Knight (23 page)

Retracing the procedures when preparing the meal had been tad easy for Valeriana, since her mother taught it to her for the purpose of
passing down the family recipes
. Jareth wasn't interested in cooking complicated dishes since all he was ever good at was baking sweets, like cookies, for his own consumption. He would also refuse to share a single piece with anyone.

It wasn't too unusual for someone who had been living a normal life until then. If there was something about Valeriana that could be praised, it was her ability to do housework. She wasn't too fond of partying back in her high school days or making a lot of friends either, so she spent most of her time moping around the house helping her mother.

“What's the next thing to do?” Charles queried.

“Oh, we'll wait until it's finished, so I'll be taking care of the dishes for the mean time.” She replied.

Valeriana turned towards the sink and began washing the dishes. She cleaned the mess she recently made and gingerly placed all the equipment, which she had washed, back to where they were originally placed. Once she finished, she discovered that Charles was watching her carefully.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“I was just thinking that you are unexpectedly responsible in the kitchen unlike the other ten outside.”

“Thanks.” She said, a little flustered. “But that's a little bit hard to believe.”

“They don't know a single thing.” He looked slightly annoyed as he spoke. “I never expected that you will be, out of all of them, the most responsible.”

“That’s unbelievable.” She said, but seeing what transpired before during the Gathering made her think twice about what she just said.

Charles sighed and massaged the area between his brows. “I don't know, sometimes I ask myself if they truly deserve their position.”

“You can't expect everyone to be perfect, right? We all have flaws and are imperfect one way or another. Though no matter how good people are when it comes to certain things, they all have weak points. You shouldn't insist on changing them. They are themselves. That is what's making life interesting, right?”

“You put it in a way as if it's a good thing.”

“It is a good thing.” Valeriana said. “I mean, sometimes. A weakness is what drives people to be stronger, right? It's their motivation to improve. It's up to the person if he takes it negatively or positively.”

The moment she finished, she checked the oven to see if the chicken was ready. When it was, Valeriana went to retrieve the main course, and gingerly placed the meal on a serving plate. Charles took off his apron and straightened the wrinkles on his clothes while Valeriana began working on the plating.

“I'll go tell everyone to assemble in the dining room. I'll be helping you take out the dishes then.”

“Sure!” Valeriana smiled while she watched him leave.

Charles came back a few moments later and inquired if everything was ready. Valeriana nodded, washing her hands on the sink and patting it dry with the kitchen towel. When she was finished, they began taking out the dishes to the dining room where the circle was impatiently waiting for supper to be served.

They all fell quiet when the food came.

“Tell me . . .” Tamara trailed off. “Did Valeriana make this? It looks . . . alright.”

Charles ignored Tamara's statement and took his place on the seat next to Rowe while Valeriana sat next to Tamara with a vivacious smile. The girl smoothed her hair down to her shoulders and patted the third-ranker on the back.

“I don’t think there’s much difference between food in Valemnia and Earth. Nevertheless, I want everyone to know how food back in my home tastes, so although there are great differences in the ingredients used, I tried my best to prepare it the way my mother used to.”

Valeriana did a little taste-testing during the preparations so she was confident it did taste somewhat good. Anyhow, it would be better if the people who would eat it were to judge. Still, they all looked somewhat hesitant to take the chance.

While almost everyone stared awkwardly at the food on the dinner table, being the pig Keelan was, he wasted no time getting a portion of each. They observed the eleventh-ranker anxiously as he unhesitatingly gobbled down the food on his plate.

“Ooh!” He exclaimed, his mouth full. “Wit's stwange! But good!”

The strawberry-blond boy continued while everyone else took a few more seconds doubting. Corvan was the second one after Keelan to taste it for himself, but did not say anything after the food hit his tongue.

“How does it taste, Corvan?” Raziel asked, but was unfortunately answered by silence.

“Taste it for yourselves.” He finally replied.

Brindon forked a piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth. “It’s good.”

Valeriana stared at him in confusion. He didn't actually look like he was enjoying the food with the kind of face he was making.

