Years passed faster than I imagined.
It's already been three years since I arrived in this world. Fortunately, I can now understand this new language, and with that knowledge, I tried to absorb as much information as possible.
I discovered I was born as the son of the Grand Duke of the North, and from the maids' conversations, the duke has other children with his main wife, whom I've never seen since they keep my sister and me locked in this room. From what I could understand, the reason we're here is because of my twin sister.
She was born with some kind of curse that made her mother die right after giving birth.
Honestly, I didn't feel sad at all. Theoretically, I stole her son's body, and I wasn't at all interested in playing the loving son. But it seems our mother was the true love of the Duke, so he probably doesn't like us much either, which is why he never came to visit.
But the main reason must be my sister's curse. During lunar eclipses, she gets, let's say, more energetic—enough for a maid to put her in a mini cage and watch her cruelly tear apart all the dolls inside, with a strength that doesn't seem to come from a child.
"Noa"
The moment I hear this, I see my twin sister tugging at my shirt. From that gesture, I already know she wants me to play with her.
"Aurora, let's eat first, then we can play all day."
She just nodded and went to the table with me.
These three years, I haven't been idle. I followed all my master's teachings and was always by Aurora's side. In the beginning, she was much colder and quieter. No matter what I did, she would just stare at me and do nothing.
There came a time when I thought about giving up, but I remembered what my master used to say: "The patient guy is unbeatable," so I kept going until the present moment, when she shows a bit more emotion and talks more than before, and follows me everywhere.
The first big change was during the last lunar eclipse, when she lost control, broke the bars of her mini-prison, and came at me. At that moment, I remembered what my master said: "No matter the situation, be her support," so even with both her hands on my neck, I hugged her, told her everything would be alright, and patted her head.
To be honest, I thought I was going to die, but luckily, she stopped squeezing and fell asleep on top of me. Since that day, she has followed me everywhere: sleeps in the same bed, bathes with me, and eats with me.
People called her a monster, but to me, she's the cutest little sister in the world.
While I was thinking about this, I realized I was patting her head in the middle of lunch. When I tried to pull my hand away, she pulled it back.
Honestly, I have no idea what goes on in her head. She rarely shows any emotion.
After lunch, we played house with her wooden dolls and pretended that she was the princess. Even though she always has that neutral face, I notice she's happy with those kinds of games.
I wish these moments could last forever—just having fun, sleeping, and eating.
Three years have passed. Now I'm six, and so is Aurora. At this age, we were introduced to the other children of the duke, Arthur, Alice, and their mother, who was the typical cliché of an evil stepmother who hated any child of the duke who wasn't her own.
From what I heard from the maids since it was an arranged marriage, there was no love involved between the two, which is why this woman was so bitter.
She's already encouraged her children not to like us, either. I greeted them politely.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Noah. I hope we can be friends."
The moment I said that Arthur made an angry face and said,
"I would never be friends with someone of such inferior origin as you two."
Alice didn't say anything, but the mockery on her face was obvious.
Just as we were about to argue, the Grand Duke Maximus the Fifth entered.
With a cold and relentless look, he stared at the four of us.
"Now that you are six years old, you must learn to live together, and you will have lessons in fencing and magic, reading and writing. Remember, the North is where only the strong survive and the weak perish. Unlike other noble houses, the heir is the one capable of defending the North, so only the strongest will have that right."
As soon as he said that, he dismissed us, and the maids took us outside. My sister, as always, showed no reaction to the duke's announcement.
Arthur looked at me and said,
"Now I'll show you the superiority of my bloodline compared to yours."
He turned to my sister, about to say something, but when her eyes met his, he shut his mouth and walked away with his sister Alice.
Right after that, a maid arrived.
"Noah and Aurora, you're to go to the tower today. You'll be taking your magic aptitude tests."
Now's my time to shine—as a reincarnation, I should have a high level of magic.
While I was thinking internally, Aurora and I arrived at the magic tower outside the castle, accompanied by the maid—if I'm not mistaken, her name is Lucia. She was one of the few maids who treated us well. She's very young, about 14 years old, with silver hair. Since I was five, I've been trying to apply my master's tactics to her, but maybe because I'm so young, they weren't very effective. Well, at least she treats us well.
As I looked at her, she looked back at us.
"We've arrived, young master. I'll wait out here while the mage tests your talent level."
