Moonlight Ball

Sidrain had watched the broom’s flexible movement with suspicious eyes. If you’d stayed at the Magic Tower for about a month, you’d have an eye for magic. The bigger the mana, the stronger the control, and the magic of moving things worked smoother; the broom had seemed to be alive looking like it was dancing, rather than sweeping as it had cleaned up the trash and returned to its place.

“Is it okay now?” The girl had asked.

Sidrain had thought no but had plopped down on the shiny floor. He was trained as a knight and could sit in dirty places. People thought that royalty would only sit in clean and nice places, but that was far from the truth. The royal family had to develop the ability to adapt to more diverse places. In particular, the imperial royals had to leave the military academy and become soldiers, so it was common for everyone to roll around in the mud and swing their swords. Sidrain had left the military academy to stay at the Magic Tower for a while, to learn to control his magic.

“Close your eyes,” she’d instructed.

While sighing, Sidrain had closed his eyes. He’d known what to do next, he’d had to focus and feel the magic flowing through his veins. But he hadn’t felt anything. Who cared what was in their bodies? Sidrain had frowned and had wanted to give up.

“Open your eyes.”

“Don’t you mean I must focus?” He’d asked as he’d slowly opened his eyes. He’d been struck with awe as he’d seen numerous lights flying in front of him. It had been a beautiful and wonderful sight to behold. All the light in the world had seemed to be gathered there. So many different colors of light had brightened the shabby room. It was the first time that the royal and crown prince had ever seen something so extraordinary and he’d felt captivated by it.

Then the girl had said, “Look for the white one.”

“What?” Sidrain had looked around at the vast swarms of light surrounding him. Blue, red, yellow, orange, and hundreds of colors in between. There must’ve been white somewhere amidst those beautiful colors. He’d wondered why she wanted him to find that particular color. “Is that it?”

When Sidrain had asked, the girl had giggled softly again, “That’s where it starts.”

An hour later, Sidrain had admitted that white was hard to find. It had been hard to be sure there was even a white color because no matter how hard he looked for it, he couldn’t see it! There’d been blue, but no white. There’d been red, but no white. Where’s the white one? His face had been distorted in frustration.

“If you can’t see it, close your eyes again. Focus and feel the magic. Focus your magic on your eyes and then open your eyes again,” the girl had said quietly.

Sidrain had sat on the hard floor feeling annoyed. There was no white, no matter how hard he’d looked, he just couldn’t find the white, but the girl had assured him that there was white. He could sense her body behind his back, she must’ve been leaning against the door and she’d whispered to him, “There’s white. You can find it.” She continued to assure him.

If it weren’t for her unwavering assurances, he’d have given up any moment but he hadn’t wanted to.

It didn’t mean that there was no other way to try to control the mana, and even if there was, he wanted to keep hearing the girl’s voice. It had been a long time since he’d heard something so pure. This girl is just helping me because she doesn’t know who I am and feels sorry for screaming at me earlier, he’d thought.

He had felt pathetic for leaning on such a girl, but he was fortunate to have had this ridiculous encounter, so Sidrain had sat up straight and repeatedly closed and opened his eyes, trying to find white amidst the vibrant array of colors.

Close your eyes, concentrate, feel the magic flowing through your blood, and send it to your eyes to find white in the light, he remembered thinking. It had been at the end of several repeated attempts of opening and closing his eyes that he’d eventually opened his eyes wide and stared knowingly at the beautiful sight before him and he’d muttered, without realizing it, “All of them!” The array of hundreds of colors was all white and he’d shouted in glee, “It’s all white!”

The girl had clapped behind him and had excitedly said, “Wow, congratulations!” She’d sounded genuine.

Sidrain had turned his head and he could feel her warmth, sensing that the boy-like girl who’d stood in front of him, clapping her hands, had meant it from her heart. His own heart had heated up and he’d lifted himself without realizing it. He’d been sixteen and it was the first time in his life that he had faced an obstacle like that and the girl who’d helped him overcome it had blocked the doorway. He’d wanted to see the girl’s face. He’d wanted to say thank you, and in fact, maybe he’d wanted to kiss her. He’d broken the wooden door instead and the girl leaning against the door had screamed and fainted. It was as if he’d been avenging the favor.

When he’d broken the door down she had fainted as soon as she’d seen his face.

Sidrain remembered the first time he met Iris Elaine but she’d probably completely forgotten about him. He had heard from Elaine later that she was scared of people and he recalled that she’d fainted after seeing his face after he’d overcome his magic obstacle that day. What a rude woman she was, she hadn’t even wanted to meet with him when he’d gone to apologize after the incident.