Blooming Stars

Chapter 1

A lot of people liked to compare me to a mouse. It wasn't meant to be an insult. In fact, I took pride it in it—and was quite thankful for it, really. I was small and unassuming. Combine that with being the fourth daughter of a humble baron, my quiet habits spared me a lot of the drama that often befell young noblewomen. I was happy to stay out of the muck and mire of female politics. I would rather sit with a quiet book under a tree on a sunny day than spar with other ladies in the drawing room. Just the mere thought of it exhausted me.

However, somewhere within me lay a spark, this spark being the biggest reason I steered clear of the other ladies, and the thing that would eventually draw the attention of the last person I ever expected.

I was fifteen years old at the time. Ahead of me lay an uneventful future. Even my status as a noble didn't offer much. Unlike the daughters of dukes, marquesses, or counts, I did not have suitors lined up to court me. But this allowed me more freedom than my sisters to choose my own path. This I could not complain about.

One afternoon, my family sat in the parlor having tea. My father spoke up suddenly, startling me from my concentration on the book I was reading.

"You'll enter the magic academy in one year," he said, as though he had just now realized it.

"Ah, yes," I replied. "Eliza is there. I'll be happy that we'll be there together."

I didn't know why I needed to go to the magic academy. I didn't have a lot of mana. My older sister Eliza was quite talented, but I had very little talent to speak of.

My father seemed to read my mind. "You may not have a lot of mana, but you'll learn how to best utilize your talents. You'll find your most important skills."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but a small idea came to my mind.

"When you graduate," he went on, "we should also prepare a list of marriage candidates."

I almost dropped my book. "M...Marriage...candidates?"

My father chuckled. "It will still be a few years yet, so don't worry."

I would certainly hope so. I didn't hold any fairytale fantasies about romance, let alone marriage. I didn't even like reading romance novels. Besides, I was only fifteen. I was more interested in the world around me than in young men. There was so much more to explore than romance.

A few days later, we received an invitation to the imperial palace for a banquet. I did not expect to go, but the invitation said to bring family as well. The emperor wanted to celebrate the completion of a large bridge over the widest river in the empire, an engineering marvel many years in the making. Celebrations would be held throughout the empire, and the biggest party would be at the palace.

I did not know this little mouse wouldn't stay hidden for much longer.