I stood upright on my bed and winced as my sore body hurt so much, it was the dead of night and I suddenly wondered what that girl I met was doing now..
***
The room was covered in wodden walls and floors, it was a study and a man wearing a long leather brown coat sat on the desk of the study. The man was engrossed in his studies, he was 30-40 in age, suddenly light knocks were heard on the door and the man looked at the door and said "come in Lily" the man said as he turned around and looked at the door.
A girl stepped in she looked to be 13, she stepped in and looked at the man and said "father!, I'm sorry I broke the vials..." She said opening the suitcase and showing the broken vials and medicine boxes.
The man looked at her and said. "Ugh, don't worry about it.." the man said clearly disappointed and angry."go to bed, it's well past your bedtime"
Lily looked at her father and said. "I.. I'm sorry, some fool bumped into me and ruined everything.." she said as she rushed out of the room..
***
Eric woke up from his sleep still hurting from the previous beating when suddenly the door opened and Ariadne entered the room and said "Eric, I hope your doing fine.." she said putting on the stupid act. I looked at her and said. "I'm fine..".
Ariadne went around and sat next to me and placed her hand on the bruises healing them with healing magic. This might seem nice of her, but she's healing me for a different reason, it was so my father couldn't notice the bruises and wounds I had.
After I was healed Ariadne looked at me and replied. "I hope your better now.. and get ready there's a ball in a few hours, your father wants you to be there".
As she left my room I moved my arm around for a bit wincing at the feel of my healed arms. I stood up and pointed a finger up in trying to be optimistic and said "let's get ready!" I yelled as I opened my wardrobe. My father had brought a lot of clothes for me and they couldn't take the clothes or do anything to them since my father would've noticed. So they had banned me from wearing them.
I put on a fine red suit that had lots of embroidery on it and I looked at myself in the mirror and muttered. "This feels nice.. I look good!"
I could wear whatever I wanted since this was a ball, so I tested some other suits and clothes too.
I'm the end I picked out the red one since I loved the color red. I looked at myself in the mirror one more time before muttering to myself. "This one's it.." it was a fleeting moment of happiness, but it was happy nonetheless.
***
The time of the ball had arrived. I was in the car looking out the window and sitting across from me was my father, he was in my car because he has always liked me more than my step brothers and mother.
As the car came to a stop, I left the car and looked at the opulent luxurious building, it was a must that it would've been luxurious since the host of this ball was a Marquis of the empire.
We entered the ball and the place was abuzz with activity of various noble families. The dance of the ball would begin in 24 minutes. I was walking through the crowd not knowing who to talk to when suddenly the marquis and host of the ball Marshall Lawson approached me.
Marshall looked at me and said "you must be... Eric right! The emperors third son" the marquis said as he looked at me before he asked "where is Nikolai.."
I looked at him and said "brother Nikolai didn't come today." Nikolai always has been one to keep to himself. I actually kind of liked him, since he didn't bully me as much and sometimes even brought me treats, though he was the most mysterious.
"I see.." the marquis said before he grabbed my arm and lead me to the performance stage before the dance began and I said "w.. wait what are you doing?!" The marquis smiled as he meant to hard he said "I've heard many things about your magic, I'd love for you to demonstrate it for the other noble families" he said as I was behind the red curtains on the stage.
I was nervous but I knew Marshall meant no harm, he was a nice person I had heard from rumors and stories Nikolai would tell me. I also wanted to let the world know somewhat of my existence since I was very much a mystery, even more so than my brother Nikolai to the outsiders.
The red curtains slowly started moving revealing me, of course Marshall didn't completely leave me, he was saying encouraging things from the sidelines like "you've got this, don't worry!"
The curtains fully lifted and Marshall got ready to make the announcement of my magic showcase.