Taking the first-ranker's answer as a sign, the circle began feasting happily.

“Elfre! You've got to get something or you won't be having anything to eat!” Aneeka said, eyes of purplish blue twinkling with amusement.

“I would never eat food made by a—” She was cut off when Keelan shoved a spoonful of rice and chicken into her mouth and forced her to chew. “Whuman.” She finished and swallowed the food as if it was being forced down her throat.

“Weeeellll?” Tamara teasingly asked. “What do you think?”

“Who would . . .” Elfre stabbed a piece of the chicken meat with her fork and gingerly began to chew on it. “Like food like this?”

The chicken was unbelievably juicy. The meat was very tender that it seemed like it was melting in her mouth. The aroma itself was already appetizing and the sauces that came with the dish did great enhancing the taste. There was absolutely no one who could ever resist it.

“Aw! Don't be shy! Just admit it! Valeriana made such a good food! There's no way to resist!” Genevieve guffawed while pounding her fists on the table.

Charles eyed her pointedly. “Genevieve! That is no way to act in front of the table!”

“Sorry!”

“Ha! The last chicken leg is mine!” Zevlin exclaimed and reached for said part.

“Hand it over!”

Dinner became livelier than it used to be and before anyone knew it, their plates were all licked clean. Everyone looked satisfied from their finished meal, but some were left disappointed since they weren't able to fill their stomachs to the brim as they intended to.

Keelan burped loudly as he patted his stomach, looking as if he floated to cloud nine. “Ah! That was great!”

“Yeah, because you were the only one who ate! I was saving that for last and you stole it off my plate!” Elfre growled.

Keelan put on an innocent face. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Don't give me that face! We know you know you did it!” She yelled. “I wanted the last piece of that cake and you stole it!”

The cake tasted mellow. It was soft and the pumpkin was properly emphasized. If Charles was asked, he would no doubt grab the next chance he could get to eat it again. So far, each and every dish complemented each other greatly. Not only that, but these dishes had a very warm feeling to them.

“Well, since everyone seems to have enjoyed Valeriana's cooking, she'll be helping me prepare breakfast tomorrow.” Charles said, wiping his lips with the table napkin.

Everyone went silent. They all stared at Charles as he sophisticatedly threw the napkin on the table and stood from his seat and marched straight out of the dining room.

“Wow!” Tamara exclaimed, hitting Valeriana sharply on the back she almost had her face on the empty plate. “Good going, Valeriana! You managed to earn a place in the kitchen! Good for you. He kicked us out when we tried to help!”

“That’s because we weren’t really
helping
but making a mess.” Rowe supported, chuckling.

Valeriana found it weird when she learned of Charles’s hobby. With his strict and cool demeanor, she never knew he was fond of whipping up delicious meals. It totally did not fit his character.

Lord Charles was feared for his ruthless way of battling. It was rumored that in all the fights he fought, he left a scar on the chest of his enemy as his permanent and renowned mark. This earned him the title 
Scarring Lion
.

After working around the lobby for a few hours and having her last meal for the day, Valeriana went back to her room to continue studying.

She sat in front of the study table situated against the wall then spent the last few minutes going through the contents of the sixth chapter on Law. It wasn't a few moments later when series of knocks came, followed by a familiar voice.

Valeriana stood from her seat yelling out, “I'm coming!”

When she opened the door, there stood Seraphina. “Good evening, Valeriana.” The lady greeted, lips parting to form a smile. She peeked into the room through Valeriana's shoulder. “I see you're adjusting very well.”

“Oh, good evening.” She answered back. “And yeah, please do come in.” She stepped away from the door to make way for her guest and Seraphina entered curtly.

“I do hope I'm not intruding.” The lady told her, glancing at the table she was sitting in front of a few moments ago. There were a lot of books on it that one could hardly see its surface. The book she was studying was hatched to the page she was currently reviewing.

“Not at all. Please take a seat.” Valeriana motioned towards a comfortable loveseat.

