Emilio was half walking and half dragged by the man. He was not being rough about it, only gently tugging him along. Even though the man was holding him lightly, he could feel how big that palm was around his slender wrist. He had a feeling the man was consciously holding back his strength.
He did not look back once, even though the feeling of the Prince’s gaze on him made the hairs on his neck stand on their ends. It was only when they were out of the building that he realized how tense he had been. He let out a soft sigh and relaxed his hunched shoulders.
Professor Sullivan also seemed to realize it. After walking bit of distance from the Hall, they were at a place in between buildings, only lamps and fireflies lighting the surroundings, He let go of his hand before turning around to face him.
“I apologize for pulling you along so abruptly.” He said as he stepped away. “I saw that you were feeling uncomfortable. Are you alright?”
Emilio let out a soft sigh and then nodded “Yes, I am. Thank you.”
“Good,” Professor Sullivan nodded. “Now let me escort you to your dorms.”
“Oh you don’t have to-”
“I insist.”
Emilio sighed softly and nodded. They began walking. It was quiet save the sound of their footsteps and the sound of the insect flying about.
The silence was broken after a few moments by the Professor.
“What did he want?” The man asked. And then he paused, frowning. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course,” he added awkwardly.
Emilio pursed his lips. He recognized that tone. That tone was the one his father and, to some extent, he himself used when demanding answers from subordinates. The man must be used to having his way and ordering people around all the time.
He shook his head. “I don’t mind. It was nothing special. He wanted to take me to the library to … to introduce me to the research materials… or so he said.”
The man seemed to let out a sigh of exasperation. “Please do avoid being alone with him as much as you can, Mr. Florian.”
Emilio nodded. “I was planning that from the beginning. But …” he went to speak but then frowned, holding himself back.
“What is it?” The man asked. “You can tell me anything. I can promise you that, at the very least, it will not reach the Prince.”
Emilio bit his lip and frowned. Should he? It was not a particularly bad question … but it could become dangerous if it reached the wrong ears. They would make it seem that a Baron’s son was questioning Royalty. He looked up at the man for a long moment before deciding to trust him - at least enough to ask this question. This man did warn him against the Prince.
“Will the Prince harm me … or my family?”
The man seemed to have anticipated that question. He sighed and shook his head. “No. Not yet, at least. You seem useful to him as of now. So he will try to do anything to get you on his side. So he will try not to do anything that may make you wish to stay away, including harming you and your family.”
“Is that why he always keeps trying to speak to me and get me alone?”
“Yes.” The man nodded. “He wishes to not only have you on his side, but have you be completely loyal to him. That’s how he wants his people to be. That’s how he prefers his people - powerful, useful and loyal enough to die for him.”
Emili frowned in thought. “Then … why doesn’t he just threaten me? If he threatened my family … not that I want that, Professor. But I am just curious as to why he does not do that.”
“That’s not loyalty, is it?” The man smiled at him. “That’s just helplessness. That’s a tactic the current Queen and her son, the Second Prince, use. The Crown Prince thinks himself above that. He believes and wants that people come to him willingly. Most of the time, they do. He does behave well and deals with people as a Prince should, lenient when needed and strict when needed. He mingles with all sorts of people and leaves a good impression. Sometimes, however, when he really wants something, he can be a little … underhanded.”
“So… is he trying to get into my good books or trying to manipulate me?”
“A bit of both, I suppose. The Prince must have thought he would have you in hand when he went to visit you in the hospital. But that apparently did not work. So, now he is trying to get close to you, steer you towards himself.”
On the surface, that did not sound horrible compared to all the things he had read about Princes and Emperors doing in the history books. But it still left a bed feeling on him, as if something was crawling all over his body.
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“We are here.”
Emilio broke out of his thoughts and looked up, realizing that they were in front of the dormitory building.
“Oh.” He turned to the man and gave a shallow bow. “Thank you for accompanying me here, Professor.”
“No problem.” The man reached forward and patted his shoulder awkwardly. “And … I do have something I wish to talk to you about.”
Emilio looked up in surprise. He had not expected that. “Oh? What is it?”
“Your training.”
