(The day of the training)

"Mi'lady, no one is going to take away the food. You might choke, slow down," Mariel frantically reprimanded Avy who was literally finishing plates in less than ten seconds before going to another. It was still early in the morning and the lady woke up saying she was starving to death, telling the whole kitchen to cook her something to eat, and it already has been an hour and a half and she was still gobbling up the food given to her while the kitchen staff cooks another batch.

"What do you mean? I'm chewing properly," she replied after finishing another big serving of steak, not worrying about indigestion. All of the servants were nowhere to be seen after Avy told them to go away and only let her knight and her maid stay with her as she ate, thus she was able to eat to her heart's content without being conscious of the people around her.

"Us, Knights are encouraged to eat as much as possible to support our training. Since the Lady will be using her body more starting today, it's a good thing that she's eating more than she usually does," Clerivan commented on the side.

"But the Lady might suffer from stomachache later if she eats too much, Sir Clerivan," Mariel worriedly said before handing Avy a glass of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

"It's understandable since the Lady slept almost all day yesterday," the Knight stated.

"Well excuse you both. The Lady is right here stuffing her face like a glutton. So stop yapping and let me eat in peace," Avy told the both of them in a sarcastic tone, joining the conversation.

Of course, she was also annoyed. Ever since she agreed to be Ares' host, she has been feeling completely abnormal and all of it was nothing but an inconvenience to her daily life. Her energy leaves her body quicker than normal, and when that happens, she barely has the strength to stand up on her own two feet and ends up sleeping for a FUCKING LONG TIME LIKE SLEEPING BEAUTY, as she calls it. And when she wakes up, she feels extremely weak because of hunger which makes her unable to move like a wilted plant. She's basically useless during those times and the only way for her to last like a normal person is to eat like someone who was starved for a month, or maybe worse. Since she sleeps all day, she has trouble sleeping during the night, so she looks like a dead body walking with her eyes open and dark bags under them in the morning.

Not only that, all the magic stones inside her room run out of mana and Mariel has to replace them more often, much to everyone's surprise since stones are supposed to be replaced once every three months since they are so expensive that each illumination stone that can light up a single room for three months costs no less than fifty silver coins. And as a noble lady, she doesn't use only a single stone but much more. From ventilation stones, heating stones, and cooling stones, that means even without doing anything, living as a darkness holder is annoying and high maintenance.

'Fuck you Ares.' she internally cursed her snake servant.

"You know I can hear your thoughts when you want me to, right?" Ares who was in his snake ornament form resting on Avy's hair responded.

'Yeah. That was intentional.'

Avy glanced at the clock on the wall, it was already past eight o'clock and she still hasn't seen the two young boys when they were usually the first ones to be in the dining hall before her.

"Did Ciel and Light oversleep?" she asked, looking at her maid.

"They didn't come out of the training hall all day yesterday, Mi'lady. They didn't even go back to their respective rooms." Mariel answered, since Avy was asleep the day before, she helped the other maids to do the household chores and she was one of the maids who delivered the food to the two boys inside the training hall located in another building inside the estate. It was a hall designed for the knights to practice mana circulation because it was well ventilated and spacious that can hold more than five hundred people at once.

"Training hall? How many halls does this place have?" Avy whispered to herself with an astounding scoff.

"Well, there's the Banquet Hall, the Main Hall, Ancestry Hall, Dining Hall, Training Hall-"

'How did you know that?' she cut off Ares' comment when she heard his voice.

"I've been living here longer than you. Of course, I know." Ares answered as a matter of fact.

"Let's go to the Training Grounds. Those two will show up eventually." she stood up already wearing comfortable clothes to move around. A white long-sleeved button-up with ascot collar, topped with a black tailored fitted vest and black trousers paired with brown boots. Her long hair was also tied in a high ponytail completing her look.

