[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
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...
"Where is she..." Calanthe couldn't help but murmur as she sat at the main table while many guests filled the grand hall, and more and more guests were arriving.
"You know she must be waiting for Madara," Eist commented beside her.
"Why does she have to be so rebellious... As a princess, she should be here with me," Calanthe continued to murmur.
"She should be coming soon. You placed the royal guards to approach her in the right place," Eist smiled as he picked up his wine glass and drank.
"Excuse me, queen. I don't see Princess Cirilla. Is she unwell?" A nobleman approached the main table, bowing with his son beside him.
"She will be here soon..." Calanthe said calmly as the nobleman began to withdraw. She looked at her husband. "You see... people are starting to ask... he's the sixth one in less than 10 minutes," she commented.
"To me, he wanted to introduce his son to our princess," he said.
"She is the princess of this kingdom; it's common for people to want to get close. When I was 10 years old, there was a line of suitors asking for my hand," Calanthe commented, drinking her wine.
"You know that wouldn't work for little Cirilla. I still remember all the days in the training field while many squires of our famous knights tried to approach her while she trained, but she doesn't keep her eyes on anyone... except him," Eist said.
"That's what I feared, but she will soon have to fulfill her role as a princess and secure a strong alliance for the kingdom," Calanthe commented.
"Even if that makes her simply run away like she did a few years ago?" Eist raised an eyebrow.
"What do you want me to do? I can't make Cirilla marry someone without political support," Calanthe said.
"You think the boy needs political support? You know very well what he's capable of doing, even when he was just 7 years old not long ago..." Eist said, putting down his glass and smiling at the queen.
"Cintra is not like Skellige, where you marry for love. Cirilla has her duty, and she must fulfill her role when she grows up," she said with a firmer tone, looking at her husband.
"Say what you want, but I doubt Cirilla will get close to another child or dance with any of them tonight. And speaking of which... they are arriving together..." Eist commented as the main door of the hall opened with the commander bringing two children.
The herald, who was waiting for some important guests to announce, saw the princess and quickly announced her presence.
"The Princess of Cintra, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon! Alongside her is Madara Uchiha with Lord Commander Varys Current!" He announced the other names nervously as Madara entered with the princess, gaining the attention of the entire hall.
"That's why I didn't want to enter this way," she whispered next to him.
"I didn't like being announced like this either..." Madara commented as well, preferring to be more discreet.
They continued walking towards the main table, passing by nobles who tried to greet Cirilla, but she didn't seem very comfortable with it.
"Grandmother..." She greeted her grandmother as Calanthe maintained a serious look.
"You're late," Calanthe said from behind her table.
"I was waiting for Madara," she said without any shame.
"Whatever, now come here and sit by my side," she ordered, and Cirilla looked at Madara, who shrugged.
With no choice, she went to the table while Calanthe looked into Madara's dark eyes, who only lowered his head with a slight bow to greet her and left.
"No proper respect, even though I gave him a property and a title..." Calanthe couldn't help but murmur, dissatisfied, watching Madara's back as he walked to some corner of the hall.
"You know he is like that," Eist said, not caring much about it.
"I want to stay on the dance floor..." Cirilla sat beside Calanthe and immediately complained.
"You must greet your guests as Princess Cirilla..." she spoke severely to her granddaughter.
"What a bore, as long as I don't have to accept any invitations from noble sons," she said determinedly, while Calanthe sighed.
Madara leaned against one of the walls and stayed there with his eyes closed. Many nobles looked at him with curious and suspicious eyes, knowing the story of this boy. Some labeled him a hero, but many as a demon after all they had heard.
A shadow appeared over Madara at that moment. "I see you're enjoying yourself." The voice of the elder reached his ears as he slowly opened his eyes.
"You're here, Mousesack..." He greeted the old court mage.
"You know I will always be here, or wherever my queen is. How are things... You haven't been to the castle for more than a week. I wasn't surprised that Cirilla was so eager to meet you outside this place," he said with a small smile.
"I was training, I still haven't completely mastered some things I'm working on," Madara replied.
"Are you talking about creating illusions? I gave you some tips when you told me you were trying to create illusions despite not understanding how you would do that. Have you made any progress?" Mousesack asked curiously, even though Madara had never said how he would create such magic.
It wasn't magic, after all. Madara was working with his Sharingan to create illusions and could only do simple ones, like fooling the maids cleaning his house by making himself invisible to them. But this was just a simple illusion; he wanted something like sharing experiences, conversing within an illusion with someone, or even creating a space for it. But he was still limited, proving either he didn't have much talent for it, or because his two-tomoe eyes were still very limited.
"I'm working on it... but if you have a book on it, I'd appreciate it." Madara opted to learn from this world's magic, as there were some concepts and theories he could apply to his chakra.
"I feel offended, ever since you learned to read and write in all languages, it seems I'm being replaced by my books..." Mousesack said, pretending to be offended by the boy.
"You know that's not true, but I like reading the theories of magic and chaos manipulation. Even if I don't use it, it's good to learn," Madara said.
