A full year passed after the queen cut their budget.
Aster and Astra were now eight years old.
They were still royal children—yet their lives were nothing like royalty.
The monthly allowance they received was far below what even an ordinary concubine's residence was supposed to receive. Some servants had to be dismissed. Their meals became simpler. Their living conditions quieter.
But Aster never complained.
Instead, he worked.
Every. Single. Day.
Because in that year, Aster did something no mage in the kingdom—no scholar, no noble, no royal—had ever considered.
He invented recorded sound.
***
The idea came to him after the birthday celebration at the plaza. The crowd had asked them to repeat songs, again and again, even days later. People wrote letters to the mansion requesting performances, begging for more.
Aster realized something:
I can't sing everywhere at once… but sound can.
He approached the merchant lady—Arlienne's friend—who had helped feed the massive crowd during the birthday event.
"I have an idea," Aster told her confidently. "But I need help from magic stone engineers. Do you know any?"
She blinked. "Magic stone engineers? Child, what do you want to do?"
Aster leaned forward and whispered:
"I want to record sound inside magic stones."
The woman stared for five full seconds.
"…Record sound? Like storing a voice? A melody? And then… replaying it?"
Aster nodded.
She burst out laughing.
"That's impossible!"
Aster simply smiled. "Not yet."
Something about his expression—his certainty—made her pause.
Eventually, she relented.
"…Alright. I'll bring someone. But if you shock me again like last time, I swear—"
***
Working with magic engineers at age eight was absurd.
Yet Aster understood frequencies, resonance, and vibration better than any adult in the room.
Because he remembered from Earth.
And he understood Sound Magic, because he already had knowledge about sound from his previous life .
Together, he and the engineers tested hundreds of stones.
They shattered many.
They burned some.
Astra once accidentally screamed into a prototype and made it explode in a puff of pink smoke.
But after months of trial—
They succeeded.
Aster held a palm-sized stone that shimmered with faint mana.
"Ready?" he asked.
Astra nodded.
Aster sang a short melody into the stone.
The runes glowed softly.
He tapped the stone again.
And the melody played back.
Perfectly.
The engineers froze.
The merchant lady dropped her basket.
Astra gasped. "Aster… that's *your* voice! Inside the stone!"
Aster grinned wide.
"We did it."
They had created:
Sound Storage Magic Stones
– able to record up to a few minutes of sound
– reusable
– durable
– affordable to make in batches
A revolutionary invention.
Aster didn't know it yet…
But this would shake the entire magic industry of Vornis.
***
When Arlienne heard about the invention, she couldn't believe it.
"You… made this? At eight years old?"
Aster scratched his cheek. "I had help."
The merchant lady, hands on her hips, added:
"He had help, yes. But this idea?" She pointed at Aster's head. "This was all him. I've lived fifty years and never once imagined something like this."
Arlienne looked at her son more carefully.
His intelligence.
His creativity.
His memory.
His voice.
"He's too smart… too unusual for his age."
But instead of fear, she felt pride.
"Aster," she said gently, "if this is what you want to do… then I will support you."
Aster's heart warmed.
"Thank you, Mama."
Astra hugged their mother tightly. "We'll work hard—together!"
***
Once the stones were perfected, Aster made an announcement through magical newspapers and posters across the entire country:
THE TWINS' FIRST CONCERT — OPEN TO ALL
Location: Royal Capital Plaza
Entrance Fee: None
Special Feature: New Sound Magic Stones for Sale
Hosted by: Prince Aster Wynfall & Princess Astra Wynfall
The announcement shook the entire nation.
"Concert?"
"What is a concert?"
"Are the singing twins performing again?!"
"New Sound Magic Stones? What are those?"
"Is this free? Completely free? Impossible!"
Posters plastered every wall.
Newspapers ran it as the front page.
Merchants spread the word themselves.
Aster and Astra practiced for weeks.
They perfected harmonies.
They prepared new melodies.
Aster wrote original songs, driven by the passion of two lifetimes.
This time, they weren't performing privately.
This time…
They were performing for the entire nation.
***
Finally, the long-awaited day arrived.
The plaza overflowed with people—so many that the guards had to block several streets to control the crowds.
Stalls sold snacks and lanterns.
Magic stones engineers displayed the newly invented sound-storage stones.
A large stage stood ready, brightly decorated with blue and white banners.
People gathered from dawn.
Some traveled from neighboring towns.
Some camped overnight.
Some had brought gifts, letters, flowers.
Aster peeked from backstage and felt his breath catch.
"Wow…" Astra whispered beside him. "There's… so many…"
Aster wasn't nervous.
He was excited.
This was the first step of his dream:
Not just to sing—
but to spread music to a world without it.
He turned to Astra and held out his hand.
"Ready?"
She squeezed it.
"Always."
The crowd roared as the twins stepped onto the stage.
Cheers washed over them like a wave.
"Aster!"
"Astra!"
"The singing twins!"
"Show us magic again!"
"Bless our ears, little prince!"
"We love you two!"
Aster inhaled deeply.
This is it.
The moment we've worked toward.
The beginning of something much bigger.
He stepped forward, the spotlight of mana shining on him.
"Thank you for coming!" he called out. "Today, we sing for all of you. For this country. For the future of music!"
Astra raised her hand.