The three of them proceeded to the training grounds, deciding to just wait there for the two lads to arrive.

~~~

"I told you to wake me up before the clock strikes six! It's already eight and we haven't even taken a bath yet!" Light exclaimed as he and Ciel hurriedly ran towards their rooms after spending the whole night inside the training hall.

"I'm not your personal servant. And do you think I would be here with you if I woke up early?" Ciel retorted back in annoyance.

After having a talk with Avy in the Garden, both of them had the same thoughts. They can't embarrass themselves in front of her thus they went straight to the training hall to perfect their specialties so they wouldn't worry about committing mistakes and inconvenience their sister. But unfortunately, their plan of being the perfect mentors backfired after tiring themselves too much that they overslept on the exact day Avy starts her training.

"Do you think sister is already in the training grounds?" asked Light, brows knitted together.

"Sister doesn't oversleep. Her breakfast is always delivered to her room every six a.m. if not earlier since her private tutors arrive at nine," Ciel answered.

"Then she's been waiting for two hours?!"

"Stop screeching on my ear...!" he hissed at the Prince, they both ran much faster to their rooms, the thought of having Avy wait for them for two hours created a pang of unsettling guilt deep inside them.

Meanwhile, Avy who was the source of guilt of the two young lads weren't actually bothered by their absence and walked to the training grounds worry-free, with her two caretakers following behind her.

"Marie?" she said

"Yes, Mi'lady?"

"You know my Mom, right?"

The two servants were stunned by her sudden question and Mariel hesitated to respond. "I-I do, My Lady." she stammered.

"Tell me about her," Avy stated, walking towards the chair in the small shed located on the side of the training grounds.

Mariel was having second thoughts if she should tell her or not but then chose the former when she saw how unbothered the Lady was. It seems like she doesn't really remember since she was only a small child when her mother passed away.

"Madam Sabrina, My Lady's mother is a very wise woman. She's the sole reason why I became a servant of your family for I was a big fan of hers back then." she started with a small smile, reminiscing the memories of the late Madam of the house.

"Madam seldom speaks, but when she does, everybody listens, even those who held jealousy, envy, and anger towards her. She was the reason why the Academy started accepting women even though they can only start at eighteen. Her words always leave people thinking, and not many people were able to understand her puzzle-like sentences. But ironically, she's a master when it comes to understanding other people. Your mother is the epitome of elegance, doing everything with poise and brains."

Avy chuckled softly, seeing her maid become brighter and brighter while describing the deceased duchess as if she was her Hero. "I can see that you like her so much. Too bad I can only remember her face from a painting," she said.

But the comment that was supposed to be a joke made the two look at her with sadness. She wasn't lying though, she was only able to picture her mother's face because of a painting she saw in Avy's memories, she was unaware that they took her statement too seriously.

"If she was alive, I would be willing to listen to her talk." she rested her chin on her palm, staring into space with a small grin.

'Since deciphering riddles is one of my fortes.'

Mariel and Clerivan stayed silent, not wanting to add to the unsettling atmosphere. Having served the Arkwright Family for years, they are not ignorant of the fact that Avy was raised without the love of a Mother while her whole family was busy doing their duty, she eventually grew distant from everyone and kept everything to herself. Not even once have she mentioned her dead mother, they wondered if she was slowly opening up, or was she slowly forgetting everything that it didn't matter if she spoke of it.

Unlike them, Avy wasn't taking anything seriously and actually felt eased by the silence that no one bothered to break. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the wind gently brushed her face. Her mind was clear and peaceful, not until another image of Avy's younger self flashed in her head.

"Let's go play, Zach!!" she happily grabbed the young boy's hand, with a smile as bright as the sun, but the child flung her hand away, startling her a little.

"Mother said I have to study. Go play by yourself." Zach told her with a frown.

Like the innocent child Avy was, she furrowed her brows and spoke. "You study every day in your Mansion, I thought if I invited you here, you would play with me. Your Mother is bad. Parents should let their children play-"

Her statement was cut off when Zach went up to her and pushed her to the ground angrily. "Do not speak ill of my Mother." he retorted sharply and walked away, leaving the small girl seated on the dirty ground.

Not too long after, someone helped her stand up. "I told you not to get close with that Harrington heir. Just play with Ciel instead." Ashton kneeled in front of her and brushed off the dirt on her dress. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped Avy's dirty hands with it.

"He's not bad. He just studies a lot, like you," she reasoned.

"What does studying has to do with anything?"

"When I study I get sleepy and tired, when Ciel is sleepy and tired he throws tantrums and Mommy consoles him. But Zach's Mommy is scary, he must've been too scared to complain," she explained, making the small Ashton sigh.

"Whatever you say." he stated and took his sister's hand "Mother is waiting, it was you who told her to accompany you at tea time. You shouldn't be late." he held her hand gently and lead her towards the garden where their Mom was.

"Ashton," she blurted out as soon as the memory ended.

"Pardon?" Mariel said after hearing her.

"Ashton never came home to check on me," she said.

"Young Master went overseas to escort the Delegates from the North-Western Countries while Lord Alistair is currently stationed in the borders, Mi'lady. Your Father, His Grace went to Bergunn, a neighboring country per His Majesty's name," Clerivan answered.

"I swear this family is full of workaholic freaks." Avy breathed out. "I guess I have no right to complain when all I do every day is laze around and do nothing," she added.

"His Grace departed from Bergunn as soon as he received the news, Mi'lady. He will be home in a couple of days," Clerivan told her in an attempt to cheer her up.

Their attention was called by the sound of footsteps coming from afar. They looked in the direction where it came from and saw the two young lads running towards them.

They stopped in front of them and took a couple of seconds to catch their breaths before speaking. "Sorry for the wait, sister."

