On the Horizon in The President's office, Julian was going through the documents.
With the year coming to the end, there were a lot of things that she needed to see.
Not only for the academy but also for the nation as her stupid father would drop some of his work on her in the name of learning.
On top of that, she had to take leave for an important thing.
As she went through the document, a maid spoke to her and bowed her head.
"Princess, we have got a message."
"Hmmm!"Julian ordered her to proceed.
" Highness, we got the report that Lucas had gotten in trouble."
Julian stopped her motion and looked at the maid with a questioning gaze.
"He had entered the dungeon which had been closed off. It was an E-rank dungeon." The maid spoke and relayed the news to Julian.
Seeing Julian's expression, the maid thought she might be too shocked by the news to react after all she knew that Princess gives special attention to Lucas.
Julian waved her hand and asked her to leave.
Julian massaged her shoulders and sighed heavily.
"This guy's habit of getting into trouble is still ridiculous as ever. As soon as he stepped out of the academy premises, you could hear about him getting into some sort of trouble from afar."
She fears that even a peaceful place devoid of any living being may turn into a warzone due to Lucas's presence.
He was a harbinger of bad luck.
Still, she wasn't too worried about it.
Except for the boss monster, Lucas could deal with everyone, and with the extra partner, he could clear the dungeon.
If he can't even do that then he doesn't deserve to come this far. The only problem was how much time would it take for him to complete the dungeon.
The final Semester is 23 days ahead and if he got stuck in it for too long and missed the exam, he is gonna be stuck in the first year.
Julian decided to apply for a leave for Lucas while she prepared to head to the Royal Palace.
.........
In the floating Royal Palace.
A man walked to and fro with an anxious expression while biting his fingers due to nervousness.
A woman sat on the couch while looking at the man's stupidity.
Seeing the man behaving like that, she was unable to take in any more.
"Alexander, stop biting your nails or I am going to send you to retake your etiquette class."
Alexander suddenly stopped his motion and pulled back his hands and looked at the frosty expression on her wife.
"Ileana, I am just nervous. I am not an Emperor now. I am just a father now."
Ileana sighed on hearing his words.
"I am also her mother. Even though we are worried about her welfare, we shouldn't show it on our face."
"If she saw our nervousness, how would she feel? We are just going to add more burden on her shoulder."
"Yeah, My Empress you are right. I haven't thought about it properly."
"When the hell do you even think?" Ileana snorted.
As both started to bicker with each other, their anxiety decreased by a bit and with a clunking sound, they heard light footsteps coming toward them.
"Julian!" Ileana stood up but before she could rush towards her, like a swift lightning Alexander disappeared and appeared before her, hugging her tightly.
"My Precious doll! This poor daddy missed you a lot." Alexander sobbed and clung to Julian like an octopus.
Ileana pulled Alexander and threw him aside and hugged Julian.
"Julian, how are you?"
"You might have suffered a lot."
"Mom!" Julian muttered faintly with an embarrassed expression and also gave her a gentle hug.
It was quite a happy reunion but it was halted by a sudden knock on the window.
Cough...Cough...
Opening the window pane, a man appeared with long white hair and a thick beard that cascaded down his neck.
His long hair spread over his shoulders and even though his face was hidden by a thick beard it wasn't able to hide his delicate features giving him the look of an elderly gentleman.
His eyes were as sharp as a sword as if they could see through every facade.
"Grandpa Hamilton," Julian spoke.
It had been years since she had seen him.
Alexander and Ileana came forward giving him a bow.
"Old man, it's been a while," Alexander spoke with a smile.
He nodded and looked at Julian, "My granddaughter had grown up quite big. I repent for missing the chance to watch you grow."
Hamilton spoke with a nostalgic tone.
"How is Horizon?" He asked.
Alexander's lips twitched a little.
"You should ask Uncle Josh. You are the Principal of Horizon but you are dumping your work and running all around the world."
Hamilton averted his eyes as he saw Alexander glare.
"How many days will you stay this time?" Ileana asked, trying to ease the situation.
"I have got three days."
"Oh! That's disheartening." Ileana replied.
"Let's not waste any more time. We should start the process."Hamilton spoke and looked at Julian.
"Are you ready for it?"
Julian nodded.
Alexander took out the prepared mixture as mentioned in the list.
Hamilton looked at the violent mixture carefully and pulled out a long pen-shaped bone that was emitting fumes.
"Is that the engraver?" Juliana asked.
"Hmmm!"
"Juliana it's gonna hurt a lot," Hamilton warned her before proceeding forward.
"I am ready," Julian muttered with a resolute gaze and loosened her straps and exposed her delicate back.
Meanwhile, Hamilton noted down the principles carefully and sat down behind Julian.
Dipping the engraver in the mixture, he took a deep breath and moved the tip to touch Julian's skin.
"Ahhh!'A small groan escaped from her lips as she felt a scorching heat that was burning her skin.
As soon as the engraver touched Julian's icy cold skin small fumes of vapour emerged.
Hamilton started to draw the circle.
Julian gnashed her teeth and clenched her fist to contain the pain that transmitted to her brain.
Her eyes became watery and her nails dug into her palms from were drops of blood trickled.
" Julian!"Ileana muttered softly as she saw Julian's back becoming red and the place where the circle is drawn seemed to swell.
She was about to stand up and ask Hamilton to stop but Alexander held her hands tightly and shook his head to stop her.
After drawing for two hours, Hamilton wiped off the sweat from his head while looking at Julian who seemed to pass out from the pain but the tingling sensation of burning skin accompanied by a strong itch didn't let her fall unconscious.
As soon as the circuit was finished, it started to operate and Julian's back started to glow brightly.
"Old man what happened? Did something go wrong?" Alexander asked with a panicked expression.
"Hohohoho!" Hamilton laughed a little while caressing his beard.
"It seems that your doll is going to make a breakthrough," Hamilton spoke with a faint smile, shocking Alexander and Ileana.
"The shackles that had been holding you back are no more. So, my doll it's time for you to spread your wings and soar towards the sky."
With a loud cracking sound, a fierce breath radiated from Julian that illuminated the entire place.
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