Entering the room, I found the typical mage archetype: gray beard, black robe, wizard's hat.
"Welcome, children. Don't mind me, I'm just a humble mage. Looks like you came to test your aptitudes."
"Yes, sir," I replied, a bit anxious.
The mage laughed and, in an animated tone,
The mage adjusted his pointed hat, walked over to a table full of colorful crystals, and gestured for us to come closer.
"Let's start with the magic talent test. Place your hand on this crystal," he pointed to a bluish stone that seemed to pulse softly.
Aurora, as always, went first. Without hesitation, she reached out and touched the crystal. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a silvery light shone intensely, lighting up the whole room. The mage widened his eyes, surprised.
"Purple… and with that intensity? Hm..." he muttered, clearly intrigued. "Very interesting, Miss Aurora. A rare talent, no doubt."
Aurora just looked at him with a neutral expression, as if she didn't understand the fuss.
"Now it's your turn, young master Noah."
I tried to control my anxiety. As a reincarnation, it would be very disappointing if my talent were low. I put my hand on the crystal, feeling a slight tingle.
The crystal glowed… slowly, a light blue light. The mage watched closely, then smiled slightly.
"Light blue. A wonderful talent, above average for your age, but not as rare as your sister's. With dedication, you can go far."
I felt a mix of relief and frustration. Above average was good, but… it wasn't legendary. I looked at Aurora, who stared at me silently. For a second, I thought I saw a hint of pride in her eyes, but maybe it was just my imagination.
The mage wrote something on a scroll and looked at us again.
"Congratulations to both of you. You have a long journey ahead. With these talents, you'll be able to achieve great things," he said with a sincere smile. "Now, wait outside. Soon, you'll receive your grimoires and begin your magic lessons."
We left the room, and Lucia was waiting for us in the hallway. She smiled when she saw we were okay.
"So, how was it?" she asked, curious.
"I think we did well," I replied, trying to sound confident. "Aurora got purple, I got light blue."
Lucia widened her eyes, impressed.
"Wow, purple? That's amazing, Miss Aurora!" She bent down to talk to my sister, but Aurora just held my hand and stayed by my side, as always.
As we walked back to our quarters, I couldn't help but think about the future. Magic, fencing, politics… and, of course, Aurora. What awaits us from now on?
Meanwhile, the mage went to the Grand Duke of the North's chambers. "I don't know what's going through your head, letting that child live," said the mage, in a tone of reproach to the Duke.
"As you know, Merion, the Duchy can't give up any advantage, even if it comes with risk. We're the last bastion between humans and the creatures of Malakar."
"My scouts have already reported an alliance between the orc tribe and the abyssal beings, and to make things worse, the elves have given no sign of taking a side."
Merion interrupted the duke: "I've known you for years. That may be one reason, but I know your obsession with power is because of the royal family."
The duke snorted: "It's long past time for the duchy to break away from the empire, for us to stop being treated as nothing more than their hunting dogs, just waiting for the empire to call so we can wag our tails."
Merion began stroking his beard, thinking about the Duke's words: "I understand where you're coming from, but using a child with the lunar eclipse curse is madness, especially with such overwhelming talent."
"Or did you forget Eldric, the founder of the Grand Duchy? He was the only one who contracted that curse before his daughter was born. Even though no one in the empire knows the reason for his madness, we know exactly what caused it."
The duke kept listening attentively, drumming his fingers on the table, signaling for Merion to continue the story.
"It was after drinking Malakar's blood to escape the curse that we became slaves to the empire. Even though it worked, we both know the level of insanity he reached. Death and chaos were the law in his time as a leader. If it weren't for his son Aldous, the duchy would have met its end."
"Thanks to Aldous's lineage, considered one of the most powerful humans the world has ever seen, Malakar's blood didn't run in his descendants' veins."
"That is, until an exception appeared—your daughter. If Eldric, a person of exceptional character, was corrupted, imagine what could happen to a small child.
When Merion finished speaking, the Duke stopped drumming his fingers.
"No matter how crazy she becomes, she's still a grain of sand compared to me. If she crosses the line and harms the duchy, I guarantee I won't hesitate to kill her. For now, I'll overlook minor slip-ups."
After saying this, Merion nodded, but deep down, he couldn't help but think,
Maximus, this time you're making a big mistake.