“There must be something holding you back,” Man said, plopping down beside Ronald with a casual grace. The boy flinched, his eyes widening in surprise as she arrived.

  “No…” Ronald muttered, looking down at his hands. “You see, I’ve never been good at anything.”

  Being chosen as the prince because of his mediocrity, Ronald knew he was not the best, even among his own siblings. He had no pride, no fidence—just a gnawing sense of inadequacy.

  “Even the most basic fire spell, I ’t even ma it…” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.

  “Hmm,” Man hummed thoughtfully, her fiapping as if ting something. “How old are you?”

  Ronald bli her, a bit thrown off by the suddeion. “I’m… almost 12.”

  Man nodded sagely. “I was able to ma my first spell when I was 103 years old.”

  Ronald’s jaw dropped, practically hitting the ground.

  “Eh…?”

  “You see, I have many weaknesses. I don’t have Force talent at all, and it was also hard for me to ma Vision because of my soul’s peculiarities and many other aspects. I was also far too unlucky pared to normal people,” Man said, her toter-of-fact.

  “But… you’re the Infich…” Ronald muttered. “People say no matter ell you cast, you don’t have to stop or rest, you do it infinitely!”

  “Yep, but like other people, I learned spells at a normal pace. I’m not a Visienius like Merlin or Yvain,” Man expined with a casual shrug.

  “Then… is infinity your specialty? That’s the reason you are s?” Ronald asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

  “Hmm,” Man hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t think infinity is my specialty. I don’t think I even found my specialty yet. I think I got my reputation because I am crazy and stubborn.”

  Ronald felt disheartened. “If even someone like you hasn’t found it, and you learn spells like normal people, then what someone like me do?”

  “It’s hard, right?” Man sighed, her voice tinged with empathy.

  The boy turan, wariness in his eyes. He was a bit unnerved by the fact that Man didn’t try to cheer him up at all. But somehow, he felt better. There was something f in her hoy.

  “How did you start maing, Fairy Godmother?” Ronald asked.

  Man turo him and smiled, “I got real angry.”

  Ronald bliaken aback by the bluntness.

  “And sad. And disappointed, betrayed, tired, and frustrated. I think that was how I first maed that first spell. But weirdly, it wasn’t fire,” Man muttered, lost in thought.

  “What… did you ma?” Ronald asked, curiosity piqued once more.

  Man leaned back, looking up at the sky. “You know the small patch of o he border of the Luminus Kingdom and the Wintersin Empire that ects the northern and southern o?”

  Ronald frowned, sensing something moal was ing. Man answered his question in the most shog ossible.

  “I maed an o.”

  The boy widened his eyes. The woman in front of him was ihe legendary witch, a being beyond prehension.

  “But it was only possible because of the nature of my soul. It wasn’t because of my specialty, nor mastery. It ure monstrosity,” Man muttered, a hint of self-deprecation in her voice.

  It was silent for a solid five seds, with the breeze filling in the gap.

  “At the end, what started everything wasn’t what I felt at the moment. It was what I wanted,” Man said, and something clicked in Ronald’s head. “At the time, I wao die.”

  By drowning herself.

  Man reached out with her hand, gesturing for his. When Ronald hesitantly reached back, she asked him, “What do you want?”

  The first step was always the hardest. It was the sense of unfamiliarity within one's soul and its inability to trust its owence. But ohat e appeared…

  “I want… to live.”

  BURST!

  A surge of energy exploded from Ronald, an intense light radiating from him as his raw, untapped potential began to ma. Man watched with a proud, knowing smile. The boy had taken his first step, and the journey of self-discovery had truly begun.

  But as the fire diminished from his hand, Ronald’s smile also dimmed—before Man grasped his hands tightly, surprising him. “No, Ronald. You have to keep that will of life.”

  Ronald widened his eyes, taken aback by the iy and urgen her voice.

  The reason Man wanted her disciples to start with fire was this very thing. She wahem to live. And as long as their fire tio be ignited, again and again, she believed they would not lose to anything life threw at them.

  “Fire is life, Ronald,” Man said softly, her eyes locked onto his. “As long as you keep that fme burning within you, no matter how small it may seem, you will always have the strength to overe anything.”

  Ronald nodded, a new resolve f within him. He uood now. The fire wasn’t just a spell; it was a symbol of his will to live, to fight, to keep moving forward.

  Man released his hands, but the warmth of her toud the strength of her words remained with him. Ronald felt a renewed sense of purpose, ready to face whatever challenges y ahead. The lesson had etched itself deeply into his soul, and he knew he would carry it with him always.

  “Thank you, Fairy Godmother… no. Thank you, Master.”

  Man nodded with a beautiful smile. As the boy joined his peers, showing off his newfound fire, Man sat there, alone, a wistful expression crossing her face.

  With the touch of her hand, she had erased parts of Ronald’s memory about the things she said. It was things she wao make sure he didn’t have to remember—

  “I maed an o—pure monstrosity—I wao die… those are things a boy like him shouldn’t be influenced by. Thank you, Master Vd, for teag me mind spells,” Man muttered to herself.

  Iure, the boy would remember this as a magical moment without any of her ivity. He would recall the burst of energy, the warmth of discovery, and the resolve to live, but the shadows of her past would remain hidden, tucked away where they couldn’t touch him.

  Man sighed, watg the boys practice, their ughter aermination filling the air. She knew she had dohe right thing. Sometimes, the path tth and self-discovery o be paved with light, free from the burdens of darkness.

  As the wily rustled the leaves, Ma a sense of peace. The courtyard, noce of growth and hope, was a testament to the power of teag, of guiding the geion towards a brighter future.

  Except, she didn’t know that it wouldn’t be only her who would remember this moment alone.

  A man stood not too far away, watg in silence.

  His presence was almost ghostly, blending into the shadows cast by the trees. He had seehing—the burst of energy, the erasure of memories, the tender yet powerful exge between master and student.

  Bur suspicious.

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  ------------------------------------------------

  sider supp this novel out on Patreon! Link down below.

  For only 5/month, you get 7 advanced chapters and bonus!