The Reincarnated Archmage

It's been three days since me and Victor met. Since then, he's always visiting our house. Whenever my brother asked him the reason why, Victor always says that I am his best friend. Because of this reason, my brother always sticks with me whenever Victor visits our house, but he doesn't mind it and keeps on insisting that we're friends.

As for me and Victor, everything is normal. He never calls me 'Master Veron' again and acts like a normal kid. It's a good thing that he's not bringing up that topic, so I decided to act like a cute little girl as usual. Seems like he's still trying to find a solid evidence that I'm Veronica, so I asked Lyle for some help. He told me that he covered my body with his dark powers. As long as I have it, no one can get a single clue about the things that I'm trying to hide unless I'll be the one who will reveal it.

Today, Victor is here again to visit me. My brother is not here since our father gave him a simple paperworks to do in the palace as a part of his lesson. We're now in the garden and having a tea. I'm drinking my warm tea and Victor is eating the cakes he brought as a gift for me.

"You can go home after you eat those cakes." I said as I put my teacup on its saucer.

"But why? I just arrived here. And I'm visiting you."

"I never asked you to visit me in the first place."

"That's why I took the initiative to visit you." He proudly said.

The nerve of this kid. He's still the brazen brat I knew before. I ignore him and decided to leave him in the garden. But the moment I started to walk, Victor has been already beside me.

"Don't follow me." I said.

"As a knight, it's my duty to follow you."

"You're not a dog." I stated.

"But I've been a good apprentice."

I stop walking and looks at Victor. He's giving me a boyish smile, but I frown. Do you think you can catch me off-guard? Even if you're older than me in this timeline, I'm still a hundred year older than you.

"Apprentice?" I asked. "What kind of food is that?"

When I asked him that, he stares at me without blinking his eyes. Then he let out a happy laugh. Giving him a weird look, I start walking again. But this brat still has the nerves to follow me while laughing.

-//-//-

Today, my family and I were invited to the Crown Prince's birthday. My father was reluctant to accept my invitation. But because the whole Royal family wants me there, I should attend the party. It's just like the same scenario when the King sends an invitation before then the Crown Prince told me to be his fiancee. Sighs.

My mother said that we should also grab this opportunity to introduce myself to the society. It would be better for them to know me so they will know what will happen if they try to harm me in any ways. She's explaining it to us with a beautiful yet scary smile. It seems like my mother is still holding a grudge from what happened to me at the Queen's tea party.

There's already a lot of nobles when we arrived at the palace. My brother is escorting me today. I never saw him in a formal attire, that's why I can't help but really admire my brother. He looks so handsome and regal in that attire. I wonder how many girls will fight for his attention today.

As for me, I'm wearing a purple doll dress with embroided lilies on it as a design. It has a black ribbon at the back with amethyst stone at the center of it. My nanny brushes my hair and put a purple ribbon on it at the end of my long hair. When my family saw me, they told me that I look like a real doll.

The moment our family step on the palace, all eyes were set on us. One by one, the nobles starts to approach us to give their greetings. When my parents introduce me to them, they quickly give me a friendly smile and a lot of compliments. I also give them a formal smile and a simple word of gratitude as a reply.

After an hour of receiving greetings from the nobles, my cheeks were starting to hurt. Huu. Why do I need to suffer like this? I'm not smiling that wide, but I feel like I'll be smiling forever if I don't a break from this. Luckily, my brother said that he wants to get some fresh air. I take advantage of it and said that I don't want to be separated from my brother so I'll be coming with him.

My brother is taking me to a spacious balcony and ask a servant to bring a chair for me. My brother told me to sit on it and rest for a while. Without hesitation, I sit on it and let out a sigh.

"I thought you'll be anxious if you meet a lot of people today." My brother said and pats my hair. "It seems like I got worried for nothing."

"Aly is not scared because brother is there with me!" I said.

I'm sorry for deceiving you, brother. But I'm just simply used to it. The noble society is just full of people who speaks sweet lies and wears beautiful deception. When I'm still living as Veronica, the nobles who knows me keeps on pestering me trying to get on my good side. They always speak like they wanted to be my friend, but they just simply want to use me to their advantage because of my position.

And now that I was born as Alyssa who is a daughter of a powerful duke, only the place and the era were changed, but not the noble society. Humans are really greedy. They will do anything just to be on top. Sighs.

"Tomorrow, I need to go back to the academy so I'll not be with you and protect you like before. So listen to me carefully. Don't believe all the people you'll meet, Aly. Not all of them are good and kind." My brother said. His face is telling me that he's serious.

"Okay. Aly will follow my brother's advice." I said. Seems like he's worried that someone will use me and will end up hurting.

"You too, brother. Be careful always. Aly will cry if brother will become sad and hurt."

