Chapter ♦ 34

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Zylith.

"What is this?" My instructor, who looked like the smocking-hot live version of Superman in his flowery-youth, stared back at me with a look of utter disappointment, and I in turn, bit my lips in culpable sheepishness.

"What's the matter?" Alexteris on the other hand, was acting as the rogue catalyst that fuelled this raging 'Superman's' fire.

"Have a look for yourself, Your Majesty." He handed my test paper over to Alexteris to let him take a look.

"Oh! What do we have here?" He squinted his impish weasel eyes at my test paper in absolute mirth and read out loud to further enhance my embarrassment over my given answers.

"Q. What is the name of the battle that met it's conclusion in the year 1700 P.B.?

Ans. The battle of 1600 P.B.

Q. In which battle did the first king of Reveldron, King Isaac Rudolf de Regalious perished?

Ans. In his last one.

Q. The canal of Thanosis flows in _______?

Ans. ....Liquid state?

Q. Where was the declaration of Alorian independence signed?

Ans. At the bottom of the page.

Q. What is the strongest force to be reckoned in this entire continent of Aradon?

Ans. Love!!!" He raised his amused brows as his quivering lips betrayed his stoic posture. And I was like, 'What the hell? Laugh if you want to laugh.' I wanted to raise my sarcastic voice but somehow held it in. I mean, it was practically my fault for flunking the test but in my defence, I am just an average teenage student who isn't even able to bring an A in my regular tests, how was I supposed to fare well in a sudden pop quiz on the entire history of the continent of Aradon of which Reveldron is supposedly a part of.

"Pfft!" Were my ears hallucinating or did I hear a snicker just now?

I put on a deep frown on my face as I roved my eyes around the room for the laughing perpetrator, and surprisingly so, it turned out to be my ascetic knight Fredurd. Though he looked like nothing was out of place, my 20/20 eyes could still detect the remnant traces of his slip up.

Recently, Fredurd had started advance training under the supervision of Lord Xavier and thus, he had not been around much. I think he probably was using his enhanced training as an excuse to try and avoid his awkward situation with Liana, but I didn't want to hassle him too much over to reveal his inner intents.

I smiled sweetly at Fredurd, who stood beside Lord Xavier(who for your info, was a quaking frame as well, I don't understand why these people try and act all poised, prim and proper. I mean, it's not like they would be committing grave sins if they were to let their inner thoughts out and be free and unrestrained every once in a while..... Wait! What are these two even doing here? Could it be that mummy brat summoned them here so that they could be the sole witnesses of my humiliation of the century? I glared at Alexteris with absolute venom in my eyes when these thoughts hounded my mind. I'll have to take care of this brat one of these days it seems) and said, "I see my knight shares my sense of humor as well. Ah! How I feel blessed now."

Everyone present in the royal library, whipped their heads to Fredurd's direction and stared at his, now discomfited face in sheer uncanniness.

"I do not recommend you to count your blessings yet, Your Highness." My instructor, Earl Edgar von Vilavelt spoke smoothly, the baritone of his voice reverberated through my bones as it's low rumble sounded so comforting as it wrapped around me softly and carried me off to a world where sound was the power that could change everything wrong in the world. Yes, it was that alluring, but all the same, underneath all that allure, it had the kind of underlying threat that could almost be dismissed but was still conspicuous enough to send a sharp shiver down your spine.

He instilled a kind of crippling dread in me that was impossible to describe as he peered at me with eyes that said, 'You-will-have-to-work-harder-than-ever-before-now'.

The man before my eyes looked so handsome, so handsome that even a runway supermodel who lose to his charms. But who knew that he would turn out to be a wolf in a sheep's clothing and all that charm and beauty was nothing but a ruse to trap you into his sweet beauty trap. His boding gaze drilled a fear in me which cackled in my ears as it told my legs to go weak, my stomach to lurch and my heart to race. He was a fiend, an absolute devil dressed as an angel. I should have known that there was no way in hell that bastard mummy would instate someone sane beside me.

Where should I begin?

Ah! I'm starting to hate these narratives already. They never have happy endings.

