Statue Gift

Recently, his Highness Amaranaath had shown signs of changing. It's not sign anymore, but already complete change of a person.

Especially Tear and Jenas, who's always present beside him, would exceptionally notice immediately. As, they're also ordered to observe the Prince every single movement.

10.00 AM : Sapphire Palace ; Inside the Prince chamber

Tear hummed softly while brushing a smooth, silver hair gently. It took quite a while since she's worried she might damage the beautiful hair, together with the fact it was quite long.

She swifted, turned a few strands on the inner hair and formed it into a small braids, finishing it with pearl accessories afterwards.

After taking around 5 minutes, Tear placed down the soft brush and opened back her eyes. Revealing a quite eye catching jade iris's, then she said with a smile,"It's perfect now, Your Highness." she took a few steps back.

The silver hair owner was lost in thought before snapping back into his senses the moment he heard Tear's soothing voice.

He shifted his head slightly towards Tear.

She unconciously gasped for breathe when the deep, exquisite Jewelry Eyes met her Jade's.

He pursed his lips into a smile, responded,"Alright, thank you Tear." as he said that, he turned once again towards the mirror infront of him, looking at his neat appearance for a few seconds, then solely supported his body and made his short legs touch the ground.

Ranath continues, "Do you know sir Jenas whereabouts? i heard from the servants he was called by Father, is that true?"

She raised her brows timely. Upon hearing this, she frowned but quickly maintain her demeanor. Why does they let his Majesty knew about this.. the servants is that careless? i've ordered them to shut their mouth regarding this matter..

After realizing the Prince is waiting, she replied with a slightly dry tone.

"..Yes, Your Highness. If you wish to know the details, you can ask sir Jenas when he comes back." she wanted to throw the problems at Jenas.

Ranath nodded in acknowledgement. "I shall go for my class then."

Tear rounded her eyes in surprise, before turned back into her normal shape. She's quite surprised the Prince suddenly wanted to attend his classes. As, the Prince never attended his classes before, and it goes on for a whole month.

Many suspected the Prince's not in a good condition, so they just solemnly goes according his wills without bothering to ask.

She immediately added, "I should accompany you then, your Highness. It's dangerous for you to go around the corridor alone. There might be a bad person like last time.."

She used the term 'bad person' since the Prince is still a kid. She thought being straightforward might not be necessary, and that the young Prince might not understand.

Exceeding her expectations, Ranath understand this completely. He didn't let it show on his face is all."..I understand." i wanted to be alone, though.. he sighed inward.

He wanted some time alone to procceed some things he needed. But after considering his impossible request, he gave up on that.

It's not like assassins can do anything to me. Unless they have demigod powers. He added.

Ranath took his steps and continued his tracks, going outside his chamber. Behind him, Tear closed his room quietly and followed behind him.

When she cast her gaze somewhere besides the Prince, the soft facial expression the Prince had quickly turned as he relaxed his muscles, giving up on his act for a few seconds. Turning deadpan.

His face darkened while deep in thoughts, with his lips pursed flatly without any further sounds, while his gaze sharpened.

I should think of my plan ahead of time. But i'm still a 5 year old kid, if i forcefully drag out my mana, it'll result in another mana explosion..

I don't know what the God of Life thinking, nor when will 'he' changed his mind on giving me freedom. No, perhaps.. 'he' was really restrained by other Gods...

While thinking about the realm of Gods, his existence stirred dramatically. He tried to calm himself down immediately, afraid something would happened with his current small body.

I shouldn't recite their names so carelessly like that.. sigh. Almost met my end once again.He controlled his facial muscles once again, turning back into the innocent young Prince.

***

12.36 AM : Emperor Residence ; Inside the Emperor Office

Three knock on the door resounded inside the office. At the other side, likewise, the outside part, someone briefly mentioned."Your Majesty, i've required the relevant information." it was the voice of a middle-aged gentleman. It was full of dignity, in a rather gentle manner as to not interrupt the person inside.

Claude, who spent almost an entire day without any sleep was looking intently on his work. He didn't raised his head and instead gave an immediate response.

"Come in." he was still drowned deep with the bunch pile of white papers. Anyone could see his table was messier unlike his surroundings area.

