"May I come in, Your Majesty?"
"Is that you, Syrias? Come inside."
"Pardon the intrusion."
As Syrias opened the door to His Majesty's office, he saw that he was not the only guest that he was hosting.
"Hey there Count."
Sitting amongst the countless stack of papers and treasures alongside the emperor was a blue haired man sitting there with his legs crossed as he greeted Syrias with a smile on his face and a casual wave.
"It would seem that I am not the only one who has come to report on the princesses. How have you been Count Terain?"
"Oh come on man, Do you have to be 'Distant Thunder' all the time?"
"Oh my god…"
Syrias could only hang his head in embarrassment as Terain brought up his old nickname. Straightening his back, Syrias let out a small cough.
"Ahem… Please do not bring that up in front of the emperor, Count Terain. We are here to do a job."
"He's right, Terain."
Relief washed over Syrias' face as the emperor seemed to agree with his sentiment.
"Thank yo-"
"It's not like we've been talking about all the old names he used to call himself before he came in."
As the emperor spoke, he directed a mischievous smile towards Syrias. Such a smile in this situation was like a signal to Syrias that he would have to endure what was coming.
"Ooh, Remember all the stuff that he came up with during senior year?"
"Oh yeah I remember. However~ could I forget 'The Lord of Lightning' gracing us measly peasants with his presence."
" 'The Lord of Lightning'? How dare you, Pyron? We should address him by using his proper title!"
To most, calling the emperor by his name was unthinkable. However, since Terain had known Pyron for quite a long time it was possible for him to do so. And given the situation Pyron would let it slide regardless.
"Please no…"
"Oh yes, how could I forget? Please grant me mercy oh benevolent~ 'Sparking Sun'. Twas a mere lapse in memory I assure thee."
"I was not the only one with a bunch of nicknames attached to them, Riptide."
"True but unlike with you O' Golden Lion, those nicknames weren't something we gave ourselves."
"I…"
Unable to refute such a fact, Syrias stood there with his mouth open. With no possible way to argue, Syrias had to take the torment that was reliving the dark days of his youth.
****
After what seemed like an eternity for Syrias, the other two men had finally stopped to catch their breath and wipe the tears from their eyes.
"Ah, ah… I enjoy these moments."
"I don't."
In response to Pyron's grin, Syrias could only express his dislike of the situation.
"Oh just… just let us have these Syrias. Haha…"
"Can we please get down to business?"
Syrias was practically begging for them to stop.
"Alright alright, I'll continue with Pyron another time. Let's get to our reports."
"Haaaa… fine. So, how's teaching my daughters been?"
Pyron stifled his laughter and fixed his posture.
"It's been amazing, Pyron."
The first to respond was Terain.
"Princess Aurelia has been showing a lot of progress with her studies. Soon enough she'd probably be able to pass the academic entrance exam for Miremaia. She could probably become the youngest to ever be admitted."
"Quite the high praise there, Terain."
"And for once it's not mere flattering. I'm sure if you ask any of the people around her, they would only say nice things about her."
Hearing such praises for his daughter, Pyron couldn't help but smile.
"I must say I am quite proud of her if that's the case. So what about Mira? How's she been faring Syrias?"
"I wish I could say the same as Count Terain but sadly I cannot."
"That doesn't give me a lot of hope. Is it going that bad?"
"Aye Your Majesty. She has very little if any willingness to learn. She remembers some of things that I've taught her but she still doesn't understand its importance. She's more concerned about a flower than her studies."
"What is with that, exactly? I've heard of it from one of her maids but I never really asked them to elaborate on it."
"Honestly it feels like an excuse to just not show up to class. The sun lotus that she picked is quite resilient, requiring little care on her end."
"Of all the flowers to take care of, it was the sun lotus? She won't even need to do anything."
"I know. Like I said, she's just using it as an excuse."
"Is teaching her going that bad?"
"Aye. I'm quite jealous of you Count Terain. From the little I've seen and heard of Princess Aurelia, it seems that she is just better than Princess Mira in every way."
"That's a harsh evaluation, Count Syrias. Surely she has something that's going for her."
"Hmm, Off the top of my head, I can't think of any. But would you like to judge her yourself? I'm sure switching students for a day shouldn't be a problem."
"Well… I promised Princess Aurelia that I would start teaching her proper magic soon. Also I wish to stay by her side for now. She's… still a bit shocked by the recent news."
Terain scratched the back of his head as if he was nervous. Everyone who heard his reason, thought it was an excuse.
"Sounds like excuses to me, Count Terain."
"Not entirely, but I am worried about my abilities to teach her. If you can't get her to study properly, I don't think I'd be able to."
"There's no harm in trying though. Spend a bit of time with her, you'd see that she's just like you. Oh hey there's a good thing about her. She's just like you, consistent in making trouble for those around them."
