Path to Transcendence

He wasn\'t outrageously handsome nor did he stand out in any way. He was around average height and had a slightly tanned complexion that went well with his fairer features. But his presence was very forgettable. He slipped into the crowd of faces and if not for her subconsciously trying to look for him around every corner she would never have even noticed him.

It was just too bad the memory of that night made her want to throw her face into her pillow and scream.

She had truly been enjoying her time at the Golden Wheel. Her older cousin Tina had told her all about it from her time in Heston a few years back. Reinera didn\'t quite believe her, after all her cousin wasn\'t always to best person to listen to.

Shockingly, it had been as amazing as Tina described and more. Truthfully, it was better than anything she had ever had. The royal chefs had nothing on the Golden Wheel, in Reinera\'s opinion they could not even compare.

As much as she loved Richard and the palace chefs she had to admit that there was a special spark of magic in the kitchens of that Golden Wheel restaurant. In fact, she already had ideas about asking her mother about somehow having some of the palace chefs learn underneath this restaurant so that they could bring it back to the capital.

It was an utter shame that the night ended like it had. There weren\'t many times in her life that she felt so comfortable around people who weren\'t her family.

Reinera found it difficult to find true friends among her peers. Sure, many were friendly, but she learned the hard way that most of them had their own agenda.

She rarely found people who connected with the true version of herself. Not the acted-out version with the pretty dresses and royal attitude. But the version that enjoyed food, that enjoyed reading, or that enjoyed learning magic.

That was why she was so happy to be eating with a bunch of other people her age who weren\'t clamoring for her attention. Granted, she had been wearing a disguise and she expected that if she showed her true identity, it wouldn\'t have gone the same way.

Still, she had tried to enjoy it while it lasted. It wasn\'t often that she could enjoy a meal without someone engaging her in conversation just to make a connection with her. In fact, everyone at the table had treated her like an equal. There were times when not a single person talked and shoveled food into their mouths.

The girl, Aubrey, who had invited them over, and the man next to her certainly were devouring their food at an impressive rate. Even the black-haired boy that she found out was named Julius, was similarly destroying his food with enthusiasm.

Though, it wasn\'t that surprising. She already knew that he had a formidable appetite for good food if the cake was any hint.

Another thing that stuck with her and resonated deep in her bones, was something that Lily had talked about. It was true that most of the people treated her and her family with fear, and not respect. When your father is one of the most powerful men on the entire continent, people tend to you differently. It was just something every member of the royal family learned to deal with.

Thus, she found herself appreciating the moments when it didn\'t happen all the more dearly.

Then Amelia had to go and ruin it. She knew that Amelia hadn\'t liked how Julius treated her the night before, but she didn\'t think it extended that far. She didn\'t know that Julius bothered Amelia so much.

She still remembered the conversation she had with Amelia that night after the six of them left.

***

"Why would you do that?" Reinera asked angrily as she swiveled to look at Amelia. Her frustration and disappointment were clear on her face. "I finally get to enjoy a night out without people \'cleaning my toes with their mouth\' as she would put it. And what do you do? You go ahead and you start a fight with them." She spat out venomously while pacing back and forth, frequently glancing at the direction they left in.

Amelia had the self-awareness to look ashamed and bowed her head at her. "I am sorry my princess. I lost my composure."

"I…" Reinera cut herself off before she could say something again. She was about to continue berating Amelia, Gods knows how much she wanted to, but the look on Amelia\'s face seemed sincere. She was most likely kicking herself more than Reinera would ever be able to.

If there was one thing that Reinera knew about Amelia, it was that nobody put more pressure on her than herself.

She took a moment to calm herself down using the meditative aura techniques her uncle had shown her. And once she centered herself, she asked Amelia, "What made you do that?"

"It was his attitude. I couldn\'t help but get angry over the arrogant way he was speaking to you," Amelia answered.

She pinched her nose in irritation. "First, you have to remember that when I am in disguise, I am no longer a princess. If you treat me like a princess it ruins the whole disguise. We talked about this in-depth before. Second, you know that I have dealt with arrogant nobles much worse than that. And you were still fine after they talked to me with such disrespect. I want to know the real reason." Reinera demanded, using some of her princess voice to let Amelia know she was serious.

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Amelia didn\'t answer right away and a wave of silence enveloped them for a minute.

If she was being honest with herself, she had part of the blame as well. She should have stopped it before it went any further. She could have said anything, it would have been better than saying nothing.

She looked around at the street around them before she heard Amelia take a breath to speak. "I think he noticed me," Amelia finally said after some time. Reinera watched as Amelia crinkled her brow and bit her lip.

"Pardon?"

Amelia looked at her with eyes of uncertainty. "When we met him that night, I think he knew I was there. I swear I watched his eyes scan right over me and stop for a second."

She looked at Amelia with much more seriousness, momentarily forgetting her annoyance. "That\'s what\'s bothering you? You\'re saying that he broke through your stealth skill?" That was indeed alarming. Amelia\'s [Ghost of the Mist] skill was one of the best stealth skills in the entire Empire. It was a huge reason why she had been chosen to watch over Amelia in the first place.

