Chapter 4: The Emperor of the Vuldar Empire

After Adelheid's first adventure outside of her room, she continued to do so for the upcoming days. By the time three months had passed, Adelheid could confidently say she knew the general layout of the palace. As for why she didn't know everything nook and cranny, the seventh princess laid the blame for the palace being seven stories tall and being too damn complicated.

Seriously, the imperial palace was like a labyrinth.

Since Adelheid had fully recovered from her atrophied muscles from her three years of sleep, Healer Elune no longer accompanied her. It was a pity because Adelheid had grown used to the grandmotherly presence.

Speaking of grandmothers, Adelheid's grandmother was also alive. Unlike her father, who had been widowed twice, her grandfather, Emperor Wilheim's, had never changed empresses. Justine Chelle von Vuldar nee Holstein gave birth to three children: Frederick, Albrecht, and Louise, but ever since Prince Frederick died, she had retreated from the public's eye. Adelheid hadn't even seen a hint of her shadow.

Currently, the seventh princess was running laps in a private training ground as she was taking swordsmanship lessons per her requests. As it was the Middle Wind Month, the temperature wasn't as cold anymore, and snow had stopped falling.

She could have used the training grounds for the imperial knights, but Adelheid rejected it because she could not stand the thought of so many people watching her struggle.

Once she had finished her laps, Adelheid rested her hands on her knees in order to prevent herself from collapsing onto the ground as she caught her breath. She had just run over twenty laps, and her clothes were drenched in sweat.

The seventh princess couldn't help but glance enviously at Matilda, who was still full of energy, even after running fifty laps. Since Adelheid had begun training, Matilda couldn't help but want to join too, and Adelheid agreed, seeing no reason to refuse.

Unlike Matilda, Sofia was content to stay in the shade and bring whatever refreshment and anything else Adelheid needed. She was a normal maid, not a knight aspirant, after all.

"Excellent, Your Highness. Your time has decreased, you're making good progress." The speaker was a female knight of average height with lightly tanned skin, honey-brown hair that reached her shoulders, and sharp brown eyes. Her name was Olga Muller, a knighted commoner and Adelheid's instructor provided by her father, Second Prince Albrecht.

"Really?" Adelheid asked, having been too occupied to keep track of her time. "Has my aura increased?"

Olga held her chin and observed Adelheid, her eyes sharpening to a frightening degree. "Your aura has indeed increased, but the improvement isn't obvious."

In other words, her aura didn't increase much, if at all.

Adelheid sighed in dejection. She had been trying to increase her aura for weeks now. The easiest way to increase aura, at least for beginners, was to strengthen the practitioner's body, so aside from running, Adelheid had also been doing other exercises under Olga's supervision.

Too much exercise was just as bad as too little exercise.

There was also another point to Adelheid's daily exercise, and that was to tune her to her aura. As Healer Elune had mentioned before, those who could use aura boasted superior bodies to humans who didn't, which was something that Adelheid desperately need. Even now, she needed to ingest three bowls of tonic a day, an increase from two.

Adelheid wished for a healthy body, as frail bodies had an inherent disadvantage in daily life. Besides, who would follow a leader that could keel over at any time? Plus, not needing to drink that nasty bowl of medicine was a huge motivation.

Back to the main point, unless you were a genius in aura usage, you had to train your body first before you could use aura. The first step was to increase your aura amount. Once it reached a certain amount, an aura disciple or higher would inject their aura into the uninitiated and allow them to detect the aura within the beginner's body. Next would be learning how to control the aura.

Only then could someone embark on the path of an aura practitioner.

"How much longer do you think it would take for me to build enough aura?" Adelheid asked, her breathing much calmer now. The seventh princess stepped under the shade, where Sofia handed her a glass of water mixed with citrus juice.

"Your Highness will need a year to two before you can become an aura beginner," Olga replied without delay. After a moment, Olga turned toward Adelheid and comforted, "Don't worry Ya Highness, most folks need two or three years, so ya fasta then dem."

