The Prince of Demons

“Where is my husband?” Poam asked nonchalantly.

“Napping. I insisted on it.” Senna replied with a smile more terrifying than any I had ever seen.

“Did you see them? Their teamwork was excellent! And Nil dodging the attacks without looking! That was spectacular!” Azzeck exclaimed excitedly, clearly ignoring or missing the fact his wife about to beat some sense into his thick skull.

“So, who was the one launching attacks at my precious little Nil?” Senna checked; I was ready to run for the hills.

“Orga Fayle. A candidate for Lux’s teacher who is quite adept at . She is a colleague from the Institution of Mages and we had her sign a with a clause strictly forbidding any action that could bring real harm to Nil.” I explained, hoping Senna would not explode.

“No, she could just maim him, break a bone, or cause him pain, but as long as it could be healed it would be fine, right? Surely, you would agree to play a similar game like that with me? All the damage could be healed, right?” Senna inquired. There is no force on Tenebrae that can compel me to answer that question. I wish to live.

“Senna, Nil begged to play the game, likely to grasp what he did with the properly. We honestly wanted to give Orga a shot at convincing him to hire her as he was pretty adamant against her. He was never in any real danger, so please calm down.” Poam pleaded on our behalf.

“Why were you so against her Nil?” Senna asked her son, with all the intensity and wrath vanished from her voice.

“Uncle Nez is an , but she is only a . Why should Lux get a lesser rank teacher?” Nil replied. Senna let out a small sigh of relief.

“Rank does not always correlate to ability Nil. She might honestly be the best candidate for the job even if she is only a .” Senna told Nil, gently stroking his hair.

“Alright mama, can you please stop being mad at the others? They only agreed to make me happy.” Nil requested, giving Senna the biggest puppy dog eyes. NIL YOU SAVIOR!

“Okay dearie. Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for your brother’s celebration tonight.” Senna conceded. Nil is truly a gift from the Lords.

While Senna took Nil and Lux to get cleaned up, I walked over to the collapsed Orga. She looked utterly crushed; that was a soul crushing display. I mean, while in the rules, catching Nil once he got into that rhythm there was no way to. Orga glared at me, but she was clearly about to cry.

“I warned you Nil was talented.” I told her.

“He legitimately beat you, didn’t he? You told me the truth.” Orga lamented, all the wind taken out of her sails.

“It was a different way, but unlike you I cannot track through , so when he broke my tracker, they were gone. Nil was trying to grasp the feeling he had using you, and apparently put it together. How did you manage it?” I explained to her.

“. They could not match the surrounding flow of . Lot of good it did.” Orga said dejectedly.

“I think Empress Senna might want to hire you. I do think with your research into the development of and their you are the best candidate.” I admitted to Orga.

“You gave me a fair chance. I think I blew it.” Orga complained.

“I think Nil misunderstood the difference between and . I would not count yourself out just yet.” I assured her.

“Why are you being so nice?” Orga asked suspiciously.

“While I might find you irritating and annoying, I do believe you are a qualified teacher for , especially for Lux.” I replied, fighting the urge to sigh.

“I am going to guess Nil is learning from you?” Orga asked.

“Correct, but I met Nox and was recommended to the job separately. Solomon is the one who recommended me to the Imperial Family and that’s how I discovered Nox’s last name. I honestly have little say in who they hire other than do I believe they are qualified.” I informed her.

“You suck at cheering people up, you know that.” Orga retorted with a deep sigh.

“I was not trying to cheer you up. I am assuming you met Crown Prince Ekard? How does he measure up to little Nil?” I probed. She gave me a disapproving glare.

“That’s what you wanted. You know I shouldn’t tell you the answer to that.” Orga snapped.

“Who surprised you more then?” I rephrased. I was curious.

“Definitely Crown Prince Nil.” Orga confessed.

“Why did you not get the job?” I asked. Orga gave me a dirty stare.

“You came over to get information on Crown Prince Ekard.” Orga spat at me.

“I want to know. What made him incompatible with ?” I pressed.

