“What took you so long?” Hajin asked Cristopher, who was just getting to the backyard of Locket of Hope with Evandel right beside him, holding his hand.
“We were eating, right Ev?” He asked her.
“Mm.” Evandel nodded with a smile.
“Ha…” Hajin shook his head, while Shina just got close to them and purred as she rubbed her head on Evandel’s and then on Cristopher’s chest. “She’s really getting bigger, isn’t she?” Hajin, who was looking at Shina mentioned.
“Yeah, she is.” Cristopher smirked as he patted Shina. “You’re becoming quite an amazing leopard cat, aren’t you? You’re such a cute cat.” Shina purred.
“Uncle, uncle.” Evandel said as she tugged on Hajin’s shirt.
“What is it, Evandel?” Hajin asked as he crouched down in front of her.
“We meet a weird girl.” She said with a serious face. “She has a screw loose! She said that fries were gross! Can you believe it, uncle!?”
“Ah…” Hajin looked up at Cristopher who was trying not to laugh at Evandel. “R-Really? Was she called Yoo Yeonha?”
“Yes!” Evandel nodded. “Do you know her too, uncle?”
“Yeah… She’s an acquaintance…” Hajin smiled wryly. “Anyways, Evandel, the kids are waiting for you there. They want to play with you.” He said as he pointed towards the rest of the kids, who were already playing before, and are now waving at her to join them.
“Right!” She nodded excitedly and rushed towards them, only to stop for a moment to turn towards her father. “I’ll go to play, daddy!”
“Yeah, go ahead.” Cristopher nodded with a smile.
“So?” After Evandel left to play, Hajin got close to him and asked. “Care to explain?”
“Well, let’s say that Yeonha does have the luck to be in the worst place, at the worst time possible.” Cristopher shrugged. “We were eating when she found us, actually.”
“Mm…” Hajin nodded. “Did you tell her something?”
“Yeah, the truth.” Cristopher nodded.
“Are you sure it was a good idea?”
“Well, she already knew about Evandel. Also, she’s not a bad child. She’s just mistrusting, and with a lot of pressure on her shoulders.”
Hajin nodded.
“Also, she would be of great help in the future. You know this.” Cristopher said. “And I hope she can help protect Evandel if the time ever comes.”
“Right…” Hajin nodded. “By the way, Antonio is upstairs with Fran, he’s packing his things and she’s helping him.”
Cristopher nodded as he kept patting Shina, looking at the kids playing with Evandel, who didn’t stop laughing while running behind Anne.
“I hate to admit it… But you were right.” Hajin said after a while.
“I’m always right. You have to be more specific.” Cristopher said with a smirk, not looking away from Evandel.
At his comment, Hajin just let out an exasperated sigh. “I mean with Evandel. She does look like she’s having a great time.”
“Of course. What were you expecting?” Cristopher said with a shrug. “She’s a kid. You might think of her as something different than a human. But she’s no different from a child.”
“I don’t think-”
“Yes. You do.” Cristopher cut him mid-sentence. “And I’m not saying it’s bad. I, for that matter, am not human myself. At least not entirely.”
“…”
“But that’s not a bad thing.” He turned to Hajin. “I think we talked about this before, but you have to learn that not because someone’s not human, it makes them evil.”
“I know that…” Hajin muttered while looking at Evandel. “I’ve never thought for a moment that she would turn to be someone evil. Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“Great.” Cristopher smirked. “I wouldn’t want to smash your face with my fists to change your thoughts.”
“...Please don’t joke with that.” Hajin shuddered at the thought.
“Just so you know and keep it in mind.” Cristopher's smirk deepened, but just as he turned to look at Evandel, his eyes softened as he saw her laughing, his smirk turning into a smile.
***
Late at night in Cube, at the forest outside the dorms, the figure of a girl could be seen panting while sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree. Her auburn-colored hair fell right in front of her face as she tried to catch her breath; sweat could be seen covering most of her visible body, and even drenching her clothes.
“Isn’t it too late to be training? And in a forest… Why don’t just use the training facilities Cube has?” A sudden voice alerted the girl, who quickly turned to look at the source of it.
“Tch… What do you want?” The girl growled as she saw who the newcomer was. “I don’t have time to entertain some muscle-head.” She said before focusing once again on catching her breath.
“I already told you I’m not a muscle-head!” The newcomer shout, veins popping on his forehead. “Really, what the hell is wrong with you? Also, I’m not the one training past 10:00 PM in the middle of a dark forest. Wouldn’t that make you a muscle-head too? No… Maybe that makes you a training masochist!”
