Chapter 6: 04 - Aestun

A couple weeks had passed since that incident. Owen had reverted back to his distant and professional attitude, but the wall they've built between has undoubtedly been lowered. Huey would have been overjoyed were his brain not fried like scrambled eggs.

With only a week left before the celebration, Miss Reuslo was absolutely merciless. He was forced to remember how to respond to a number of social cues, relearn the names and faces of dozens of nobles (including their rank, business, and family), and know all the latest trends. All of that alone belonged in the social category. One out of many other subjects.

Aside from that things were a lot better than he thought would be after regressing. A corner of his room now houses new additions. An easel, an art-shelf, a stack of canvases, and a couple artworks he managed to squeeze in with his minimal free time.

He made his way to class content that no piercing stares came from the back. For a while now no one was sent to prevent him from potentially skipping class. Meal times are no longer as awkward and piercing. The servants even initiate greetings as well!

Although acting amiable now will never change the past (or the past future), small steps are the mediums needed to take larger strides.

"Good afternoon sir." The youth settled down by a desk. "Will we be continuing where we left off last lesson?"

The blonde man set the work sheets down and fixed his glasses before replying, "Yes, have you been practicing like I've instructed?"

"I have, as many times as I could this week."

Sir William chuckled, his eyes crinkling with a smile. "Each time it never fails to surprise me how you've changed. You were much more stubborn and isolated before."

"Isolated?" Huey quizzed, muddled.

"Yes, like you're trying to push everything away. You've built walls, high walls around yourself. I was honestly concerned for how you'd fare in the future. As your professor, I am glad you are taking the initiative to open those walls."

Rose red eyes shook slightly. So his professor had worried for him before the whole regression thing? He's always viewed Sir William as an indifferent, cold, and strict person who separated personal and professional matters. To think he cared.. Huey could not stop the small wistful smile from appearing.

Ivon William missed it once again.

"In any case, back to class. Please start from the beginning of page 212 up to question eleven. And remember to stop that habit of tapping your pen on the desk, it's annoying."

"Yes." The boy answered before doing as told.

The remainder of classes passed smoothly with Huey collapsing back into bed at the end of it all without fail, everyday. Owen had scolded him before of this "unsightly" behavior, but they both know he could care less. When by himself he should be himself!

"Hopefully things will let up once the party's over. Which is when? What date is it? The 20th?"

Huey reluctantly rolled off the bed to go look at the calendar. The current page signified Aestun, the sixth month of the year. The most recent date that had been elegantly crossed off (by Owen no doubt) was the 13th. In the next row Marquess Nevoid's first son's birthday was highlighted on the 20th.

"If the party's the 20th and today's the 13th, I have a week of this hell before I can have a more open schedule.. probably." Huey groaned and slapped his palms over his face. "Aestun.. why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?"

As if right on cue, a series of polite knocks sounded from behind the door and Elaine, carrying desserts and tea on a cart waltzed in.

The maid wore her signature bright smile. "Young Master, you forgot dessert. Chef Miles wishes for me to bring these to you as you've "never missed desserts before."" She trailed off slightly upon seeing Huey's disgruntled expression. "Is something troubling you? If it's someone I'll beat them up." Something in her eyes gleamed at the last sentence.

'Please don't beat someone up for me.'

"Eh? It's nothing, I was just tired from classes. Elaine, before you leave can I ask you something?"

"Of course you may ask me anything!"

"Is there a special event happening this month? Aside from Marquess Nevoid's party of course."

"Hmm.. The only event in Aestun that comes to mind is the Midsummer Festival. Although it's not widely celebrated amongst nobility it is a large attraction for commoners. Although I doubt anyone working here will take a day off for that since the lord would not be happy." Elaine sneered. She huffed before resuming in a clear voice, "Like its name implies it is a festival that happens annually during midsummer, which is the day after tomorrow! It celebrates the summer and for the future prosperity of the land." Her sky blue eyes sparkled with fervor. Huey's fatigue was being swept away by her liveliness despite the day's hour. "It's also a popular attraction for couples! May I ask why you asked this Young Master Huey?"

The boy in question sucked his tongue for a moment in rapid thinking. "Just curiosity, I heard a few servants saying they felt dejected about not being able to go somewhere."

"Really? How many times must I remind them to not mention personal matters during work hours! Well, I will excuse myself now Young Master, enjoy your meal!" With that final remark the girl ushered away.

It was only when the door clicked shut that Huey bit into his food. Delicious as always, he would give the chef a raise if he could. He chewed the piece of beef slowly.