The door opened with a creak. Two person slowly emerged from behind the door as they quietly entered the room.

The first person was a red haired knight with a sharp build, while infront of him is a person with light blue color that seemed to illuminate portion of the darkness.

Felix immediately reported, "Pardon me, Your Majesty. Along the way i assisted sir Jenas, there seems to be plenty of people lurking in the shadow. We didn't react directly as to figured out their purposes." he calmly directed.

Only then did the handsome, golden haired Emperor raised his head to glance at the two people standby as he began resting on the back of his palm, considering the matter seriously.

"..The corresponding traits is similar to the assassins passing through the Gate restriction and entered Amaranaath Palace.. investigate further. Maybe we can figured out the organization whose stubbornly wanted to assassinate the Prince."

Felix nodded in approvement and as to obeyed his orders.

Claude averted his gaze towards the light blue hair guy, awaiting his reports and the subsequent results of his research.

Seeing the gaze, Jenas curled the tip of his lips and began his explanation."During my research, i discovered a cave within the forest besides his Highness Palace that left traces of sacred rituals. This matched our previous suspects as the disease began from the Sapphire Palace."

He cleared his throat once. Since the report is too long, he concluded the final sentiment to shortened the overall results.

"During my time inside the Palace, nothing really happened. Nobody within the 'domain' have any strange reactions. But yesterday, near the cave, traces of large amount of mana were found. Its purpose was highly likely to be creation of a huge tornado, but for some reason, it disappeared before it even began."

"As for the reason, 'we're' currently unable to divulge ourself into the core. It might take months for a satisfying results."

Claude nodded as he acknowledged the man's discoveries. As, the Szcegur Family is the expert in this domain. They're unlikely made any mistakes.

Briefly after hearing that, he glanced back deeply into Jenas eyes.

Sensing this rather uncomfortable sensation, he tried to composed himself and asked, "Is there something else you needed to know, Your Majesty?"

Claude retract his gaze as he looked back into the sheets of paper, as if thinking about something. Then, he uttered the word,

"How is the Prince doing? is there any abnormalities inside the Palace? inform me immediately if he wished to obtain something. Despite being a kid, he doesn't seem interested with any kind of toys or gifts.. perhaps he loves reading more. I remember how he stared intently at a certain book inside my studies..." Claude stroked his chin as he continuously began considering his son matter instead.

After hearing the Emperor rare yapping, Felix and Jenas both added inside their mind, Your Majesty, have you forgotten our current topic..

Not wanting to face any rage, Jenas calmly replied. "There's no abnormalities for the time being. Though, i received notice from the Prince nanny, Tear, that the Prince's conditions improved since yesterday."

Claude nodded once again in satisfication.

Jenas exhales wryly. As for Felix, since he's a knight, he needed to continuously maintain his expression during his training, so he easily controlled his expression.

Suddenly, Jenas jolted awake as he heard the Emperor calling him."Pass my message, call the Prince into the Palace. If he's unwilling, that's fine too. Don't force him too much."

Jenas almost couldn't hide his curiousity as he answered with a slight bow and his hands placed on his chest, "Understood. I'll pass the message to the Highness Palace."

***

12.50 AM : Sapphire Palace ; Inside the Imperial Library

Ranath was seriously reading the content of the book he picked. After his morning classes of basic education, he went straight for the Library in attempt to search for something.

It was to search for a certain clues. He roughly understand the full content as he closed the thick book while exhaling.

He was sitting up on a highway wooden ladder without any fear. Although he ordered his Nanny to wait outside, he could tell that she was still watching him using certain magic.

This also made his movement not free, and he needed to maintain his persona continuously as to not arouse suspicion.

It's really tiring being watched everytime.. i can't even picked up that 'book', since its content are too sensitive. For a five year-old boy, reading such books is too outrageous. I can't even sneak in at night, since they still watched me.

..I can't use magic to conceal my surrounding either. A five year-old who had yet to learn mana shouldn't know about such things..

He previously wanted to scratch his head in frustration but quickly gave up on that.

..A five year-old head skin is too sensitive. I wouldn't even dare to imagine what would happen if i scratch roughly.. sigh. I want to grew up faster..

Ranath couldn't help but wanted to scream out loud to voice out his current frustration.

Of course, he gave up on that too.

