18

"Okay, first things first, my reason to refuse the throne. I hope this is enough to convince them, but I'll tell my parents how miserable I feel with such a big responsibility. And then I cry and run away! Just like those weak princesses in fairy tales," Oriella smiled.

"Yeah I don't think that will work. But hey, no reason not to try right?" Arius said.

Oriella may be smart and mature like her father, but she really was just a naive kid. Something inherited from her mother.

"How will you be introduced as a royal?" Chris changed the subject before they get into a fight.

"There will be a ball in early spring hosted by the royal family every year. Arius will make a grand entrance - or in other words, his debut to society."

"The Grand Spring Ball? But those are only for nobles!" Chris exclaimed.

"That's where help comes in!" Oriella said. "Arius just happens to be sponsored by a certain noble family. And his contributions could definitely land him a title," she smiled slyly.

Arius knew exactly where this was going. He won't accept it! "No. No no no no no. No way. Never." He fumed.

"You got a better idea?" Oriella lifted an eyebrow.

The older royal sighed. He mumbled a small fine and scowled.

The only thing left is for him to receive the title.

Which he will not. Arius is way too stubborn. Luckily he had Chris on his side. "To be honest, I'm worried about Arius' family. His mom did fake death to avoid royalty, being a noble means they're one step closer,"

"Sigh, you're right. All that effort would go to waste," Oriella dropped her head and stared at the ground.

"How come you agree to him so quickly?!" Arius said."What? He had a good point,""You hardly listened to me!""Ah! I did listen!""Oriella you looked at him with full concentration while I was basically ignored."Oriella grew red. He clearly did not notice the hidden meaning behind his words, although unintentional. 'He just revealed my crush on Chris! Oh my God please don't let Chris notice'

Thankfully he didn't notice. Too focused on calming everyone down.

She composed herself and started talking, to cover up that embarrassment of course. "I, *ahem*, think that I have another idea. I have some information on Count Weston, which we could use against him."

"So...blackmail?"

"Yes, you could say that. Anyway, the count will bring Arius to the party and introduce him to Grandpa!"

Arius' headache was getting even worse as time goes by. A lot of things were going on. He felt something was off but he couldn't exactly his finger on it.

Oriella offered to send Arius home quickly using a magic device and he just agreed. She turned the device to teleport them to his room.

"We'll go now. I'll prepare a nice outfit now I have your measurements. You have to look decent for the ball.... And the throne." Oriella showed a sweet smile with a hidden meaning. Arius just rolled his eyes and muttered whatever. Chris and the princess couldn't leave though.

"What is this?!" Three heads snapped to the direction of the voice.

"What's Chris doing here? And who's this? What do you mean by 'throne'??"

"Theia calm down. Why aren't you asleep anyway?" Arius stepped closer to his panicking sister, trying to hush her.

Oriella figured that this girl must be one of Arius' sisters. She confirmed that thought through Chris.

"I woke up because I heard noises coming from your room. I'm here to investigate! What suspicious things ate you doing now? I am not covering for you again," her voice was slow but stern. Of course they needed to be quiet as not to wake others up.

"Sigh, sit down." The oldest gestured. Attheia obeyed. "First of all don't freak out, okay?" — she nodded—"this is going to be a lot to take in. We, as in you, me and Lucy, are actually.... Part of Obelia's royal family,"

As expected, she went quiet with her mouth slightly open in shock and confusion. "W-what?" That was all she could say. Arius continue, "We are royals. We have royal blood. You and me, we have those signature blue jeweled eyes. Dad used a spell to cover that.

Mom is the first princess who was wrongfully executed. Remember that story? She ran away, changed her identity and got us, living as a commoner. Now some really bad shit is going on and to protect our family, I have to claim my heritage." He squeezed his younger sister's hand.

Attheia closed her eyes, placed one hand on one eye and then started muttering some words. She could feel it. A faint energy from a few spells. Appearance change, concealment, erasing tracks, suppresing. All of that just to hide the truth from her. She opened her eyes, looking into a mirror immediately. There it was, blue jeweled. Attheia stared at herself with mixed feelings.

"Mom and Dad put a lot of effort into that. You inherited a great amount of mana so there were extra measures to make sure you wouldn't find out. I only needed a simple spell. You know that you have amazing magic abilities. Among all three of us siblings, you are most powerful. Dad had to counter that monstrous energy of yours, you still manage to become a monster in my life though" Arius snickered at his last sentence.

Attheia was not happy with that. But she knew her brother was just trying to ease the tension with some jokes.

...................................................

Sorry I haven't been updating. I have a lot going on right now. I have a few conflicts in myself so I was trying to pull myself together.

And of course homework. I still left some unfinish/ not do it at all. Well I hope everyone will be fine and stay safe kayy !! ;))

I will wrap this  story up quick before I abandon it and cause depression among readers. Because I am getting really lazy with this and I might have run out of ideas lol.

NOT EDITED. As usual

Thanks for reading.Vote and comment!