Arlen returned with the others by dinnertime fully recovered and rested. But upset that he did not receive any of the three rewards Edgar was offering him if he won the fight.
When Olivia saw him arrive at the quarters building she approached him, grabbed his face with both hands and stood as if checking that no mark had been left on what she thought was a very pretty face. But for Arlen to see Olivia act like that raised his heart rate, making him blush and get nervous.
—Good thing you don't have any marks —Olivia said when she finally let go of Arlen's face—, otherwise I would have made a fuss until I was perfect.
Arlen didn't know how to react, he felt he had just been complimented and even though it was the first time he had been complimented like that he could only think of returning the compliment.
—Thank you very much, you are also very beautiful.
And when he said that, they both looked at each other without knowing what to say, in fact, neither of them knew very well what to do in that situation and Arlen decided to do a bit of theater like the people in the movies.
—The damsel would accompany me inside for dinner.
And Olivia laughed when she heard that.
—I think you have the wrong request, but I'll take it.
And the two of them set off for the dining room.
—Wrong request?
—Normally that's done when a lady is asked to dance.
—Oh, well, I don't know how to dance.
—Well, maybe someone can teach you, it's not too complicated so you can make the right request.
—Mmmmm, maybe I should then.
And they both laughed.
—By the way, even though you lost, I thought it was amazing how you dodged those stone pillars.
And Arlen smiled a little as he scratched the back of his neck.
—Thank you. Well, he did punch me pretty hard in the end, though.
—But I was surprised you didn't use your ability except at the beginning.
—Well, when I used my ability to parry her first punch I felt like I had used up all my ability to parry her. And even though I tried to use it again when he threw some pillar at me at the end of the fight I couldn't slow him down one bit.
—That's what classes are for, to practice.
—And how was the first class of the afternoon?
—It was with Lewa and we did like yesterday. We all ended up sweating again. It's a good thing I took a shower or I'd smell really bad.
And while they were both talking and laughing they arrived at the school dining room. They both sat down with their food together with Laia, Kevin and Caleb.
—Oh we have today's main character, how about Arlen?
Kevin put his arm around his shoulders and they started talking about the fight, about the first punch and the look of surprise on Charles' face when he took Arlen's punch.
—But you surprised me when you used the wall to jump over instead of jumping over the wall directly.
—Well, it just came out on its own.
—Hahahaha, what a genius.
And while the conversation was going on in a corner of the table, someone felt removed from the situation. He felt that he could have won from the beginning and did not understand so much joy for having lost a fight.
'Losing doesn't do any good. Losing doesn't win you anything and yet there they are, laughing and joking.'
Having tried a couple of bites of his dinner he got up and threw the leftover food in the trash. Caleb went to the room not noticing that the 4 left at the table had fallen silent and watched him leave without understanding why.
—What happened?
Arlen was the first to ask.
—Ah, I'm sure he got angry for not being the center of attention.
—What nonsense are you talking," Olivia replied to Kevin, feeling that it was an insult to her as well for being the heir to a family. I'm sure he's just tired and wants to sleep.
—Well, don't let him get up from the table like that.
—He can do whatever he wants.
And while Kevin and Olivia were arguing, Laia asked the other three a question.
—Don't you know why they call him the failed heir?
And after a moment of silence Kevin made a gesture as if he remembered something.
—Didn't the King's heir call him that?
—Yes. But do you know why?
They all shook their heads.
—The Wolfs and the Whites don't get along very well. Well actually the Whites don't get along with almost anyone....
—That and this are related. —At that moment Laia had the attention of the other 3 people at the table.
—But can you tell us?
Olivia asked Laia curiously. Although they both got along well, family issues used to be a taboo subject, especially when telling the family you belong to can reveal important things about you.
—Well —Laia hesitated, logically—, I guess what I'm going to say is a bit of an open secret for the family as well as for the rest... The main family is the most powerful of the White family and the heir is chosen at birth, it is that child who inherits the bloodline of the main family, a white tiger. From birth the heir is in hard training to be the strongest, but Caleb's results are supposed to leave much to be desired. I don't know the details, but they say he is far from the expected results.
Everyone is speechless. Caleb is weak? None of the people at the table believed that to be true.
—But that doesn't explain why he's angry. —Kevin said in a serious tone. —He can be upset with his family, but with us? It doesn't make sense.
After Kevin's words neither of them said anything.
—I'm going to go to my room.
And Kevin got up from the table leaving three people in silence who didn't know what to do.
—I think I should go with him and see if I can talk to Caleb... I'll see you guys tomorrow.
—See you tomorrow.
Arlen went to the room thinking about how to help Caleb. He had never been in the position to give help to another person, he was always the one who needed help and not that he had ever received much.
When he got to the room Kevin was in the bathroom and Caleb was in bed.
—Are you awake Caleb?
—Yes.
And after a moment of silence Caleb turned around to see Arlen's face.
—How are you doing?
—Fine.
Arlen was getting desperate.
—I just wanted to know what happened to you at dinner. You woke up angry, didn't you?
—Maybe.
—Because?
—You were bothering me.
And that straightforward honesty struck Arlen.
'We were bothering him?'
"I agree with Kevin, he's just upset about not being the center of attention."
That thought of Edgar's bothered Arlen quite a bit. He didn't want to admit that was what was wrong with him.
—What did we do?
—Mostly it was you that bothered me.
"I told you so."
'Shut up for a minute.'
Arlen was trying to remain polite to Caleb, but between the responses of one, and the comments of the other there was no one who could concentrate.
—What made you angry at me?
And for the first time Caleb hesitated to give an answer.
"I told you it was because you were being the center of attention."
'Let him speak!'
—It was because you were happy after losing a fight.
And the answer shocked everyone, Arlen, Edgar and Kevin who was listening from the bathroom to the conversation.
—I'm sorry?
—You lost a fight, you were humiliated in front of everyone. Don't you have a bit of pride to feel bad? Or for you everything is a rosy world where problems don't exist?
—That's...
—And on top of that you laughed as if nothing had happened. All my life I have been taught that being weak is not a reason to rejoice, and yet there you were, laughing like a little child. In my eyes I simply see a weak person who has no way to be strong and who laughs to keep from crying. You are weak and always will be.
And when he finished speaking he simply rolled over in bed. Arlen didn't know what to say, Edgar if he had a mouth of his own would be calling him anything but nice and Kevin was holding back the urge to break the door and slam it in Caleb's face.
In the midst of all that tension Arlen simply got up and walked over to his bed, but stopped himself before he got on.
—You're wrong Caleb. About everything. There's nothing I hate more than losing.
Arlen climbed into bed after saying those words. And although Kevin was still upset he had relaxed a bit before returning to the room.
The tension was palpable, all three were upset and none of them could get any sleep.