He complained inwardly. Who knows, i might ended up dying for letting out rage continuously. Being a Prince is too bothersome.. i can't even get out of their supervisor..

He also wanted to curse but realized it's inappropriate for his current five year-old body...Five is now one of the cursed number for me...

Wait. What if Tear has mind reading spell.. nah, it's unlikely. Besides, i have layered and enchanced mana barrier. It's impossible..

He panicked for a second before quickly returned to his original state. His mind swirled a little bit before realizing reality.

Come to think of it.. if i remember correctly, i should begin my training before my coming age of 6. Once it started, i can use some basic spell and conceal it with the reason of my training.

Perhaps i can use mid level magic spell.. will that be too much? regardless, i only need to wait a few months. Yes, a few months..

After deliberating for a while, he made up his mind.

Suddenly, he noticed the eyes that constantly watching him had vanished instantly. He was about to call out when a knock and a familiar voice echoed in the hall, coming from the other side.

"Your Highness, there seems to be a message from the Emperor Palace." it was the voice of his Nanny, Tear.

Oh.. so she's just retracting for a seconds.. wait a minute. Nice timing!

Boredom almost led me to death. Ranath skilfully hopped back down and marched towards the library entrance, where he also saw the huge wooden door opening with a creak, revealing the red braided hair woman.

Since the Main Palace and Sapphire Palace wasn't too far to each other, twenty minutes is enough for an attendant to deliver a message.

Ranath walked forward until he reached infront of his Nanny. Tear, slightly bending her body, giving the letter at her hand towards the Prince. Which resulted in warm smile.

Without any hesitation, Ranath picked the small letter on her hand habitually and began examining it slowly.

Hmm.. there's nothing out of ordinary. Perhaps Father only write about casual things like he usually would. After confirming his thoughts, he quickly removed the envelope.

He handed the envelope towards his Nanny, unfolded the letter, then giving a read. It was only few short sentences.

My dear Son.

I'm sorry i was only able to send you letter after months since your Father was quite the busy man. To get your forgiveness, i had prepared a gift for you. If you want, maybe we can have a short tea time together.

- Claude De Alger Obelia.

This is.. Father, are you worried i might've forgotten about you after losing contact for over some months? let me tell you, i only regained my consciousness a while ago! he lampooned as he sighed inwardly.

And also, despite being the Emperor, why is your letter content so flat? do you not know how to write for your son?

After finished on his short reading session, he also handed over the remaining letter to his nanny.

When Ranath was just about to open his mouth has he noticed from the corner of his eyes, another envelope was hidden slightly to the back of Tear while she grabbed on it tightly.

Is that for me? he paused briefly for a moment. This action of hiding things eventually garner his suspicion.

Why would Tear deliberatly hide that one from me.. there's probably trivial things there. Since she would screened the letter first before giving it to me.

As thoughts crossed his mind, he decided to shrugged it off. His small brain wouldn't want to comprehend anything heavy after all.

"Father hasn't mentioned it there, do i go to his residence then?" he asked while shifting to face his nanny.

Having expecting this question, Tear replied earnestly, "Yes Your Highness. I will prepare the carriage if you wished to go."

Going through enlightenment, Ranath unhurriedly nodded. Indicating his eagerness.

***

Aftee changing into a new sets of clothes and ride in the carriage with His nanny accompanying him, only thirty minutes of ride and they have finally arrived into the Emperor Residence.

As when Ranath just about to jumped down the carriage, a male servant wearing a pair of white glove and neat suit offered a hand for the young Prince.

Now that Ranath just realized that he's still a short kid.

He then played with the outcome, having finding himself on the embrace of the servant.

Tear came out after him.

"Your Highness, the hall inside the Palace is large and the stairs is quite tall, do you wish to be carried?" the servant swiftly asked.

When this question appeared, Ranath had just finished sizing him up.

After knowing it was a servant he often sees on the Palace with no abnormalities, Ranath doesn't show any wariness on the servant.

He even think the servant is quite good-looking. He praised him inwardly before answering.

"I don't mind." previously, the job on carrying him was handed to Jenas. But since he's not here, he wouldn't really mind to be carried by other servant.

With him being carried, the servant and his nanny began stepping inside the Palace.