“You think I could have gotten the job tutoring him?” Orga retorted, still glaring at me.

“You applied for the position thinking it was for Prince Ein. So either you have gone senile or Crown Prince Ekard was completely incompatible with . I mean, she could have come out of Lords know where but I doubt it.” I replied, wondering what the answer was.

“He is a bit, energetic. His personality is definitely incompatible with . It requires a patient individual and one able to slow down and be in tune with what’s around.” Orga explained. I fought the urge to laugh.

“Then how are you able to use it?” I teased.

“I only speak fast.” Orga growled at me.

“I am aware. Thank you for your insights.” I replied. There was a cough behind us. We turned and saw Azzeck standing there, where Orga quickly bowed.

“Hello Magus Orga, my wife wanted me to come get you so we could have a discussion and interview you for the position of tutoring Lux.” Azzeck stated, clearly freshly chewed out by Senna.

“Why not a servant Emperor Azzeck?” I asked. Maybe I liked teasing people a bit too much.

“She is a tad annoyed that I allowed the game to continue to say the least. Senna also asked me to stress not to worry, she does not blame you Orga.” Azzeck explained. That was a chilling statement.

The light returned to Orga’s eyes. Her face betrayed her thoughts: the game is still on. Azzeck put a hand on both of us, and we appeared in the tailoring room. Nil was nowhere to be seen, probably getting a bath; I could hear him resisting the housemaid helping him in the adjacent bath. His sounds of resistance were nowhere near that of Lux, who was getting a thorough brushing by a housemaid and a footman. You could have sworn she was being executed by the yowling. From the sounds, neither was being handled gently. Senna did not completely absolve her son and his .

“Hello there Magus Orga, you were one of several applicants for the position for tutoring Lux, but you somehow came here for a practical interview, despite that not being part of the application. Could you please elaborate on how that came about?” Senna asked casually.

“I was asked to come in for a practical interview, which involved teaching Lux and .” Orga answered, her voice a bit tense.

“So Nez, how many times did Nil play that ‘game’ earlier?” Senna probed while looking at me, her smile making me want to swan dive out the window.

“Twice.” I whispered meekly.

“So they needed Lux to heal Nil after the first game because he yet again suffered from .” Senna concluded, her eyes only getting angrier.

“He did not suffer from .” I interjected quickly.

“Oh, that changes everything. Did he just completely exhaust himself and overexert his body?” Senna replied snarkily.

I diverted my gaze; it was all the answer Senna needed. Nil appeared, completely clean. He was wearing light clothes, and was sat down in a chair while the footman polished his horns. Lux was dragged away to take a bath where she went to extend her claws to grab the rug, but Senna shot a glare at her that sent chills down my spine, and she just accepted her fate.

“Thank you for your help Orga. Now I have a pretty clear picture of what happened earlier. Now, why did you let him play a second time?” Senna grilled, her eyes back on me.

“Shouldn’t you ask Nox? Or Poam?” I replied, trying to get out of this.

“But you are here, and those two vanished. I will be having a civil discussion with them later, do not worry.” Senna explained. The way she said civil discussion made my skin crawl.

“Because the first time he used none of us could comprehend or understand. He begged us to play again with Orga to try and get a grasp on it. Needless to say, he figured out a different use of it that allowed him to dodge her for roughly ten minutes with ease. He learned how to use part of his as a result.” I defended myself; it felt like I was on trial.

Senna paced back and forth a little, clearly debating how to proceed. Orga was next to me, visibly sweating. Senna was clearly irritated by this. She did put a moratorium on him using untested after the several incidents as a toddler. But it has been roughly three years. It was somewhat minorly pushing the boundary. Azzeck looked nervous, but not nearly as badly as Orga and me.

She is a bit, intense. Orga whispered to me.

Touch her kids, and you will meet an agonizing end. Even the teaching and encouraging Nil’s problematic desire to push his as far as possible has definitely made us all a bit nervous. I explained to her.

