Chapter 25: Stained Part 2
This was not Eliana's day.
Eliana sat on the ground looking stupidly speechless from the damage she had caused. She couldn't fathom the kind of trouble she got herself into.
"This is disgusting."
Eliana gaped at the ink stained boy. She watched him, his face hard with the look of annoyance as he tried to wipe the black marks using his blue handkerchief.
"I'm really sorry, let me help you." Eliana leaned forward grabbing the white towel she brought from her bag.
Just as she was about to press the towel on the guy's face, he gave her an angry look. Eliana stopped herself, she stared back at him with a nervous face.
"You are terribly clumsy. This kind of behavior is not suited for a future Knight." He spat, he challenged her with a deadly stare.
Eliana was stunned by his comment. She felt small under his criticism. It was understandable to her, this was all her fault anyway. She decided to accept whatever he was on about.
"Look, I'm really sorry. It was genuinely an accident." She explained.
The guy ignored her, he resumed getting rid of the almost dry ink patched on his skin. Eliana sighed grabbing her glass water bottle. She poured it on her towel making it wet and extended it to the guy.
"Here." She gave the boy a look.
The boy took the towel silently. He wiped his face clean, his hairline getting damp. He slicked his hair back for better access.
Eliana stared at him, the guy was madly attractive with his wet look. 'He looks like he's shooting for a face cleanser commercial', Eliana thought.
He suddenly stopped and met her eyes.
He suddenly tossed the towel to Eliana. She caught the now stained white towel on her hand. She nodded meekly before bending down on the ground. She utilized the used towel to clean the floor. She already thought of throwing it away after the boy used it to clean his face.
His rude attitude was a waste of his face.
"How disastrous you two." Lord Hanz caught everyone's attention including Eliana's and the boy. "The two of you are free to leave, clean yourselves." He motioned for the door.
The boy was quick to act leaving his chair to leave. Everyone watched him quietly as he walked towards the door. Before he could reach for the knob, Lord Hanz called out.
"Young lad, what is your name?" He was holding a paper with the class list.
The boy who stopped from his tracks didn't bother to turn around to answer. "Yehven Deimos, I'll see myself out. Pardon me." Those were his words before leaving almost immediately.
As the door closed, Lord Hanz shook his head.
"Tsk tsk tsk, already a record of discipline for Young Yehven." He tone was dripping with disappointment.
Eliana rose from the ground, completely relieved the stain was gone. She proceeded to clean her area of the long table. Aura who was beside her was looking at Eliana with glinting eyes. Eliana couldn't tell what those sparkly eyes were for.
'How ambiguous' She thought.
"Now you young lass, speak your name if you may."
Eliana stopped from cleaning the desk, whipping her head towards the professor.
"Oh." She blurted. "I'm Eliana De La Felinar sir."
"Interesting impression Lady Eliana." Hanz mocked. "Leave that desk and go clean up yourself. You are surprisingly improper for a noble Lady, Lady Eliana."
Eliana mentally gulped. This was it, it was the real deal. People are freely judging her for failing to be proper. She sighed, it was better to quickly get use to it by now.
"I shall see myself out Lord Hanz, my apologies." She even added a small curtsy to show how genuine she was with her actions. As if that would lighten the embarrassing incident.
She wanted to rebel then and there for acting like a sick princess, but the idea was obviously reckless. All she could do at the moment was act accordingly to her aristocratic title.
So it begins.
"Yes please, the Felinars will be hearing from this incident." Hanz casually informed as he wrote down on the paper.
"What?!"
Eliana failed to stop herself from her impulsive reaction. She quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands. Aura squinted her eyes at Eliana as the other people in the class gaped at her. They looked back and forth from Hanz to Eliana.
"I beg your pardon, Lady Eliana, but did you just now, shout at me?" Lord Hanz pointed to himself. He was truly insulted.
"I-uh-" Eliana stuttered. "I apologise Mr. Hanz." She lowered her head.
All she could think of at the moment was how much she sucked at her pretend-to-be-noble job.
"Darn." She muttered softly under her breath.
"How disrespectful." Hanz spatted completely hurt.
"Excuse me." Eliana nodded timidly before picking up her things at a speed to leave immediately.
She felt overwhelmed by the treatment and the whole situation. Her top priority at the moment was to leave the room. And she did so, successfully within a heartbeat, without another disaster.
