[Lilia Helstea POV]

I was walking around campus, carrying papers. With an enormous tiredness and with a little dry eyes, there were no students around at the moment, it was already 7:30 in the morning.

Since yesterday's accident with Tessia, I'd been responsible for some of her paperwork, in addition to my own duties as student council secretary. It was a shock to find out about the situation, and the worst part was how Clive complained and decided to explain things.

According to the vice president, the reason Tessia is hospitalized was the Leywin brothers. He said that they were the ones who ordered Prince Curtis to go all out and because of that, Curtis ended up attacking the princess mercilessly. There were clearly several flaws in what he said, the most obvious was that both Luz and Arthur also received damage, in order to protect the president and even, they were the ones who absorbed more part of the damage than she did. And in Principal Goodsky's own words, it was all an accident, with Tessia having passed out from overtraining before class.

I was angry at how Clive seemed to have hated the two boys from the start, not just for being commoners, but for being powerful and knowing Tessia and me as childhood friends. He really tried to use that accident as a way of badmouthing them for the whole school.

"Hunf... Does he have no limits?" I spoke low, annoyed.

Looking around, I saw the building where the medical wing of Xyrus Academy is located. I feel a huge pain in my heart knowing they are there.

"I think I'll visit them with his parents..." I thought, I had too much work, I couldn't go visit them now, but if I was called there... it was another story.

Strangely, I saw a window open and a person leaning against it. I was far away, I couldn't really see who it was, so I was walking in the direction, until the person suddenly jumped out of the window.

"A-ah?!?!" I panicked, who was that? A suicidal patient????

This "suicide patient" seemed to use a quick spell, creating an ice shield that protected it in the fall, causing the person to roll. And with the shield now undone, the person started to run in the direction of the under division classes school building.

"H-hey?!" I tried to get the student's attention, but it didn't work.

I started to run towards that student, for the clothes it looked like a girl. Wait... She's wearing a completely black uniform. Is she one of the members of the disciplinary committee? No, it can't be, some girl must have broken into the school!?

I held the papers firmly in my hand as I began to cast a spell, taking a small leap before the spell was complete. "Water Slider!"

A layer of water formed under me, when I step on it, it starts to make me slide at a high speed in the direction I was moving before. I learned this spell last year with the help of two girls who are now in fourth grade. I never thought it would be useful for anything other than getting to meetings quickly.

Getting closer, I start to understand the details of the uniform better..... there was only one girl on the disciplinary committee who had long black hair.

"Princess Kathyln?!" I called her by name and soon she turned to me, stopping running, while I broke my spell, starting to walk normally towards her.

"Some problem?" she asked, with her usual neutral expression.

"It's just that I saw you throwing yourself... From a window... From the second floor... I was confused by that and thought it was some girl who invaded the school.. But why were you there?!? And why did you throw yourself?!?!" I asked super confused still with what I saw.

"I had just gone to visit your friends and my colleagues, the Leywin brothers. But then I noticed that I was quite late and on impulse I thought of jumping out of the window to be faster." She said it as if this were normal.

"Oh.. Went to see them...? Got it, but wait!?...On impulse... You threw yourself out of a window! This is very dangerous!!" I spoke, still not wanting to believe what I saw.

"I'm sorry if I worried you. I'm going to my class." She said starting to walk, but her voice, as always didnt show any emotion.

"Hey wait... You said you went to see them, how are they?"

"Hm... Tessia and Arthur are fine and awake, but they won't be allowed out of the hospital wing until tomorrow and four days from now, respectively." She answered me.

"And Luz?..." I asked a little agonized, I was very scared since I found out about the accident. That idiot boy, always putting himself in front of danger! At least he did it to protect his brother and Tessia...

She just stared at me, there was a feeling of terror when I watched her gaze, but finally, after a few seconds, she spoke. "He's still passed out, but the emitters have done everything they can so far, so all we need to do now is wait."

"Oh... Okay... t-thank you so much, yesterday I had a huge scare when we heard about the accident, but it's good to know that things are starting to settle down... Want company to come to your class?" I asked.

"No thanks. See you around." She said, leaving my field of vision.

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After I met with Kathyln, I was able to deliver the papers to the teachers, because I also had Tessia's papers to delivery, I also had to go to the upper division classes building to finish everything as quickly as possible. Thanks to that, I missed my first class today, but I was able to comfortably go to my second and third classes.

