Illiane opens the door without a second thought after hearing the noise.
When she sees me on the floor with the chair behind me, she comes rushing towards me to remove the chair from my back and help me to get up.
"My lord, are you all right?"
At that moment I hear her voice stutter, I lift my head and look at Illiana's face.
I can see the tears streaming down her tender cheeks, it's as if she's the one who's hurt, not me.
I raise my right hand and wipe her tears with my index finger.
"I'm fine Illiane, you have nothing to worry about, I just fell off the chair."
Illiane is still as caring and attentive as always, even though I turned 8 years old.
She's like a mother, I've known her as long as I can remember, she takes care of me when I get hurt or sick.
I care about her very much, now that I think about it, when I go to knight school I won't see her anymore, that makes me cry.
You are not allowed to leave school because you can be attacked, and you only have two holidays a year, at the beginning of winter and summer.
"Of..."
"What's wrong my lord?
So you hit yourselves after all."
"Wha...? No, I'm just thinking abo..."
Without having time to explain to Illiana that I was just thinking about the fact that I won't see her for quite a long time she picks me up and carries me to the edge of the bed to look at how badly I enjured.
"I'm alright Illiane, now I'm 8 years old, I need to learn to take care of myself, especially now that I'm going to the knights' school in 2 months, and you won't be near me anymore."
Illiane took off my blouse, lifted my pants and put me on my stomach lying on the bed, she looked at my back, but I wasn't hurt so she just scratched it for 2 minutes.
Then she lifted my left leg and looked at my ankle wrist, she started to touching my wrist.
"Ow, ow." She lets go of my leg, I turn over on my back and sit on the edge of the bed beside her.
"Looks like you only have a minor injury on the wrist."
Illiane breathes a sigh of relief and her worried face disappears.
"I know, my lord, but as long as you're by my side I'll still take care of you.
She hugs me, I reach my ear to her chest and hear her heartbeat.
"It's time for lunch, don't you think, my lord?"
"Yes, it wouldn't be nice to let my parents to wait."
Illiane gets up from the bed and extends her hand towards me to help me to get up, when I put my left foot on the floor I feel a rather strong pain in my wrist.
Illiane, seeing this, won't let go of my hand until we get to the living room.
"Hey son, happy birthday!"
"Happy birthday Teo."
"Thank you, Mother, Father."
Mom and Dad get up from the chairs at the head of the table and approach me.
At the same time Illiane lets go of my hand and slowly walks away.
Dad and Mom get down on their knees and hug me.
"How quickly time has passed, it feels like yesterday I could see you hiding behind your mother when you met a stranger."
"That was a long time ago father."
"You're right, now you're old enough to go to the knight school."
"Your father and I have prepared a special present for your birthday, and you will have your first conversation with a person from a neighbouring kingdom.
You have to behave nicely, show them that it's worth it to have a good relation with us."
"I understand, Mom, Dad. I promise I won't disappoint you."
A special present, hmm.
Maybe it's the family sword, if I go to knight school I'll need a sword.
But it's too important, unfortunately I have to wait until tomorrow to see what I will receive.
I'm worried because I might not get along with the person.
The food was delicious, but I didn't manage enjoy it to the fullest because I only thought about tomorrow and that I can ruin a friendly relationship between two kingdoms if I'm not careful.
"Teo, I think I know what you're thinking so you'd better go to bed."
"I understand, Father, I wish you a beautiful evening. Good night."
Without realizing it, I get lost in thought again, when I recover I find myself in bed ready to put the blanket over me.
"Ahhh, what a pain." Forget it Teo, tomorrow everything will be fine.
-After i left the dinner-
"Darling, do you think it was a wise decision to tell him that, on his birthday he have to talk to an important person from the neighboring kingdom for the first time?"
"From now on we can no longer afford to treat him as a child, he will have to become friends with the rulers of neighbouring kingdoms.
Tomorrow he'll meet King Shaiord's daughter, I've known him for a long time, even if he doesn't manage it from the first time we won't have any problems."
"I hope you're right darling, let's go to bed too, otherwise we won't have much time to play tonight."