The Four Kingdoms: Gemini City

A year later, Emilia was in the library with her brother and reading a book to him. She paused for a moment, watching him try to read as well when the library door opened and she saw a man and a boy, both with white hair. The man, however had amber eyes whereas the boy had indigo eyes. Immediately she recognized them as her father and older brother.

They walked in on the scene of Nick trying to read the book and misunderstood the situation. After quick greetings, they whisked Emilia's brother away to have him undergo various lessons to hone his "genius". After being completely ignored, Emilia remembered how game-Emilia's inferiority complex and insecurity stemmed from a lack of attention and love from her father and brothers. She realized that the events of her life seem to be heading in the same direction as those of the game and so she decided to change it.

She walked to her mother's room and knocked on the door.

"Mother, it's me."

"Come in." A soft voice beckoned.

She opened the door, walked in and closed it behind her. She found her mother sitting at the desk, seemingly writing.

"Emilia, how have you been?" She said, turned around and picked Emilia up for a hug.

"I've been good..." Emilia trailed off.

"Is something wrong dear?" Her mother asked her while looking at her face worriedly.

"I would like a magic tutor." Emilia said in response to her mother's question.

"But you're barely two!"

"Mother I've read all the books on the basics of magic. I want to learn to use magic!" Emilia said determinedly.

Her mother pondered the idea and finally gave in.

"Okay, but no dangerous magic until your teacher says you can handle it. That means always listen to your teacher." Her mother said strictly while tapping Emilia's nose with her pointer finger.

"Thank you!" Emilia hugged her mom's neck to show her gratitude.

"You're welcome, you'll have a tutor by next week."

~•~

Eventually the servants began to whisper about how the daughter of the Duke and Duchess Jaeger was a rare genius, able to understand things way past her age. Despite these rumors, her father and eldest brother never bothered to give her another glance while her twin could barely visit her with his packed schedule.

At the age of 5, Emilia had gone through a bunch of tutors in magic, etiquette, history, literature and music. Every tutor so far underestimated her abilities, causing her to loose her patience with them.

She changed tutors in magic every month at first. The only only reason they even lasted that long was because she wanted to take every piece of knowledge they were willing to give her, which was not much. Her etiquette teachers, on the other hand barely lasted a few days. Mainly because of their horrific teachings, which they couldn't be blamed for if Emilia was being honest with herself. It's just the culture of the world. She never believed the idea of men being superior to women and the society of this world seemed to inherently view that as a principle. Well change is the only constant so she'll just have to change that view. Eventually she stopped learning etiquette from tutors and asked her mother to teach her instead, this also gave her a chance to spend more time with her mother.

Emilia had just fired her latest magic tutor when the butler, Henry Metter, informed her that her father requested her presence in his study. Over the years, she rarely saw him or her siblings; family dinners were a fairy tale, and the same for breakfast, lunch and tea, so she barely knew him. Having an idea as to why she was summoned, Emilia made her way to her father's study.

Outside his study, Henry announced her presence and then opened the door, gesturing for her to enter after receiving her father's curt approval. She walked in, the door closing behind her, and saw a massive room with shelves on either side filled with books and a tall sturdy desk straight ahead with windows behind it. The whole room had a mahogany and black theme, with a little gold here and there. Very classy but simple. It reminded her of her office in her previously life, the only difference was that her theme included silver instead of gold.

The room seemed to be excessively large, probably because she was so small, being only 5 years old.

She saw Alfonse standing in front of her and greeted him.

"Hello father." She curtsied. It was a little awkward facing the man.

He nodded in return then gestured to the left where two sofas were placed facing each other with a coffee table and carpet in between them. He sat on one side while she sat on the other with her hands together on her knees.

After a few minutes Emilia decided to break the silence as there are other things she would rather be doing.

"Father, do you need something?"

Her father still kept silent and continued to observe her, all Emilia could do now was wait for a response. Eventually he did respond.

"You have been changing tutors frequently." He stated. Emilia knew that this would be the most likely reason for him to summon her because it is, after all, his money that is being drained.

Despite knowing that he was merely making a statement she responded "Yes".

Without waiting for him to ask, she started to explain her behaviour.

"The magic tutors I've had always underestimated my ability to learn and practice magic and so never gave me information beyond the basic level despite the fact that I memorised, understood, practised and perfected what they have taught me so far. As for the etiquette lessons, I do not like what they teach"

"You don't like what they teach?" He questioned expressionlessly.

