While everyone was introducing each other,
The knights announced, "The Emperor, His Majesty, Aelric Veyrault , is entering the hall."
The Emperor entered with his family. Everyone congratulated him on the birth of his third Prince.
While Draen waved towards the Crown Prince of Veyrault, Eryas Veyrault. Both greeted each other, and Draen introduced his younger brother to Eryas: "He's my younger brother, remember him, right?"
Eryas laughed and replied, "Of course, how can I forget? His birthday party was our first time to meet Caelith and become friends with him."
Draen nodded. Astrein became more curious about the mage called Caelith. Eryas asked, "Any news on him? From what I know, he's still in closed-door training and doesn't meet anyone."
Draen said, "I don't know much, but Cael has ascended to the next level by now, this is from what I have heard from my father."
Meanwhile, Lucien Veyrault came running towards them and said, "Hey, discussing Cael without me? That's not fair." Then he noticed Astrein and said, "What's up, Astrein? You know, I was there on your birthday party. I am the younger brother of Eryas."
Astrein was surprised and greeted him. Then they talked about many things. After that, the Emperor of Veyndor, Aelric Veyrault, thanked everyone for coming: "I would like to thank everyone present here for coming to my child's party. I named him Zephyr Veyrault. You must enjoy the party."
Astrein was surprised to meet this many people. Although he had seen many people, seeing this many powerful people was a new experience for him. He also wanted to meet this Caelith, but unfortunately, he wasn't present.
Astrein met Raizen Dravane and exchanged his greetings. Since they were of the same age, they were together throughout the whole party. They became best friends. They shared their current status of weapon mastery. Astrein used swords, while Raizen used spears.
They decided to have a friendly spar. Both got out of the hall and reached the garden with Eryas. They exchanged a few blows. Since they weren't at 1st-Level Warrior yet, the outcome was hard to determine, so Eryas let it be a draw.
Everyone enjoyed the party, and after that, returned to their home.
(After 2 months)
In Noctyra, the castle was in turmoil. The reason was the birth of a child. The Emperor was in love with a woman from a commoner background, which wasn't liked by other members of the castle and the court. But now the birth of the child was a huge stone on the court's head.
The court didn't let the Emperor celebrate the child's birthday like the other children. After a few days, the woman whom the Emperor loved died. Everyone from the court called the child a curse. The Emperor didn't like it. Even though they didn't speak in front of the Emperor, none stopped to despise her (the child). Only the Emperor cared for her, but in secret, his eldest brother, Kaelen Noxveil, also cared for her.
Sylra Noxveil was the youngest child of Noxveil. House Noxveil was specialized in shadow and assassination arts. No one cared about her except her father and eldest brother; even maids despised her.
Sylra had black hair and blackish-brown eyes. She was cute but was despised by everyone due to her background.
----
A few months passed by. A new invitation for a birth came from Parthion. The youngest daughter of Lorus Parvelis, the Emperor of Parthion.
Her life is the opposite of Sylra Noxveil's. She is loved by all. Caelith didn't come to this party either but made sure to send a present with a letter saying, "I apologize for not attending your birthday party. This gift will protect you. If you ever have any problem, contact me, and happy birthday, our little Princess, Liora."
Everyone was focused on being strong to avoid any tragedy, like Ardynveil.
(Next year)
Everyone could see rising stars in all continents.
From Valthera, the Crown Prince and Astrein were seen as sword prodigies.
From Arcanis, Sandael Port from the fire tower, Lioris Sept from the lightning tower.
From Veyndor, the Crown Prince and Rastel Brook.
From Noctyra, the Crown Prince and Pastel Shen.
From Parthion, the eldest daughter and Crown Prince.
From Dravonar, the eldest Prince and Raizen Dravane.
From Celesthra, Seren Caelora (she's the eldest daughter of the Emperor of Celesthra).
Astrein, at a very young age of 4, became a 1st-Star Warrior, and the same with Raizen Dravane. Although Raizen was a few months younger than him, he still achieved a 1st-Class Warrior ranking.
Caelith's status was not known.
(Three years passed)
Six years since the death of Caelith's parents. Caelith's status was now only known to the Emperor and being kept hidden.
Even now, Crown Princes were not told. Whenever any Prince asked about Caelith, the Emperor only said one thing, "Wait till he turns 16. He's going to extend his study period to the age of 16. He's being taught about how to run a nation and the knowledge of the world by the best teachers present in Arcanis."
Everyone was curious about Caelith. Even due to his hidden status, he's not being called a prodigy, but the Emperors are themselves excited—none knew why.
Mr. X, watching the world, now says, "Woah, I didn't expect Caelith to go to this extent. Well, others are doing well too, but there's something bothering me..." He suddenly disappeared.
----
In the castle of Noxveil, Sylra Noxveil was being treated very badly. She wasn't even given her family arts of assassination but given the basics of assassination. Tomorrow is her 3rd birthday. The Emperor called her into his office. She didn't talk to anyone, not even his father. But Father being Father tried his best to comfort her. He said to Sylra, "My dear child, what do you want tomorrow? Anything you say will be presented to you."
Sylra didn't reply. It wasn't because she was shy, but because of the treatment she got there. If she were to get anything from the Emperor, everyone might be jealous of her and bully her more.
Sylra didn't complain to her father about the bullying. Before the Emperor was going to lose hope, Crown Prince, Kaelen Noxveil, entered the room, greeted his father, and turned towards Sylra, and bowed in front of her and asked, "Sylra, you don't need to be shy or scared, just tell us what you want."
Sylra burst into tears, and told in a broken yet low voice, "I don't... want... to... live here.... Everyone bullies me.... Maids say I'm a cursed child....."
The Emperor and Kaelen went silent, bursting into the most anger one could ever see from them. Sylra's tears flowed down, and the anger of the Emperor began to rise, yet he said to Sylra in a relaxed voice to comfort her, "Don't cry, my child, don't cry. I'll respect your wish and also punish whoever bullied you."
Sylra ran to her room. The Emperor, in rising rage, ordered Kaelen, "Arrange a family meet now. Everyone must be present. They have no choice."
Kaelen followed the order and told everyone personally.
In the meet, a huge space was left empty and all family members, except Sylra, were present. The Emperor said, "This meeting is about Sylra."
When everyone heard the word Sylra, the resentment could be seen on their faces, but it was sure none would dare to bully her.
The second Prince got up from his seat and said, "Why did you invite us for such a trivial topic? I'm going bac..." Before he could say another word, the Emperor raised his finger and a blade flew towards the Prince and made an injury in his cheek, while the Emperor in rage said, "This is my empire. None of you are worthy of getting up without my permission. Sit down."
Everyone felt a chill in their bones. The Emperor said, "I just want to know who bullied Sylra." The whole council was quiet; no one answered.
The Emperor, in a heavy voice, said, "Okay, since none of you is going to answer, I'll just handle it my way. And one more thing, I don't care what you think. I'll pass Noxveil arts to Sylra. Whoever raises their voice against it will be handled by me." This was warning for everyone.
While everything was happening, Sylra was sleeping in her bed after crying. She slept peacefully, but suddenly, two people entered the room, had a blade in each hand, and were covered in black. As they tried to launch their blade towards Sylra, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of them and killed them and just said, "Fools."
The Emperor felt something was off, suddenly ran towards Sylra's room with extreme speed. He saw two men laid on the floor dead while no one except Sylra, who was sleeping, was present in the room. The Emperor called for the Crown Prince and decided something.
The Prince left right away and after a few hours came back and reported it to the Emperor, "He agreed without anything in return."