As the sound barrier was dispelled and Selena was walking towards the Balcony, she naturally started to hear the voices of the crowd again.
"My goodness, Is that the Counterfeit Prince?"
"You mean the fake?"
"He's still a prince, even if the heavens don't like him, we should at least watch our words!"
"What type of Prince is he? All he does is stay in the palace all day, even the emperor doesn't talk to him"
"Prince Lance has the backing of the emperor and the military, it's obvious who are future emperor is. Do we have to worry about that fake?"
A lot of whispers and murmurs were circulating in the crowd. It was clear that Jason was extremely unpopular and given that this was a banquet for the military faction, the hatred for him is greatly emphasized.
Selena almost paused when she heard the words from the crowd. She could not believe a prince could be spoken to like this. And it was her fiancé too! Why should such a gentle and kind man suffer under such ridicule?
She restrained herself from running up to the crowd and telling them off because she knew she was not aware of the situation. Without knowing what was going on, she would only make a fool of herself if she ran her mouth off.
She sits down at the small table in the Balcony and waits patiently for Jason to come.
After a while, the door opens and Jason comes in with a smile on his face.
"It seems my beautiful fiancé really did wait for me, I really am a lucky man," he says lightly before taking a seat.
Her mood got a little better after hearing his words but she didn't forget her purpose.
"Prince Jason..." she starts.
"Just call me Jason, it's all I ask," he says calmly.
"Okay... Jason, you said you would answer my questions right?" Selena asks a bit suspiciously.
"Of course, there's not a single thing in this world I wouldn't tell you. You're my fiancé and naturally, I'll treat you as my other half" He says firmly.
Her body shook a bit at his words. "Isn't this too fast? Does he feel this way just because I'm merely his fiancé? Or is there some other reason?" she thinks to herself while shyly hanging her head down.
She eventually found her confidence again and started her questioning.
"While walking here, I heard them call you a counterfeit prince, what do they mean?" Selena asks carefully.
Jason's eyes have a bit of gloom in them but then it disappeared. Selena caught it and knew this question was probably a bit heavy for him.
"It's just as they say. I'm a fake, a mere loser who got abandoned by the heavens. The biological son of the emperor and the empress couldn't get the emperor's eyes. What else would I be but a joke in other people's eyes" Jason says indifferently as if the topic had nothing to do with him.
Selena's heart tightened as she heard his words. Just what is she hearing? Fake? a joke? He's still a person. Why does it matter if he doesn't have special eyes?
She takes a deep breath.
"I'm sorry for asking that, I know it must hurt..." She says quietly.
"It's no problem, I'm the one who's sorry that my circumstances brought you discomfort. But don't worry, I'm still more than strong enough to protect you. That I can guarantee" he said with a confident smile shining on his handsome face.
Selena dodged his eyes and bit lightly bit her lip. "I know I'm your fiancé but didn't we just meet? You act like we've been together for a long time" she says quietly.
"We did just meet but you mean so much more to me than you can imagine. Let's take it slow though, I don't want to scare you" Jason says with a light chuckle.
Selena regained her composure and then asked, "How did you know my mother's non-offensive magic?"
"It was your engagement gift to me," He said calmly.
"What? My engagement gift" Selena was stunned. I had no clue my mother was doing such things in the background.
"Then what was your engagement gift to me" Selena asked suspiciously.
"Your duke title," Jason said calmly.
Selena froze. "I said that as a joke but I cannot believe our title came to be because of this engagement," Selena thought to herself.
"A prince marrying a duke's daughter does fit better so I understand why it could happen", Selena thought carefully.
"You're so proficient at using non-offensive magic, did you master everything? She asked curiously.
"Yep, I can help teach you as well. It took me 10 years" He said while reminiscing about the past.
"That makes sense. I am only in year 5 of my practice, I see why he is far better than me" Selena thinks to herself.
Her interest in Jason is growing at an astonishing rate.
"I can't believe you are also a dedicated non-offensive mage like me, seems like I found a good partner," Selena says while smiling.
"Unfortunately, I can't say I'm a dedicated non-offensive mage" Jason starts to say.
Selena looks up at him in confusion and then sees a huge fireball form in his hand. He then blasts it upward and it soars for a long time before exploding into pretty fireworks in the sky.
"I also mastered offensive magic not too long ago just like the rest of your class," Jason says nonchalantly.
Selena stands there shocked. This man might even be stronger than Fiona.
"How can you be so strong?" She says while still in shock.
"Don't forget my mother used to be the strongest female mage of the empire in her generation. My genes are quite good" Jason says with a slight smirk.
Selena's head starts buzzing. This man not only mastered non-offensive magic before her but he also mastered offensive magic as well? Is there a single person in this entire empire that has accomplished this? No, is there a single person in our entire Kadence history who has accomplished this?
