Calibri nodded, looking at them innocently. "Yes, and he's a kind one. You were standing on my right that day, so you may not have seen him, but Alexei has."Calibri said, looking at Kreia after his first sentence.
Rion crossed his arms, pouting slightly. "And here we are, following you into the bowels of hell because we're worried you'll be harassed. Meanwhile, you've already made comrades, your Majesty."
Flora rolled her eyes. "Don't be jealous, his Majesty, is friendly to everyone."
Calibri smiled. "Don't worry. I know where my loyalties lie. I was only concerned about the condition of his heart. It sounded strange to me. If you get a chance, you should listen to it too."
Kreia pouted in a teasing manner, going to hug him from behind. "Calibri, what about our hearts then when you start treasuring your new colleagues more than us?"
Alexei grinned, playing along. "My heart is already breaking at the thought of it." he said, grabbing Calibri's arm dramatically. "The idea of such betrayal wounds me. How could you, your majesty?" He sniffed.
The rest of the group began to grab some part of Calibri and pretended like they were heartbroken.
"Dear heavens, why is it that everyone thinks I'm theatrical when the rest of you are really the dramatic ones? I've been framed, and used as a scapegoat, you sneaky fiends." Calibri laughed at the low wailing noises.
"Well, well, well. The 'Princess' is here."
Calibri stopped laughing and the rest of his group straightened up, looking towards the owner of the voice.
It was Prince Kol Damascus. His green eyes looked mischievous as he walked towards them,with his matte black and green armor looking quite regal as he did so with a few people from different sects flanking him.
"Is he talking to us, your Majesty?"Rion asked curiously.
While the Verbatian sect consisted of quite innocent individuals of good temperament, none of them had ever experienced true hostility. They'd read about it, but seeing it first-hand was not something they were used to.
Unfortunately, the group that had accompanied Calibri were not individuals who took insolence and barbarity very kindly despite their good temperament.
Calibri exhaled and pasted a smile onto his face.
"No, he's talking to me." He said.
"Why is he calling you 'Princess', your majesty?" Siegon asked.
"Apparently it's hard to tell if we're male or female." Alexei answered.
Kol was right in front of them, and he crossed his arms, looking at them with a smirk.
Calibri smiled and the others followed, giving Kol a respectful bow.
"Your Majesty, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Calibri said.
Kol raised a brow and looked at the eight of them.
"So many of you here. Why? Are you afraid?" Kol asked, smirking.
"Why should we be afraid?" Siegon asked.
Kol looked at him with a raised brow. "Who are you?"
"Siegon of Verbatium."
"Are you part of the royal family?"
"I am not."
Kol scoffed and moved uncomfortably close to Siegan's face. "Then you aren't qualified to talk to me. Peasant."
Siegon blinked at that.
"What did he call you?" Kreia asked.
"I think he said 'Pheasant', like the bird." Calibri said beginning to laugh. Kol looked at him oddly. "What?"
Calibri continued to laugh. "My apologies, I just imagined Siegan as a very large bird."
Tea began to laugh. "Come to think of it, he looks like a bird." Siegan made a face.
"Is it not pronounced 'Feh-zent'?" Rion asked, tapping his chin delicately.
"Prince Kol must know better however, since we do not have Pheasants in our territory and we've only seen it in literature, so if he said it is said with a 'P' then it is." Flora said earnestly.
Calibri laughed a little more and looked back at Kol. "What skill you have for giving nicknames, you'd get along well with my older brother. He calls us by many nicknames too."
Kol's eyes flashed.
"Are you mocking me?" He asked lowly. Calibri stopped smiling and looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"He asked.
"He said, PEASANT. All these people around you are commoners. PEASANTS. FILTH." A girl next to him said. She had curly brown hair and olive-colored skin. Her eyes were a cerulean blue and she wore a long midnight blue robe. The rest of the students in the hall began to pause their conversations and move closer towards the sound of the argument.
Calibri blinked. "What you mean to say is that he meant to insult my subjects?"
"And what about it?" The man to Kol's left asked. He had deep brown eyes, lightly tanned skin, and red and silver armor on.
Calibri exhaled. "Gaiya said we should laugh and walk away." Kreia's lips moved but to everyone else in the room, it looked like no sound came out. But the Verbatians heard it.
"I'm still skeptical about that." Calibri said back.
"We should avoid conflict. Let's follow what we were taught, your majesty." Seigon said.
