"Shall we begin?" Ezreal asked as his lips curved up in a small smile.
"No need, half-brother." A voice Kora was familiar with resounded from behind him, as he tilted his head slightly to see Arcene standing behind with narrowed eyes, "All you do is use despicable deceptions to get an edge over others, and by the way did I mention, Void has already joined my faction," Arcene stated in a matter-of-factly tone.
Kora furrowed his brows, slightly frustrated, but remained silent. Arcene was still the same as if what happened between them last night was nothing but a mirage. She had a usual gentle smile that was not tender, but odious. She was the same Arcene, always planning to escape from her mother's shadow, unbothered by the fact that she lost her virginity to the man in front of her, unwillingly.
Kora was doubtful whether The Queen knew about Arcene's attempts to get the support of the throne and then make her pay whatever she had done to her daughter, but in the end, he had no intentions to open a can of worms.
Ezreal kept his smile and moved his gaze to Arcene, "Hello, Arcene, How are you?"
"I am fine, but your dog isn't," A slight curl of her lips, made Ezreal squint his eyes as Arcene took out a bloodied finger from her storage ring, "I have the whole hand... "Arcene smiled 'innocently' and looked around, "... but it would be too inappropriate to present it here,"
It was evident that the finger belonged to a man, as Ezreal slightly lifted his brows, clicking his tongue, " I told that idiot to not show off," His eyes moved Kora, he pursed his lips, and then after a brief moment of contemplation, he spoke, "If you weren't there, he would have sealed his cultivation to Rank-4," Now that Arcene has caught onto Ezreal, he didn't care about his spies being found out.
"Elliot?" Kora asked as he also had his doubts about him from the very beginning, Arcene lightly giggled, "A little spy my dear brother planted," She sat beside Kora, completely untroubled by the events that conspired between them not long ago, "He knew I would try to recruit both the Ace's,"
"How naive, if you can do that, I can do the same," A cold smile reeked Arcene's lips, Ezreal enunciated, "No wonder. He must have been targetted by all the people after the results were announced and lost his arm," With a shrug, Ezreal cordially smiled, "Nothing a few healers can't solve... "
"By the way, don't ruin my game, sis," Ezreal made some gestures and tried to shoo away Arcene like she was some dog, as Arcene's eyelids twitched slightly, "He is not playing with you," She declared as if Kora was her pet. Kora didn't like when someone was taking decisions in his stead but kept silent as the siblings' heated gaze alerted him to not interfere in between the two.
"What? Who are you to decide whether I play games or something else with my dear friend?" A slightly annoyed expression crept up Ezreal's face, as he turned to Kora with indignation written over his brows, "Isn't that right Void, my friend?"
Kora kept silent and looked at Arcene, as now even he felt something was amiss with the way Ezreal talked, Arcene smirked, and turned to Ezreal, "If you want to play I'll entertain you, but leave him alone,"
Ezreal visibly sighed and said confidently, "Then I will start," He picked up two cards, that were matching. Then, he picked two more, as the rules suggested, upon getting identical cards, the player gets another chance, and the result was the same. They were matching as well as he kept picking cards in pairs and all of them were matching. Soon he finished picking both the decks, with a hundred percent, perfect proficiency. Not making a single mistake, like a magic trick. Arcene didn't even get her chance to play that she already lost.
"Now... You owe me a favor, sis" A wide grin formed on Ezreal's face.
Arcene's lips curved upwards, as she reminded Ezreal, "I never made a bet, It was Void who did."
Ezreal was not pleased but then suddenly, chuckled "As guileful as always," He stood up as a white light flickered on his wrist, changing his appearance to that of a neat, handsome, and dashing Prince as if his previous attire was nothing but an illusion.
"I'll see you later my friend," Ezreal briefly looked at Kora, then walked up to the podium as hush discussions started among many groups upon witnessing the prince coming out nowhere and walking among them but Kora could swear he heard something along the lines, 'definitely will'.
Ezreal was one year older than Arcene and have been going to the Academy since last year, thus as a senior and the Prince of the Kingdom, he prepared a speech for all the newly admitted students and briefly introduced them to several things related to cultivation inside the Academy.
