"Owie... ah sorry mister." The girl apologised profusely, bowing her head.
"Silly girl! I told you many times to not run through those doors!" The grandma shouted as she rushed over. Once she arrived, she bowed her head to Marlos. "I'm very sorry about this your highness, my granddaughter needs to pay more attention to where she's going..."
"Yo... yo... your highness?!" The girl blushed crimson as her eyes lowered to the man she's straddling on top of. She was beyond flustered now.
The prince on the other hand continued to stare at her, muttering the two same words, 'snow flower'.
"Marlos, are you alright?" I asked as he continued to stare at the poor girl who was about to faint from embarrassment.
"That headband, where did you get that from?" Marlos asked, dazed in thought.
"It's an heirloom that has been passed down from mother to daughter in our family for many generations." The grandma explained as she tried to help her granddaughter back up onto her feet.
"Those flowers, on the headband, aren't they the flowers known as the snow flower?"
"Yes. How do you know that?" The grandmother asked now showing immense curiosity.
"My mother, she's..."
"She was the chief's daughter of the Daloris tribe."
"Did you know my mother?" Asked Marlos, getting himself back on his feet.
"I helped raised her."
Marlos's eyes widened at her words.
"It's been ten years since the last time we've talked... now I regret not meeting her one last time before her passing."
"Would you two like to come tonight to see her grave? I'll send someone as an escort when the time comes. It would be nice for you to come and reunite with her. Besides me and dad, she's been isolated within this kingdom with no one to talk to. She had told me many stories of the Daloris tribe, the tribe of the snow flower."
"Thank you, your highness, I would love to. As the last surviving member of the Daloris tribe, I would love to say my final 'goodbye'," the grandmother said in a quivering voice as if she was about to cry.
"Wh - Wh - What?!" Stammered Marlos as he started to hyperventilate.
The girl who was standing beside the grandma, rushed over to the prince and held him in her arms as she sang a beautiful song in a language that I assume is from the Daloris tribe.
As she sang, the prince became calmer.
"That song, my mother used to sing it for me every time I go to sleep," Marlos mumbled as the girl held his head on top of her breast and under her chin.
"All better now?" Asked the girl and continued the song by humming the tune. Marlos looked more relaxed now and the grandmother had a smile on her face as she watched her granddaughter comforting the prince who was the son of her tribe's 'princess'.
"Thank you," the prince said with a smile as he rearranged himself back to the way he looked before. "I'm Marlos, what's your name?"
"It's Fina and I'm so sorry for what happened earlier." Fina fidgeted with her fingers as her eyes averted away from the prince. Her face blushed red as if she had a high fever and was about to faint.
The prince grabbed one of her fidgeting hand and held it in his own. Fina's eyes shot to their hands and a sound came out of her mouth. It sounded like a soft quiet moan but mixed in with a sound of a squeal.
It was kinda cute and her reaction had opened up an opportunity for the prince to take advantage of the situation, so he lifted her trembling hand up to his lips and kissed it. The girl's moan squeal was more pronounced and audible now.
"Wait... watching this scene, I've been wondering about something..." said my otaku self.
"And what is that?" Asked my logical self curiously.
"Wasn't the prince a psychopath? I mean he almost 'you know' to Stella and in our previous life, he killed her. Not only that but we read his profile, his story of who he is. This scene in front of us, the prince in front of us seems different, as if his whole personality changed. Do you think the mastermind ability changed him?"
"Now that you said it, I believe so but here's another thing to consider. We came to this shop because the prince wanted to buy a gift for his mother, there are many jewellery shops all around yet he chose this one. The granny was familiar with the prince as if he came here a lot, maybe the prince has a good side but also a bad one and somehow the ability took away the bad one?"
"Why don't we ask him later to really find out if this is true. I mean what's the worst that could happen? From the looks of it, he hid his good side really well. In rightful retrospective thinking, he might've just been a troubled kid who was moulded by his father after his mother's death."
"Rightful retrospective thinking? What a roundabout way of saying 'theoretical observation'... but very logical sounding. Have I gained an apprentice in the ways of logical thinking? Has the otaku become rational?"
"What? I'm no one's apprentice. We're both just inner thoughts of a teacher that's filled with pop culture knowledge."
As I pulled out of my thoughts before I started to think that these two are real and not two sides of my thought process... Marlos stood in front of me and I had to take a step back to stabilise myself.
"Let's go, I heard that the cooks want to talk to you."
"Ah... yes."
We both left the jewellery shop and when I took a quick glance the prince, he was smiling. He really seemed like a different person than the one I've seen at the banquet or in my previous life.
