Chapter 1

Prologue: Your Name Is Freedom

They say the day I was born, the first snow of the season fell early.

As people’s attention was momentarily caught by the snowflakes dancing in the air, a wail echoed through the room—and our family grew from three to four.

Thanks to magic, my parents already knew the baby’s gender while I was still in the womb, but they chose to wait quietly, eager to be surprised at the moment of my birth. Strangely, my twelve-year-older brother, Rector, had only picked out baby clothes in yellow, pink, and red—almost as if he already knew I was a girl.

After I was born, while I was just eating, sleeping, and occasionally moving my arms in my cradle, my family finally started thinking about what to name me. Until then, I was simply called “baby” out of worry that naming me too soon might bring bad luck.

They searched every word with a good meaning until finally, my name was decided.

Riventitia.

My mother hoped for a cute nickname since I was a daughter; my father wanted a long name because of the old saying that longer names mean a longer life; and my brother wanted my name to come from words with good meanings. All those ideas combined into this name.

“Rivi, your name means freedom. Live your life happily, unbound by anything.”

There’s a saying that your fate is tied to your name. So, I lived the free life my family wished for—running through fields and mountains, sleeping when I was tired, and eating my fill when I was hungry.

That’s how I lived until my tenth birthday, when an event shifted the direction of my life ever so slightly.

Imagine, I’m an ability user!

People on this continent develop various powers through training—magic, elemental spirit arts, divine energy, and more. The strength of those powers varies with each person’s talent.

But the one power you’re born with, from birth, is called an ability.

Abilities come in many types. They aren’t magic or divine energy, but powers ranging from moving a ball with your mind to changing the weather—a realm reserved for gods.

Even if a parent is an ability user, it’s not guaranteed their child will be one. My mother controls water, but my brother might control earth. Whether someone has an ability is decided purely by luck, so people call these powers gifts from the gods.

The problem was, what kind of ability did I have?

When abilities manifest, people nearby usually notice right away. Even if a ball moves the same way, magic changes the flow of mana—but abilities don’t.

Still, some abilities are hard to detect. So I was tested by someone who can identify ability types. The result was astonishing.

My power was the incredibly rare ability called Nullification!

What’s Nullification? Simply put, it means I don’t get hurt. For example, if someone threw a fireball at me, I wouldn’t burn. My power absorbs the mana behind the magic.

However, it doesn’t stop physical attacks. Shields that block physical damage are magic, not abilities. But there are ability users in the military who can create shields without mana, they say.

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Knowing my ability didn’t change my life much. I still woke up every day, ate my meals, read books or played, and spent my days much the same as before.

But one quiet day, that changed when my mother—who used to serve as a knight at the royal palace—sent a letter to her old mistress.

A reply came, asking if I could come to the Pretium duchy because they needed my power.

My mother’s old mistress was Princess Clemence, the emperor’s only younger sister, known for her radiant beauty. Now married to Duke Pretium, she was a very important lady indeed.

My mother hesitated, but my father and brother were firmly opposed. Our home was far from the ducal castle, I was still young, and most importantly, the letter didn’t say where or how my power was needed.

So my mother sent a polite refusal, along with a bundle of precious herbs from our land and warm regards.

No reply came. My mother grew uneasy, and my father and brother relaxed.

Two weeks later, when the white snow was piling thick and I was rolling a huge snowman in the garden, a visitor arrived at our home.

A pale-cheeked boy and a beautiful duchess holding hands tightly.

The first meeting of Ars Pretium, heir to the Pretium duchy, and me.

So began the countless moments we would share together.