Knight (47 page)

He didn't say a word and looked away.

She glanced down at herself and realized.

She was naked—well, partly. The cloth hang loose from her chest, dangerously on the verge of falling.

Face burning red, she screamed. Valeriana flung her hands in front of her and pushed the guy away, causing him to fall back into the bathing pool with a splash. Valeriana scooted away and fixed the towel tightly around herself while Corvan gasped as he poked his head into the surface

“What's wrong with you?” He yelled, rising. “I just saved your life, you ingrate!”

“Why the hell are you here?” She pointed accusingly at him.

Chavi came out of nowhere. “What's going on here?” She inquired and glanced at the direction where Valeriana was pointing. “Lord Corvan!” She then gasped and covered herself as well. “Pervert!”

Corvan rose from the water. “How dare you! You dare accuse me of performing such acts of indecency!? I just saved that ungrateful human's life!”

With that statement, Chavi glanced at Valeriana worriedly.

“Where were you, Chavi?” Valeriana inquired.

“I was going to get these.” She held up a bottle of scented oil and some scrub. “What happened when I was gone anyway? Did you start drowning or something?”

“It wasn't just drowning.” She said shakily. “I was attacked by a demon.”

Chavi gasped, a look of horror painted across her face. “Demon? In the academy? That's impossible . . . how?”

Corvan dragged himself out of the bathing pool, his clothes heavy and clinging to his skin. Excess water dripped from his clothes as he led himself out of the baths. “Valeriana, get changed immediately and follow me to the dormitories.” He glanced at Chavi untrustingly. “And beware of people. The demon might be just anyone.”

“What do you mean?”

He continued walking. “We'll discuss it later.
”

Chapter Forty-Nine ♣ Thanks

V
aleriana rapidly changed back to her uniform, hair still dripping wet from her recent
bath
. Chavi accompanied her out of the bathing pools and they encountered a few students on their way out. It was strange how they started coming in after that happened. It certainly was suspicious.

Chavi told her that she would go the separate way from the girl from that point. She couldn't really stay with Valeriana that moment since she was going to the Twelve's dormitories. Valeriana really wanted to be with Chavi, but seeing as her presence was required by Corvan, she needed to go.

Once Chavi was out of sight, she continued her journey by herself, only to be stopped when someone called.

“Excuse me.” A small voice said.

Valeriana turned and saw a small girl around her age running towards her, sweating and panting slightly. “Are you talking to me?” She answered with a frown.

The girl seemed suddenly intimidated by her question as she froze in her position and stared up at her like a deer in the headlights. Shocked, Valeriana tried to loosen up and release the tension around her shoulders. She was still unnerved by the recent incident that she couldn't help but be in a bad mood.

“Ah . . .” She scratched her head. “I'm sorry. I was in a rather bad mood since something happened. Can I help you?”

“Uh . . . I-I . . .” She stammered. “I just wanted to say that . . . uh . . .” She gulped and started playing with her fingers.

“Relax.” She chuckled. “I'm not going to eat you.”

“I just wanted to say that you're great!” She blurted all so suddenly, yelling at her face that she was suddenly taken aback. The girl was shaking like a leaf that Valeriana couldn't help but feel amused by her anxiety.

“You're an inspiration really . . .” She muttered, her voice now low. “You're not afraid although you should be. It makes us, the weaker ones, feel inspired to do their best.”

Man, did this feel weird.

“Uh . . . er . . .” The girl said again. “I noticed that since Courtney came back, you would feel uneasy. And with what happened a while ago, I'm sure . . .” She started. “I just wanted to tell you to please do your best!”

She smiled. “Well, I'm not uneasy.” She told her.

The girl redirected her gaze at her. She was confronted by a pair of brown, glassy eyes. “I'm sorry for assuming—”

“Not anymore, that is.” She added. “I'm glad, really. Thank you so much for believing in me. It means a lot.” Her heart suddenly felt light, as if all her problems went away. “May I know your name?”

“It's not important—”

“Please?”

“Oh, it's . . . Hayne.” She told her. “Hayne Luft.”

