Chapter 1
"Eric Tudor, Rank D+." The whole class gasped upon hearing the words of an average-looking man. He was announcing the rank everyone had gotten in the class starting from highest to lowest, with D-rank the highest. And not just D-rank but the 3rd and final stage of D-rank, which meant it wouldn't be long before he broke through into the C-rank. For a fifteen-year-old, that was a remarkable achievement that even the announcing teacher acknowledged.
Achieving D-rank was not much of an achievement for noble children who relied on their families to get resources, but Eric had done that by relying on no one but himself. Though Eric was from a noble family, it was only a minor family, with the title of only a baron from a kingdom. Still achieving a D-rank was a show of his immense talent.
"Rose, Rank D." Despite the ruckus, the teacher continued. The class was once again astonished. Even more than the first time. Because this time someone with no second name, a clear indication of commoner status, had pulled off the rank the children of the noble families have to spend a lot of effort on.
And Rose was not just any commoner. She was a servant of the Cortum Imperial family which was the superpower in the world of Isis, the world named after the goddess of life. No one stood before this family and she was a servant of the fifth imperial prince of this family. The only thing that separated her from normal servants was her status as a slave servant.
That was why everyone was astonished and admired her talent disregarding her status. Even the teacher thought that it was such a pity for her to be a slave. She was this strong without proper guidance, one could only wonder what would happen if she was guided properly.
But as much as everyone was astonished by her, they also pitied her because this was not a piece of good news for Rose. Getting a higher rank than her master would be an insult to him and she would have to suffer the consequences. Even now she was in fear for what was to come.
Regardless, the teacher continued to announce other student's grades,
"Zefton Grey, Rank D."
"Sophien Vermillion, Rank D."
"Sasha Meynor, Rand D-."
"Layla Evergreen, Rank D-."
"Sera Wondercraw, Rank D-."
"Alicia mon Grante, Rank D-."
"Asmara Hayez, Rank D-."
He continued to announce the names of other students after that with ranks varying from E+ to E-. After naming the ranks of 40 more students he finally said a name that sounded more graceful than any other name but with the lowest rank, so low that it would not be an insult to call it pathetic.
"Adrian Von Deus Lux, Rank F-." The expression of the boy sitting next to Rose terribly contorted upon hearing those words. It was a wonder how a boy with such a graceful name and appearance could make such an expression.
Everyone in the classroom, though feeling contempt for the boy said nothing. Not even a murmur or whisper about his rank was emitted from the students sitting in the class. However, they still jeered him in their hearts.
He was a boy from the imperial family and they were not admitted to the academy yet. Insulting a member of the imperial family would be tantamount to sentencing them to death. Even more so when the said person was the son of the crown prince and a crown candidate.
But that did not mean that the boy with the lowest rank was not aware of their thoughts. He knew they were mocking him, although not on his face but that did not matter to him. However, he also knew that there was nothing he could do about it except hold it in. Although he was impulsive and full of pride, he knew his circumstances were not the best for him to be throwing his name around.
He turned to look at Rose who sat there with a frightened expression and clenched his fists, thinking, 'How dare she do well than me. Has she forgotten her place already? It seems I have to remind her of that again.' Though those were his inner thoughts, everyone in the room could tell exactly what he was thinking.
Everyone including the teacher felt pity for Rose but they knew there was nothing they could do about it. Although Rose was a talented individual, she was not strong enough to make it worth it to stand against an imperial prince.
"Kuhum…." In this awkward atmosphere, the teacher continued after clearing his throat to gain everyone's attention and said, "Congratulations to all of you as you have passed the test and will formally become students of Bellator Academy in six months." While saying that he glanced slightly in Adrian's direction.
Adrian caught his glance and felt humiliated once again as he was the only one who was admitted to the academy with an F-rank as the minimal rank of acceptance was E-. That meant he was granted a special privilege for being a member of the imperial family. For Adrian, that was an insult and he gritted his teeth so hard that an audible sound of screech could be heard in the classroom.
The teacher realized his mistake and hurriedly continued, "You have six months to prepare and settle your affairs as you know very well that once you are admitted to the academy you can only leave on vacations which are only after a whole semester of six months' period. So prepare well and see you all after a half year." Saying all of that the teacher hurriedly left the classroom, afraid that Adrian would mark him as an enemy of his.
Adrian's expression was terrible right now and the anger inside of him was on the verge of exploding, and if he didn't get an immediate release, he knew he would go crazy. Fortunately for him and only him, that release was sitting right next to him. He turned his head to look at Rose who was sitting there with fright written all over her like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse.
