In the next second, the door burst open, nearly flinging me off since I was standing right next to it.
“Was there somebody else here?” Reuben grunted, looking around while Robin held his sword and walked around the room, checking every corner.
Silence met them, because even though I was a master of deception, I wanted to lie as little as possible.
“Do I smell smoke?” Robin yelled.
Mia panicked. “Did something catch fire?”
“I’m fine and there’s no fire,” I said, both truthful things.
I wondered when I could be a hundred percent truthful to them.
When Mia went off to warm up the adjacent bath to my room — rich households most likely had them — Robin and Reubensurrounded me, weapons stashed but eyes cataloging every detail of me.
Reuben reached down and lifted my hand to his nose, inhaling its scent. “A trace of smoke here.” His green eyes bore through mine that I almost gulped before I stopped myself. It was the hand I used to trace Elias’s jaw earlier.
Robin lowered his mouth to my ear. “Bad girl, Bea.”
Holy fuck.
What were these men doing to me? Robin and Reuben never tried to — they never expressed anything likethisbefore — the ability to send shivers down my spine so strongly my core tightened around nothing, and their gazes so heated I felt like melting into a puddle.
I had to rein myself in. It was all fun and games imagining them doing naughty things to me until I broke some sort of social norm I wasn’t prepared to deal with. Despite these two, three if you included Elias, giving me seriousfuck-mevibes, I should maintain normalcy until more information surfaced on what the hell was going on with my situation.
Pushing away from our small circle, I raised my eyebrows. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Not a lie.
“But you’re also not telling us the whole truth,” Reuben countered, folding his arms over his chest.
“Does it really matter?” I was buying time. When was Mia going to come back anyway?
Robin huffed. “Of course it does. We swore our lives to protect you, angel, and can't do our jobs without complete information.”
“Nothing terrible happened to me, alright?” But something did happen that I wasn’t comfortable sharing just yet.
My twin knights narrowed their eyes, figuring out the hidden meaning of my words, when Mia knocked at the door again and forced my bodyguards out so she could undress and bathe me.
“Boys, am I right?” Mia rolled her eyes playfully when the two refused to budge for several seconds before she had to physically push them out. “So overprotective. They must feel uneasy staying at another noble’s manor.”
I didn't doubt that contributed to their vigilance, but I was also positive someone else brought it about.
The morning after was a calm affair. The Duke didn’t personally see us out, but the Duchess did, along with her two daughters. They batted their eyes at the twins again, and I felt smug when they didn’t even look at the two beautiful girls.
We went on our way towards Aerahelm. Historically, the magical capital was part of the King’s crown lands. In this generation, the current King gifted the city to the Crown Prince when he requested it, promising to nurture and improve the city to better help in the war effort.
Aerahelm was one of the most important cities of the Kingdom. While it wasn’t the capital, it still put a lot of pressure on the Crown Prince to lead the city, including the only magical academy of the Kingdom. I could never imagine how that would be, as someone close to his age.
Hell, inmyworld, twenty-five-year-olds should be out partying and having fun while newly hired in the workforce, not managing an entire city while also fighting Demon Lords. I understood it, though. Even in history, there were thirteen-year-old kings who died at twenty because of a war, or some bullshit like that.
Was it possible to never deal with the nobility? It was making my head hurt.
Focus on the goal, Bea.
Fortunately, as random events went, it was minimal compared to how typical roleplaying games did it. As Reuben planned, we arrived on schedule to the city of Aerahelm, home of the Magical Academy of the Kingdom.
With a bustling economy because of the significant number of students, mages, and fighters training for the Everlasting War, the city teemed with citizens of every station, nobles and commoners alike, while merchants from all around the world sold their unique goods. The Prince maintained the city’s infrastructure, and security was top-notch to protect the Kingdom’s potentials.
High walls surrounded the city, while a river bisected it in the middle. The northern half was enclosed in even higher walls, containing the huge, castle-like buildings and forts that made up the Magical Academy. It was a sight to behold even from afar, with its floating artifacts as if to flaunt that this was definitelythemagic school.