The two of them braced themselves for the worst and were expecting Avy to be furious at them for being two hours late, but seconds passed and they heard no yells or any indication that she was angry.

"So... Where do we start?" she asked

Ciel and Light looked at each other, were they safe?

"Are you listening to me?" it took them a moment to answer.

"A-ah, yes. The first thing to learn when studying how to use magic is Mana control." all of them walked towards the center of the Training Grounds and Ciel demonstrated how it should be done.

"Controlling mana and commanding it to take shape the things you wish is the most important thing for starting mages. A body with raging and uncontrolled mana would make it harder for the owner to sustain their energy, and sometimes causes harm not only to the people around them but at to themselves if they were not thought how to make their power bend to their will." Ciel explained as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, fragments of light slowly gathered in front of him. He raised his hand mid-air and his fingertips glowed the shade of bright red that slowly joined with the lights in front of him, creating a spear with the raven that symbolizes the Arkwright Family.

"But controlling one's mana is not the only thing that should be learned. We live with mana surrounding us, we breathe it with the air, therefore, Mages take advantage of nature to add to their power, which is the mana that the world gives or the mana residue left by others, may it be on the battlefield or any place where a duel or a fight occurred. The key to controlling mana is tranquility and visualization. Imagine how the air you breathe enters and circulates inside your body. Focus on how it should be the fuel for you to use and take everything that nature has to offer to aid you."

Ciel went behind his sister and touched her back, laying his palm flat and aiding her to familiarize her body to magic. "Please do what I said, sister. I'll assist you so do not worry." he said.

Avy have read that in a book, and of course, she tried doing it. But no matter how concentrated she was, she couldn't do anything. She took a deep breath and put her trust in Ciel, she closed her eyes and pictured the energy as her little brother said, but made it more detailed. The image of a human's whole nervous system flashed in her mind and the blood that flows through it became her reference for the mana she has to visualize. Starting front her fingertips, to every nerve in her body, she slowly felt something warm in her spine, like it was accelerating the flow of her blood.

"Please stop for a moment, My Lady." her concentration broke when a familiar voice of a man suddenly interrupted. She opened her eyes and look at the source of the voice with a frown.

"What brings you here, Raux?" Ciel asked the head chef who was wearing a white button-up shirt with three buttons undone and his usual black pants and shoes. His fiery red hair was messy and his pair of tired magenta eyes stared at them with a hint of seriousness, different from his usual expressionless look.

"The lady shouldn't start using magic so suddenly, Young Master." he said.

Light furrowed his brows and spoke, "What do you mean she can't?"

"Unlike normal people whose magic manifests starting from a small amount, using this method of learning magic could cause harm to the Lady. Her body rejected mana for so long, if it suddenly barges in, her body would not be able to take it." he explained and looked at Mariel. "You were there when the Lady collapsed right after she used her magic, we're you not, Mariel?"

"I-I'm ignorant that it could do the Lady harm." Mariel looked surprised and worried.

"Is that really true?" Ciel asked.

"It is not well known in the Empire but where I came from, late manifestation is common. Therefore I am well aware of it, Young Master." Raux answered.

"But will I die if I use magic Now?" Avy joined the conversation.

"That is unlikely."

"Good." Avy then inhaled and took a small knife hanging on her waist and slashed her palm to create a wound. She focused all her attention on her hand and visualized the energy coming out from it.

All the spectators she had looked at her in surprise and stared at her palm as the blood came out and took the shape of a small star. It stayed in the air for a couple of seconds before it was engulfed with red flames.

"Sister!"

"My lady!"

Avy grinned to herself. "That was eas-" she stopped midway through her sentence when she was bothered by the nauseating sensation coming from her stomach.

"BLERGHH"

She turned her back at the five people present and in a blink of an eye, all the food she ate made their way out of her mouth just like how they entered her system.

"Oh, my word!" Mariel rushed to her side and caressed her back.

"S-sister are you okay?"

"No, I- BLERGHHH"

"J-just a moment, Mi'lady. I'll get you some water." Clerivan rushed back inside the Mansion, leaving the others unable to look at the suffering lady who was forced to empty her stomach.

Minutes passed and Avy was still vomiting nonstop, with Mariel supporting her from falling face flat on the ground.

"No. No. I'd rather study all day than puke all my organs out." Avy stated while sitting on the ground, her complexion was completely pale as a blank sheet and her face looked sick as drops of tears started to form on the corner of her eyes because of vomiting so much.

"But you can't let your Magic uncontrolled, sister." Ciel told her, anxious. He doesn't want Avy to suffer but leaving her alone will cause her more danger.

"There is a way to practice magic the easy way, My Lady. It is your only choice." Raux said.

Avy looked at him with doubt, drinking the water that Clerivan brought. There is no such thing as easy learning, she spent her whole life gathering all the knowledge she has now, how the hell would learning magic be easy?

"Physical Training."

"That sounds easier than vomiting all day, don't you think?" Ciel commented with his right hand resting on his hip looking at Ciel which the latter responded with a nod.

All of them seemed to agree and didn't think much about it, except of course Avy, who looked at them with a strong hint of repulse.

"Studying is the easiest thing to do."

After all. Physical activity is her weakest point.

~~~

Heyaa besties you all good? No? Yeah most of us aren't lol. But anyways, here's another chapter. I apologize for updating late, I was busy the whole week for some family reasons. But I promise to make it up to you next update!

And please check out the stories of a fellow author of mine, her name is LCScarlett and her stories are so good. You won't regret reading them, if you like harem and isekai plots, her stories would be best for you. Anyways, Comments and Feedbacks are deeply appreciated!!! Stay safe and drink your water.