Chapter 4

Olivia’s face split into a broad grin, her large eyes twinkling in anticipation. “Of course I want to go!” she exclaimed. “Should I send my reply by international post?”

Margo raised an eyebrow at the girl’s excitement and shook her head. “You have no idea of the royal family’s arrogance. There are already servants waiting to deliver you the moment you agree to go.”

So technically, it’s more of a summons than an invitation, she thought.

Olivia blinked back at her in a daze.

The professor breathed a quiet sigh. It would be a disaster to send this young lady over to Herod all alone, and to attend the autumn banquet at that. Should I go with her? Agh, but it’s such a pain...

* * *

Olivia headed home straight away.

She had turned nineteen years old that year. Despite graduating early from Herolington University with top marks, she was the only one who had so far failed to secure a job while all her classmates were already working decent careers. She had felt small and suffocated by her brutal reality, but the invitation from Herod made her heart flutter again.

Olivia paid the coachman and hurriedly stepped out of the carriage, then sprinted toward a small house covered in wisteria vines. Her grandmother would certainly forbid her from going, but she wanted to at least ask her permission this time.

Susanna Liberty was spending a tedious afternoon in the study when she heard a carriage approach. She stood up to look out the window. Lo and behold, her granddaughter was running across the garden and hurriedly approaching the house.

A whisper of a smile spread across the old woman’s perpetually gloomy face. There was the frantic patter of footsteps before the door cracked open and Olivia poked her head into the room.

“Grandmother!”

“Come in, Liv. How was your day?”

Olivia was hit with an air of gloomy melancholy as soon as she opened the door. It only made her smile wider. “I told you to keep the curtains open,” she said. She pulled back the curtains, allowing light to wash over the corners of the room, then sat in front of her grandmother. She hoped the sun would somehow fade the grief and helplessness that seemed etched into every wrinkle on the old woman’s face.

Olivia chattered away about nothing in particular as Susanna sat still and listened with a patient smile. After a while, Olivia hesitated, then held out the envelope from the royal palace.

“What’s this?” Susanna asked.

Olivia gave a cautious reply. “I received an invitation.”

Perching her reading glasses on her nose, the old woman took the envelope. The texture of the paper was forebodingly luxurious on her fingertips. She hastily tugged out the card, revealing an ornate coat of arms at its heading. As someone who had maintained a business in Herod for years despite her commoner status, she instantly recognized it as the symbol of the royal family.

She stared at her granddaughter in alarm, but Olivia was quick to explain. “Apparently, I’m widely known in Herod as the first female graduate of Herolington University.”

“No,” Susanna said at once.

“Grandmother…”

“No, Liv. And because you were a female student? Absolutely not.”

Susanna was aware that her granddaughter was a true beauty, enough to turn heads wherever she went. But she had no father or brother to protect her, and worse still, she was a commoner. To allow her to go to Herod, and stand alone in front of aristocrats? It could never happen.

She was absolutely unyielding in her decision. Having expected this reaction, Olivia brought out her final weapon. “Professor Margaret has agreed to go with me.”

Susanna, who’d been forcefully shaking her head, suddenly froze. “Princess Margaret?”

The young woman nodded, beaming. “Yes. She’s already sent word to the palace that she’ll be accompanying me. I really, really want to go. Please, Grandmother?”

The old woman stared numbly at her granddaughter. The girl hadn’t begged for anything like this in quite a while. The years had turned Susanna’s own face increasingly expressionless, but Olivia’s mind had grown up much faster than her young body. At some point, the girl had stopped whining or crying altogether. To see her finally make such a longing face felt like someone made Susanna feel like she was being choked.

After a lengthy silence, she finally met Olivia’s earnest eyes. “You want to go to Herod that badly?” she asked.

“Yes, I do,” Olivia answered without missing a beat.

The old woman sighed heavily. Even then, she found it difficult to give her consent. She stared down at the invitation for a long while.

She sent her granddaughter away, agreeing to think about it, but then sat up all night without a wink of sleep. When daybreak came, she gazed at the family portrait hanging on her wall. Her wrinkled eyes filled with tears. The bright little girl, embraced in the picture by her loving parents, had grown into a young lady who had been forcing herself to smile cheerily for her depressed grandmother. Of course you’d want to go, child. That place was your home before you lost both it and your parents overnight.