Adelheid turned toward Olga with a strange look on her face. Olga immediately covered her mouth with a gloved hand upon realizing she had slipped into her preferred accent.

After a small chuckle, Adelheid replied. "You do not have to comfort me. Every day I'm eating good food and taking medicine, so I have a greater advantage than most people. If ordinary people were to eat the same as me, they'd probably become an aura practitioner already."

Adelheid had done some research. Aura practitioners needed a lot of food, so those who had access to sufficient nutrients had an inherent advantage over those that didn't. This was also the primary reason why wealthy families could produce more aura practitioners than regular commoners.

"I'm simply not talented in aura," Adelheid said, a little down. "Hopefully, I'll be more talented in magic. Otherwise, that will really be a downer."

Olga stayed silent, not knowing how to reply to the princess's self-deprecating words. Olga had seen children before. They were a loud and rambunctious bunch that were prone to throwing a tantrum at the slightest grievances.

However, Princess Adelheid was mature to the point of being scary. Perhaps this was the difference between a princess and a peasant, Olga thought.

Seeing Matilda finished her laps and running towards them, Adelheid couldn't help but ask, "What rank is Matilda at?"

"Hm? Oh. Miss Avery is an aura disciple." Olga said. There was a hint of admiration as she gazed at the girl eleven years younger than her.

"Is that amazing?" Adelheid asked.

"It's really amazing. I'm only an aura journeyman, and I've only recently entered this rank. Should I say, as expected of the legendary knight's daughter?" Olga said as envy that couldn't be hidden leaked out from her tone.

Adelheid didn't have time to reply as Matilda had arrived in front of the group, full of exuberance. "Princess!"

Matilda wasn't in her maid uniform as training in such clothing would have been cumbersome. Instead, she wore a simplified version of the female knight's uniform, much like the outfit Adelheid had first worn when she witnessed the spar between Griselda and Gerrald. Perhaps because of this reason, Matilda was always full of energy.

"Do you need to take a break?" Adelheid asked as she saw the sweat-covered knight aspirant.

Matilda shook her head and pumped her fist together. "No need, let's begin the next phase of training as soon as possible, Your Highness!"

Adelheid sighed and felt like a middle-aged man in comparison to the amber-eyed girl. "At least drink some water. It's important to keep yourself hydrated."

"Hydrated? What does that mean, Your Highness?" Matilda asked, tilting her head as she accepted a drink from Sofia.

"It means to drink water. If you do not and sweat too much, you'll begin to get lightheaded. You might even faint, so hydration is essential." Adelheid explained, sighing at Matilda's lack of knowledge.

"Really? I didn't know. Did you know, Sir Olga?" Matilda asked the female knight.

Olga shook her head, much to Adelheid's shock. Keeping yourself hydrated is common sense, is it not?

"As expected of Your Highness, you're so knowledgeable!" Matilda praised, her eyes shining with admiration as she looked at Adelheid.

"A-anyways, we should begin practicing our swordsmanship, should we not?" Adelheid said, diverting her eyes from Matilda's heated gaze. It felt strange being complimented for what she considered to be common knowledge.

Swoosh~

Swoosh~

Swoosh~

Adelheid felt sweat drip down her forehead as she practiced her sword swings. She had already stopped counting after her thousandth strike.

"Hyah!!"

Adelheid's swings paused and glanced to the side where Matilda was swinging her sword through different forms, and unlike Adelheid's downward swings, Matilda's swings were incredibly sharp as if she was slicing through solid objects.

In comparison...

Are we both using the same blunted swords? Adelheid wondered as she observed the iron sword in hand. Mine sounds like I'm still swinging a bludgeon.

It was only two weeks ago that Adelheid had managed to upgrade from swinging a wooden sword to a metal one, albeit its edge was dulled for safety reasons. Even then, Adelheid wondered how anyone could trust a child of seven years of age with an iron sword. Granted, she was anything but an average child.

"Um...princess..."