"Let's begin!"
And as the mana stones activated…
The first concert in the history of this world began.
*********************************
When the Royals meet the people:
Over the past year, life at the Wynfall mansion had grown both quieter and richer.
Quieter—because the palace sent fewer resources, fewer messengers, fewer signs that the king remembered them.
Richer—because Aster and Astra filled that silence with music, invention, and the warmth of people who loved them for who they were.
Their half-sisters, Seraphine and Lyria, visited often. They brought books, sweets, gossip, and affection. They played with Astra, teased Aster, and lifted Arlienne's spirits.
But their brothers…?
Aster saw them maybe once or twice. Always distant, always guarded. Not cruel, but distant in a way that felt sad.
And their father?
His appearances were rare. Fleeting. Almost fragile, as if approaching them risked breaking something unspoken between him and the queen.
***
When the news of the upcoming concert reached the palace, chaos followed.
"The prince and princess… performing for commoners?"
"This is unprecedented!"
"How shameful!"
"Royalty should not sing in the streets!"
"What are those children thinking?"
Nobles fussed. Ministers panicked. Guards whispered.
But above all, the queen raged.
"What insolence!" she shouted, smashing a porcelain cup against the marble floor. "What embarrassment! Royal children performing before peasants—peasants!"
Her maids flinched as she paced the room, one hand pressed to her slightly swollen stomach.
"But Your Majesty," a minister said timidly, "the people… seem excited."
"That only makes it worse!" she snapped. "The twins are drawing attention they shouldn't have."
She wrote three letters—each more furious than the last—ordering the concert to be canceled immediately.
All three were sent to Arlienne.
And all three received the same response:
"I want my children to do what makes them happy." —Arlienne Wynfall.
The queen's face turned so red that the palace physicians genuinely feared for her health.
But as her pregnancy progressed, her ability to argue waned. Her anger remained, but she stopped sending letters.
Perhaps she was too tired.
Perhaps she was distracted by the life growing inside her.
Perhaps, deep down, even she understood she could not stop the twins anymore.
Or perhaps she was planning something else entirely.
***
A few nobles suggested sending palace guards or decor to the concert to "save royal face." But Arlienne refused politely.
"We have all the help we need," she told them. "My children's achievements are theirs alone."
Even when the king quietly sent a few attendants, Arlienne declined.
Her voice remained gentle.
Her resolve did not waver.
***
And so, with the palace watching nervously and the nobles whispering behind fans, the day of the concert finally arrived.
The capital was unrecognizable.
Banners fluttered from rooftops.
Magic lamps glowed in daylight, shifting between blue and white hues.
Vendors lined the streets leading to the plaza, selling snacks, ribbons, and hand-carved symbols of musical notes.
Children ran with wooden toy flutes, pretending to be "Aster the Singer Prince."
Girls wore pale-blue ribbons in their hair, calling themselves "Astra's Fans."
Posters and flyers—distributed across the kingdom—had drawn crowds from far beyond the capital.
Never in history had a public event been anticipated like this.
***
Backstage, Aster adjusted the collar of his outfit. Astra checked the ribbon in her hair for the twentieth time.
"You nervous?" Aster asked.
Astra nodded. "A little."
Aster smiled. "Good. That means you are serious."
Their mother placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"You two… have already made me so proud," Arlienne said softly. "No matter what happens today, remember that this is your dream. Your gift."
Aster hugged her. Astra clung to her arm.
Seraphine poked her head in through the curtain. "Aster! Astra! The crowd is HUGE! I've never seen this many people outside a festival!"
Lyria stood behind her, eyes sparkling. "They're all shouting your names!"
Arlienne laughed softly. "Go on. Show them your light."
***
Meanwhile, some nobles also came to watch what was happening, but they couldn't get seats because , its already very crowded .
"Look at that turnout…"
"This is absurd."
"Why didn't the queen stop this?"
"She tried."
"The people… are really excited."
"Is this good or bad for the royal family?"
"I can't tell anymore."
The queen sat stiffly on her throne, fanning herself with barely concealed fury.
"This spectacle," she muttered, "will end in disaster."
But the king—who had been observing quietly—simply said:
"…Let's see what the children can do."
***
Backstage again, Aster peeked out one last time.
The entire plaza was packed.
Lanterns floated overhead.
Families held hands.
Friends laughed.
People waved signs with the twins' names.
Aster's heart raced.
A whole year of work.
A whole year of planning.
A whole year of dreaming.
This was it.
He turned to Astra.
"You ready?"
She nodded firmly. "Let's shine."
Aster stepped forward first.
Astra followed, clutching his hand.
And when they walked onto the stage—
A wave of cheers crashed over them like a living tide.
"Aster!"
"Astra!"
"The twins!"
"Sing for us!"
"We love you!"
The air sparkled with mana.
The amplification stones hummed.
The world felt like it held its breath.
Aster's silver eyes glowed.
"Thank you all for coming!" he shouted. "Today is a historic day—for Vornis, for Sound Magic, and for the people!"
Astra took a deep breath.
"Please enjoy our first official concert!"
The audience roared so loudly the stage shook.
Aster and Astra exchanged one last glance.
A nod.
A smile.
Then—
Aster raised his hand.
Mana surged.
And the concert that would echo across the entire nation…
finally began.