My brother chuckles when he heard me, but still nods his head to answer me. I hope this brother of mine will be wise and a good person in the future. Don't worry, brother. I'll always guide you to the right path. As your sister, I'll do my best to help you build a good future.

We decided to spend more time in the balcony even if the party already started. If someone dares to question us, we'll just give an excuse that my brother is taking care of his tired little sister and he can't simply leave me with our servants. Since I'm still young, I can give my age as an excuse for not socializing with these people. I should take advantage of my age as much as I can. Once I've turned an a.d.u.l.t, I can't give this kind of excuse anymore.

My brother and I decided to join the party after the orc.h.e.s.tra finished playing their first piece. My brother escorted me like a true gentleman. Many people turned their eyes towards us, but we act as if it's nothing. I scan the whole place with my eyes and sees mother chatting with some noble wives. When mother turns her head, our eyes met and she gives me a sweet smile. She's about to walk towards us when the King suddenly stands up with the Crown Prince on his side and call every person's attention.

"I wanted to thank all of you for attending my son's birthday party. The Crown Prince Larson will soon become an a.d.u.l.t. I'm hoping for you all to give your support to the Crown Prince until he becomes the next King of Kingdom of Lapir."

As a response, all of us bow our head in front of the Royal family. He was silent for a minute to look at us. Seems like he's appreciating our actions towards his word. He orders us to stand straight because he'll be announcing an important matter. I saw my father standing beside the King. He looks at His Majesty with questioning eyes.

"I just don't want to celebrate the Crown Prince's birthday. I also want to announce an important thing to all of those who attend this party." His Majesty said.

I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe because he sensed my mood, my brother looks at me with worried eyes. I quickly smile and whispers at him that I'm okay. Then I turned my focus to the King again.

"Today, I wanted to announce to all of you about The Crown Prince and Lady Vivione's engagement." The King announced with a smile on his face.

The silent room suddenly becomes loud from the noble's murmuring. Not only that, I can feel their heated gazes fall onto me again. Some were full of amazement while some were full of jealousy. Can you all give this little girl some pity?

My brother tightened his hold on my hand. His face were pouting a little. When I look around, my mother shows a shock expression, but quickly smile as if nothing happened. When I turn my gaze towards my father, he shows a blank expression, but his hands were tightly balled into fist.

Father, control yourself. I know what you wanted to do, but not in front of these nobles.

"Your Majesty, about your announcement—"

A noble suddenly speaks his mind in front of the King. If I'm not mistaken, he's also a Duke and one of the King's official. The moment that Duke opens his mouth, the King looks at him with cold eyes. The happy atmosphere around him were cannot be seen anymore. The Duke stutters a little and bows his head.

"What about the engagement, Duke Randal?" The King questions the Duke.

"I'm just a little worried about it. As you know, Lady Vivione is still at her tender age. Aside from her, there's also a lot of young ladies on the list that can be the Princess Consort."

"In short, you are against with this engagement." The King said in a cold voice. "Or rather, you are not happy that I choose Lady Alyssa to be the future Princess Consort."

"T-That's not true at all, Your Majesty. I-I'm just worried about Lady Vivione. She's still young to be involved with politics." The Duke said as he stutters a little bit. "I'm pretty sure that she's a pampered child in their household."

When the King didn't respond, the Duke quickly speaks again.

"I'm pretty sure that there's another suited Princess Consort in the whole kingdom aside from Lady Vivione. I'm a little bit shy to tell this to His Majesty myself, but I also have a beautiful and talented daughter. She was really interested in studying since she was at a tender age. Instead of playing with her dolls, she's pestered me a lot of times to read her some books that can be found in our library."

Shameless fool. It's very clear from his words that he didn't like the idea of me getting engaged to the Crown Prince. I don't approve of it too, you know? But aside from it, he just compared me to his daughter in front of this crowd. Truly shameless. He's simply saying that I'm just a little girl doted by my parents and only interested in her dolls so I didn't deserve to be the Princess Consort.

Not only that, he's really trying his best to make his daughter more appealing in front of His Majesty. I simply don't care about it all. In fact, maybe I should support this shameless Duke's idea. His daughter can have the Crown Prince and the Consort's position all to herself. I'm simply contented to be the daughter of Duke Vivione.

The King didn't say anything, but he's smiling at Duke Randal. He is smiling, but it never reaches his eyes. For the first time, I see the King in a new light. I thought he's really a troublesome and happy-go-lucky King just like what my father describes all the time. But in reality, he's just hiding something brutal behind his usual facade.

"...Lady Alyssa Lerei Elise von Vivione."

When I heard my name, I get fl.u.s.tered a little bit. The King is now looking at me. Because of it, the crowd's attention were back at me. Why do you call me by my full name, Your Majesty? And why do you even memorize it?

"...Yes, Your Majesty?" I asked.

"Come here."

What do you want from me, Your Majesty? Can't you just avoid getting me involved with this kind of thing?