Empress Senna is not even threatening us and I feel like I am about to be executed. She really lives up to her title of Life Reaper. She is terrifying. Orga replied as she adjusted the collar on her shirt.

Nil had been rescued from the polishing of his horns and put into the fire of numerous outfits. Lux was upgraded from bathing to . She let out yells of protest until Senna cleared her throat. Lux became immensely cooperative after that.

So does Nil just love making trouble whenever he can? From this atmosphere I am getting that feeling. Orga inquired, shifting uncomfortably from Senna's glare.

I don’t think he tries to make trouble, he just succeeds. Nil is immensely curious and loves to learn , so he always pushes what he can do. Nil always tries to use his in creative ways and experiment with it to frightening results. You should see what his looks like. I elaborated.

After earlier, I know better than to ask how strong can it be. What can he do? Orga asked, clearly curious.

He cut off the top of one of the spires the first time he cast . It was amazing. I answered wondering what Senna was thinking about.

I want to see that. Orga replied. It was definitely a sight to see

Senna was clearly thinking as she dismissed and criticized the different outfits Nil was putting on. Lux was being fitted with a vest, gloves, and a form of formal socks. After twenty minutes of coordinating Nil’s appearance, a black formal suit with a gold underlay was chosen, with a few white accents that matched Lux. Lux’s outfits were matching to Nil’s, except the accents were bone white instead of a more illustrious white. The two looked quite nice. Senna checked the clock, and then turned to face us.

“We have two more hours to discuss this. Everyone but my family may leave, please prepare for Ein’s celebration later today.” Senna ordered us all.

“Where is Ein?” Nil asked innocently.

“He has been having light lessons and allowed to explore around the castle like he has been asking, wanting to see the gardens and the greenhouse. Your ‘game’ earlier almost ruined that. Thankfully, your grandfather fixed it for us all with some well executed and no one was the wiser. You need to be more careful as your brother is not as adept with as you are, and even if you do not intend to, Nil, your can harm him if you are not careful. You need to be more cautious.” Senna lectured. Nil nodded with understanding and looked ashamed of his actions. He does love his little brother. I guess he didn’t realize the full consequences. Wait, Nox was in charge of today’s scheduling. Oh my poor husband.

“Yes, I am aware Nox is in charge of Nil’s schedule today.” Senna said to me, as if she could read my mind. We need to coordinate better in the future.

Why does Nil have several teachers and a separate schedule and his brother does not? Orga asked, clearly wondering the difference in treatment.

His brother can barely his , and while able to run and move around, is not as nimble as Nil. Ein is still playing and messing around with , where Nil’s aptitude demanded we do something to focus it. We want to treat them the same, but that would be fair to neither of them; it would be like acting that Nil and his brother are the same when they are clearly quite different. Usually, the schedules are kept pretty clean and not entangled but today definitely went awry. I informed her.

“As for you Magus Orga, I have reviewed your file, your research into , and consulted with my husband and Grand Archmagus Solomon on the possible candidates, and did like you the most. After Nil’s antics and this game earlier, I do feel like you have seen quite a bit. Granted, Nez, Nox, and Poam made sure to have you sign a that was pretty inclusive, so worrying about you leaking information is minimal. So here is the deal I am willing to offer you. For now, you will tentatively be Lux’s teacher in regards to , and coordinate with her other teachers as we will be putting more formal training emphasizing the teamwork of Nil and Lux so we need their schedules to align well and keep a manageable workload while keeping in mind Nil and Lux are still children. However, there will be two caveats. The first, you will focus your research on specifically if you officially obtain this job, and the second, you will get this job if and only if you pass the . While I do normally believe the most qualified person for a job should get it, I am not going to overlook the ‘game’ you played earlier with them entirely, even though you were likely strong armed or baited into playing it. Do you accept these terms?” Senna declared, her gaze finally softening.

“Yes!” Orga snapped almost immediately.

And you will be helping me make sure I pass that exam. Orga snarled into my mind.

Fair enough. I conceded with a shrug.

“Good, now let’s prepare for Ein’s birthday celebration!” Senna ordered with a smile.