Adelheid turned her head towards Olga, who showed a hesitant expression. No doubt afraid of sounding like she was ordering a member of the imperial family around. "My apologies, I got lost in thought. Matilda is very far ahead of me, is she not?"

"Miss Avery is the daughter of Sir Avery, after all. It's only natural that she inherited her father's talent in swordsmanship." Olga said with a sigh. Her words contained four parts jealousy and six parts admiration.

Adelheid shrugged and returned to practicing her basic swordsmanship with a break sprinkled here and there. After a certain time, Olga would tell Adelheid to change her swings.

Sometimes it was a downward slash, other times a stab, but all of her practices consisted of the thirteen basic sword movements: chop, pierce, scrape, sweep, break, tap, cleave, support, intercept, twist, lift, draw, and sheath.

Of the thirteen, Adelheid only barely mastered three of them. When she mastered all thirteen types of strikes, she will advance to the next stage of training. Only then will the seventh princess be trained to link those thirteen movements together into one fluid combo. Before then, Adelheid would not be taught the Vuldar Empire's Imperial Style Swordsmanship.

Adelheid sighed, wondering when she would actually be learning advanced swordsmanship instead of the basics. Even now, the scene of Griselda duking it out with Gerrald still lingered in her mind.

It was already clear to her that she was not exceptionally talented in the sword, but neither did she have a poor affinity.

It's fine. After all, magic should be my area of expertise. It's not like I'm jealous of Matilda being so talented in the sword. Adelheid sulkily thought. Perhaps due to the pressure, she had always excelled in academics and sports in her previous life on Earth. The seventh princess took another glance at Matilda.

Each of Matilda's strikes seemed to contain a terrifying heaviness incompatible with the skinny arms of the flaxen-haired maid.

From what Matilda revealed, the young girl had been trained by her father in swordsmanship since she was three years old in the Avery Family's swordsmanship, the Auftrag Style Swordsmanship. According to Avery's father, her family's sword style descended from the elves since one of their ancestors was a half-elf.

The Auftrag Style Swordsmanship originally had a heavy emphasis on swift and continuous strikes to keep the opponent on the defensive. However, the style had changed with the passage of time, and powerful strikes were incorporated into the style to better fit a human's physique.

The form and strikes were only half the essence of fighting. Each style of swordsmanship had unique methods to incorporate aura into their strikes. For example, when Gerrald covered his sword in aura. It was a common technique known as aura sword, but Imperial Style Swordsmanship's aura sword would differ from Auftrag Style Swordsmanship's aura sword.

Dispelling her thoughts of any miscellaneous matters, Adelheid resumed her swordsmanship training. She was already untalented, so she could not afford to slack off, especially with her weak body.

When the sun started to dip after reaching the highest point, Adelheid ceased her training and returned to the palace to refresh herself by taking a bath and changing into fresh clothing.

What Adelheid was rather pleased with was the new underwear. Unlike the baggy nightgown, the briefs and cotton shirt were far more comfortable. The briefs were sewn with a sort of stretchy material that perfectly conformed to Adelheid's hips, while the shirt only reached her thighs, so it allowed for more movement. Not to mention it was made from cotton, so it was super comfortable. Although she only changed into the cotton shirt before she slept.

After that, Adelheid drank the tonic, the metallic tang somewhat alleviating the bitter flavor. Then, she took lessons with the governess, Miss Saur, in the seventh princess's study.

As a princess of the Vuldar Empire, Adelheid must be well learned in all subjects and bear impeccable grace and etiquette. From the governess, a willowy woman wearing a white dress shirt, waistcoat, and pants, Adelheid learned of the numerous superpowers of Veles. It was not uncommon for women of power to wear pants in the Vuldar Empire, although it would be considered a faux pas in other nations.

The Holy Seraph Kingdom was the second most ancient and powerful of the superpowers. It worshipped all of the Six Pillar Gods, except the Evil Satanis, but the Holy Seraphina was most revered among the gods. Its government combined aspects of a monarchy and theocracy. Adelheid's aunt, Third Princess Louise von Vuldar, had married Prince Henry of Albion, the Holy Seraph Kingdom's prince.

