In the back of the school, two boys had a noticeably identical swell about the size of a small fist growing quite nicely on their heads.
Neo eyes the two brats in front of him with his hands on his hips and warning glare on his face, looking a tad too irritated for his usual self. Both his fists were slightly red, but overall, he was fine compared to the two other aristocrats.
He stares at the boys in front of him helplessly. Serian and Lester refused to look at each other, scowling petulantly like two guilty delinquents as they nursed their injuries. Shameless, absolutely shameless!
The youth shakes his head.
He may be in his sixteen-year-old body, but that does not mean he can neglect his duties as the only full-grown adult with responsibilities. Serian and Lester were both injured, and although it's all just a few scrapes and bruises, Neo still considered himself as a qualified medical aid expert and would be utterly shamed if he didn't patch them up.
After thinking for some time--and letting the two boys sulk a little longer, he sighs.
"Let's go to the infirmary. The two of you look like you've been through hell."
Hearing the gentle tone coming from the demon-like boy a moment earlier, Lester and Serian shivered.
Believing that the older boy will likely beat them up again, they didn't dare say anything as they obediently followed the youth. In their hearts, they wanted to yell, 'but a majority of these injuries were made by you!'
Neo walked them into the school building and guided the two of them towards the infirmary. As he did so, he realizes something very important, although it is too late to regret it.
He has just committed lèse-majesté and laid a (somewhat) violent hand on the future Emperor of the Empire.
Fantastic.
He groans internally. He'll worry about that later.
The infirmary was empty when they arrived, although Neo wasn't surprised. For some reason, the nurse is always disappearing to who knows where. He sometimes doubts the school even has a nurse.
Neo had Serian and Lester sit on the only bed in the room and went to look for some gauze.
"You two behave. I will be right back." He tells them sternly, before disappearing into what looked like a supply closet.
The silence was tense and uncomfortable. When it didn't look like Neo was coming out anytime soon, Lester took this opportunity to assess the enemy.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked, crossing his arms as he let his face take on an intimidating look.
In return, Serian narrows his eyes, looking determined to not lose this battle. His lips twitch into a punchable expression.
"Wouldn't you like to know." He stated haughtily.
Lester scoffs. "Stay away from Brother Naza." He hissed.
The Crown Prince snorted. "What gives you the right to tell me what to do? You're just a caveman."
At those words, Lester saw red.
"How dare you-"
"Besides," Serian smugly grins, "Sir Odum said I was cute, cuter than Lione, his own little brother..."
"You...!"
"Is everything alright in there?"
Neo peeked in, only to see two find a shy-looking Serian with a shame-faced look and a pouting Lester.
Aw. So cute!
Neo had felt bad for hitting them, but they needed to learn that there are consequences to fighting. They had earned his ire when they didn't stop fighting, so they will have to live with the swelling until he gets the appropriate medicine.
"Don't aggravate those injuries even further, you two. I promise I'll be right out."
He didn't notice that the moment he turned away, Lester and Serian were glaring at each other once more.
Neo went back into the supply closet and rummaged around. Where in the world did the nurse place the salves?
As he dug through the shelves, his mind wandered back to the past.
Lester Dartmouth.
The son of the Dartmouth family, Lester is the third generation of the Dartmouth Household. From what Neo recalls, the Dartmouths commands a portion of the knights of the royal family, known as the Silver Raven Division.
In the past, Nazareth sought out Lester due to the talents of the Silver Raven. A knight division that specializes in espionage and other secret services dealt with a lot of information, and he wanted that in order to gain power over Aurelion. So, just like Elliot, Lester was one of the three boys who he swore secrets to.
From what Elliot had screamed at him during their conversation, Neo had thought Lester wouldn't want to see him anymore, especially when he decided to break off their connections through a letter.
He had known that the other was away in his own territory, taking care of his family's business while his grandfather fell ill. Lester had been gone since Neo came back.
But now, as he saw the same boy with the grey mop of hair and sharp, steel grey eyes, Neo forgot how young this boy was.
He should be the same age as Aurelion and Serian, maybe even a little younger.
It made him regret a little. His actions had been uncalled for, and inappropriate. How did he assume that a simple letter can cleanly break off something so intimate and fragile? He should have spoken to them face to face. Things might not have turned out so terribly and he wouldn't have hurt Elliot like that.
He smiles sardonically at himself. Even now, he is still hurting people despite swearing that he would repent for his crimes.
What a joke.
It wasn't right for him to cut ties with a letter, and he should have worded his sentences better. He can't keep thinking of them as simple "shady noble families."
These three boys were once his most trusted allies, and it is not fair of him to toss them away to rot just because he suddenly came back with new memories.
