Theo decided to ignore his mother’s long explanation about all the ways he couldn’t get trapped by a money-focused girl.
The baron, on the other hand, seed to be enjoying the conversation far too much. He still carried a trace of resentnt since Theo had got him into trouble more tis than he could count.
When they finally passed through the gates of the Royal Castle, Theo got out of the carriage right away and was smacked with another big realization.
The castle that he got to finally see after getting out of the carriage forced him to tilt his head back as far as it would go, and yet, there still seed to be more of it stretching into the sky.
"Wow... it’s a hundred tis bigger than our Barony..." Theo muttered, dumbfounded.
"Isn’t that obvious? It’s the Royal Castle," the baroness replied, her poker face switched on.
Theo did the sa and composed himself as well.
Clara and Elias stiffened the mont they saw the baron and baroness.
The baron looked exactly as he always did; there was no change whatsoever, imposing as ever.
As soon as they began walking, the red-uniford royal tars descended the stairs while so others seamlessly took over their guard duty.
Before they could even approach and start questioning him, the baron sighed in annoyance and pulled out a golden, oval container.
The mont the guards saw the golden token bearing the crest of the royal family, their deanor changed imdiately, and they began approaching them briskly.
When one of them took the golden-coloured container in their hand, their faces turned even more serious.
"Our apologies for delaying you. We will escort you to the castle door," one of the guards said with a serious expression.
Theo saw sothing interesting; they showed clear respect, but none of them bowed, not even once.
It made him wonder whether serving the emperor himself had sothing to do with that. But before he could think further, they started moving forward.
The massive gates opened, and the guards gestured for them to enter.
Soon, a butler appeared before them without making a sound. Theo was so accustod to Alfred’s silent presence that he didn’t seem surprised at all.
"Greetings, Baron Aldric," the man said with refined elegance, bowing his head slightly, his right hand placed over his left chest with finesse.
"Baroness Seraphina," he continued before turning toward Theo.
"Ninth heir, Theo rrick."
Theo gave a serious nod in response.
That was the only greeting he would receive in the real world, the ninth heir of the rrick Barony, until he either founded his own family or achieved sothing significant enough to benefit the kingdom.
"The emperor has ordered to escort you to the evaluation point the mont you enter the castle," the butler said, his head still bowed.
Theo looked around once, trying to gather as much information about the castle’s interior.
The walls were tall and coated in luxurious paint all around, and massive chandeliers, each one nearly three tis his own height, hung every few ters from the ceiling.
Theo could only observe that until he saw everyone starting to move again.
The baron remained really quiet the entire ti, just walking ahead with the baroness, while Theo followed a step behind.
They passed through nurous corridors filled with tars.
Theo could tell every single one of them was a tar, which made him curious. Why were there no knights anywhere?
He knew many people didn’t regard knights the sa way the rricks did, but aura users were generally considered a little better than ordinary tars.
But that was only Theo’s assumption. Without truly knowing what the world had to offer, Theo could only make up theories in his mind and test whether he was right or not.
"The Emperor also asked to apologize on behalf of the entire royal family for making you visit the evaluation grounds imdiately upon your arrival in the castle," the butler added, making Theo glance at him.
’That does sound like the Emperor.’
"There is no problem with completing the work that we ca for right away," the baron spoke calmly.
The butler bowed deeply in response.
The apology only seed more like a conveyed ssage than an actual, sincere one.
Soon, they turned through another corridor and descended a set of stairs before arriving at a large black door, which seed to be made of so unfamiliar material.
Massive door knockers adorned both sides of the doors, each carved into the shape of a dragon’s face.
Theo glanced at his father again. However, the baron didn’t show any reaction.
The butler stepped forward and knocked on the door in a coded pattern. Almost imdiately, the doors began to open.
As Theo saw the door opening slowly, he caught a glimpse of what lay inside, and what he saw made his eyes widen in utter shock.
"THEO."
The baron’s firm voice rang in his ears, snapping him back, drawing his eyes on Theo.
"Whatever you see inside... make sure that you do not speak of it anywhere in the world. Not even the family."
Theo nodded even before he could fully understand what the baron had said.
His eyes drifted back to what stood inside the ’evaluation room’.
The walls were completely white in colour, but that wasn’t what left Theo so flabbergasted.
It was the LED lighting lining the corner of the ceiling and the large square panels of light he could recognize anywhere in the world.
’Is that... working on electricity?’ The lighting felt so familiar that Theo’s thoughts raced, and he could only think about that.
And the way the baron had warned him made him realize that he should not be thinking about this in normal terms at all.
Just as they stepped inside, the first thing Theo noticed was white tiles on the floor, what seed like LED lights embedded in the ceiling, and a glass wall separating the corridor from a big arena-like setting beyond.
Then, from the corner of his eyes, Theo saw yet another thing that made him freeze.
His thoughts began spiraling all the way until his old mories surged forward.
The shape was so familiar that there was no mistaking it.
It was definitely a computer.
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