Wrath of Envy

The world’s best magic academy, Athenya Institute of Magic, had an impressive record of producing excellent graduates. One of the reasons was their intensive combat training class for the third-year students.

Once the students started their third year of the advanced course, they would have combat training class every day, where they mostly did battle training. As for the first-year and second-year students, their combat training classes were mostly about how to improve their control of magecraft.

“Kyaaaaa~!! It’s Prince Henry and Lord Lucas!!” squealed a group of female students as they noticed the presence of the two young men.

The towering Athenya’s Clock Tower showed its hands pointing to nearly a quarter to eight.

Henry and Lucas had already been in the training ground early. As usual, the two were attracting so much attention, especially from the female students. While they were waiting for their next class, students from the other class also entered the ground one after another, and so did Annette.

Under the clear early-winter sky today, both of their classes coincidentally happened to be held at the same time and at the same place.

Annette noticed Henry and his aide easily the moment she reached the training ground. Obviously, it would be very hard to do otherwise, looking at the fuss the students made. However, the two young men weren’t aware of Annette, who blended in with her classmates.

The professors came shortly before the first bell rang, spreading out in several directions to make enough space for each class.

“Come on, go back to your own class! Don’t bother the prince! Let’s begin the lesson!” one of the professors said as he herded his students away.

As usual, Henry and Lucas won multiple battles again today and stayed in the ring. Both of them showed splendid performances, with the prince using earth-aspected magecraft while his aide used fire-aspected magecraft.

The two just couldn’t be separated from the noises of students being overly excited in every single round.

The girls in Annette’s class were also no exception, forcing their professor to remind them to keep their voices down every now and then. Meanwhile, poor Annette’s hamster heart wasn’t having a very good time, flinching over and over again each time they made a fuss.

“Alright! Next student into Prince Henry’s ring please.”

A male student walked slowly towards the ring with his head slightly lowered. His copper hair was slightly messy, and dark circles lingered beneath his eyes. His gaze seemed distant and empty.

“Okay, ready… start!” the professor announced.

The moment the battle started, the male student smirked at Henry in disgust. The prince noticed something was slightly off about his classmate’s behaviour. Regardless, he decided to focus on the battle for the time being.

The male student raised one hand, summoned several fireballs and shot them straight towards the prince. However, Henry cast his shield in an instant, blocking every single one of them.

The male student then raised both of his hands, summoning a huge ball of fire and launching it upward before curving back down towards his opponent. It made a pretty loud sound when it slammed onto the prince’s barrier before dispersing.

“Hm? What is he doing?” muttered their professor.

The male student had finished summoning large fire snakes before his previous attack completely dispersed.

What is he trying to do, launching an attack like that? thought Henry himself.

The winning goal of their battle training was to make the opponent out of the ring. That meant most of their attacks would be the kind that pushed the opponent back. If they couldn’t push the opponent out of the ring before the time ran out, the battle would result in a draw, and both of the students had to leave the ring. This battle was a great way to train their concentration, judgement, and control as a mage.

However, the male student’s last attack didn’t seem like it was meant to knock the opponent back. Right now, he even summoned fire snakes that usually were used to overwhelm the opponent instead.

Henry could see his classmate staring at him with a twisted smile before he made a gesture with his hands and shot the fire snakes to the sides, so they would circle around the inner ring from both sides.

However, the moment Henry saw his opponent’s gesture, he immediately walked a few steps backwards, leaving the ring, and stood right behind the spherical barrier. The fire snakes that chased after the prince then slammed themselves onto the barrier right before Henry’s face before being dispelled by it.

“Ignatius!!” shouted the professor.

Though Henry knew his barrier was strong enough to defend himself from the fire snakes, he had decided that this battle was futile.

Lucas, who was in the middle of his battle, instantly left his spot and sprang towards his master, standing in front of Henry, fully on guard. He scowled, his eyes burning with anger like a faithful dog ready to defend its owner.

The rest of their classmates who were watching on the side of the ring were all shocked.

“What is going on?”

“Why is he using fire snakes like that?”

