Artemis (1)

After he came out of principal Darwin's office, Xavier begun to think about today's incidents.

He unexpectedly met a family friend whom he was very close to as a kid, encountered a variable that could make all their hard work and Alexander's sacrifices go to waste, discovered the possibility of making friends with that variable was quite high, and might have found out why his mum was hellbent on sending him to this school.

"The Elite School…", Xavier walked out of the school main building and discovered a crowd a few metres away from it.

His gaze swept over them once before he looked away, but just before he took another step past the school's doorways, he spotted something that caught his eye.

'Silver hair…'

"Ean?", he mumbled out and found himself walking towards the crowd.

Ean was having a confrontation with a tan-skinned girl he remembered as one of their classmates.

"Hm?", Xavier raised an eyebrow when he recognized Ciara. Wasn't she the one who defended Ean? Why was she calling her out now?

He stood by and watched the two girls at the centre of the crowd exchange dialogues, then Ciara threw a wad of cash into the sky, directly above Ean who was asked to pick it up.

He didn't bother guessing what she would do next and only anticipated her next move.

Unsurprisingly she ignored Nicholas' taunts, and exchanged dialogues with Ciara instead. When it had reached that stage, Xavier walked off while wondering if Ean really needed money.

'If she did, is there a chance she can use Alexander's identity against them? Why did Alexander have to be so troublesome anyway?', Xavier frowned in annoyance.

He had completely forgotten how happy he was because of Alexander's happiness, all because Alexander's impulsive actions was going to cost them dearly, that is if Ean had Ill intentions towards them.

"If this were the case I might as well withdraw my support, and remove my forces from Aerorua…"

It wasn't necessary he supported a contender for the throne, in fact he had no reason to. The only reason he did what he did for Alexander was all because of the information he had partially shared with him, something about the current knowledge Xavier possessed worried him.

And even if he didn't support Alexander, he wouldn't support Leslie either, even though Leslie had a 60% chance of winning the title of crown prince.

He had once considered it but he eventually gave up the thought, why?

Leslie was actually a good candidate, the benefits he would amass by being his supporter increased because he was the main backer behind Alexander and the Austin family's influence even on other islands were by no means small. But the two-faced peacock, Leslie, just had to annoy him and act smarter than he actually was.

Using the carrot and stick approach against Xavier, whom he thought was only with Alexander because of his naivety and his undeniable status.

Xavier once wondered why Leslie constantly attacked him while trying to gain his support. And he got an answer soon enough, he was trying to show off his capabilities to Xavier, in hopes he would leave Alexander. He was also trying to appease those on his side, so no matter what happened, if Xavier came to him or left Alexander it would all benefit him. Because Xavier was the key figure behind Alexanders supporters, if he left him the rest were likely to follow, even if they didn't go to Leslie's side, they'll at least abandon Alexander which was to Leslie's benefit.

Unfortunately for him, Xavier really had no interest in the throne, and wasn't the only thing that kept Alexander in the race. Alexander wasn't a fool. He at least had his strong points, which allowed him to withstand Leslie's attacks. The only miscalculation Leslie had made was that he thought Xavier was a businessman. What he did not know was that his actions had finally annoyed Xavier, who couldn't wait to go back to Aerorua to make him pay

'What a fool', Xavier clicked his tongue when he had thought this far.

Xavier had finally arrived at the parking lot, he searched around for his driver and managed to spot Alexander approaching the school gates.

As he watched Alexander approach with a worried expression on his face, he mentally compared the two princes.

Leslie was more cunning, smarter, capable and obviously had more backers than Alexander, which comprised of influential nobles and the royal family themselves. To top it all, he was much more younger and had a more stable foundation than Alexander.

Alexander simply couldn't compare to the young genius in terms of cunningness, smarts, capability or supporters. He was practically hopeless as future king, the only thing that managed to keep him in the race and allowed him the current influence he possessed was his bloodline. Alexander was a Blue blood member of the royal family, while Leslie was merely an adopted son.

