Felix's POV :
12 days! I'm 12 days late for my reporting in the hospital wing of Escortia, and it's killing my sanity inside out! Why would mom go to that extent to hold me back for a stupid birthday celebration! I hate it now! Yes! I HATE IT! However this small break gave me enough time to reserve my energy and polish my skills, my left hand is all set to start the eighth grade sword skill and my right hand? Well it still needs time to heal completely. And I don't have any other coice but to wait.
The horse carriage came to stop infront of a giant railing gate, bringing me out of my trance. When I got down, the front view totally stunned me, the Escortia University complex situated over a hilltop, covered by a thick layer of various tall trees more like an average forest of its own which stretched out to miles of landscape. The university had its own authority and security system, including the rules that were hard to follow by all influencial classes and it had strict preferences over the reservation for every department, hence only few hundreds could get admission. How could I even get it when I am actually here to break all their restrictions! They don't know my backstory yet, I guess. Or maybe I got lucky.
Getting my usual luggages out of the carriage, I was busy paying the fair, when a strict, authoritative voice spoke "look who finally decided to show up?!" The voice was too familiar to not to recognise the owner.
Leaning against the pillar stood Henry Klein, the leader of The Knights, with his composed yet affectionate demeanor. His broad shoulders meant to carry a meaning to the society, sharp jawline that adorning with his prominent cheekbones and a pair of stark sharp eyes. His thick eyebrows earched with a mischievous glint.
"Henry!" I couldn't hold back my smile as I gave him a short hug.
Pating my back twice, chuckling lightly, he asked "how was the vacation? Everything okay with your mom?"
I knew that he would be worried about mom's reaction over my injury and honestly it was nothing to worry at all. Smiling widely I exclaimed "she is really proud of me!" Seeing his raised eyebrow, I clarified "it's true Henry! She actually said that."
"That doesn't mean that she will let us go easily on your third injury. Honestly Felix, I regret leaving you behind at Gyanlo on your own. If it wasn't for crown prince Matthew's men backing you up, we wouldn't have forgiven ourselves." He was taking all the guilt again.
"Henry, you were the last to leave and you made sure that I was safe and secured. That attack..." Suddenly realising our surroundings, I stopped. Changing the topic, I tried to enlighten his mood, "just know that it wasn't intended to me but my body being a magnet to injury, worked well. Now, can we go inside? I'm starving!"
His expression immediately softened, as he took the large trunk from my luggages, started walking towards the campus, mumbling "let's get you settled in your dorm room first."
Exhaling a long breath, taking the other two bags, I followed him by his side. I'll have to explain the whole thing later when I meet the other six. We were walking on a stone paved wide lane, totally covered by the shadows of those tall trees, the row was littered by the street lamps though, there wasn't any single soul except for us two of course and whom would you expect at this hour of night?! It was past seven thirty, almost dinner time!
"All the students are at the arena right now. Those who have Defence Strategy class are there for practical classes and who doesn't are there to watch." Henry broke the silence, exactly guessing my thoughts right away. I simply nodded, taking the note that Defence Strategy classes were held in the evening.
"Oh and I'll be there to guide you through your training, but you can't call me by my name there. It would be professor Klein for you." He had this unbeatable smirk on his face that made me feel so small.
Still unwavering, I asked "then the others will be like that too, right?"
Nodding vigorously, he continued "well you see your doctor Steven Kaiser is the head of the hospital wing so he'll be there for your major. As for supporting subjects; you have me in Defence Strategy and two other professors, and in Political Ethics, you have Palmer...."
"Wait wait wait! Palmer? As in Jace Palmer?" I interrupted him as it was too shocking to digest yet.
Henry's smile grew bigger as he answered "hmmm. It's surprising right? But he is taking things seriously now. Though he still needs to go a long way, he is trying really hard. He is here as a guest lecturer though, remember he needs to take the post of the prime minister after his dad, when Tristan becomes the king of the Kaisers?" As I nodded, he continued "he has got no choice then. Gregory and Howard both are in the Arts department, so you won't be able to see them often. However the troublemaker duo will be around you always, be careful about them."
