I returned from the shelves with a stack of books in hand. Leila followed behind me with another stack.

I had picked some of the books that intrigued me, and also picked up a few with no titles but caught my eye. We placed them carefully on the desk by the railing overlooking the first floor. Before I started reading, I carefully took off my coat and settled myself into the cushioned seat.

I started at the top of my pile and began flipping through it at a rapid speed.

Anytime I visited this place, I always headed to the second floor almost immediately. The first floor only had stuff like history, politics, novels, and other stuff, not something I needed at the moment. Most of the books I found on the second floor related to magic and Talents, and that was perfect.

Time passed quietly as I moved from one book to another, skimming through the pages, trying to absorb as much as I could. Eventually, however, Leila tapped my shoulder.

“Lady Carine… It’s almost time.”

“Ah…” I lamented.

I was once again surprised by how fast the time had gone. Clearly, meeting with the princess took more time than I had imagined. I barely gathered anything useful today.

I packed up and wore my coat again. By the time we reached the first floor, the princess and co were nowhere to be found. Without wasting much time, we made our way outside to the snowy street, heading back home.

I was… a bit frustrated. I had been looking forward to this day to satisfy my curiosity, but once again I failed.

I needed to know more about Talents, not just any Talents, but mine. Although I was always interested in learning Talents, I had never been so motivated to find out more.

The reason dates to a few months ago, days after Mother had recovered.

—

Father had called me over to the drawing room.

Not just Carine, though. Feyt as well.

Leila and Miss Eliza escorted us through the halls, but once we arrived, they were barred from even stepping near the door. Clearly this won’t just be a normal gathering.

Inside, the drawing room was the same as ever. Only this time, the fireplace was lit to keep things warm. Father and Mother were already waiting for us, seated on their cushioned chairs. On the table before them was a furled scroll tied gently with a rope, and a small, polished wooden chest lined with gold.

“Father, Mother,” I said with a bow as Carine.

I mirrored myself as Feyt in silence.

“Carine, Feyt. Please, sit,” Father said, gesturing to the couch across from them.

I obeyed, settling into the seat slowly and nervously. There was a strange tension in the room. It was so tense and thick, I could almost cut through it with a butter knife.

After we sat down, however, both of them remained silent. Only the crackling sound of the fireplace filled the room. Then, that tense silence was broken when Father cleared his throat.

“Carine, do you know what this is?” He nudged the furled scroll over to me.

Looking at it, I couldn’t say I knew what it was. But there was this faint sense of once seeing it before… a long, long time ago.

But with my mind drawing a blank, I just shook my head. “I can’t say I do.”

Father then nodded, seemingly unsurprised. “That makes sense. You haven’t seen it since you were three, after all.”

Three? That’s quite a long time ago.

Father picked up the scroll and undid the aged, thin rope. Moments later, it was unfurled completely. He placed it gently on the small table between us, face-up.

What I saw on that scroll was something I had always wanted to see firsthand.

Two distinct patterns, each surrounded by a circular border with differing letters surrounding it. It was starting to fade away, probably due to the aged nature of the scroll, but it was still clear as day to me what those patterns were.

“Aetherian Symbols…” I muttered.

“Indeed.” Mother nodded. “But these aren’t just any other Aetherian Symbol.”

I blinked, my eyes still glued to the two symbols before me, but wondering what Mother could be hinting at. Then, she laid it out directly.

“They’re your Aetherian Symbols.”

My breath hitched. I froze in place.

This was something I’d longed to know for years, long before I ever regained my past life’s memories.

It was something always hidden from me by Mother and Father, and I knew better than to ask for a direct answer. I thought the only way I’d ever find out would be to purchase a Talent Scroll in secret and run the test myself.

But now… they were showing me of their own accord?

I raised my eyes from the parchment, meeting Father’s gaze. “But… why now? Why show me this now, after all these years of hiding it?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Well… you see…” Father rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. He let out a heavy sigh before continuing. “After everything you’ve gone through, and now that you’re older… I believe you deserve to know.”

Mother nodded along. But she kept her gaze away, staring at the snowy skies outside the window, as if reluctant to spill the words. “You deserve to know… why we trained you so hard. Why we kept you from the public eye for most of your life.”

There’s an actual reason for that?

I didn’t know how to respond.

“Take a closer look at the scroll, Carine,” Father said.

My eyes dropped to the scroll once more.

The Aetherian Symbols, or more commonly known as Talent Symbols, rested silently in mysterious dark red ink on the surface of the parchment. The ink was most likely blood… my blood, in fact. I wasn’t surprised by that, however. With how the ritual is performed, it was to be expected.

What shook me to the core… was the number of symbols inscribed on it.

Only two…?

From all the books I’d studied, and from my own common sense, most individuals have at least four Symbols if they were to be tested. Sometimes, there were cases where people would only be born with three.

But two?

I had never read such a case before. Not in texts, not in records, not even in theory.

That… can’t be right.

I analyzed the symbols once more, this time, focusing on the patterns’ designs.

Talent Symbols held no meaning by themselves. Only by connecting them to one another could you assume what Talent someone has. This job was usually given to expert scholars who spent their entire lives learning Talents and their intricacies. Only they can give out accurate readings, for a fee, of course.

But I had a feeling, with my eyes, I could do it myself. Right here and now.