The battle training was not designed to injure the students. If anyone deliberately used a spell that was overkill and harmed their opponents, it would result in disciplinary action.

But, forget about that. This male student here was trying to harm the Crown Prince of the Kingdom after all. There was no way it would only end in disciplinary action, would it?

Henry’s battle caused such a commotion that everyone from the other classes shifted their attention towards the source of it. Soon, they began crowding the scene with horror on their faces.

“Ignatius!! What are you doing?! Are you aware of what you have done?!” shouted the professor frantically.

The male student, with a big twisted grin on his face, nonchalantly left the ring as he summoned another fire snake, ignoring his surroundings. He only had eyes for his target, the Crown Prince Henry.

The other professors from the other classes then came to Prince Henry’s side, ready to protect him too. Meanwhile Henry stared right at his opponent through Lucas’s shoulder, expressionless.

He is clearly acting weird. What is on his mind?

“Your Highness, shall we leave?” asked Lucas, still fully on guard in front of his master.

“Ha! I knew it! The Crown Prince of Sheldiawald has tiny guts, everyone! Go! Run away with your tail between your legs! This battle has been won by me!! This is what my new power tastes like!!” mocked Ignatius in a loud voice.

His actions filled everyone’s faces with horror.

“What?! Is he mad?!”

“How dare he say such a thing??”

“That’s just insane!!”

Ignatius burst into twisted laughter. He indeed didn’t seem to have his sanity intact in everyone’s eyes.

“Every day, every day, you make the girls worship you like crazy!! So noisy!! So unsightly!! Are you a pleasure boy or something?! When your guts are so tiny?? Hahaha!!”

Lucas could hardly hold back his immense urge to attack the classmate in front of him this instant. To Lucas, the person standing before him now was a mere enemy.

“Ignatius!! Stop it right now!! If not, we have no other choice but to disarm you!!” the professor warned him.

While Henry was still staring at his opponent, he caught a glimpse of Annette standing among the crowd.

Annette was silently staring at him and his opponent, back and forth, with her face full of worry. She felt like she had to do something. She had the power to do so, after all.

However, just as she was about to make a gesture with her hand, Annette met Henry’s gaze. He stared directly into her eyes and gave a slight shake of his head, silently signalling Annette to stop.

The prince seemed to understand right away that Annette was trying to use her divine magic to save him, but that would reveal her ability and Henry wouldn’t want that.

Annette hesitantly lowered her hand, understanding Henry’s signal.

That seemed to be the best move. 

Fortunately, shortly afterwards, Annette’s professor, Mr Royce, suddenly appeared right behind Ignatius as his stealth spell faded. With his bare hand, the muscular professor knocked the male student cold in a single strike, ending his twisted laughter.

Annette silently sighed in relief as the teachers secured the male student.

“Are you okay, Your Highness?” asked Lucas.

“I am.”

While everyone’s eyes focused on the professors who were securing Ignatius, Henry’s eyes focused on the girl who currently stood still, looking guilty.

Henry would love to come to her right now to ease her mind, but given the situation, he decided it wasn’t a wise move.

***

“It seems we failed to lure that person out with such a small commotion.”

In the room filled with chemical tools, a woman stood behind her Lord as he focused on his work. It was a dimly lit room but it was enough for working and reading.

“Should I take care of that boy, my Lord?” said the woman again.

“No need. That girl will.” The man still sat on his chair as he answered shortly.

The woman frowned and said, “I believe you shouldn’t trust that girl too much, my Lord.”

“Who said I trust that girl? I just know what she’ll do,” he indifferently replied.

The woman fell silent, her brow furrowed.

Noticing that she didn’t say a word, the man turned and glanced at her.

“You know perfectly well that girl is just another disposable pawn, right?”

The woman stayed silent, gazing at the floor beneath her. The man put down his tools and walked towards the woman. His right hand reached for her cheek, and he softly pressed her lips as he leaned closer to her other ear.

“What are you jealous about, when you are this close to me?” he whispered as his left hand reached for her hip.

The woman’s cheeks flushed red.

“My Lord…”