Chapter 31

31 The Rumor (Part 1)

“So? How’s your exam?”

Anne blinked her eyes several times, she looks at Darla and David with a confused face, “What?”

“Oh, come on Anne, I don’t think you’re going away with just a what. We know that you were messed up, you got so late you almost got a dismissal!” Said David looking at his friend with a glare on his face.

The three of them are sitting inside a café near the Practice building, almost all of the exam participants are there, winding up after six hours cooped inside the room. She can hear whispers all over the café, her being granted permission to take the exam after being late is something uncalled for.

She took a deep breath and enjoy her berry-berry tea, “I don’t know what else I could say, I was late and even attempted to go back to the dorm, but then one of the exam committees was chasing me and let me go enter the exam room.”

“That’s it? You never ask them about how you can enter the exam room after violating one of the rules?!”

Darla pinched David and glared intensely at him, “David, keep it quiet will you, everyone is watching us!”

“Oh? You can glare and be paranoid, but I couldn’t?”

Both of them are bickering when something came to Anne’s mind.

.....

“Hey, David, did you put a note under my door this morning?”

David’s frowned at Anne, he seems confused by her question, “A note? What for?”

“Wait, both of you never gave me a note?”

David and Darla looked at each other, both of them befuddled by Anne’s question.

“Of course not, why do we need to write you a note, if we could talk to you directly?” Said Darla.

Something clicked on Anne’s mind, something, or if she could say, someone. She carefully collected clues in her mind, and then ask her friends one more question.

“Both of you said that someone told you to go ahead without me, who was it?”

“I don’t know, someone... a girl... Well, she lives with us at the Icarus dorm.” David informed Anne, and his eyes averted to a group of nobles outside, “Wait, that’s the girl, the blonde one.”

Anne and Darla look at the nobles, and Anne knew exactly who she is.

“You know her, Anne?” Asked Darla, she noticed a flicker of anger in Anne’s eyes.

However, Anne just smile at Darla and said, “Oh, just a little, I knew her brother.”

“Shut up! You befriended a noble?”

Darla and David seem excited about Anne’s acquaintances all of a sudden. She just smiled and shrugged it off, she doesn’t want any attention about who’s her friends, not after the whole situation about how she can manage to do the exam without any consequences. She looks at Heirim’s group once more, she knows her back is now a target, and she needs to do something about it.

Meanwhile, at the palace, Justice is being apprehended by his fathers, one of the high-ranking civil servants got the information about him and defended a silver pass recipient from getting an immediate dismissal. They were furious, especially king Leon.

“Son, what you were done today was the example of abusing your authority as the crown prince, and it never set well with me.”

“Father, I wasn’t trying to...”

Leon hit the table, his red ruby eyes locking into his son. For him, the crown prince position is sacred in the Valorian kingdom, a position where they need to find a suitable empress for the kingdom, where they will guide the woman of their choice to become a wise and respectable ruler.

“Leon... don’t be that harsh.” Ascend, the wiser one tried to calm his companion, he always has a soft spot for Justice, even more than his own son.

“No, Ascend, he is the crown prince, he needs to know, what he had done today is not something that will sit in the eyes of the ministers.”

Edward’s hand folded in front of his chest, and he let Leon and Ascend spoke, for him, observing is the key, he is never much of a talker. For him, protecting his family and the kingdom is his purpose, Leon and Ascend are enough for Justice to handle for now.

Ascend looks down at the floor and sighed, “Just tell me one thing, was the person is someone you hold dear to your heart, or you’re doing it out of pity?”

Justice’s eyes are looking around the room, to the aloof Edward, the furious Leon, and then back to Ascend, “It was both.”

His three fathers don’t have anything to say anymore, they dismissed Justice, and begin to have a discussion without him inside the room. Justice doesn’t even bother to stay behind, he calls Bernard to his study and begins his daily duty. As a crown prince, he needs to learn the government and begin to seek a potential suitor. As his father’s duty before him.

Something knocking on the window of his study room, and a big bird with silver and white feathers is perching on the tree branches at the terrace.

“Your majesty, it’s...”

Justice raises his hand to Bernard, “Silver Hawk, it’s Vale Familiar, I saw him.”

He open the window to speak to Vale’s familiar, the bird saw him and begin to speak.

‘Your majesty, Sir Vale needs to meet you at the usual place, tonight.’

“No, tell him to meet me at the palace, tonight, Henry will be here to help me organize the palace ball, anyway.”

Silver Hawk looks directly at Justice, ‘Of course, your majesty.’

He flies away with Justice looking at him from the terrace.

“Sometimes, I’m still terrified with the size of that bird.” Said Justice to Bernard.

“Not just you, your majesty.” Chuckles Bernard.

He resumes his work for a while, and when the night falls, Henry is already inside his study looking at him critically.

“What are you thinking, Justice?”

“Saving the girl, what else?” Justice replied to Henry with a challenging look on his face.

“That’s not what we should have done it!”

“You wanted to see her leaving the capital immediately because of the immediate dismissal?”

“No one is going to evict her immediately, and there’s always a way to let her do the exam afterward!”

Justice then gave him another answer to rebuke Henry’s reason, “But she will get a huge penalty by then, her grade will be among the lowest because of the penalty!”

“You never know that!”

“Oh, and you knew?!”

Before Henry could say anything, someone knocks on the door, and announce two new arrivals.

“Sir Vale and Sir Xavier, your majesty.”

Enter Vale and Xavier, who almost have the same expression as Henry. Vale even walk to Justice and poked at his chest.

“You have some nerves, really?! Do you think helping her in front of people will help her?!”

“Yes, and look at her now, she was able to do the exam without any penalty.”

“That was cool and all, Justice, but would you even consider the after effect?” This time, it was Xavier, although he had done it calmer than the rest of them.

Justice took a long sigh, while he sat on his desk, “I’ve never thought about that.”

“People around already whispering, even though they don’t know who was her savior’s identity.”

“Yeah, the palace intercepted immediately... How is she?”

The source of this content is n0v//el//bin[./]net'

The three of them don’t know, but Vale informed the others that he has already made an appointment with her, for tomorrow.

“I’ll try to ask her about it.”

“Why do you need to meet her tomorrow?” Xavier asked him while he poured a drink into his glass.

“For the ball, I want to buy her a dress.”

“Sh*t, I forgot you’re going to ask her to the ball.” Cursed Justice.

“Why do you even worry?”

“Because...”

Another knock came from the door.

“Your majesty, her majesty the empress is here.”

Justice groaned at his desk, while the door suddenly open widely, empress Liberty walked in with a fit of anger on her face.