“Shut up, will you? Your annoying voice is giving me a headache, you idiot.” The girl said as she grabbed her head.
“Tch. Freaking crazy…” He said as he went towards her, leaning on a tree close to the one she was leaning on, sitting down.
“What are you doing?” Noticing his action, the girl frowned as she turned to look at him, now sitting close to her.
“I can’t sleep.” He answered.
“I don’t see how bothering me would help you sleep, Yi Yeonghan.” The girl said with a growl.
“Ha… Have I done something to you?” Yeonghan said with a sigh. “I’m just here because I don’t have anything else to do, and I heard some shouts and sounds from here. I was just curious to see what was happening.” He said while looking around. He could see knives cutting deep into the trees, where some targets were drawn, though most of them missed the center or even the target whole target. Some of the knives even had a small frozen patch around them. {Was she trying to freeze the trees?} He thought for a moment while looking around.
“No. You haven’t done anything to me.” She said. “But I don’t like stupid people…”
“I’m not stupid. You damn crazy girl!” Yi Yeonghan said with an exasperated sigh. “Anyways! What’s the training you’re doing? It seems exhausting…” He said as he turned to look at her.
“Because it is… See? Stupid.” She said, shaking her head.
“…” He looked at her with a twitching eyebrow. {At this point I really feel stupid for talking to her.} He thought before letting out a long sigh. “Just why is it so exhausting talking to you?”
“Mm? Don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said with a shrug. “But Cristopher once said something similar. Just that he used more explicit words.”
“Can’t blame him…” Yeonghan muttered.
“Well. If you’re going to stay there. At least don’t obstruct my training.” Olivia said as she stood up, recalling all her knives from the nearby trees.
“Are you planning to keep training? Isn’t too late?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No.” She shortly said, before looking at him. “And you better not bother me while I train, or I’ll mistake you for a tree.” She said as she took a running posture, and quickly rushed towards the tree.
{Just what’s her problem?} He thought as he looked at her taking a posture to run, but then he tilted his head as she started to run towards a tree. {Is she going to headbutt the tree? Is that why she’s so- What...?} His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he saw her running up the tree as if there was no gravity.
Olivia then jumped from the tree and in a waving motion, she sent 4 knives flying. But just as Yeonghan thought she was going to miss the targets, the knives moved by themselves, and each knife shot towards a target on different trees, as if they were alive.
{How can she do that?} He thought for a moment. {Her Gift, maybe? But it didn’t act like that before...}
The knives hit the marked trees, but not all of them hit on the center, and once again, others didn’t even touch the mark. A white fog could be seen spreading out from them, as a thin sheet of ice started spreading around the knives.
Olivia, on the other hand, was already falling towards a tree. But against Yeonghan thoughts, she didn’t fall from the tree, but stuck to it, a second later she could be seen running up on that tree once again towards the top, just that this time, she threw four more knives almost without taking aim, just throwing them on a general direction.
The knives once again started moving seemingly by themselves as they shot towards other trees. Meanwhile, Olivia was already all the way up of the tree, right before the top, jumping with all her strength towards a slightly more faraway tree. Mid-air, once again, she threw more knives that shot directly towards more targets.
{Does she train like this all the time?} Yi Yeongha, who couldn’t stop looking at Olivia who seemingly danced in the air while jumping from tree to tree, thought, mesmerized. {How is she even doing all this…?}
His mesmerized expression soon broke when a screaming Olivia fell, not being able to reach the next tree because of a slip she made while jumping.
“W-Wait!” Shouting, Yi Yeongha quickly jumped from his sitting position and rushed to the falling girl, mustering all his strength to reach quickly. And he did reach in time to catch her. “That was dangerous…” He sighed while holding the perplexed Olivia in his arms. “You have to be more careful! That was a really high jump.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Olivia shouted as she pushed him, falling on her butt as his grip loosened. “Auch…” She said while rubbing her butt.
“I should be the one asking you that!” Yeonghan shouted back at her. “I just tried to help you not to fall hard on the solid ground.”
“I don’t need your help.” Olivia said with a glare as she stood up and recalled her knives to keep training, but just as the knives got close, sudden dizziness struck her and all of the knives lose their force, falling on the ground close to her.
“O-Oi! You have to rest!” Yeonghan, who looked at the staggering girl, reach out with his hand, trying to stabilize her.
“Don’t!” Olivia simply swatted his hand. “I’m okay. I can keep going.” She said as she shook her head. Once again focusing on the knives that slowly tried to raise from the ground, only to fall once again when her control was lost, a headache now stopping her.
