I wasn't sure how much time had passed but it was surely more than two hours in the principal's office that I had to endure. They called my parents and they seemed very angry and promised the principal that I would be properly punished when I got home. What would that punishment be? To leave me without my luxuries for a week? I have lived seventeen years without them, I could go seventeen more. Or maybe they wanted to send me back to my cave, I know Reese would love that idea, remembering the time she waited for me in my room to threaten me I wouldn't be surprised if he already had my bags packed and waiting with them at the door of my house.
However when I got home no one seemed to reproach me for anything, so I thought I wouldn't be punished and that this was how the daughters of dukes were treated. What a good life the nobles led. But I couldn't be more wrong.
The nobles had more discreet ways of punishing, they did it with passive-aggressive attitudes. The next day Walter wasn't there to serve me or take me to the academy, I had to make my own breakfast and take the subway to school. Nothing out of the ordinary but for the nobles it seemed to be some kind of punishment. Another thing I noticed was that they cancelled my credit card and I couldn't buy the menu I always ordered at the school cafeteria (which was more of a restaurant than anything else) so I bought the cheapest one with the cash I had on me. Besides not being able to buy food I couldn't buy anything else.
My day at school was the same as always although perhaps the bullying increased a little more than other days, because now I was a thief. My books would disappear and appear at the bottom of the fountain in the central courtyard and people would also throw trash or food at me when they walked by the cafeteria pretending it was an accident. Oh, there were also people who tried to hurt me like making me fall to the ground by putting their foot in front of mine when walking. But my magic warned me three seconds before this so I just jumped over those obstacles in my way and reveled in the frustrated expressions of my bullies.
I couldn't meet Basil alone because all the princes (and Anika) were around him protecting him as if I wanted to kill him after I pushed him away yesterday. But I needed to share what I had read in the books, I also wanted to know what he had seen in his. I had to find a way to get close to him without the others finding out so I came up with an idea.
I went to the library again but not to the forbidden area this time. I looked for a transmutation spell book and started studying it during my two free hours and when the time was up I went back to class to finish my school day.
People usually leave the academy through the main door so there's never anyone at the back door. There's where I went after school, I hid in some bushes and used the transmutation spell I studied in the library to transform myself into a butterfly. I had no idea what kind of butterfly I was or what my colors were, I just needed a harmless form that could go unnoticed when approaching Basil. I took advantage of my parents' punishment to follow Basil home freely, since now I wasn't allowed to have a driver so I had to go home on my own.
The mansion where Basil lived was similar to mine but a little bigger with more gardens and a field full of flowers that adorned the entrance. I fluttered over his head when he got out of the car I saw how he turned to look at me and smiled tenderly, his brown eyes shone when he smiled like that. I doubted he knew it was me.
I saw him enter his home and flew around the mansion to find the window of his room, it took me more work than I would have liked to find it but I managed to do it when I saw Basil through one of them. I stood on the threshold of the window and spoke… yes, I spoke. I could do it, after all, everything is possible with magic involved.
"Hey! Prince number 2! Over here!"
Basil was alarmed when he heard my voice from his window, and he was a little scared when he realized that I was the butterfly that was waiting for him outside. He opened the window to let me in, still stunned.
"Hosui? How did you do it…?"
"It's easier than you think, " I said perching on the back of one of his armchairs. "I just had to study the spell in the library and do it after class. I can go back to being myself at any time."
And with that, a black and reddish mist surrounded me, causing my body to return to normal. I was now human again and I was sitting in Basil Davenport's chair, crossing one of my legs and smiling at him.
"We need to talk." I said.
The information Basil had didn't make sense without mine and putting the two together, we discovered something impressive. Or maybe not so much but we were able to make guesses about what could have happened to Caleb and that was more than we had a few days ago.
There was a sect that was against the current royal family, they called themselves "The Royals." They did experiments with invocations to bring to this world the perfect being that would be the true king of this kingdom, they have done this for many years. The Yoshino, my family, came from a faraway land called Aukath and it was said that they had the ability to contact beings from other worlds. It was not known if it was real or just rumors but that was enough to alert both The Royals and the royal family.
The Royals wanted the Yoshino to ask for help and summon the true king, while the royal family feared that would happen so they sent troops to Aukath to get rid of the Yoshino and any descendants.
That was what was in a diary-like book, a book that Basil had found. Hearing that, my blood boiled in my veins and I couldn't help but curse, my hatred against the nobles grew more than I thought possible, more so for having murdered my family for that reason. It wasn't even certain that the Yoshino had that power! I hate them so much that I can't wait to see them beg for mercy. I didn't realize it but I was shaking with rage until Basil took my hand to stop that shaking. I looked at him and calmed down after a few seconds, I pulled my hand away to continue with other books' information but we didn't realize when we had already shared everything.
"So what does all this have to do with Caleb?" I said to myself.
"Maybe the Royals saved Hosui from royalty and wanted to summon you using her but something went wrong."
"No, it doesn't make sense, " I shook my head "Caleb died before I got here and if he's here…"
"Then they summoned him first."
"But why?"
"Maybe because he has your blood. And the Yoshino could be linked to your lineage for some reason."
"What? That doesn't make sense. Why would a fictional family from an otome game be linked to my lineage?"
I sighed and took a breath, I had to think things through calmly so I started putting the pieces in order.
"So, The Royals needed to summon someone using a Yoshino but maybe Hosui wasn't compatible… Maybe they used her blood? And so they called my brother, taking advantage of his death."
"Maybe."
"But then why am I here? Why are we here?"
And Basil shook his head, we were both speechless because we were back to the main mystery. Maybe we had something to hold on to now, but there was still too much to solve.
Suddenly, Basil's butler knocked on the door asking him to come in. Basil almost panicked but I turned into a butterfly and went out the window before that man came in, I turned to see Basil and his relieved expression made me laugh a little.
I returned home some time later, my parents looked worried because I arrived almost at dusk and, from that day on, they only allowed me to have my driver. It was progress.