“No, thank you. I won't stay long.” Seraphina shook her head and remained standing. “I see you're working hard, though. That's a good thing.” She then turned to the girl. “Lord Aeron told me your luggage came in a few hours ago, or was that last night?”

“It was last night.” Valeriana said, happily smiling. “I've been meaning to come to him to thank him about it, but . . . I've been rather busy so I didn't have time.”

“I'll pass the word.”

“Thank you. But why did you bother sending my things? I can hardly use them.”

“It's to pacify your mother.” Seraphina said.

“Pacify her? Don't tell me . . .”

“Yes, she was making a ruckus about it.” The lady knight smiled, amusement riddling her gaze. “You can contact her every now and then through mail. Also, you can either send something to your family or receive something from them back home, once every month.”

“I see.” Valeriana could not feel happier. “Thank you!”

“You're welcome.”

“It only means that you had to go through a lot of trouble because of my mother's insistence.”

“It's alright.” Seraphina smiled.

“Did you come for anything else, Seraphina?” Valeriana inquired.

“As your official guardian in this world, I came to check on you. How's everything going? Are you doing fine in the circle?”

The human girl laughed. She went over to her study desk and sat on the open chair. “Well, yeah, I'm doing fine.”

“Very well, then. I will not disturb you further since you seem busy. I'll be taking my leave.” Lady Seraphina turned and sauntered towards the door.

“Good night.” Valeriana grinned at her as she began to walk out of her room.

“And to you, as well. Oh, and don't forget your weekly quota. How many days do you have left before you submit that envelope?”

“Oh, no . . .”

Chapter Twenty-Five ♣ A New Challenge

It was a rather peaceful day when Valeriana found herself waking up in a relatively chilly morning. A week had passed since she was first admitted to Celeste Academy.

Though things have been terribly boring the past few days, Valeriana had an intuition something interesting would happen today. Although she wasn't exactly sure what, her guts made it clear it wasn't something to look forward to. Ever since last night, she hadn't been able to sleep properly. She stayed up late trying to cover as many pages of her lessons as possible that it didn't even occur to her it was already four o'clock in the morning.

She had to drag herself out of bed with weak-feeling limbs and sleepy eyes. She was barely even able to get herself into her uniform.

She trudged down the stairs wearily and entered the kitchen. Charles was already in his apron dicing carrots on his chopping board. When Valeriana came, he paused from his work and looked up, but what he saw only made his mouth drop open.

“Valeriana.” He called. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah . . .” She replied, sounding weak and enervated.

“It doesn't look that way to me.” The fourth-ranker answered. “Go and wait in the dining room. You'll only get in the way.”

She scratched her head and looked down at the ground, feeling somewhat hurt. “You should've put it more nicely. I would've understood.”

“It’s useless beating around.” He straightforwardly stated.

“I can see that.” She answered and swept away the stray lock that wandered on her face. “Are you sure you don't need help?”

“Be reminded that I used to prepare breakfast on my own.”

Valeriana sighed and just nodded compliantly at Charles's order. She dragged her feet to the dining room and sat tiredly in her seat. Keelan was in his usual side of the table, waiting eagerly for food to be prepared. There also were Raziel and Brindon—who both were disinterested with anyone else. Tamara was sitting quietly, yawning while rubbing her sleepy eyes. Keelan looked bewildered by her appearance, but when Tamara's eyes landed on her, she broke into a scream.

“What happened to you?!”

She could not blame her, though. She had those dark eye bags, hollow cheeks, almost lifeless-like eyes, paper-white skin, and those pale and cracked lips.

“What in the world—did you even look at yourself in the mirror?” Tamara inquired. “You look like someone who just came back from the dead. Are you still alive?”

“My, Valeriana,” Raziel said haughtily, flashing a disgusted look at her direction. “Women should be more conscious of how they look. That is not very beautiful.”

“Who gives a damn about beauty right now anyway?”

“It's a very crucial part of our lives!” Raziel argued. “But I guess you wouldn't understand since a human such as yourself is not able to comprehend how people like me feel. Beauty is the epitome of life!”

Barely even listening through Raziel's long, narcissistic speech, Valeriana felt herself yawning. Just how many times had he already recited this speech?