“You’re obviously not okay. How long have you been doing this?” Yeonghan said as he stopped her from falling.
“…” Olivia shut her mouth and looked away. “It’s not your problem.” She muttered, before separating herself from him. She then went towards a tree, and sat down again, leaning against the tree, and trying to calm her shaky breath.
“…” Yeonghan looked at her with his mouth wide open. “This is not the first time that you felt dizzy today…”
“S-Shut up… Ha… Ha… I just need a little rest…” She muttered while closing her eyes.
“You can’t keep going on like this!” He shouted at her. “You will hurt yourself.”
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“Shut up.” She said, without even turning to look at him.
“I’m serious. You can’t keep doing this. Is it Cristopher that’s forcing you to train like this?”
“I’m doing this for myself. Stop bothering me already. If you’re not shutting up. You better leave.”
“Tch. You’re such a pain in the ass Olivia.” Yeonghan said, turning to leave, but he finally stopped after a few steps. He clicked his tongue and sighed, before once again turning back and moving towards her.
“What do you want now?” She asked with a frown as she looked at Yi Yeonghan, who was now standing in front of her with his arms crossed.
“You don’t want to rest, and I don’t want to leave you here to get injured.”
“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem.” Olivia said.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “And seeing as I’m a muscle-brain” He said while quoting with his fingers. “I will solve my problem the way I know how to.”
“Leave.” She said with a low tone.
“I won’t.” He answered shortly, before chuckling. “And seeing you there, I’m sure you won’t be able to force me.”
Olivia clicked her tongue and averted her eyes. Silence prevailed for a while. “Why do you even care? We’re not even friends.” She muttered.
“I’m the class representative. I must make sure my classmates won’t do stupid things.”
She snorted at his comment. “As if I would believe that. With all the things that happen in our class, including freaking bullying, do you dare to say that to me now?”
“Haha…” He smiled awkwardly, before sighing. “Hey, I know. I haven’t been the best when it comes to keeping things in order in the class, but I’m serious when I say that I want to stop my classmates from doing stupid things, or at least those that I can help.”
“Well, just imagine that you can’t help me, and fuck off.” Olivia said, her frown never leaving her face.
“Don’t want to.” Yi Yeongha said while looking at her straight in the eyes.
“Why are you so fucking stubborn? Do you have a rock instead of a brain? You know what, don’t answer. It’s so obvious.”
“I won’t move.”
“Fine. Then I’ll move you myself.” She stood up angrily, but just as she tried to call her knives, the headache and the dizziness came again, making her almost fall. Yeonghan, who was standing right in front of her noticed the situation and caught her.
“See? You can even stand up.” He said with a sigh. “Just how long have you been training.”
“Shut up, idiot.” Olivia muttered, trying to stand up normally. “I know when to stop.”
“No. You clearly don’t.” He said with a sigh. “Forgive me for this.” And with those words, he quickly took her in her arms and carried her in the famous princess carry.
“W-W-What are you d-doing!? Let me down in this instant!” Olivia tried to protest, but her exhaustion didn’t allow her to move.
“No. I’ll be taking you to the dorms.” Yeonghan said, starting to walk towards the female cadets' dorms.
“Put me down!” Olivia said as she moved her arms to hit him, but without any strength at all.
“I won’t.” He said shortly, before stopping to look at the knives. “Mm… I’ll first leave you on the dorms, and then I’ll look for your knives, I guess.” With that, he once again started walking towards the dorm. {Damn… It’s too late for me to take her to her room myself… I guess I’ll have to ask Suho to call Chae Nayun or Yoo Yeonha.} He thought with an awkward smile as he walked, Olivia trying her best to free herself, to no avail; after all, Yi Yeonghan was one of the tallest and physically stronger cadets in the freshman year.
***
“Hyung, who’s this teacher that you will present me?” Antonio asked while waiting with Cristopher inside Seoul’s International Portal Station. “And why can’t you just teach me yourself? Evandel told me you were teaching her…”
Cristopher, who was patiently waiting while drinking beer, turned to look at Antonio.
“It’s true that I’m teaching Evandel, but the problem it’s not about me teaching you or not because it’s not really like I wouldn’t like to. It’s just that I have this plan to help other children like you, and also to help a friend of mine, who is the one we’re meeting tonight.”
“Other children like me?” Antonio tilted his head.
“Yes.” Cristopher nodded. “You see, there are some other kids like you who don’t know they actually have a talent for elementalism, and the current situation of the academies can’t even detect this.”
“But you could?”
