After breakfast, I returned to studying as usual. Very soon, the library should be finishing its repairs, so I should be able to study there for non-dangerous things. I was wanting to read a few things there anyway.

While I was reading the magic book, Mera was training on her physical enhancement, she seemed fond of it so I let her be. She was making more progress than I was anyway, so it could be a sign that was her thing. I have been slowly making progress on the enhancement though, the challenging part was thinning out my mana while slowly penetrating through my muscles.

I have to hide it from everyone I was doing that, the forcing part. They have no need to know.

In any case, the damn mana part was stressing, it was like — how should I say this, it was like slicing the pasta for spaghetti into half, or another example, cutting a french fry into more tiny pieces as thin as they already were.

But whatever, I’ll manage.

As there was no class for the rest of the week, I can do anything I want. There were plenty of things I needed to think about, but I decided to focus on the more crucial part. Two hours passed since I arrived here, so it was time to take my leave.

“We’re leaving,” I said to my servants.

I have already warned them that I would be halting my studies for a while since I wanted to go somewhere. Mera and Vernon stopped their training — damn, even though I should be the one he should be training, but I guess nothing can be done when I can barely proceed with the starting steps.

Rogan diligently positioned at my side.

“May I ask where you are heading, your highness?” asked Rogan.

“To eldest Brother.”

It was finally time to ask my brother about the dress thing. As we made our way to my brother's office, Rogan asked me something.

“I’m just curious, princess. You are practicing magic, right? How come you haven’t done any major training on that part yet?”

Yesterday after Lanivia’s session, I went to training, a little bit on physical enhancement, then proceeded to read the magic book. Rogan should have seen I was practicing a little magic, but he must have been talking about doing it big, like how I did it with the fireball.

Well, I am grounded, so I can’t go outside to practice dangerous magic, that was one of the reasons. The major thing was that because I was finishing the book of magic while practicing the ice magic, I am especially wanting to improve on that part. Then often I would subtly try doing the enhancement while acting all casual.

I should be finishing the book today or the next, so I can give more time to other matters.

“I am focusing more on familiarizing the entire content of the book first, each spell. I believe that progress will be faster if I just know in my head what steps to take.”

“T-The entire book? How do you even memorize the instructions and the inner workings of it without getting it all jumbled up?”

“It’s not that hard, right? And it’s not memorizing, just familiarizing. Even Mera is doing it.”

Rogan instantly turned his head to look at Mera, his eyes asking for confirmation.

Mera responded with a wry smile.

“I am trying to familiarize it like milady, but, I end up forgetting a few contents the next days later, and even mix them up often.”

She admitted she was having difficulties following my method.

“See? It’s not as easy as you suggest, princess.” Rogan said to me.

“Really? Is that so?”

“Seriously? You’re surprised? And you don’t even look like you were having trouble at all.”

It was not that hard really…

Vernon suddenly walked a little faster and walked beside me, staring at my face.

“Your highness, are you truly confident that you are able to remember the contents of each spell in that book?”

Why was he even asking me that after seeing me do that all the time? Could it be he was doubting the result but still leaving me to my own devices?

I could lie, failing a bit, but I have already left the impression that I was doing fine, so I will be honest. Besides, I don’t want them underestimating me. Seriously speaking, they underestimate me to an amount that I found unacceptable. It would be fine if they were my enemies, but to my allies, no way. I will not be looked down upon.

“You doubt my capabilities, Vernon?”

“No, not exactly. I just want to be certain.”

“I have been learning to cast a healing spell, and have been applying it to certain scenarios.”

“I didn’t see you practice…”

“Well, I did not demonstrate it to anyone, nor did I have any intention to.”

“I see.”

“So, princess, can you do some fighting?” Rogan casually asked me that.

Vernon frowned.

“Sir Rogan, what is the significance of that question?” Vernon asked.

“Eh, nothing, I’m just curious.”

“She’s the princess, she had no need to train in true combat, but only mostly for self-defense.”

Um, Vernon, what do you mean by that? That still basically means able to fight you know? Maybe he just means intense training to achieve fighting capabilities that can go toe to toe to a real fighter, and learning fighting techniques or martial arts.

Yeah well, the way they were letting me learn was for the reason of self-defense. But I am breaking that gradually.

“... Yeah I guess so.”

“I do know a few offensive spells, so I guess I can fight a little. Just a little.”

