"Ms. Vernovela, I think I still haven't recovered fully. I am starting to hallucinate that some wretch is sitting beside me." Violet said as she raised her hand up to get her teacher's attention while Lilith made a horrified face when she called her a wretch.
The teacher blinked in surprise. "H-huh?" Even Vernovela was shocked at the sudden revelation of Lilith like the rest of the class who were wide-eyed watching the two, who seems to be holding a relationship they aren't expecting.
Since the teacher was spaced out, Violet took the chance to be a demon. "Really? You'll be able to exclude me today? Thank you." And with that, Violet quickly stood up even though she haven't gotten permission to and went out of the room naturally.
The princess of Grandbelle's jaw dropped when Violet passed through the door, she didn't think she would really go out. "Hey! Get back here!" Lilith shouted at the door, where Violet went out. "Why are you like this?! Won't you even say hi to your beautiful cousin?!" She frustratedly asked.
"You're no beautiful!" Violet shouted even though she was already outside, walking through the hallway. Unwelcoming her cousin.
The sentence thrusted right into Lilith's dignity and confidence "Ack!" Lilith exclaimed and mumbled; "You can treat me badly..." She breathed in, getting enough air as she prepares to shout. "But you can't call me ugly! Just so you know, I had a long line of suitors waiting for me in Grandbelle!" She shouted, boasting her suitors that she doesn't even see nor saw.
But she eventually shrunk and with a dark face, she looked away when she remembered something. "Although you have a line like that too."
"M-miss Grandbelle?" Their teacher called her with a baffled expression. Still not over the question running inside her head.
Lilith's face went back to normal when Vernovela called her name as if the pain of her cousin's words dematerialized. "You can just call me Lilith, ma'am." She said with a smile.
"O...okay then... But can I ask what is your relationship with Violet?"
"Ah, Violet?"
Lilith cleared her throat.
"She's my cousin."
Silence engulfed the whole room as the eyes of the people inside the room slowly widened at her confirmation.
"Cousin?!" The students exclaimed in surprise.
They never thought that something like this would happen. The thought of Violet, a blood relative of a princess, never slipped into their minds. And to think that a princess of Grandbelle is the cousin of the mummy they were cautious of is truly shocking that took them all speechless.
Lilith smiled sheepishly, showing her white teeth. "Hehe. Did we surprise you all?"
Delora stood up; the surprised expression still evident on her face. "You did truly surprise us, princess!" Delora said and paused when she seemed to get loss in her own words but she managed to get phrases and questions. "D-does Violet know you were coming to join us? She even put your desk away..."
Lilith's face twitched and looked away from Delora. "Maybe she saw this coming since the headmaster went out. Violet's good at foreseeing things even though it's not her ability to use. More likely, she was hunching at the things that might happen." Lilith helplessly shrugged and breathed out. "And most of them were right."
"So by cousins, you also mean that Violet... Is from Grandbelle?" Vantel asked, his eyebrows meeting each other. Giving Lilith a suspicious look as he can't accept what the princess did say.
Lilith nodded and smiled. "Yes. Although she suddenly disappeared and boom! Wrapped in bandages like a weirdo. Haha! I'll be talking about that with my mom when I return." She said mischievously.
She's more easy-going than Violet who was serious and unwelcoming like she was putting her walls up to refrain Lilith from coming into her life again.
"And to think she was bedridden when I came... Hmp! I won't give her grandma's gifts!" Lilith crossed her arms as she acted like she was sulking over her cousin.
"Lilth. Is it Princess Yana?"
Lilith stopped from acting sulky when their teacher asked her with a name that she knows who. The princess looked at the teacher and her positive aura suddenly lessened and became gentle.
"Yes. She's my auntie's daughter." She answered casually and looked away. Awkward as she confirmed who was Violet's mother.
Brian's eyes widened again and looked at his side where Theodore is. "Princess Yana? The one who doesn't want to handle the kingdom?" Brian asked Theodore who nodded.
"The crown would have been passed years ago when Princess Yana married someone but she rejected the throne and lived somewhere. No one knows where or if it's even inside their kingdom. All that the people know is they were living okay." Theodore said and he felt goosebumps as he finished talking. "To think that Violet is a princess..."
"She's a princess?" Neodelle, Vantel and Aaron asked, thrown off by the sudden revelations, an unbelievable expression was worn on their faces as they can't follow the conversation anymore.
They were thinking of her as a traitor yet she's even more than that. More important than a traitor, wanted criminal, or a noble.
"Princess Yana is a beautiful woman..." Virgo said. "I don't know where but I believe I saw her one day, two or three years ago."
"You saw her?" The rest asked while Lilith was just there, listening to them.
Virgo glared at the latter. "Hey. I told you the story when I met her right? You all don't even remember it?"
Lilith amusedly sighed at the Virgo's reaction and diverted the topic. "My mom and auntie share the same color of hair which is brunette but none of their daughters got it." Lilith shared and giggled. "Instead, we got our hair colors from our father's."
"You mean, you saw her face?" Lily asked excitedly. "What does she look like?" She added another question, pumped up, and looked forward to what Lilith was about to answer.
'Violet's true face!' The class curiosity lit up with those words.
They were intrigued and interested enough to be so attentive to a topic that holds how does the mummy of their class look like.
"Violet's face? The last time I saw her was when we were fifteen but I can still remember her face." Lilith closed her eyes as she tries to remember what her cousin looked like.
She was even smiling as she reminisced back to their happy memories. "Violet got her black hair from her father and I think she has brown? Black? Eyes. I can't remember but it was either the two. She's also beautiful and even got a pile of suitors when we were young."
"She's that beautiful?" Neodelle's eye twitched. "I refuse to believe that one." He said with a tone of disbelief
"No one's pushing you to." Vantel said.
