The morning after the royal summons, the world didn't let us rest, our estate erupted into chaos.
It started with Anna bursting into the breakfast room, her arms full of letters bearing various noble seals, her face flushed with panic.
"Your Grace," she gasped, "the marriage proposals... they won't stop coming."
"What do you mean?" my mother asked, though her voice suggested she already dreaded the answer.
"Overnight, Your Grace. Twenty-three formal proposals of marriage for Master Marcus. From houses across the Empire."
The silence that followed was deafening.
"Twenty-three?" Cassandra repeated slowly. "In one night?"
"Well," Lyanna said with forced calm, "it's not entirely unexpected. Males from significant families always receive considerable attention once word spreads. Remember when Lady Daven's son came of age? He received fifteen proposals in his first week."
"And Prince Adrian of House Goldmane had over thirty," my mother added, though her voice was tight. "It's... normal for valuable males to attract this level of interest."
But even as they said it, I could see the uncertainty in their eyes. This felt different, more intense than the usual marriage market frenzy.
"And more keep arriving," Anna continued, setting down the pile of letters. "The courier enchantments haven't stopped since dawn. Houses that have never had dealings with us, noble families from other provinces, even..." she hesitated.
"Even what?" my mother demanded.
"Even foreign delegations, Your Grace. Representatives from Valeria, Draconia, and Sylvana have sent preliminary inquiries about potential marriage alliances."
Now that was unusual. Foreign interest typically took months to develop, not overnight.
"Multiple-Empire attention," Cassandra mused. "That's... more aggressive than usual. Most foreign houses wait to see a male's awakened abilities before making approaches."
I stared at the growing pile of letters, each one representing some powerful woman who wanted to claim me. "So this level of attention is normal for noble males?"
"The volume, yes," my mother said carefully. "The speed and... intensity of the language, however..."
But that wasn't the strangest part.
The strangest part was what had started happening to me - effects that definitely weren't part of the normal pre-awakening experience.
The strangest part was what had started happening to me.
It began small - I'd walk into a room and suddenly every woman present would turn to look at me with an intensity that hadn't been there before. Servants who had been professional and distant suddenly found excuses to brush against me when serving meals. Even my own sisters were acting... different.
Then there were the temporal anomalies.
I'd be reading in the library, and what felt like minutes would turn out to be hours. Conversations seemed to stretch longer than they should, with people hanging on my every word like I was speaking profound wisdom instead of asking for more juice. When I walked through the gardens, flowers seemed to bloom more vibrantly in my presence, and butterflies lingered around me far longer than was natural.
But the most unsettling effect was what I'd started thinking of as the "lust aura."
Women who came near me - servants, guards, even family members - would develop this glazed look in their eyes, their breathing would become slightly heavier, and they'd find reasons to stay in my presence longer than necessary. It was subtle, but undeniable.
Yesterday, I'd caught Anna staring at me while I dressed, her pupils dilated and her lips slightly parted, before she seemed to snap out of it and hurried away with burning cheeks. One of the garden staff had actually swooned when I'd walked past her while she was tending roses.
Even my sisters weren't immune. Cassandra had started finding excuses to touch me - adjusting my collar, brushing lint off my shoulders, casual contact that seemed to affect her more than it should. Lyanna's analytical demeanor would slip when she looked at me too long, her ice-blue eyes warming with something that made me distinctly uncomfortable.
"The proposals," my mother was saying, rifling through the letters, "they're not normal. Listen to this one from Lady Morgana of House Blackthorne: 'Having heard rumors of a male of extraordinary... presence... in the Ravencrest household, I find myself compelled to offer an alliance that would benefit both our houses immeasurably.'"
She picked up another. "Or this from Duchess Vivian of the Northern Reaches: 'Word has spread of a young man whose very existence seems to call to something primal and ancient. I would consider it an honor to meet such a remarkable individual.'"
"They're writing like you're some kind of magical drug," Cassandra observed, though her voice was slightly breathless as she looked at me.
"Maybe I am," I said quietly, and the moment the words left my mouth, I felt a pulse of... something... ripple outward from me.
Every woman in the room inhaled sharply, their eyes focusing on me with sudden, intense interest. Anna actually dropped the letters she was holding, scattering them across the marble floor.
"Marcus," my mother said carefully, her voice slightly husky, "what did you just do?"
"I... I don't know." And that was the terrifying truth. Something was happening to me, something that was affecting every woman around me in ways that went far beyond normal attraction.
The temporal distortions were getting stronger too. Right now, this conversation felt like it was happening in slow motion, with every word carrying weight and meaning that normal speech shouldn't have. The morning light streaming through the windows seemed more golden, more ethereal, and I could swear I heard faint music playing from nowhere.
"The awakening," Lyanna said suddenly, her analytical mind cutting through the haze that seemed to affect everyone else. "These effects started after the academy envoy arrived. Maybe the proximity to awakening is causing some kind of... preview of what's to come."
"That would explain the proposals," my mother agreed, though she was still staring at me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. "If other noble houses are sensing changes in the 'monitor' about... whatever this is... from a distance."
Another pulse rippled outward from me, unbidden and uncontrolled. This time, Anna actually whimpered softly, and I saw Cassandra grip the edge of the table like she was trying to anchor herself.
"We need to be careful," I said, though part of me was fascinated by the effect I was having. "If this is what's happening before my awakening, what's going to happen after?"
"That," my mother said, her voice carrying a mix of pride and terror, "is what I'm afraid to find out."
As if summoned by her words, another courier arrived with more marriage proposals. Then another. And another.
By noon, we had received forty-seven formal proposals of marriage, three offers of political alliance, and two requests for me to simply visit various noble houses "to discuss mutual interests."
And with each proposal that arrived, the strange effects around me grew stronger.
Whatever was awakening in me, it wasn't just magical power.
It was something that called to every woman within its influence, something that made them want me with an intensity that bordered on obsession.
And tomorrow, it would be fully unleashed.
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A/N: Soon I will drop the chapter that will give us info about the powerhouses in this new world and the power system. Meanwhile, the awakening is here, question is, Are even ready?