Chuckling lightly, nodding my head vigorously I gave him a short salute "Yes, professor Klein!"
Then we talked about very random topics, the more we walked forward, the trees became thinner, the rows started getting branches, leading to the various buildings that started appearing in the clearing. These were probably security purposes, then appeared the teachers' dormitories, then the students' dormitories and they were all two storied buildings, numbering a lot. A little bit far there was another huge clearing, then a huge palace like building, the main academic area where all classes were held, except for medical and Defence Strategy practical.
"Here, your room's key. First floor, right corridor, last room, left hand. This year a few rules were changed in dorm arrangements. You'll have one senior student as your dormmate." Giving the keys to me, showing the first building on the right side of the road, Henry explained and I might've been seeing things as I got a glimpse of a slight mischievous smirk passing through his lips and just vanished immediately.
As I listened to him, my eyes darted to the two roads that branched out of the main road to the right side. One of them was completely vacant, one signboard standing on the other side indicating that it was the road to the hospital wing, so that was my road. While the other road was getting crowded with students, probably coming out of the arena. Some students were going to the dormitories, a few entered the building infront of me, shortly nodding to Henry. However the maximum were headed to the left side road that branched out of the main road too, the signboard littered with the word Cafeteria.
Some passing students were murmuring something and I caught two particular names, one was very known to me: Nicholas Hammond. The other being Harris Clive, I don't have any clue who that is. With confusion, I looked back at Henry who had the same expression plastering over his face with a bit of worry. As we both tried to pry into those gossips, we saw a very known figure approaching us, more like running towards us, the crown prince of the Kaisers, Tristan Kaiser.
Stopping abruptly infront of us, panting really hard, the prince engulfed me in a bone crashing hug, almost choking out the words "Felix! I'm over the moon to see you again baby."
He was literally crushing me, as i tried hard to get out of it, "Tristan.....Tris.....I.....an't.....brea....."
It was Henry who forcefully dragged me out of the hug, but his expressions seemed critical as he sternly stared at his own crown prince, who looked nervous all of a sudden. However that was it, Tristan looked at me again, then at Henry and suddenly he grabbed the older's hand and then strated dragging him.
" where....." Confused, I started to ask but Tristan beat me to it, "later Lixi. Right now your Prince Charming is in trouble and I need 'Authority' to rescue him."
As I started following them, Henry assured me, "don't worry about it. We'll handle it. You just go to your room, freshen up, then go to the cafeteria for dinner. You have Only 20 minutes."
Before I could protest, the two olders sprinted towards the arena.
My Prince Charming? Nicholas?! Nicholas is in trouble? He isn't that easy to be picked up. Then? Don't tell me that he got involved in a fight again?!
Few minutes ago...
Nicholas's POV :
"Nick. Nick. Nick. Nick....." The chanting went on across the arena as I finally found my footing on solid ground again. Panting hardly, sweeping few of my hair from my sweat soaked forehead, I looked at the eyes of my opponent which was unfortunately the crown prince Matthew Lawrence. His big doe like eyes were boring holes into my body, apprehending my next steps I guess, and to be honest I didn't have an ounce of energy left. Though he also looked tired, his chest falling and rising really fast still he didn't show any discomfort. For the nth time he rolled his eyes in annoyance, as he encouraged me to get up and make a move, was he actually being considerate of my drained position? or was he running out of patience? I wonder why?
So far we were going on tie in our points, now was the time to end this friendly duel. Huffing, I lifted myself up again holding my sword backward, aligned with my right shoulder, trying to point out his weak point, seeing this he smirked, he knew what I was planning, and I couldn't care more as I charged towards him, my legs ached, as a sharp pain shot through its muscle, and suddenly I was on my knees once more. It seems that before I could launch my attack on him, which he successfully avoided by ducking to the ground and then flagged on my legs with the sword's handle. I didn't stop at that, facing him straight, I lunged for his torso, and he was already standing straight, pointing his sword to my throat. This guy's agility is no joke and where did he get that from?! Well his mom, queen Fiona Lawrence is basically the current army general of the Kingdom of Toyre.
