The round moon peeked out shyly from behind a cloud, casting a soft, yellow glow on the castle ground. The castle was quiet as it was already past midnight and most of its occupants had went into sleep. The only sounds that perpetuate through the night were the footsteps of guards making their patrol, and the howling of wild beasts from the nearby forest.

A black haired young woman of around eighteen years old rested leisurely on a dark leather sofa as she gazed out of the window. The window was wide open, allowing the cold night breeze to blow in. Although she was only wearing a thin, lilac coloured nightgown, she did not seem the least cold. Her grey eyes shone as it reflected the moonlight, and the corners of her full, red lips were curled up, revealing her good mood.

The room door opened with a slight creak, but the young woman did not seem to notice, or rather, she did not bother to react.

When the person finally stood behind her, the young woman tilted her head to look at the shadow towering over her.

“Big Brother, what are you doing in my room so late at night?” She asked with a displeased face.

The young man who had the same raven black hair as her smiled wryly.

“I knocked, but did not receive any answer, so I came in by myself.”

“Really? I didn’t notice,” the girl said lazily before turning around to gaze at the moon again.

Of course she knew that he had been standing outside the door for the past fifteen minutes, but she did not want anyone to bother her so she purposely kept quiet. It was his fault for coming in so late at night anyway.

“What are you looking at?” The young man asked curiously.

“The moon,” the young lady replied as she rolled her eyes.

The young man shook his head as a slight smile appeared on his lips. His younger sister was an extremely talented person, however, she was also unpredictable and difficult to handle at times. This was such a particular scenario.

As the person next in line for the throne, Prince Julius Lucian Fierenna was in his office, wrecking his brain on a particularly difficult magic theorem when his aide knocked on his door. It was unusual for him to disturb his work so he had allowed him to speak. That was when he heard that the maids serving his one and only younger sister, Princess Elise Luchia Fierenna, had reported that Elise was acting strangely. According to them, their mistress had been lying on the sofa while spacing out with the windows open for the past three hours. Being lowly servants, they were afraid of offending her so they did not dare to say anything, hence they went to report this situation to him.

Thinking that there might be something wrong with her, he had rushed over from the middle of work. But now, seeing that she was really just admiring the scenery, he could not help but sigh.

Picking up a red blanket on the sofa that was most likely left by the maids, he draped it over the young woman.

Elise glanced at the sudden extra cloth covering her before she looked up and frowned. “What are you doing?”

“If you lie here with the wind blowing while wearing thin clothing, you are going to fall sick,” he said firmly.

Elise scoffed. “As if something like this will put me out.” Who does her older brother think she is? She had not caught a cold since she was six.

Julius sighed once again. It was true that she had a hardy body and the capability to destroy a whole squadron of Cyclops by herself. However, she was still a woman and she looks like a normal eighteen year old young lady, so it was difficult to not treat her as one.

“Prince Julius, if you don’t get out of my room soon, I’m going to make you go out,” Elise said lazily. Although she did not sound serious, Julius could tell from the amount of mana gathering in her palms that she will take action if he did not comply.

Knowing that Elise was not called the Crimson Mage for nothing, he quickly backed away.

The reason for why she was called the Crimson Mage?

The nickname was aptly given after a thirteen year old girl had climbed up the highest mountain in the area, Winter’s Peak, five years ago and singlehandedly slayed all the Snow Trolls that had gotten berserk. It was said that people who went up the mountain afterwards had nightmares from seeing all the crimson red covering the snow, and the water that flowed from the mountaintop tasted like rust for weeks.

“I only came here to check if you are okay,” he quickly said. “Since you are alright, I will be going off now.”

“Don’t forget to the close the door,” Elise said in her lazy tone as a mischievous smile stretched across her face.

Julius shuddered. His younger sister would without a doubt be popular with men if not for the waves of power rolling off her. She was extremely attractive and also extremely dangerous.