The skill was able to completely turn her invisible, shroud her aura, prevent any of her mana from leaking out, and also had various ways that blocked fate detection skills like [Premonition] or [Danger Sense].

Therefore someone who was able to detect her through that skill would need to be either a very strong Tier 4 with excellent perception abilities or someone with [Spatial Awareness]. However, that skill was usually earned after one established the first stage of their Domains, so that was even more unlikely.

There could possibly be another skill that could see right through it, but what were to odds that it would be the skill of the person who had given her one of the most delicious cakes she had ever had the honor of eating?

Funnily enough, she wasn\'t really worried about whether or not he could use that skill to harm her. Her [Radiant Intent] skill was able to sense no malice from Julius when she met him. The only thing that she could sense, was his unwillingness to share his cake. Yet, he still did, despite that he didn\'t have to.

So even if he was able to see through her skill because of his own unique perception skill, it didn\'t matter. She didn\'t believe he was a threat and if anything, Reinera enjoyed his company.

The arrogant attitude that Amelia mentioned hadn\'t bothered her in the slightest. It was more playful than anything else. She suspected that Amelia was subconsciously disliking him because he possibly saw through her prized skill.

Although, it didn\'t matter that much anyway. It was just a shame that it all had to end like that.

"Who were they?" She suddenly asked. She had heard Amelia and Lily talking as if the group of them were important and naturally that made her curious. She had to wonder what type of people she had potentially just offended.

Amelia winced noticeably when she heard the question but answered regardless. "The girl was Lily Violet. The blonde boy, Derek, is the grandson of Duke Zenith. The tall skinny boy was Kyle Quincy. The girl who invited us over was Aubrey Crysalia, you might know her mother who is the Crystal Tyrant. And the tall muscular one was Edgar Crow."

"Ah," she tsked and inwardly groaned.

Reinera knew exactly who most of them were. She didn\'t like to pay attention to all of the children of powerful houses, but she recognized the names of their families.

The Violet Heiress had quite a reputation around noble circles for her ability to do business. She was very familiar with the other\'s families. Duke Zenith was widely considered one of the most powerful people in the Empire. The Quincy\'s had a lot of the Empire\'s foremost experts in studies of magic, not to mention a couple of powerhouses of their own. She had even met Fiona Crysalia when she was younger. The woman was a terrifying force of power, worthy of her title the Crystal Tyrant.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Amelia had chosen quite the crowd of students to piss off. She tried not to allow that to annoy her even further. She did another cycle of meditative exercises before she calmed down.

The only ones who she wasn\'t aware of were Edgar and Julius.

"I recognize most of them. However, tell me more about Edgar and Julius," she told Amelia.

"I don\'t know anything about Julius. I didn\'t have any time to investigate him with the sudden trip to the city, but I do know about Edgar," Amelia said.

Reinera waved her hand, welcoming her to explain.

"He\'s a commoner who rose to the top of his class through hard work. Apparently, he is one of the favorites to win the entire Intra-School Tournament along with Derek Zenith. His talent for close combat is one of the best in his entire generation," Amelia explained.

"And you knew all of this when we sat down with them?"

Amelia nodded her head cautiously.

She pinched the bridge of her nose again. "I don\'t get it. I don\'t know why you would decide to do something like that. Disregarding you thinking he was being rude, what made you decide to offend someone who was friends with people like that? You know I don\'t care for political maneuvering like you do, but even I know that sounds like a bad idea."

"I know, it was stupid of me. I made a mistake," Amelia said regretfully.

Reinera just shook her head in disappointment. She would have to find an opportunity to apologize the next time she saw him. She wanted to make it right. Luckily, they went to the same school and the odds of her running into him again weren\'t zero.

***

She had been looking for him ever since. But never would she have guessed that he was right in front of her the entire time. She wanted nothing more than to walk over and apologize, but he didn\'t know that she was actually a princess. To him, Grace was a different person.

However, now that she knew who he was and that he attended the same class as her, she might be able to orchestrate a run-in with him. It might give her a chance to apologize for Amelia\'s behavior.

She continued to look at him. Despite him being in another group of students, she found herself glancing over constantly. She even watched his turn at the exercise.

That was interesting to watch. She knew that he focused on mana, his constructs that night showed a phenomenal level of finesse that you rarely saw even among mages. Yet, he was using a physical enhancement skill along with a really ugly version of a movement skill.

Perhaps, he was training up some of his weaknesses, that was the only reason that she could come up with.

She couldn\'t help but feel even more intrigued by Julius. His love for delicious cake notwithstanding, he was a very interesting person so far. She had to wonder what kind of person did he have to be in order to befriend such influential fourth years. It was a mystery that she wanted to solve. It had nothing to do with the fact that he seemed to have a really good taste for food or baked goods. Nothing to do with it at all.