"Ohhh, look how their lips are trembling, they must b-" The girl next to Kol started but before she could finish, all eight of the Verbatian group had burst into loud, exaggerated laughter, completely drowning out whatever she had to say.
They continued to laugh and began to walk away, still laughing loudly and animatedly.
"Hey!" Kol yelled over the noise and grabbed Calibri's forearm, but the moment he did so, the laughter stopped immediately and seven daggers were pressed up against his neck.
"You do not touch his Majesty. EVER." Alexei said to him, looking at him fiercely.
"Look at them! Their sect is trying to kill Prince Kol!" The girl next to Kol shrieked.
Calibri laughed nervously. "No, no. It's a colossal misunderstanding. My lovelies, let's put our daggers away." He said, pulling their hands away from Kol while their eyes continued to stab at him.
Calibri was not in a physical state to be manhandled.
"How dare you." Kol seethed.
"I apologize for any distress we may have caused; however my subjects were acting in my best interest under the impression that I would be harmed. If you wish to speak, we can do so without any physical contact." Calibri said.
"Are you talking down on me?" Kol asked.
Calibri shook his head. "It isn't like that, your Majesty. We are unaccustomed to the mannerisms outside of Verbatium. Our dialect is grossly different so it may seem as if we are, but we are most certainly not."
"Calibri?"
Calibri looked to his left and Haochen had made his way to stand next to him.
"Oh! Greetings." Calibri said, bowing to him politely, his group turned to Haochen and bowed too, ignoring Kol.
"I'm still talking to you." Kol said, going to grab him and force him to face him again, but before the Verbatians could grab his hand and throw it off their prince, Haochen had already grabbed Kol's wrist.
"What are you doing?" Haochen asked Kol with a raised brow.
"They were mocking me." Kol said.
"Did you not say anything that irritated them first?"
"Everything I said was true."
"No he didn't, he called us peasants and filth. We don't have an Upper class and Lower class system in our sect, so we don't have 'Peasants'. And we are not filth. We bathe five times a day on average. He speaks lies." Rion said.
"And they also said we're trying to kill him. We were merely forcing him to let go. She lies too." Kreia said.
"Wait a minute. Are you calling me a liar?" The girl tried to move closer to Kreia threateningly but Haochen stopped her.
"Excuse me."
Her eyes turned to him in shock. Haochen spoke to barely anyone except Kol. With his mysterious demeanor, body, and perfect features, he was the object of affection for many women including herself. Everyone wanted to get the attention of a man so dangerously attractive.
"Yes?" She responded.
"Please go away."
She blinked rapidly and looked back at the Verbatians, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.
Haochen continued to stare at her blankly. She looked at Kol and then back at Haochen, becoming increasingly anxious.
She didn't understand what was happening and why Haochen defended that Princess, but she slowly began to step back and walk away. He then looked to the person on Kol's right. Without saying a word, the man turned around and walked away as soon as Haochen's gaze had fallen on him. He'd dueled with Haochen before, and he knew he did not want to ever get into the man's book of enemies.
Haochen looked at Kol finally and raised a brow. "Peasant?"
"Are they not?"
"There's no class system at this school."
"Haochen, don't baby them."
"Stop bullying them."
"I'm not bullying them."
"Peasant?"
"So?!"
"So?"
Eight pairs of violet eyes flicked between Haochen and Kol. "They seem close." Alexei said. The others nodded.
"Well, they pulled out daggers on me." Kol said, crossing his arms.
"If you don't like it, then stop touching Calibri." Alexei said.
Haochen raised a brow and looked at Kol who made a disgusted face. "Don't make me sound like a molester." He looked at Haochen. "I'm out of here. You're coming with?"
"I'll talk to you later." Haochen said.
Kol turned to walk away but decided to spit out one last snide remark. "Don't spend too much time with them. You know they say male Verbatians are capable of fancying other men because they're so feminine."
"Oh yes! That is true. Verbatians can fall in love with men, and we can fall in love with women. We don't have a preference. It doesn't matter at all because our people have ridiculously high fertilities. Even if men marry other men, opposite-sex couples usually give birth to twins, triplets, or quadruplets. So our population is kept constant and everyone remains happy." Calibri said with a bright smile while the others nodded along.
Kol's eye twitched at how well Calibri took the insult, finding it creepy and abnormal how Calibri's eyes were twinkling so innocently at saying he could take on both genders without a problem, and he looked back at Haochen.
"As I said. For your sake, don't spend too much time with them."