Music was playing outside. Outside?

For a moment Sorin was slightly disoriented before remembering where he was. The windows were closed but he could hear the distant but cheerful street music coming from different directions. He woke up right at sundown, so the festivities had promptly begun.

The lanterns and chandelier in the large room were lit but he couldn’t remember when Altair had come in to light them. Travelling was exhausting and had pulled him into a deeper sleep than usual considering that it was a new location.

But he eventually had to wake up, there was a whole new world and its dangers waiting to be explored.

“Young Master?” asked Altair from the other side of the door.

“I’m up,” Sorin replied as he swung his legs out of the bed.

The warm bath before the nap was supposed to make him feel refreshed when he woke up, but he somehow felt a bit groggy as if he had been asleep for too long.

A few minutes after, Altair came into the room with a big jug of water.

“Warm water, I’ll put it in the basin,” he said while busying himself with preparations for them to go out.

Sorin eventually went into a separate room that had a basin and a bath. It was quite the premium suite with two bedrooms and a lounge area, so the bathing room hadn’t surprised him at all.

He went over to the basin and rinsed his face before wiping it down with the cloth prepared for him. There was also a mug with some herbal water which he used to rinse his mouth before stepping out into the main room again.

Altair had already prepared a different robe for him to wear by the time he came out. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but it was different to what they usually wore.

The overlord lazily tied half of his dark hair up before Altair helped with putting on the robe and finding some other boots other than the travelling ones. After finding a proper dagger to carry, Sorin made sure to conceal it as he looked at himself in the mirror.

“Not bad, I can’t tell that a butcher prepared it,” Sorin commented with a smirk.

Without warning, Altair took a good swing at him, but the other young man expertly dodged it and ended up behind him. Before Altair knew it, there was an arm around his neck with his arm twisted behind his back.

“You’re too young to be trying this on me. Admit to your grandfather,” prompted Sorin.

“Never.”

The young master tightened his grip on Altair’s neck and twisted his arm a bit more.

“You’ll die you know.”

“We’ll compromise, I’ll call Grand Master,” insisted Altair who was then released.

He stood there rotating his arm and trying to massage his shoulder with an annoyed childish look on his face. The young master was not as buff as him, but he managed to best him every time ever since they were young.

“See even if you lift more weight than me, at this point, I’m the one protecting you,” said Sorin with another smirk as he handed over a sheathed dagger.

Altair stuck out his tongue as he followed behind him. He made sure to remember to grab both their wallets and lock the door before they descended the stairs.

The dining area was divided into two floors and both floors were busy with guests and waiters going back and forth. The officers sat in groups at different tables on the second floor, fully enjoying the lovely free hospitality they were receiving.

Lark waved at the two for them to approach his table which had some free space as he only sitting with one other person. Sorin noticed something as he sat down.

“Where are the ladies?”

“Those brats dressed all fancy and went ahead without us. Said something about us making them look bad because we look like ruffians,” grumbled Lark.

“Well, they weren’t wrong,” commented Sorin as he poured himself some water.

“Is Boss making a joke?” Lark asked while the others laughed before toasting to him.

Without his leadership, they wouldn’t be where they were. Seeing as they were still alive, it was a good start to building their military careers and achievements. Sorin toasted with water since he hadn’t eaten.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Something felt a bit special about the night and it wasn’t just about them being in a different city. They would just have to see what trouble they could get into as the sun had just gone down which meant it was time for the wolves to come out.

****

The banquet at the palace was also in full swing. The first day of festivities called for one of the smaller ballrooms was being used. Kamaria stood near the food tables but had stopped eating after nibbling on a few snacks which made her mother worried.

Although she was sitting with a few ladies, she could see her daughter from her seat.

A palace maid approached Lili to pass a message. Lili nodded and went to whisper a few words to the princess a few moments later. It wasn’t long before the empress consort and the small group of ladies saw the princess approaching.

“Your Majesty, I’m requesting for permission to be excused. It seems Dean Tusi wants to have a word with me. I’ll turn in early afterwards.”

