Prologue

The sky is high, and the clouds are pure white. The cotton clouds surrounding the scorching sun are especially gentle today, like feathers. At least they don’t look mischievous enough to bring rain.

An autumn day when it seems nothing could go wrong.

One might as well innocently enjoy this weather. Tatiana Bloom, who had been sniffling and whimpering until just a moment ago, wiped her eyes as she picked up a shiny pebble.

“Gently, as if holding an egg, just like grasping a pebble…”

Tatiana softly curled her fingers to grasp the magic stone.

Up to this point, it was all too easy.

“Entrusting oneself to the flow of nature…”

Tatiana can feel the wind too. Her lavender hair flutters lightly, and she closes her eyes, staying still.

The wind blowing now is the westerly wind. In the pretty words her mother taught her, it’s called the wind that blows from the west¹’westerly wind’ is 서풍 and ‘the wind that blows from the west’ is 하늬바람.

She nodded her head and recited the next line from the magic book.

“Feel the wavelength of mana flowing inside your body…”

…How am I supposed to feel this?

The problem always occurred at this line.

Today too, the girl stared blankly at the beginner’s magic book, filled with pure doubt. And if one gets stuck at the same part every time, even the most innocent child would start to have suspicions.

What is mana? Does magical power really exist? Is the whole world collectively deceiving me? Can adults play tricks on children without consequences?

But Tatiana couldn’t stubbornly throw a tantrum while distrusting the author of this book. The person who wrote this magic book was undoubtedly the second-in-command of the magic tower, and none other than Tatiana’s mother.

‘There’s no way my mom would lie to people.’

Thinking of her mother, who had been cooped up in her lab for days working on her writing, Tatiana became gloomy. She ended up tossing the precious magic stone onto the grass and could only sniffle with a sulky face.

Tatiana Bloom.

She had just celebrated her thirteenth birthday a week ago.

She was still young, that is. And naturally, children are less accustomed to failure and frustration compared to adults.

The biggest obstacle she had encountered in life so far was finding an unexpected raisin hidden in bread she had bitten into without thinking. Just the level of difficulty that makes one pout when an undesired food appears on the table.

But shouldn’t Tatiana start preparing herself now? There are only a handful of mages in the empire. Their magical talents typically manifest before the age of 10.

So shouldn’t she start preparing now to get used to bigger failures and frustrations?

To accept the reality that, like most of the kingdom’s people, she too was born without magical power.

Tatiana sniffled loudly with an expression as if she had chewed a hundred of raisins that she dislikes.

But there was someone in the Bloom family garden who was indifferently watching the deeply discouraged girl.

‘I must have taken a wrong turn.’

Gideon Ainsler had come to personally deliver the medal of military merit that the king was bestowing upon Count Bloom. He also had some intention to appreciate the martial arts studio of Sir Bloom, his swordsmanship instructor and currently hailed as the strongest man in the empire.

But the moment he encountered the girl sitting on the grass, sniffling and sobbing, Gideon wanted to end today’s schedule and return to the castle.

He was only three years older than Tatiana. However, he detested anyone who cried and whined. Naturally, he had never done the troublesome task of comforting a crying child. Nor would he in the future.

He was Gideon Ainsler of the Valter Kingdom. Who would dare to throw a tantrum in front of him, asking him to wipe their tears?

Yet this girl showed ominous signs of soon bursting into loud wails that would shake the mansion.

When Gideon was about to turn his back without hesitation to escape this bothersome situation, not wanting to get caught up in it…

Tatiana, who had been pitifully drooping until now, suddenly puffed her cheeks and frowned. Her face, still chubby with baby fat, didn’t look scary no matter how fierce an expression she made, but it did look quite determined.

This time, Tatiana picked up not the discarded magic stone, but the longsword next to it.

“Hey, that…”

Gideon, standing a few steps away, furrowed his brow. Uncharacteristically, he was about to interrupt and dissuade her. Because the blade the girl was about to swing looked too heavy.

But it’s not like he suddenly felt sorry for this small and immature creature…

Probably anyone who had properly handled a sword would have thought the same upon seeing Tatiana. The first thing that should precede learning swordsmanship was not lifting a heavy weapon, but adopting the correct posture.

So there was a set procedure to follow when the proper posture couldn’t be achieved. It was to first lower the weight of the weapon.

Swinging a sword that doesn’t match one’s physique and strength, especially doing so recklessly during the growth period, would eventually lead to the collapse of shoulders and waist. This would inevitably shorten one’s lifespan as a swordsman.

‘Didn’t Sir Bloom teach even this much to his own daughter?’

However, Gideon, who was about to stop Tatiana, soon narrowed one eye and wore a very intrigued expression. The sound that escaped between his lips seemed like a groan at first, but it was actually an exclamation.

Gideon was a bit surprised, and also impressed.

‘As expected of Sir Bloom’s daughter… She’s incredibly strong.’

It was a sword that would be difficult for girls her age to lift, and even for most boys. The swordsmanship that Tatiana displayed while wielding such a piece of metal with her small body was consistently magnificent and made even the onlooker feel refreshed.

Had the owner of the sword also become happy because of this? The girl who had been glumly sniffling until just now had blown away her gloominess far away and was now smiling brightly.

In some ways, this felt more like waves and air than swordsmanship. There were clearly immature aspects, but that made it fresh and rather natural.

Gideon seemed to have been momentarily absorbed in those movements. Perhaps he had let down his guard and tension.

It was only after he saw Tatiana startle and stumble upon discovering him that he could abruptly return to reality.

“Who… are you?”

The Bloom household was originally frequented by outsiders. This was due to Count Bloom, who held various miscellaneous positions including being a training instructor for knights.