Well anyways, let's start from the first time I laid my eyes on this handsome hunk who looked as though he was as young as a spring root but was actually as old as Jericho. Honestly, I'm awfully curious as to what kind of ambrosia did he get his hands on to look like Tom Holland when he actually was of the age of Robert Downey Jr. Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, The first time; The very first time I came face to face with the Earl of Leutenberg, I felt like I was meeting with 'The Clarke Kent' in flesh. The clean-shaven square jaw with dark locks and round glasses, almost nerdy but strong; his voice was a mixture of deepness and profoundness in his buoyant introduction. He didn't look like he was even over twenty, but he had lost all his traces of boyhood. His hazel eyes behind his glasses, were mesmerizing in the true sense of the word. People often speak of the colour of eyes, as if that were of importance, yet I felt, his would be beautiful in any shade. From them comes a gentleness, yet such a bizarre intensity that it is hard to keep ogling at him for a longer period of time. Perhaps this was what was meant by a true brilliant gentleman, not one of weakness or trite politeness, but one of great spirit and noble ways. He had me staring at him in an awed expression while thinking, 'Is Reveldron packed up with handsome men everywhere nowadays? Or how else would these pretty men keep popping up in front of me all the time?'

"Greetings Your Highnesses, I am Earl Edgar von Vilavelt of Leutenberg, your assigned tutor on political and historical sciences." The lord of Leutenberg introduced himself with a curt bow, his mien was mild yet so very austere that I couldn't really figure out what kind of character he actually was. But I could almost taste the queasy behaviour of prince Alexteris beside me. I frowned at this guy's sudden strange conduct, why did I smell some interesting background tale behind this guy's unusual behaviour?

"I hope to be of service to Her Highness during our exchanges in our coming days." The lord spoke in his deep voice, but half the time I was distracted with his young pretty face and had my head up in the cloud while wondering about the actual age of the Earl.

"Ah yes, I and the first queen welcome Earl Vilavelt to the royal castle of Reveldron with sheer heartiness. I hope you have a pleasant stay while in the castle." Alexteris mouthed with gusto, while elbowing me to join in on his welcome speech.

"Oh yes, it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Lord Vilavelt." I smiled in an amicable manner.

"The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness." The lord responded to me in equal zest. This new instructor seemed both easy on the eyes as well as pretty friendly. I rejoiced thinking that my lessons were gonna go in a breeze.

"Lord Vilavelt, let me give you a tour of the palace since the palace can be a bit of a befuddling maze at first." I offered kindly for I wanted to establish a harmonious relationship with my said instructor as soon as possible.

"Oh thank you very much for such warm hospitality, but there really is not any need for such measures Your Highness." Lord Edgar Vilavelt declined my offer as politely as possible. I felt a bit embarrassed at the mild rejection, but I couldn't exactly drag the man around without his approval either. As such, I could only smile in placidness.

After the Earl retired for the day, Alexteris turned towards me with knitted brows and spoke in an exasperated tone, "Show him around? Really?"

I in turn, knitted my brows back at him and said, "What? Is there a rule that says I can't show the earl around the castle?"

He sighed in an audible tone and spoke, "Really, who are you trying to deceive here? It was as painfully clear as the day that you want to curry favor with the Earl with the way you were acting."

I suddenly got annoyed with the sarcastic tone of this brat's voice, hence shrugged back in utter indifference, "Yeah and what about it?" It's not like I was trying to hide it either. Trying to establish an amicable relationship with your new instructor was a given, wasn't it?

He eyed me with annoyed narrowed eyes, "You should know that Earl Vilavelt doesn't play favorites, so I suggest you stop such dilly-dallies in the future and behave in front of him."

"Oh? And how do you know that?" I frowned suspiciously at him.

"W-Well, Earl Vilavelt is a well-known individual you see. So it's not so strange for me to know about his conventions." The royal brat muttered but I didn't believe a word out of his mouth.

His guilty demeanor and panicked eyes which wouldn't meet mine told me that he was outright lying to my face, but I didn't want to push him to give the game away yet, least he ran away from me in fright. Besides, I felt like I would soon uncover his secrets without much trouble anyway.

~ ••••••••••• ~


I felt like an idiot thinking that dealing with Earl Vilavelt would be a piece of cake. I soon became conscious of my blunder when I realized that this Earl, Edgar von Vilavelt was another type of monster.

"I have confidence in Your Highness that you shall definitely be able to finish the history of the war of Glavider within a day." The beautiful smiling face of Earl Edgar looked rather haunting to me if you are curious about my opinion.

I remember gaping speechlessly at my smiling handsome instructor for the nth time that week and then looked down at the historical book that described the Glaviderial war of crisis, the book was a simple earthy hued cover, warming to the eyes, comforting even, but the thickness of it was not comforting to my state of mind at all.

