A Court of Mishief

Preparations for the Tournament

"Ugh!" I grunted in greeting the new day. A.K.A. the day my mother declared that I will have the power to control time and the future. I mean, how in blazes am I going to do that?! The best I could do is make dolls, marionettes, to do my bidding for the pranks that I lay waste on this Gods-forsaken realm of the witches.

All I ever wanted was just to be left alone to do whatever I want in my life. That includes leaving this place and traveling the world. Seeing the different places that are different from the one I grew up with. I want to see what is beyond this forest. I want to see new faces, taste new flavors. Anything a wanderlust person would want during their travels.

Especially after the day I met that boy from London. I never got to ask for his name, which was stupid of me. He was right at that time, most people would ask for names, I asked for a place. Ugh, sometimes I curse myself for being an airhead.

I gently shake my head to empty it of useless ideas and start thinking of a way to not humiliate myself in front of thousands of witches and humans that are going to watch the tournament that was not supposed to exist. Blasted mother of mine! If only I had curse magic instead of string magic! Life would be such a breeze whenever I want to curse someone.

Alas! I can't have everything, can I? Oh, well. Time to start thinking of ideas. Ideas as to what the tournament may be. There are a lot of ways for it to go and I have no clue which games my mother has decided to include in the tournament. I was in a deep thinking state that I accidentally bumped into a wall. I looked up and it was not a wall. It was a person, and not the most friendly one at that.

I was looking at the face of my mother's guard dog. And by guard dog, I mean her most trusted of the royal guard. I swear, one day he's going to betray everybody who trusts him.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." I mumbled as I maneuvered past him and continued to walk on.

Not looking if he heard me or not, I walked on, while looking this time, and found something suspicious on the ground. Something shiny is glistening under a patch of light. One wouldn't be able to see it if they're not at the right angle. I quickly went to where the shiny thing is and started to dig in mass of leaves covering it.

Once I dug through the leaves, I finally found the shiny thing. It was a name plate.

LUCA BAILEY

"I wonder who Luca Bailey is." I said to myself while picked it up from the pile of leaves. At that point in time, I was walking aimlessly while looking at the name plate in my hands. I imagine that this person lost this a long time ago since there is already a bit of rust on its sides.

I flipped it over and saw an address. Now while the name on the other side is readable, the address is too corroded to form a proper address. I can only read Kingsway, London. That's why I know it is an address.

This name plate reminded me of the boy I met years ago. I wonder what his name was.

"Could it be Luca Bailey? Nah that is too much of a coincidence to be real." I just let the idea float in my mind for now because I need to focus myself on the coming tournament.

No matter what I do, nothing comes to mind on what the games might be. I hope it won't be a group game. I'm bad being with groups of witches I barely know. But if it ends up like that, then there's no helping it. I just hope they won't tell me to control te or the future or anything of that sort. I'll definitely pummel them to the ground before the game will start.

I sighed deeply before starting to go back to my house on the outskirts of the kingdom. I opted to live outside the massive castle in the middle of the kingdom because I am fed up of being with my mother. Not only that, but also being hounded by the number of tutors that my mother hired. I honestly don't need them.

I have read every single book in the royal library. I even memorized them unintentionally because I was bored out of my mind. I would rather read books to relieve my boredom than listen to those blasted tutors.

All they ever care was how I should act as a part of royalty. I never wanted to be part of royalty. I only ever wanted to be me. Maybe I should set my own prize with my mother? Should I ask to be permitted to leave the kingdom to explore the world for a set amount of time?

While thinking of the possibilities of the condition that I will ask my mother, I giddily ran to my house and realized that I have yet to water my plants. I forgot to water my veggies and my fruit trees.

Before you wonder, yes, I grow my own food. Especially the vegetables and fruits since the palace won't give me these for free since I already left the palace to live on my own. The only thing they would provide for me was meat. I had to immediately smoke or salt the meat since the ones they give me are on their way to being rotten. Good thing I learned to it properly from the palace cooks I was close with.

I also do a bit of hunting in my free time but that only happens when no one is looking. I was not allowed to leave the kingdom without permission, as everybody does.

I sighed, again, just thinking when I will be able to see the world outside the kingdom.