Ch. 2: No Longer A Mallorne Part 1

Seo-jun stopped and looked around. He was just inside the small forest that was behind the boy's dormitory. It was the end of the first day of classes and he decided to find somewhere quiet to train his elemental magic.

The magic was supposed to come to him naturally. How the hell was he supposed to do that? Was it similar to breathing? But didn't he already try meditating and fail?

Pulling inspiration from his last life, he struck a few poses while grinding his teeth together in concentration. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

He sank down to the forested ground and laid down on his back. Light filtered down through the treetops. Seo-jun held his hand up and spread his fingers out, watching the light through them. This whole magic thing would be a lot easier if he knew what it was supposed to feel like. Was it Adrien that was lacking or was it Seo-jun who was from a world without magic?

After laying on the ground for a few minutes, Seo-jun sat up and pulled out his sketchbook. There was always time to figure out how to use his magic later. Bringing up his grades in the other classes should be enough to prove his worth to the Count.

His hand glided across the paper. A black and white scene of a library came to life. In the center of the picture was part of a table with a handsome boy wearing a care-free smile sitting at it with his chin propped up on one hand.

Seo-jun's hand stopped moving as he stared down at the picture he had subconsciously drawn. He slammed his head down onto the page with a groan. Why did he have to draw him?

A rustling noise drew Seo-jun's attention away from his worrying. He looked behind him, swearing he heard footsteps and what sounded suspiciously like a chuckle.

He peered into the woods with suspicion when he didn't notice anyone there. After a while, he gave up looking and grabbed his sketchbook. After stuffing the sketchbook into his bag, he made his way out of the woods.

The view of the boys' dormitory came into view though it was disrupted by a thin line of trees. Before he could step out of the woods and onto the pathway, a hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. Spinning around, he came face to face with the handsome blonde from the library, a smirk gracing the gentle curve of his lips.

Seo-jun cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "So you're the one that was spying on me."

The boy held up his hands in surrender. "Not spying, merely amusing myself with an interesting scene."

Seo-jun's retort stuck in his throat. He was caught in between wanting to be angry and wanting to blush. The boy's words could be taken either way and Seo-jun didn't know him well enough to figure out which. "So spying," he repeated.

The boy dropped his hands with a chuckle. "Most would either be swooning or sweating buckets if I had said that to anyone else."

Okay, now he was confused. This school was for the children of nobles with the exception of thirty scholarship students, ten per year, who were mainly commoners. Then that meant that this guy was the son of someone really important if he wasn't a scholarship student.

Should he play the dumb card or plead? Taking one look at the boy's expression told him what card to play.

Seo-jun tilted his head slightly. "You're not something to swoon over," he completely lied through his teeth with that one. "And I don't know who you are to be sweating buckets over your words." With that, Seo-jun turned around and quickly left while trying to look like he wasn't escaping.

He had a feeling that that kid will be trouble.

Ruby colored eyes with a hint of pink from the light of the setting sun paired with a sensuous smirking mouth flashed through his mind. A loud clap rang out in the air as he slapped his face with both of his hands.

That kid is definitely going to be trouble, in more ways than one.

A pair of women's black dress shoes came into his down-casted view. Seo-jun looked to find Lianna looking at him, her garnet eyes were filled with shock, worry, and confusion.

Seo-jun felt his face heat up in embarrassment. This was definitely not a side of him that he wanted his favorite character to see. "So. . .um. . ." He waved a hand behind him, his embarrassment growing with his lack of vocabulary.

Lianna looked over his shoulder and her furrowed eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened in understanding. "Prince Mikyle does have that effect on people," she stated carefully, voice full of understanding.

Seo-jun glanced behind him when he heard the word prince. Just stepping into the path was a handsome boy with blonde hair and piercing red eyes. Seo-jun was totally screwed. He figured the boy was someone important but not a royal. Wasn't the Prince in this story a redhead? Also, Seo-jun couldn't remember anyone in the royal family named Mikyle.

"Prince?" Seo-jun remembered that there were three princes in the story, though it only showed the Crown Prince, who was the male lead, and the third prince, who was the prince that most nobles backed.

Lianna chuckled. "I understand your confusion. Most don't know what the second prince looks like since he stays out of the social circles."

