Chapter 4: Chapter 4 : Royal Dinner
"Haa… How long… Is this staircase?!"I complained, breathless.
I've been walking up this stairs for 10 minutes. It was a long spiral staircase. And surprisingly, there were still books all the way up here.
"What the hell… How many experiments did he even do?"
With the amount of books here, I would expect that he did a lot more experiments in his life time.
"Those creatures that he experimented on…" I looked up onto the ceiling as a replacement for the sky. "I hope they're happy in heaven… Or the afterlife."
Anyways, after walking for god knows how long, I've finally reached the end of the staircase. Unexpectedly, it was a door or anything. It was a dead-end, with nothing but a switch.
Click!
"Please, don't be something dangerous."
I flipped the switch.
Upon flipping that switch, the book shelf on right side started to move. It was slowly turning sideways.
"Is this… The exit…?" I asked.
A glimmer of light shined into the dimly lit room through a small crack while the book shelf was turning. Seeing the light, I couldn't control myself from letting out a smile. I was overjoyed.
"Haha… Finally… I'm out…"
At the moment the shelf completely turned sideways, I ran out. I felt happy to even breathe the fresh air outside.
Then, immediately, the shelf turned back, as if the exit was never there. It was hidden extremely well.
"Anyways, where is this place? It's so dark." I said as I looked around.
It was obvious, I wasn't in the library anymore.
There were walls blocking me in all directions, except for one. There was a path that wasn't blocked in front of me.
That path leads me to some kind of garden. An empty garden with nothing, but green grass.
"…Whatever. Let's just go."I decided.
Thus, I advanced towards the path into the garden. After walking past the alleyway, I looked around the garden, hoping to find something familiar.
"Eh? Isn't this the library?!"
I stared at the entrance of the library. This was the garden in front of the library, the place I walked past while coming to the library.
Then, a voice suddenly came from my back.
"Prince!! I finally found you!"
Out of curiosity, I turned around, wondering who it was that spoke behind me again. Though I'm not sure why people like to speak from my back, but I guess it is what it is.
"Huh?"
"Prince! Your siblings are waiting in the dining hall!" Wallace informed me.
"Eh? Dining hall?!" I replied, shocked.
This wasn't a usual occurrence. My 'siblings' rarely eats together with each other as they were always busy.
"Yes, prince. Everyone's there."
"Ah… Yeah, sure. Prepare me some clothes then." I informed Wallace.
"Yes, prince."
Wallace immediately rushed off after receiving my words. He knew that I was in a rush for the unexpected dinner.
Therefore, I followed Wallace back to my mansion and went into the shower. I took a quick shower for about 2 minutes. Then, I hurried out of the shower and wore the fancy clothes that Wallace had prepared.
"Wallace, let's go now. Bring me there." I said.
"Yes, prince. Follow me."
He gestured me to follow him. We both hastily walked out of my own mansion and headed towards the dining hall.
However, at the moment I took a step into the dining hall, the atmosphere shifted. It became extremely tense due to the stares of my 'siblings'.
"Look who's finally here." A man with slightly longer blue hair, and blue eyes spoke.
"Lucian… Please shut it." I replied, stopping at my tracks and staring back at him.
"My beloved younger brother… That's quite rude, you know?" Another man sitting beside Lucian told me.
"My apologies. I didn't know that. Thanks for your teachings, brother."
I turned my gaze to a the man with messy dark orange hair, Emeric Lorendale.
"Brother Thorian, don't you think he needs a lesson? He's being rude to his older brothers."
Emeric turned to our oldest brother, Thorian Lorendale, who possesses spiky red hair.
"It's fine. Let's just get this over with. I'm busy." Thorian replied.
After that short conversation, I continued walking to my seat, the last chair available at the table.
As I walked, I turned my gaze to my sister, Livia, and gave her a slight smile as a sign of greeting. In response, she returned my greetings by showing a slight smile back to me.
Then, I turned towards the rest of my siblings. Elaine, Morgan, Cedric, and Eldric. I gave them all a greeting with the same method I gave to Sister Livia.
"Brothers and sisters, let's eat." I spoke after sitting down onto my chair.
