Chapter 11: An Unsuspected Relation

It was a beautiful afternoon, the weather wasn't too sunny nor too cloudy. The sky was painted a beautiful light blue with only a few clouds in sight. The breeze felt cool, but not cold, which perfectly complimented a hot cup of tea. The view was immaculate, as they were in the middle of the short period between the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. The winter was usually much colder and so it was nice to enjoy the light wind and peaceful atmosphere that autumn could bring.

Arisanna was now grown up and no longer a teen. She grew a bit after the age of fifteen but stopped shortly after. Despite this, she was taller than the average female woman but couldn't beat her brother who was a young lad. She grew up beautifully, possessing charms like any other woman. She grew her hair to the length of her waist, which is now currently tied up in a long ponytail. Due to the wind, the hair and the bow holding it up fluttered through the air, following the north wind.

After the princess' "debutante disaster", what the nobles like to call it, everything was back in order under the skillful management of Bridgette herself. She held another debutante a little after, just when she turned eighteen, and was re-introduced to society in a more outstanding way. This caused a lot of controversies as one might imagine seeing how the previous ball turned out, but she was able to pull it off after hosting a more grand party. Arisanna admired her friend's prowess and was given the opportunity to help out, which she cheerfully took. With an extra hand to help with planning, the debutante was regarded as an event that would be recorded in the history books.

On the note of relationships, Arisanna and Bridgette became very close and often kept in contact through letters. Every time she visited the capital, she would always meet up with the princess, and they would have much fun together. As one of the princess' confidants, she gets to hear all the gossip and rumors, while also making connections she wouldn't have thought of making. Of course, she genuinely cares for Bridgette and values her as one of her closest friends, but they both understand that when it comes to work, they both are free to utilize the other as they see fit. However, despite all of that, they remained very good friends and grew up together. Thus, they would actively seek the other to confide in whenever something comes up.

She also surprisingly got close to Arthur, as they have much to talk about when it comes to magic. Arthur genuinely wants to improve in magic and would practice very meticulously each time they spar, so she developed an appreciation for his pursuit. Thus, to be expected, he very quickly improves as they grew up, reaching the title of sorcerer around his eighteen birthday.

As they start to grow closer, she noticed Arthur's lack of attraction toward people of the opposite gender. She never questioned it though and never pushes him to give her an explanation as she believes he should be the one to take initiative when it comes to these matters. To her surprise, he came out of the closet on his birthday and never looked back since. Everyone took it very well and supported him, which was a very heart-warming scene to take part in. She oddly felt closer to him afterward because he trusted her enough to reveal something personal, and so their relationship only deepened through time.

In light of the social scene, sexuality is a topic that is commonly viewed as taboo. Despite our developing society, we still can't accept something so unusual and out of the norm just yet, and so news of his coming out was kept under wraps with only a selection of people knowing. There are those who actively avoid such topics, even mocking those who are different, but let nobles be nobles and give them a bit of time before they are forced to accept reality.

As for Alexander, due to him being a bit older than Arisanna, they didn't bond as well as the others at first. It took a bit to get used to each other but she found him quite interesting. The first prince was surprisingly opinionated and had a lot of thoughts regarding different matters. Arisanna liked spending time with him and getting to know him, so they also had a very good relationship. She viewed him as an older brother of sorts and looked up to his calm and collective persona.

Overall, she made some very long-lasting friendships after that particular visit to the capital that shaped who she is now in the present.

Arisanna already had her coming-of-age ceremony in the North and already established herself in society. She still found it annoying to keep up a farce in front of the nobles but she could only give in and respond to those darn letters that come in every morning.

She was now of age and mature enough to take care of her official duties, something she has been training to become from childhood. Now, she wasn't exactly the Grand Duke's aide, since Theodore is not currently the Grand Duke, she is still his aide as Theodore has taken up a lot of responsibilities from his father.

Today just happens to be a rare break from her duties, freeing her from the daily workload and giving her quality free time to herself. She would take a sip of tea while turning the page of the book she was holding. She would get to slowly savor her cakes, one bite at a time, and truly take in all of their flavors. She felt relaxed, a bit too relaxed. She felt a bit queasy as if her body warning her of something. She had a feeling that this state of calm was about to be interrupted by some stupid event that will transpire, but it was oddly peaceful.

'Could it be because I put up a force field around me and isolated myself from others?'

Arisanna looked at her surrounding. She was inside the greenhouse, a birthday gift from her parents, sitting at the table that remained at the center of the delicate flowers that grew inside of said greenhouse.

