My parents clapped, and my sister and the maid cheered.

“Good job big brother! You are awesome!” my sister shouted.

“Arti is the strongest there is!” Said Eloria.

Gilbert and his family stood there bewildered and quietly. The kids looked absolutely in awe, but they didn’t dare to let their father know. Gilbert then recovered from his daze and clapped. Everybody stared at him. He sure knew how to get everybody’s attention. Even I looked at him after I made sure Lillian was all right. She lay with head on my lap and gasped for breath, her head was sweaty and her armour worn.

“Artar, my nephew. I completely underestimated your genius. I didn’t expect you to have such exceptional combat skills. You must be thirsty, here,” he held an empty cup in his hand.

“Somebody, fill this cup with water, the prince must be thirsty!” He roared, “You little girl,” he pointed at Eloria, ”fill this cup with water, right now!” He shouted at Eloria. The little girl rushed to the nearest water crane with the cup in her hand and filled it. A little later she returned with a full cup and gave it to me.

“Wait,” Lillian said, “let me check if this water contains poison.”

“What?” My uncle said, “you accuse me of treachery? You seriously think I would poison my dear nephew? You dumb cow, you truly think with your tits instead of your head. If you weren’t the imperial family’s personal guard, I would have raped you and hanged you for treason!”

“Shut it, uncle,” I said, “your insults are ungracious, she’s a wonderful friend of mine and the family. I won’t tolerate another sexist insult. I don’t care your the emperor of one of my father’s empires. I’ll have you executed for insulting her.”

Lillian blushed, her face totally surprised at my reaction. She knew uncle was one of the most powerful men in the empire. She knew Gilbert could have raped her whenever he pleased with no consequences. Even the noble girls and daughters of kings weren’t safe from the imperials. But she was lucky, her backing was even higher than that of an emperor. The most powerful family in the empire. Maybe even the world protected her. Even an emperor knew his place in front of the god emperor. She looked at me and felt truly blessed.

Gilbert didn’t feel blessed though, in fact he was angry. Rage quickly build up in his body and he clamped his fist, he pinched his own hands so hard that wounds appeared. Charlotte and Oliver looked worried at their father. They’ve never seen him so angry before.

If that little brat wasn’t the god emperor’s son, he would have personally strangled him! They never insulted him this way in his entire life. In fact, this was the first time someone insulted him. But how could they? He was the mighty emperor himself! But he knew he couldn’t afford to anger his brother and son. He took a deep breath and loosened his grip.

I looked at Lillian and said, “Lillian, I know your reasons for concern. You wanted to protect me and I’m grateful for that. So please do the thing you intended to do.”

“Certainly, my prince,” she said. I handed her the cup, and she analyzed it with one of her skills. She carefully looked at it and handed it back to me after a few seconds.

“I don’t detect any weird substances, I can assure you it’s safe to drink.”

She handed me the cup, and I drank it. It felt refreshing, and I thanked my uncle. He looked pleased and said, “it’s my pleasure, nephew glad you enjoy it.”

He made a sarcastic bow, and I rolled my eyes. Lillian glared at him, but said nothing. My father sensed the mood tensed up. He came to us, placed his hand on my uncle’s shoulder and said, “Big brother, why don’t we take the time to catch up and prepare the party for this afternoon. I wrote a speech that I want your advice on.”

“Very well, I guess I can help you.” He replied and looked at me. He had a grin on his face and walked away with my father.

My mother overheard their conversation and followed them, but she came to me first.

“I’ll guess, I have to babysit them, you sure know how to handle uncle. I’m proud of you, Artar,” she gave me a peck on the cheeks with her lips, “but be careful, your uncle doesn’t take insults lightly. Please try to get along with him, do you understand?”

I nodded.

“Good,” she said, “now excuse me, I’ll get going. Why don’t you go to the city for a while?”

She handed me a gigantic bag, “here’s some coin, it contains 100 gold and 100 silver coins, buy something nice for yourself and your sister. And don’t forget to treat your nephew and niece,” she kissed me again and left for real this time. She hurriedly accompanied my father and uncle and started chatting with them.

About the coins. To give you a perspective, there are distinct types of coin. The first coin is the copper coin, it’s worth the least and the easiest to get. The next coin is the silver coin. It has a copper coin conversion rate of 1:100. Every silver coin is worth 100 copper coins. The household of the average commoner earns around 120 silver coins a year. The gold coin was almost the highest currency, most used by the lower nobility. One gold coin is worth 100 silver. The last and most valuable currency is the platinum coin. It’s worth 100 gold coins and buys you a gigantic mansion. The higher nobles usually use them. But there’s one last type of coin, commoners never see them in their entire life: The Divine Coin. It’s a coin infused with magic. It has a special property making the coin glow with divine light. Every time you look at it from a fresh perspective, it appears different. It looks both beautiful and mesmerizing.

“Guess we go to the city,” I suggested.

Everybody’s eyes brightened up. We had a full group of people: me, my sister, Lillian, Eloria (the maid), Charlotte, Oliver.

“Lillian,” I said.

“Yes, my prince.”

“I’ll trust you protect us well, I—,” I suddenly felt unwell. I had stomach cramps and felt the need to go to the bathroom, “Hm, everyone please excuse me, I must go the bathroom for a moment.”

“My prince, I’ll escort you.”

“Very kind, but that’s unnecessary. Please stay here and protect them.”

“All right then,” she said.

I ran to the nearest bathroom in the palace and sealed the door. There were rare pains in my body. I felt myself getting weaker, and I had a weird feeling in my face. I had a feeling my body was changing…

No, I cannot be, I thought.

I felt my arms and legs getting thinner. I felt like the latter also growing in length. The little amounts of muscles I had were shrinking and I felt my skin getting softer. The hair on my arms was disappearing until there were none left.

I felt my skin, and it was as smooth as silk! I panicked and feared what was happening. I felt my stomach getting flatter and smaller while my hips increased a little in size.
I lost it and cooled myself with water. I looked in the mirror; I froze for a few seconds. All I saw was a beautiful five-year-old standing before it.

She had a face with delicate features, her nose small and her lips beautiful. Her eyes big and blue and her hair colored a stunning blond. It was short though, as short as when I used to be a boy. But nobody in their right mind would mistake the person looking in the mirror for a boy. She was too pretty for that.. I used to be very handsome before, but I was now a stunning beauty.

I cried and heard a high-pitched voice coming out of my mouth. Even the magnificent manly voice I used to have… gone… I admit, my voice wasn’t that deep before the changes. Because I hadn’t gone puberty, yet but I used to sound like a boy’s at least, now, I unmistakingly sounded like a girl. I started crying even louder.

After a few minutes, I calmed myself down. I remembered something awful. Girls didn’t have a penis!

I slowly felt my crotch, but my heart sank. My penis… Gone! I now had a vagina, and it felt awful. I cried again, until I heard a voice.

“Artar, are you alright?”