Stunning Edge

Nancy’s brain almost stopped working. He stared at the maid, and she wordlessly stared back timidly. The maid wouldn’t dare to tell a lie. Then, did that mean that airhead who was crazy about men really said that? Why? How was that possible?

Nancy’s brain was filled with question marks. He was prepared to be bugged by that disgusting woman, but what was this situation? She was busy?

“Your Miss doesn’t have the time? She’s very busy?” Nancy asked doubtfully.

“Miss has started studying recently, and the Duke has invited the scholar Camille to teach her.” The maid blushed while she answered. Camille, the famous young scholar of the capital, was not only intelligent and graceful, but also handsome.

What? Nancy was even more astonished. Everybody knew that the foolish Miss was ignorant and incompetent, acting like a joke everywhere she went. Later, the Duke had even forbidden her from attending royal banquets because of this. But now, she was actually studying?

At this moment, a series of footsteps came sounded from the entrance.

“Your highness, haha, welcome!” The one who entered wasn’t just anyone, but Gordan.

“Your grace.” Nancy stood up politely. Even the emperor himself had to be somewhat respectful before the powerful Duke Gordan, not to mention a prince like him.

“I, I am here to visit Miss Claire.” Nancy said, looking a bit uneasy, “But, it seems like Miss Claire is preoccupied.”

“Oh? Preoccupied?” Gordan asked, a bit surprised. He turned to face the maid next to Nancy. “What’s going on? What is Claire doing?”

“Your grace, Miss is currently, currently reading in the greenhouse.” The maid replied in a quiet voice.

“Oh. Your highness, please follow me, haha. Let’s stop to drink some afternoon tea casually.” Gordan laughed cheerfully.

“Thank you, sir.” Nancy nodded while smiling and followed the Duke. You couldn’t afford to offend this energetic old man. He controlled over half of the army, and his grandson, Eric Hill, was the captain of the Griffin Squad, which protected the royal family directly.

Nancy marveled at the scene in the greenhouse. In a sea of beautiful flowers sat a beautiful young girl with shimmering gold hair. She sipped the black tea leisurely, and upon finishing it, placed the teacup down, laid back on the rocking chair, and started reading a book while swaying gently back and forth. It was beyond the point of relaxing.

This was her definition of “no time”? The corner of Nancy’s mouth quivered.

“Claire~” Gordan saw in a glance the book Claire was holding. It was about Human Geography; more accurately it was about the Hill family’s fiefdom. This child of his was genuinely learning! Gordan felt very satisfied.

“Grandfather.” Claire immediately stood up and saw the nearby Nancy. She bowed slightly. “Greetings, your highness.”

Nancy suddenly seemed lost. This girl before him, the expression in her eyes! As icy as glaciers, as profound as the darkest of nights. Indifference, this was absolute indifference.

“Oh, oh.” Nancy returned back to his senses, replying, “Um, do you feel better now?”

“Many thanks for the second prince’s concern, I am fine,” Claire replied quietly with a smile.

“Have a seat, have a seat.” Gordan was in a merry mood. He signaled everyone to sit down and ordered the maid to bring some tea.

The three had some small talk. Originally, Gordan had hoped to have dinner with the second prince, but since he himself also had business to take care of, he dropped that plan.

As the second prince turned to leave, Gordan told Claire to send him off.

The two walked towards the entrance, one in front of the other. Not far behind, Jean quietly followed. As Claire’s knight, he had to stick to her at all times.

The trip wasn’t long, but they didn’t converse at all. Nancy squinted, looking at the girl in front of him while endlessly contemplating over her unusual attitude. It was really too abnormal. Meanwhile, Claire’s mind was on something else.

“Your Royal Highness, this way,” Claire turned her head to say lightly, and ended there. There was no indication of reluctance at his leaving.

“Oh.” Nancy was still stupefied as he responded and walked towards the awaiting carriage at the entrance.

Claire turned away without a second glance at Nancy. She was still thinking about the interesting sections of the Human Geography book.

The second prince’s carriage rolled away from the Duke’s castle. Nancy leaned on the window and frowned in concentration. The carriage rounded a corner and came to a desolate alley. The next moment, a clear voice rang out in the carriage.

“What do you think?” A person appeared out of nowhere in Nancy’s empty carriage.

“Very strange.” Nancy frowned as he replied.

“I don’t understand.” The cool voice had a hint of uncertainty.

“Alright, let’s talk about something else. How’s the situation?” Nancy asked, returning to normal.

“There’s been a little incident. They seemed to have received some deity’s decree and are busy working on it. But it won’t delay our plan.” The cool, clear voice was full of confidence.