I gulped in sheer dread as I eyed my classwork for the day, and then thought back of the unsettled Alexteris from before. Now I knew why he looked so disturbed that day; the Earl of Leutenberg was no mere vegetarian, he was a spartan in a recreant's clothing. And he just happened to be the previous instructor of Alexteris. No wonder Alexteris was so jittery that day. He must have been really badly scared by this spawn of Sparta previously, hence I could finally understand his withdrawal syndrome. I was really regretting my shallow superficial nature of 'anything goes if you're beautiful' personality right now.

"Erm... respected Earl..." I mumbled in a small voice.

"Yes My Highness?" His devilish smile was so dazzling that I had to close my eyes for a moment to adjust to his brilliant smile.

"I'm not as amazing as you made me sound just now, you know." I mumbled sheepishly.

"Ah! How could Her Highness demean herself like that! I have my complete faith in you, Sire. I believe you, of all people, will absolute be able to do it within a given day." He insisted in such righteousness that I couldn't find the words to ask him for a little more time to review the book.

I could only swallow down my complains and anxieties in one silent gulp. At that moment I felt, he was the sweetest yet the most devious man I had ever met. And I do not know whether I should rejoice or mourn my fortune for meeting such a crafty character.

Days passed by while I struggled in a vicious cycle of going crazy and getting creamed by my demon instructor's spartan lessons. And then one day, the figure who I thought would appear only on the Twelfth of never showed up in front of me, granted with a sullen expression but he still did visit.

"Woahhh! What a pleasant surprise." I raised both my brows at the rare sight of Alexteris's face. Since my lessons with Earl Vilavelt started, Alexteris had never bothered to show up in front of me ever again. So I was pretty surprised at his unannounced visit that day. "What brings you here on such a fine day, Your Highness?" I asked.

"I'm not here for you today," He was being more than rude considering we were the pupils of the same teacher, if not in-laws, we could at least be considered classmates or acquaintances even. But this guy was so prickly I couldn't even stand to tolerate his existence sometimes.

"Oh yeah?" I muttered in sourness.

"Where is the Earl?" He asked me in all his glorious gruffness. At that instant, I really didn't care if he was suffering from a withdrawal syndrome of spartan PTSD or what not, I just wanted to aim my heels at his eyes.

With gritted teeth I mouthed, "...He is not here yet." Don't get me wrong, I was not scared of this brat, but I was scared of his nonsensical drama, and so I did not dare to start another bout with him.

Not long after, the Earl made his appearance and when he saw Alexteris amidst us today, at first he looked a bit taken aback, but then he courteously bowed to Alexteris in submission and asked, "Greetings to Your Majesty, may I have the privilege of knowing what brings you here today?"

I frowned a bit at the Earl's behaviour towards Alexteris. From what I have come to know after my recent interactions with the Earl, he was not the kind of person to alienate his pupils or show favouritism due to one's status, but what I was witnessing in front of me was not mere alienation, but an unbiased devotion and respect where he didn't even seem to acknowledge Alexteris as his ex-disciple. From my observations, I could tell he was not aware of the true identity of the man behind those bandages and thought Alexteris to be the true king of Reveldron.

Well, it's not like I could blame him, after all, Alexteris appeared to be a carbon-copy of Reuben to everyone else except for me.

"I wanted to appraise the Queen's improvement in her lessons, so I thought I should pay the Earl and My lady a visit." He spoke in a poised manner; his nerves were not as shaken as they were the day Lord Vilavelt arrived at the castle. Maybe Alexteris was afraid the Earl would recognize him even if he were under a camouflaged glamour. But now that he was sure that the Earl could no longer recognize him, he let down his guard a bit and looked less tortured.

"Oh? I see. Hmm.... Then should we conduct a little quiz to gauge out her improvement?" Earl Vilavelt suggested, almost knocking my socks off when he dropped the 'pop quiz' bombshell.

One thing all of you must always remember about me, and that is, I absolutely loathe... no scratch that, 'Hate is the right word', yes, I absolutely hate pop quizzes. They are the ban of my existence.

"What!" I almost screeched.

"Hmm... that could work." Alexteris seemed to ponder over the matter.

"What what!!" I on the other hand, was hyperventilating like my skeleton was trying to escape through my skin.

"As you wish Sire. I shall prepare the quiz right away." I suddenly became as invisible as the air when my opinion was supposed to be taken into account.

It was so frustrating that I wanted to hit Alexteris on his head with my Herculean history books, but I somehow restrained myself for I didn't want to get into more trouble than it was worth.

And that is how folks, my miserable fate was decided on a mere whim.

To be Continued..........

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