Although it was called the Emperor Residence, no servants were to be seen around. Only two knight at the entrance, guarding, was seen.

When the three only take a few steps inside the hall, they caught notice of three additional figures, as they entered their vision. They were going down from a spiral staircase descended from above, its staircase railings were inlaid in segmented gold foil.

Having been informed of the Prince arrival, Claude and his knight Felix with the additional servant Jenas quickly walked out to meet the Prince.

They arrived on the bottom level and goes right towards the three standing figure.

Felix and Jenas attentively followed behind Claude.

Ranath could see sir Jenas furrowed his eyebrows slightly when he saw the young Prince was being carried by someone else.

Surprisingly, he adjusted his posture immediately.

Having seen the approaching Emperor, Ranath curled his lips and tapped on the servant shoulder, indicating that he wanted to placed back down.

Having receiving the signal, the servant quickly bended his body and carefully let the young Prince on his arms landing back on the ground.

Ranath, following his initial plan, rushed over to Claude with a delighted smile a child would have when meeting their parents.

Felix and Jenas switched their attention towards the running Prince, trying to focus their attention so as to put immediate action if the Prince awkwardly stumbled on his feet.

Claude propped his body into the same height as Ranath, opening up his arms slightly before Ranath eventually ran into his embrace.

"Father, how have you been?" he swiftly activated his innocent facial expression.

Claude stroked the long silver hair gently, fearing he would messed the neatly combed hair.

With a deep tone, "Mhm, your Father's fine. Your growth seemed rather fast, you're taller compared to the last time i saw you." Claude let off of his embrace.

"I've eaten alot since then, i especially like chicken skewers most!" while saying then, Claude had already lifted him up into his carry.

Only for the Prince, Claude had learned how to properly carry a little kid and what kind of position would be comfortable from a particular orphanage teacher.

He adjusted Ranath on one of his arms, then nodded in satisfication when he heard the Prince speak.

He gave Jenas the 'look' then turned around with the Prince on his arms to head upstairs. Felix, the servant and his nanny followed from behind.

Jenas was momentarily taken aback before understanding the meaning right after. After discerning the meaning, he also began following behind silently.

It was only the Prince who chatted with the Emperor, talking about his various lesson learned today.

Suddenly, a servant rushed towards Jenas side and whispered something to his ear. The servant doesn't seemed to notice the Prince presence on his Majesty carries due to Claude height. Following that, he bowed and retreated back into servant headquarters path.

Jenas marched a little bit faster then arrived at the Emperor side."Ahem. Your Majesty, the statue has arrived." he blurted out.

"Statue?" Ranath whose sitting on Claude arms subconciously asked. Could it be the gift Father mentioned? he was a little bit curious on what kind of statue it was.

Claude only take a single glance on Jenas, nodding slightly then turned back to look at the Prince on his arms who had raised a question.

"Do you want to see it now?" upon seeing Ranath piqued interest, he suggested.

After pretending to be thinking for a while, he nodded. "Tea time with Father would be after that. The best for the last!"

He purposely added a few words to please his Father, knowing well what kind of behavior he liked.

Claude raised his eyebrows slightly. "Where did you learned this?"

Ranath expression froze.

...

After changing direction towards a larger hall in order to see the arriving statue, Ranath requested to be placed back down and wished to walk with his own feet.

He saw a rather tall statue covered in layered white cloth, expanding across it, preventing anyone present to see what's beneath it.

At some point in time, Tear and Jenas had walked over to the Prince side. They walked side-to side, with Tear on the right side and Jenas on the left side, covering the Prince from any direction that led to possible assassination.

They saw an attendant walk over with a wry expression and dry smile when he saw Claude entered.

It was none other than the person who had comissioned the statue. Standing as a bridge, and acting as the third party of the sculptor and the dealer, which is Claude.

He had his valet and a maid each behind him. Both of them had lowered their head when Claude entered.

The attendant habitually cast his gaze towards the group of people, before noticing a rather short presence hiding behind the tall Emperor as they frequently trying to peek out from behind.

When he wanted to scan who it was, the body of a silver, sharp sword had at some point in time, diagonally presented infront of his neck.

It was Felix!