I said with a smile.

I can fight yes, but I have yet to fully feel out the powers of this world. I was used to using weapons from the old world, and not swords and magic, which we obviously didn’t have. I was able to fight against Oryn, but that was in addition to taking him by surprise and using my risky ability, the raging mana. Also making him underestimate me.

What if the time comes that I have to face someone directly and I can’t do any tricks? I did see knights fight, and I had no way to fight that. But now it was different, and a firsthand experience was the best. There will certainly be differences in ways of combat here and there that I need to experience, no matter how little they may be.

But how do I get to experience that?

“I assume they are the basic offensives, yes?”

“Um, I guess.”

Hm, looks like I will need Rogan’s help maybe. I’m his charge, so I can order him whatever I need. As for Vernon, I need him to be fully by my side if I were to do that in front of him. Mera was fine, she’s already mine.

But still, not the highest priority right now.

“Interesting.”

Then we arrived in front of Eleden’s office. I knocked three times on the door.

“Brother, it’s me!”

He should be able to recognize me by my voice alone. Who else had this sweet voice of mine? That’s how unique and special I am.

A second later, the door opened and who greeted me was Lucious, brother’s assistant. My friend since childhood?? Yup, I still don’t know how to describe our relationship with certainty.

“Greetings, Princess Estelia.”

“L-Lucious, hi. Um, are you busy?”

“Well, there is always time for you, come inside.”

With a nod, I turned towards my servants. “Stay here.”

The three looked at each other with hesitation, Rogan then merely smiled.

“Looks like as the princess’s personal knight, I’ll be going ahead.”

“You too, Sir Rogan.”

“.... Really?”

Normally, as my personal knight, he should be with me at most times, even in situations like this, discussions, and such. However, this time, I was with family, and he wasn’t required, he must not have considered that. And, I don’t want this place to be so crowded, so I have them stay outside.

“Yes, I’ll be alright, brother’s here.”

Rogan glanced at Lucious for a moment before wryly smiling.

“I understand.”

I saw Mera smirking on the corner, haaah, what psychological effect did I cause to her?

I entered inside and Lucious closed the door behind me. With a wide and pure smile, I excitedly walked towards Eleden.

“Brother!”

He sat behind his desk with packs of paper laid upon it. His quill was already set aside as he greeted me.

“What a surprise you decided to visit, dear sister.”

He fondly smiled.

“Well, I want to speak with you, brother. And I also have been meaning to check on you, so I took this chance.”

“I appreciate it.”

“This reminds me of the time I visited Brother Estevan, he looked so cool working diligently.”

I sat down on the chair in front of his desk adorably and took a peek at my brother's work with a little tilt of the head.

“Then I imagine he must be agonizing on the inside.”

“Really? I think he still did a very good job.”

“One thing is for certain, he’s a diligent man when something is at stake.”

Yes, Estevan’s a sweet brother. But he sure ditched the work the moment Eleden arrived.

“Was there a significant event that involved these documents, brother?”

I want to know if there were some things I needed to know about. I grabbed a thin pile of papers where reports should be and began skimming.

“Hm, no, nothing too great. Mostly sanctions for nobles after the discovery of their illegal activities. Honestly, some things just evade our eyes unless looked into deeply.”

As I casually read the papers with a happy smile, I sensed the gaze coming from Lucious. With no special reason, I raised my eyes from the paper to look at him. Before making eye contact, he immediately looked away. He appeared to be shy, well I can tell he was looking at me lovingly, you could say.

Gathering from the memories of the past, I could tell he had feelings for me since childhood. The way he would bother me, wanting to get my attention, it’s typically how boys act to get the attention of their crushes. But of course I ended up feeling annoyed. He always gets in my business. Maybe he was just young back then and he didn’t realize he was being too much of a bother.

But hey, aren’t we young adults already? Why’s he acting all shy with just that? What the hell? But I guess this was how a person could tell one's feelings were sincere. How amusing.

No wait, he wasn’t acting like this the last we spoke. Hm, the only explanation was that he just found himself staring intently at me, and he didn’t show any blush so...

I resisted the urge to smile a little wider.

“Ah yes, Lucious. I remember seeing the name of your family amongst the documents.”

He scratched the back of his head.

“Yeah, that’s really unfortunate, but I understand the reason.”

“Last time I checked, your household held no suspicions whatsoever. Is that still the case?” I asked my brother.

