When Haochen entered the hall, his first reaction was to look around for silver hair and a startling amount of jewelry. He found no sort of person fitting the description, so he internally sighed and glanced at his brother.
Sensing his stare, Ning glanced at him. "Are you alright?" He asked Haochen, placing a gentle hand on his brothers back.
Haochen nodded. As it turned out, he was the only one in his sect to be placed in the top sixty students, so while the other sects had at least two people in attendance, he was alone.
It wasn't that he was worried about being alone, in fact, he much preferred it. The only worry on his mind was shaming his father. He was sure that every sect present wanted to make their own people proud and become the next Grandmaster of the Living Realm, but to him, he could care less about what his sect thought of him.
He only wanted to make his father acknowledge him. With a sigh, he glanced around the room again, feeling every bit the character of a badly written zero to hero novel, quietly following the common unfortunate trope of never having his parent's attention.
There were many eyes that fell on him and his brother the minute they teleported into the hall, mostly female. "Stop worrying. Shing and I will be proud of you no matter what the outcome. Besides, even if you don't become the Grandmaster, you could definitely find a lovely wife here."
"I'd rather not. Royals are too bigoted for my taste." Haochen said, readjusting his sword on his left hip.
Ning laughed. "I'm not going to argue with that. It's better to marry someone within our sect. Ah! There's Kol. I'm going to speak to the headmaster for a bit, go catch up."
With that, Ning began to move away, but the second he did, Haochen was surrounded by several women.
"You're prince Haochen right?"
"He is! I've seen him at the Royal Youth meetings!"
"Are you all alone here Haochen?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you! Are you hungry? There's a refreshment table-"
"Are you thirsty?"
"Why don't we give him a tour?"
Haochen looked over their heads and began to walk out of the hall and into the courtyard.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"Don't be shy, we're all friends here!"
He kept walking till he'd crossed the courtyard. None of the students knew where the school was located. The information had only been disclosed to those in charge of training and teaching them, but from what Haochen could see, it was a beautiful place.
Cherry blossom trees surrounded the courtyard, with petals floating about serenely in the gentle evening breeze, and from the outside, Haochen could see that the hall was a massive, regal structure with intricately carved designs of previous Grandmasters. It was made of some sort of black stone. There were spiraling pillars surrounding it and a grand tapering staircase that led from it into the courtyard. The ground of the courtyard seemed to have an enchantment on it, and every step taken lit up the ground in a dreamy light pink for a few seconds.
In short, it was a beautiful place. He knew he couldn't wander too far, so he decided to make rounds around the large courtyard. There was quite a bit on his mind, and his last conversation with his father created a very uncomfortable feeling in his abdomen…
*FLASHBACK: FOUR HOURS EARLIER…*
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"I'm going to be so bored here." Shing said, crossing his arms.
"You should make some friends." Haochen said as he shrunk down his bow and arrows. They were both in his weapon room, the servants had already packed his bags so all that was left to do was choose and pack away his weaponry.
"You're one to talk, Mr. Loner." Shing said, scoffing and rolling his eyes.
"I'm a loner by choice, you're a loner because of your personality." Haochen said. Shing stuck out his tongue and went to lie down on the blue chaise near the wall.
"You're the only one from our sect going. I didn't realize our people were so incompetent. How could you be the only one selected?"
"It wasn't a very straightforward exam. I guarantee you would have failed that exam outright." Haochen said, packing away a few more items.
Shing made a face and threw a sheathed dagger at Haochen who caught it reflexively with a grin. "Has father spoken to you about being accepted?"
Haochen's grin faded. For a minute he stayed silent and then moved to stare between several swords that were hovering in the air.
"I suppose he's busy." He said eventually, selecting one.
Shing huffed. "Rude much. You wait here, I'll go call him. He should at least see you off-" He started, getting up to find the nonchalant king.
"Don't. Father has too much work today. He already knows I've been accepted; he doesn't have to say anything about it."
Shing twisted his lips uncomfortably. "Well… That's fine, I'll see you off today, and Shing will be with you too."
Haochen raised a brow at him with a slightly teasing smile. "Are you trying to comfort me?"
Shing huffed and looked away. "This Gege is an asshole."
Haochen laughed lightly and moved to ruffle Shing's long hair. "Thank you. But it's fine, really. Did you have lunch yet? Or should we go to eat together?"
