Elion noticed that she looked like she really wanted to run off. So he tightened his grip on her wrist slightly, hoping that would get his point across.

He could see the reluctance and uncertainty on her face, but after a bit of gentle coaxing, she slowly allowed herself to be guided back until she was sitting on the bed again.

Elion didn’t move to sit beside as he probably should have. Instead, he leaned against the wall opposite her sitting position, keeping his distance so he wouldn’t scare her off.

He couldn’t help the thought that crossed his mind.

’How can someone so much older than me act like a young teenager in a romance novel...?’

Of course, he didn’t dare to voice that thought out loud. It was how, even now, she sat there quietly, waiting for him to start the conversation.

Elion let out a deep sigh.

’Seems she is very introverted and socially awkward, to say the least.’

And at this rate, dealing with Isla was going to be a pain in the ass.

Elion rubbed his temples once, then pushed himself off the wall.

"Alright," he said, exhaling lightly. "Let’s try this again... without you trying to run away from me."

Isla stiffened slightly.

"I wasn’t..."

"You were," he cut in calmly.

"...I was," she admitted in a small voice.

A brief awkward silence followed as she fiddled.

"So... you can craft."

She nodded lightly.

"...That’s it?" she asked quietly.

"What?"

"That’s your question? Is that all you want to ask?"

Elion shrugged, "I don’t know, I’m trying not to scare you off again."

"...Oh." There was another brief pause before Elion heard a small sound escape her lips. She was laughing softly

Elion raised a brow, ’Did I say something funny?’

"...Was that a laugh?"

"N-no," she said quickly, looking away.

"It was," he said, smirking slightly.

"...It wasn’t."

"It definitely was."

She huffed lightly, but her body didn’t seem as tense as before, and the frequent breaks of silence didn’t feel as suffocating anymore.

"Fine," she muttered. "Maybe it was a little funny..."

Elion chuckled.

"If you say so."

She glanced at him again, and this time, her eyes actually met his for just a second before she looked away again, thoughtfully.

"...You’re not what I expected," she said.

"Oh?"

"I thought you’d be... more serious."

"I am serious, when the situation calls for it."

"...When I heard my father say you will be training my brother from now on, I guess I created an image of what I thought you would be."

"Well, that was a... Tragic situation I found myself in." He continued, "Your father is... Peculiar, he doesn’t act like a king at all."

"I know, right!?" Her eyes lit up in agreement, and she fell into a fit of laughter. The sound of her laughing sounded like soft bells.

Elion couldn’t help the small grin that formed on his face.

"See?" he said. "You’re not that hard to talk to."

"...I am," she replied immediately.

"Yeah, a little."

She made a small face at the snarky response, and somehow, they kept talking after that, initially a bit awkwardly, but soon enough, their exchange began to flow, with a few laughs here and there and some small moments.

Until Elion made a grave mistake.

"So... what kind of things do you craft?"

Isla froze briefly, and her eyes suddenly lit up.

"...You really want to know?"

Elion agreed without a second thought, "...Yes?"

She leaned forward slightly.

"Well, it depends on the material composition and mana conductivity," she began, her words coming out faster now, "because if the base structure isn’t stable, then the enchantment layers collapse, and that’s before you even get into multi-layer reinforcement..."

Elion blinked twice.

"...Uh-huh."

"And then there’s resonance alignment," she continued, completely oblivious, "which is extremely important if you’re working with higher-grade materials, because otherwise the output—"

She kept going.

And going.

And going.

At some point, Elion leaned his head back against the wall in regret.

’...I made a mistake.’

She was unstoppable. Words flowed out of her like a river that had finally broken through a dam, while making gestures with her calloused hands to get her point across. Her voice was filled with excitement, and she didn’t stutter even once.

This was her element.

Elion let out a quiet sigh. Half of him was impressed, the other half was regretting his life choices.

"...and if you combine dual-phase mana threading with..."

Eventually, her voice began to slow, and though Elion had stopped paying attention about an hour ago, he was still listening quietly, while nodding here and there, so he noticed the sudden change, but he kept his eyes closed anyway, thinking she was still finding her words for this particular topic.

"...then you can... stabilize..."

She paused before saying one more word...

"...the..."

There was a soft plop of something falling gently onto the bed, and then there was silence. Elion opened one eye to peer at her and found that she was lying on her side with her head on the bed.

"...core..." she mumbled faintly.

She was out cold.

Elion stared at her for a second and began laughing quietly, lest he wake her.

"...Figures."

He pushed himself off the wall and walked over, looking down at her sleeping form. She looked peaceful like this, completely different from the flustered mess she had been earlier. He shook his head lightly.