"She's also physically beautiful! She has a lot of stamina and a great body. She always prefers wearing pants rather than dresses. I remember her hair being longer than her hair now. Ahm... What else?" Lilith's face started to crumple as she tried to remember other things about her cousin to share with her new classmates.
She's trying hard to tell them more. "Ah. I can't think of anything else! In short, she's beautiful!"
"Don't you share some similar facial features?" Lily asked but Lilith just shook her head.
"Sadly, we don't even look alike. I mostly got my facial features from my father while Violet's facial features are mixed."
"If she's really beautiful like what you're saying..." Everybody looked at Neodelle who suddenly talked. "Why is she hiding her face then? Did her face got burned?"
Lilith only stared at Neodelle who did not let himself be bothered by the princess' stare. It went on and on and no one was even looking away from Lilith's stare.
Even the teacher was watching the intense staring fight sight. She was enjoying herself as she pursed her lips from smiling.
Lilith's eyes squinted at him. "Are you an idiot?"
That got him dumbfounded. Even the latter almost laughed at her sudden response. He surely got enough of it this day.
"How the hell would I know? I told you, I last saw her about five years ago. I don't even know why she wore those bandages like she can't live with it." Lilith said and glared at Neodelle.
Brian rested his chin on his palm. "I have a question. Is she a genius?"
"Who? Me?" Lilith's face lit up and acted like a shy person afterward. "Well... I may be bad in my acade—."
"I was asking about Violet, though?"
"Then keep your questions yourself." Lilith quickly said with a pissed face. "Hey. I'm the transferee here. Ask something about me not about Violet! The baby needs attention, you know?!" She even pouted, making herself cute in the girls' sight.
"Now I know why Violet dislikes the idea of sitting beside her." Aaron said to Vantel and Neodelle who were gathered on the side of the room. The two nodded in agreement as they also see the reason why.
"She's a pain." Neodelle said.
"I think remembered what Virgo was saying earlier?" Vantel suddenly said. "She did describe her as a beautiful woman who never lost her elegance. She said she was shopping for foods before, right?"
The two's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would a royalty shop by herself?" Neodelle asked. "Princess Yana is a known image in every kingdom. How can she go out like no one will take advantage and kidnap her?"
"Exactly my question, Neodelle." Aaron said. "But if a kidnapping might happen, I'm confident to say that she won't be easily caught. Princess Yana is also known for hand-in-hand combat."
"Who did Princess Yana marry anyway?" Neodelle asked. "As I remember, her marriage was done privately."
"If we will talk about Princess Yana's husband, aren't we talking about Violet's father?" Vantel asked an obvious question. The three of them looked at each other.
From a distance, a pair of eyes looked at the three as they were talking about a specific person or should we say, family.
Her violet eyes seemed to glow like she was enjoying the sight and eventually averted her eyes away before she gets caught and blended with the rest of the class with her smile.
"We're talking about her family," Aaron said. "This is also what triggered Violet to be bedridden for three weeks."
"As what the Rioden cousins said, when she remembers them, her body can't suppress her building emotions nor her brain. What's the harm fn remembering her parents though?" Vantel asked. They were going deeper and deeper with each question that they ask to each other.
"It's either she went under some harsh treatments," Neodelle said while the two were attentively listening to him. "Or something happened to them that she wants to forget."
"Wait."
The two looked at Aaron who was completely serious right now.
The intense air around the three started to slowly spread throughout the room as the three didn't realize they were sinking deep inside a world only the three of them are in.
"Is princess Yana..." Aaron paused and gulped before he asked the question that he never wanted to ask. "Even alive?"
The two froze at their place.
The pair of violet orbs stared at the three which gathered the attention of the people she was talking to. She tilted her head as her serious face was not even budging a bit.
Her classmates may not hear their last question but to her, it was so clear after drinking a hearing enhancement potion earlier that day.
Her face grew darker as she stare at the three. She didn't like it but as long as their question won't reach the other's ears it was good enough to let it pass.
But...
'That's a harsh thing to ask... Don't you think?' She asked in her mind like she was asking the three.
. . .
"Headmaster Gordon, I see you've already arrived." I said when I approached him. I stood beside him while looking at the south wall, where we last talked.
I can't help but sniff when I smell some hints of perfume. I looked at Gordon and I saw him smiling at me. He seemed to know I was surprised to smell perfume on him.
"You see, your cousin pointed out that my body odor was so strong to the point that she asked for another carriage."
"Is that why you're wearing perfume?"
"Well, yes. I'm kind of embarrassed to be living my 60 years, being blind and unable to smell myself sometimes. I didn't even know that it was the reason why some students don't want to sit beside me." He made a helpless expression. "Your grandmother, Elizabeth, gave me an earful when I arrived. It seems like she just recently got the news that her grandchild is under —."
"I am under no one." I cleared it.
He sighed, accepting that I make some sense. "You're right. Having the power that you hold; you can easily kick me out of my title and take over in just a second. It's not good to hear that I have one more powerful than my friends with me inside these walls."
"Let me be clear, Gordon. I have no plans with your school nor taking your title away from you." I said and crack my knuckles with one hand. "What my goal is to kill the one who made me and my soldiers suffer and restore my homeland that she failed to burn into ashes."
"I know..." Gordon looked at me, gently and carefully like he doesn't want me to snap because of his little actions. "When will you head towards your kingdom?"
"Herlye will secure a date for that but it may take a couple of months. Meanwhile, I want you to give me the resources that I need as well as the news that we could use."
"Sure thing. But can I ask why would it need a couple more months before you head out?"
"Because..." The wind suddenly blows in our direction. I shifted my eyes at him which he noticed behind my bandages. "We would have to identify the princes and princesses in this school first."