“That stubborn old man still wants to talk about academics even when everyone is at a banquet. Does he even know that young ladies don’t need to bother with such boring things?” commented one of the ladies and the others laughed behind their fans or handkerchiefs.

“You may leave Princess, make sure to take something to settle yourself before bed if you’re feeling unwell.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty and a good night, ladies.”

Kamaria paid her respects before heading off to the Imperial Academy office as she knew that was where she would find the old man.

Professor Tusi sat at his large desk, looking over some documents. His peppered beard shook as he chewed his favourite dried fruit assortment. The man always looked as if he was annoyed by something making him seem unsociable.

For this reason and the fact that he was one of the head scholars, many juniors tended to steer clear of him. Truthfully, his strictness also didn’t help with his social reputation even among his own peers.

Considering that the man was barely in his sixties but had been one of the head scholars for years in addition to instructing at the Imperial Academy, spoke volumes about his mind.

The Academy was a place that instructed most of the possible future government officials, magistrates, lawyers, scholars, physicians and even creatives of different talents. He took off his monocle as a familiar shadow darkened his doorway.

“You have the nerve to show your face here,” he lazily commented without looking up.

“I was summoned so like magic, here I am,” said Kamaria with a little turn as she whirled into the office.

Raisa closed the door behind them after they stepped inside.

Even though it was already evening, there were still a few scholars working, especially some of the seniors and their assistants. When they saw Kamaria, they knew that she was probably going in to get disciplined about her average achievements again. They thought it was a shame that she tried so hard, but the professor gave her a difficult time even when academics weren’t her strong point.

In addition to being an academy instructor, Professor Tusi had been one of the private instructors to the imperial family for several years.

His students included Kamaria, her siblings, and a few family members of some of the higher officials who were study-mates of the imperial siblings. No one knew her academic ability better than him.

“Were you trying to blind me with that nonsense you wrote in the entrance exam?”

“I’m not sure what Professor means. I’ve been told that I’m an exemplary poet so that should apply to all my other work too.”

He picked up one of the thick volumes closest to him and aimed it at Kamaria who feinted a quick move to the side while trying to contain her laughter and other girls smiled. He put down the book and rubbed his temples. The girl really was too troublesome.

“I don’t have the energy to continue this shouting play of yours today. One of you silly girls get over here.”

Lili went closer to the desk as he opened his drawer to take out what seemed to be a few notebooks bound in a leather folder.

“As punishment, go and grade these dissertations.”

When Lili passed the folder, Kamaria opened it and quickly paged through one notebook then made a displeased face.

“Why am I being punished with grading such horrible writing? Do they know that Professor Tusi doesn’t do his work and gives it to me instead? I’m not even a hired assistant. I’m an underpaid worker who should sue for compensation.”

“If even a rascal like you can see it’s a horrible essay, why should I give myself a headache? I’ve seen enough of these from those idiots who’ll apparently be helping to run this empire one day. As for compensation…”

He opened another drawer as they waited in anticipation, and he took out a book about the half the size of the notebook.

“I have this rose-flavoured malban[1] but I’m not sure I should give it away so easily after you disgusted me with that garbage you wrote.”

The man didn’t mind his words, but they were used to it. It turned out that it wasn’t a book in his hands, but a unique box made to look like a book.

“Now, now, I’m sure these essays will be graded in a few days,” insisted Kamaria with a sweet smile before he handed the box over to Raisa.

“Now, get out. I want that work back as soon as possible.”

The girls huddled and opened the box to examine the candy they would save for a later date before they excitedly filed out.

Professor Tusi shook his head at their silly behaviour, but the corner of his lips upturned in a little smirk. How anyone believed that Kamaria was simple was beyond him.

If not for the trouble around it, despite her age she would have been his assistant a long time ago and then possibly a famed scholar in a few more years. In fact, she could be a research scholar, a government official or a physician.

Any one of these careers would have suited her abilities. The girl was just born into the wrong family.

----------------------------------------

[1] Malban – Turkish Delight, a confectionary made with gel of starch and sugar, lokum