Shing hummed. "I haven't, I'm sure Ning is hungry too, I'll go get him so the three of us can eat together." With that, the teenager walked off. Haochen looked back at the sword in his hand and exhaled.
He continued to look around the room but paused when he suddenly felt another presence. With a feeling of confusion, he turned to face none other than his father himself.
The much older man looked no older than a handsome 35-year old, but he had a cold, hard gaze with an expression that made him look like someone with killer intent, and with his arms behind his back, he looked as unforgiving as ever.
"Father," Haochen said, bowing respectfully.
King Feng looked at his son with a straight face. "You will be going to that school in the evening, correct?"
"Yes father, I am." Haochen said.
"Then, you know very well by now that I don't take kindly to humiliation."
Haochen stayed silent as his father walked closer and stopped right next to his face. He was the same height as him, but when his father spoke, he felt smaller than a two-year old toddler.
"Second-place to a truth blurter is nothing to be proud of. It's rather… disgraceful."
Haochen slowly nodded.
Feng stepped back and turned around.
"Do we have an understanding?"
Haochen kept his eyes down. "Yes, father."
"Good. Do not embarrass me any further."
Feng didn't offer a backward glance or waste any more words on him as he walked away, leaving Haochen to feel dejected as ever.
Quietly, Shing entered the room, peeking at his brother in a tentative manner. He'd gone to call Shing but after a minute he decided it would be easier to wait for Haochen to pick his sword(Since it was the last item on his itinerary) and go to find Shing together. He hadn't expected to come across his father talking to his brother like he was vermin.
But he'd hidden behind the door, and he had. And it was not something he'd heard before. He hadn't seen how his father behaved when he was alone with Haochen. He was sure Shing hadn't either. Now that he did, he felt an unpleasant feeling in his chest.
Haochen looked quite pale as he stood at the center of the room, still looking at the floor. Shing wasn't sure what to say to him.
"Gege… For what it's worth, I think second place is good too." He said eventually. Haochen blinked himself out of his daze and looked at his younger brother, his eyes slightly widening at realizing what his brother had heard.
Haochen opened his mouth to lie. He didn't want his brothers to know how his father spoke to him and treated him in private. He could handle his brothers wondering why his father treated him differently and never paid him attention. But, he wouldn't be able to stand them hurting over realizing just how much their father emotionally abused him, and him alone.
Shing shook his head before he could speak. "I've already heard everything. But… Why didn't you tell us this is how he… behaves towards you?"
Haochen didn't know what to say. He looked away from Shing to see if Ning was around and if he'd heard it too. When he realized he wasn't, he looked back at Shing. "Shing, there really isn't anything to be concerned about. It's called tough love. You get it, right? Can you not tell Ning about this?"
Shing looked at him with slightly watery eyes. He wasn't one to cry very easily, but he was so disappointed in himself that he'd never known or figured out how Haochen was treated, despite being one of his closest people. And Haochen was still lying to him, treating him like a child.
He dashed at his eyes then walked towards his brother, grabbing him by the arms.
"You will become Grandmaster. I promise you. I swear on it."
Haochen looked at his normally antagonistic brother with concerned eyes. Something about that statement, and the way Shing swore about something he really had no control over did not make him feel comfortable in the slightest.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
The sound of commotion made Haochen snap out of his daze. Curious, he walked up the stairs and back into the hall.
It was hard to miss the group of Verbatians whose beauty stuck out incredibly and dulled out all the other people in the room. They were laughing loudly and unnaturally, turning to walk away. The moment his eyes landed on the violet-eyed, dimple-smiled prince he felt his something in his chest lurch before he felt warm all over. His day was instantaneously better. It was strange how the thought of resenting Calibri for placing first hadn't even crossed his mind.
He watched Kol reach out for Calibri's arm and his brows furrowed, not understanding what was sort of altercation Calibri had gotten himself into. So he began to walk towards them. Milliseconds after Kol had grabbed him, the Verbatians had their daggers at his neck. To the untrained eye, it was as if they'd conjured the sharp instruments out of thin air. But to Haochen who had the eyes of an eagle, he saw how Alexei had pulled Calibri's arm out of Kol's hand, pushed Calibri behind himself, then reached into the left sleeve of his robe to unsheathe a hidden dagger fastened to his arm, and lurch forward to hold it against Kol's neck. The other Verbatians had done exactly the same, but their movements were so fluid and deadly quick that the whole step went unseen by everyone in the hall.
Haochen blinked and stalked towards the group quickly before someone lost an Adam's apple.