Royal Lotus

I looked up at him, a slight smile formed. Nodding, I got off the swing and walked back to the mansion to change into more suitable clothing for outings. After grabbing a bag to place my money in, I met up with Draco who had prepared the carriage and was waiting for me in front of the gate. We arrived at the town. Getting off the carriage with the helping hand of Draco, I couldn"t help but feel slight anxiety. It had been years since I last stepped foot into the familiar part of this kingdom. The last time I saw it was on the day I was to be exiled. It had been a cold and terrifying memory as people all stood on the side, throwing rocks and stones at me as vile words were shouted. I deserved every inch of their hatred though.

Whenever I had gone to town, I"d throw tantrums and treat the workers as though they were dirt. However, none of them ever dared to say anything back due to my position.

"I have to go pick up some doc.u.ments. Would you like me go with me or wonder around?" Draco questioned. The amount of trust he had in me was amazing. Even I didn"t trust myself.

"I want to wonder," I replied, looking around to see if there was anything interesting to take buy. Draco ruffled my hair and gave me a toothy grin. "I"ll be back around the evening. Just meet me at the water fountain. It"ll be easy to spot," he said before heading off.

The first store I saw was Sun Burst, an antique store that was slowly going out of business. It used to be a place I avoided. I had deemed it to be dirty and trash because of the physical appearance. Breathing in, I decided to walk towards it and entered. The bell attached to the door rung and I was met with the scent of old books. A fragile old man came walking over to me, a soft smile present on his face.

"h.e.l.lo there, young lady," he greeted. I nodded, unsure as to what to say.

"Is there anything you"re looking for?" he asked. I shook my head, "I"m just going to take a look around if that"s okay."

He laughed, "Why of course! Feel free to call for me if you need help with anything."

I walked around, eyes glazing over old objects, and stopping to skim through the variety of books. A glistering light coming from the corner of the room drew my attention. Striding over, I found myself blown away by the necklace on display. While I wasn"t into owning luxury items anymore, the beautifully carved lotus flower - which appears to be made from a moonstone - attached to the thin leather was truly captivating. I reached out to grab it, but another pair of hands grabbed it before me. Looking back, I found the words I wanted to say get stuck in my throat. I had always known my luck was bad, but never to this extent.

I stumbled back slightly, and prepared myself to leave but was stopped.

"Oh, sorry. I hope I didn"t startle you. I just thought this necklace was rather beautiful." There was a pause, "Did you perhaps want it?"

Taking a deep breath, I dared myself to look up.

Golden hair and calm brown eyes smiled down at me. While it looked as though the individual was a gentle and carefree person, I knew better than to let their looks deceive me. Standing in front of me was my private tutor, Margret - back in my old life, that is. I had hoped to never meet her again, but here she was in front of me, the same "innocent" appearance plastered on. I had been a fool to trust her; she who only wanted to make a name for herself; she who secretly looked down on half-bloods and called them filthy pigs.

"I don"t want it," I answered, trying to hold back the disgust in my voice. I was well aware of her intention. She had always held keen eyes and was able to distinguish who was a n.o.ble or not. That was precisely why she approached me in my previous life and tried so hard to win the heart of the seven year old me by using sweet, sugar-coating words. Despite the servants" warnings, I had thrown tantrums just to get her to be my tutor, and sure enough, she threw me away once she got what she wanted. After all I did to help her become my tutor and change people"s perspective of her, she betrayed me by stealing my first fiancé, the son of a duke, and had the audacity to shed crocodile tears when I tried confronting her. It was because of her that my second engagement was to a man years above me; who already held a wife, a daughter, and was far too perverted. Luckily I didn"t have to marry him as I was exiled. Thinking back, Margret did more than just stealing my fiancé, I"m sure she was one of the main individuals to spread rumours about me.
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"Are you-?"

"I don"t need it," I repeated, casting her a cold gaze. I walked past her and towards the owner who looked down at me kindly. "Find anything you like?" he asked.