At the time, I was having lunch at one of the restaurants on the market side of the academy. Luckily, one of my dad's old merchant friends owned a franchise, and one of that franchise's locations was where I was, so I got a sizable discount for lunches, but only if I'm alone. I chose to sit in an open area of the restaurant, close to the entrance. I was eating some pasta...or at least I was trying to. Of course, I managed to eat some, but otherwise, I was poking at the food thinking about all that problem from before.

"Excuse me? Miss Helstea!" a voice caught my attention, I looked at the restaurant's front door and saw an academy employee.

"Oh.. what happened?" I asked.

"You were called at six o'clock to stand at the entrance gate and guide the Leywin family to the school's infirmary." When she said that, I gave a slight smile, it was good to see Uncle Reynolds, Aunt Alice and Ellie again.

"Okay. Thanks for the warning. I'll be there before six o'clock so there's no chance they'll get confused if they get there early." I spoke and she nodded, handing me a set of papers and then leaving.

"Hmm...?" I put my fork on the plate and started leafing through the papers.

Looks like it was Luz and Art's accident reports, she must have given this to me so I could tell their parents or give it to them. Anyway, I read some of what was there.

In the initial part, there were things that Kathyln herself commented before, but it was only to look a few paragraphs later, in both reports, that I saw the real situation. I was shocked to see Luz's situation in particular.

"Mana channels... And mana veins... Almost exploded...?" I couldn't believe what I read, if they were being destroyed for real, it would be like saying goodbye to his career as a mage.

I've seen his arm being cut off and then reattached, I've heard his stories about the events in the various Class A dungeons he's been to. Even though this was all brutal, the injuries he had now had more consequences than the others.

"Curtis's beast's will must be powerful..." I said quietly to myself, nervous about the situation.

"Waiter, excuse me." I tried to get the attention of a restaurant employee and I succeeded. "Can you add a cream cake as a take-out dessert? Oh, and you can bring the check too."

"Okay, miss." he soon leaves. and after a few minutes he returned with the dessert I ordered in a plain box and I paid it. It was time to head back to my student council office and prepare for the Leywin family's arrival.

Halfway through the halls of the academy, I could clearly hear the whispers and rumors that were being made, everyone was talking about the Leywins and the accident that had occurred. Several didn't seem to believe the fact that two first year students became teachers, and others exaggerated things even more, saying that they were teachers of super advanced subjects.

But a rumor I heard caught my attention. A group of girls were talking about the brothers' beauty and I approached them, slightly blushing.

"Hello, are you also talking about what happened?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Oooh! Secretary Lilia! You heard too, the vice leaders of the disciplinary committee seem to be already compromised!" One of the girls said.

"Wow. I wanted this to be a lie they made to make them more famous, seriously the black haired one is a hottie~."

"No! The auburn hair boy is so much prettier! Seriously, he looks so mature~"

"Hm, I think they're both pretty, I mean, I bet they're quite important, after all one of them got a teaching job because of Professor Gideon."

I could hear them all talking a lot and soon I gave a sigh, my cheeks reddening. "Wait a minute, 'compromised'? What do you mean?" I asked the girl who answered me before.

"Oooh, didn't you know? There are some students saying they saw one of them walking hand in hand with President Tessia, and the other was always walking with Princess Kathyln with her hugging his arm tight." My face got hotter and redder hearing that.

"Heh, brothers who manage to conquer the elven princess and human princess... How insanity!"

"Yes, but it's quite bizarre, I remember the black haired one saying that he is considered an elven royal guard. But rumors say he dates the human princess and his brother who dates the elven princess. It shouldn't be the other way around?"

"Maybe it's some rule that guards can't relate to the nobles they protect? Is there such a rule in the Kingdom of Elenoir, Alezi?" one of the girls asked the elf girl who was among them and she disagreed about the existence of such a law.

"Well, I think these rumors are completely exaggerated in my opinion." I said, my face still warm.

"Oh, and why do you think so, Miss Helstea?" the elf girl asked.

"Because...." I stopped for a moment to think... "Should I say that?" but then I gave a sigh and decided to comment.

"It's because the Leywins' family lives in my house." I said, with a simple smile and they all looked at me with wide eyes.

"WHAT?!?!" they all spoke aloud and in unison.

"Is this serious?! I mean, it's not a lie, is it?" another one of the girls commented.