"...You talk too much."

He reached down and pulled the linen sheet over her, covering her gently to keep her warm. She shifted slightly in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent.

"...mana... alignment..."

Elion snorted softly and turned away. He walked back to the balcony, leaning against the railing once more as the cool night air brushed against his face.

’Looks like sleep won’t be happening tonight.’

He looked up; there was a full moon tonight, and it was halfway through the sky. He stayed there the whole night, watching as the darkness slowly gave way, and morning finally came.

...

Elion stood before the mirror, studying his reflection.

"Crazy how much I’ve changed in a year..." he said out loud. He barely recognised himself sometimes; the boy he used to be was gone now.

His features had matured, shifting from simply handsome into an almost devilish charm, which had gradually settled into his appearance over time.

The most noticeable change was his jawline, which had grown sharper and more defined. It gave his face a certain level of confidence, perhaps even arrogance, if one looked too closely.

He smiled faintly at his reflection.

"...Yeah. I like this more."

He nodded to himself in approval.

He began stretching his ripped, shirtless frame a bit, flexing his arms as his muscles tightened under his skin. He held the stance for a moment, just long enough to feel satisfied with himself before relaxing again.

Why was he shirtless, you might ask? Only he knew; he certainly wasn’t coming from the bath, he hadn’t bothered with that this morning.

A certain someone was still fast asleep in his bed behind him. Elion glanced back briefly.

"She is sleeping like a princess," he muttered. He pondered briefly, "Well... she is a princess."

She was curled slightly under the silk sheets, breathing softly, her blonde hair spilling across the pillow and above the sheet covering her. It seemed she had completely exhausted herself in whatever project she was absorbed in before coming to see him.

He held a silent respect for people who worked themselves to the bone; after all, he used to be like that before he got an easy way out.

Despite that, he still couldn’t imagine taking up something like crafting or alchemy as a secondary profession, like Celeste and Isla.

Especially Celeste, who was not only a powerful mage but also an alchemist. She made it look simple, taking on separate paths, but to him, it just seemed exhausting.

Knock. Knock.

The light sound broke his thoughts; he tilted his head slightly.

"That must be Alexander."

He put a shirt on and walked toward the door calmly, placing his hand on the handle. Just before opening it, he glanced back at the sleeping princess.

A faint smirk tugged at his lips.

’Imagine he sees his sister sleeping in my bed...’

Now wouldn’t that be interesting? He could imagine Alexander’s reaction. He almost considered letting the prince ’accidentally’ peer inside.

She was covered under the sheets, so, at first glance, he could pass her off as some servant he had invited in to warm his bed for the night, which was completely acceptable.

But that bright blonde hair spilling across the silk would give her away instantly. Elion hadn’t seen anyone else in the castle with that same shade of blonde, or any kind of blonde hair for that matter, other than the three Starheaven family members that he had met already.

Perhaps there were others, perhaps not.

He wasn’t going to gamble on it since he didn’t want to cause a misunderstanding and put her in a difficult situation.

Knock. knock.

Another knock came.

He sighed and opened the door while blocking the line of sight toward the bed with his frame.

As he had expected, Alexander stood there, dressed in a strangely tight pair of pants and a fitted shirt that looked more suited for training than anything formal. He had clearly prepared himself for the appointed training session already.

"You’re up early," Elion said, stepping out and closing the door behind him without giving the prince even the slightest chance to peek inside.

"Morning," Alexander greeted lightly.

He looked as sharp as ever.

"Come, lead the way," Elion said softly.

Alexander blinked.

"Wait... right now?"

"Yeah, right now," Elion replied casually. "Isn’t that why you’re here? You’re even dressed for it, no?"

Alexander glanced down at himself.

"I mean, yes, I am... but you don’t seem to be dressed for training at all. If anything, you look like you just woke up. Your hair is still a bit messy."

Elion paused for a moment.

Of course, he wasn’t about to tell him that it wasn’t bed head, but that he had been appreciating himself in the mirror and ruffling his own hair.

’Yeah... definitely not saying that.’

He shrugged, dismissing it casually, "Who cares?" he said before adding, "I would love for you to show me to the crafter who’s going to make my armour and sword sometime today. The sooner we get that over with, the better."

Alexander narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"...Are you just saying that so you can take advantage of me when we’re alone in the training room?" he asked suspiciously.

Elion looked at him plainly.

"Where did you get that idea?"

He hummed innocently because the thought had indeed crossed his mind at some point. After all, he had promised to make the prince suffer, and a private training room sounded like a perfect opportunity to do just that.

But Alexander didn’t need to know that, at least not yet.