Lucerne De Caelus.

She sighed in lost thoughts. The book Luciana had recommended lay on the table beside the cup of peach tea. She looked at it once again.

-"How many times have I read it now? Seven? No...nine." she tapped on the book wondering if Luciana was safe. Their father had been restless ever since. Avlynn was taken to attend her classes. She was done for he day. The sky was blue at noon. She got up from the couch and went out for a walk. The weather was cloudy. A rarity in Amanécer. It always rained at night as it was the nation where the sun's light never faded by the day. Her curly blonde hair swayed in the sun. She looked up again. The quietness around her screamed louder.

-"Aria would be selecting her engagement dress for the ceremony." She pondered recalling her delightful face when she told her about it.

Aria was excited to tell about it to her friends. And the emperor was busy with the country's affairs piling up every passing day.

She looked up and realized that she had subconsciously taken the path to her mother's garden. It never changed. But it was a lonely one now. Luciana apart from their mother frequented the place to study herbs and other plants. So lost in thoughts that she didn't notice a hand coming from behind.

She reflexively turned around hearing a gentle voice.

"What is my princess doing all on her own?"

He asked.

She looked up at him as his firy red hair swayed in the wind. The second son of Caelus. Her fiance Lucerne de Caelus. He was a spitting image of his father. But he had a gentle voice and soft personality like grand Duchess Aurora. The opposite of his appearance she always thought. He had a fairly muscular built unlike boys his age and was already as tall as Octavius. No one could believe that he was fourteen. Unlike Octavius he was more straightforward in expressing himself in front of others.

"My Lord, what brings you here?" She asked him straight faced. She had little to no romantic feelings for him. She had always been against marriage. However to keep her father's trust she accepted his decision to bethroth her to him. Although he made occasional attempts to woo her. She would mostly remain indifferent to his efforts rendering them as futile.

But he cared for her nevertheless.

"It's just I was walking by the garden to deliver a message to father from mother. And I saw you walking. A-and..." He blushed scratching his head as his ears turned red.

"You decided to follow me and interfered my private time." She completed his statement that was true but did not incline to his intentions.

"I apologize." He bowed apologetically.

She was not good at joking or teasing like Aria. Neither was she so gentle and kind like Luciana.

"I was teasing you." She finally said. When he flinched in surprise.

"No need to be that flustered." She reminded him.

His grey eyes met her silver eyes.

"Would it be ok if my princess spares some time for me?" He offered his hand. He was clad in Knight's uniform of House Caelus. He was supposed to take over the role of commander and was second in line to the position of the family head if Octavius became the next patriarch.

"So how is Tiberius doing?" She asked him about his little brother. The third one was close to Avlynn's age but nearly a year older.

She recalled that he was a little different than the two brothers. He had light pink curly hair and dark grey eyes. He looked like fluffy pink wool running around when he last visited the palace.

"He is doing well. Nowadays all he does is picking on servants and causing mischief. And both of us end up getting reprimanded by mother." He complained that he how he always got dragged between them.

"So how is our princess faring these days?" He asked her if she did anything she liked in particular.

"I was just reading a book." She muttered. She did not have any hobbies in particular. She would mostly play with Avlynn or listen to stories from Luciana or get into a fight with Aria. Aria was an athletic one among all of them. She would carelessly enter the sparring grounds and often won against toughest opponents. Father and uncle Rudolf personally overlooked her training. She had received self defense training but that was the part of her academics. But there was one thing that she liked doing occasionally. It was to write poetry and study philosophy which was her favorite subject.

"Was it about philosophy?" He pointed out reading her thoughts.

She nodded shyly. Luciana had recommended her the famous Socrates book.

"Not many of our age are interested in philosophy nowadays." He fretted.

-"Indeed... Before father was crowned emperor Socrates was accused if insulting the previous emperor. As a result he was imprisoned... And eventually exiled."

She recalled how the old man looked down without batting an eye with her father.

-"Father must have known that he was a sincere man. Or else he would have been hanged in public square."

"Melody look out!" He grabbed her and instantly backed away.

A huge pillar fell from the sky Infront of them.

"A close call." He muttered under his breath.

Melody looked shaken up after looking at how the pillar stood in front of them with dust and stone in the air.

"We almost entered the forbidden area. The barrier must've reacted as an intruder alert." He looked at her.

"It doesn't react that way." She insisted.

-"Someone else is already inside. The barrier was reactivated after they entered."

She didn't understand if it was her father or the grand Alchemist. But the pillar stood without disappearing. It usually dissolved into the ground or went back into the air.

"Hide!" She told him grabbing his hand she let him behind a shrub bed.

She saw two figures appear from the forest when the pillar suddenly ascended into the sky.

"What... Are father and brother doing there?"