I originally only wanted the necklace but now that it was touched by that woman, I didn"t want it anymore.

"I"d like to buy all the books, please," I stated. He looked at me in astonishment. While he didn"t appear to doubt the amount of money I had, he did look worried at the amount of books that would need to be carried. Nonetheless, he bid to my request and packed all the books for me. From the corner of my eyes, I could see that she had not left yet and was quietly observing me, waiting for an opportunity.

"That would be five silvers," the owner said, surprising me. I looked over at three stacks of books and felt giddy that they were worth so little. After being exiled, saving money was one of the first things I taught myself once I regained my senses. I had been slightly reluctant but sold my luxurious items I managed to carry with me for the money. From there, I had stored it away for the winter when the plants withered away and catching animals became difficult. A town had been about an hour and a half away from the forest, and two hours from my house. But it took about a thirty minutes or so if I used my magic to slide to town. And from time to time I would also sell the sculptures I made for some extra money.

However, as happy as I was to have to pay so little, seeing the situation of the store, I settled down and gave him five gold instead. He looked down at them with wide eyes and gaping mouth.

"I can"t accept this," he said, trying to give the money back to me. I shook my head, "I insist you take it. Instead, can you deliver this to me in the afternoon? I can"t carry them all by myself."

"I can help you carry them!" I averted my eyes at the sound of Margret"s voice. The owner smiled sheepishly at Margret before nodding. "That"s right, she can help you. So please, there"s no need to pay so much for such old books like these."

I let out a sigh and looked at her, "I"ll be walking around and checking out other stores for a while, so I doubt you"d want to carry so many books for that long, or wait until then."

Her face turned red as she struggled to find a reply.

The owner coughed, "If that"s the case, then it shall be delivered to you. However, I"m quite old, so if you don"t mind, may I send my grandson to deliver it instead?"

I nodded, "Then have him deliver it at around the water fountain during the evening. Well, I"ll be going now."

I left the store quickly.

After I left Sun Burst, I decided to walk around and see what other items I could buy. I stopped walking when I saw a weaponry shop t.i.tled, Starlight"s. If I remember correctly, it was well known and a popular choice for n.o.bles to buy weapons. Even the previous sword I used in my past life was made from here. However, I never personally visited myself as Draco had been in charge of requesting my sword for me. Indeed, the weapons were crafted beautifully, but the sword that I had barely held up with my magic capacity and therefore caused me to hold back. After I had been banished, I has a.s.sumed that the sword would help me get by but within a week, it had shattered to pieces due to my magic being too overwhelming. I had barely used all of my magic then. Who knows just how much more powerful I could get with a weapon that could withstand my magic.

Tilting my head as I observed the amount of customers coming and going, I could only shake my head at how easily people were blinded by brand names and appearances. Looking around once again, I found another weaponry shop named, Twin Moons. Compared to Starlight"s, it was a lot smaller and didn"t seem to be getting customers. Thinking carefully, I decided to take the chance and walk towards it. Walking in, I found little to no weapons. The weapons themselves looked shoddy.

"Well-welcome!" a voice squeaked out. I turned my gaze to look at a boy who appeared no older than twelve.

I nodded as I picked up a dagger on display. From the corner of my eyes I could see the boy was rather nervous. Probably due to the fact that he was not used to customers, and that I was a child. Gripping harder, I released some of my magic to see if it could withhold. A cold smile etched at my face when it didn"t shatter. I decided to release all my magic, causing a drastic drop in the room temperature. Once again the dagger managed to remain intact. Who would"ve thought I"d find something of worth at a place I once looked down on.

Putting the dagger back down, I looked at the boy.

"Where"s the owner?" I asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes cast down on the ground.

"I"m the owner," he replied. I looked at him in surprise before regaining my usual stoic expression.

"I"m impressed," I said. "If you can, will you craft me a weapon?"

He looked at me in surprise, before his eyes started to shine in happiness.

"O-Of course! What would you like?"

