The next day, Ines woke up early. She dressed in a long light blue dress that her mother had prepared for her, then went down to the dining room.
She found her parents sitting at the table and greeted them.
"Good morning"
Her father was a chubby man with dark hair and eyes.
He smiled at her
Ines repressed the tears that threatened to come out.
She would not keep shedding tears every time she saw someone in her family!
"Good morning, Father"
She approached the table where they were already seated, in the last empty seat.
Before her there were dishes of all kinds and culture but the dish that attracted her the most was the meatballs with tomato sauce that stood in front of her.
She had always been fond of it and the ones her mother prepared were by far the best!
She filled the plate to the brim and then she looked at her shapely chubby body.
She immediately understood that actually the saying "You are what you eat" had its own why!
"My dear, I'm glad you finally recovered. We were very worried about you, especially after seeing your magic."
Ines dropped the fork into the plate, splashing the contents on the tablecloth.
"Magic?"
"Ines! Be more careful!"
Said the mother with an apprehensive tone.
"Forgive me, Mother, but Father, what do you mean by magic? You mean I have magical powers too?"
Ines looked at his father, hoping he would answer her question.
he sighed.
"Yes my dear. We discovered it a few weeks ago. I don't know how to explain it but your magic is different from ours."
Ines was overwhelmed by emotions and her head was full of questions.
She wanted to ask what this power was and if it could endanger her, but decided that it was better to keep quiet and find out things calmly.
The mere fact of using magic was hard to digest, despite being a dream come true.
"Relax my dear, your family will protect you at all costs!"
Said the mother.
"But now let's keep having breakfast! Ines will surely be hungry after spending all those days in bed"
Said the father, looking at the plate full of meatballs.
Ines blushed with embarrassment and resumed eating.
♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
After breakfast, Ines went up to her room and refreshed her face.
As she was drying, she heard someone knock on the door.
"Come in"
Elien opened the door and entered.
"Sister, mother sent me to tell you that our father wants to talk to you in his study"
Ines sighed and nodded.
"I'll be right there!"
Elien smiled and left the room.
Ines took a deep breath and went downstairs to meet her Father.
When she arrived at the door she knocked and entered:
"Father, you wanted to talk to me?"
The man looked at her.
"Come on my dear, sit down. There are things we need to discuss."
Ines approached a chair in front of her father's desk.
she sat down.
"What do you want to talk about?"
The man looked at her
"I think you understand why I called you here, my dear. What happened to your magic worries me a lot".
Ines took a deep breath, wondering what he meant.
"Father, can I ask you what happened? I don't remember anything about the events you and Mom talk about"
She was actually starting to feel something reappearing in her mind but asked him anyway.
Her father nodded.
"The day you passed out, there was a magical ceremony of debut at the palace and as per tradition all the young people who had turned 26 were invited. You were so prepared to receive your ability and we couldn't wait to know what extraordinary skill you would get without knowing how it would go. Your mother and I had already prepared a party to celebrate but suddenly, after receiving the blessing you lost consciousness. We took you home and had you checked out, but the doctor said it was normal to faint if you have little magic. We then let you rest and after an hour we came back to see you.
You were on the floor, near your bed and in the center of your chest had a mark of an ability that we could not understand what it does.
After moving you to bed and waiting for you to come back, you didn't wake up until yesterday".
Ines was terrified.
A mark?
She immediately thought about the mark that appeared yesterday on her chest.
She showed the mark drawn to the Father.
"Father, Was this the mark?"
He looked at her worriedly.
"It looks different from when we first saw it, as if it had evolved"
Her father commented on
"At first it was just a dot between two commas, but now it has six rays and a central line under it."
Ines blinked confused.
"What does it mean?"
the man looked at her:
"Nothing good"
Ines felt her heart sink.
"Are you saying that my magic is dangerous?"
her father nodded.
"That is why I want to know what this magic is and how to control it. So I can protect you, my dear"
Ines was dizzy and a series of new information came into her head.
Perhaps memories of the previous Ines who had inhabited this body.
She then saw a flashback of that day.
Ines sighed and with uncertainty said:
"I don't know how to explain it but my magic is different from yours. I can manipulate reality as if it were code."
Her father blinked confused.
"What do you mean?"
she thought for a moment.
How could she explain what she was capable of?
From what she had seen in her memory, Ines's magic allowed her to rewrite the world and everything around her simply by rewriting the magic formula that made it up.
Only that the magic formula she had seen was nothing but the code on which she had sweated seven shirts to write in the other world!
As she realized this, she smiled: There's no magic unfortunately! Programming was something she should have done here too from now on!
She needed to explain her magic without giving too much information
"I can change reality as if it were a paragraph in a book. If I rewrite that paragraph I can change the reality around me. I can even create new things if I wish. But this ability is something new and I haven't fully mastered it yet."
She blushed, hoping her explanation was enough.
The father looked at her for a few moments then smiled.
"You know, you're still a little girl but I have the feeling that you're more mature than you seem"
Ines blushed again.
In her world she was over thirty but no one had ever told her that she was mature.
To hear it now that she was in a younger version of herself was strange but pleasant.
"Well, since you don't seem to know much about your magic, I want to take you to a friend of mine. He has a vast knowledge of magic and perhaps he can help you understand your powers and control them. "
She nodded.
"Father, can I ask you a question?"
The man nodded.
"Is there any risk to my family and the people around me? Does my magic pose a danger to others? "
Her father looked at her and smiled.
"I don't know for sure, but if your magic were discovered, many would be willing to do anything to have and use you. That is why I have now decided to accept the emperor's request."
Ines tilted his head.
"The Emperor's request? What does it mean?"
the man sighed.
"It means that your mother and I have talked before and thought that if your skill was dangerous to your safety we would agree to arrange a marriage for you to the emperor's seventh son, Prince Ian Estalto. During that time, you would be taken care of by the person I mentioned earlier"
Ines felt her heart sink into her stomach.
Married?
To a prince?
What the hell?!
She was so upset she forgot to breathe and fainted.
When she woke up, Ines was in bed. She sat up and looked around, finding herself back in her room.
"What happened?"
she tried to remember what had happened before he had passed out.
"Oh yes ... the prince ..."
She took a few deep breaths and tried not to think about it.
At that moment the door opened and his mother appeared.
"Ines, are you alright? You scared us!"
She got up from the bed and approached her mother:
"Forgive me. I guess the news about my marriage caught me off guard.
Again."
Ines's mother sighed.
"I know, I know. It was something we talked about while you were unconscious. Your father has now written to the prince to tell him you have awakened and that you can meet him next week"
Ines felt a shiver down her spine.
"Is it necessary?"
Her mother sighed.
"I know that a forced marriage is not easy. If it were up to me, I would give you more time to get used to the idea. But this marriage could protect you from the dangers of your magic."
Ines looked at his mother worriedly.
The woman looked at her and then she hugged her.
"You don't have to worry about it, Ines. The palace will protect you and your Father's Friend will help you understand your magic while we search something about it in in our archive"
Ines felt her heart sink.