*****
In the corner of the room, a boy was looking at Adrian and Rose with clenched fists. This boy was none other than the protagonist of the class who had attained the highest score in the history of Bellator Academy's entrance test. But right now he wasn't feeling the pride anyone else in his stead would have felt. He was only feeling anger but controlling himself, he muttered to himself in a low voice that only he could hear, "Wait for me, Rose. I will free you from that monster.
*******
He opened his eyes feeling somewhat drowsy at the sound of his landline ringing. He was sitting in an enormous room with some furniture. A carpet, a sofa set consisting of three, and a table set on the carpet. A glass table cum desk with a computer and some other stuff on it. The L.C.D of the computer was on, showing a statistical analysis of a construction site. A graph at the corner of the screen showed the rise in numerical values related to the site.
The appearance of the man could be described by many words but one word that anyone would utter upon seeing him is "Beautiful". Not "Handsome", not "Graceful" but 'Beautiful'. With dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin adorned in a suit with a white shirt and black jacket and pants, with a navy blue tie with stripes, he looked like an existence straight out of heaven. He was a sight that would captivate anyone regardless of age or gender.
With his eyes still feeling drowsy, he answered the ringing landline and said with particularly no emotion in his voice, "Yes?". The voice on the other end halted upon hearing his emotionless but ethereal voice and took some time to say, "Gree…. Greetings CEO, The Chairman has requested that you visit him". The woman on the other end relayed the message with a stutter in her voice.
Upon hearing the word Chairman, a flicker of annoyance passed through the eyes of the young man which was barely noticeable at all. Still, with an emotionless voice, he replied, "Understood. I will be there shortly", and hung up the phone. He exhaled a long sigh and slumped back in his chair.
"Request, huh!" He scoffed at the word. He knew that the chairman wouldn't have used the word request. That was the politeness of the girl at the reception. The chairman would have more likely issued an order for him to go to his office.
Nevertheless, he stood up from his seat and made his way out of his office. No matter how annoyed he was at the summon of the chairman, he still had to go, and making a fuss about it would only make things more annoying for him later on. It was better to listen to him early on than have him leave his office and come down here to annoy him all day long.
"But why does he want to see me now? I am already busy with the Chinese contract. I hope he doesn't dump another task on me. That lazy nut." He wondered the reason for his summons while cussing the chairman a little in a barely audible voice.
He made his way to the lift going through the office. While he didn't notice anything else and kept on thinking about other things, everyone else in the corridors stopped whatever they were doing to admire him. Whether they were men or women, they were captivated by his sight. Regardless of their age or gender, no one could remove their eyes from him until he vanished from their sight.
The young man, ignoring the attention and the stares he was getting, kept walking toward the exclusive elevator to the chairman's office. He was used to these stares. When you hold beauty, you know of it more than anyone else. He was also aware of it but he was not the type to use it. With an expressionless face, he kept walking and reached the elevator for the chairman's office and entered it.
The elevator opened directly in the office of the Chairman. A pitch-black room. That was the description of the room slash office of the Chairman. The floor, the walls, the furniture, and even the equipment in the room were of color black. If the sunlight didn't enter from the glass windows in the office, no one would be able to even see a thing in this room.
He, however, was different. He could clearly see in the room even without the daylight entering through the windows. He saw a man sitting behind a black desk on a black chair.
If the young man was beautiful and captivating, then the man behind the desk who looked slightly older than him like in his mid-twenties was outright hypnotizing. A sight once seen, would be hard to forget. A sight that would compel others to commit sins.
The man was similar in appearance to the young man with dark eyes and dark hair with pale skin dressed in an office suit of a completely black color. Even his watch was black with only silver numbers and needles. Even with the excessive black color in the room and on the man, his beauty didn't diminish in the slightest. Quite the contrary, he was looking more handsome sitting in this all-black environment.
He was so bewitching that there was no woman in the building who was not bewitched by his looks. Whether they were married, committed, or in a relationship, they all fell for him regardless of their age. The young man remembered a certain incident when he saw a woman being dragged out of the company building by security guards. That woman had fallen in love with the man even though he had strongly suppressed his charms.
In short, the man behind the desk possessed the beauty to obtain any woman on the planet and the said woman won't even think twice. But even still the man only had ever been with one woman. 'That is the only plus point of him I guess.' The young man commented on the trait of the man. There were other plus points about him too but they didn't matter much to the young man as the annoyance of the man slash chairman was enough to downplay all his other traits.