Chapter 11:
That time I got reincarnated in the middle of a royal wedding..
“Illiana!!!”, the girl in glasses pleaded.
So she could say something, after all.
“You might not know this but I am not from Havendore. So let that be known, I don’t worship you like all the other people here. So, your royal highness, I’ll let one thing be clear. Listen well, because this is a declaration.”
“Oh?? Let’s hear it.”
“I, Illiana Enzo, will become the supreme magus and even you, the prince of Havendore, would be nothing before me. I’ll mark my name on the golden sands of history and then, you would be the one seeking acknowledgement from me.”
Is it just me or did she just blatantly imply that she’s seeking acknowledgement from me?
“I don’t care.”
In response to my carefree words, she bit her lips, on the verge of tears. Until glasses rubbed her shoulders, whispering something in her ear.
“I have nothing to say about that. I will not knock you down. Everyone needs a dream to live. But know this, before that dream becomes reality, you will still be insignificant to me.”
I walked away with Rumi and Lez. Whatever her convictions were, I really didn’t care. I had to focus on my next class. That was the plan until a few moments later,I was stopped midway by Lez. Once again, she had something to say about my behaviour. Give me a break already.
“Lez?”
“Voyan, you’re acting really strange today.”
“You’re angry that I put those two in their place?”
“No. They very much deserved it. But then, that’s not you.”
“What??”
“Y-You see, the Voyan I know.. The Voyan I befriended would never approach that situation in such a manner. He wouldn’t attempt to provoke the victims further or look down on them. He would even visit the wounded an---”
{sigh}
“Don’t be silly, Leslie. Why would anyone back down in a case like that?? Especially when they involved Rumi. What do you want from me?? A heartfelt apology made while I’m on my knees?”
“No, I would never suggest that.”
“See..I was planning on apologizing to them initially but then they shot themselves in the foot and started demanding bandages. No matter how much you hide it or word your way around it, I can’t be anything but royalty. Whatever it is you are asking for, it is simply beyond me.”
“I..I understand.”
She turned, leaving what just happened as a candle in the wind, as if it never happened. I didn’t want to remember it either. I understood what she said but also didn’t. Rather,I refused to understand what her words meant. We all walked quite a distance, making me question why the hell they made it so far from the previous venue. That wasn’t all. The deadly silence that the three of us had to deal with was too uncomfortable. The moment I tried speaking, I was interrupted by none other than Lez, again.
“Prince Voyan, I’ll be attending the spell formation class, it’s the other way.”
“So you mean we’ve already passed it??”
“Yes.”
“You should have told me.”
“It just occurred to me now.”
“Hmm??”
“Well, then. I wish you two luck. I hope you won’t be rusty.”
“Haha..Don’t you know who you’re talking to?”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t be worried when it comes to you.”
“Lez, let’s meet up again for tea before the day is over.”
“I’ll like that, Rumi.”
The third wheel finally took her leave and now, things were back to square one.
“Hey, Rumi.”
“Hmm?? What’s wrong?”
“Well, I just wanted to ask if I did anything wrong.”
“I probably would have said you’re asking the wrong person since you said you did this for me. But…”
“But??”
“You want the truth so I will give my thoughts on the matter. To start with, those students made the right call in a wrong manner. Venting all their frustration on Lez must have felt good, so I allowed them. It was too much energy to converse with them in the first place so I maintained silence and hoped for the matter to die down spontaneously. But then, you showed up and silenced them.”
“I see.”
With the way her words sounded, I felt slightly remorseful about what had taken place because it seemed like it was already under control before my arrival.
“I feel like it was appropriate to stand up for me. However, if you have to do it in a way that you normally wouldn’t, I’ll feel terrible. I don’t want you to change how you act because of me.”
“I see. I’m sorry,”
“No, you shouldn’t apologize. Not to anyone, not even to those wounded. At that particular moment in time, the place was a battlefield, and in a battlefield you have nobody to blame for your death. You can’t be crying about how unfair things were in the afterlife.In other words, anything other than silence makes you a sore loser.A sore loser and an utter fool. That’s what I think.”
She’s so hardcore!!!!!
“Besides, the students that targeted you were promised extra points if they could simply land a hit. And, it didn’t work out well so that’s that.”
I had no idea. So the instructor saw this coming?
“That’s right. I wonder why she doesn’t understand.”
“You know the answer to that already.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Your words were odd. You said whatever she was asking for was beyond you. You saw right through her the moment her words left her lips, right?”
I cleared my throat, the one doing the seeing through this time seemed to be Rumi. I’ll have to disappoint her, though.
“You’re only half right.” I said, as I lifted my head up and faced her with a smirk. She was a bit surprised that she was off the mark in her deduction and wanted to tackle it again, so as to get the perfect deduction but shifted her gaze and crossed her arms.
“Hmm? So what is it??”
“I don’t know exactly what she wants from me. But I know that I can’t fulfil those expectations.”
“I somewhat believe that but a part of me thinks otherwise. Well, if you don’t know, I will tell you. She doesn’t want anything. Rather, she doesn’t want anything from you. What she wants is protection.”
“Protection?”
“Yes. She wants to protect the basis of your friendship, so she needs that version of you in her head to remain that way at all times. That’s because, if it doesn’t go that way, then the friendship between her, a noble, and you, a man of royal blood will slowly lose its strength. In other words, she doesn’t want anything to affect your friendship.”
