*Year 1890, 24th December—Present*

“So now that there is no one you both need to invite, I want you to pack your things. We are going to the Walter Estate.”, Santosh ordered.

Shilpi smiled suspiciously, as if she expected what was to come.

“What?! Walter Estate?! Why would we go to the Walters’ place?”, Heena was shocked.

The Walter’s Estate was famed worldwide for being the most beautiful palace in the world. It was also famous for being the estate the King of Monad gave to his daughter in her wedding as a wedding gift.

“Oh! I forgot, you were unaware of the secret this whole time.”

“What secret? What were you two hiding, and why am I the only one left out?”

“No! That is not the case. Even I was unaware of it, this whole time. I am speaking the truth, Heena.”

“Tell her already”, Shilpi smirked, “Tell her, YOUR HIGHNESS!.”

“What is she saying, Santosh.”, Heena got frustrated, “Or, should I even call you that. Who are you, why did you come here and why did you lie to me. Spit out, God Damn it!”

Heena was getting more and more angry by the second. 

Santosh expected her reaction, but this was still a bit much for him. He started being afraid of the possibility of her hating him. He looked at Shilpi with a pleading sight. Shilpi grinned as she saw his pitiful situation. Seeing them squabble reminded her of how even the best merchant in the entire Monad became a pussy.

“Calm Down moonlight. Let him say it. I am sure he had a good reason for fooling you this entire time.”, Shilpi skimmed her hand on Heena’s hair and looked at Santosh with a villainous grin. 

Heena calmed her nerves for a bit, “Okay! I am giving ten minutes. If I don’t hear a good reason behind every lie you told me, you DIE!”, Heena gave an ultimatum with a menacing look and bloodlust seeping out of her body. 

Santosh shivered in fear, words refused to come out of his throat. A strange pressure was crushing him and making more and more nervous. “Hey, Calm down, Moonlight! Don’t you see you are crushing him under your spiritual pressure?”, Shilpi patted on Heena’s shoulder with a serious look. 

Heena realized her mistake, she retracted her spiritual pressure, but her bloodlust still lurked in the atmosphere.

‘So that’s what she was talking about when she said that! And looks like she will really kill me if I don’t come up with my story.’, Santosh thought to himself.

“Please listen to my whole story, then you may punish me however you like.”, Santosh begged with a sincere look and folded hands. “And would you please not fuel her anger. I beg you”, Santosh looked at Shilpi with a loathing expression.

The King of Monad, Yahweh Walters, was one of the most powerful rulers on the face of earth. With his kingdom having the highest no. of magic users in the entire world. The most powerful out of them were the Duke and Duchess of Eastshire. The Queen Mary couldn’t give birth to a son. But they still had a daughter. So they decided to pass on the kingdom to the First child of hers. The princess married one of the King’s advisers and gave birth to a beautiful boy. The King’s other advisers were not happy with the King’s decision, so they lead a coup on the kingdom in the capital of Helmstad. But the coup was unsuccessful. The Duke lead an army to suppress the revolters and captured each one of them. But still, they were successful in assassinating the newborn child’s parents. The whole Kingdom was shaken by the unfortunate death of the princess and her husband.

The King was worried that his grandson might be in danger as well if he were to be in the Kingdom. Therefore, with the help of his most trusted man, Michael, he secretly sent him to Aruna Kingdom, which was far from Monad and comparatively safer. The Duke owned a construction company there, therefore they didn’t have to worry about where he lived, and also he could easily contact him without getting noticed. All of king’s worries were taken care of. The King planned to bring the prince back as soon as he was of the right age.

“My twenty-second birthday is on 25th December, i.e., tomorrow. So a month ago, I received a letter from the company’s direct superiors. The orders were to visit Seemapur to conduct inspection of the under construction railway station. At that time, I wasn’t aware of my identity.”, Santosh looked at Shilpi with hostility. “Ahem…mm! It would be better if you keep going, you haven’t got whole day.”, Heena warned him. Shilpi giggled with jest as she looked at Santosh’s pitiful state.

“I… I actually didn’t have any information regarding you as well. The only thing I knew was that the Duke’s daughter went missing at her twentieth birthday. Yesterday, when I went to work, I found a letter on my work desk which had Monad’s seal and signatures of the company’s chairman, the Duke of Eastshire. At that time, I was so lost in and couldn’t think of anything other than you, so I simply put it inside my bag without reading it. When we came back home at night, your mother asked me a number of questions….”

*23rd December 1890, 11:00 PM*

“Be honest and tell me who you are and what is your family background?”

“What are you talking about, I told you everything that I know. My parents died when I was little. I was taken care of at an orphanage. I don’t know anything about them. The only ones I know as a family were the kind ladies at the orphanage. But they also passed away when I was twenty. I had been working at the East Coa…”

“No, it is not possible. The size of spiritual energy a human being possesses is directly related to his or her family lineage. As far as I am aware, nobody has an energy pool bigger than Heena’s and my own. But you are different. Not only is your energy pool larger than us, it is black and ominous.”

“What in the world are you babbling about, what spiritual energy? Have you gone senile?”

“Shut your trap! Listen to me clearly. Spiritual Energy is the life force of a human being. Only very few in this world can manipulate it and make use of it.”, Shilpi paused for a second and then, “It’s like the Mana you hear in magic stories, but the difference is, it is limited. Once you overuse it, you can die of exhaustion.”

Shilpi stroke her hand in the air, and suddenly a golden aura enclosed her whole body. “You see, this is my spiritual energy. It is capable of healing and defence.” Santosh was stunned and stared at Shilpi in awe.