their animal form during the day. At least that's better than having to change shape every day.
Quentin enjoyed the loyalty and fear of his servants, so he didn't want to rush it.
"Oh my god!" Shirayuki, who had just arrived in the dining room, looked surprised to see the beasts turning back into their human forms.
"Welcome princess Shirayuki, let's have dinner with us,"
Shirayuki, though hesitating, pulled out her chair and sat there. She knew that Quentin was a Mage. But she had only seen such a thing now.
"Well, now that you have no one, I'll give you a job."
"A job? I should have returned to lead my own palace in the east. But you forced me to come with you," Shirayuki replied quietly.
"I don't like it when someone argues with me. I need you, Shirayuki. If I'm upset, you know what I can do. I think you'd be pretty cute as a rabbit," said Quentin a little intimidatingly.
"No! I'm sorry, Your Majesty! Don't do that to me!" Shirayuki pleaded.
"Oh my dear, Shirayuki. Didn't I save you from the evil witch in your castle? You don't have to be afraid of me. You will work with me, but let's tell everyone that you are my adopted sister," said Quentin again.
"Adoptive younger sister?" shouted the princess.
"Wouldn't it be easier if I claimed to be your fiancé or lover? Adoptive sister is too complicated, have you thought about who my parents are? Why was I adopted as a child? Then they might investigate and find out that my mother the evil queen has been murdered,then they'll know it's you," said Shirayuki calculatively.
"I can't, that's a risk I have to take. You still have to claim to be my adopted sister,"
"Because?"
"Because I don't want to make women in this country sad," Quentin shook his head in concern.
"Eww," Shirayuki felt giddy. All right, Quentin was the most handsome man she'd ever met. But all of it was no use if he was a narcissist.
"Then, what do I do as your sister?"
"I'll introduce you to the nobles, you'll familiarize yourself with the people I avoided before," said Quentin before starting to chew his dinner.