"Yes, brothers and sisters. Let's eat." Elaine, a 23 years old woman with beautiful blonde hair, said.
Afterwards, everyone on the table picked up their cutlery and started eating their specially made dinner.
For Elaine, it was roasted chicken. For Livia, it was steamed vegetables. And for the rest—Thorian, Emeric, Lucian, Morgan, Cedric, and Eldric—it was boiled potatoes, vegetable stir-fry, baked apples, sautéed greens, fruit salad, and roasted vegetables respectively.
For my case, it was a plate of grilled fish placed in front of me.
"…Why are they all eating vegetables?" I asked myself silently.
Following that, I started eating my grilled fish. After taking the first bite, and tasting the flavour of the food, I instantly lost my appetite. The food was bland.
As a result, I missed the modern, flavourful food.
Upon seeing the disappointed look on my face, Morgan, a purple haired woman, asked, "Brother, do you not like the food?"
Out of respect, I turned my head to her direction and making eye contact for a brief moment.
"…Of course I like it, it's so tasty."
I turned back to my food and took my second bite.
"Brother, you can say it out, you know? Don't hide it." Livia smirked.
That was her personality. Even though she's a kind-hearted and smart girl, she loved to pick on those younger than her.
"…You guys, stop picking on the youngest. Eat." Elaine scolded.
The pressure Elaine gave off instantly forced those two into submission. The word, eat, was imbued with her mana. It wasn't a normal word, but a command.
"Haha… Sister, calm down." Thorian remarked, unaffected.
"You, shut it." Elaine replied.
"What? You…"
"What? Want to fight?" Elaine provoked him.
At that moment, Thorian gave in to the provocation, he instantly lunged towards Elaine, with his right fist covered with mana.
Seeing this situation, everyone sitting near the table immediately retreated to a safe distance.
However, during the chaos, Eldric, a pink haired boy, disappeared from the dining hall.
"Don't worry about him. He probably went to train." Livia reassured, walking towards me.
"Oh, right… That guy's a real mad man in training." I whispered to myself.
Boom!
A loud explosion was suddenly heard from the direction of the fight. Thus, I immediately turned to look at the fight.
The explosion was caused by Elaine blocking Thorian's fist with her sword sheathe. Subsequently, Thorian attacked again, with his left fist. And Elaine blocked it once again, with the flat side of her sword.
"Get serious, you bitch. Stop blocking." Thorian snapped.
"…Then, don't blame me." Elaine said, raising her sword.
[Lunar Swordsmanship 3rd Form, Shattered Moon Slash]
Elaine swung her sword 10 times in 1 second. However, those weren't aimed to kill, it was aimed to incapacitate Thorian.
"Argh…!!!" Thorian screamed in pain.
With each slash, blood flew out from Thorian's body. Even if it wasn't aimed to kill, it was strong enough to defeat Thorian.
"Ugh… What… Kind of monster are you?" Thorian, who was now kneeling on the floor, asked in pain.
He had lost to Elaine. And it wasn't even a close fight, it was an overwhelming lost.
"Elaine… Still as weak as ever, huh? Those swings were still inaccurate." Lucian smiled.
"Then, can you beat him?" Livia suddenly asked.
"Of course. What kind of question is that?" Lucian replied.
"That's enough, Lucian. Stop it."
Emeric stared at Lucian.
"Anyways, go call a healer."
Emeric turned to face Wallace, who was standing at the entrance of the dining hall.
"Yes, your highness!"
Wallace ran out as soon as he received the command. He wasn't even surprised by the fight. I guess it was quite normal for that to happen in this household.
After a few minutes, Wallace arrived back at the dining hall, along with a healer behind him.
"This guy… He's suspicious." I whispered to Livia.
"I know that too." She whispered back to me.
That healer was the same person as the one who previously visited my room. The same guy who had a terrifying glare. However, he was still a healer of the palace, so there was nothing we could do about that.
Consequently, he walked towards the kneeling Thorian, and extended his both of his hand.
[Revitalise]
A golden coloured mana immediately started to flow from the healer's hand to Thorian's body. As the golden aura surrounds his body, all of Thorian's external wound started to disappear.
