At that moment Lirian finally found the only good thing about being blind was that he didn't have to worry about the camera flashes.
When the crowd saw the walking stick at first, they were confused, but the truth soon became apparent as Lirian pulled back, it was very unlike him, even on a normal day he would have his path blocked but he would push through calmly, but his reaction struck them as odd.
Lirian had always been eccentric but this would have to be a new low of him if he was pulling some sort of prank, but as they watched closely it became extremely apparent from his reaction that this was the truth.
They couldn't help but replay the scene in their heads, of the blood pouring out of his every orifice as he clawed his way towards the empress, not a single part of his face was left untouched by his blood.
And his eyes were completely dyed golden-red with popped blood vessels, the truth of what had happened to him was apparent to all, he was blind.
Lirian might have trained himself properly but even for the most skilled blind person, walking through a crowd was not good idea, if he had some internal energy that he could play around with he wouldn't hesitate to use Barrier Form Arts: Detection.
It would give him a good grasp of every last movement that occurred in his vicinity, unfortunately with energy control alone, it was a possibility.
Lirian retreated a few steps, a large part of him wanted to unless his energy control, and dye the ground in the color of all the journalist blood, the could see that he was blind but they only pushed closer as their filthy pig snouts sniffed a large scoop.
Lirian knew that if he even stumbled even once it would be bad for him, let alone fall, something so small and simple, yet it would lose him the support of so many he had strived to gain.
Lirian gritted his teeth, his mouth looked like a tight vise-grip that could crush anything that entered it as he sincerely considered pulling the energy around him to begin a massacre, he grew tired of the disgusting appetite of the journalist.
He knew that anything he said would somehow make one headline or another, and he didn't want to begin thinking about the humiliating headlines they would come up with.
Just as Lirian was about to give into his blood lust he felt a ring of energy surround him, "The prince candidate will not be taking any questions today," Anya's voice echoed through the crowd from inside the limo, "Anyone that wants to approach him will do so at their own risk."
Just a few short words from Anya and the crowds dispersed in seconds, as an aide of the empress many of her past deeds were wiped away from public records, but since she was an active empress candidate not that long ago, the memory of her blood-crazed might was still very vivid in their minds.
Lirian sighed in relief and muttered a short thank you, as he walked forward no one dared to step into the energy that surrounded him and cleared a path for him to walk through.
By the time he reached the elevator, he could hear hundreds of whispers about him being carried in the halls, when the doors shut the energy Anya put around him disappeared and he leaned against the wall of the elevator.
The voice of number 12 slowly started to wrap around him, "Remember now, they will see weakness in your blindness, those around you will use it to strike against you to take what is yours, your classmates will try to take your power and the candidates will try to take your glory."
"Now that you cannot see, they will insult you to your face with their pity just as the servants did at home," number 11 added with venomous passion in his voice.
"Shut up," Lirian said trying to keep himself calm, it was always like this with the voices, they would always find the most opportune times to drive the throne bearer mad.
"Mark our words, it will happen," their voices all resonated in his head making him grit his teeth.
He took his own time to get to class and arrived slightly late, as soon as he pushed the door open, he heard the students still and turn to look at him, from their reactions he could guess that the news already traveled, like the saying goes, news travels fast, bad news travels even faster.
"Lirian," he heard miss Hira call out to him as she came closer, but that usual sass was absent from her voice, "Let's get you to your seat," she said placing an arm on his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth together, he pulled himself from her grip roughly, "I know where my place is!" he did his best not to scream, that conversation with himself was already getting him worked up, and this pity party wasn't helping his mood.
Miss Hira just watched and did nothing as he walked to his seat while tapping the ground with his stick, it's such a pity she thought to herself, she had seen many candidates and she knew many that survived the trials but she admitted that he was the greatest talent she had ever seen.
In just 4 years he was almost done with the full syllabus of the entire academy, the full 200-year syllabus not to mention that he was the top student in every class.
Karen was sitting next to Lucas and muttered, "I can't believe it's true," with a downcast expression, after all, they had seen first-hand just how incredible he was.
"My family was just praising him a few days ago about his achievements with a sword, but it's not like that's useful when the swordsman is blind.", Lucas murmured, as he wondered how he had to report this to higher-ups.
In the school one person was looking extremely unhappy, it was Telamon Dao.
After that day he had been hoping that Lirian was dead, he had read his lips and knew that Lirian had somehow found him out, whatever Efrideet had done it seemed to work at first, but as soon as she did it she severed their connection and didn't contact him since.
Now he had to worry about what Lirian would say to Taliyah, it was dangerous, if she believed him, for now, he could play it of as the delusions of a child, but now that Lirian knew he had no choice the child had to die as soon as possible.
For now, he could still play on Taliyah's emotions, once he killed Lirian he would flee to the immortal realm and collect his payment from his superiors there, he dedicated his life to empire and it was time for them to pay up.
He struggle to convince himself to keep calm he knew Taliyah better than anyone else, if she learned the entire truth, she would give him no mercy.
He shook his head with regret, she was such a treasure filled with potential when he found her, but unfortunately, he overlooked one key aspect, and that was her irrational love for her children, something that disqualified her as a worthy leader.