"Yes, that's true. Arthur and Luz Leywins have been residing in my house since they moved to Xyrus." I said now feeling snobbish.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh... So they're not really from here."

"Is that why they don't have any background other than what they said themselves?"

"Interesting!"

"And well, as for the rumors with the two princesses, I don't know the president Tessia part, but Luz is not dating Kathyln, in my opinion. They are just friends who met about 4 years ago." I made that very clear.

"And how do you know that?" the elf asked me.

"Because they met at an event at my family's auction house." I answered her simply, they all made some noises as if they understood the whole situation.

"Oh! So we don't know if auburn hair one is single, but we know the black haired one is?" When another one of them said that, I almost felt all my water mana evaporate, I was so angry inside.

"No~ Luz Leywin already has a special person~" I said that, but then my own eyes widened.

"Why did I say that?!?" I thought, going into an internal panic.

"Ooh! Does he already have? Do you know who she is?" The first girl from before asked me, making me break out in a cold sweat.

I started to remember the words Luz said to me after Ellie's party. He told me that what I might be feeling might not be love, but a desire for gratitude, and that if it's really just gratitude, in the future I wouldn't feel anything for him anymore. I still believe this is not the case, but talking about these things so openly still scares me, I don't even know why I said it now.

Was it impulse? Am I being impulsive?

"Ooh, yes I know, but that you have to find out by asking him. Now bye, I have some things to do." I said moving away from them, I was sweating cold and I ran to my office.

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It was now around 5:40pm, I had arrived a little early from the school entrance so I could drive my uncles to see their kids. I was waiting there, standing and talking, I had met Claire a few minutes before and when she knew what I was going to do at the time, she decided that she was going to keep me company, as she was the leader of the group where the children of Leywins were part.

"They should be arriving in a few minutes... My mother is very punctual, I bet she called a carriage so they could get here just in time." I said, looking towards the entrance of the academy.

"Good to know, I'm so excited to meet their parents. As far as I know, one of them was the leader of a party that was famous for having Jasmine Flamesworth as a member, as well as being a very strategic group." Claire said, with one of her hands resting on her waist.

"You really do know some things don't you?" I asked as I fixed the flower in my hair, it was the flower that Luz had given me a few years ago, it was still a beautiful light blue, I usually kept it in a vase on my bedroom table.

"Not that much, but enough to know that they're both very good people... I mean, I know Luz more than Arthur, but I see that they're both very similar or have the same taste in things." Claire said and I agreed with her assumption.

"They're becoming the most talked gossip in school." I said, looking at her.

"Yes, I didn't expect less from them, I don't regret putting them as the vice-capitans. But still it would have been better if the accident hadn't happened." When she said that I gave her a weak smile and nodded silently.

".... I... I get sad just to think that this happened to them on the first day of school..."

"Relax, Lilia, they'll be fine." Claire said putting her no on one of my shoulders.

I start to hear the sound of wheels and as I look in that direction, I notice... Two carriages arriving?

"Is the Leywin family big at this level...?" Claire asked me.

"No... They clearly fit in a single carriage... and that other one is too fancy, even on my father's levels." I was quite confused and soon the two carriages stopped.

In the simplest carriage, I saw my Uncle Reynolds getting out and then Aunt Alice and Ellie followed. In the most complex carriage... I felt my eyes almost leaving my face as they were so wide, there were three elves, a woman, a man and an elder, with a tiara and a crown on those who looked younger.

The elder elf approached us with a smile. "Hello young girls, would any of you be Lilia Helstea?"

Claire automatically pointed at me, while Arthur's parents took notice of those elves, being shocked while Ellie was left with nothing, as usual. I took a deep breath.... Damn Director, I thought I was only going to take their family and not hers too!?

"My name is Lilia Helstea... And you must be the Eralith royal family... Am I right?" I said bowing and the elder started to laugh.

"Relax girl, I heard about you because Cynthia mentioned your name and because Tessia talked about how great company you are for her. Could you take us to where she is?" the elder said again.

"Of course... Uh...." I looked at Uncle Reynolds. "I'm also here to take you to see Arthur, you can come with us."

"Arthur...?" Queen Eralith looked at them, who were paralyzed with panic at having a royal family nearby. "Are you Arthur Leywin's parents?"