Eliana could feel Aura's judgemental eyes following her as she closed the door behind her. She sighed as the door divided her from the people on the other side. What a start it was for her. She wasted no time and hurriedly stomped to her dorm.
Once she got there, she changed her mind like the complicated girl she was. She decided to just keep the uniform on and just wash her ink stained skin. The stain was hardly seen since the uniform was all black.
She rolled her eyes recalling the overdramatic reaction Yehven made earlier.
By the time the ink was rubbed off it was already lunch. Perfectly timed for her to go to Rimbrad's office. She left the books she brought from her morning classes and picked up a bread on the way. She arrived just in time along with the others who had the time.
"Eliana, have you had lunch?" Larsanel who was already inside the office greeted her with a question as she entered the room.
The two cousins were already inside sitting comfortably on the couch. Emery sat on one of the single couches looking impatient. The boys Anzai, Kylon and Bastion stood at the different sides of the room. Zathur's presence was nowhere.
"I picked out some bread from the dining lounge and ate it along the way." She replied.
"Awe, I was hoping you'd eat with us." Lars pouted.
Jett shook his head. "There's always next time, right Eliana?"
Eliana smiled. "Of course." She answered before facing Anzai to her left who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Where's Zathur?"
"He'll be here, let's wait." He answered calmly staring back to her.
"Why don't you sit, Eliana." Rimbrad grabbed her attention motioning for the couch.
Eliana nodded, she walked towards the couch sitting beside Larsanel. As she sat the door opened revealing Zathur. He scanned everyone who arrived earlier than him.
"My apologies for the late arrival." He closed the door behind him.
"You arrived just in time, find a place so we can start." Rimbrad instructed. Zathur walked to the side standing beside bastion. "Now that Zathur has arrived, what brings you all here, Anzai?"
Anzai gave the others a look before responding to Rimbrad. "Remove Eliana from her regular training classes." He didn't beat around the bush and delivered the intention forwardly.
Rimbrad, who sat behind his desk, leaned forward cupping his hands together. "Mmm, that's a difficult request students."
"It's not a request-" Kylon stepped forward. "Her illiteracy will be easily exposed by the other students if she trains with them."
Rimbrad nodded in agreement. "She is illiterate, soon enough the others will discover her. The Academy's reputation will be at stake."
"That's exactly why she's dragging us down Principal Rimbrad." Emery smirked. "The Ethereals are at risk because of her."
"Emery." Kylon warned.
Emery just gave him a look before looking to her side with a frown. The others were unsure of what they had to say.
"To be completely honest, I hate this." Eliana admitted. They talked like she wasn't in the same room.
Everyone darted their attention to her when she suddenly spoke up. The room fell into a deafening silence. The atmosphere shifted to a darker tone.
"I don't understand why I have to endure in this Academy despite being human. I get it, it's for experiment purposes, but don't you think the officials made a reckless decision about this? I never asked for any of this, I don't want this. I don't want to go through something harder than I've already been through for the past few days. I'm not invasive enough to blend in this crazy world. At least consider what I have to experience and feel about this." Eliana sighed tiredly.
The office was dead quiet after Eliana's confession. It was then that they realized she had feelings too. She's not just anyone who they can push around to protect their reputation from involving conflicts with a human. They were being insensitive.
"Eliana…" Larsanel looked at her with a guilty look. Eliana on the other hand, had her eyes trained to the floor.
Larsanel wanted to give her a bear hug, but the mood wasn't for it. Eliana was untouchable at the moment. The words she spoke were true and it created another divide setting her apart from the Praeditians. Everyone felt guilty. How hard it must've been for the girl to suddenly get dragged in such an unfamiliar world.
Rimbrad cleared his throat in the middle of the depressing silence. "We deeply apologize my dear Eliana. If only I thought more about you had I not made this difficult."
Eliana shook her head giving the principal a subtle nod. "Just don't be a jerk."
Emery raised her eyebrow. The two cousins and Bastion's jaws dropped. The three higher rankers trained their eyes on Eliana.
The way Eliana said it ever so casually made everyone else in the room gawk at her. She called the principal a jerk. For one it was disrespectful but she made it sound like she was talking to someone with the same status. Rimbrad was someone of higher rank, his rank demanded respect.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Eliana and the Ethereals gave each other a puzzled look when Rimbrad burst out a loud laugh.
"Jester, a true jester you are Eliana." He said, wiping a tear.
Eliana frowned. "What?"