"Yes, they teach things that go against my values."

"Oh?" He raised a brow.

At this point Emilia realised that she is exposing the fact that she is not a regular child but does not mind. She never meant to hide it and nor did she ever intend to use it as a cheat, just to do things as she normally would.

"I am having mother teach me instead" She said.

"I see. What of your other lessons?"

"I will continue my history and music, but I would like to request another tutor in literature. I would also like to take up economics and a sport, most likely something that I may use should there be a time I would need to defend myself."

"..." Alfonse seemed to be in deep thought, he watched the little girl in front of him hold such a serious expression. She looked so small compared to the chair she was sitting on, yet her bearing was startlingly regal, almost overbearingly so.

Emilia waited patiently for her father to respond to her request, she wasn't sure whether he would allow her to do as she pleased or halt her lessons completely so she was slightly nervous, though she did not show it. A few minutes later, her father responded.

"Alright." He said simply.

"Alright what?" she asked him to elaborate.

"You can have your new magic tutor, however, you will be learning literature and economics with your brothers. As for a sport... You may take up running for now. Once you have developed enough physically, you will learn to defend yourself with your brothers." He explained. "Oh and if you do not like the magic tutor that I select for you then you will have to wait till you reach the age where you may attend the academy. In the meantime you may learn from your brothers, mother or me if we have the time."

He was very impressed by this daughter of his, though his face still seemed to be blank, his eyes had a certain light that displayed his amus.e.m.e.nt. He was generally viewed as a cold and strict man with no emotions and that was partly true. He really was strict and cold but he wasn't emotionless. How would he have such a lovely wife if he was truly emotionless? As for the reason that he was not present in Emilia's life, well that was the same reason he couldn't see his wife and sons as often as he liked; work.

Being a duke and a general came at a great price and was a lot of work. He didn't have much time to himself and the time that he did have, he spent trying to impart his knowledge to his sons and comforting his lonely wife. He wasn't neglecting his daughter on purpose but now that he knew the child was nowhere close to average, he felt a little relieved.

Now he could spend time with all his children at once, during their lessons. Also it seems he won't have to wait for much longer to have his burdens lessened. His oldest son was showing promise in management and his youngest child, Emilia, was growing abnormally fast. As for his second son... he seems he'll have to wait longer.

"Emilia," Her father suddenly called.

He did realise that Emilia was very abnormal for her age and for a brief moment he pondered asking why. But how would he do that? 'Why are you like that?' 'Who taught you such things?' 'Who are you?'. Those don't really sound right... eventually he decided to let her be and observe her for a while.

She looked at him waiting for him to continue. She thought he was going to ask about her attitude or why she was like that. His words after proved her wrong.

"Feel free to come to me for anything" He said with a small smile on his face.

Feeling a little bewildered, she nodded her head, payed her thanks and farewell and left once dismissed.

She couldn't really remember the last time her father had smiled at her like that. Then again she was forgetting a lot of her younger memories, it's very inconvenient being a toddler. Thankfully she had constantly written down information relevant to her future in her little black book and read it often, otherwise there's a chance she may have forgotten about it already.

Taking the fact that her father seemed to be supportive as a good sign, Emilia made her way to her mother's room to let her know about her talk.

She was seated opposite her mother at a tea table in her mother's reception room and she had just finished explaining the events that occurred in her father's study.

"It seems he's happy that he'll get to spend more time with you." Laura said as she sipped her tea. Emilia wasn't quite sure that was it but then again the only experience she had with parents was very abnormal so she couldn't conclusively say. Not all families are a train wreck, she hoped.

"Mother, do you know who father is going to select as my magic tutor?" She asked. Being second only to the royal family had quite a few perks, one being they could acquire almost any resources including the best tutors so she had no doubt her father would pick a good one. The problem is, all her past tutors could also have been considered much above average in terms of magical prowess, but their mentality was very narrow. Hopefully this one will be better.

Laura observed her 5 year old daughter as she sat there waiting for her to answer. She was extremely smart since a very young age. Since she could speak actually. Even before that she would communicate through movements and eye contact. Though brilliant, this daughter of hers would never call her mama. She could already see Emilia just flying away from her nest so she never has to rely on anyone. She was quite upset about the distance and the horrible feeling of having to be polite and serious to her own daughter... Hopefully it won't stay this way for long. Having realised that she was lost in thought for too long, Laura let out a soft cough and answered her daughter's question.

"It will most likely be the second son of Duke Wolff." She said.