"How did he do that?" Kora inquired while looking at Arcene, "No idea," She shrugged as her eyes met Kora's, for a brief moment events of last night came to her mind, but it was gone like a puff of smoke in an instant, as she continued, "Though I know he has always been using trickeries," She gave a sly smile, "Looks like someone owes me one," Arcene tossed a talisman to Kora, "You are in my faction," She declared with a slight curl of her lips in an appealing tone.
Kora knitted his brows,
Did he even have a choice?
He did...
Either to accept or refuse since it was not the Queen ordering him as she probably had some plans for him, and he knew Arcene wouldn't do anything that would cross the bottom line of the Queen, like exposing his demonic nature.
Kora accepted the talisman with a fake smile plastered on his face... for his own goals...
"By the way, I still need to know about your relationship with Scarlet?" Arcene's eyes gleamed dangerously, "What was your motive in contacting her, or her reason in approaching you?"
"..." Kora remained silent for a moment as a single wrong step could make things difficult for the goals that he plans to accomplish using Arcene's faction,
A menacing smile crept up her face, "You could remain silent and I could tell about it to my mother... she would definitely like to get to the bottom of this," she threatened unabashedly.
"The same thing we did yesterday, Arcene... " Kora grinned which caused Arcene to furrow her brows, "If you don't remember, we could do it again... to... you know, jog your memories a little..." he made some profane hand gestures as Arcene grimaced.
To Arcene's fortune, a voice came from behind, that both of them were familiar with, relieving her from the awkward scenario.
"You vanished all of a sudden Princess...We have been searching for you,"
Cambering their heads, they turned to look at four figures approaching them. Three average-looking men with the cultivation of Rank-3 Elementary Profound Realm and a young girl who Kora has known since birth.
"Athelisia?" Arcene sighed in relief, "You came at the right time,"
"Hmm...?" Athelisia craned her head as her long, black ponytail whisked a little, her silver eyes shining with curiosity. She wore a black backless dress similar to Arcene but unlike her, she didn't have wings on her back. Athelisia was too enticing but Kora knew that she was highly narcissistic and rarely glanced at anyone.
"Meet Void, New member of our faction," As someone who knew about Kora's real identity, Arcene found it amusing to introduce Athelisia to her own cousin, "Also one of the Ace-level talents I talked about,"
"Void, she is Athelsia Le Blank," A slight giggle threatened to escape her lips, "They are..." Arcene pointed at the men behind Arcene who were frowning for some reason unknown to Kora, "Mike, Jerred, and, Felix," She then swiped her arm, horizontally, and spoke proudly, "The other members of my factions."
Kora dipped his head slightly, and the others courtesied, following his gesture.
Athelisia on the other hand slightly narrowed her eyes upon seeing the familiar face, and, figure, but Void's features were different at the same time, then she shook her head, blaming it on her imagination.
As Kora expected, Athelisia didn't give him a glance and turned towards Arcene, "Princess, did you get any information about him?" There was a tinge of concern in her voice as she asked with furrowed brows.
"You mean Kora, your cousin?" Arcene was not surprised by her request, as she thought Athelisia was worried about Kora. Arcene glanced at Kora from the corner of her eyes, and replied, "I believe he went back to Vrigaipis Marquessate and is still alive and well," At Arcene's comforting smile, Athelisia relaxed visibly.
Kora narrowed his eyes since he has never seen this hubris ever caring about him but blamed it on familial concern, as the saying goes, blood is thicker than water.
"And in a week, Academy will be fully functioning. Till then I hope you all could find a faction to stay with" Ezreal announced with a friendly smile, "Of course, doors to my faction are open as well... " He briefly looked towards Arcene and then turned his heels after his job of introducing everything to the newcomers was done.
Kora could discern the tension between the siblings but he would rather not poke his nose where it doesn't belong.
'Time for me to work as well,' A sly glint flashed through his eyes, as he had one week to set his plans in motion. Kora had a lot of food on his plate as he had to prepare for rituals, and at the same time prepare countermeasures against the tyrant Queen.
But when has fate let him do as his wishes?
As soon as the speech ended, Arcene got up and gestured for her Faction members to follow her. Unwillingly, Kora and the rest followed Arcene, silently. Arcene had a wide grin planted across her face that was anything but menacing in Kora's eyes.
Arcene led them towards one of many halls in her faction house, but upon entering everyone froze in their tracks.
Literally.
The entire room was frozen as two sapphire ice-cold blue eyes were planted on a wall.
'That Spectre again?'