A single drop of water fell into a small pond, causing ripples to form from the impact.

Julien stared at that, then he nodded to himself, letting out a slow breath and closing his eyes again. The world around him looked different as he started to look not with his eyes, but with his soul—his mana.

The world around him was filled with mana, from the air, to the soil, to the water, and even down to the most basic component that built out this world... there was mana. Different types, amount, and effect, it flowed around him.

At the start, he had difficulty wielding it, it was not easy to use a sense you didn't know you had all of a sudden, but as he started to get a better feel for it and continuously meditated with it. And eventually it got easier, to the point where it was already second nature to him.

He didn't even need to close his eyes at this point, but right now he was trying to do something else, controlling his mana in a more precise and controlled way to improve his own efficiency. Mana control, essentially. It was a difficult subject, but it wasn't one he couldn't improve with practice, so that's what he did.

Actually, for him who knew physics and understood it very well up to the quantum level, it wasn't all that hard. He just had to individually break down the thing he wanted to control into smaller and smaller pieces and continue refining his control until he achieved something he was satisfied with.

This time, he was trying to experiment, forming three small droplets of water high above the pond in a line, he moved the middle one a fair bit closer to the water and then after thinking a bit in his head, he dropped the two droplets high above, then after a set amount of time he dropped the middle one, opening his eyes to watch as the waves moved in to collide in the middle... then the third droplet collided with the water, forming a small and relatively weak wave. He watched as the middle wave collided with the two around it... and saw the two waves meeting each other in the middle, only slightly affected by it.

He frowned, muttering to himself, "I wonder how I'm supposed to calculate the middle wave's required force..."

At the very least, he thought to himself, the small wave did significantly affect the two waves around it, just not as well as he'd thought.

He'll have to think more on this later on.

Julien huffed lightly, turning around just as he felt the butler appearing.

"Your royal highness, her majesty has called for you." the butler informed him, bowing. He didn't say anything, just nodding and following the butler as he was led to the small table in the garden.

He had been training at the pond just close to the garden, so it didn't take long, and as he arrived there, he saw his mother, Queen Elise IV, smiling at him. Julien smiled back at her, greeting her as he sat down across her, then a maid appeared and poured them tea alongside placing down some biscuits. He took a sip of his tea, feeling himself relax at the all-too familiar green tea.

Usually, they would be pouring black tea, but he'd specifically asked them to prepare green tea whenever he was training.

"It seems your training in magic has finally reached a limit, has it not?" his mother suddenly said, making him chuckle as he set down his cup.

"I suppose so. You're truly fearsome, mother, you even understand when I've reached my limit." Julien said, smiling. He really didn't think he'd get used to speaking this way, but... well, eight years can change a lot.

Elise rolled her eyes, relaxing as she sipped her tea once more, "Oh please, Julien, you haven't truly witnessed my power yet."

"I would look forward to it, but I fear that I'll see something that I will never forget." he said, smiling as he looked forward to seeing Elise showing her full power.

"As if. Your power is quite fearsome too, you know? You do understand what you've done to dear old Sage Harold, right?" she said, and he nodded, reminiscing how he'd made the old Sage quite worried about his position.

Even now, the Sage was doing his best to refine his own magic.

... Julien frowned, thinking how unfair his magic talent is compared to the others. Well, that and his previous knowledge from his past life.

That allowed him to learn magic and master it in a way that no other being in this world had ever done before.

"Ah... hm. My power is quite problematic." he muttered, almost reflective in his tone, until he shrugged. "I can't help it, Magic is too interesting for me."

Elise sighed, "Oh dear. Just be careful with whatever new spell you make."

Julien's eyes widened, "Mother, you know me so well that I really fear for my future." He said that, but he was really just being overdramatic, he liked to do this around Elise, it was too much fun—especially how well she responded to him and played along.

He really liked his mother. Not in a dangerous way, of course, he liked his father too much for that.

