Chapter Two: “monotony”

It was a bright day in the kingdom, but inside the vast room decorated with luxurious shelves of books and furniture, the world looked dull and dull for Nevalis. The room, which usually dazzles its visitors with the rows of old books touching its roof, was for him a prison lacking excitement.

Nevalis sat in a large chair surrounded by a luxurious ebony desk, reading one of the books he had chosen at random from the shelves. Suddenly, the book slams shut, and a loud buzz echoes across the room. He threw the book aside and sighed deeply, then said with a tedious voice:

"I feel that I will choke on this monotony... Everything here is meaningless."

He stood up and began pacing slowly around the expansive room, the sound of his leather shoes cutting through the heavy silence. As always, he was dressed elegantly, a reflection of his esteemed family lineage. His long white hair swayed with each step, and his cold blue eyes gleamed with a mix of weariness and thoughtfulness.

He stopped in front of a large window overlooking the palace's rear gardens, filled with blooming flowers and stone sculptures. The garden looked like a magnificent painting, yet it had never managed to captivate

Nivales' attention. He spoke softly, as if addressing himself:

"Parties, tales, and endless flattery... Is this what life is about?"

He glanced at the tightly packed rows of books lining the walls, all of which he had already read. This room wasn't just a personal library; it was one of the most extensive private collections in the kingdom. Yet even here, his restless soul found no solace. He had gone further, requesting books from across the kingdom. He had read them all, from politics and war strategies to philosophical works exploring the mysteries of life and death.

But there was one type of book that stood out from the rest. Those that spoke of the ancient nobles—their epic lives and the achievements that shaped the kingdom's history. Those books stirred a spark of excitement in Nivales and ignited a sense of admiration within him. He loved the grandeur of those men and women, their ruling style, and their fearless courage.

However, this fascination with those books was a constant source of debate between him and his father. The count, with his cold wisdom, saw those books as a danger to his heir's mind. Whenever he caught him reading one, he would say sternly:

"Don't cling to the past, Nivales. The nobles of old are different from the present. What worked for them won't work for us now."

Every time Nivales heard those words, he felt a deep confusion. He couldn't quite grasp what his father truly meant by "different." To him, the only apparent difference between the nobles of the past and the present was that today's nobles lacked the same grandeur and accomplishments. He didn't realize that there was something deeper and far more complex beneath the surface.

Now, he returned to his desk and sat back on the large chair, trying to escape the whirlpool of thoughts that trapped him. His gaze fell upon the stack of books piled on the desk. Some of them he had read dozens of times, but now everything seemed dull and meaningless. He muttered coldly, as though passing judgment on his life:

"I want something different. Something real, away from this repetitive and lifeless existence of the nobles."

A thought crossed his mind momentarily: Should he visit Edward? Edward, the family's mage and head servant, had been his mentor since childhood. Whenever Nivales felt bored, he would turn to Edward to learn something new. But he quickly dismissed the idea, as Edward had told him just days ago that his foundational training was complete and there was nothing more to teach him for the time being.

"Ah..." Nivales sighed and leaned back into the chair with a mix of exhaustion and boredom. Resting his chin on his hand, his eyes wandered aimlessly around the all-too-familiar room.

As he was lost in his thoughts, the silence was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. He raised his head slowly and said indifferently:

"Come in."

A young servant entered, carrying a letter sealed with the insignia of a minor royal family. The servant bowed and said:

"Master Nivales, this invitation has just arrived."

Nivales took the letter and glanced at it with little interest before slowly opening it. It was an invitation to attend yet another banquet at the manor of Baron Rosark, one of the kingdom's prominent nobles.

"Another party..." he muttered with a sarcastic tone. He looked at the servant and said:

"Tell them I'll think about it."

The servant bowed again and quietly left.

Nivales returned to the window, gazing out at the world beyond with eyes filled with doubt. The gardens grew even more beautiful under the sunlight, but to him, they were merely a scene that repeated itself daily.

"My life can't be confined to this routine. There must be something beyond all this... something worth pursuing. But what is it?"

Within him was a conflict—a young man burdened by his family's legacy and status, and someone searching for a genuine purpose beyond all these rules.

He returned to his desk, picked up a new book from the pile, but didn't open it. Instead, he sat there, lost in thought about his next move. The idea of breaking free from the monotony began to creep into his heart, but he had no idea how he could shatter the chains imposed by his family's glory.

The silence stretched on, leaving only Nivales and the sound of his quiet breathing, while his blue eyes remained fixed on the ceiling. A vague feeling—somewhere between anxiety and anticipation—started to seep into him. Was the change he sought closer than he imagined? Or was this just another illusion his mind clung to?

And as these thoughts wrestled in his mind, Nivales was certain of one thing only... that monotony wasn't just a temporary state but an enemy suffocating him day by day.