“Yes, but I’m different in that regard. And this friend of mine too, she can actually discover more kids like you and help them grow.” Cristopher said before sipping on his drink. “My idea is to guide her in your training, showing her what she has to do in order to help others like you both. That way she can impart this teaching back in her country and her family’s Guild, that way kids like you won’t be lost when trying to become Heroes o Magicians.”
Antonio thought for a moment before nodding. “I think I understand…”
“Great. And don’t worry. She’s not a bad person at all, and she’s quite talented too. She will be a great help for you to grow and learn.”
“I hope so…” Antonio muttered.
“Oh, also…” Cristopher paused for a moment, before sighing. “Whatever you do. Don’t mention Evandel to her. Ok?”
“Huh? Evandel? Why would I mention her?” Antonio tilted his head.
“Just listen to me and don’t mention her in front of my friend. Also, she won’t be going to the orphanage, so try not to invite her.” Cristopher said while looking at him with serious eyes. “For certain reasons, she can’t meet Evandel, understood?”
“…” Antonio looked at him with confusion drawn on his face, but he still nodded. “Yes, understood.”
“Great.” Cristopher smirked, before abruptly turning to look at the entrance of the area they were. “Here she is. Remember what we talked about.”
“Yes.” Antonio nodded and turned to look for his future teacher. Only to freeze the next moment as a beautiful blond-haired girl walked towards them with a small smile.
“Master.” Rachel walked towards Cristopher and Antonio and greeted the former with a nod, before turning to Antonio, who was still frozen in place. Looking at his focused stare on her, she couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion.
“*Cough, cough.* Rachel, good to see you.” Cristopher said while putting his hand over Antonio’s head. “This kid here is Antonio, he’s the child that I talked to you about. He has talent as an elementalist.”
Rachel nodded and turned to look at Antonio, smiling at him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Antonio.”
Antonio nodded absentmindedly while looking at Rachel. He then turned to look at Cristopher, and once again at Rachel.
“Mm…” Rachel didn’t know what to say, while Cristopher just sighed.
“Don’t worry, he’s shy.” Cristopher said and Rachel nodded at that. “Anyways, we should go already. Randy should be waiting for us.”
“Mister Randy?” Rachel tilted her head. “Weren’t we going to camp outside?”
“Something like that, first we need to make sure you both understand the dynamic we’ll use, and for that, I asked Randy to see if it was possible to stay back in the English Royal Court. He agreed with my idea. After that, we’ll depart to some undiscovered dungeon I know of.”
Rachel nodded at this, excited, though not really sure why.
“Well then, let’s go.” Cristopher said while pointing at the international portals.
The first to move was Rachel, who quickly made her way to the portal and said that she would be waiting on the other side. Meanwhile, Cristopher had to stay a little bit behind with Antonio, while solving his situation. After all, while the kid did have the documents to travel outside of Korea, he was still a kid, so Cristopher had to present an explicit document from the orphanage, and approved by a government’s office, that marked him as the temporary tutor of the kid, and as such, would allow him to take the kid out with him.
Right before moving towards the portals to England, Antonio stopped and looked at Cristopher.
“Hyung…” He said, hesitating a little. “Is she the renowned Princess of England?”
“Yes. She is.” Cristopher said with a smirk. “I told you this would be a great thing for you.”
“…” Antonio nodded. “But hyung…”
“What?” Cristopher asked as he noticed his hesitation.
“Is she Evandel’s mother?” Antonio finally asked with an awkward face.
Cristopher sighed. “Let’s say that she is… And you have to swear not to mention to Evandel that Rachel is your teacher, or actually, don’t mention it to anyone else on the orphanage, at least not now.”
“…Why?” He titled his head. “Why would you hide Evandel’s mother from her?”
“…Kid. Evandel knows she’s her mother.” Cristopher said with a sigh, before patting his head. “It’s just that it’s not easy to present Evandel to Rachel right now.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say that there are complicated circumstances, mostly political ones, that make it hard for Rachel to meet Evandel.”
“…Will you do it later?”
“Of course I will. It’s just that right now it’s not a good moment, so, you have to swear not to tell anyone that your teacher is Rachel. Alright?”
“Yes.” After a little while, Antonio nodded.
“Great. Then, let’s go. Your teacher is waiting for us.”
“Yes.” Antonio nodded harder this time. “By the way, hyung, why does she call you master?”
“Haha…” Cristopher smiled awkwardly. “It’s because I’m actually training her, and she somehow started calling me master, I’ve tried to make her stop, but after a while, I just stopped trying, she can be stubborn sometimes.”
“Haha…” Antonio also smiled wryly.