Winter Solace II Taegyu

Chapter VII: Chryseillise

You never really notice how quick time flies until realization is standing right in front of you.

At the beginning of such phase it doesn't catch you so suddenly, nor does it feel like a surprise. Instead it hits you with such gentleness, slowly revealing itself with such naturality to the eyes of every beholder.

The hilarious thing about time is that it goes unnoticed when you're a child—seasons change from summer to winter. A year passes by, and a lot has changed despite being only twelve months has passed.

But how much will exactly change when four years passes by with a blink of an eye?

"OW!"

A thirteen year old Kai Huening rubs his arm while pouting at a certain Kang Taehyun.

"How're you so good at this?!" Kai whined, earning a chuckle from Taehyun before extending a hand, helping him on his feet.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it," the thirteen year old boy said, releasing his grip on Kai's hand.

They were having their shared sparring lessons as Kai had stuck to his dream of becoming a knight, whilst it is mandatory for Taehyun as it is one of his princely duties.

The royal family have roles and duties assigned for each children to let the citizens of the kingdom know that their influence is still alive.

For example;

It was customary that only the firstborn child will be given the title of heir to the throne, whilst the second and third born onwards shall be regarded as spares to the kingdom. Should there be anything untoward happens upon the heir, the current reigning family will not lose their position as long as they have their spares.

And there are several roles that these royal children, spares in particular, will likely occupy in the near future.

The spares of the royal family serve the kingdom by either becoming a sorcerer/sorceress, a figure of great influence in high society, a general of the royal knights. Or by marrying a neighboring or foreign country for the increase of imports and exports of trades and resources.

It was no doubt that all children of the royal family of Chrystelle must marry to strengthen their tradings and economy, aside from special cases that includes being an apprentice under the guidance of the mage tower—or training to be general.

The said careers take at least five years to master, and five more to be promoted.

Taehyun had no desire to be married off, which is why he wishes to enter knighthood once he turns fifteen and become head general later on. It wasn't for aproval from his biological father, but rather for the citizens, and for the old rundown bakery he had yet to find.

Besides, becoming a general might give him access to a little bit of freedom to wander outside whenever he wanted. Someone had failed to tell Taehyun that royals do not exactly have freedom, only wealth and luxury.

"Speaking of which, Hwa's late," Kai points out, rubbing his towel against his sweaty face.

"It's either she forgot about us, which is unlikely—or she's currently escaping her grandmother, again," Taehyun cackles, placing his wooden sword down before he sat on the floor.

Unlike when they were nine, Moh-wa hasn't been around so often as much as they wanted her to. It was mainly because of her grandmother, madame Jung was vey meticulous with her only granddaughter's education in both academic and social classes.

As for Kai, since his elder sister Leah has been set to inherit the Huening estate and joint the seat amongst the House of Lords. The young Huening had decided to pursue knighthood once he turns fifteen, which is why he has been training with Taehyun.