"I am totally screwed." The kid was a prince. Seo-jun definitely did not show him the respect that he inherently deserved.

Lianna shook her head, her beautiful hair bounced gently with the movement. "He prefers to joke around so if he was the one to start the conversation he will not hold what the other person says against them. Trust me. I have cursed him to the sky and back when I first met him."

That was kind of reassuring. Seo-jun released the breath he didn't know he had been holding. "So. . .what brings you over here?" The boys' dormitory was in the complete opposite direction of the girls'. It was possible that Lianna was visiting her Fiancè, Crown Prince Nathaniel.

Lianna jutted her chin out to indicate the path behind him. "I'm on my way to the lake. I received a letter to meet with someone on this side of the lake."

"Then, I shall let you be on your way." Seo-jun moved over to allow Lianna on her way. He happened to notice that Prince Mikyle was gone. Did he also head toward the lake? Was he the one Lianna was meeting?

"Thank you." Lianna walked past him, her movements were both refined and graceful.

Seo-jun turned back around and started on his way back to the dorms. It wasn't any of his business if Mikyle was the one meeting with Lianna, though he did hope it wasn't some kind of romantic secret rendezvous. He was probably biased because of the book but he thought Nathaniel and Lianna made a perfect match despite their ranks being so far apart. A baronet was practically a commoner in the eyes of other nobles.

Seo-jun was almost to the back door when Bayley burst through the doors, his face beat red and the vein in his forehead pulsating. "That idiot!" His eldest brother cursed before running off into the direction of the girls' dormitory. What was that about?

His foot paused in mid-air as a terrible thought crossed his mind. It couldn't be, could it?

The only person that could cause that reaction out of Bayley was Christian. According to Nadeline, his eldest brother would do anything to protect the middle brother. Christian, besides from father, was also the only person that could elicit such anger from him.

Seo-jun dropped his bag and ran off toward the lake. Please let his theory be wrong. If Christian was the one meeting Lianna then that could only bring bad news. The Mallorne's were strong backers to the third prince, that was information clearly stated in the manhwa.

Seo-jun reached the lake shortly, bending over to try and catch his breath. He hadn't realized that Adrien's body was that weak. He really needed to work on this body's stamina.

Looking around the lake, he found that it was suspiciously empty except for two others besides him. Lianna was underneath a white flowering tree farther up the lake side. Beside her, to his horror, was his second eldest brother, Christian.

He couldn't hear what was being said but he could see Christian's arms waving around in anger. Lianna lifted a slender hand up and smacked Christian across the face. Seo-jun felt his heart stop and his blood turn cold.

He remembered this scene. How could he have forgotten it? Christian had asked Lianna to meet him where he then accused her of having a romantic folly with two other male students while engaged to the Crown Prince. Christian then tried to offer her a large sum of money to help the Baronet with his failing business in return, she had to leave the Crown Prince. This caused Lianna to become pissed off and slap him. What happened after the slap was a drowning accident that caused her to be in a coma for two days.

The scene from the manhwa was unfolding before his very eyes. Christian shoved Lianna, causing the girl to stumble over a tree root and lose her balance. Seo-jun ran toward her with his arm outstretched as he watch her fall into the water. Most nobles weren't taught how to swim, especially women.

To his relief, Lianna's head broke through the surface of the water. "Christian Mallorne!" She screamed at Christian in a fit of rage.

Christian's eyes widened in fear. Seo-jun watched in horror as Christian's fingers twitched and the lake water took on a darker blue color. Lianna disappeared beneath the surface of the water right before their very eyes.

Seo-jun felt a cold tingling sensation that bubbled up in his heart and flowed out to his outstretched hand. In his mind's eye, he could see a column of water wrapped around Lianna's ankle, dragging her down to the bottom of the lake. He released the built up energy in his hand, feeling as if his body had been drenched in ice cold rain water.

A new column of water that was lighter then the other formed in his mind's eye. He wished with all his heart for it to free Lianna. As the teal color tentacle-like column of water destroyed the darker tentacle, Seo-jun reached Christian and shoved him hard on the ground.