As Elaine had said, the festival albeit widely known, is not a common celebration amongst nobility. However, there are still a handful of aristocratic attendance. During such a festival means the appearance of many rare and precious items. Huey vaguely remembers attending such an event once and purchasing a rare ingredient needed for one of his concoctions.

"It'd be a waste to miss this opportunity." Huey mumbled and took a sip of chamomile tea.

Wait.

The Midsummer Festival?

The Midsummer Festival!?

Huey nearly spat out the drink, "THE PROLOGUE-kof kof ack!!" The boy wiped his mouth with a napkin, wearing a fretful contemplation.

In Castelle of Lux, the prologue followed the female lead, Celine, who was attending the Midsummer Festival. It was there where she met the protagonist for the first time. Sorin Ceylon, the second child of Count Ceylon, a knight family.

The Ceylon family who had climbed up the ranks with their power during battle had valued the art of combat over anything else. They are second to none when it comes to swordsmanship, therefore the protagonist who naturally has a 10/10 and above potential, an elite at magic, a future sword master, and good looks was adored by his family. Raised on a pedestal his future was practically guaranteed.

Unfortunately, because the family valued strength over all else the first child and only daughter of Count Ceylon was shunned. Siena Ceylon, a beautiful woman with star silver hair, kind pale blue eyes, and a wan smile. The book had described her as a waning moon either because of her silver appearance, her health, or both. Siena was only briefly mentioned (most of it being used as Sorin's motivation to become stronger).

She was born sickly, with a fragile body that could not even last five minutes of exercise. It wasn't strange when people began shunning her as the outcast of House Ceylon, including her family.

How could the House Ceylon procure such a weak and pathetic member? Was the general consensus.

Additionally, despite the state of her body, Lady Siena would sneakily practice some of the training regimes. Oftentimes, the woman would be found collapsed on the floor after running a couple laps, doing a few sets, and even swinging a practice sword a dozen times. Then she'd promptly be sent to a day of bed rest. Yet, no matter what she'd recover and do it again. It was a dismal attempt to undo the stain on her family's reputation because of her condition.

Huey admired her perseverance but also pitied her. After all, her family did nothing to recognize her determination.

On the other hand, Sorin whose responsibilities that pressured onto him from an early age hated it. He wished to bring honor to the Ceylon name yet the weight of the expectations were far too much. It was suffocating.

A sickly daughter who wishes to help the family, and a prodigy son who wished for anything but to be fettered with such responsibilities. They were complete opposites. A mismatched puzzle piece. Against all odds however they got along quite well.

Sorin adored his sister who was the only one in the household who did not hold some sort of asphyxiating expectations for him. The only one who viewed him as an actual human. Similarly, Siena also loved her gifted younger brother who did not disdain her. Thus when she fainted because of an illness relapse Sorin wished to get her a get-well-soon gift.

That evening Sorin had snuck out to the Midsummer Festival in hopes of finding a beautiful gift for his older sister. It did not go so smoothly though. The sheltered Young Master of Ceylon County was immediately tricked of his money. By children no less. He had seen a couple of slum kids begging for coins. Therefore as the righteous protagonist he was, had naturally offered some money... only to have his wallet stolen by said children right after.

The heroine who saw Sorin's pitiful state of having his money stolen and not being able to buy a gift, offered a helping hand. It was there where Sorin developed a one-sided crush on a girl he never thought he'd see again. Much to his delight when her wavy blond locks bumped into him on Glory Academy's opening day three months later.  Then bla bla tooth-rotting fluff romance ensues.

Huey's finger tapped frantically on the table.

"The prologue happens at the festival.. but I must go to the festival. Who knows what kind of rare goods could be sold at the market! Last time I went to something like that I found sabergrass!" After a quick yet difficult contemplation Huey let out a loud sigh unbecoming of the past him. "Worst thing that happens, I meet them who don't know me and maybe experience ptsd. Best thing that happens, I don't meet them and I get what I want."

He exhaled. "I am Huey Astaseul, heir of the Astaseul dukedom, and an ex morbid villain. I'll be fine. Ok, I'm going."

After quickly finishing dinner and setting the finished dishes outside the room, Huey walked to his closet. An antique wooden wardrobe filled with organized sets of clothes. The apparels were separated based on occasions and type. There were casual, formal, special events, casual events, celebrations, mass, and more. Fortunately none of the outfits were disgustingly gaudy or else he feared he would have thrown everything out and get punished by his uncle.

Owen might smack his head extra hard as well.

After fumbling around he managed to scramble together a rather simple, subtle, and easy outfit for tomorrow. It consisted of a plain white dress shirt, old black pants, embellished boots, a mask, and a black cloak.

"It's still a bit high quality for a commoner but I can probably pass off as the kid of some wealthy merchant."

