On your way to your chamber, you come across your mother, who is talking to Queen Isabelle. Her light blue eyes shoot arrows at the other queen as she speaks. Everyone knows how much they hate each other. It's not surprising, a king's wives never get along.
Even when your mother freely insults her, Queen Isabelle always manages to keep her anger under control. You've never heard her raise her voice at someone, not even once. Either she has a gentle heart, or she's good at acting.
"Have you finished your training?" asks a familiar voice. Your gaze leaves the queens, and you turn to give your half-brother your attention.
Ricard is your Half-brother who is 4 years older than you, He is oldest son of Queen Isabelle. He is well appreciated by everyone in kingdom and most likely to be the next king oe being choosen by the Crown in thought of everyone. It is well believed that the oldest heir are most likely to be choosen but he is quite not interested to be choosen by the crown. To be simple he doesn't if the crown chooses him or not but he is prepares himself well in thinking he might be choosen. As,noone knows who the Crown might choose.
"Yes, Ricard," you answer him. "We finished earlier."
"It will get better," he says as a corner of his mouth lifts. "I remember the day I started training. It was harder than I had expected."
Then his brows wrinkle in thought. "Am I right to assume Sir Roman is your mentor?"
"Yes, you are right" you answer him.
"I saw you in the training ground, you seem quite interested and to be honest you were able to train for quite long for a first day at ground" before you could say something he adds "Learning swordsmanship and Combat skills is useful you must sharpen your skill but the time you learn magic the training gets harsher as from then onwards Sir Roman will start making you a Magic swordman or every combat skill you learn will have uses of mana involved"
you show the excitement in your eyes as you hear the word magic and you couldn't stop yourself from asking him "Is it hard to learn mana control at younger age?"
Ricard scratches his head softly and answers "Well my mentor Lady Nana said age doesn't matter it depends on your level of concentration, so I can't give you a proper answer you search for"
He seems to be troubled inorder to answer your question but he seem to have slight smile on his face. you ask him "Why are you smiling?"
"Sir Raymond was absent today," he replies quickly, seeming relieved that you asked. You frown, not understanding why the absence of his mentor delights him. "Our father trained me instead."
"Our father?" you repeat, raising your brows in surprise. Not everyone is lucky enough to converse with the king, let alone train with him. Father or not, he's the ruler of Atlanta and the Owner of the Crown.
"It felt like a dream," Ricard adds with a growing smile. "I was nervous at first, but I think I impressed him. He even taught me a few moves that I can use against enemies."
"I am happy for you" you say, giving him a gentle smile. Ricard tends to search for look of surprise in your face but was unable to find it.
"You must take some rest, Ryuk you seem to be quite tired you can barely stand on you feet"
After the conversation ends, your half-brother walks away from you and approaches Queen Isabelle. She's still listening to your mother's complaints in silence. As soon as she notices her son's presence, she ignores Queen Rebika. Giving her one last look, she strides away with the boy.
Your mother shifts her gaze from them to you. A warmness enters her cold blue eyes as she starts strolling towards you.
"How was your training little one?" she says with the gentleness and sense of worries in her tone "your training ended earlier than expected, Is everything alright?"
"Sir Roman finished the training early because I was too tired to continue," you truthfully tell her. She hums, slightly nodding her head.
"It's your first day," she points out. "It's perfectly normal. Don't feel discouraged. You will get stronger."
Then she smiles. "I'm glad you didn't lie to me, little one. Sometimes it's a good way to survive. But do not forget: lying never works on me."
"What were you talking about with your half-brother" your mother asks as she remembers you talking to Ricard. There's no doubt she doesn't like him because of her mother. Sometimes you wonder if Queen Isabelle also hates you in tha same case
"He told me that our father trained him today," you inform her. She clenches her jaw and her eyes widen a little bit. The softness in her gaze is completely gone now.
"It's forbidden," she murmurs to herself. "He shouldn't favour any heir over another."
"He seems to be quite happy about the fact he got chance to be trained by our father, he's quite lucky isn't he?"
You've always been told that all heirs are equal, but now you've found out that your father is choosing sides. You wonder what makes Richard so unique. Is it because he's the firstborn child? or maybe it is just because our father didn't wants the heir to miss training so he took place of his absent mentor.
"Go to your chamber," she hurriedly says. "I have to speak to your father."
The next morning was exceptional then those you were having in past. In morning after you wake up You had to go through hard core training with Sir Roman. However after checking your siblings in training ground you couldn't help yourself but feel that your siblings are multiple steps ahead of you die to age difference. Then you realize you must work hard in order to be the best among your siblings.
You return back to your chamber laying down on bed and blankly staring at your chamber's ceiling. Then you start thinking it's gonna be hard from here onwards, you are gonna have to wake up early in the morning and practice with Sir Roman to sharpen and learn new skills. Its surely gonna be hard at first but you tell yourself you will get used to it as time passes.