I thought about it. While I was most used to a sword, my body was currently too small to handle a real sword. I did use a sword to kill the a.s.sa.s.sin after Luna, but it had been made out of the ice I manifested and not steel. Meaning, every time I was to fight, I"d use up magic quicker. Whereas if I to get a weapon, it"d save me the trouble of having to use magic and I could last in fights longer. For now, it would be best to buy a dagger, but having a dagger had quite a few disadvantage for me as well since it meant for closer attack needed in order to harm my opponent.

"Perhaps," I said, "you can make me a shape shifting weapon?"

Shape shifting weapons existed but were rare. Only true black smiths who"ve trained for years and were able to have full access to their mana - while the majority of population could access eighty-percent at most -could pull off making them. From what I know, it takes about a month to make one. Sometimes it takes even longer than a month depending on the size of the weapon and how much capacity it needs to withhold. I was pushing my luck towards this boy, but if he was able to make better weapons than Starlight"s at this age, then I"m sure he"s capable of making a shape shifter.

"A shape shifter, huh?" he mumbled to himself. I observed him. There was obvious hesitation before he looked at me with gleaming determination.

"I accept!"

I smirked at his response.

"My name is Ice, Ice Juntasa."

He smiled shyly, "I"m Philip, Philip Crew."

"You"re quite young to be owning your own weaponry shop, aren"t you?" I asked.

His eyes turned sullen, "It actually belonged to my great grandfather and was supposed to go down to my dad. But my dad pa.s.sed away a year after my grandfather did, leaving me to take responsibility. But no one trusts a child to make their weapons so eventually people stop coming. Not too long after, Starlight appeared."

"Hmm," I replied. "Well, now you have a request."

"I need you to make a dagger and sword combination. A simple design, nothing that will catch attention. My magic is ice so it"d be nice if you could incorporate a way for it to stay cold at all times as it easier for me to user stronger spells when I"m in contact with cold objects or temperatures."

The reality was, I had fire magic as well. I had been quick to switch to using fire entirely in my last life as I felt it drew me closer to my father. However, while living on my own, I began to use ice more often again as the level I could use my ice element was more dominant than the level I could use my fire element. And now that I"ve been given this chance, I"m going to hold onto it and train with it even more. I"m not saying I won"t use my fire, but I won"t allow anyone to see it as it might jeopardize the opportunities to leave the palace (or rather the manor I was currently residing in). It didn"t stop me from getting exiled in my last life, but that was only because I committed multiple offenses – something I would much rather avoid doing this time.

Philip wrote down my explanation with full concentration. I did feel quite bad that I was giving him such a hard request, but all the requirements needed to be fulfilled perfectly if I was going to use the weapon for the long run. That being said, with Ice being an uncommon magic in this kingdom, it was hard to find a place that was willing to comply with making a weapon for it. Even in my previous life, Draco had to pay at least ten hundred gold coins just to get them to make me a weapon. And the stupid weapon wasn"t even all that good.

"How much?" I asked, taking out my bag of money.

"Fifteen silvers should be enough," he said. I shook my head. He looked at me nervously, "Is that too much?" he asked, "I could go lower-"

"Hundred gold," I said, placing the amount on top of the counter. "Another hundred will be added if you do a good job."

He looked at me, fl.u.s.tered that I offered such a large amount of gold. I would"ve offered more, but I"m currently on a budget as I have several things I need to buy later on. Besides, I wasn"t too clear as to where his skills laid.

"When do you think you"ll be done?"

"You should be able to pick it up next week."

I looked at him in surprise before nodding. "Very well, I"ll see you then."

"Ah, wait," he pulled out an orb. "I need to measure your magic."

Placing my hand on the object, I put in my full magic. It glowed brightly before showing different statistics. Phillip hurriedly copied down the results, his eyes widening here and then. Looking up at me, he gave me an awed look, much to my curiosity, before bowing. "Have a nice day!" he squeaked. I gave a small bow and left.