“Thank very much, Hayne! I’ll have to go now, but I hope I see you around.”

She waved at the girl with a smile before resuming her walk towards the dormitories. She increased her pace and when she got there, she opened the door and walked in to find majority of the Twelve gathered within the lobby. There was the headmaster sitting among them too, Lady Seraphina, and Lord Aeron included. Corvan sat among them, donned in new and dry clothes with hair still a bit wet from the previous encounter. He didn't tie it up like he used to, so it fell on his back like a soft curtain.

Valeriana narrowed her eyes at the Court Leader. Did he always have to be there when something happened?

When she entered, Lady Seraphina stood up immediately and began to check her all over like a concerned mother. “Valeriana.” The lady knight said. “I heard that you were attacked by a demon. Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”

She had marks forming around her neck, arms, and legs. But other than the bruising, she had no other injuries.

“I'm fine, Lady Seraphina. Corvan arrived there on time.” She replied with a reassuring smile.

“I'm glad.” Seraphina breathed out in relief. “If something were to happen to you, I would've not been able to forgive myself.”

“How come everyone's here, though? And why are you here, Lord Aeron?” She walked towards an open seat and sat.

“Something interesting happened. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.” He answered.

“So it's interesting that I got attacked by a demon while I was taking a freaking bath? Are you freaking serious?”

“You were taking a bath?” Tamara gaped at her. “Then how did Corvan save you?”

She eluded eye-contact as a blush tainted her cheeks. Corvan, as well, turned red and refused to meet anyone in the eye. Everyone seemed to have gotten the meaning of their reactions and started laughing. Lady Seraphina had her eyes wide open in shock as the thought registered while Headmaster Kylon and Lord Aeron laughed along gleefully with the others.

The door suddenly opened and in came Raziel. “Oh, did I miss something?” He asked.

“Raziel! Corvan saw Valeriana naked!” Zevlin guffawed until Genevieve hit him.

“Where are your manners, Zev?!”

Valeriana could feel herself turning red all over. She was probably even redder than red itself. Her face felt hot as she buried her eyes along with her nose into her palms, not willing for anyone to see how she currently looked like. It wasn't at all different from Corvan though. But, blushing while trying to keep an insanely straight face struck even more amusement to everyone looking.

“Oh. I see.” Raziel dubiously asked them. “Is this what the Gathering is for? When is the wedding?”

Valeriana grabbed the first thing she touched and threw it straight at Raziel. The same went for Corvan, he pulled out hidden knives in his sleeves and flicked them towards Raziel's direction, pinning his clothes against the wall and narrowly missing him by hair's breath. A box hit the poor sixth-ranker on the nose.

“Ow! Anything but the face!”

The two began speaking concurrently.

“Watch your mouth, Raziel—” Corvan started with a growl.

“Better choose what you say—” Valeriana said as well.

“Or I'll cut your head off.” They finished together.

Everyone froze at the dangerous edge to their voice. It was so silent that one could hear the wind blowing outside and a pin needle drop. The two suddenly turned into a terrifying duo, transcending the fearsome aura of demons themselves.

“So . . .” Headmaster started, breaking the awkward silence. “Can we start discussing what actually happened, Valeriana?”

Valeriana furiously turned to everyone. “I will not answer any questions regarding what happened in the bath, you hear me?”

“O-of course.”

“Alright,” she sighed. “I don't know where to start though.”

“How about starting where it all started?” Zevlin suggested.

Genevieve frowned at her twin. “You're not making any sense.” She told him. “Anyhow, how about what happened before that?”

“Well . . .” Valeriana paused. “I was in the cafeteria. I was eating when Courtney came around.”

“Ooh.” Keelan said. “An encounter with old archenemies.”

“Shut up, doofus. Stop butting in.” Elfre snarled.

“We had a . . . conversation . . .” She trailed off. “And we decided to make a truce. But somehow, rumors started going around. At the end of the day, Courtney and I met again, but she started accusing me that I did something to Julian.” She trembled.

They didn't stare at her accusingly like she expected them to. They simply listened.