He turned around promptly and exited the room. Right before he closed the door after him, he casted a lingering glance at the young woman whose back was facing him.

Seeing that her older brother had finally exited her room, Elise turned back to look at the full moon that had fully revealed itself from behind the cloud.

Her older brother had a good intuition. Although it was very minor, there was something that was affecting her.

For some reason, she felt like something was tugging her consciousness when she looked at the moon that particular night.

However, it was not a bad feeling. It felt almost comforting.

It was already in the middle of the night, and way past her usual sleeping time. Elise could feel drowsiness slowly overcoming her consciousness, but she did not get up to go to bed. She continued lying on the leather sofa that had warmed up to her body temperature. The blanket that was covering her was of the highest quality, so it was extremely soft and comfortable.

Slowly, gradually, her consciousness faded away…

*****

…

…

Blub.

Strange. Her skin feels cool, and she feels like she is floating around…

Bubble.

No, wait! Why can't she breathe?

Elise’s eyes flew open when she realised that something was wrong with her surroundings.

What greeted her was a view of blue. She blinked in shock as she was somehow currently underwater.

Instinctively, she moved her hands and legs to try and swim up. However, her long hair and dress were bellowing around her, making it difficult to move and blocking her vision. Elise could not help but feel frustrated and panicked.

Although she had no idea why and how she got into this situation, it was clear that she had to get herself out of it or she will die.

She tried to gather mana within her to manipulate the water, but for certain reason the amount she could gather was very little, and was not able to help her much in the situation.

Having no choice, she had to rely on her own limbs again.

She had taken swimming lessons before, but for some reason, her limbs felt weaker than usual, as if they were attached to heavy weights. As her strokes were not strong enough against the water pressure, even though she was doing her best, the top of the water still seemed very far away.

This was the first time since a long while Elise had felt despair. Was she going to die just like that?

Just as her consciousness faded to black once again, something grabbed her waist and arm.

In the next moment, she was brought to the water surface.

She gasped strongly as her lungs breathed in much needed oxygen.

“Hey! Are you okay?” A low and urgent voice sounded beside her ears.

Although Elise could hardly open her eyes, she could hear it was the voice of a man.

She glanced up, but the sun was too strong to make out the features of the man clearly.

Even though she wanted to let him know that she felt like she was dying, her body felt too weak to even speak, so she could only make a groan.

Seeing that the girl in his arms was alive, the face of the young man currently holding on her brightened up slightly.

However, his face darkened almost immediately when he realised that the girl had fainted on his shoulders.

Grasping tightly onto her, he swam back to the shore.

The young man put down the girl gingerly on the grassy ground.

The girl that looked to be around fifteen to sixteen years old was still unconscious, but her chest was moving up and down. After doing a quick check by listening her chest for sound of water, he determined that she was not in any life threatening situation and had only fainted. He heaved a sigh of relief, but he soon replaced it with a frown on his face.

His name is Andric Kennings. He was on his way back to the town from a quest when he saw the light blond haired girl jumping into the lake waters fully clothed. He saw hands flailing wildly around before the girl sank fully into the water. Dumping his things on the spot, he raced to the lake before he jumped in as well.

The girl lying in front of him had long blond hair so light it was like the colour of moonlight. Her features were delicate and small, and her skin was clear and unblemished.

The problem was, why would such a beautiful young lady want to commit suicide?

Thinking about it, Andric could not help but let out a long sigh.

Bending down, he scooped up the girl and headed towards the spot where his things were left at. He had intended to exit the forest that very same day, however, it seemed like he had no choice but to set up camp to let the girl rest more comfortably.

Since he started his journey as an Adventurer six years ago, he had faced many dangerous situations, so he understands the preciousness and fragility of life. Due to that, he instinctively rushed to save the girl who was needlessly throwing her life away.

“But what am I going to do with her after this?” He muttered to himself. If the girl was adamant about commiting suicide, was he going to watch her die in front of him?

Oh well. Since he had already saved her, he can decide what to do again later.