She then remembers the words of the crowd calling this man a fake prince and a lazy person who never leaves the palace. She knows first-hand just how difficult it is to study magic and he mastered two forms of it. It's simply incredible.
The admiration in her heart for Jason starts growing tremendously. "If this guy is my fiancé and he is stronger than Fiona, in a way, I'm better than her right?" After a while, she was satisfied with her logic and she grew even happier with the current state of things.
The two continued to talk and the mood between them was great. A maid came by and offered a glass to drink.
Jason, who is still immersed in the warm atmosphere, grabbed the drink from the maid. Thanked her and took a sip before continuing his conversation with Selena. His eyes then bulged out and he spat out a huge mouthful of blood.
"Cursed, I let my guard down, to think they'll even get me here," He says while trying to keep his composure.
Selena screamed in shock and the main quickly ran after her to shut her mouth.
"Selena!" Jason could barely mutter while the poison is destroying his body.
The maid swung her knife before Selena could react but a huge barrier pops up from her bracelet.
Selena was shocked and then remembered she had the mysterious bracelet on as a good luck charm. She breathed a sigh of relief to survive yet another fatal situation.
The maid gritted her teeth and then changed her target back to Jason. She quickly lunged towards him and Jason hastily dodged to the side. However, He was a bit slow due to the poison and a slash appeared on the side of his abdomen.
He quickly puts his hand out and a ball of wind appears on his hand. He shot it out and it blasted right into the assassin maid. Once the ball of wind made contact, the maid was blasted many miles into the distance and disappeared from their sight.
Jason stumbled back into his chair and looked over to Selena's direction. "Are you okay? Did the barrier charm bracelet work well" he asked with a look of heavy concern.
Selena's eyes start tearing up, "You fool, you shouldn't be worrying about me right now! You almost died and are poisoned!" she says while rushing over to his side.
"Don't worry about it, it happens a lot. I'm used to it. I've already tasted this poison many times, I have enough resistance to it by now so it shouldn't be fatal. Usually, I screen my drinks with my mana to avoid poisons like this but it seems like I was having too good of a time that I forgot" he said while looking at Selena with a wry smile.
"I am surprised tho, they stopped using fatal poisons after my magic developed enough to detect it. Once they noticed the deadly poisons don't have much success, they started using ones that focus more on causing pain instead of death" Jason explains as if it had nothing to do with him.
"There is no way they would have thought that I would magically not screen for poison this time so I'm guessing it wasn't Count Grenden, that guy is too smart to make such a dumb mistake. It's probably count Snowdell then..." Jason says coldly as his eyes turn a bit murderous.
"If he wasn't such a big supplier of military weapons, I would've killed him by now," He says with a deep sigh.
He turns to Selena who has a complicated look on her face, "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" he says with a bit of panic.
She looked at his flustered appearance and chuckled a bit. "It's okay, I'm not scared... it's just... No one should be going through what you're going through! You talk as if none of this has anything to do with you. What do you mean you've tasted this poison many times? How often does this happen? This isn't fair!" She said as her tears started to come back.
"Are you... crying for me?" Jason says dumbfounded.
He smiles and then wipes her tears. "Don't waste your tears, I'm fine, see!" He says while showing off the side of the abdomen that just got slashed. It looked like he was healing himself while talking. The wound has turned very small and is hardly visible.
Selena used her magic to slightly enhance her vision and scanned his body. She sees many similar scars that are spread all through his body but through magic, they were all made to look barely visible.
"All these scars, are they from..." She didn't finish the sentence and Jason fell into silence.
He sighs deeply and says "I survived this long didn't I? Don't worry about the extra things," he says while trying to comfort her.
Tears well in her eyes again, "I also saw a wound that seemed relatively fresh, is that what made you late to the ball? she asked.
Jason fell into silence again. "I still made it in the end, didn't I?" He says with a wry smile.
Selena felt an urge of pain in her heart. Just what does this man go through? and Why? Such a talented man who mastered two forms of magic is not only slandered in public but also assassinated! Is he not a prince? This is too ridiculous.
The more she thought about what just happened, the angrier she got. She was about to open her mouth to say something and then her body shook, she remembered that he called her bracelet the barrier charm bracelet.
"Uhm Jason, Do you know the origin of my bracelet?" Selena asked cautiously.
"Yeah, I made it". Jason says nonchalantly.
"WHAT!" She yelled, "Really?"
She is really in shock now. The creator of the bracelet and the person she was indebted to was her fiancé this entire time.
"You already know I mastered non-offensive and offensive magic, who else is capable but me of making something like this?" Jason says with a little smug look on his face.
"And as your fiancé, how could I just let you go to such a dangerous war without any protection? If you couldn't give you that bracelet and have that idiot Parson protect you, I would've used all my means to force you to stay in the empire" Jason says firmly.
Selena fell into deep thought after hearing Jason's words. So you're the boss Parson kept talking about? She said in shock.