"Mm, well, speaking of your future, how do you feel about getting engaged?" Elise asked, making him blink.

Oh, he was actually wondering when she'd finally ask about this. He smiled, "The sooner the better, I suppose. I would like to know more about whoever my fiancee is after all." he actually already knew who it was going to be, seeing as this world was based on a visual novel from his past life, but he had to act a little clueless about it.

"... I see that you already have a guess--no, you already know who it is." Elise said, making Julien shiver as he wondered about how he was going to seriously deceive her if the time ever comes.

"A-Ah... mother saw through it..." Julien smiled awkwardly, composing himself after a moment, chuckling, "Well, I wouldn't really know unless I just happen to have a correct guess."

"I feel as though you know who it will actually be..." Elise muttered, before shaking her head. "Regardless, what is your guess?"

"Lady Valerie, the daughter of the Duke of Darnum." Julien said without hesitation, reminiscing the game itself.

The story within the game was rather generic, but the main takeaways he got from it was how good a character Valerie was for all that she was set in the role of the villainess of the game. Since the heroine's love interests were all nobles, it was always her who was in the way, making sure that the said nobles and the heroine herself knew what they were getting into.

It really made him think about how pitiful the prince was... the prince whom he was right now.

The more he interacted with the prince's family and servants, the more he seriously wondered just how spoiled Julien was in the game.

Elise sighed, "So you did know. Lady Valerie is the top candidate as your fiance due to her being the daughter of the Duke of Darnum and also because her mother and I are good friends who just happened to have children of the same age."

Julien nodded at that, "I see."

"Since you already know her beforehand, I take it you're interested? I doubt my son would make a guess without his own reasons." Elise smiled, looking at him as he smiled awkwardly.

"Yes, I suppose. Though please don't make it sound like that, that sounds rather creepy."

"Is it? Some nobles actually try to learn as much about their preferred candidate before meeting them."

"That's really creepy."

"Is that not what you've done?"

"No! I don't even know her that well."

"... You seem to be lying there somehow. Regardless, that's not my business. If my son has a woman he wants, then I shall get her for him." Elise smiled confidently, making Julien a bit nervous.

"V-Very well then, mother. Thank you." Julien smiled and took one last sip of his tea, "Now, I believe I have to get back to my training, or rather, experimentation. Good luck, mother. Excuse me." he said, getting out of the garden as quickly as he can.

"Good luck as well, Julien. I shall bring her to you as soon as I can!"

He ignored those words, heading back to the pond as he let out a small sigh. "This is reality, huh?" he muttered to himself, stopping by a tree just before the small pond, sitting at the base and leaning back against it.

He looked up to the sky, seeing the clouds, the blue sky, and various mages alongside their familiars flying up above.

It was still so surreal, but this is where he was now.

He lived a life before, the life of Leone Delta. Although he liked to think that he lived a successful life he actually didn't know. He was alone for most of it.

Leone grew up loved, but... he never felt like he deserved it. Distancing himself from his friends and family, he did what he had found himself good at: working. He still continued to support his family, even when they insisted that they didn't need it, helping them to the end... but he never realized that he never really allowed himself to be happy until it was too late. He never had a wife, never had children, but he was successful.

He never quite understood what success truly meant until now.

As his life ended, he wondered if it was worth it.

Looking back at it now, Julien thought that it was, but he just made some mistakes.

He smiled wryly as he closed his eyes, this was a second chance, he supposed. And while he didn't really mind doing his duty for his Kingdom, he wouldn't just let himself focus on that alone.

He was going to enjoy his life here. Actually, he already was.

He just wondered if things will continue going this way, especially with said engagement coming up.

Julien opened his eyes, wondering about the future he'll have here. He wondered to himself if he'll ever find love... and if that love, he'll find with Valerie...

He didn't know, so he simply closed his eyes again and let himself rest a bit before going back to his so-called training once more.