We started to head our way back to the palace, we passed many pedestrians whom took notice of the prince and some of the kids were even bold enough to approach him. The prince had a bright smile stilled plastered on his face, greeted the kids as if he was like an older brother to them rather than a glorified celebrity or a imposed authority figure.
"Marlos, if you don't mind me asking but I've been wondering for a while now but you've seemed different..."
"Different?" Questioned Marlos with furrowed brows.
"Yes. Before the incident, you had a different personality... now it's the complete opposite..."
"Ah! Yes... it's as I said when I told granny about you as my benefactor. That night, I was about to do a horrible thing to that poor girl. For the longest time after that, I felt my inner-self recoil in disgust about my disgraceful act. That night when you stopped me and saved the girl, you also saved me as well. When you used that ability on me, something within me had subsided and for the first time, I felt free. I don't mind if you resent me for what I did to your student. I won't deny what I did was horrible or the fact I'm an horrible person but I want you to know that you've given something I thought I've lost, the kindness my mother taught me. For this and the new life, I want to say thank you."
I felt my face reddened at the prince's words of appreciation.
"I see you've became smitten with the granny's granddaughter."
"She is beautiful and cheeky and intelligent."
"You like her?" I know it was a straightforward and direct question but I could tell by the prince's reddened face that 'I hit the nail on the head' so to speak.
"I won't deny it. For the first time in my life, I felt my heart beat."
"What, so you weren't a vampire?" I joked with a smirk.
The prince laughed heartily and with sincerity.
"I see why you compared me with a vampire and I admit that my past self was one. Your something else. Mr. Huang."
"Call me Ryan. You don't have to be formal, we're friends now after all."
"Friends? Yes. Thank you Ryan."
As we approached the palace gates, two guards saluted the prince as we walked on through. Guards patrolled the whole circumference of the palace whist the knights trained within in the walls.
As we walked passed a large group of knights in training, I noticed a lone knight of to the side observing with a solemn expression but his eye were filled with worry. As I looked closer, he reminded me of Gray... he is Grayson.
"That's the Knight's academy," stated the prince. "We had a large influx of new promising knight candidates this year."
"That person, off to the side, isn't that Grayson?"
The prince looked onwards to the person I was talking about and nodded in confirmation.
"Why does he looked worried?"
"Worried?" Questioned the prince as he looked at Grayson from afar for a few more seconds. "Let's go ask him why he looked troubled."
Once we approached Grayson, he hadn't noticed we were there, his gaze was still on the new recruits.
"Why do you look troubled?" Asked the prince, snapping Grayson out of his trance.
When the guard finally noticed us, he hastily saluted us.
"Sorry for my rudeness, your highness, sir!" He nodded to the both of us.
"No need to be so stiff with us, Grayson. We only came because you looked troubled."
"Oh? Well you see your highness, sir... Kingdom's Strongest competition is coming up soon and we're not ready..."
"What you mean we're not ready?" Asked the prince.
"Whilst this year's new recruits are promising, I've been assessing them from the sidelines for the last few days and most of the talented ones are not even committing to the training. They think they are above all of this and causing trouble for the rest."
"Do you think they are spies from the other kingdom's?"
"That was my first guess but the more I observe, the more I just think they are snobby nobles, forced to be here by their parents."
"I see..."
"How do you suggest we handle this? If they act up at the competition, we will be a laughing stock to the other kingdom's... even more so than before..."
"Even more so?" I asked curiously.
"Yes... we always come second place in the competition, never first. All other kingdom's call us 'second rate' due to us always holding the second position." Marlos explained.
"We need to fix this and soon."
It was then the two looked at each other than looked at me with a sly smile of their faces.
I got a good guess what they had thought and why they are now looking at me this way.
"Sir, we need your help."
"You're a teacher aren't you? We need your help to reign in these troublesome new recruits and maybe this year we could finally take first place."
I looked at the large group of knights in training and I could instantly tell which are the good students and which one are the bad ones. Whist my own students are good, luckily as my first experience being a full fledged teacher, I was also a high school student a few years prior and could tell from my past experiences which ones are the bad ones.
We had all sorts of quote unquote 'bad students' back in my high school years, those that wagged (skipped classes or ditched school), cause trouble in class or did things that were against the school rules. I was a quiet student and a introvert, so I was fairly unnoticed, which allowed me to observe my fellow classmates and peers.
I knew I wanted to be a teacher, so I had to prepare myself for these bad students by observing them and their behaviours. I learned a lot during high school and thought of ways on how to deal with them if I find myself in that kind of situation. Now is my chance and put in practice what I learnt.
I returned the smile to the two before I responded with, "I'll try my best."