The prince who returned from death

Magic, the mysterious power that exists within everything, regardless of its form. Be it humans, objects, or anything else, magic is contained in every being.

If one tried to use it, he would have to meet five basic requirements to succeed. First was possessing mana, then the ability to control it, followed by talent, potential, and lastly, the affinity for the attributes.

"Doesn't that mean that one should just need to have mana?"

The most important thing of all of those was having mana. The ability to control it was something that could've been perfected with enough practice. The same went for potential.

The only thing one would need was talent and mana to use magic. The talent for magic wasn't something everyone had in themselves.

"That's correct. And not to mention..."

She patted the boy's head while flipping the pages of the book in front of him. Three days had passed since she started teaching Adrienne about magic.

The place they were staying at had a different dimension that altered its appearance according to their wishes. It was being maintained by the woman's magic.

'You have the talent needed for it...'

The woman's words didn't continue verbally. She had already verified that Adrienne had a talent for magic. The reason behind it was simple.

Only someone who has experience with or is talented in magic could realise it upon witnessing it for the first time. At the time she provided him with water using magic, Adrienne had already realised it.

Regardless of everything, Adrienne's talent never mattered to her. She was someone who believed that enough hard work could surpass talent.

The first year of Adrienne's stay was spent learning the basics of magic. Surprisingly, his performance was far above what she was expecting of him.

She had expected him to take at least 2 years to master the basics, but he had done so within 7 months. Then the rest of the five months were spent by him learning about how to manipulate the mana within his body.

"Eh? You don't have an actual name? That's sad."

The time went by peacefully for Adrienne. He had no idea what was going on within the Agustus Kingdom. The world tree had kept everything a secret from him.

With his time around her, he discovered that Starcrest wasn't her name. It was only what people in the past had once called her.

"Then I shall give you a name!"

The dull eyes he had a year ago were nowhere to be seen. Her influence had managed to change the cold and unbothered behaviour of the child.

"Ah... I know! Your name will be-"

Naming a supreme being from ancient times was something that was considered taboo. Adrienne had no idea that it was strictly forbidden to do so.

Whoever went against the rules set by the ancient deities was fated to get himself into trouble. Before the world tree could stop him, Adrienne had given her a name.

"Sierra."

She had expected something bad to happen to the small child, who fainted right after that. Thankfully, he managed to wake up after sleeping for a whole day.

There was no way of knowing what fate awaited Adrienne. But it didn't matter at the moment. Sierra had already managed to get updates on whatever was happening in the kingdom.

Within one year, the whole nation had turned upside down due to an absurd turn of events. First, the hidden prince passed away in a tragic mishap.

Second, the royalty used this time to get their son announced as the crown prince. The reason they gave to the public was:

-The first prince died because his existence was hidden from everyone. Hence, we shall do our utmost best to save our only son from anything bad.

As flimsy as it seemed, the funeral they held for the dead prince had made some major impact on the citizens. They were being fooled into thinking that the emperor and the empress truly cared for Adrienne.

"I think my father and mother might be looking for me..."

Sierra couldn't bring herself to tell the purehearted child the truth, which was contradictory to what he said. Adrienne had doubts, but he never stopped believing in his parents.

She had managed to get the child to open up to herself. And that was the reason she knew the true nature of the emperor and the empress. She had figured out what they had done to this child.

Whenever she asked Adrienne why his mother beat him up, the answer she got would leave her blood boiling with rage. The child had never thought that they had any ill-intent towards him, or, more like, he never wanted to believe that.

-"It was for my sake."

Those words were a bunch of bullcrap, no matter how she thought of them. She was very well aware that Adrienne was just trying to run away from the bitter reality.

It was wrong of her to not tell him the truth with her own mouth. But, after all, how could she bring herself to break the heart of the innocent child?

So she had only one way of doing it. Her ways of doing things were a bit twisted, but they were decent enough.

"If they don't remember you after you return, you should come back here."

That was her demand, which made Adrienne live in anxiety for a while. The doubts he had all this time were eating away at his heart.

But that soon stopped bothering him. Three years had gone by before he even realised it. Within this time, he hadn't managed to do one crucial thing: figuring out which attribute he had an affinity for.

The three years soon turned into four. But there was no progress with that. Sierra had watched his hard work and dedication for all this time. Sadly, there was nothing more she could help him with.

After one more year, the time had finally come. Adrienne bid farewell to Sierra and left for the Agustus Kingdom while hiding himself within a robe.

