I kept on poking the silly frogs. Who gave out a squeak each time. “Yup, it’s fun.”

  “I don’t think they like getting poked at?” He said.

  “I highly doubt that. Look, they are not even moving.” Its glassy eyes did not contain a single shred of concern as I continued to poke at it. Besides, it’s not like I could hurt them that easily anyway.

  There was a time in biology class when we had to dissect a frog. Laying there on the metal tray, I could see its lungs moving up and down in its drugged out body. Squeals and laughter filled the gray laboratory as the other kids either cut into the frogs or pulled out their phones to film them.

  Cutting into its white belly, a line of red blood streamed out where my scalpel passed by. It reflected the cold tube lights on the ceiling.

  “Wow, you’re a natural at this.” Ann was my biology partner that day. “All we need is to pull out the heart, right? Yuck, they could’ve at least killed them beforehand.”

  She pried open the stomach skin with a pair of tweezers. Its organs squirmed around in the slippery blood. Squirm, squirm. It was hypnotizing.

  “Ah there it is, just cut this part here.” I was holding the blade, making it my responsibility to end this frog's life. Would it feel pain? It twitched when I severed the arteries and muscles. Like a doll having its strings cut, it laid on the cold metal tray unmoving.

  Ann held its heart with her tweezers. “Huh, look at that. It looks like a human heart.”

  ***

  “Could you move? You’re blocking the sun.”

  He had been standing there for a while now. Resting his hands on his knees while looking at me.

  Wearing a simple shirt that was free of wrinkles and stains, and pants that seemed to be hand-tailored to his body, he gave off an air of a pretentious young lord. His hair was also neatly cut, the tips curling into themselves as they sat on top of his head.

  “My apologies, but don’t you find this to be more comfortable? You don’t look like the type of person that enjoys the sun.” His eyes went to my pale arms sticking out of my dress.

  “You’re kind of rude.” He was a head and a half taller than me as we both stood facing each other.

  “Haha, people do often say that my comments are sometimes rude, but be assured. I didn’t mean anything by it.” The corners of his mouth went a smidge higher. “I’m Halo, may I have yours?” He bowed like a gentleman, not even hiding the fact that he was a noble.

  Halo. Like that golden ring above an angel's head? I would have believed it hadn’t it been for the golden circle telling me that this name was a lie.

  Still, I pinched the hem of my dress and gave him a curtsy. “I’m Esther, I won’t tell you my age however.” Raviel told me giving one’s age, especially a lady’s was something I shouldn’t do.

  “Interesting.” He rubbed his chin. “I thought I knew all the noble children residing in the Kingdom.”

  What did he mean by that? Was he dangerous?

  “Oh, I’m not someone suspicious.” He said suspiciously, holding his hands up.

  “Who are you?” I glared at him.

  “I’m Halo. But I have a feeling that’s not the answer you seek?” He tapped his cheek a few times. “I just wanted to talk to a young lady poking frogs for fun is all.” It was the truth.

  I scoffed. “That sounds stupid.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” He scratched the back of his neck with a shy expression.

  ***

  Circumstance made Halo take a stroll in this park when he found himself time. This park that was all the way out in the duchy.

  Today, he chanced upon a light blue dress crouching in front of the pond of frogs. Her dress contrasted with the dull greens and the dull browns making her pop from the background. A little cloud, she looked just like one.

  Approaching her was a terribly simple task, as she didn’t even notice his heavy footsteps. He made sure to stomp them louder than usual; scaring girls younger than him was not a hobby of his.

  It took an astonishingly long time before she stopped poking at the poor little creatures, only because he had blocked her sun.

  Thinking that she was some peculiar and rich commoner girl, he wanted to pick her brain for a bit. Both as a break from his work and to sate his interest.

  It was also a good way to widen one’s world view, talking to commoners that is. A few faces surfaced in Halo’s mind as he thought them doing so would benefit them greatly. Alas, they were too prideful.

  Yet contrary to belief, as a response to his greeting, the girl gave a perfect curtsy used only by the upper crust of nobility. A count perhaps?

  Riffling through his memories, no noble child appeared in the pages with her description. Even her name did not appear in his catalogue of names, although it did sound similar to one he knew. A name he knew all too well.

  Esther. Blonde hair, height shorter than the average, wore gloves even in the hot summer weather. But the most striking of all were her crystalline purple eyes that Halo had only witnessed a few times in his life. This collection of keywords had no matches describing a noble youth.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Halo had met them all and in doing so, remembered them all. It was impossible for him to forget, even if he wanted to. A boon, some called it.

  The mysterious noble girl frowned at him. A frown which she wore even when she said it was fun poking at the frogs. Seeing her sour eyebrows, he wondered what she would look like with a smile.

  “Do you want to see something fun?” He could also use this opportunity to collect some rare information.

  “Fun?” Tilting her head, the golden strands flowed gently to the side. “Are you going to abduct me?”

  “Pfft! What?” Was she serious? “Why would I abduct you?”

  “Just say yes or no.”

  “Uh… then, no?”

  The girl stared at him. Her eyes bore into him, piercing into a singular spot on his mouth. Was there something on them? Rubbing his lips, nothing appeared on his fingers.

  “Fine, show me something fun then.”

  “Good,” he showed her his palm, “give me your left hand.”

  She frowned even more. “Why?”

  “So I can hold it.”

  “You won’t break it?”

  “… Why would I break it?” She stared at him again. “No, I won’t break it.”

  “Here.” She plopped her hand on his palm immediately.

  That was surprisingly easy? The girl was all over the place, one second she called him an abductor, the next she gave him her hand after asking an absurd question.

  Did she really trust him? He had to admit that he wouldn’t trust himself if there was another one of him out there.