“Then we’re good. You should return quickly, otherwise people will start feeling suspicious.” Nancy’s expression was completely serious.

“Yes, sir.” After the cool voice replied, the figure disappeared from the carriage. The carriage accelerated and sped back towards the imperial palace.

Meanwhile, Claire found an interesting book inside the study. Gordan was also inside reading a document, but he had allowed Claire to be inside too! This was special treatment that had never happened before!

Claire flipped through the book in her hands and was soon fascinated. The book was about basic magic. It really was basic; it only talked about how to sense the magical elements around you and how to meditate.

“What, are you interested in this?” Gundan suddenly appeared behind Claire and asked in a bright voice.

“Grandfather.” Claire turned around and smiled while nodding, not hiding anything. “Yes, I’m interested.” Throughout the whole Ceylonese continent, magicians were very rare precious to every country. Powerful magicians were not just powerful; they were exceptionally formidable. They could blow up a whole army, or even a city. But magicians like that were extremely rare. A magician was a symbol of power, prominence, and wealth, so a child magician prodigy like Lashia was sure to be pampered.

“Well, you had your nature tested when you were younger and it came out as Fire. Although your spiritual power is a little weak, I still have ways to help you learn magic.” Duke Gordan smiled as he thought back to the younger Claire. Her spiritual power wasn’t good, not half as powerful as Lashia’s, but it wasn’t too bad either. The only problem was that this child of his had no interest whatsoever in magic, refusing to learn no matter how hard they tried. It was great that she was willing to study now.

“Really?” A Claire smiled joyfully. Only by making herself stronger could she truly become powerful.

“From tomorrow on, you will study Humanities and Geography in the mornings and primary magic in the afternoons. As for entering Sunrise Institute, you have to pass a basic test. I can get you in without testing, but if you don’t have what it takes to be a magician, it’s no use even if you are accepted.” Gordan patted Claire’s head and smiled. “But I know that a granddaughter of Gordan will definitely pass the exam.”

“I definitely won’t disappoint you, Grandfather,” Claire replied solemnly with a serious expression.

“Good.” Gordan, pleased, nodded his head in approval.

At night, Claire sat silently on her bed, going over in her head how the book taught her to go into meditation and sense the elements around her. She closed her eyes and tried to forget everything around her. Slowly, Claire realized that there were many bright specks around her. Although her eyes were closed, she could actually “see” these lights. Most of them were red. A few were other colors. Claire remembered that Gordan had said this body of hers was Fire attributed, so the red specks must be the Fire elements. The other elements that she couldn’t really detect should be the other magic elements.

What a magical realm, Claire marveled. She followed the book’s instructions and started to capture the red elements.

If any magician knew that Claire mastered meditation, sensing, and capturing in such a short amount of time, they would be astonished to death. It was beyond genius.

The next morning went as usual as the refined Camille taught Claire literature and such.

In the brightly lit study, Claire listened to Camille’s lecture.

“The Temple of Light represents the existence of the gods. It serves the wishes of the gods by exterminating evil and advocating the Light. It is a most sacred existence, the Light, and refuge of all people.” Today, Camille had already gotten to talking about the Temple of Light, one of most powerful institutes on the whole continent.

Claire watched the emotional Camille and kept silent. She noticed that even though Camille was practically preached about the Temple of Light, he didn’t sound like he believed in it at all. Interesting, Claire mused to herself. Maybe this scholar Camille wasn’t as simple as he seemed.

The Hill clan magician arrived promptly in the afternoon. The first objective would be to test Claire’s spiritual power, since it had been a long time since her last test. Spiritual power determined whether or not one could become a magician. A person could not become a magician if their spiritual power was too weak, which meant that if Claire couldn’t even pass this first challenge, then it was out of discussion for her to become a magician.

The man responsible for testing Claire was middle aged and wore a magical robe. Two small golden leaves decorating the left chest of the robe indicated that he was already a ** magician. These magicians were usually very rare, but it was no surprise for one to appear in the Hill clan. Prominent as it is, the Hill clan had obviously acquired many powerful forces like this.

(TL: original had **)

The middle aged man took out a crystal globe expressionlessly and placed it right in front of Claire. He said concisely, “Miss, please place your hand on this and concentrate.”

Claire slowly extended her hand and placed it on the crystal globe. She closed her eyes.

The next moment, a huge bang reverberated in the room.

The pieces of the crystal globe shattered all over the floor. The previously stone faced middle aged man stared at the crystal globe fragments with his mouth wide open, completely baffled.