Chapter 2: His No.1 Fan?

Vardünheim (Berlin, Germany)

The bold, calligraphied scrawl on the letter was unmistakable.

“Fair Asidius, light of my dull hours,
I hope you’re not in bed with a “cold” after hearing about the Emperor’s meeting with you. I would’ve loved to dedicate the entirety of the letter to tease you about this but that isn’t why I wrote to you. Contrary to what you think, I’m quite busy with work, you see.

Before writing, I got a message from my guild members. Apparently, they had sensed the potential of Imperial energy from a fourteen-year-old girl in the Tenshujichi empire.

I suppose it’s either a misunderstanding, or she’s a bastard child who hasn’t been recognized yet. Well, I hope she stays out of those affairs since I won’t be able to freely stalk her in a foreign empire’s Imperial jurisdiction.

I won’t be able to meet you for a while since I’m travelling across the continent, but don’t miss me too much, my dear. We will be reconciled soon at your debutante when you come of age.

P.S. If my elder brother tries to make you blurt out my whereabouts, mind you be a sweetling and bite your tongue.

With an affection most importunate and kisses too many to count, I remain thy faithful torment, Isholde.”

At the end of this letter, there was a doodle of a stickman smirking and blowing a kiss at the reader. Asidius had no doubt who the kiss was directed towards and it made him feel the sudden urge to throw an armchair out of his office window.

What made this urge stronger was the fact that Isholde was in fact, stalking a young girl who had no idea that hundreds of people were noting her every move.

He assumed that it would have been a misunderstanding since sensing Imperial powers wouldn’t be accurate for normal people since having them yourself and knowing based on observance were two different things.

Asidius felt conflicted again. He was angry that an innocent fourteen-year old girl had been dragged into this mess by the Emperor and Isholde with no awareness or reasoning.

He would rather have the Emperor send him back or have Isholde fawn over him instead. But the question was, why?

He had no reason to side with a stranger whom he had never met or cared about before.

Maybe these conflicted feelings would all disappear if he met with the girl and got disappointed early, he thought. He looked up at the clock; it was nearing eleven o’clock in the evening.

“I can’t believe I spent so much time thinking about useless things,” he grumbled. “I should’ve gone to bed ages ago…”

★ ★ ★

The sun was peering over into the Sapphire room windows in the imperial palace. The curtains had not been pulled down from the windows since the previous night, the bedsheets were scuffled, and underneath the unironed and messy duvet was Asidius von Vardünheim.

The brightness of the sun made it clear that the sun had long since been up and the robot-like prince had overslept for the first time in his life since he had been up thinking all night, missing his early morning training.

There was a sudden rap of the knuckles on the door to check whether there was someone inside or not.

Asidius turned aside and groaned into his pillow. He was still fast asleep and showed no signs of stirring.

“It’s Viscount Grauhardt, Your Highness,” said the voice, in a sharp and firm tone.

The prince again turned but this time he sat up and checked the grandfather clock in the sunlit room.

“I overslept!” he grunted. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier, Fabian?”

“You showed no intention to wake up until now, Your Highness. How could we possibly disturb your slumber?” the aide cried out.

The prince sighed and went out. He knew that Fabian von Grauhardt and Isholde von Sevran took great pleasure in mocking him. They always got away with it because of their titles too.

Nonetheless, it didn’t affect Asidius since he had been too busy with his campaigns. He went out for his morning training. There were two hours left until breakfast, which they were apparently having with the Emperor again.

A murmur of greetings followed as he walked into the training area for the royal knights. There were magic devices surrounding the boundary walls so that the area with the swords and other weapons were in camouflage.

There was also a weapons’ storage which even contained preserved relics from the Grand Temple’s excavations.

Asidius grasped on to the Holy Sword and began to swing it.

“Woah! I’ve heard stories about this ever since I was a wee lad, how come you have access to it so easily, Your Highness?” said a nearby squire, his face shining brightly from admiration.

“Because he’s a royal, that’s why!” shouted another from the crowd of royal knights swarming around Asidius.

He paused for a second and turned around to glare at them. This seemed to have an immediate effect as all of them scattered at once.

It wasn’t because of his gaze which made people run away, it was his red eyes that showed a glint of light whenever he used his powers.

He resumed back to his sword practice until he heard a deafening growl from behind the training area. There was no one remaining other than him.

The sudden quietness and emptiness alarmed him. He turned back to…

Chapter Glossary:-

[*Imperial power: Magical abilities inherited by descendants of the Imperial families.]

[*Debutante: A noble’s formal introduction to high society when they come of age.]

[*Holy Sword: A sacred relic kept in the Imperial palace, used only by royals.]

[*Grand Temple: The Empire’s central temple, known for preserving relics and sacred artifacts.]

[*Viscount: A noble title, ranking below a count and above a baron.]