They aren't canon fodders, and he won't continue to treat them as such. They are people, young boys who still have so much ahead of them. And because of him, he had ruined their lives.
Neo knows that Lester is the most sensitive towards the issue of abandonment. It had taken him such a long time to make friends and allies due to the problem of blood status and lineage, so to have Neo address him with this issue of cutting ties, he must have been truly hurt by it.
Nazareth approaching him, well into his third and last year of Noble Academy's Junior division, allowed him to finally have people he can associate with without the backlash of judgment and humiliation. Just like them, he was a troubled boy with a lot of hatred for the aristocracy.
Neo is aware that Lester is very... bitter. Hailing from a baron family with commoner's blood running through his veins, he had a strong hatred for the nobility class.
But... It wasn't his fault.
Those a part of Aristocracy had treated him and his family with disgust, and so, what else was Lester supposed to do but sharpened his spikes? He didn't want to be harmed anymore.
Nazareth had taken pity on him and allowed the boy to stay by his side, tagging along like a second shadow. He had known what it was like to be hated, to be seen as a stain in this sea of pureblooded nobility, and so, he sheltered this boy under his wings and protected him within the safe and deadly circle of his own reputation.
He had been like a younger brother, someone to put his affections on and to dote on, because Aurelion was the one he was going to kill.
Neo hates that just because his relationship with Aurelion has finally approved, it made him neglect his own relationship with Lester. No matter what, no matter which lifetime, this boy will always be a brother he can cherish and care for, blood ties be damned. And it makes his chest hurt when he remembers that he never found out what became of him after he died.
Was Lester executed? Banished? Imprisoned? He will never know.
Neo wouldn't be surprised if any of these things befell on the boy, despite the terrible twist in his gut.
The Dartmouths had strong connections to the underground due to Baron Dartmouth's illegal dealings with the Castas Family and other criminal institutions.
Because of Baron Dartmouth's strong desire to defeat the Golden Lion Division, he resorted to these dealings, which tarnished the Dartmouth name and all of Lester's grandfather's hard work.
Thus, Lester was used as a scapegoat, the crimes of his father piling onto the crimes he committed with Nazareth and their group weighing down his on his thin shoulders by the time Nazareth's own downfall drew near.
His trial was supposed to be at the end of spring. Nazareth wasn't there to witness it.
By then, graduation day was already nearing and he had died, never learning of Lester's fate.
"Sir Odum, are you alright in there? You've been in there for a long time."
Serian's voice drew Neo from his thoughts.
"Ah, yes, I'm coming!"
He realizes that some time has passed, and he has spent way too long getting the first aid kit.
Neo finally found the salves he needed on the back of a shelf and gathered a roll of bandages and some cotton pads.
"Sorry about that. The medicine was hard to find."
Serian smiles brightly, although his demeanor still seemed rather shy. "It's alright. Sorry for the trouble."
Lester nods, his eyes edged with worry, which Neo quickly vanquishes with a pat on his head, gentle and careful of the swell.
Neo had been able to calculate the amount of pressure he was going to use on their noggins and pinpoint the most harmless area to punch into. He had been careful of where he hit, of course. He didn't want to give Serian and Lester a concussion.
He's a medical expert, after all!
As he shamelessly boasts this fact in his mind, Neo was unaware of a smug look and a dark scowl being exchanged behind him, too busy mixing two salves together into a finer paste.
When he turns around with the mixed medicine bowl, the two boys behind him went back to looking like innocent lambs.
Neo huffs a sigh as he approaches the bed.
"I'm the reason the two of you have matching swells on your heads. I apologize for that, but the two of you were acting like children. Don't fight like that again, alright? Or I'll make sure those swells will grow some friends as well. Now come here, I'll treat your wounds."
He ushered them closer so he could rub on the paste and wrap their heads firmly so that the paste has time to heal the swells. It was a quiet and relaxing procedure.
Lester and Serian soaked up the attention eagerly, although, for Serian, he was rather confused and left wondering if this is what it's like to have an older brother.
He knows that Nazareth had a dark period, but if he continues to stay this way, then Aurelion is one lucky guy.
Meanwhile, Lester is just acting plain spoil and wanting to be pampered.
As Neo finished up fixing the two troublemaking brats, he did not tell them that they looked incredibly stupid wrapped in those bandages. He had used the method taught to him during his internship at a hospital to treat the two. It is professional quality, but very stupid-looking and dunce-like. He feels that both boys deserved to look like this after fighting so aggressively.
"Alright. That should do it. Now show me the scrapes. I'll put some salves on those as well."
Serian went first, seeing as he had more major bruises on his arms and legs. Thankfully, his torso wasn't injured, so Neo did quick work putting band-aids on him and cleaning the cuts.