"Y-Yes! We are. It's a pleasure to meet you." Aunt Alice managed to speak and bowed, Ellie and Uncle Reynolds copied her.

"No need to worry, we're here as parents, not royalty… Anyway, could you guide us then, Miss Helstea?" Now King Eralith said.

"Of course. Let's go." I said as I walked onto the academy campus, Claire was right next to me as the two families followed us a little behind.

I was feeling a lot of pressure with that, each step felt heavier, but I took a deep breath and continued to keep the same pace on the floor. We arrived at the medical wing of the academy and I was guiding the two families now in the corridors.

"Is Brother Lu okay? I just heard about Brother Art." Ellie asked.

"Arthur is the only one awake, Luz seems to have taken most of the damage... I don't even know how he managed to make his mana channels and mana veins wider, but they said we now just need to wait for him to wake up." I said with a sigh.

"BAH! That brat always manages to surprise me. I can't believe how much he can take and survive!" the elder said and we all looked at each other.

"I'm sorry sir and Mrs Leywin, but I always get excited when I find out that one of my disciples has done something insane!" He said laughing.

"Father, you shouldn't act like that, the situation is really tense." King Eralith said.

"Relax, those two brats are the toughest things I've ever met in my entire life as a king and as a warrior! I mean Luz for example managed to resist the illusion spells of one of our Lances... But then, girl, where is my granddaughter?" The elder was now talking looking at me, we were all surprised by that information that was released to us, Claire had her eyes shining with excitement, but we soon decided to ignore it for now.

"Well... Here they are... Luz, Arthur and Tessia." I said pointing to the three doors that were closest, respectively saying their names.

Tessia's mother was knocking on her door, while Aunt Alice knocked on the door of the room where Arthur was, but something strange happened.

"Aaah... What is it? I said I won't have dinner until my parents arrive..." Arthur said opening the door from where he was and behind him was Tessia, my elf friend blushed intensely when she saw the two families there, while Arthur's expression was completely neutral.

"Hello Old Bat! If you came to see Tessia, complain to her... She broke into my room and won't leave me alone." Arthur said monotonously.

"Art!! Don't say that like you don't enjoy my company!" Tessia pouted and I saw her throwing herself on Art's bed.

Both families were silent about what they saw, Art allowed them both inside. I stayed outside their room with Claire. But then I saw him returning and looking at both of us.

"Aren't you going in?" He said confused.

"Can you rest easy with a royal family in your hospital room?!?" Claire exclaimed.

"I literally lived with them for 4 years.... I haven't been bothered in a long time." He answered her.

"I think we'll wait for everyone to leave so we can talk to you..." I said looking straight into his eyes.

"Really? I mean.. I understand Claire, but you're an acquaintance of my family and Tess's best friend. Isn't it better to be here?" he asked confused.

"I... I'm going to see Luz. Then... I can talk to Tessia and her parents later..." I said already heading towards his room.

"Um... Okay. Talk to you in a bit then." Art said closing the door while I opened the door where his brother was.

"Claire, do you want to go with me?" I looked at her but she seemed to refuse my offer, I didn't understand why so I just walked into the room and closed the door.

I looked towards the hospital bed, I could now correctly see the description of what I received earlier in those papers. The boy was covered in bandages all over his body, with his face the only thing exposed. Having a potion-injecting machine connected to him by two thin tubes that were in his right arm.

I approached and noticed two types of flowers that were loose on the table next to me, I saw that there was a vase for flowers on the small dresser next to the bed, I carefully put the flowers there, there were two types, one white with a little light pink in the center, and another completely yellow. I stared at them for a while, then looked at his face again.

"Luz..." I said softly as I stroked his hair lightly.

"You really are a knight in shining armor... But your whole body looks like glass... So far as I know... You always get hurt pretty bad when you go to protect someone... Don't know your own resistance, silly...?" My voice was getting calmer, but I could feel my cheeks getting wet and some tears falling.

"I... I get so worried... No matter how much you show you can get out of these situations... I just... I can't help but worry... Please... Please, I... ." I could barely contain my own words and started crying there, my face just above his chest, as I carefully hugged his head.

I don't know how long I was like this, but for me it's been hours, hours crying, hugging his face and mentally begging him to be okay, for him to stop worrying me so much. All the feelings I was feeling and pretending not to have so as not to ruin my image, it was all coming out at once.