The Principality of Alvarius was ruled by Sovereign Prince Freygr ljos Alf and Adelheid's uncle on her mother's side. Despite being the most ancient nation, rumored to have existed before the Providence Era, not much was known as the nation guarded its borders against outsiders. Adelheid wondered how her mother even came to marry her father with the principality's heavy isolationist policy. Their patron deity was the Fleeting Lyonis, Goddess of Wind.

The Beast Kingdom had the largest population of beastkin and, like the Vuldar Empire, primarily worshiped the War Iras, Goddess of Fire. Despite sharing the same patron deity, or because they shared the same patron deity, the empire and the Beast Kingdom constantly waged war against each other.

The Dragonic Dukedom was the smallest and weakest of the superpowers, but their ruling family claim to be descendants of dragons. They did not worship any of the Six Pillar Gods. Instead, they prayed to the Divine Dragon Deity, a being said to have been born at the same time as the titans in myth. As a result, the Dragonic Dukedom suffered from external isolation.

The Merchant Union was the second youngest nation, comprised of no nobles. They were originally a ragtag bunch of city-states that came together to form a nation but couldn't decide on a single ruler. They are ruled by the Senate, whose members are were voted by land-owning citizens of the nation.

And last was the Vuldar Empire, the youngest of the superpowers, which rose around two hundred years ago. As the youngest nation, it constantly waged war to expand its territory. Its most recent period of expansion ended ten years ago, but that was only due to the weakening of the aging emperor.

These six nations comprised the six superpowers of Veles. Numerous smaller nations existed between the six superpowers and outside, but most of them were too weak and insignificant to be named and mapped. The majority would not even last a hundred years before being destroyed, with some exceptions such as the Dwarven Nation, the Giant Nation, and Pravus Kingdom.

The Dwarven Nation consisted of numerous cities within the center of a mountain. Unlike the elves, they did not isolate themselves from the world, but the dark and humid environment proved difficult for other races to adapt to.

The Giant Nation was comprised of lands thrice the size of the Vuldar Empire, but it was closer to fragmentary lands ruled by different tribes of giant fighting for supremacy. As the race closest to the titans, giants hold other races in disdain and do not concern themselves with their 'insignificant' squabbles.

The Dark Kingdom Pravus, as the Holy Seraph Kingdom calls it, is separated from the rest of the six superpowers by the Avaritia Mountain Range, said to have been formed by one of Avaritia's bifurcated legs. Rather than a single kingdom, the Pravus Kingdom is a collection of nations ruled by the High King, the king of kings. All the nations of Pravus worship the Evil Satanis and hold the rest of the Six Pillar Gods in disdain.

One other political power that had to be mentioned was the Islands Nations, called so because they existed in the ocean west of the continent. The Island Nations were comprised of different nations on archipelagos. The water countries had numerous exports, which merchants would ferry for a hefty profit.

Still, the largest focus was on her home nation, the Vuldar Empire, which primarily consisted of numerous expansion wars. The origin of the empire began years ago as one of the insignificant nations known as the Vuldar Kingdom. It was only through the efforts of the first emperor, Emperor Ofnir von Vuldar, that the Vuldar Empire became the superpower that it was known today.

Emperor Ofnir wasn't just a ruler that turned his tiny kingdom into the world's first empire, but a skilled knight and mage. His skill was so renowned that knights and mages today still venerated him. In fact, the empire had an elite knight order formed from the teachings of the first emperor. Skilled in both sword and magic, those knights were known as aether knights.

Griselda Ritter, who Adelheid had met before, was also considered an aether knight, just that she wasn't part of the Aether Knight Order.

Adelheid sighed when the lessons finally stopped. She wanted to stretch and loosen her stiff muscles, but that would result in the governess reprimanding her on her poor etiquette were she ever to catch word of it. The seventh princess had a feeling that the governess was somehow more stern than usual.