Christian struggled to stand up from the ground and tackled him just as Lianna's limp body was brought above the surface of the lake and laid down onto the ground. A punch landed on the lower half of Seo-jun's face, just missing his left eye. He pulled his knee up and dug it into Christian's gut.

Before the fight could continue on, someone pulled Christian off of him.

"What is going on here!" A masculine voice demanded, sounding a lot like a lion roaring ferociously.

Christian opened his mouth before Seo-jun could explain. "He attacked Lady Silva! I arrived here just in time-"

"He's lyin-" A strand of water plastered itself across his mouth, sealing his lips together. He then felt his arms forced to his back as a rope made of water wrapped tightly around his wrists.

"As I was saying. I got here just in time to drag her out of the lake."

Seo-jun looked up at the new arrival hoping to portray his words through his eyes. They trembled with fear instead when he saw who it was.

An arrogantly proud looking boy with long red hair tied in a side ponytail with gold eyes peered at him seethingly. The fingers curled at his sides looked as if they wanted to strangle Seo-jun. Prince Nathaniel.

Seo-jun tried to resummon the power from just seconds before to try and free his mouth. He needed to correct this before the prince decided to take his life as compensation. A cold tingling sensation stirred in his heart before blinking out of existence. He felt dry when the feeling left him, in fact, his veins felt starved of water as if he had gone for days without drinking anything.

"Lianna is my fiance so I cannot take your life for she is not yet a royal," the prince snarled, literal spit flying in the air. "But I can still punish you. Since your brother has saved her life, I will only demand your expulsion from the school and a monetary compensation." He leaned down and grabbed Seo-jun by the chin, who was still kneeling in the ground, and dug his fingernails in until the skin broke. "Just because I cannot kill you according to the law, I can still hold your life in my hands."

"You are assuming he is guilty without hearing him first, brother."

Prince Mikyle came into view, his red eyes taking in the scene with a solemn expression. Where the hell had this guy been? Seo-jun hadn't seen him near the lake even though he was positive this guy had gone in this direction. Fuck, who cares. He was Seo-jun's lifeline right now.

Nathaniel released his chin and glared at his brother. "It matters not. He will still be punished and if I find out later that the opposite is true, then I will destroy the entire Mallorne line."

A tyrant! Prince Nathaniel Ferguson le Valron was a tyrant! How had Seo-jun forgotten that?

Prince Mikyle briefly glanced at Seo-jun, his state showing that he pitied him. "I can not change your mind once it has been made." He then knelt before Lianna and checked her pulse. "Let the dean handle them while we get Lianna to a healer."

The anger drained from Nathaniel and he rushed to his fiance's side. He carefully picked her up and held her close to him.

Prince Mikyle walked over to Seo-jun and helped him to stand, his hands warm and gentle on his shoulder and back. He kept one hand on Seo-jun while the other forcefully pulled Christian close to them.

Why did it feel like Mikyle didn't believe Christian? Was he reading too much into it?

Seo-jun and Christian were led to the Dean's office by Prince Mikyle while Crown Prince Nathaniel rushed off with an unconscious Lianna to find a healer.

The dean was a man who looked to be in his late forties with light, reddish-brown hair and iridescent green eyes. As Mikyle explained the situation to him, Seo-jun tried to summon his power again, only for it to fail. In fact, he was starting to feel exhausted after each attempt.

The dean turned his eyes to him. "Release the bindings around his mouth and hands," he told Christian.

"But-" Christian tried to protest but was stopped by a glare from Mikyle and a raised hand from the dean.

"I have heard your side of the story but not his," the dean was firm in his words.

Christian gave Seo-jun a glare that could practically freeze hell over. With a wave of his hand, the bindings around Seo-jun's mouth and wrists disappeared.

Seo-jun's togue darted out to his lower lip to lick off some of the moisture left over from his bindings to try and parch his dry tongue. He then told his side of the story, explaining everything from the time he witnessed Bayley running out up until the point he was tackled by Christian.

Christian glared at him menacingly throughout the entire story but Seo-jun just ignored him.

"I see," the dean said once he was finished. "We won't know which version is the truth until Miss Silva regains consciousness. Unfortunately, you will have to be temporarily suspended from the academy until then. Even I cannot fight the Crown Prince's words."