"Alright, I can do that for the best student I've ever had in my life." Mousesack spoke with a certain pride. Madara didn't seem human when it came to learning. He could memorize a book quickly when he used his red eyes. He did that to learn to write and managed to imitate Mousesack's handwriting perfectly, making a flawless copy while learning all the words with a single look, which shocked the mage to his core.
"If I don't understand some things, I'll ask you if you're available," Madara said while the mage nodded.
"You know you're always welcome in my study. Now, if you'll excuse me, my queen needs me," he said as he began to move towards the main table, with Calanthe listening to some nobles who approached the main table and bowed before the royal family.
"Princess Cirilla. I was waiting for you to arrive. Certainly, you will be a beautiful woman like your grandmother and your mother..." The noble began to compliment her, while Cirilla almost rolled her eyes or didn't do so because of her grandmother's intense gaze upon her.
"..." She didn't respond, leaving the noble a bit embarrassed, expecting the princess to say something like any noblewoman would. So he continued, "This is my son, Styn Gurenal." The noble spoke and looked at his son, expecting him to continue.
The boy, a bit insecure, cleared his throat and took a step forward. "Princess Cirilla, it's an honor to see you, and as the rumors say, you are a jewel of Cintra." He began while Cirilla looked at him with boredom.
"I would like to know if you could accompany me on the dance floor..." He said after seeing that Cirilla remained silent. Only now did she decide to respond to these nobles.
"Sorry, I'm indisposed," she said with the same tone of boredom.
"Alright, we understand..." The noble said as he took his son and left, a bit embarrassed.
"You should have accepted the dance," Calanthe said.
"You know I'm not comfortable..." she replied stubbornly.
"Our princess is a lioness after all; she knows what she wants," Eist commented.
"You're not helping..." Calanthe complained to her husband again.
"As I said before, she seems to have chosen her lover for the next 10 years..." Eist didn't refrain from commenting, even under Calanthe's furious glare.
"Can I leave? I want to get some air..." she asked her grandmother, unaware of what Eist was talking about.
"You've been at the table for 30 minutes and you already want to leave..." Calanthe complained.
"Yes?" She shrugged.
"Our princess wants to leave before I've even arrived?" Mousesack approached them at that moment, smiling at the girl.
"Hello Mousesack!" she exclaimed to the mage.
"You finally arrived," Calanthe said to Mousesack and looked at Cirilla. "Alright, go. Just behave," she requested, and Cirilla was delighted with this. She quickly left, lifting her dress and hurrying to the hall.
She crossed and found Madara quickly. "Why are your eyes closed?" she asked curiously as Madara leaned against a wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed.
"It's a good way to pass the time..." he said calmly, still keeping his eyes closed.
"I'll do it too." She didn't waste time and leaned beside him, closing her eyes and crossing her arms after copying Madara's position.
The nobles around looked confused at what the princess was doing. "Hahahahaha!" Eist began to laugh from the table, seeing the scene.
"Tsk. That's not how a princess should behave..." Calanthe couldn't help but murmur.
"Let them be, they're just children, who would judge them for that..." Eist commented.
Meanwhile, Cirilla stood still for a while until she finally opened her eyes. "This seems so boring... how can you stay like this for dozens of minutes?" she exclaimed.
"I don't know, I just do," Madara replied, shrugging.
"You know..." she was about to speak until someone interrupted as they approached them.
"Princess Cirilla." A group of boys, nobles, came up to them. The boy who called her looked about 15 years old as he approached.
"What is it?" Cirilla looked at them suspiciously.
"I want to know if you would like a dance. I'm ..." the older boy asked, hoping to dance with the princess as his father expected. But before he could say his name, he was interrupted by the girl in front of him.
"I can't." She declined and looked at Madara as an excuse. "He's my partner at the moment and for the rest of the night," she exclaimed with a face that said she was making the best plan possible.
The noble looked at her with a somewhat confused face and saw Madara with his eyes closed. "Princess Cirilla, you can't be serious; he's just a servant, isn't he?" he said, not wanting to be below an unknown boy in the princess's regard.
"What did you say?! Leave now, you won't offend him in front of me," Cirilla exclaimed with childish anger.
"I don't mean to offend you, princess... it's just that..." he was about to speak when Madara finally opened his eyes since Mousesack had left him there.
"Didn't you hear? She's with me. Get lost," Madara said with dangerous eyes to the noble, who seemed to shiver along with his companions, quickly retreating due to how dangerous this boy was with rumors surrounding him.
"You scared him off so quickly! Could I do that in the future?" Cirilla couldn't help but ask as she looked at Madara with her green eyes. "You seemed so gallant just now, maybe there's something like that in you!" she exclaimed, and Madara sighed.
"You know I don't like to dance in that way, but I had to intervene with that idiot..." Madara replied.
"In that way? What kind of dance do you like?" she asked curiously.
"It's a type you're still too young to understand..." he said with a small smile. He was Madara Uchiha; of course, he liked to dance and would invite many opponents to do so.
"Anyway... let's dance, you said I'm with you!" she exclaimed, pouting a bit at Madara's enigmatic words.