"Hmmmm so that's what he calls me behind my back?" Jason says while rubbing his chin. "Not bad, Not bad".
She also realized why Parson kept calling her Madame and blushed heavily.
A warm feeling starts generating in Selena's heart. So this entire time, this man has been protecting me from the shadows? It's so selfless and attentive. I had no clue and no way to thank him and he just kept helping me...
A grin appeared on Selena's face as her cheeks burned hot.
"T-thank you, Jason," Selena said softly.
Jason smiled, "Don't mention it. With our relationship, it's only natural for me to help you" Jason says.
Selena's heart begins to thump a bit louder, This guy is a bit too good, right? And it seems like I am the only one who realizes how great he is. Selena says while thinking back to how people talked about him at the ball.
"If only you people knew..." She thought to herself while shaking her head slightly.
She turned back to Jason. "No, I really mean it, Thank you so much. Without You, Ivory, and the Dean, I wouldn't have made it this far" Selena says with a voice full of sincerity.
Jason smiles again, "I had a feeling that your journey won't be too smooth at the academy. I'm so glad that Cousin Ivory and Great-Uncle Dean did their jobs correctly" Jason says while nodding his head with a face full of gratitude.
Selena froze again with her head buzzing a little bit, "C-cousin? Great uncle? Wait... Did he set all of this up?"
The more Selena thought about it, the more it made sense. The dean has absolutely no reason to help me, we aren't related in any way. But if it was a request from his great-nephew, then maybe...
And Ivory approached me first to make friends. It didn't seem like we crossed paths before and her status is far more stable than mine. Again, if it was a request from her cousin, it would make sense for her to lower her status to approach me.
Selena looked up at Jason and he was still patching up and purifying the poison in his body. His build is not as big as Lance but it's very slim, compact, and attractive. She kept looking until she heard a voice.
"You like what you see? This body pretty much belongs to you so you can look all you want" Jason says in a teasing voice.
Selena covered her face with her hands again and a huge blush appeared on her face.
After some time, she said "Thank you for getting the Dean and Ivory to help me out in school" She said softly.
"Oh, you figured that out as well?" Jason says with his usual smile.
"I said it before but you don't have to thank me for this basic help. You also helped me out recently too" Jason says.
"Oh really? When?" She asked curiously
"With the lake. I could only get rid of the poisonous substances but I didn't have the time or the mana to get rid of the color as well. I figured that if you went on the campaign, you might want to use the purifying magic on the lake so I made Parson to guide you if you were to have that kind of idea. Now because of that, the military was able to have a good victory without wasting so much of our time and resources. As the fiancé of the prince, you are already doing your part" Jason says with a teasing smile.
"W-wait. You also cured the lake??????" Selena asked in shock.
She then paused and then realized that it made sense. Her greatest military accomplishment and the reason she got the medal was mostly due to this fiancé of hers. Actually, most of her success in life and her career is due to Jason. From getting the Dean to guide me through the stigma is non-offensive magic, to having Ivory protect me from people like Fiona and giving me this life-saving bracelet, to having Parson protect me and also curing the lake. Thinking of it like this, I owe Jason so much.
Her eyes began to tear up. She feels so touched. No one has ever thought so much for her. I have never met this person until today! These are all things that spanned between the past 5 years and he has been silently protecting me in the background. Not asking for any credit.
She then begins to think about the public slander and the assassinations that he has to go through and her heart begins to feel depressed.
"I want to... save this man." She thinks to herself firmly.
A new and powerful feeling arose in Selena's heart. A feeling that far surpassed anything she has ever felt until now. The image of Jason in her mind has become brighter and grandeur. I want to help him. I want to protect him. But first, I need to know more about him.
She looked over and Jason put back his clothes and finally sat down again. She walked over and hugged him tightly.
"Jason... I want to know more about you. I want to help you and protect you. And stand by your side. I do have my own bottom lines but I promise that I will try to make sure you don't have a bad ending" She said while hugging him tighter.
She never had the urge to do this with anyone she had met so far. This man is so strong but yet so pitiful. I have only seen just a little part of who he is and yet I am already feeling like this. Can I even handle it if I learn the whole story?
She then shakes her head and her resolve becomes firm. It is true I don't want Lance killed but even more so, I don't want this man before me to die. There must be a way somehow to protect them and the only way I can start is to learn more.
Jason was frozen stiff by Selena's actions. When has he ever been hugged by a woman his age before?
Selena, as if sensing his movements, whispers one more time.
Jason, can you please tell me your story? I want to understand you, She says.
Jason sighs, the story isn't very pretty, are you sure? he says while looking deep into her eyes.
Her eyes, full of firmness and conviction, stared back at him while she nodded in agreement.
He sighs and then says "Alright then if anyone deserves to know, it definitely should be you".
He then gets back, sits on his chair, and then starts telling his story.