"Woah…"
It was my first time actually seeing healing magic with my own eyes, rather than just reading about it.
It was beautiful, especially when I used to study in a medical school. I understood things about the human body, so this situation was like a miracle to me.
"Now, stop picking on the youngest. Or I won't show you mercy too."
Elaine turned towards Lucian, Emeric and Morgan.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure. We'll stop."They replied together.
"Now, leave. Dinner's over." Elaine spoke as she sheathed her sword.
Following that, everyone left the dining hall. And I departed the dining hall alongside Livia, as she was the one I'm most familiar with.
"Ha… I really don't understand anything about fighting…" She sighed.
"Yeah. So do I." I told her, with a tired expression.
"Are you sure? Aren't you the greatest genius to ever live?
A voice spoke from behind.
"Anyways, how's your body doing?" The same person asked as she walked to my other side.
So, I looked towards that side to see who followed us. A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes…
"Sister Elaine? Why are you here?"I asked.
"Why? Can't I be here?" She responded.
"Of course you can. And my body's fine. Don't worry."
"That's good. In that case, I'll stop bothering you. Goodnight, brother," Elaine said before walking away.
"Then, I'll go too. Goodnight!" Livia announced, departing alongside Elaine.
"Yeah. Goodnight, sisters."
Afterwards, I returned to my own room. I immediately flopped onto my bed and took a rest.
I was exhausted, by both the hidden chamber and the dinner. But it was especially due to the excessive use of [Echo Step] in the hidden chamber.
"Prince, do you want to shower?" Wallace asked, opening my room's door.
"No. I'm too tired. Just clean my bed tomorrow."
"Yes, prince. Goodnight then."
Wallace slowly closed the heavy door.
"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight." I said, closing my eyes.
Immediately, I fell asleep on my soft and comfortable bed. Even though I haven't took a shower after the chaotic dinner, I was way too tired to care about that.
However, during my peaceful slumber, I was abruptly jolted awake by a series of loud, persistent knocks on my door.
"Ugh… What now…?" I grumbled.
"Prince! Please wake up!" Wallace shouted from the opposite side of the door.
"Huh…? Come in." I permitted.
Bang!
Wallace crashed open the door as soon as he received the permission. His expression clearly showed that he was in a hurry.
"What happened? I want to sleep more."
"Prince, you've been summoned by the king…" Wallace passed on the words of the king.
"…Prepare my clothes."
"Yes, prince!"
Wallace immediately rushed towards my bathroom's closet.
While that happened, I turned towards the hanging clock on the wall to find out about the time.
[8:00 a.m.]
"Tsk, so early." I complained.
Soon, Wallace dashed out of my bathroom, with a set of fancy looking clothes.
"Prince. Here you go."
Wallace handed me the set of clothes that he was holding in his hands.
"Yeah, thanks. Get out first."
"Yes, prince."
After Wallace left my room, I promptly changed my dirty clothes into the fancy clothes handed to me by Wallace.
Then, I hurried out of my own room and headed to the Royal Court. Though I haven't had enough rest, the king's word wasn't something I could defy.
Upon entering the Royal Court, I was met with the King of Dale, Aurelius Lorendale, a tall man with grey hair and blue eyes, along with two others. Cedric, a grey haired and green eyed boy, and Eldric, the pink haired training mad man.
Immediately, I knelt down onto my knees and greeted, "I'm here, father."
"Stand." He responded with his mana imbued word.
The pressure I felt was crushing, my body felt like it was being ripped apart. But I forcefully stood up, trying my best to breakthrough the pressure, and walked to my siblings.
"You're late." He stated.
"I apologise, father."
"It's fine. But anyways, how's your body?" He suddenly asked.
"It's holding up fine, father."
"That's good. The greatest genius in the history wouldn't give up just because of that, right?"
"…Of course, father."
I took a second to process what he was talking about.
"Perfect. Then, all three are attending the Arcanum Academy next week. Prepare yourselves."
"The… What?! The Arcanum Academy?!"
The sudden reference to the Academy caught me off guard.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Kylo_13
Kylo_13 I apologise for any mistakes in my writings or grammar. This is my first novel, so please tell me if there are any ways I can improve my writing.
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