I had a reputation to uphold, but I didn't care anymore, I was in this room, alone with him. No one at school could see my weak and fragile side there, and I want it to always be that way as much as possible.

"L-Lilia....?" I heard a voice, and looked around, my face still full of tears and my eyes turning a little red.

"H-Here..." that dry and weak voice spoke again as I felt something touching my waist.

When I looked down, I saw that there were arms full of bandages hugging me there, and when I looked at his face, I saw his eyes, one with cyan colored irises, and the other with the iris being yellow and bright. He pulled me harder trying to hug me while also trying to sit on the bed.

"L-Luz....? Y-you..." I didn't know what to say, I was in shock, he woke up... He woke up in my arms.

"I'm here... But... you could step back a little... Some people would find this scene divine... But waking up from a faint while having a woman's bust pressed against your face...It's not something I appreciate..." When he said that, I realized the real way I was hugging him, his face was at the level of my breasts and I was pressing him against them, my face turned extremely red and I pulled away, still not believing the scene I was found.

He coughed a little, as if trying to catch his breath, and some blood came out of his mouth when he did that. He seemed to have a hard time sitting up, I even tried to help, but he stopped me. "Thank you... for being here, Lilia..." He gave me a weak smile, his eyes now narrowed, showing all the tiredness he still felt.

"I-I… Oh my god… Are you okay…?" It was the only coherent question I could ask.

"Not much... Every fiber of my muscles are in pain... But it's a pain that... I can ignore seeing your face..." He gave a weak smile.

"It's not t-time for this…. And you know it." I said.

"I know... I'm sorry... My immature part sometimes affects me..." He said giving some small laughs, but ended up coughing some more blood on top of the blanket he was using. "But... I really expected to feel all this pain... Anyway... How long had I... been passed out?"

"The accident... It was yesterday.. And now is 6:30 pm, I think...." I replied looking at the window, the sun had already left the sky.

"Fine... Honestly... When I passed out, my last thought was that I was going to miss a whole fucking month of classes..." he chuckled again, this time managing not to cough up blood.

"Don't say that... I wouldn't want it to be true..." I said looking down and then at him. His expression suddenly changed, he looked sad, maybe just now noticing the state of my eyes and face.

"I-I'm sorry... I was just being honest about this... I woke up... Too soon... Considering what I did..."

"What you did..?" I asked without understanding.

"Tell me what... the diagnosis of my situation..." He asked and I took a breath, I listed everything I remembered from the report I received this morning.

He gave the ceiling a little pitying look, and then looked at me. "Well, the part of my mana channels and mana veins... They almost exploded... It wasn't a consequence of the attack I received... I forced my beast will... And ended up creating a... pseudo version. .. Because of that... I thought I'd be passed out for a month.."

My eyes widened a lot... Had he done something that reckless? Wait, he's not one to do that... There had to be a reason, but what?....

"I see... Can you stay awake longer...?" I asked.

"Why that?" he tilted his head.

"Arthur and Tessia.. They woke up this morning. And now their families are here to visit.... Want me to let them know you woke up?" he smiled at my words, possibly happy to know that both his brother and his friend were okay.

"Of course..." he said "I think... I can stay awake for a maximum of two or maybe six hours if I concentrate."

"Fine, I'll be right back!" I said now a little happier and left his room, knocking on the door of Art's hospital room, as I saw the two family enter there.

Uncle Reynolds was the one who opened the door and I could see the faces of some of them confused to see that it was me there. "Did you decide to come talk to Arthur, Lilia?" He said looking at me.

"It's not that... Luz... He woke up!" When I said that, everyone was wide-eyed.

"What?!?!" all said in unison.

"But I thought he was so hurt that he couldn't wake up now." Claire said, she was still in the hallway at that time.

"I thought about that too, but he woke up while I was there! He said he can stay awake for a few hours at best, so anyone who wants to talk to him, come quickly!" I warned them and I could see the first person to run out of there was Aunt Alice.

She ran towards his door and opened it. "Luz! My god you don't know how much you worri—!" she stopped talking out of nowhere and I walked over to see what had happened. Claire, Tessia, Arthur and Tessia's grandfather also went to see what happened, while the others stayed a little behind.

"What the... Girl... What was the state of the room before you left him...?" the elder asked me

"Everything was normal..." I replied.

"So how did this happen…?" he asked as we all looked at the situation in the room.