Chapter 79: Free Period (1)

With three classes completed for the day, the students were given a period of freedom before their final class—something that seemed too good to be true.

As they walked out of the alchemy classroom, the mood had turned lighter. Apart from Melody who had been given a somewhat positive response, the entire class had been chastised for wasting precious ingredients—though not as harshly as Lilly and Michael.

“Dude, that professor is something else…” Rudy commented, stretching wantonly.

Michael nodded, “Yeah, I never knew that alchemy required such precision. If the ingredients were so precious, why would they even let first-years take the class?” he commented dryly.

“Those were mostly common materials,” a feminine voice spoke up from behind. It was Melody, accompanied by Lilly who appeared to now be attached to her shadow.

“Common?” he frowned, “so why did the professor get so angry?”

“Because someone didn’t follow her clear instructions,” Lilly shot back, sending him a glare, clearly still blaming him for the concoction failing.

A few responses shot to the forefront of his mind, but none of them appropriate. Instead, Michael ignored the jab and changed the subject, “So where should we go now? We’ve got a free period before the next class.”

“Is the kitchen open?” Rudy asked, rubbing his stomach.

“No, but if you’re really hungry there should still be that porridge I made still left in the cauldron,” Michael shot back with a grin.

The two boys laughed at the silly joke while Lilly and Melody shook their heads, seemingly in sync.

“Should we visit the library Melody? I think there should be quite a few alchemy books that would help us for tomorrow’s class.” Lilly suggested with enthusiasm.

“Mmm, if you want to be my partner you can’t lag behind.” She nodded, wearing a regal expression.

“Yay.”

Michael turned to Rudy, seeing they were wearing the same weird expression after overhearing the conversation.

“You should probably help Rudy with his mana theory. With all I’ve taught you, you should at least be able to manage that right?” Melody told Michael, her tone retaining the noble distinction she used with Lilly.

“Wow, you taught Michael about mana theory? You’re so smart!” Lilly cried out in wonder, stoking her ego even more.

“Well… I have been called a genius before,” she replied.

“Mmm, truly a genius mage. I wouldn’t be surprised if you became top of the class this year.” Lilly added, nodding along like a pecking chicken.

“Yeah, I doubt that,” Michael retorted, letting out a laugh. “Combat class will lose her points—especially since she can barely run for two minutes without needing a break.”

He stiffened, feeling two murderous glares at his back in response to his comment.

“Well, gotta go… Enjoy the library.” He quickly added, grabbing Rudy by the arm and going down the nearest hallway, quickly putting some distance between them and the girls before he got a hose down once again.

Only when they were out of sight did Michael let out a sigh of relief. “It looks like Melody got a new follower…”

“Yeah, I could see her head growing in real time,” Rudy retorted, “let’s hope it doesn’t get so big that it explodes.”

Michael wanted to laugh, but he was actually worried. The dynamic between Melody and Lilly seemed more like a noble and their subject rather than something like friendship.

I hope I’m not worrying too much…

“I’m curious,” Rudy’s eyes locked onto him with interest, “how did you guys even get engaged? It seems like an odd pairing…”

“Yeah, it is pretty odd…” Michael commented, feeling a little uncomfortable. This was a touchy subject for him, particularly since his recent revelation that he had just been used as a political pawn by the Winterbornes.

He didn’t want to lie to his friend, but if word were to get out that their engagement was a sham—the fallout would be immense.

But looking at Rudy’s innocent curiosity, he found no ulterior motives. Perhaps he would be able to open up to the guy about what was really going on, maybe then he wouldn’t have to carry the burden alone.

Is this what having friends is really like? He thought.

“I’ll give you the full story later,” Michael replied eventually, seeing two older students walking towards them from the end of the hall.

“Hmm? What are first years doing here?” The girl spoke up, loud enough for the two boys to hear her.

Michael evaluated the two approaching students, seeing the violet in their robes indicating they were fourth-years. The girl was quite pretty, but his attention was quickly stolen by the handsome man on her left—his eyes widening in recognition.

“Oh? Well if it isn’t Michael and his friend,” A lazy voice spoke up, flicking his tousled blond hair aside casually. “What brings you two down here? Did you take up the Ancient languages elective?” he asked with veiled interest.

Magnus…

“You know these kids Magnus?” the girl beside him asked, her eyes now evaluating them more intently.

Being stared at with such intensity by a pretty girl, both Rudy and Michael were feeling awkward. If it wasn’t for Magnus being present, the latter might have just turned tail and ran.

“The blond one is my cousin’s fiancé, and the other is a violet emblem student—we met at the welcoming feast.” He replied with a small smile.

However, the girl seemed confused, “Your cousin’s fiancé? Which cousin?”

“I only have two female cousins, and one is almost ten years older than me—you do the math.” Magnus retorted with some annoyance.

The girl looked a little confused for a moment before turning to Michael with shock written on her face. Her eyes roamed his body from head to toe, as if wanting to burn his image into her mind.

Feeling the burning gaze, Michael took a few steps back, “Er, we took the wrong turn,” he said, grabbing Rudy by the arm and turning tail. He yelled out an excuse before leaving as swiftly as possible, avoiding any possible further questioning from the girl.

He had already felt like Magnus could see right through him at the welcoming feast—prolonged exposure would risk his secrets being laid bare even more so.

So rather than put himself at risk, Michael took the easy way out. Unfortunately, he could only avoid the guy for so long before it would become difficult to explain.

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