Hesitantly, she continued. “After that, Chavi said that maybe it'll make me relax if we take a bath together and then I closed my eyes for a second. The next thing I know, I was being dragged down into a dark, deep pit of no return by a creature I don't know.”

“And that's where Corvan—” Zevlin started but was cut off when Genevieve shoved something into his mouth.

Valeriana glared at the older of the two twins. Corvan shot daggers at the eighth-ranker.

Zevlin removed the object his sister stuffed into his mouth and threw it away. “Let me finish, alright?” He yelled at them. “I was going to say that that was where Corvan saved you!”

“About those rumors.” Charles started. “They have caught my attention so I decided to do a little investigating. Julian has the motive to injure himself and blame it on you. Even so . . .” He took out a small notebook and began to flip through the pages.

“What did you find?” Tamara asked.

“A couple of witnesses can testify that they have seen you with Chavi. That Julian and a couple of others had their alibis.”

“But that's impossible. I can assure you guys that I have never done anything like that at all.”

“The time you were seen was around forty-five minutes past three at noon, during the twenty-minute break for the third years before classes ended.”

“Three-forty-five?” Aneeka quirked a brow. “That's my schedule for Demonology, the same time as Valeriana's. I saw her fighting an exercise in my class so she couldn't have been there that time.”

“Yeah.” Valeriana felt hopeful. “I got lost on my way to my class and ended up in hers.”

“What?” They chorused, looking pointedly at her.

“It's a long story.” She shrugged.

“Well, if that's the case, then the event is highly unlikely.” He said as he speedily started writing down Valeriana's side of the story. “Fourth Year building is directly across the First Year one, but the lunch hall is considerably far. It would've taken at least six minutes to get there. I was getting suspicious since your classmates said you ran late for class at that hour—around fifteen to twenty minutes which gives you enough time to put that scene to act.”

Everyone listened to him rant about his findings, musing to themselves and having their own ideas.

“The last twenty-minute break for first years, third years, fifth years, and seventh years come before the rest's, which makes it possible—however, with the way things are going, I doubt Valeriana will allow herself to be late for class. I also heard that our current fifth-ranker is most likely to spend her break in the library trying to get her work done.” He sighed.

“So it's a setup? That Julian have some nerve—trying to make Valeriana look bad.” Zevlin said.

“And trying to get her and Courtney to fight.” Keelan added. “But why?”

Headmaster stood up. “This conspiracy will be investigated upon. Leave the questioning of Julian to me. I’ll ask for the assistance of Cail on this matter.”

“Who’s Cail?”

“He’s a Direct Controller capable of telling if someone lies.”

“Whoa.”

“I’ll talk to Courtney for this to have the matter die down. We’ll work on this problem silently. We cannot have any more issues rising about Valeriana’s behavior. It will be detrimental to her life as a student in the academy.”

“That’s not the only problem.” Lord Aeron started. “There is no doubt that this creature that attacked you is a demon. The question here is how a demon managed to get into the academy and why it attacked you.”

“If a demon managed to break through the academy's defenses, then it only means that the barrier is in dire need of fortifying.” The Headmaster whispered.

There was silence.

Seraphina’s brows knitted. “If this gets out and the whole academy knows of it, the students will be stricken with fear. For now, I suggest we keep this matter a secret.”

“Aside from the king or Prince Bertram, there's only one more person we can rely on.” He paused.

Seraphina casted a look at the headmaster at his words, her eyes sharp as if daring for him to continue. Kylon merely looked away and sighed.

“We must seek the assistance of Lord Lienhard. Being the king's younger brother, he also wields the ability to create and strengthen a barrier.”

“Wait. Huh?”

The Headmaster continued. “Such tasks are commonly entrusted to the king. However, considering the situation, we have no other choice.”

“Has the king really gotten that weak?” Valeriana asked in concern. “Last time I saw him . . . he didn't look like that at all.”

Headmaster Kylon decided not to answer her question.

“Where should we find him?” Lord Corvan muttered tiredly. “He's the kind of person who doesn't stay in one place for too long.”