  Holding her small hand, Halo focused on the air around him. It was sunny today, making it easier to collect the small fragments of light mana floating around.

  Deeming it to be enough after a moment, he injected the ball of mana into her glove. In a second, the wooden stains on her palm disappeared in a wisp of smoke. She followed it with her eyes as the wind took it.

  The girl raised one of her eyebrows. “You can use magic?”

  “Sure can. Are you impressed?”

  “What other things can you do? Can you make a fireball?” She took a step forward giving him a whiff of her scent. A scent which would explain why he hadn’t seen her before.

  This girl standing in front of him examining her newly cleaned glove smelled like herbs and medicine, the strong kind too.

  “Why would I do that? That sounds dangerous," he said.

  She shot him a questioning look. “Because it’s cool? I think.”

  “You think?” He wasn’t familiar with fire mana, nor the other three elements for that manner.

  He thought showing off his cleaning magic would at least get an ‘oh’ or an ‘ah’ out of her. But she was just standing there, still expressionless as ever. His ego was a little bit prickled.

  “I can do something similar, wait a moment.”

  With even more fervor than before, he absorbed the light mana like a thirsty person. Compress it, spin it around to maintain its shape. It was one his most advanced spells developed when he actually practiced. The light orb. An orb of light the size of two fists hovered above his hands.

  “Heh, what do you think about this one? Cool right?”

  “Yeah”, she said. “That’s cool.” She stared at the ball of light and blinked a few times. “So you can only use divine magic?”

  Crackle, something shattered inside Halo at her comment. Divine magic was rare even among the few mages in the kingdom. And here was some frog-poking girl snubbing her nose at it. Not only that, she got the magic category wrong.

  Halo crossed his arms. “It’s not divine magic, I used light magic.”

  “Same thing, are they not? They both sparkle and are totally useless.”

  “They both sparkle… totally useless…” Did a neighboring princess visit by chance? Never in his life had Halo heard such ridiculous statements coming from someone, and many ridiculous people he had met.

  “Esther!” The ridiculous girl turned to the person shouting her name. It was an older version of her. Same hair color, same eye color, different body type. Halo had to quickly look away lest he did something not gentleman-like.

  “Mom!” Bouncing toward her, the girl looked like any other smiling girl. It stunned him for a second.

  “Oh, did you get another friend? Hello.” Her voice was in simple terms, angel-like.

  “He’s not my friend.” Esther grumped as she told her what happened.

  Her mother smiled the whole time, listening to her babbling daughter. It was interesting. He had expected some haughty noblewoman based on her daughter’s personality, not some refreshing lady nodding along with that daughter’s words. Riffle, raffle. He searched through his catalogue of nobles. A match was found immediately.

  “His name is Halo, but it’s a fake name.” What was this? How did she know? Even the merchants down the road didn’t pry through his poker face. It even tricked some of the smartest people in the Kingdom.

  Her mother patted the girl’s hair. “Really? Then he must have a reason for doing so, don’t you think?”

  “Why would a child-priest have a reason to hide his name?”

  “Oh!” The lady clapped her hands. “You’re a priest in training?” Setting the comment about him being a child aside, the lady’s expectant stare compelled him to agree with a confident “yes”.

  “Mom, he’s lying again.” Two times now, what trickery was she using?

  The lady crouched down to her daughter’s height. “Esther, you shouldn’t accuse someone of lying all willy-nilly like that. Especially if they are your friend.”

  “But he’s not my friend,” she frowned.

  “I don’t mind being her friend,” he said, getting a glare in return. The two girls in his head with the similar names were awfully alike.

  Meeting this lady was interesting enough, but what he really wanted to know was the girl’s method of spotting his lies. They chatted for a bit more, getting into a debate whether or not he was her friend.

  “Oh, dear. Look at the time,” the noblewoman said.

  As it had gotten late, the blonde pair with the rare purple eyes said their farewells as they left the area. The girl glanced back at him a few times before waving her hand right before she disappeared in the horizon. He spotted some bodyguards trailing behind them a moment after.

  As he thought, they were some important people. Learning that information was enough to make this outing another fruitful usage of his time. It was definitely a wise decision to sneak out of the palace.

  “Your highness!” Speak of the devil, a brown haired boy ran up to him. It was always a wonder how his round glasses never fell off his face.

  “Goodness, what is it? Did someone die again?”

  “Yes!” He straightened out his glasses. “But that’s not important right now!”

  How horrible, someone had died and it wasn’t that important? “Do you know how much paperwork you have left to do?” Ah. His aide had to remind him of the boring work a prince had to do, even on his well-deserved vacation.

  Sign this document, sign that document, from morning till night. He should teach his aide how to forge his signature later to lessen the burden.

  “You really need to stop sneaking out, I beg of you!” Poor fellow, he should have gotten familiar with his work life balance by now.

  “Walter.” He patted the shoulders of his aide. “Who am I?”

  Walter adjusted his glasses. “Huh? You’re your highness?”

  “Nay, not my title.”

  “Hylon Guillain?”

  “That’s right.”

  His eyes began to widen. “No. No, no, no.” It was always fun seeing his panicked state.

  “I order you to find out all the information you can about that girl I was talking to.”

  “What? Who? Why?”

  “Personal information, Esther Nikodemus, and because I’m interested in her.”

  His glasses nearly met the ground. “Your highness! I don’t have time for this!”

  Halo massaged his weary aide’s shoulders and gave him a warm bright smile. “I believe in you.”

  “Please don’t! Your Highness!” His voice made the birds take flight, flapping their wings over the setting sun.

  “Oh, and one more thing.” He stared at the aide who had fallen to his knees. “Find out whether she is going to attend the Royal Academy with us or not.”