You were about to fall asleep staring at the ceiling suddenly you hear a knock at your door "Come in" you say
"Prince Ryuk I talked with the High priest, he said he is gonna have words with Lord Gray before deciding to mentor you or not, lets hope everything goes well" Sir Roman say's as he walks toward you.
you raise your upper body and sit at the edge of the bed and with a gentle smile on your face filled with excitement you say "Thank you Sir Roman for your hard work".
Sir Roman leaves the chamber after wards leaving you in your chamber to rest.
Meanwhile Queen Rebika walks toward the kings chamber with the coldness in her face, She knocks at the door
"come in" King Grey answers the knock
"King is not to favour one heir and every heir must be treated equally let it be girl or boy, was that not the rules we followed" says Queen Rebika
Slightly nodding his head with no further answer King answers.
"So why are you favouring Ricard over other heir's, I cane to heard you trained him and even taught him some moves" Queen Rebika states in pain with the coldness filled inside her light blue eyes.
"Is it not forbidden, Grey" She reminds him
"It was not because I favour Ricard or unfair treatment between other heir's, Its simply because his mentor Sir Raymond was absent that day" King Grey replies coldly, finally looking at her. "I will make sure his mentor will be punished for his irresponsibility. Now, I have important matters to deal with. If you have nothing more to say, you may leave."
Rebika stares at him for a moment. He drops his eyes back down to the letter and continues reading it. Struggling to ignore the rage building inside of her, the queen sighs, turns on her heels and leaves the room.
She will never forget this.
Few hours later
You hear a knock at your door, It wakes you up. You open your eyes slowly and sit on your bed. "You may come in" you answer the knock
You see Milim entering your chamber and slowly walking towards you.
"The painter is here, Queen Rebika sent me to inform to get ready"
Once outside as you walk through the hallway, you search for the painter but instead your find your siblings in garden having conversations.
Ricard is most likely to start conversations, and Freya his younger sister and your half-sister smiling at his stories while your Older sister Hilda Judging him.
Hilda notices you walking towards the garden "Join us Ryuk" she says
You head towards your siblings , unable to hide your curiosity, when you notice a blonde girl beside them. You've never seen her before, but you assume she's a noble.
"Her name is Layla," Richard introduces her to you. "She's Goldie's daughter. She's a new friend of mine."
Goldie is the loyal servant and adviser of the king. He's also responsible for teaching the heirs about politics and realms. Unfortunately, you haven't had the chance to participate in his lectures yet. According to Hilda, he's the slowest man she has ever seen.
Layla bows her head and greets you "Prince Ryuk its an honour meeting you" She locks her green eyes on you as she speaks.
"I was told painter is here, I was searching for him but he is no where to be seen" you state
"It seems he is late, anyways we should not keep Goldie waiting, He is expecting us in his room" Ricard answers
Everyone leave and starts walking toward Goldie's room.
Your first training wasn't that bad, let us see how your first lesson will go. You haven't met Goldie yet. Hopefully, he's as kind as Sir Roman.
"Welcome, heirs," Goldie greets you all. He doesn't seem intimidating at all. "Please, sit."
You and your siblings sit around the table as he walks towards the shelves. He picks up a map and rolls it out in front of you. You lean over, studying it curiously. Since your siblings are already familiar with it, they are not as curious as you are.
Goldie starts talking about the land structure of our Kingdom and neighbouring kingdom of Atlanta. He keeps up with his lesson for half an hour you could see Freya looking out the window where as Ricard and Hilda seems to focus on Goldie.
Goldie sits on his chair and state's "The painter has probably arrived at the castle. You may leave."
"I can't believe I have to stand still for thirty minutes again," Hikda complains.
Freya ignores her, ruffling your black hair. "Our brother has grown up."
As expected, the painter is waiting for you and your siblings in the garden. He smiles kindly as soon as he notices your presence.
"You must be the youngest." He glances at you. "My name is Lincoln."
Catalina has mentioned his name before. Judging by his portraits, he's indeed a talented man. Of course your father has chosen the best.
You stand together with your siblings so he can paint you. Freya smiles brightly while Ricard keeps his face as stoic as possible. Hilda stands beside them with her usual frown.
You decide to put a slight smile on your face. Suddenly, you understand Hilda's complaints. Standing still for minutes is irritating.
After thirty minutes, Lincoln finally gives you a nod, indicating that the painting is finished. All of you let out a sigh of relief, moving away from one another.
"I will make changes and improve it," Lincoln informs you. "After that, the portrait will be ready to be hung on the wall."
"Ryuk" Milim calls out as she approaches you, "now that the painting is finished, it's time for you to visit the temple" she adds "High priest hopes to see your presence"
End of Chapter-2