Sierra waited for him to return, but the time kept on flowing. Within two years, the news spread across the kingdom that the first prince, who they had thought to have died, had returned and imprisoned all the members of the royal family.

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-At the present-

"Where have you been for the past ten years? Why didn't you return?"

Sierra threw fists at Adrienne as tears clouded her vision. She was feeling frustrated, angry, sad, and, above all, glad. At least her disciple, whom she looked after for over five years, had managed to come back alive.

Adrienne just laughed while trying to dodge those small hands. He had grown way taller than her compared to 15 years ago. She thought that maybe Adrienne had forgotten about her, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Even though you promised...!"

Her fists dropped, feeling helpless. Adrienne knew what she was talking about. There was no way he would've forgotten it. It was maybe the only peaceful time he had throughout his whole life.

His laughter stopped as he approached closer to Sierra. She was going to punch him in the stomach, but her hand stopped midway through his words.

"They remembered me..."

When she heard that, Sierra couldn't think of anything at all. She felt as if her mind had gone numb due to some shock. Her lips were left gaping for a while.

"T-then... why did you imprison them...?"

She was living within the elven forest the whole time, but the sources she had managed to sneak inside the kingdom gave her the most information. Sierra already knew what Adrienne had done after a year of returning to the kingdom.

The glow she remembered seeing in the child's eyes before he departed had totally faded away. It had gotten even worse than when they had met for the first time.

"I didn't imprison them."

The cold voice he was whispering into her ear made her feel chills down her spine. It wasn't the soft voice she remembered hearing before.

Adrienne wasn't lying when he said that. Those were just rumours he had spread around to avoid suspicion of certain individuals. He continued speaking.

"I killed them."

He smiled coldly, caressing her green hair. She couldn't figure out why he had changed so much. Just what had he gone through in the past years that they hadn't seen each other?

Jaden could hear the conversation between the two clearly. He was afraid of him even before getting to know him properly.

'This one wasn't enough that I've come across another scary person...'

He glanced at Aliana with a blank face. Blaise was observing the scene with a terrified expression, just like Jaden. His unique origin magic had made him see something he shouldn't have.

The eerie darkness that moved as if it were alive behind the man made him feel like throwing up. Was the person in front of them even a human being? It was doubtful.

"What are they talking about...?"

Claire whispered, which made Jaden let out a sigh. It was something she was left better not knowing. But he knew how persistent this woman could get.

"They are talking about killing someone."

Jaden spoke in a monotonous tone, acting like he didn't really care. Claire and Blaise shut their mouths at that, and their faces became colourless.

He felt a bit concerned since the person in front of him was a character that never appeared in the original story. But he didn't let it bother him.

The more pressing matter was what would happen next. What was he to them? A bystander? An ally? Or a foe?

"Don't worry, he will leave soon."

Aliana mumbled to herself, but loud enough for Jaden to hear it. When he looked at her, she had a smile on her face, as if she were calculating something.

Jaden gulped down his saliva and tried to focus on the conversation between the two in front of him. He could still hear them loud and clear.

"Why did you do that...? Weren't they your parents whom you talked about...?"

The more he listened to the talk, the worse it kept getting. He could figure out who Adrienne was talking about: his own parents.

It wasn't in his business to go ask about that to others. He didn't get distracted a bit while listening to them.

"They were. They killed my blood parents."

Sierra wasn't aware of this. The only thing she knew was that, for some reason, they were trying to hide Adrienne's existence. Now everything began making sense.

Adrienne was the child of the elder sibling, who passed away right before his younger brother usurped the throne. The reports and news articles said that it was because of some life-threatening disease. That was a lie they had made up.

Even his mother's death was due to those people. But for what reason had this all happened? Sierra was yet to know something even more cruel than whatever she had heard yet.

"They weren't the masterminds behind what happened. Neither was I the main target."

Sierra flinched at those words. If not them, then just who was responsible for everything that Adrienne had gone through?

Before she could ask anything, Adrienne spoke. She could feel her heart beating fast with nervousness after hearing his words.

"They are after the Elven Forest. No, after you, to be specific."

She could tell from his actions that he wasn't lying. There wasn't any reason for him to. As she was about to open her mouth, Adrienne's words interrupted her.

"We should switch locations first."

He had just said that while glancing at others around them. Sierra had lost her cool for a moment, but soon she had collected herself together.

She let out a sigh. It looked like there was something else going on behind the scenes all this time.