Seo-jun's head dropped in defeat. He had a feeling that this will not go over well with the Count. There was also the extreme likely hood that the Mallorne household will be demolished very soon. Maybe he should be praying to be kicked out of the household so that he could lose the title of Mallorne.

The dean called for an attendant to fetch some guards and to have a carriage prepared. Seo-jun was to be sent home while Christian, the true culprit, was off the hook. The dean then left to escort Christian back to the dormitory and then was going to check on Lianna. Wasn't it a bad idea to leave a supposed criminal with a guardless royal?

"I'm sorry that I couldn't help," Prince Mikyle spoke in a quiet yet offhanded tone. The two of them were currently alone in the Dean's office.

". . .So, you believe me."

Mikyle shook his head, a smirk splayed on his lips. Seo-jun had the gut reaction, which he didn't follow, to wipe the smirk off. "I can't say for sure on who is telling the truth, but what I can say for sure is that I know your brother's reputation. You one the other hand only have the reputation of being an idiot with no talent or brains"

Seo-jun blinked, a blank look on his face. How the hell did this guy not have an appearance in the manhwa? He was a nameless prince that was practically non-existent. How did that make any sense? Seo-jun had only known prince Mikyle for two days with a total of three encounters but he could already tell that Mikyle would make the perfect male lead. Or at least a secondary male lead.

Mikyle had the perfect looks and was really good at rubbing the people the wrong way. He had an effortlessly arrogant attitude without being overly arrogant. He possessed playboy looks but with the charisma that only true delinquents could pull off. He was a contradiction just like fifty percent of the male leads in manhw, anime, and live action dramas.

Seo-jun couldn't tell if he liked the guy or hated him.

"Don't look at me like that, I merely stated what others think of you." He leaned down until his face was just inches from Seo-jun's. "For the record, I don't think you're a complete idiot, little bookworm." Mikyle's warm breath tickled the hair by his ear.

He made up his mind. He hated this guy.

The creaking of the door sounded just then, notifying them that they were no longer alone. Mikyle straightened up and slid back a few steps and looked as if he had not just been conversing with a criminal just a few seconds ago.

An attendant and two guards who worked for the Academy entered. The three greeted his highness before the two guards walked over to Seo-jun and escorted him out of the Academy.

What a first day this turned out to be.

The carriage ride back to the Mallorne estate took a total of two hours. Those two hours was all it took for the adrenaline to leave and for dread to replace it. Seo-jun was not looking forward to the Count's reaction.

He did have a moment where he thought that this was finally his chance to escape the family but then he feared what form that escape might take. The Count was the kind of person to lock his son up for two days without food or water for not having passing grades. So, it was no surprise that Seo-jun would worry about what form of punishment he would receive for being expelled.

That was another thing that filled him with dread. He had never been expelled before. Hell, he had never had detention before. Did this make him a delinquent?

The carriage came to a rattling halt, thrusting Seo-jun out of his inner ramblings.

The Count, the Countess, and the butler, who wore a gleeful expression, greeted him at the entrance of the manor. The Countess was standing in the back, her gaze down-casted as she wrung her fingers together.

The Count stepped forward and lifted a hand. A stinging sensation spread across his cheek as the slapping sound echoed in the night air. "I want you out of this house," the veins in the Count's neck and forehead pulsated. "You are no son of mine."

"May I pack a bag before I depart?" Seo-jun was hoping he could take a few belongings, mainly money and things he could pawn off, before leaving in the middle of night.

The Count narrowed his eyes, his dark blue eyes were as chilling as ice. "One hour. I want you out within the hour." The Count then turned around and marched back into the manor, the butler following closely behind.

The Countess ran up to him and wrapped her hands around his. "I already packed a bag for you. I included some of my belongings to help you along the way and a letter for your grandfather," she whispered, as to net be overheard by the Count.

Seo-jun looked up at the Countess with wide eyes. He had believed her to be an aloof mother, one who didn't seem to care for her children, but it seemed he had pegged her wrong.

She guided him into the manor, never letting go of his hands. "Eat before you leave. It's not much but I hope you'll eat it."

Seo-jun gave her a sad smile. "I will. Thank you, Mother." It was the least he could do for her.