“Good mor—what in my horse's tail is that?!” Elfre exclaimed as she stepped foot into the room. She stopped short when she saw the
corpse
on Valeriana's seat. “Demon!” She grabbed something and prepared to throw it.

“Don’t be like that, man. What’s up with you, guys?”

She hesitated. “H-how do you know my name?” She asked the others. “Get that monstrosity out of here!”

“It's Valeriana.” Brindon stated casually.

She didn't even notice him there.

“It looks like you are hardly recognizable now, Valeriana. What the hell happened that made you that way?” Tamara asked.

“That's Valeriana?!”

“I haven't been able to sleep at all for the past few days . . .” She trailed off. “Not a single wink.”

“Is this something that happens to humans when they lack sleep? That surely is creepy.”

“I don't think you can last long in that condition.” Elfre, finally regaining her composure, said.

Valeriana yawned, her eyelids slowly dropping in a lethargic manner. She fell forward and her face slammed straight on the surface of the table with a considerably loud bang, which surprisingly didn't startle anyone.

“It's rude to fall asleep in front of the table.” Corvan stated as he entered the room as well. “Move out of the way, seventh.” He told Elfre irritably. “You're blocking my path.”

“Seriously.” The girl grumbled, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. “That's a really rude way to put it just because you're the first-ranker.”

“I am in no mood to argue so do me a favor and remain quiet.”

“Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” Tamara chuckled. “You're mood is awfully worse than usual.”

He made a sound on the back of his throat in displeasure and imposingly made his way to his seat. “Shut up. All these noises are making my head ache.”

“That's no way to talk to your seniors, Corvan.” Tamara frowned. “Is there something wrong? You're acting grumpier than usual.”

“What?” Valeriana asked quietly, her eyes peeking open from her minute-long sleep. She straightened her back and yawned loudly. “You mean he's acting grumpier? Isn't he always like that?”

“I said shut up. Otherwise, I'll reduce you to ashes.”

“His threats are the same.” The girl commented, disregarding his warning as if it was only a childish threat.

She leaned back down on the table and her eyes automatically dropped close. She began snoring a second later and everyone else looked her way with furrowed brows. Shrugging, everyone else ignored her and walked towards their respective places. Corvan irately took his own seat with a gloomy frown on his face and impatiently began to tap his feet.

Keelan was eagerly looking forward to breakfast that he was staring at the table in a daze, eyes sparkling as if imagining what sort of food would be prepared. A drool trickled down his chin and he sighed dreamily, making Aneeka grunt in annoyance.

“Wipe that drool off your chin!” She scolded harshly with her usually flurrying temper. “Is there an end to that bottomless stomach of yours? Just how much can you eat?”

“I need all the energy I can get. If I don't eat, I don't have the strength to move around at all.”

“You glutton.” Aneeka rolled her eyes before staring at her preferred weapon and polishing it with her sleeve. “Can't you survive with just three meals a day?”

“You're asking for the impossible. When Keelan sees food, his priority is to fill his stomach.” Tamara chuckled, twirling a lock of her red hair around her finger. Her hair was usually tied up on a ponytail, but most of her hair sometimes fell out.

A sigh came from the doorway and Charles appeared with plates of steaming food in his arms. He set them down on the table gingerly and went back to the kitchen to get the rest of their breakfast. The aroma wafted under everyone's noses and they all began to eagerly wait for the rest to be served.

Keelan beamed at the sight of food in front of him and reached out to help himself, but was stopped when Aneeka slapped him on the back of his hand and glared at him warningly. The eleventh-ranker immediately fell into a sour mood knowing he wouldn't be able to eat immediately.

The smell of food woke Valeriana. She stirred from her sleep and yawned, leaning back on her chair while rubbing her eyes. She sniffed and inhaled the heavenly aroma before brushing back the messy hair on top of her head.

“Did you dream, Valeriana?” Tamara said jokingly beside her.

“There was nothing to dream about.” She answered.

“What are you waiting for? Take out the plates or there'll be nothing to eat on.” Charles said.

