A sharp pain ran across his tongue as he was left in an awkward silence. Before this beauty, he had stupidly bit his tongue while in a trance! At that moment, he wished that he could just go back in time and try to correct that while relive that feeling of being mesmerized by this ethereal beauty before him. There was blood dripping down from her cheek, but that only enhanced her mysterious beauty. Staring at her, he quickly engraved the scene before him in his mind. A beauty...
Her eyes of amethysts only further drew in his gaze enticing him to come forward and grab a hold of her weak and slim figure. Yet, the gleam of her eyes had him glued to his place as he longed to reach out to her.
Was this really a human or could it really be a goddess? But, gods don't exists and not all humans could truly be this beautiful...
In her slim fingers was the crooked and broken ones of what looks to be someone from under her. Yet, despite knowing that she must've been the one who broken them, he can't help but want to see her break them more. It was as if all logic had left him when he saw those pair of eyes and hair that lights up the darkness surrounding her.
"That armband..." The woman stared at him curiously, "Could you be a student from Octavinelle dorm?"
Her light voice brought him back to reality as he jumped in surprise, "A-Ah, yes... May I ask for your name?"
With a surprised look on her face, the woman huffed, "It's only proper manners to introduce yourself first before you ask others for theirs..."
"Ah, yes." Jade regained his senses and placed a hand over her chest as he said, "My name is Jade."
"Jade..." the woman got up from the man that had passed out from her "handling".
Hearing his name roll out of her mouth brought a sense of comfort as she added without a care, "You may call me Peony."
"Peony..." Jade recalled having seen such a flower in the greenhouse with the same name which brought a smile to his face, "It's a fitting name..."
Hesitantly, Peony watched him acting so unusually in silence and a slight sense of pride. She was happy that he liked the name her mother gave her, but was he affected by the poison to the head? There's something unusual about his behavior and its giving her the creeps.
"Apologies, master. My subordinates were incompetent and allowed one to sneak into the lounge." Crystal's voice echoed in her mind.
It didn't matter. She forgave her telling her that it was impossible to avoid a witness with someone as attentive to details as Jade living under their roof. Fooling him once was already the most they could do. To fool him twice was already just wishful thinking.
Still, Peony smiled wide and responded, "Thanks..."
For some reason, she still can't help but feel a little creeped out by this guy... She liked him better when she was still "Lotus"!
Thinking this, she thought carefully back to the time when she met a person in her female appearance. Back then, she was only a child guided by Maisey in the Land of Pyroxene and Scalding Sands. Then, there was the first time she left home to explore the Valley of Thorns with Maisey. She thought about using the potion she used on Ace, but she knew that Jade would be too smart to fall for her trick. Since it was like this, she may as well act as though she's met him for the first time.
Jade looked down upon her and was surprised to find that she was the size of a young teenager. A fairy? They've said that fairies can have a cute appearance while others can retain beauty. Could Peony have been a fairy? But, what fairy wouldn't mind having been near blood, much less be stained by blood. Moreover, her outfit was unique with a hint of elegance to it. Just who could she be? A fae, perhaps?
Suddenly, he began to feel a little light headed and tried to reach out to the nearby table, but his hand slipped and he elbowed the small table knocking over the lamp in the process. However, the crash that should've come after never came. Instead, he only found himself in a cold embrace as a cold hand touched his cheek. Instead of the scent of blood, a more soft and fragrant scent drifted by. It was an indiscernible pleasant scent. As he smelled it, his eyelids started to grow heavy as he realized what was going on. He quickly tried to look up again to get a closer look at the girl when he noticed the eyes stare into him as if looking into his soul. For once, he actually felt impressed by her as the darkness came over him.
.....
Jade opened his eyes and was surprised to find a piece of ginger in his face. He jumped up in surprise and looked up to find Lotus sitting next to him in a chair.
"You finally woke up..." Lotus heaved a heavy sigh in dismay, "Took you long enough..."
"Huh, Jade's awake?"
Suddenly, Floyd appeared next to her who seemed quite amused as he watched him with a wide smile.
"Uh... Where am I?" Jade slowly got up as he noticed the moonlight and Azul sitting by the window.
"You're in Ramshackle dorm, remember?" Lotus scowled.
"Um, did something happen?" He looked to her grumpy look in surprise.
"You tell me what you were doing in the lounge like this?" She took out her phone and turned on her camera before handing it to him.
He looked at it and was shocked to find a large black spot over his right eye.
"This..." Jade wondered in confusion.
Seeing his expression, the look on Azul's face shifted as well and said, "We found you lying on the ground in the lounge and brought you back to the room. What happened while you were in the lounge?"
"I was in the lounge?" Jade said in surprise, "So, it wasn't a dream...?"
"What wasn't a dream?" Lotus said with a look of confusion, "Did you start hallucinating from the foxglove?"
"Hallucinating?" Jade thought for a bit before shaking his head, "I think I was probably under some hallucination..."
"Did you?" Lotus thought for a bit before touching the bruise on his eye and frowned, "Is it painful?"
Jade shook his head as she concluded with a grumble, "Just what did you come across? It's not in pain and it looks god awful for it not to hurt... Did someone cast a spell on you? No, that wouldn't make sense since there was only me and Yuu here. Grim can't even curse anyone at the moment too... Meaning you offended someone before? It wouldn't tie in with the foxglove incident, right? No, wait. That wouldn't work otherwise, you'd be in pain or danger by now for the second time."
"Maybe not..." Jade said with a dry smile.
Floyd sighed as he grumbled, "Maybe it's just a spell? Hey, Azul! Can you fix it up?"
"I can't just 'fix it up'! I need some more information before I can see how I can help with this matter." Azul replied firmly with a scowl on his face.
"Eh? Really?" Floyd said with a grumble, "Ugh... This is gonna be annoying, then..."
"True..." Jade said with a heavy sigh and muttered to himself.
"School is about to resume soon too..." Lotus muttered in disappointment.
"That's not it..." Azul grumbled, "The two will need to talk with their parents in the morning. Now, Jade has a black eye. It will definitely cause a lot of trouble..."
"Eh?" Lotus looked to them in surprise, "Then, the two will have to return home?"
"No." Azul shook his head, "It would be impossible to make it back to Coral Sea right now. So, everything will have to be done digitally and with magic."
"We're not going back home yet." Floyd added with a grumble, "Our parents said that we can stay if we want, but, once they see that Jade has a black eye, they'll make us go back."
"Is that it?" Lotus said with a look of confusion, "For a second, I thought it was something even more troublesome than that."
"Hm?" Azul looked up to her in confusion, "It sounds like... you have an idea?"
"Well, yeah." Lotus nodded, "Can't he just use make up? I have some make up paste I made for an acquaintance in Pomefiore dorm. If you smear it over the skin, you can hide any injury for up to a day because the paste will use the surrounding skin as a camouflage. If you want, you can use it."
"Eh, just like that?" Azul looked to her in disbelief.
"Who said it was just like that?" Lotus huffed, "In case you forgot, I'm also a student in Night Raven College. If anything happens to the school, it would impact my school life. Not to mention, Jade was suppose to be under my watch and now he suddenly has a black eye when I turned my back for just a bit. If you can ensure that your meeting with your parents don't end in a catastrophe, then I'll hand the make-up to you."