A few moments of silence passed through the whole place, as all the cheering crowds witnessed me getting defeated. Do I care for the cheers? No. After this match I got to realise that Matthew had caught up with me again. You may wonder how the hell we ended up here? Well you see we both are second year students, both having Defence Strategy as supportive subjects and two days ago our results of the first year's final exam came out, announcing me as the highest scorer in this subject and him being in second position. Since it was our first day in our second year, our professor Henry Klein suggested that we should have a friendly sparring, many pairs participated and obviously no one dared to approach the two ice blocks which was us of course. So the professor had no choice but to pair me with him.
Moving his sword from my throat, he bumped into my shoulder, patting my back lightly, he remarked "you were doing just fine then all of a sudden you became dumb! You surely need to be taken care of, Hammond." Then he just went out of the ring, jogging towards his lover.
Should I take that as a compliment or an insult cause it sounded like he was mocking me but at the same time generously guiding me. Whatever flipped in him does seem nice yet scary. Getting out of the ring, I simply started to collect my things from the waiting bench, when few girls approached me and I knew my first day had something stored which was definitely unpleasant. As usual the group consisted the popular girls in the university who had this ridiculous thought imprinted on their system that belonging from some wealthy and influencial classes, gave them audacity to meddle in someone else's privacy. They think I enjoy it whereas it's completely the opposite; I loathe the attention to my bones. Why can't they get it from my cold and non-existent response?!
Tuning off their constantly blabbering, my eyes again sought after the admirable couple, Matthew and his fiance Julian Hanson. The way their little gestures talk a thousand words, the way their eyes see their universe in each other's, the way they deny the whole world in eachother's existence, it reminded me of that short-lived bliss, I once had. The boy who always had thousands words to say yet I never got tired of listening to him, the way his twinkling stars like eyes would always blind me, just to make me see the world in a positive way, and the beautiful freckles spread over his nose and cheeks are the best art God might have created about him.
Felix, are you doing well?
I don't know whom I was asking at this rate anymore, since the boy had disappeared from my life a long ago. Only five years ago when the intrusion happened in the Hinoi royal palace, since when my only streak to happiness, my mom was abducted by some unknown gang members, I got the shocking revelation of his presence in there and they both were injured immeasurably.
Are they even alive? If they're, then why won't they return to me? Can't someone really give me a break from this constant hurt killing me inside out?!
"Looks like someone is immersed in too much pleasure." The comment snapped me out of my trance and immediately threw my mood into an utter annoyance.
There stood the least person I wanted to encounter on my first day of the term, Harris Clive. Just because his dad is from the university's administration, he had thought that he owns the university and you know just how much I hate such snobbish.
My eyes turning into sharp blades, I glared at him "what did you say?" My voice laced with venom.
However he seemed satisfied seeing how much he could get into my nerves, smirking he spoke "I asked if you're having fun Hammond?"
Now it was my turn to annoy him, Smirking, I retorted "if you're jealous, why don't you try to have some too?"
"Well you see my mother never taught me to seduce each and every fancy thing. Your mom might have been a pro in that for you to turn out like this." Then he and his little troupe started laughing.
My eyes darkened, my jaw clenching and unclenching numerous times, I could see crown prince Christopher Bennett and Tristan Kaiser approaching us from my peripheral view, one being solely worried about me while the other one being the temporary incharge of the arena in absence of the professor. The laughters were not helping me with controlling my boiling anger, it got louder and louder and suddenly my vision only could see red, my ears no longer in function as my right hand found it's fist thrashing against Harris's nose making a stream of the red liquid gush out uncontrollably.