Emilio raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was more to that answer. Upon seeing the expectant gaze of the man, he quickly realized that there was not.
“Uh… what?”
The man frowned in thought for a moment before speaking again. “Your training… with me … it is supposed to start this weekend.”
It took a moment for the light in his brain to flicker on, and then he remembered.
“Ah.” He had forgotten about that, what with everything. “Yes, I almost forgot about.”
Completely.
The man frowned. “Are you alright, though? Have you recovered? If you want, we can postpone-”
“No,” Emilio interrupted him. He shook his head. “I can start tomorrow. I am fine now.”
He had promised himself that he would be stronger, that he would protect his loved ones and himself. It was bad enough that he almost forgot about it, but he did not want to delay it any longer.
“Are you sure?” The man frowned again. That seemed to be his default expression. It looked angry on such a stoic, handsome face. But Emilio was glad for the concern.
“Yes!” He smiled. “I am completely fine. I have recovered well under Healer Adron’s care.”
He stepped back and looked the man in the eyes before he jumped up and down a few times in place. Once he stopped, he looked up at the mana and grinned.
“See?”
There was a long pause. The man seemed to frown harder for a moment. Emilio wondered if he had somehow offended the man by jumping up and down like a monkey in front of him. He was working as a Professor here, but he was a Duke after all. He was just about to apologize when the man spoke.
“I see.” He seemed to exhale. “Very well, we start tomorrow afternoon. Be there at the field where the combat class is held at 3 o’clock.”
Emilio nodded. “I’ll be there, Professor.”
“Come on, let’s get you inside.”
He frowned and shook his head. “There is no need…”
“There is,” the man replied softly. “The Prince will be cautious of touching you if he believes I am keeping you close as well.”
Emilio paused. “Oh… alright.”
Emilio was well aware of politics at the Barony, but the thought of getting involved in it at the Royal level was headache inducing.
He sighed softly and nodded, following the man inside. A hush fell over the room, the common floor where everyone gathered and chatted. Everyone looked over at them. Emilio’s eyes scoured the room. The Prince was not there yet - which was not a surprise, given that Emilio left earlier and he would have noticed if the Prince walked past him - but some of his lackeys definitely were.
Professor Sullivan patted his back. “Go on.”
Emilio nodded and then gave the man another bow. “Thank you.”
With that, he walked inside and ran up the stairs to his room. He found Balsea was already there, arranging the things they had brought back from the infirmary. They were putting the books and the music box on the nightstand and the vials of medicine inside the drawers of the nightstand.
“Oh, you’re back.” Balsea spoke even before he turned around.
“Yes.” He nodded. “Did you just come back?”
They nodded. “Yes. I was just about to go look for you after I was done with this.”
Emilio smiled softly at the fae. “Thank you, Balsea.” He sat down on the bed. “What would I do without you?”
“Flail around like the hapless human that you are.”
“Hey!”
They both chuckled softly at each other.
“Alright, alright, now go to sleep. You need rest.”
Emilio sighed softly. After taking a few minutes to freshen up and change, he was soon laid down on the bed, dozing off once again to the sound of the music box.
----------------------------------------
He once again had a restful sleep. It was not that the dreams did not come. But they were more a vague echo in the back of his subconscious instead of the vivid, paralyzing, and terrifying imitation of reality that they had been before.
As a result, Emilio felt refreshed the whole day.
A rested and refreshed body was best for training, that was what Captain Killian used to say. If that was true, then he had a good feeling about today’s training.
Balsea had thrown a fit when he learned that Emilio was starting training today. He had been ready to storm off and give the Professor a piece of his mind. It was only after Emilio reassuring him that, yes, he was well enough to train and no, the Professor did not force him, that Balsea finally calmed down and let him go.
Emilio now found himself entering the Magical Combat class once again.
The first thing that caught his eyes was the wall of roots. It was far away from the entrance, closer to the woods that surrounded the field. As he walked closer, he realized that it was a sizeable wall. It was enough to cover a small commoner house on one side. And it seemed to pulse and throb. As if in a trance, Emilio reached out toward it.
“You’re here?”