Valeriana stood up to help out but was pushed back down. She looked up and saw Charles's firm grip on her shoulders. His eyes were closed as if he refused to look at her. Staring at him questioningly, she saw him holding a cup of a steaming beverage.

He slid the drink in front of her and said, “You're in no condition to do anything. I suggest you take the time to rest as much as you can. This might not be of much help, but the drink is from a certain plant that grants whoever consumes it enough energy to go around for a while. The effect lasts for a day, it wears off eventually so you'll go back to the current condition you're in now later.”

“T-thanks . . .” She answered hesitantly.

“Drink it up and don't leave a single drop.” He instructed before he turned and headed towards the kitchen to help bring the plates out.

Valeriana reached out towards the cup on the table and brought it close to her lips. She inhaled it a little and found that the aroma was nowhere near anything she smelled before. It was a foreign scent—plain, yet it held some sort of fragrance she wasn't familiar with. Swallowing a large gulp, her face contorted in disgust and she began to cough with her tongue out. She wanted to get something to wipe away the taste from her mouth, but there was nothing she could think of that she could use to do so.

“Ew! This is disgusting! What the hell is this?” She almost screamed.

The concoction tasted somewhat bitter with a trace of sourness somewhere. It wasn't anything near pleasant that it made the girl feel like she wanted to vomit. The warm mixture traveled down her throat and settled comfortably on her stomach and that was when Valeriana felt a strange sensation spreading through her body.

“Disregard the taste.” She heard Charles say before he completely disappeared from her sight. “Your body needs it.”

Pouting at the misery she was put in, she sulkily downed the last few gulps and felt her stomach twist at the taste. She covered her mouth and tried not to let anything she just swallowed to go back.

Corvan crossed his legs. Apparently, he was the only one who insisted on staying despite Charles's threat and saw the whole thing transpire. Everyone else was too eager—or forced—to help, especially Keelan, and left the three in the same room.

When the others got back with the plates and utensils, Tamara immediately saw the look on Valeriana's face and the ever so familiar cup set in front of her. The sight of the expression on the girl's face made her burst into laughter.

“I guess Charles made you drink one of his special . . . teas, huh?” She assumed as she settled down on her regular seat beside her.

With brows scrunched, Valeriana nodded.

“I know it tastes horrible, but it's unbelievably effective. If only he can do something about the taste . . .” She trailed off and looked lost in thought for a second before turning to the fifth-ranker with a cheerful smile. “Anyway, I can see it working already. You don't look as bad as you did a while ago.”

“Was it really that awful?” She asked, placing a hand on her cheek.

“Oh, honey, you should’ve looked at the mirror.” She shook her head. “I guess that all the work's stressing you out, huh? We're sorry we pressured you into a lot of things. We were a bit insensitive and inconsiderate that we pushed a lot of responsibilities towards you, even though you had a lot to catch up on. If you continue like that, I don't think you will last long.” She grinned humorlessly.

“It’s fine . . .” She sighed. “After all, being a part of the circle comes with a lot of things to do . . . I just gotta do my best, I suppose.”

“What you're doing is more than enough.” Tamara patted her on the back. “You're pushing yourself too far with how you're going. Even though he might not look like it sometimes, Charles actually cares for the people around him. And if he cares, that means he acknowledges you. Otherwise, well, you know.”

“Really?”

“Really. Now cheer up. You look like you need something sweet.”

“Ew, no thanks. I hate sweets.”

Fifteen minutes before the start of classes, Valeriana and the others set out for their first subjects.

The drink was effective like Tamara told her. She felt like she didn't stay up late and got very little sleep the past week. In fact, she felt like she had a lot of energy to spare.

Valeriana looked up at the ceiling and paused from her tracks, trying to ease the throbbing pain pounding between her eyes. She blinked when she thought she saw a shadow move from her peripheral vision, a slight chill crawling down her back. Looking up hastily, she spotted the chandelier swinging from side to side ever so slightly. The ropes holding it up was snapping, no doubt it wouldn't be too long until it fell.