"What time is it?" Adelheid asked. If the lesson was torturous for her, then it was even more torturous for her two maids. For hours they just stood behind her without a peep.

Well, one of them did. The other somehow acquired the miraculous ability to sleep, standing straight with her eyes wide open. Adelheid didn't know whether she should be concerned or not.

"It's almost six, Your Highness," Sofia answered.

Adelheid nodded. After dinner, the seventh princess turned in for the night. Although the castle was lit up during the night, she had woken up early and expended both her mental and physical strength for the day.

The next day, Adelheid was informed that she would be granted an audience with her grandfather, Emperor Wilheim. The audience would occur in the throne room with the attendance of important officials and nobles. The reason was due to the governess reporting that the seventh princess had mastered the necessary etiquette and was thus presentable to the emperor. The audience wasn't immediate but would be held a week later.

The week was for Adelheid time to prepare. Adelheid's aura lessons with Olga were canceled. Instead, she had double lessons with Miss Sauer, which turned into etiquette lessons and reviews. Without fail, the days were filled with the governess's constant reprimands.

"Your Highness, hold your head up high, do not lower your chin. A descendant of His Majesty must not lower their head to anyone else but the emperor.

"Keep your gaze forward, do not focus your attention elsewhere.

"Your footwork is impeccable, but there is only the faintest trace of grace. As a princess of the imperial family, Your Highness is lacking in bearing. Your Highness must not lower the prestige of the emperor!"

The lessons only ended the day before the audience. By that time, Adelheid had half a heart to have the governess murdered for all discipline she had undergone. It was also during this time that Adelheid discovered how much Emperor Wilheim was venerated within the empire. From Miss Sauer's words, Adelheid almost thought that the imperial family was only composed of the emperor and no one else because, in comparison to the emperor, none of the other imperials was worth mentioning.

The lessons with the governess weren't the only things done in preparation for the audience with the emperor. During this time, the palace tailors had been working nonstop for Adelheid's new clothes.

On the day of the audience, Adelheid stood outside the giant gates leading to the throne room. Adelheid wasn't wearing the standard knight's uniform tailored to her size, but something more regal.

The basic composition of her attire was still the same, but everything was upgraded. The white dress shirt seemed to glow as if it was woven from moonlight. The high-waist pants had a glossy surface and weaved to Adelheid's body like a second skin with no excess space. The tips and heels of the boots were encased in golden metal.

The most striking addition was the half cape that covered the seventh princess's left side. The cape was a striking red and edged in gold with a black underside. On the red surface, the emblem of the Vuldar Empire, a mage sword circled by six swords around the hilt, was embroidered in gold.

Armed in her new attire, Adelheid felt more than ready to face the emperor in the throne room. She nodded to the knights standing guard on each side of the gate, but the knights didn't return her gesture. Instead, they opened the gates, revealing the ruler and administrators of the Vuldar Empire.

The throne room was a grand hall, large enough to fit a thousand people and tall enough to stack ten adult men on top of each other and still have space above their heads. A red carpet led from the entrance to the throne situated on a dais seven steps high. On the left of the grand throne was a smaller throne of similar design, placed slightly back but empty. On each side of the red carpet, standing on the bare floor, were about a hundred people of all types, ranging from young to old, male to female, various features, and attires.

But what caught Adelheid's attention the most was the center of the throne room. The throne was tall, tall enough to still be seen even if an adult stood on it. The symbol of sovereignty was crafted from an unknown gray metal with the symbol of the empire sculpted onto it.

No, it was not the throne that caught Adelheid's attention but the man sitting on it. Or, to be more precise, the man and throne as one. The man wore a deep red uniform with golden embroideries, white gloves, black pants, leather boots, and a red half cape like Adelheid. It was a surprisingly plain attire for the most powerful man in the empire.