However, this was the home where his precious young daughter and beloved wife resided. It was rare for Tatiana to encounter a stranger without Sir Bloom or a guard present.

Nevertheless, Tatiana felt no anxiety at the moment. It wasn’t because she was fearless, but simply because the man before her was… too seriously handsome.

Look at how beautiful he is…

‘Could he be an angel?’

Gideon, standing on the same grass as Tatiana, was tall. Although he was only three years older than her, that gap of a few years was significant during the growth period.

Perhaps that’s why. He, who had to be looked up at with her chin raised, didn’t feel as close or familiar as boys her age.

Yet he didn’t look like the muscular knights who accompanied her father either.

Gideon was precariously straddling that subtle boundary with both feet.

But he bore a few signs strongly foretelling that he would soon move on to the next stage. For instance, his prominently protruding Adam’s apple.

The sun suddenly peeked out from between the clouds. His platinum blonde hair sparkled as if sprinkled with gold dust.

The eyes gazing at Tatiana were equally impressive. The unwavering color of his irises was a cold and transparent sky blue. They say such ice-like pieces float in the deep seas of distant lands.

Tatiana, who had been staring blankly at that sight for quite a while, thought again.

An angel. He must really be an angel, or am I seeing things? However, as time passed, Tatiana was able to come up with a more realistic hypothesis.

“…A prince?”

Let’s not expect too much depth of thought from a young child. Tatiana had simply thought, very straightforwardly, that a prince might look like that.

However, the problem was that this hypothesis coincidentally turned out to be quite accurate. Indeed, the unrestricted imagination of children was truly the future and hope of this country.

“Do you know me?”

Gideon searched his memory, wondering if this only daughter of the Bloom family wasn’t meeting him for the first time today.

He looked at her questioningly, and Tatiana, surprised that her wild guess had hit the mark, asked again.

“…A real prince?”

“……”

Gideon couldn’t shake the feeling that he was now engaged in a rather foolish exchange.

He frowned with his arms crossed, but even in this situation, there was one thing he had to acknowledge. That the swordsmanship of Tatiana he had glimpsed earlier was beyond ordinary levels.

The Valter Kingdom was a country where the tangible and intangible assets passed down by parents and family determined a child’s future. Status, title, wealth, honor. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that these determine the entire life of the people in the kingdom.

From this perspective, there was hardly anyone in Valter born with a more valuable spoon in their mouth than Gideon Ainsler, a member of the royal family.

However, in the world of arts and sports, there existed another spoon as important as status and wealth. The athletic ability spoon. In other words, genetic capability.

Having accidentally witnessed a rare spectacle, Gideon expressed a plain yet quite sincere appreciation to Tatiana.

“You, the tip of your sword greatly resembles Sir Bloom’s.”

Even if it was formal, receiving words of praise from a royal was an honor. In some cases, that one line would even be recorded in family records.

And Tatiana liked it much more purely than Gideon had expected, and was a bit shy.

A man who rose from his commoner origins to participate in war, responsible for ten soldiers as a squad leader, then a hundred soldiers as a centurion, and finally reaching the position of commander of a thousand… A three-time consecutive champion of the royal martial arts tournament. An instructor for the royal guard and the swordsmanship teacher of the first prince…

The titles attached to Tatiana’s father were countless and each one was quite long indeed.

Tatiana didn’t exactly understand the social and historical value that came with these titles. She didn’t know how rare it was for a commoner to achieve military merits and be granted the title of count.

But anyone could tell just from roughly hearing those titles that it was incredibly impressive, right? For Tatiana, there was no higher praise than being told she had inherited her father’s talent.

“Really?”

“…Yes.”

“Truly?”

As her eyes sparkled, Gideon nodded briefly.

While Tatiana’s lips quivered with joy, small and cute dimples formed on her cheeks. Suddenly, a strange atmosphere enveloped the space between Gideon and Tatiana. Somewhat embarrassing, and a bit awkward.

And it was then that Count Bloom, belatedly grasping the situation, came running, pounding the ground.

Seemingly quite startled, Sir Bloom, catching his breath, swiftly lifted his daughter’s small body, and then held her with a very practiced posture, supporting her bottom.

“Your Highness, please forgive me if there has been any rudeness. My daughter still lacks experience and learning.”

Gideon muttered ‘Not really.’ and shook his head, but Sir Bloom still seemed uneasy. He whispered to his small and precious girl strongman, as if interrogating her.

“Tania. You didn’t commit any discourtesy to His Highness just now, did you?”

Tatiana, fiddling with her father’s ear, then tugged on it and whispered back.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. But this is our house…”

“Oh, Tania, this mansion was personally bestowed upon our family by His Majesty the King. So could you please… release Dad’s ear first.”

Sir Bloom strode purposefully, intending to hand his daughter over to a maid. However, the eyes of Tatiana, clinging to her father’s broad shoulders with her small, delicate hands, continued to meet Gideon’s.

Tatiana shrank her neck in a motion that was hard to tell whether she was belatedly showing respect to the prince or nuzzling her cheek against her father’s shoulder.

Gideon too, after staring blankly at Tatiana for a while, nodded his head slightly as if casually accepting her greeting.

What part of that seemed interesting, and what was good about it? Tatiana smiled brightly while looking at Gideon, and this time she bowed her head more properly.

Gideon seemed somewhat reluctant, but he accepted this greeting as well. Still halfheartedly, but raising his hand halfway.

And not long after, having lowered his hand listlessly, he gazed at the distant sky.

The sky is high, and the cotton clouds are gentle.

A clear autumn day when it seems nothing could go wrong.

Gideon Ainsler was sixteen years old, and Tatiana Bloom was thirteen.

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  ’westerly wind’ is 서풍 and ‘the wind that blows from the west’ is 하늬바람