It was unknown when he had arrived infront of the attendant to threatened him. Upon seeing this scene, beside the group of people on the Emperor side, the remaining two on the attendant side deepened their lowered gaze, shivering from time to time.

Ranath was momentarily speechless. He quirved his lips as he trying to recall what mistake the attendant made.

Then he heard Felix saying; "It was prohibited for outsiders to cast direct glance on his Highness, the young Prince."

His stern voice echoed inside the large silent hall. On the other hand, Ranath couldn't believe nor recall when was this rule placed on.

Trembling slightly, the attendant nodded quickly in fear, pointing on how he wouldn't cast a single glance nor trying to size him up anymore.

Felix retained his unsheathed sword before returning it back into his sword sheath. He retreated to the Emperor side.

And then, after a few second of silence, the attendant saw the Emperor ordered him to remove the cloth.

Not wanting to annoy the raged Emperor, he immediately do as told. At the backline, Ranath silently watched this scene in a daze. Only when he heard Tear did he snapped back into his senses.

He exhaled deeply. Claude had somehow goes back to his side when he opened back his eyes.

"Here is your gift." he heard Claude spoke.

In headache, he lifted his head to try observing the statue who had no longer covered in a cloth.

However, the statue beneath the cloth seemed like a nightmore to him. His pupils constricted.

This.. the corner of his lips twitched, and he almost furrowed his eyebrows. Trying hard to control his expression.

He nearly lost control of his facial muscles. After almost furrowing his brows, he timely and swiftly controlled back his expression.

It was a statue carved like a human being. Essentially, people excluding Ranath had lost in awe when they observe the stone statue.

The human carved statue have a layered, wavy hair. The sculptor did not curve a pair of eyes, as it was presented with a huge hood covering most of his face, resulting in shadowing state.

The statue wears a robe which connected to the hood, but starting from the statue upper body is a bandage in large scale. Covering almost all its upper body, leaving behind a few tiny spot.

It has replendent star shaped earring in one of its ear, with a weightless halo around the head. The statue wear an exaggerated smile. It emitted a strangely majestic feeling.

This is the statue which almost made the Prince slumped on his feet.

Narrowing his eyes, he silently muttered under his breath.God of Life..

***

19.23 PM : Ruby Palace ; Athanasia Room

Just what happened yesterday.. although she doesn't lose any memories, all the things happened the day before just felt extremely unreal.

Athy had already changed into her nighttime pajamas, which was provided by Lily. She was send to bed minutes ago. Therefore, she's currently lying on her bed with her blanket up, covering half of her face.

Athy took quite a long time to procceed whatever happened. Is he also a reincarnator?? no, no! the only problem is the novel never mentioned that character at all! perhaps it's a minor or hidden character..

She almost throw a tantrum, wishing to brutally messed her hair up, but after realizing Lily is still inside the room, she quickly gave up on that act.

This is making her dizzy! As someone with a brain capacity of a four year-old, this is too much!

Only when she heard Lily did she snapped back to her senses.

Lily has, at some point, arrived besides her bed. She cupped Athy's forehead lightly, then uttered. "Sleep well, Princess." before turning around and went outside the room, closing the door silently.

That was when Athy jolted into a sitting position. Seemingly in thought.

"He uttered my name.. based on his reaction, he must know about me! no, Athanasia!" for now, i can't completely remove the possibility for him to be another reincarnator. If that was the case, it could explain his surprised reaction when he saw me..

But if it were any other way around, perhaps he's a support character for Athanasia. Since Jeannette is the main character, Athanasia perspective was rarely shown..

Having reigned her thoughts, she slumped back into her bed.

No, that's fine! i can ask him tomorrow. We made a promise to seek each other, after all..

promise..

***

Ahem, i'm here. Yes, i'm still alive. I had too many ideas for the story but couldn't really think on where to start..

This chapter took longer than expected. It exceed 4000 words! okay it wasn't that amusing.

Please please please don't worry. It might be really boring at first, but i promise it would get better! a story needs progression after all. This is only the beginning, and i can guarantee the story will be even more active on the next chapter.

You're searching for Lucas? Izekiel? Zenith? Adventure? i beg you to wait patiently. You have my words!

Also perhaps if you're wondering, that drawing belong to me. I don't put that much effort into it, so at last it turned out like that..

xw