"You should go to class first, your Highness."
Neo told the boy when he was done treating him.
The Prince looked relucntant, but the youth was firm on this.
"You need to learn properly. I'm sure Aurelion is also worried for you."
He thinks back to Lione. Imagining the fretful eyes and expressionless face, he finally agreed.
"As you wish, Sir Odum." Came the downtrodden reply.
Neo snorts. "None of that Sir Odum nonsense. It makes me feel like my father. You can call me Neo instead."
He helps Serian stand up and hands the Prince something small and round. "Here you go."
The Prince looked surprised as he was given a piece of hard candy. Immediately, he cups the candy like it was some kind of treasure, beaming brightly.
"Then please, call me Serian!"
There was a short pause, a pause that made him hold his breath, but Neo eventually complies. "En. Good day, Serian." He says with a smile.
"Have a good day, Brother Neo!"
Watching as the Prince runs off, Neo shakes his head with a fond smile. The boy looks so excited about getting a sweet treat. He didn't have the heart to tell him that he had gotten it from the candy jar that the nurse has in that supply closet.
Snorting at this, he turns back to Lester, who had been sitting patiently and grumbling.
"Let's get your cuts treated as well."
He kneels down to work on the scrapes on Lester's knees. His injuries were less prominent. A majority of them were due to him tackling Serian and rolling on the ground. What a troublesome kid.
"Why did you want to break ties?"
The conversation begins.
When Neo doesn't answer, Lester purses his lips and continues, his voice becoming timid, and a little shakey. "You... you said that you didn't care if I called you-" He couldn't finish that sentence. Lester feels himself choke a little, just slight, but he swallows that uncomfortable lump and continues. "Did I do something wrong...? Is that why you don't want to be friends anymore... Brother Naza?"
Neo's head whipped up instantly. He finds himself staring into tear-filled eyes, welling up with pain and the pent frustration that no doubt Lester had been holding in for some time. He sucks in a breath, and it hitches.
"Oh... Lest, no. It's not like that at all. It's never you..." He drops the cotton ball in his hand and quickly places his full attention on the boy.
Deciding that a few scrapes and bruises can be treated later, Neo sits beside Lester and wraps an arm around him.
"It wasn't my attention to cut ties like that. I don't want to stop being friends with you, and Elliot and Julius. I'm sorry if I sounded like that. I wasn't thinking."
"I... I really thought..."
Neo sighs and pulls the other closer. "Don't worry. I won't abandon you like that."
There was sniffle, and something very snotty being rubbed against his shirt, but Neo allowed it.
"...Okay."
Was Lester's meek reply.
"Things are starting to change." Neo decides to be honest. "I don't want any of you to be hurt."
He lets his words set in and awaits for Lester's response. He desperately hopes that the kid doesn't think that he's leaving his side. Nothing can make Neo leave his side. So long as he breathes, he had long ago promised that he would be with him.
"En."
What an easy acceptance.
The answer had Neo widening his eyes by a few millimeters. And then he remembers.
The secret Lester had shared...
'I don't want to be alone anymore. The aristocracy is so cruel... My blood will never satisfy them, and whatever I do won't ever be enough, and everyone will just leave you once they get what they want. I feel so alone, and I hate it...'
He had been so honest, standing there without fully knowing who everyone was. He had been brave enough to go first when they had to let down their walls and reveal their deepest secrets.
Neo doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he opts for a sigh.
Elliot has already called him a traitor and no doubt that Julius is going to be furious with him, but Lester's reaction is rather odd, to say the least. But Lester... Lester forgives him and still intends for their friendship to remain.
Aish, this troublesome kid.
"... Thank you."
Lester feels a pair of slim, yet strong, arms wrapped firmly around him, and a chin nestled on his shoulder.
"Br-Brother Naza?!"
Sad tears all but forgotten at the sudden hug, he becomes bright red with embarrassment as the once tear-filled eyes widen with surprise.
Neo smiles softly, his face slightly hidden behind grey locks of hair.
He pulls back to see Lester's expression better, using his sleeves to wipe the remnant of tear treks off the other's face.
"What is it?"
Lester grew quiet as he stared a little, allowing the unexpected pampering to happen. Instead, his attention was on something else.
Brother Naza... smiling?
"... Nothing."
He looks happy for once. Has he been happy lately? Lester really hopes so.
Neo accepts the answer after a pause and languidly stands up.
"Let's go. I'll walk you to class."
He holds out a hand.
The boy looks at the pale, smooth hand, without any flaws except for the calluses between his middle and index finger from the pen he holds when he writes. For a second, he thinks it's meant to be that way.
"Okay."
Lester grabs the hand.
They leave the infirmary together.