134 The Ring (2/2)

”...?” Lucien did not really get it. And he noticed that the color of Natasha’s eyes had changed. Instead of dream-like purple or silver gray, now her eyes looked purplish gray, which was a mysterious but also pure color.

”You should go to Holm. The headquarter of the Congress of Magic is there. If you want to become a great sorcerer like Silvia, you should go there, Lucien.” Natasha repeated, then she squinted her eyes a bit and slightly lifted her chin, ”Or should I call you Professor… No one is a better actor than you, do you know that?”

”I never meant to hurt you.” Lucien relaxed a bit seeing that Natasha was not planning on killing him, ”I admit that I lied to you many times, but I had no other choice.”

”You’re not the only one who was lying to me all the time, and I’m used to it already.” The corner of Natasha’s lips slightly curled up in a sad way, ”But I could tell, when you were playing Pathetique… I could tell the pain and stress that you were suffering. After all, Aalto is not a good place to study magic.”

”You don’t hate me… as a sorcerer?” asked Lucien. Although he knew that in the past, Natasha’s attitude toward sorcerers was actually relatively mild compared with the Church and other nobles, after Silvia’s betrayal, Lucien was not sure about the princess’s standpoint now.

Looking at Lucien, Natasha answered seriously, ”My mom was a very talented sorceress, and she was the most beautiful and nice lady in the world. To me, one being a sorcerer does not mean they must be a vicious person. I don’t judge a person based on his or her identity, but on the person’s behavior.”

Then, she smiled gently, ”Of course, I’m very angry and sad knowing that you were lying to me all the time, but like you said, you never tried to take advantage of me, or hurt me, instead, you’ve been helping me all the time, and you saved my life tonight, carrying me on your back all the way here.”

”I regarded you as my friend all this time, although you’re the honorable princess, and although there were lies between us,” said Lucien sincerely.

”I know,” said Natasha, and then she slightly shook her head, ”Honestly, the moment when I heard that you were the notorious Professor, lots of details flashed across my mind… those details about you that I felt suspicious, but refused to dig into them. Even when I met you earlier, when we were besieged, I was almost certain that you were a sorcerer, and I still believed that you’d be on my side and fight for me. I would never link you to Professor, though, who killed so many night watchers. I think I trusted you even more than I knew.”

”I killed them because they wanted to kill me,” Lucien confessed sincerely. ”I never wished to kill, never, but, again, like I said, I did not have another choice.”

Then both of them fell silent.

After a long time, Natasha released a long sigh.

”You know what?” said Natasha, ”Although your hands are covered with blood, I still want to be your friend.”

Lucien suddenly became speechless.

”Thankfully, you never hurt my royal knights, or I wouldn’t be able to have you as my friend anymore.” Natasha started to walk toward Lucien, ”But you never, and you never tried to hurt me, so why shall I care?”

A sweet smile appeared on Natasha’s face, as if she had got rid of the negative emotions from the shock. As she stopped in front of Lucien, the princess asked, ”Dear Mr. Professor, except your identity, did you ever lie to me about something else…? Say… your love experience? I’ve always felt you’re pretty experienced.”

”No… I’m totally not experienced…” Lucien’s face flushed.

Then, Natasha took a small step backward and started to look at Lucien up and down, ”Actually your face is quite good-looking. You would be a very beautiful girl if you were a girl.”

”Uh?” Lucien was confused. He could not really follow the way Natasha changed the topic.

”I mean… magic is sure wonderful and powerful. Although it’s hard, it’s not impossible to change your gender. I heard that a grand arcanist once made a girdle that could help people do that, and maybe you want to give it a shot?”

Lucien rolled his eyes and said seriously, ”That’s not gonna happen. I’m a man.”

Noticing that Lucien did not like this kind of joke, Natasha’s sense of propriety made her stop. Then, she said to Lucien seriously, ”I have something to give you.”

She took off an old ring from her right hand and handed it to Lucien.

”This is…” Lucien took it over.

”You don’t know anything about Holm Crown prize?” said Natasha, ”It looks like you never received any formal sorcerer training following a mentor from the congress. If you did, you would certainly recognize this ring.”

”I’m pretty much on my own… when it comes to studying magic, unfortunately,” Lucien answered.

”Well… I told you that my mom was a very talented sorcerer, and this ring was the award she received for winning the Holm Crown prize in her early twenties… should be twenty three.” Natasha explained.

Honestly speaking, Lucien felt this ring was very ordinary, which looked just like a common iron ring people wore for practicing archery.

”I know… it doesn’t look any different, right?” Looking at the ring, Natasha’s voice became softer, and there was a gentle smile on her face, ”The ring was a very powerful level seven magic item back in the days, but now it is damaged and is beyond repair. It was once called the finest ring across this continent.”

Lucien turned the ring around, and he noticed that there was a small word ”Mo” on the surface of the ring, and a small line of letters carved on its inner side, ”Year 781. Holm Crown. To Ms. Meredith Hoffenberg.”

”Holm Crown prize is the award co-established by Holm Royal Magic Academy and the organization named the Will of Element from the Congress of Magic. The purpose of setting up Holm Crown prize is to acknowledge the great contribution made by the great sorcerers and sorceresses in the Element School.”

”So, your mom won the prize at the age of twenty three? That’s… that’s brilliant.” Lucien gently rubbed the ring with respect.

”She was really a genius!” said Natasha with great pride, ”She was awarded the prize for her finding of a metallic element which is lighter than water by introducing electromagnetics to the field of element study. She named the metallic element ‘Mo’, and so the ring was also named ‘Mo’.”

”I never realized that you had this profound knowledge of the world of magic,” said Lucien, ”You never mentioned.”

”We are in Aalto, and I’m the princess. I can’t mention anything about it. Besides, what I just introduced was not profound at all. When you get to Holm, you’ll see a completely different world,” said Natasha. ”Since the prize was set up, within the past two hundred and seventy years or so, only twenty four sorcerers and sorceresses were qualified for this prize. Now I’m giving this unique ring to you as a keepsake, and also a proof of your identity when you get to the congress.”