She liked to change the flowers depending on the season, personally growing them herself. It gives a different sense of atmosphere with each flower, displaying their unique distinction through mana.

Some flower possesses an amount of mana that are released in different ways, giving the flowers abnormal traits. For example, the "Rose of Reflection" refracts light, making its petal see-through and clear. The story surrounding the rose tells of a princess whose love was reflected by the rose, conveying her feelings to her lover. Although the story is far-fetched, Arisanna admits the flower's beauty.

As she gaze her way through the newly planted flowers, the outside seemed to be covered with a hazy barrier, set outside the greenhouse.

'It can't possibly be so, right?' she took a sip from her now cold tea.

Suddenly, she felt a bang. Although she couldn't see it, she knew someone was banging on the force field she created.

She sighed and stretched her body a bit from her tiredness. She stood up on her long legs and her ponytail swished as she walked. Red butterflies that were randomly flying in the forcefield gathered and were re-absorbed by Arisanna. She let down the force field and met the perpetrator of the banging. He was a young servant of the household and had a look of worry on his face. His hands were twitching and his eyes were wide open as if he was pleading for help.

"My lady!"

"Slow down, there is no need to shout."

"But- It's the young master!"

"What happened to Reynold? Is he back?"

"He- he is injured."

"Injured?"

Taken by surprise, Arisanna silently stood contemplating. She cleared her thoughts and let the frantic servant quickly guide her to her brother. She was met with a grueling scene.

The soldiers were wounded and had to be stitched up by the medics of the mansion. They looked exhausted and were panting as they lay down on the ground.

She quickly scanned the crowd of knights, not knowing her presence was known.

"Young lady!" the knights collectively called out.

She found the black-haired man quickly coming to his side. His red eyes met hers and he widened his eyes at the sight of her.

"Ari-"

"Are you alright? What happened? How did-"

She widened her eyes with a look of distraught. There was a nasty wound on her brother's face. The wound tore from the side of his eye down to his chin. It bled as she spoke and the medic next to him was trying to treat it.

"How did you- What did you-"

"Calm down. This is just one of the major injuries. I came out alive."

"What do you mean 'you came out alive'? What did you encounter to have such a wound?"

He hissed as the medic applied medicine to his face and responded, "I'll make an official report later when everyone is gathered."

She continued to bother him, much to his embarrassment. Arisanna was a bit frantic after all, showing a less dignified side to the rest of the knights.

"Will this leave a scar?"

"If it does, it is considered a heroic feat to retain such a fearsome scar," said the current commander of the knights.

Since Reynold was still young and lacked experience, he could only take up the position of second-in-command which he was satisfied with. He will ultimately end up with the position of commander, so this is only a matter of formalities. The current commander is also getting old, and so he will retire soon so the timing works out in his favor.

"Heroic scars? Is it worth it to get injured and to retain it? The wound covers one-third of your face! I will never be able to understand you knights…"

The knights laughed at her comment and teased her for it. Despite their efforts, Arisanna was a master at coming up with retorts and so they could only sigh in defeat.

***

The commander and Reynold entered the room, about to discuss their findings. They were currently at the Grand Duke's mansion. There were several people present currently but all were familiar faces in Arisanna's eyes.

Her father and mother are the current aides to the Grand Duke and Duchess, so both of them are present. A few officials in charge of different positions here in the north were also present, including their children who might take up their posts when they mature. Of course, Arisanna and Reynold were also there.

"We are here to report our findings to his highness, the Grand Duke, as we have found something important worth of note," the commander bowed.

"Please, speak," the grand duke spoke.

"We encountered many demonized beasts these past few years and we continue to scout for them. As the years passed, we felt a change in the strength of the beasts as they are growing stronger at a rapid pace. As someone who has much experience, I believe they will continue to grow as we speak and they will eventually be harder to beat."

"I have heard that you all were severely injured, are you all alright?" he asked while glancing at Reynold's wound.

"The knights all sustained injuries but are able to recover after a period of time. They would be healed before the next expedition," Reynold responded to the Grand Duke's concerns.

He nodded and motioned them to continue.

"We investigated the root cause of the problems as we continued advancing. Seeing how it is not likely they became stronger overnight, something must have interfered. To add, since the discovery of these demonized beasts, scholars believe they are man-made, meaning there is a perpetrator behind all of this and so we searched under the thought of that premise."

Everyone nodded at the commander and so he continued with a solemn look on his face.

"We have received reports of a few 'believers' roaming around near the beat territories."

"'Believers'? You mean those of the church?" the Grand Duchess sternly asked.

"Yes, we believe the church is involved with the demonized beasts."