"That's right, Your Highness. You have answered all the questions correctly."
He just gave a polite smile at the same compliment.
"I think we should conclude the class for today."
Finally!
"Yes, thank you, Madam Ghisell."
"See you next week, Your Highness."
He saw Madam Ghisell, his mathematics teacher, walk out of his study before he put his head on the table. He groaned in frustration.
How long has he been studying for this? How many classes had he attended? He lost count.
"I want to quit."
"Stop talking about negative things, Your Highness. It was not good for your mental health."
Riri put down a glass of milk on the table after she put aside the books scattered on it.
He did not even look at Riri.
"I'm not joking."
"Me as well."
He groaned again. Yes, it was not a month, nor have two months passed. It has already been a year. A year of private classes to become a proper crown prince.
At first, all the silibus were already known to him. The knowledge used in this world is not much different than in his previous world. Most of it was already learned by him as a high school and university student.
That's why, when Riri noticed, she informed Asteric, and all his classes were changed to be more advanced than before the next day. He thought he could take it slow, but Riri always noticed everything about him.
From the etiquette class, the history class, the swordsmanship class, and many more.
Of course, the classes were arranged by Zera so as not to overwhelm him too much. Thank God, he just needs to attend class three days a week.
He had already turned nine years old after his birthday four months ago. He also managed to secure his ideal body. Hooray for him after months of jogging around the big fountain! Still, he didn't have that many muscles yet.
"Is there any class after this?"
"No, Your Highness. You are free from any classes for today."
"Oh yes!"
"But I must remind you that you already made a promise with Her Highness the Second Princess to attend her tea party."
"Tea, what now?"
"Tea party, Your Highness. Today's tea party was attended by young ladies ranging in age from six to ten years old. It was the first time for Her Highness the Second Princess to interact with other noble kids. She was quite scared; that's why she asked for your presence there, and you already promised to be there. Are you forgetting about the promise, Your Highness?"
Damn yes. Nasharis had asked for it last week. This is the first time Nasharis has interacted with other noble kids, but he himself has never interacted with one.
He just talked with the maids, the butlers, the gardeners, and the chefs. Also, with Martha, they have become close. He could say they are reading buddies now.
He had never talked with others his age. Does this kid not have any friends?
This kid must be lonely. Well, at least he has his siblings.
"When will the tea party start?"
"One hour and a half from now, Your Highness."
"I have time."
He took a big sip from the cup of milk, finishing it in one go.
"I'll be reading for a while in my bedroom. Call for me to get change when it's time."
"As you instructed, Your Highness,"
He went out of the study while carrying a book with him.
He did not stay in the Diamond Palace anymore. He managed to go back to his old palace, and the room was not much different than at Diamond Palace.
When he started his classes the next week after they had the talk, he did not have much time to be alone. Riri will be the one who reminds him of his schedule every day.
He went into his room and locked the door. He is sure that Riri won't find him until at least 30 minutes later.
He put the book on the carpet beside his bed and just sat down there. He opened the book to the page where he had put the bookmark and was presented with many words and some kind of picture.
"Aura control again."
He shrugged and began reading about the mentioned topic. He straightened his back and put his hands on his knees before he took a breath. He repeated the action many times while remembering what he had read.
[Control your breathing and think of opening doors one by one.]
By using his imagination, he imagines many doors around him. He opened the doors one by one.
[Then, when you open the door, feel the wind that came through it. Feel the breeze touch your skin. Make sure to maintain the strength of the wind you think about. Not too slow or too violent.]
He started to let the wind touch his skin. He feels both cold and warm at the same time.
[Then imagine you are in the middle of the field with the same wind you felt from the door.]
He did as he remembered. He had done this multiple times, so it was easier each time he did it.
In the vast field that is free from any trees or animals. From his peripheral view, he could just see the green field with the blue sky without clouds.
[Take in the view and breathe the air slowly. Smell the grass.]
He took a breath again. He did indeed smell the grass.
[Smell the incoming rain. Smell the ground. A droplet of rain begins to touch your skin.]
He loves the rain. He feels his nose wet slightly. Ah, it's raining.
[Let yourselves be drenched by the rain. Don't move and feel the rain soak into your clothes.]
Alright, it is easy to imagine this.
[Open your eyes slowly.]
He opened his eyes and took a deep breath when his eyes saw something that normal eyes couldn't see.
His hazel eyes shone slightly. When he raised his hands, he managed to see that some kind of white mist came out of his fingertips and his body.
Aura. Another power than magic.
With practice, people could open their aura, and with practice, people could control it to be used at all times.
He didn't understand at first why he needed that kind of instruction and imagination to use an aura. It was easier than he thought.
He had been reading about aura and magic secretly because Riri wouldn't let him even read a book about them. That's why he uses his free time by using other book covers as a facade to learn aura and magic.
He was told that he would learn magic in the academy later, but he was too curious about this new knowledge that didn't even exist in his past life.
It was not easy; he could only practice aura and magic two times a month and for a short duration. If not, Riri would catch him and confiscate his book again.
He just managed to control his aura after two attempts, and he is still practising using it at all times. Now, he has only managed to maintain his aura for a few hours since his last practice.
Aura and magic
Those two powers were supposed to be two types of power, but people often use magic rather than aura. Even at the academy, they just taught how to use magic rather than aura.
People could think of aura and magic like this.
One, you control the smoke, and two, you control the particles of the smoke.
Magic can exterminate auras by destroying their particles. But auras can't destroy magic but manage to alter it.
People have said that magic is much more powerful than aura.
But then, when he did his research on aura and magic separately, he knew that their ways of learning were different. Of course it will be different; learning magic is easier than aura.
Maybe that is also why magic is the only power taught in the academy.
Why not just teach both? After five years in the academy, there will be times to practice and control it, right?
"Struggling at first before you could achieve success"—that is what is written by the user of both aura and magic. It was hard to learn both aura and magic, but your hard work will pay off.
He didn't understand why students in the academy were not taught to control both aura and magic. Didn't aura come before magic?
For him personally, he thinks aura is much stronger than magic. It was a struggle to learn aura, but he is convinced that aura gives a stronger blow than magic.
Maybe he is wrong about this. He just read five books on aura and magic, after all. He needs to do much more research to prove his hypothesis.
He managed to use magic. He just struggles with his aura right now. He needs more time to practice.
For him, magic is like how to create something from thin air by incantation and natural elements from outside, while aura is how you want to get out the force from inside your body.
What force? He didn't know how to describe it. Like a life force? Inner strength? Something that came from inside of you but can be altered by your imagination.
Knock. Knock.
"Your Highness."
Ah! It has already been thirty minutes. He has lost track of time.
He closed the book, put it in the drawer under his bed, and walked to the door to open the lock.
"Why are you always locking the door, Your Highness? Are you doing something naughty again?"
"Excuse me? Since when did I do something naughty?"
"Want me to remind you, Your Highness?"
He shuddered at that smile. No, he swears he never did something naughty in this body.
"No need. Just quickly prepare my clothes."
"As you instructed, Your Highness,"