Susanna returned the invitation early in the morning. “Whatever happens, you must not leave Princess Margaret’s side,” she said firmly. “Don’t ever venture off on your own. You must be with her at all times.”

As soon as the words left the old woman’s mouth, Olivia squealed and threw her arms around her grandmother. “I will, I will! I promise!” Even despite the nagging and reminders that followed, her eyes never stopped sparkling. Finally, Herod! She’d been wanting to go for so long!

A few days later, Olivia and Margo boarded the ship to the capital. They wouldn’t be taking the shortest and most direct route, for sea monsters were lurking at this time of year. But despite having a two-week-long sea journey ahead of her, Olivia’s expression was brighter than ever.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Herolington Gulf, the sea monsters were frantically making their final attempts to survive. Spring and summer were breeding season for the monsters and thus a period of disaster, while the colder seasons were quieter with hardly any attacks.

The Magic Dome managed to eliminate every monster within its range, leaving none spared. Developed by the Wilhelm Company, the Magic Dome was innovation at its finest. All the mages had to do was transfer their mana into the charging terminal to generate power. Of course, this was no easy feat on its own.

White sea spray shot up from the ocean as small krakens grabbed at boats from beneath the waves, causing them to topple over and then bob to the surface.

“Damn it! When is my shift over?!” yelled Pierre as he held onto his trembling legs. He’d been supplying the Magic Dome with mana for several hours now.

His boss and the commander of the Navy Special Forces, Noah Astrid, had often been absent lately to give interviews with the media. This left Pierre, his second-in-command, alone to shoulder the bulk of the work. Seriously, I’m about to keel over! When the hell is Astrid getting here?! When I see him, I swear I’m gonna...

“You can stop fantasizing about me, Pierre.” He had been barely clutching the charging terminal, but someone brushed aside his hand as their shadow drew over his shoulder.

Dressed in a sleek black suit instead of his usual navy uniform, Noah pulled off his thin summer gloves and stuffed them into his pocket. He then placed his bare hand on the charging terminal and released his mana into it. He didn’t cast a single glance toward Pierre, who had now gone limp from exhaustion.

The Magic Dome, now freshly charged with mana, began to bombard the monsters with renewed power. Jets of seawater rocketed into the air.

Pierre pulled himself up at the sound of soldiers cheering from the coastline. “Why do you have so many interviews recently? I thought I was going to pass out trying to keep this going on my own.”

With his free hand, Noah swiftly took out a cigarette.

“You should quit smoking, Commander. You don’t want an early death, do you?” Pierre cautioned.

“Shut it,” Noah said shortly, apathetically watching the resplendent mana fireworks bursting in the sky. He’d just come back from meeting his father, where he had threatened never to speak to the king again if he was ordered to attend one more event. Fortunately, that female student from Faulder had agreed to come to Herod. Now was as good a time as ever to call it quits.

“Well, I’m thankful,” he said.

“For what?”

“That after today, I won’t have to do any more interviews. But you should get used to not having me around.”

“Pardon? Why would you say that?”

“Because I’m finished with the navy too.”

Pierre’s face twisted into a grimace. “Commander! Are you pursuing riches instead of defending your kingdom?” he cried reproachfully.

Noah smirked. Even pouring the entirety of his mana into the Magic Dome, he hardly batted an eye.

A green flag was raised on the shore, signaling that the monsters were all gone. He removed his hand from the charging terminal and turned around, then with a posture so perfect it almost looked obsessive, gracefully slipped his gloves back on and snubbed out his cigarette.

He cast a quick glance at Pierre, who was visibly fatigued, then headed for the stairs. “Wouldn’t I be a better help to the kingdom by making money and paying my taxes?”

Descending quickly down the spiral staircase, he undid the top button of his shirt to breathe better and cracked his stiff neck left and right.

“This time around, you should take a close look at the ladies making their debut at the autumn banquet. You ought to be married by the end of next year at the very latest!”

When Noah had declared he wouldn’t do any more interviews, his father had played the marriage card.

“I can take care of myself, Your Majesty. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Yes, yes, I know what your love life is like. But you don’t intend to just fool around for the rest of your life, do you?”

What does he know about my love life anyway? Noah thought scornfully. Does he actually believe the tabloids that claim every single girl I lay eyes on is a new love interest?

The king had merely shrugged at his son’s cold attitude. Noah swore under his breath as he recalled his father’s cynical expression. He had only one goal in mind: gain independence from the royal family he was so sick of and find some peace at last.