Chapter 6

It had been two weeks, and a letter arrived for Kyra at the estate. There was no sender except for the initial 'E' written on it, but she knew exactly who it was from. She opened it and read it. As expected of the guild master, he already knew her request and had supplied her with the information she needed or rather, wanted to hear. He had also enclosed an invite for a later date, for them to meet and talk about the terms of their contract. All was going as planned, when suddenly she was summoned by her father.

Standing in his office, he hadn't said anything. It had been well over 5 minutes since she had come in and he hadn't said a word as he scribbled away. The office was filled with nothing but the scritch-scratch sound his pen made on the papers and the sound of both of their shallow breaths. He had even told his secretary to excuse them when she first came in so this silence was really unnerving and even becoming slightly annoying.

He finally cleared his throat, put his pen down and put what seemed to look like the last document aside as he stood up and moved to a different area in his spaceous office. She followed his lead and sat across from him as she finally noticed that tea and some snacks had already been laid out prior to her arrival.

"I got a letter from your brother this morning that he sent out from the academy," he said as he poured himself some tea.

She remained silent as he brought the cup up to his lips and took a long sip. What was going on? Was her brother unable to avoid the accident? And it seemed a bit too early for anything to even happen, it had barely been a full month since he had left. Many things were running through Kyra's mind as she sat there waiting for the Duke to speak again.

"It seems like you're quite on edge. Don't worry, he is fine. And according to what he wrote, you were right as well."

She couldn't help but sigh in relief. "What about the son of the Marquis in question?"

"He was suspended for the entire semester and has been prohibited from making any form of contact with Franc. I don't know what you and your brother spoke about in detail, but he just wished for me to inform you that all is well." he replied.

They spoke some more about her brother and other random topics and eventually got to her enrollment at the academy. She requested for a magic teacher who would tutor her before she would have to enrol. In addition, much to the Duke's dislike, she also insisted that Kion enrol with her, else she wouldn't be attending the academy by the next year. The Duke agreed, and after giving him a happy bow, she left his office and headed for the training grounds. She found Kion in no time and informed him that he would be going to the academy with her. He was very happy. He couldn't even hide it as he thanked her for always thinking of him.

She was on her way back to her room when a maid approached her and told her that she had a guest waiting for her. She wondered who it could be, it wasn't like she had any friends among the other noble children who would come visit her. She made her way towards the waiting room for guests and was stunned to see who the guest was.

"Kyra, it's been a while," he said while holding flowers in his hand which he presented to her. She was wide eyed as she stared at the 1st Prince in shock.

Her gaze slowly shifted to the flowers in his hand as she spoke.

"Your highness, I was not expecting you"

He pouted. "You still refer to me so coldly even though you said we are friends now. Or am I the only one who took it seriously?"

"Of course not. I just forget each time. I'm sorry Carcel, but what brings you here today? You've never come to the estate before"

"And that's exactly why, I've been extremely busy and Kyra hardly writes back to me when I send her letters".

"My apologies, I'm still not used to having to converse with friends via letter's yet. I'm still unsure of what I can or can't write in them so it makes me quite nervous." she lied.

"That's alright, it had been too long since I last saw you so I decided to pay you a visit today. But I didn't want to make a fuss out of it so I didn't send a prior notice and I actually snuck out of the castle," he said as he chuckled lightly.

She was surprised. In the 3 years they hadn't seen eachother, she did not think he would have this kind of side to him. I guess he was still a child who got into mischief once in a while. And he had become quite handsome as well, truly befitting of the title of second Sun of the Kingdom.

"But Your...I mean, Carcel, is it alright for you to be here? Won't they be looking for you at the Palace?" She inquired of him.

"Oh no! It's completely fine. Everyone probably thinks I'm having my private study sessions in my study by now. Do you perhaps not like the fact that I came to see you?" he replied with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Of course not, I'm just worried that your absence will cause panic at the Palace." she said as she waved her hands to dismiss it.

They spoke some more and then the Prince took his leave. She was not expecting to see him at all and she still wondered what had caused him to come. She didn't dwell on it much and simply put his visit behind her. She handed the flowers he had given her to a maid on her way out. They were white tulips, they had a meaning behind them but she couldn't remember. She just decided to let it slide, whatever the flowers meant that is.

She went back to her room and wrote a letter to the Lotus guild. It was around this time that Kion had started learning swordsmanship from the mercenary guild he had joined. She put in a request to have a spy planted in the same group as him, to keep watch over him. She needed to know who he would meet or what he may plan in the future, anything that would ket her know the flow of events incase anything unexpected was to start happening. She called for Sir Caleb and asked him to personally deliver the letter for her as usual.

She had dinner with her parents that night and retired to her room. She took out the book she had written down important events in and crossed out her brothers accident. It had been successfully avoided and she had less to worry about for now. It still nagged at her mind as to who would be so brazen as to go after her brother, but just like in her last life, who ever the master mind was, he could not be found. It had all been planned to look like something the Marquis's son had tried to do on his own out of jealousy towards her brother. All that was left now was for her to start her magic lessons, to prepare herself for the academy.