88 An Obsession with Power

"Ah! Carlos and Elizabeth!" a chubby old woman with short snowy blond hair exclaimed as she spotted her two students coming in from the back door.

"I was worried that you might be late, but thankfully, you are here." She chortled as she pushed up her spectacles. "Please, take a seat."

"Yes, Mrs. Claretta." Carlos and Elizabeth nodded and sat down in two seats near the back of the classroom.

Mrs. Claretta was one of the older teachers, and many students disliked her due to her attitude of treating them like children.

But after some time interacting with the teacher, Carlos found that he rather liked her. She felt like a warm aunt or grandmother from fairy tales. A kind old woman that baked cookies for her younger relatives.

In addition, the boy enjoyed learning about history, the subject that the old woman taught, so he always looked forward to her classes.

Just as Mrs. Claretta turned and was about to take some papers from her desk, she suddenly gasped. "Oh! How forgetful of me!"

She turned back to Carlos and Elizabeth. "The principal called you two to go to his office at the beginning of this period."

"Hurry along! The principal did not seem very happy. It was supposed to be Mr. Burton's job to tell you, but I guess he forgot." The old woman shook her head with a slight frown. "So young, yet already forgetting things…" she muttered under her breath.

Hearing her words, Carlos instinctively looked at Elizabeth to see her reaction.

To his bewilderment, she… isn't surprised?

Well, of course, she isn't, dummy! We broke the school rules, so we probably will get punished. He furrowed his eyebrows with worry.

As Carlos followed meekly behind Elizabeth out the door once again, he began to churn his brain cells in thought.

What will be our punishment?

Will the principal be made at us?

W-Will I have to transfer out?

It should be alright… right?

I- It's fine… I'll take everything as it comes! I got Fei with me. At worst, I can run away!

…

Leaving the principal's room, Carlos felt his legs almost collapse. Thankfully, they didn't, but that just showed how nervous the boy was.

There was this dark aura floating around the girl ever since the pair walked out of the principal's office.

Even after racking his brains to his best ability, the boy could not fathom what made the girl the girl unhappy. After all, it wasn't as if the principal yelled at them or punished them…

Trudging down the empty halls, he finally asked, "Elizabeth… Are you unhappy or something?"

The girl frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

"W-Well, you seem to be mad about something… "

Eh? Elizabeth widened her eyes. Was it that obvious?

The thing is, she was not very happy with the way she and Carlos were treated by the principal. Carlos was from a prosperous household. As a result, the man treated the boy with respect and fawned over him, trying to keep him in the office to get closer to him.

When the two students had been called to the principal's office, Elizabeth knew that they would not be in much trouble, nor would they be severely punished – as long as Carlos was with her. If she went alone, perhaps her punishment would've changed.

Elizabeth knew that they would have a meeting with some higherups of the school to discuss their 'bad' behavior. She had heard from some peers that Cassian Hall had already spoken with the principal, and she was nervous.

So honestly, she was glad that the boy came back to class before they were called by the principal.

But even while she said she was glad, she hated that disparity in treatment. Elizabeth was sure that Cassian either did not receive any punishment at all or very little punishment over his actions.

Even though The Golden Rose academy is a top-notch private school, filled with children from noble lineages, Cassian and Carlos were still the top dogs of the bunch.

The principal's status, and the school's status, was only maintained because of support from the prominent families. As a result, the principal could not afford to offend either the Halls, or the Rochesters.

The best line of action would be to lightly scold both Cassian and Carlos and give them an equal amount of punishment: no punishment.

Nothing substantial would be done, but the families backing the two students could not say anything bad about the principal either. They couldn't say he was irresponsible, because he already 'tried his best, did something, and took a stand'!

It was a very clever way to avoid the pressure of both the Rochesters and the Halls!

As for the 'side character,' Elizabeth Claremont, who cared about her?

She is just the daughter of a 'merchant.' Although her father had gained a sizeable amount of power and was highly valued by the various polities, it wasn't enough to threaten him.

Elizabeth was sure that the principal had wanted to exact a proper punishment for her. Still, once he saw Carlos' affection towards her, he had decided to let her go out of consideration of the Rochester heir's wishes.

The girl hated the fact that she needed Carlos, a boy with much inferior skills than her (this is without offense) , to protect her, all because of something called social status.

After a few incidents that happened due to her low social status, Elizabeth gradually understood why her father was obsessed with entering this circle.

Just having wealth meant nothing.

Power is what reigns all.

And in this society we live in, the social status shows your level of power.

The girl gently ran her fingers through her long curly hair and smiled bitterly. "I… want power."

Carlos pondered for a second. Power? "Well, if it's you, I'm sure you'll get power if you really want it!"

He didn't understand what was so good about power. He knew his father had a lot of power, but he also knew that his father never smiled, never relaxed, and never slept either.

Elizabeth's eyes rounded in incomprehension before she broke out laughing.

"Thank you for your encouragement, Carlos!"

She had a sudden urge to ruffle the boy's hair as he beamed at her.