Sold to a Prince!

Sylvia chatted with Jane for a bit more but she was slightly reserved with her words today. 

Not that she didn't want to pour her heart out to Jane about unfairly her uncle and aunt had sold her away for a paltry sum of money, but she had other things weighing heavily on her mind today.

Just as Jane had pointed it out several times today and in these past few days, Sylvia had also been wondering about her so-called talent and skills.

More importantly, she couldn't forget two specific lines she had read in one of the books.

"A gifted mage has high mana affinity, but other professions can also equally benefit from a high mana affinity."

"Mining, gem inscription, herbalism, rearing, alchemy, almost all of the trade skills required a keen eye, solid brain, and most important of all, a high mana affinity."

Sylvia muttered inwardly, as her thoughts swirled in a loop inside her brain. 

No matter how much she thought about it, she found herself coming to the same conclusion again and again.

Even Leol had told her the same thing.

Just from how the plants and animals were responding to her, it was impossible for her to not have any mana affinity.

She should at the least be able to do weak chore magic spells.

And then there was her glowing crescent tattoo and how Mikel was being mysteriously weird about it.

Sylvia could never forget the day when the man had stripped her down without any cloth on her body and inspected her from head to toe, searching for this very tattoo.

Perhaps she was simply grabbing at straws here and hoping for a miracle that could possibly help her get out of this luxurious prison, but still… Sylvia wanted to give it a try.

"Mrs. Jane, may I please excuse myself. I am feeling a bit lightheaded today." She smiled and hurriedly stood up from the chair, seeing that Jane was in a mood to chat today.

"Oh no, is everything alright dear? Should I make you some soup?" Jane worriedly asked.

"I am okay, Mrs. Jane. I am sure I just need some sleep to feel all better." Sylvia nodded and quickly started clearing out the teacups from the table and placed them on the tray nearby.

Jane stopped her with her hand and generously offered. "Don't worry about this dearie. Why don't you head back to your room and take a rest?" 

"I can clear this and finish the last of the cleaning left by myself."

"Thanks a lot, Mrs. Jane." Sylvia bowed and didn't stand on ceremony, readily accepting the help.

As her long silver hair fluttered in the wind, she turned on her heels and walked briskly but not back to the servant's quarters. 

She headed straight for the library tower which possibly contained a million books or even more.

She didn't know how long the devil was away from the castle, and she needed to figure things out before then and this was the perfect place for that.

She pushed open the gigantic metallic doors of the library and then hurriedly ran over to the isle which had basic mana manipulation books.

Sylvia had visited the library several times this past week for learning about the various herbs and plants.

So she was somewhat familiar with the room and where certain books were. She fumbled through the several thick books and finally got the one that she was looking for.

Huff. Huff. Huff. Sylvia panted, finally flopping onto the marble floor and taking a breather.

"Basic Mana Manipulation. This is it." She muttered and closed her eyes.

Perhaps she was expecting a bit too much from random coincidences and wild assumptions but Sylvia's heart was thumping wildly.

She had a good feeling about this.

"I can do this. I can do this." She muttered, clenching her fists subconsciously.

She knew that the council's mana affinity tests were flawless. 

There have never been cases where someone who was tested negative in their childhood, tested once again positive in their adulthood.

But yet, Sylvia found herself hopeful.

"Okay. Slow and steady. Slow and steady. I can do this." She told herself and flipped open the pages.

Her eyes hurriedly searched for the basic magic spells, the zero-circle magic spells. 

These were the basic spells commonly known as chore magic, which anyone with even the tiniest bit of mana affinity was able to do.

They didn't require a mana core formation in the body. They didn't require any complicated mana circulation techniques.

They also didn't require a lot of mana. 

This set of magic spells was literally the basic manipulation of the elements swirling around a living being in everyday life.

"Okay, here it is." Sylvia's fingers paused, trembling slightly as she flipped open to the specific page. 

"Here it is. Ignis, the fire magic spell."

"Ignis. Ignis. Ignis." Sylvia memorized the word. This was the spell for conjuring a small spark of fire.

Since she had seen Cassius do it once and Jane do it many many times back at the kitchen, Sylvia decided to start with this spell first.

She closed the book, keeping it down gently by her side, on the marble floor.

She then adjusted her position to sit in a crossed-legged meditative lotus pose and calmly inhaled and exhaled.

"Feel the energy around and call on it, commanding it with the will and spirit of the self. Ok, I can do this." Sylvia muttered.

She inhaled and exhaled calmly trying to feel something, anything in the air around her.

In and out…

In and out…

In and out…

She sat there and continued to breathe calmly, huddled between two gigantic bookshelves, determined to see this through today.

Minutes trickled by and slowly they became hours…

Sylvia, however, still did not feel a thing. She couldn't even feel the slight breeze as she was shut inside the library.

But she was also not prepared to give up just yet and continued with her breathing exercise, slowly and steadily pacing herself.