The first one was a symbol that looked like an eye without its pupil. I immediately recognized its design. It was a symbol representing an [Eye]...

Okay, maybe that’s a little bit too obvious.

But unlike the reference images from books, there was text encircling the designacting as its border. They seemed to be in a foreign language of some sort.

I couldn’t understand what the words meant… or so I thought. Deep in the back of my head, something told me that the sentence meant something along the lines of “the gift of sight.”

…Okay, a little too obvious again, brain. Mind telling me something useful?

I didn’t waste any time and shifted my gaze to the second, and last, symbol.

It was… weird.

It wasn’t anything I’d seen before. It was a shape, but not a geometric one. One side was rounded, the other jags as if cut unevenly. Inside the shape were lines that formed some sort of pattern, curling slightly before abruptly stopping at the edges.

Needless to say, I found no resemblance to any of the documented Talent Symbols I had memorized, nor do I have any idea what it meant.

Then, I cautiously gave the text border a read. Once again, it was a language that seemed so foreign, yet so familiar. A voice in the back of my head tells me that the sentence meant… “the whole—”

And yes, the text does cut off suddenly.

What could this symbol possibly represent?

I stared at the second symbol harder with each passing second, as if glaring at it enough might make it make sense.

If I may assume… those two symbols seemed to represent my eyes. Eyes that could see every movement. Eyes that could replicate any action. Eyes that could see every detail.

However, I didn’t see any Talent Symbols that could connect to my two-bodied situation…

“Carine…”

Father’s voice broke my sudden staring contest.

I looked up at them, my eyes still glaring in confusion. But they continued as if it was expected.

“When we first saw the results… we were shocked.”

“Two symbols,” Mother said. “We had never heard of such a case before. Not even among the commonfolk, let alone nobility. We didn’t know what to do. After the scroll appraised your symbols, we should’ve sent it to the scholars to assess it. But we decided back then that was a risk we weren’t willing to take.”

“Risk?” I parroted, my eyes narrowing.

“If word got out that you only bore two symbols… I doubt it would end well,” Father said. “It would be a topic for ages, the families that had grudges against us could use it as a weapon, or you could even become research material for the kingdom.”

“Just the rumor alone could’ve ruined you,” Mother added. “I imagine a lot of snobs wouldn’t hesitate to call you defective, cursed, or such words.”

Father nodded slowly. “We… didn’t want you to suffer such a fate.”

So… that’s why they hid it.

All this time, they weren’t being secretive for the sake of it. They were being cautious.

I looked down again at the scroll.

There were only two symbols, no matter what angle I looked from.

“…I see,” I said quietly.

Still, something about it felt wrong. Like I was missing something important.

If they were this cautious of what this would mean… did that mean they had no idea what these symbols meant either?

I glanced up at them.

“...Did either of you ever try interpreting it yourselves?”

There was a silent pause.

Then Father exhaled through his nose. “I did try,” he admitted. “I bought books, any that I could find relating to Talent Symbols… But the books were dense. Even when they were written in plain language, the theories contradicted one another. I realized… There was no way I could interpret your Symbols accurately.”

So… that’s why there were plenty of books about Talents in the family library.

But… I thought those books were only the basics.

“However,” Mother said suddenly. She shifted her gaze to meet mine directly. “I wanted you to grow strong anyway, Talent or not.”

“I wanted to prove to you, and to them, that you didn’t need a Talent to be great. Even if you bore only two symbols, your will would surpass anyone with five or six.”

She paused, then looked away again, as if trying to hide her face. But from the faint reflection I saw in the mirror, I realized she had… a pained face.

“I needed to believe that if your Talent turned out to be something weak… or if it turned out to be nothing at all… that you’d still stand. And not just standing to survive… but standing above the others.”

Those words echoed louder than anything else in the room.

Was that really how she saw me this entire time?

“That’s why we have a question for you, Carine,” Father said.

I turned to him, silent but anticipating what they could be asking of me.

He placed his hand gently on the scroll. “Will you still follow your training? Even after learning all of this?”

I stared at Father silently, not even blinking. I shifted my gaze gently towards Mother. She still looked out to the snowy skies above.

I pondered Father’s question for a moment.

Two symbols… That meant at best, I could only have one Talent, and it was related to my eyes.

But was it really enough? Could I really survive in this world with just that?

In a world full of Talents, one of my bodies lacked them. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

But… was that really enough to stop me?

Was it really enough to erase everything they had poured into me?

…The answer was clear.

No.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “No, I won’t stop.”

I looked them in the eyes, convincing myself that this was the right way forward.

“I’ll keep training. I’ve come this far already, and I’m not going to waste it now.”

Even if I had only one Talent, I wanted to prove that Mother was right. I wanted to prove I could stand above the others, even those filled with Talents.

Father’s eyes softened the moment I answered. The tension in his shoulders eased, and he leaned back just slightly, as if something heavy had been lifted off him.

“I’m glad,” was all that he said.

My gaze shifted to Mother.

She hadn’t turned around. Her eyes still followed the drifting snow outside the frosted window. The silence stretched for a moment longer.

But then… I saw it. A faint curve at the corner of her lips. A very, very faint smile.

For as long as I could remember, Mother's approval never came through words. It was always in the smallest gestures. This, this was one of them.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ftefrrv.png]