The emperor's face was nothing impressive either. His aged face showed traces of his past handsomeness, and he was fit, as evident by his well-built stature. His gray hair was well-groomed and coupled with his well-trimmed beard and mustache, gave him a sixty percent similarity to Prince Albrecht. Nothing about the emperor's physical features stood out among the crowd in the throne room, except those sword-colored eyes of his.

One glance was enough to make anyone, be it the lowest slave to the noblest official, surrender. There were no exceptions, including Adelheid. The seventh princess had to use all her willpower to not prostate herself then and there under the absolute force exuding from the man on the throne. As Adelheid's gaze continued to lock with the emperor's, her heartbeat quickened, and a rosy color began to emerge on her cheeks. She did not know how long this would have continued had it not been for the bellman's voice breaking her out of her state.

"Announcing Her Highness, Princess Adelheid von Vuldar! Daughter of Second Prince Albrecht and Seventh Princess of the Vuldar Empire!"

Taking her cue and wary of gazing into the emperor's authoritative eyes once more, Adelheid walked towards the throne. Her gait was graceful, and her steps fluid, the picture of an immaculate imperial with years of experience greater than her current age.

It was a journey that did not last longer than a few minutes at most, yet it felt as if years had passed. As Adelheid strode on the red carpet, she could feel the inquisitive stares of the nobles and officials judging if she was worthy or not. She could even detect traces of ill-will within some gazes, being no stranger to such emotions.

Emperor Wilheim lowered his eyes as he observed the elf halfling. She had black hair that neither her parents nor grandparents possessed and the peerless features originating from her elven heritage. Turning his attention away from his granddaughter, he observed the nobles and officials.

The officials and nobles all observed the seventh princess as if they wanted to peel off her skin and dissect her, yet the child of seven showed no nervousness. Directing his attention away from the nobles and officials, Emperor Wilheim glanced at his son, Albrecht, to see the pride in those steel-gray eyes but no affection.

Before returning his gaze to the center of attention, the emperor observed his other grandchildren present, the imperials sired by his late son, Frederick. The elder twin, Fourth Princess Antonia von Vuldar, and younger twin, Fifth Prince Alexander von Vuldar, standing a fair distance away from Albrecht.

Antonia possessed the characteristic steel-colored eyes of the imperial family. She had long, curled golden locks and wore an elegant magenta-colored dress that conformed to her developed body. Antonia had a trace of a smile upon her lips, but her hand clenching the folding fan was white. Her eyes never left Adelheid.

In contrast, Alexander von Vuldar had his head slowly lowered, hiding his cerulean eyes under his blond hair. He wore a navy blue coat with gems as buttons, and peaking out was his cravat. Unlike Antonia, Emperor Wilheim could not get a read on the fifth prince.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the seventh princess stood ten steps away from the throne. The rosy color on her cheeks had long died down, but her heartbeat only quickened. There was a sense of affection, of yearning that was budding within her heart. With each second passed, so too did the emotion bubbling within.

After a moment of silence, the emperor opened his mouth.

"Kneel."

The voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it seemed to reverberate throughout the room. The word was filled with power, one that did not allow anyone to disobey.

Adelheid obeyed.

She moved her left arm back with a flourish, causing her cape to flutter slightly. Simultaneously, she kneeled onto her right knee and placed her right fist over her heart. Her vulnerable nape was clear to the emperor's eyes. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Her movements were elegant and graceful, an action that some adults could not perform as perfectly as her. The emperor rose from his seat, standing at an impressive a hundred and eighty-five centimeters. At this action, the silence in the throne room became deathly silent. All occupants of the room opened focused their hearing as if that would make the emperor speak faster.

"I proclaim Adelheid von Vuldar, Seventh Princess of the Vuldar Empire, third heir to the Vuldarian Imperial Throne."

It was as if a silent explosion had gone off. Not just sound, but all movement ceased after that proclamation. All the nobles and officials felt their hearts stop after hearing those words—every heart except one.

The seventh princess's heartbeat only quickened. In Adelheid's mind, the image of her still adolescent form sitting upon that grand throne, commanding the obedience of all present flashed.

She was in love.