Let's start over, Your Majesty.

Chapter 213 The birthday present is...
The ripples of spiritual energy slowly subsided, and Sia returned to this divine realm once more.

Beneath the grand hall was a long conference table, and a black-haired young man sat in a high-backed chair at the head of the table.

"You've come." Caesar looked at her and nodded.

Today is Sunday, the day she comes to learn magic.

She has now become accustomed to coming to the Heavenly Realm once a week to receive Caesar's teachings, and to the grandeur of the Heavenly Realm and its sacred atmosphere.

After exchanging greetings, she sat down to Caesar's left and took out the notebook she had brought.

“You did a good job with your spell condensation last week. By standard, you should have passed the low-level requirement. Review it on your own today, and I’ll teach you the mid-level spell condensation later,” Caesar said.

Spell control is a fundamental skill for mages, used to regulate one's own aura when casting spells. It is divided into three levels—low, medium, and high—based on proficiency and control. As a beginner, Sia has already mastered the low-level spell control and is progressing rapidly in this area.
“Okay, teacher,” Xia said respectfully.

She was just about to begin her practice when she saw a stack of manuscripts on the table in front of Caesar, and he was working on them with a pen.

That didn't seem to be a school assignment, which made Xia curious.

“These were brought out of the tomb. They are the manuscripts of the great sorcerer Elias, written in Hermog. His Majesty ordered me to decipher them.”

Caesar noticed Sia's curious gaze and answered frankly.

He has already deciphered the first part. Once the white nouns are further broken down, they will reveal the original meaning of the Hemog language.

This progress is already quite fast. As an ancient great sorcerer, Elias has a very high level of understanding of the Hermog language, which is not something that ordinary sorcerers can easily understand. Only an old man like him could decipher it for him.

"The tomb exploration is over?" Sia asked, surprised by how quickly Surna had acted.

"The first phase of exploration has ended; it seems only one tomb has been excavated. There will be more to come," Caesar said.

“However, I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can give you among the items they’ve presented as tribute. You can wait until the exploration is over, and I’ll sort them out so you can choose something,” Caesar said.

“It’s okay, I’m fine,” Xia said.

Caesar nodded.

Then the two fell into a temporary silence. Xia referred to her notes, practicing her skills again and again, while the scratching sound of Caesar sliding his pencil echoed around them.

After a moment, Caesar suddenly asked:
How are the preparations for your birthday party going?

“Everything is ready,” Xia said, putting down her notebook.

But then she revealed a displeased expression: "They call it my birthday party, but it's just a tool for them to expand their influence."

"There's nothing we can do about it," Caesar said calmly.

"Let's talk about something happier. It's your birthday, what gift do you want?"

"Ugh?"

This question immediately made Xia look up, staring at Caesar in surprise.

"No need for that, teacher," she quickly replied.

“After all, it’s a once-a-year holiday just for you, so it’s only right to celebrate it properly,” Caesar said.

He smiled faintly: "No need to be so polite with me. You've been doing very well lately, so you deserve a gift."

Moreover, given his current status, he is now considered Xia's elder, and according to general custom, he should give her a gift.

Sia opened her mouth and looked away:

"Then, any kind is fine?" she asked.

“You at least have to promise that it’s something I can do, just like last time,” Caesar said.

“However, gifts are best presented as surprises to create a more festive atmosphere, but I’m not quite sure what you want, so I’ll leave it to you to decide,” Caesar said. “So, don’t be shy, just tell me what you want.”

“Since, since that’s the case,” Xia suddenly looked a little awkward, and secretly glanced at him:
"Teacher, do you have a dance partner now?"

"Not yet, but... why are you suddenly asking this?" Caesar asked, puzzled.

"Well, I was thinking, as for the gift, could you dance with me at the opening banquet later?"

"Ok?"

"It doesn't mean anything by it. It's just dancing. I really don't want to deal with other strangers," Xia quickly explained.

Caesar gazed at her for a moment: "I remember, when I wanted to invite you to dance at the banquet, wasn't there a competition? Only the final winner was eligible."

"That's why," Xia said with a troubled expression, "This year they suddenly came up with this competition, and they want me to dance the opening dance with the winner. I couldn't even refuse."

“Dancing with strangers feels like I’m being asked to greet guests, I really don’t want to go,” she said in a low voice, resentfully.

“This is, after all, a good opportunity for them to assert their dominance and persuade their subordinate forces,” Caesar said.

"This method is to make everyone understand that this is an opportunity to show their loyalty, or you could say it's a pledge of allegiance. It's reserved for those who want to join the Unger faction or show their closeness. This way, we can understand the intentions of the various factions below, which is equivalent to making the members of the close faction public."

"Because of this, I'm still being used as a tool in their power games," Sia said sullenly.

"The thought of facing their faces makes me feel nauseous."

She then cautiously looked at Caesar: "So, so if it were you, teacher, there wouldn't be those problems, so..."

Caesar understood what she meant. Sia wanted him to participate in the competition at the banquet, and then, as the winner, invite her to dance, so that she wouldn't have to face those promises.

She had planned to ask Caesar for this when he offered to grant her one request, but she was afraid he would think she was being too dramatic. Now that he said he could grant her anything on her birthday, it was only natural for her to ask.

But judging from Caesar's expression, he seemed to be having some trouble.

"Teacher, don't you still not have a dance partner?" Xia asked.

"That's true, but I..."

Caesar wanted to say that he had already arranged to dance the first dance with Ita. If the little dragon really saw him and Sia dancing together at the beginning, he might mistake it for a real dragon.

"Is this gift not acceptable?"

Sia stared at him longingly, never expecting that this powerful princess could show such a pitiful expression.

Caesar sighed: "I understand. I will go then, but I'm not good at dancing. If I don't dance well and embarrass myself, don't blame me."

"No problem!" Xia immediately showed a happy and relieved expression.

"Thank you, teacher!"

"Is this all you need for your birthday present?" Caesar asked.

"Yes! Thank you so much, teacher." Xia nodded and said.

Caesar couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Then you'd better tell me what the competition will be about that day beforehand. I'll be prepared. It would be embarrassing if it's something I'm not good at and I lost the competition after agreeing to it."

"Well, I'm not entirely sure about that right now," Sia said. "They said they were afraid of it leaking out prematurely, so they didn't even tell me."

"However, I will try my best to find out the truth and tell the teacher no later than the day before my birthday," she quickly added.

"I hope it's not anything weird," Caesar thought.

(End of this chapter)