Huey shoved the attire into a cabinet and grabbed a pen and a small sheet of paper. Settling down on his desk, his hand which held the glossy ballpoint pen floated stagnantly on top. Now that he's come to doing this, his nerves reached an all time high.

'First and foremost I have to sever my ties with those shady organizations. They provided me with info and ingredients for my concoctions, and in return I sold them it. I don't even want to think about what they could've done with it...' Guilt drilled through him again. The gods weren't so kind as to allow him a complete new restart. 'Fortunately I was sensible enough to keep the recipes. Welp, a couple years give or take and they'll be rounded up and caught. So better do this quickly, it'd be bad if I get pulled down with them..'

He began writing. Strokes after strokes. Greeting first, then intention, no reasons, and finally a brief closing. Not a properly formatted letter, but nothing was proper in this kind of business. Huey exhaled, and fumbled around his desk. He could vaguely remember a secret cabinet somewhere.. where is it.. His finger touched an indent at the top of a drawer, he paused, then traced his fingers along it. A circle, he noted. After three loops something clicked audibly in the room.

'Found it.'

He slid open the drawer underneath, and instead of his belongings inside were a couple bottles of.. suspicious and most likely toxic liquids. A few letters exchanged between the groups, a black market token (which will grant him access inside), and a silver whistle. It was a vintage style. Narrow barrow, a round mouth piece, the fiddle, and a ring attached at one of the ends. It was plain and simple. The only distinguisher from cheap store bought goods being the organization's symbol printed on the back. Some sort of plant?

Huey took it out and restored the compartment's original state. He brought it and his letter to an opened window, bringing the silver whistle up to his lips, he blew. The sound was like a mix between a nightingale and treecreeper. Huey waited in apt silence. Before long, a bird resembling a flinch, but bigger with a royal blue tuft on the top of its head, flew over and sat on his head.

"Hey." Huey brought a hand up to shoo it off. The creature now successfully perched on the window frame. He tied the small rolled up letter onto one of the legs and the whistle on the other. It didn't seem to hinder the bird at all, after scratching under its beak it took off into the sky. The figure quickly zipping away. Huey exhaled, relieved.

He grabbed a hardcover book from his desk. It was moss green with a lightly indented title that read Magic and Mana manual I. He had taken it from the estate's library; planning on using it to reawaken his magic attribute. Before, it had manifested on his sixteenth birthday.  Although his current body had already awakened, it's been a while he has sort of forgotten how to use it. Plus he needed to get re-accustomed to the flow of magic.

The average age when people manifested their magic was between ten to thirteen, but he was a late bloomer. Because of that his dipshit of an uncle deemed him useless, especially as both his sons got theirs a year or two before the average range. Huey crumpled his nose at the memory.

Flipping to the first page ruby, eyes eagerly scanned the text.

Mana, the source of magic, is found in every living being. The strength and amplitude varies per person. This means that not everyone will be able to use magic despite the mana in their bodies either because of a lack of skill, handicap, or other preventions.

The way to awaken a person's mana is to stimulate it. The mana must gather in one's core and circulate throughout the body. Then the body must become accustomed to the circulation or else a mana reflux or burning would happen which is extremely dangerous depending on the nature and intensity of the mana flow. There are a variety of means, but this manual will be focusing on the most basic one.

Visualize a grabbing or scooping motion against a river. The river is the mana core, and the scooping is the motion of gathering the mana. Capture the running water and without leaking a single drop evenly spread it throughout the blood streams. The veins. The roots. If a person succeeds, the control of mana will soon become second nature.

Once you have gotten the hang of it, repeat the exercise to allow the body to adjust.  Then...

The male finished reading the remainder of the first passage and tossed the closed textbook on his bed.

"Ok ok, I've done this before. I don't really remember it, but I'll probably get it. It's like riding a bike."

Huey took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and envisioned a river. A calm and serene stream of golden luster cascading across the land like a sash. He probed at his mana core, something that used to be instinct was now a difficult process. It took a couple tries before he felt a slight nudge against something deep in his soul. The boy grabbed onto that change and scooped it up. A warm feeling coursed through his body as he controlled the mana to flow through his veins. Pushing it towards his left palm to concentrate into one singular point.

He pushed.

Crackle

Crimson eyes opened to reflect violet white streaks of light. A series of crackling reverberated around the room. A ball of snaking beams of light danced in his palms, submissive to his control.

He did it.

He had awakened his magic.

The boy smiled in a quaint reminisce. The familiar tingling coursing through his body, Huey had missed it, his magic.

"Electricity."

~🎩🪄 ✧ ✦~

Bit of a boring and filler chapter, but dw the next one's gonna be more interesting 🎭✨

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