Ever since his birth, Klaus Midgar and his wife, Mary Midgar had become incredibly happy.

Gently clutching her son on her arms, Mary noticed that he was no longer crying, gazing towards his mother.

And then it suddenly made a sound almost equivalent to a giggle. She thought that it was by instinct of her child, so she was happy.

"Klaus, have you decided on what to name our child?" She asked her husband in an almost weakened tone.

He scratched his head. And, to reduce his embarrassment he swiftly thought about a name.

"H-Honestly... Hm... How about Corneus? I named our first daughter after a part of our eyes, so why not name him another part of it?"

The two reached a mutual agreement, however, decided that Mary names their next and last child that will be born as Alexia.

'Huh, I was given the same name! Cool, I guess.'

However, they didn't even notice this until later in their lives, as he was incredibly intelligent, despite his intelligence, he will be bound to do crazy shit.

Don't like it? Come on, don't be like that, he may not be what you expected him to be soon and that doesn't mean you should use that as mere bias.

Back to the topic, as they began to take care of both their kingdom and the two royal children, they began to receive reports about Prince Corneus.

One such report was that Prince Corneus was focused in watching a painter from the Oriana Kingdom do his work, and not once did he even interrupt the painter.

Another part of that report that had surprised them was the joy Corneus had in watching him until the painter was done.

This happened while he was just three years old, when Alexia was born.

The next year, he suddenly began to play the piano, a recent invention from Oriana Kingdom, and while it actually sounded horrible at first, he began showing signs of improving, in just a few weeks.

He barely shown effort in observing swordfights, but as he was still very young, he could do nothing but observe fights.

It was observed that he was bored. When talked about why swordplay looked boring, he simply said: "I wondered why aren't they using the full potential of their art? Why do I feel like they were imitating someone? The way they're using their energies needed work like art."

His father replied that they were taught these Sword Arts, only to look disappointed, as if he wasn't given the true answer.

This question however, just felt quite wrong.

At the age of six, his muscle memories fully returned, allowing him to begin training in the arts of the Bushin, yet he didn't really care much about it since he crafted his own style, which was simply powerful but precise swings, thrusts and other basic techniques.

Techniques which had inspired Alexia, who began to try to imitate him and Iris in their sword styles.

And now, while he was at the age of 9, he and Iris got into a swordfight after a bit of a misunderstanding.

"Brother, what did you say?!" Iris yelled, tightly clutching her wooden training sword with both her hands. She was glaring at Corneus who was as calm as always.

He raised his finger, waving it sideways.

"I merely said you needed to lighten up your strikes, as I think power isn't everything. Unless... Your technique is refined enough." He replied, with a light smile, closing his eyes.

"And please, calm down already, this will never end well-"

Before he could finish his words, his sister lunged towards him, and swung her sword, which had been infused with Magical Power.

In reaction, Corneus opened his eyes and immediately raised his wooden sword to block at where she would strike.

Of course, in order to lessen injury to his body, and to the emotional wound that might result, he decided to defend himself with magic and pure technique.

Although he could at least overpower her since he had been regaining his original power slowly, that will result in her feeling inferior.

A personality problem that was always present in her, the feeling that when you are in the top of the world, only to slowly begin feeling like you shouldn't be.

That was her problem.

Once her sword struck his own, he was pushed sideways, his light figure sliding for half a second, and through small footwork he was able to have a perfect landing on the ground.

The angry Iris began a minor fit as she began to wildly swing her sword, and as a child, she wasn't really aware of what consequences may bring her if this kept up.

Contrasting to her wild swings, Corneus used pure technique and increasing speed to redirect her swings to somewhere else, or to the ground.

The more swings redirected, the more furious she became, until she took several steps back, and began to fill up her sword with Magical Power.

Then, she leaped up, intending to end this.

A young Alexia had arrived to the garden where they are fighting, expanding her arms to try to defend Corneus.

"Sister Iris! Please don't fight with Brother Corneus!" Alexia yelled out, yet her voice was unheard, the booming roar of Magical Power dampened her voice.

In three seconds, Alexia will be wounded. Worse, dead. He can't let this happen!

Therefore, Prince Corneus grabbed Alexia's arm and pulled her towards him the. tossing her to the ground behind him.

He swiftly raised his sword, putting his hands on it as he overloaded it with Magical Energy. Just enough to push him and Iris away from each other while preventing the blast from expanding too much.

Yet he was affected the most, as wooden splinters appeared on his torso. These splinters didn't dig deep, and he already vaporized those who may damage his vitals with magic. If he hadn't had clothing, some of the splinters might had lodged to his insides.

The knights, who had just become aware of what was happening in the garden, had arrived.

Iris got up from the ground, rubbing her eyes as she looked at the guards, and eventually, at her brother.

Then her eyes widened at what happened to him. Right now, she couldn't yet comprehend it.

"Prince Corneus! Princess Alexia and Princess Iris! Are you okay?"

"Prince Corneus definitely isn't okay, let's get him to the doctor!"

"What even happened here? Did somebody entered the garden of the castle and tried to attack the prince and princesses?!"

"We're just glad they're okay..."

While Corneus was being carried away, several large splinters moved.

"Ow! *Sniff* *sniff* That hurt, please be careful with handling me!" He seemingly yelped out, as if being in pain.

"A-Ah!! Damn it, we'll be gentle right now, forgive us!"

While the knights left the scene to get Corneus treated, Iris was left alone with Alexia and a few guards who checked up on them.

"Princess Iris, please let me see your hands."

She allowed them to see them, only to find out that both were wounded, too.

Eventually, she began to break down and cry, blaming herself for hurting her brother.

She knew this was her fault, and she even tried to tell her parents that she hurt him, but...

"What are you talking about? Someone definitely attacked the two of you! Thankfully your injuries aren't that much of a problem..." Klaus replied, clenching his fists as he stared on the many buildings on the distance through the window.

"I blame our inactivity, you know... Plus, these days I fear that, Mary might be possessed by a demon and people will soon find out... After all, I've got a meeting with the Ruler of Oriana Kingdom next day."

Sighing lightly, he calmed himself down. Worrying for too long will not do any good.

Before he could notice, Iris left the room, in search for her brother to apologize. Asking people where he was is easy, so she immediately arrived to where he was.

"Brother?"

Corneus has several bandages covering the splintered parts of his body, all while Alexia was there, too.

She approached him to apologize.

"You're sorry, hm?"

Fearing her apology is going to be shut off, Iris looked away in an embarrassed fluster.

"That's enough, your apology is accepted. Next time, try to not let your emotions manipulate you. Our future enemies will use your emotions against you."

Confusion is present on Iris, and when she looked at Alexia, there was a bright smile on her face.

"Brother forgave you, right? You should at least listen to him, he gives the best advices and stories he could come up with!"

Soon enough, they were together once more. Due to this, it may affect the princesses' lives in the future.

[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]

Author's Commentary: Edited the chapter.