My new home for the next five years.
Chapter Six
As a noble daughter, my assigned dormitory “room” was complete with amenities, like I hadn’t left the estate at all. I had my own bedroom, bathroom, wardrobe, a kitchen, and a sitting room too.
It was bigger than my apartment inmyworld.
Not only that, Mia, Robin, and Reuben had their own separate bedrooms too. I wouldn’t be surprised if the space was enlarged with spatial magic, because I was pretty sure the dorm was smaller from the hallway. Seemed impractical, though.
Elias never showed himself again, even when we arrived at the school gates. Even when the administration provided me with my uniforms and my assigned room. Even when my entourage unloaded all our things and promptly placed them in my room.
Even when Mia said a tearful goodbye to her older brother Micah, our coachman, and my family’s guards said their farewells to my knights, as they all headed back to the barony.
I did bring Elias here, unscathed. Was this the end of our acquaintance?
I put my attention elsewhere. When we were at the administration office earlier, we found out that personal knights, like my twin bodyguards, wereheavilyrequested (hint: mandated) to maintain their physical training by joining theacademy’s combat training program. They only needed to attend the morning sessions while I’d be in class.
Another thing: personal maids were allowed limited access to certain areas of the academy. It still made me feel at ease, because I feared Mia would be stuck in my assigned room for the whole day. I was glad she could go exploring by herself if she wanted.
We could also come and go out of the academy, if we were within the city limits, and with proper notification to the academy guards.
All in all, the administration was very lenient with our time. If we adhered to our class schedules, didn’t break the rules, and behaved appropriately for a noble lord or lady, everything was peachy-keen.
School would officially start a week from now.
I wanted to find Alec. The last time I heard from him was that lame letter weeks ago, informing his family why he wasn’t coming home for the school break. He was busy with some kind of research for his final year project.
It reminded me of my brother Alex, who also didn’t have time to go home for summer break because he was busy finishing his thesis. He was still on it when I turned up here. I hadn't seen him for a long while.
How baffling and unsettling at the same time.
If he were doing research, surely it would make sense to be in the library? But dusk was upon us already. It was also possible he’d be in the dining hall for dinner, or already in his dorm room to rest.
I decided on the dining hall so the four of us could have our dinner.
“I want the three of you to attend to your meals even when I’m not around,” I told them as we made our way to the building.
“But Miss Bea —” Mia started to protest, but I cut her off.
“This is just an afterthought. I don’t expect tonotbe around, but say, what if I’m busy with schoolwork?” Glancing at each of them, I added, “I don’t want three people starving because I’m not good enough with my studies. Don’t wait for me to tell you to eat.”
Robin looked away, pouting. “I would rather starve than not have you by my side, my lady.”
“Me as well!” Mia quickly added, glancing from Robin to me with eagerness in her eyes.
I glared at Robin, who snickered at my reaction, while Reuben shook his head with a smirk on his lips. These idiots. All three of them!
Letting it go for now, I continued to what I really wanted to say. “I’m also looking for Alec to let him know I arrived safely. To be honest, I expected him to look for me, but he’s probably busy with research.” I had no idea what his project was about, and I would love to learn more if I wasn’t already on a project of my own.
Need minimal distractions.
Of course, with two bodyguards who seemed intent on riling me up at every opportunity they had, minimal distractions were almost an impossibility. For example, in this moment, with my arms swinging by my side as we walked, the two of them kept brushing their hands against mine as I swung my arms backwards. And then pretended it was all an accident.
I was so glad Mia was pure and a bit oblivious of her surroundings because I didn’t want to explain what my bodyguards were doing. Because I didn’t think I would be able to. The opposite was true when the subject wasme,though. Did she see right through me?
We arrived at the dining hall without any fanfare. Inside, several food vendors lined up along the walls, subsidized by the magic academy, which received its funding from the Kingdom.Students, personal staff, and faculty alike hung around and had their dinner.
I still couldn’t find Alec. Or Elias.