“Yes, their records are still clean. For now at least.”

I glanced innocently at Lucious.

“But you’re still looking into them, yes? Is that still necessary? They’re already safe, right? I believe we have no reason to doubt Lucious and his family.”

I said to my brother, my hand to my chest.

Eleden lowered the paper in his hand and stared at me with a smile.

“You don’t doubt Lucious?”

I tilted my head.

“Why would I? I don’t believe Lucious would do something bad, even his family. Or am I wrong to feel that way?”

I shifted my eyes towards Lucious, wide and sparkling with innocence. Lucious smiled a little and covered his mouth with his hand, hiding the smile.

“No, you’re not wrong,” said my brother. “But I’m afraid I can’t stop them, it just doesn’t work that way.”

“I see…” I turned towards Lucious with a sad expression. “Don’t worry Lucious, I’m sure everything will be alright.”

“N-No, I, um, I am grateful for your concern, Estelia. It’s great to hear it from you.”

He said to me with a smile.

But of course I knew they couldn’t just stop gathering information with my words alone. I just said all that for no great reason — well, just to play around mostly.

I nodded with a happy smile.

“By the way, Estelia.” Lucious said. “Weren’t you supposed to be on your magic study today? That’s what I heard you were doing while we were gone.”

Oh? Lucious strikes a conversation.

“Indeed. But I wanted to check up on both of you. It’s been a while since we have seen each other… but, am I bothering you? If I am, then I’ll leave.”

“No, please stay, you have no need to stay. Your presence alone gives me the energy to work.”

I faked a blush as I lowered my gaze.

Dude if they said “then leave” that would have been an epic fail — but of course that happening was the lowest as a number could be.

“I-Is that so…?”

I looked away and stared at the document after stammering in my words from his subtle “flirting”, I saw at the corner of my eyes that Eleden nodded a little with a grin.

Hmmm. Are they…?

“I m-may be bothering you w-with your work, so I t-think I should leave.”

I said with blatant embarrassment and put down the documents in my hand back to where they came from. While I was standing up, intending to escape, the two panicked.

Lucious in particular looked more scared. But before I could fully take a step, my brother saved the day and called out to me.

“Wait! Estelia, I thought you had something important to talk to me about. Let’s talk about it now, don’t worry about our work, we have plenty of time.”

I halted and hesitantly turned back, slowly sitting back on my seat.

If they didn’t call me back, I would just act that I recalled I needed something. But everything sure went well.

“R-Right, um… Brother, I have a request… I want new dresses.”

He tilted his head.

“Dresses?”

“I… don’t have any funds to buy them myself.”

“You could have asked for them, you know.”

“Y-Yes, but…” I acted more embarrassed.

“Well, I can help you with that, it will be my treat. But why ask me though? Isn’t it normally Mother the one working on that?”

I rubbed my hands together.

“Mother seemed to be very busy with something and always stayed in the library. Father is also a busy man, I’m afraid to disturb him with matters like mine. Meanwhile big brother Estevan is mostly outside and working with the knights.” I paused as I looked at Eleden. “You’re the only one I can talk to, brother. And you are the nearest I can approach. I-I’m sorry if I’m bothering you.”

No need to mention I was grounded. Eleden was just the safest.

“I see. I understand…” he sighed. “We’re starting to somewhat neglect you, huh.” he quietly said.

“What did you say, brother?”

“No, nothing.”

The voice was so quiet that not anyone should hear it clearly, but I did. With a few sounds and lip movements, I can tell what he said.

I have no idea what he was starting to think to himself and perhaps misunderstanding something.

“Alright, Estelia. I’ll handle your request. Lucious, contact our usual tailor and schedule an appointment.”

“Right.”

My expression brightened.

“Thank you very much, brother! You’re the best!”

If Estevan saw this, he would lose his mind.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ll help you here right now if you want, as thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it, don’t you have your own studies to worry about? You can focus on that.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s fine.”

“Okay… Then is it alright I take my leave?”

“Of course, you have no need to ask for my permission.”

“Then see you later, brother.” Then when I turned to Lucious, I apparently hesitated for a moment, and bashfully spoke to him. “S-See you later, L-Lucious.”

“Y-Yeah, see you.”

Then I turned to Eleden again.

“Oh and brother, please keep it a secret… okay?"

After seeing my brother nod, I left the room with a smile.