I now got a full understanding of things. She only pointed out those unusual things out of worry and nothing else. Indeed, to her, I might have been acting strange, but then it would not have been sniffed out to such a degree if she was not panicking at that point. So, for Lez, all I need to do is make sure that I can reassure her that her friendship with me is not at stake, even if I might act differently. I understood the mission, but then, I thought….
“Isn’t that rather selfish?”
“It is. It is better to be selfish than pretend to be selfless, don’t you think?”
“Being selfless is way more beneficial as it doesn’t make you a burden to anyone.”
“But then, as humans we are supposed to be selfish at one point or another. It is in our nature to want something or wish for something, no matter how big or small. It is as you said. The same way everyone needs a dream to live, you can also say they need a wish to be human.”
“Right. That logic gels well. I suppose I should indulge her a bit.”
“You know she acts like a little kid most of the time so that will be the best choice.”
It took me just a few seconds to process this but was I talking to Rumi?? I don’t know if I was already starting to feel the strains of marriage but I definitely knew one thing. My wife sounded like a completely different person.All this time that she spoke, I knew it was my wife talking but also, the image of the woman I married yesterday didn’t come to mind. I was quite shocked, almost to the point where my jaw could drop.
“So profound.”
“Hmmm??”
“It’s nothing. You just surprised me there a bit.”
“The way I talk?”
“Something like that.”
“Do you like it??”
“Like it?? It’s not a matter of liking it or hating it. It’s just..”
“Got it.”
I wasn’t done with my sentence but she made a safe guess and stuck with it, even though, in my head, I was true to my words. It wasn’t a matter of liking it or hating it, I was simply confused but I couldn’t tell her that. I should probably not have said anything in the first place.
“That reminds me, Voyan. Your fists sure pack a punch. I saw how you completely blew everyone away with one punch. That was really amazing.”
It kept me in spirals….
“That punch, huh? I feel a little embarrassed when I talk about it. Especially with you.”
“Come on, what is that supposed to mean?”
I could hear the tone of her voice change with every word coming out of those lips.. It kept me in spirals….
“I’m just that nervous, I guess.”
“Well, same goes for me, Voyan.”
Those eyes.. Are those eyes a lie?? My cluelessness kept me in spirals…
“A-Anyway, for that move. I thought of a name for it. Something that represents it in the truest form. Something simple yet heavy.”
“What’s that??”
“I call it… Heaven’s fall!!”
“Hmm. It sounds fitting for such an attack. As expected of you, Voyan.”
Stop showering me with praise.
“It’s nothing. I also watched you and Lez. You two should fight more often.”
“That will ruin the fun.”
“When you put it like that, you have a point.”
“Although, if there’s someone I will willingly duel, it’ll be Martial.”
“.…”
“I know, with the position I have, I should avoid fights with him.”
“Yeah. That’s best.”
“In any case, we are already late for class so let’s be on our way.”
The conversation left such a sour taste in my mouth that I was unsure whether or not she could see even a glimpse of displeasure on my face.As she walked ahead of me, there was a tiny detail that I happened to overlook. It changed the way I viewed her completely.
The building that stood in front of us looked similar to everything we had seen on the way. Finally, a building with a reasonable door size. The brown door wasn’t as thick and inside it, there was a normal hall with normal people staring at us again. I guess the mini coliseum really gave me a false impression of the general structure. As I said, we were being stared so much by the students who were all minding their business just a moment ago. I got tired of this real quick. I always wanted people to treat me like a national treasure anytime they so much as gazed upon my exquisite figure. However, now I realize that it’s more of a nuisance than anything.
As usual, Rumi led the way and I followed like a stray dog. We reached the room where said lecture was taking place and much to my surprise, it looked like a university lecture hall. It wasn’t congested but a reasonable amount of students were seated. There was a platform at the front, where the instructor stood. We walked into the hall and grabbed a seat in the middle, there was enough space for the both of us. I still didn’t know what this class was for but from the sword hanging on the waist of the grey haired man in front of us, I could guess that this was a sword practice class. Rumi was right, we were quite late and the man was already halfway through with his introduction.
“Ahem!! The class wasn’t this noisy a moment ago. I bet quite a few students must have found it difficult to hear me with all the noise present.”
He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his hands around his ears.
“Allow me to reintroduce myself. I’m Professor Oakendot and I will be taking over both the ‘theory of sword fighting’ and ‘weapon compatibility’ classes. A pleasure to be here, really.”
As expected of this academy. They took every aspect of learning seriously. I mean, it even made me, a non-sword user, interested for a lecture. It was fair to say it piqued my interest and the first impression of the lecturer boosted that even further.
“Enough of all that, I asked you a question earlier and you ignored me!!!!”
I looked at the direction where the audacious voice came from and it was in front of me. All I could see was the cinnamon coloured hair that was highlighted as he slammed the desk.
“Ohh? I guess I was also a victim of the noise. Pardon me. What did you say again?”
His chuckle was infectious as part of the class couldn’t help themselves and gave in too. This only infuriated the cinnamon haired man further.
“Is something funny??”
“Absolutely not. What was your question, Mr Martial??”
The whole class went silent. This was the man my wife seemingly hated. Just who was he???
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