Normally someone who was not of the legitimate bloodline was considered unfit for the race of the the crown, but Alexander's disappearance all those years ago directly knocked him out of the race before it even began.

Hence, the Royal family had no choice but to prepare their only prince to take up the crown, when they could not find the official crown prince.

"Hey, what are you standing there for? Did you get in trouble with the Principal? Why did you take so long? Come on, speak up!", Alexander finally got to Xavier's side and bombarded him with a lot of questions.

He was actually feeling nervous and anxious due to Xavier's absence. He had been so excited about coming to school, but when he finally got there he wasn't able to sit still or calm down, because of Ean's presence.

Let alone Xavier, even he had been considering if it were all worth it.

It might not be, because the risk was too big. But reward and risk were two sides on the same coin.

If he somehow manages to get into the Elite school and find another backer, a stable one, then this trip to Arin island will be well worth it!

Xavier looked at Alexander then sighed, how did he end up befriending such a person?

That was the major reason he had not left Alexander out to the dogs, because of their friendship! He bet if Alexander had said a word less back then, he'd be fighting his wars all alone.

"What are you thinking about? Did you actually get into trouble?!", Alexander was getting scared by Xavier's silence.

"I was wondering why I'm spending so much time on you, and if I should drop out of the race.", Xavier replied as he leisurely strolled towards the car.

Alexander stood still for a few moments and hurriedly caught up with Xavier. 'This guy is too cruel, can he not make my heart beat so fast?!'

Anytime Xavier spoke like this, even though he knew it was either a joke or something Xavier would not do, he still couldn't help but get scared.

'Why did Xavier have to threaten him like this?', he turned gloomy as he followed Xavier back to the car.

They arrived at their destination soon enough, when they got there the driver spotted Xavier first then called out to him.

"Young Master! You're done with your business, have you seen Young Master Alexander?"

"Yeah, he's somewhere behind me", Xavier replied as he entered the car.

Alexander had gradually slowed down as he immersed himself in his thoughts, hence Xavier got to the car before him.

"Should we wait for him?", the driver cautiously asked. He was one of the few who knew how big of a temper Xavier had, he also knew how much Xavier hated waiting or spending a long time on something.

Simply put, he did not want to aggravate this impatient young master of his.

But before Xavier could reply, Alexander spoke while opening the other passenger door.

"There's no need, I'm already here", Alexander's voice was low and without any of the enthusiasm and cheerfulness he always had. He sat down, brought out his phone and silently scrolled through it.

Xavier glanced at him, and guessed he was angry. 'Did I take it too far?', he thought as he closed his eyes to think.

The main reason he teased Alexander the way he did, was to let him know he could not rely on him forever. Because one day, Alexander's succession might possibly conflict with his interests.

Take the Dark nebula for example, they were an information guild of the sort, and not only did they operate virtually, their influence in the real world was by no means small.

They were based in Aerorua, and because of Leslie they were exposed through Alexander to the current patriarch of the Alexander family. The old man kept trying to acquire them but Xavier would not let them do so, since he couldn't have them he decided to obstruct them from growing and started to disturb their operations.

That caused the Dark nebula to relocate their base, for some reason, they wouldn't come to Arin Island. Maybe because of how strict it would be to be based here, and Xavier didn't offer a helping hand either, hence he estimated that they were going to Draruth, because Moreche was too impossible.

The car started moving and tried to get to the parking lot, Xavier opened his eyes and swept his gaze over the scenery outside of the car.

It wasn't anything spectacular to any ordinary student, but the scene of tens of students clumped together, chatting, going home together, or going back into the school, caught his attention.

Just when he was about to look away, he spotted a familiar figure wearing a triumphant expression and an unknown smile.

Maybe because he was dazed or lost in his thoughts, or the familiarity he felt was quite high, but something about that figure made him remember someone.

As the figure disappeared into the dense crowd, a single word left his lips.

"Artemis…"