"Hey…"
"You know the more I think about it, yeah. You do have that in common. You always had excuses for being late, lazy towards your responsibilities, poor in studies, and constantly wanting to just play around."
Perhaps due to the events prior, Syrias tore into Terain's shortcomings. Unfortunately, there was another one suffering due to Syrias' vengeance.
"Teacher…"
Outside of the meeting room, the little girl stood still as she heard her teacher essentially tear her apart along with his colleague.
The little girl was frozen outside, uncertain of what to make of all that she heard.
"To be fair to Terain here, He's not like that anymore. He has become a functioning member of society."
"Sure but not by choice. And I doubt that Princess Mira can change the same way as Count Terain."
"Also fair I suppose."
Pyron leaned back in his chair and thought to himself for a moment, letting out a brief sigh afterwards.
"I don't know how to feel now. On one hand Aurelia is doing amazingly, but on the other hand Mira is doing abysmally. I can't help but feel a little disappointed."
"Maybe next time I should be the one to start the report so that we can end hearing Princess Aurelia's progress."
Terain looks at Syrias with a puzzled expression.
"You're saying that as if, Princess Mira will always be the one to fall behind."
"It might seem rude but with what she's shown so far it's a fair assumption. Also with such a prodigy as her sister, even if she did start trying she would always be in her shadow."
"Hate to say it but I have to agree with Syrias here. With everything I've heard from both you and her maids, it seems that she'll have a bleak future as an imperial."
Pyron let out a sigh filled with disappointment and exhaustion.
"B-but… I was… trying…"
Unbeknownst to all three inside the room, the person that they were talking about, was listening into their conversation. The little girl that they were unintentionally being so harsh towards, was just outside peeking in through the small crack in the door.
"I was trying my best…"
She knew that she was far from the best student, but she had never not tried. She studied up on the topics that she thought would come up during their next lessons. They were wrong sometimes as she had misremembered them, but there were times that she got them right.
"Teacher…"
The girl stared at her teacher with disbelief in her eyes. Though they had butted heads in the past, she had always thought that the anger came from a place of caring. She had thought that his harsh words were because he cared about her development.
But seeing him so openly tear her down in front of her father as well, it was clear to the girl that all the harsh words from before came from a place of anger and annoyance rather than worry.
"Dad…"
The girl then stared at her father. Even though she was being badmouthed right in front of him, he had done nothing. He even agreed with the harsh things that were being said about her. He had made no attempts to defend her.
"If… if you saw how hard I'm trying… You would've defended me right? R-right?"
Though the girl had asked out loud, her voice was so small that even anyone beside her would struggle to hear it. And although she wanted to burst in through the door and ask, she was afraid to do so. Afraid that her father would say no.
Unable to listen to the conversation any longer, she ran away from the room. There were a lot of things that she had wanted to ask her father, but she could barely look at him right now without crying.
'Mom. I need to go see mom.'
Her father was not the only person she could go to. Her mother ,the empress, should also be able to answer her questions she was planning to ask her father. Though that was what her mind was thinking, her heart merely wanted someone to support her right now.
As the girl ran towards her mother's room with fear and trepidation in her heart, the dam that was holding back her tears was on the verge of collapse.
'No, it'll be fine. Yeah. Mom will support me.'
The only thing holding it back was blind optimism, love and hope.
Meanwhile inside the meeting room, the three were still talking about the princesses.
"But I must say, even after hearing all of your opinions on Mira, I still hope for her to become something. At the very least I want her to grow up into a nice girl."
"Well if that's all you want your Majesty, then you have nothing to worry about. She's a nice girl. She's very adorable even if she can get on my nerves sometimes. And though she doesn't know the importance of the things I teach her, I suppose it's still admirable that she kind of remembers them. "
Terain stared at Syrias with wide eyes and a confused look as if doubting what he had just heard.
"A minute ago you were essentially ripping me and her to shreds. Now you're praising her? Have you actually been bi-polar this entire time?"
"That was because we were giving reports on the princess, but now the topic is Mira."
"I don't… see what's different. They're the same person."
"True. But the difference is the context, Count Terain."
"I don't get it."
"I do."
Pyron spoke up as he put away a couple papers that he was done with. He stretched his back and combed his red hair as he leaned back into his chair.
"You're right Terain. They are the same person, but the outlook on her actions change once you disregard her position. As a princess, her actions are unbefitting, but as a regular person they are alright."
"Aye. It's unfortunate that she's a princess. Had she been born a commoner, she would be seen as a high prize among them."
"Huh… I guess I can see what you two are saying"
"Well enough about all that for now. Do we have anything else to discuss for today?"
"We got that problem by the border."
"Ah right. That scuffle with Kazehaya. I'll ask Jyll what she thinks about it and deal with that sometime soon. What else?"
The three continue on with their day not thinking too much about what they had said. But for another…
"Mom, Please… don't be like them…"
Their words would leave quite a wound on her heart.