I Will Not Let Them Succeed

"I have not." Ambrose shook his head, "The universities have encountered those who tried to take so many courses at once. Many who did so failed while others simply could not pay the fee to take so many courses at once."

"I see." Lotus gave a dry smile, "Then, it looks like I will have to tread carefully if even Headmaster Ambrose had not witnessed such an event."

"Have you already asked Headmaster Crowley about this?"

Lotus nodded, "I had a few months back, but even he had not witnessed such a thing before, I was hoping that it would be different for Headmaster Ambrose. Royal Sword Academy have been placed first for so many years in school standards and talented students, I was hoping to hear that someone might have tried to attempt this path before."

"Unfortunately that is not the case here." Ambrose shook his head with a sigh, "As talented as one may be, they need to steady themselves if they want to make it big in this world."

"Make it big..." Lotus muttered with a frown, "So having three together would make such a big impact... That would be bad..."

She nodded with a bright smile, "Thank you very much for your advice, Headmaster Ambrose. As well as taking the time to answer my questions, you must've been really busy with your work as well. Then, I'll take my leave. I look forward to our school's next collaboration. This year's show was quite surprising."

"Likewise." Ambrose smiled, "Be careful on your way home."

Lotus laughed and nodded, "Of course!"

With that, she walked away and made a good distance between the two before she huffed a smirk on her way to the cafeteria when Xiao Li popped a question into her mind, "Master, that was a good chance! Why didn't you ask him more questions?"

Lotus wore a dry smile and continued as she shook her head then responded sadly, "Even if I do ask, it will be difficult to say if he would reply in all sincerity."

She glanced up at the tall, sole building that is the symbol of the school's structure and responded with a wide smile, "I'm glad that I'm a student of Night Raven College."

...

As Ambrose made his way down the path, he hummed in deep thoughts as he muttered curiously, "So, that was Lotus Xue... Interesting..."

He had received many recommendations and rumors regarding the lad, but this was his first time having met him in person. He had never expected to come across him again as a nurse's student assistant a few months later. He recalled her words and her behavior before thinking deeply regarding the incident today. Despite having come across such a dilemma and having to care for so many patients and easing the commotion from both school's students, she faced both problem with a calm and warm personality. Without frustration or sadness, she took care of the students and treated both sides firmly, even going as far as to guide his students with words alone to calm them. In her eyes, his students were also her classmates and her classmates were her siblings for her to go as far as to help the seniors. He had watched her as she had entered the greenhouse as the dwarves had said, but she was calm and collected in the presence of rude guests and had little problem guiding them out the door once they overstep their boundaries. He touched his beard as he recalled her apologies and the club advisor's words.

"Very interesting..." He muttered then as he watched her personally 'escort' the three guests out the door and the murmurs spreading around the surrounding Greenhouse of the commotion.

"It is, isn't it?"

He looked up and saw a smiling tall boy probably in his third year watching her return calmly to continue answering questions as the children had fun talking with the raven. He touched his beard calmly, "Who is that young man?"

"He is Lotus. The next club advisor after this school year." He responded with a bright smile on his face.

"And, he built up over the idea of the poison apple?" He questioned him curiously.

The boy nodded, "He wanted to recreate her poison apple with today's resources. Yes. But, he said that, just merely recreating it was not enough and the Beautiful Queen might not like the fact that she could only remake the poison apple just because our current era have access to the materials and technology. So, he wanted to improve it, so as not to look down on the Queen's efforts and knowledge into the field of alchemy."

"I see. But, why did he create an antidote to the poison apple? Wouldn't it defeat the whole purpose of creating it in the first place?"

The boy shook his head, "He said it before..."

"It would be irresponsible to create a poison without providing an antidote. So, he created an antidote. To create an antidote from herbs and everyday spices..." The old man touched his beard quietly in thought as he watched the moon slowly climb up the skies in the distance, "To think that he was a student that I had been recommended but was turned down... How very interesting... This year, Night Raven College has found itself a promising student... Hah..."

As he walked out the gate, he paused before he responded, "Still, the headmaster refuses to share any information regarding today's incident... Does he truly not know or..."

He sighed, "I guess time will tell..."

He got onto the white carriage waiting for him and watched the scene bypass him before a wide smile appeared on his face, "Hehe... Three doctoral degrees, was it? He truly dreams big... But, does he have the motivation to accomplish this? I can't wait to see what the future will hold in store..."

.....

"So many vegetables..." Grim cried tearfully as he collapsed onto the ground next to Ace and Deuce.

"I can't take another bite..." Deuce grumbled as he stared at the ceiling in defeat.

"Me neither..." Ace sighed in dismay, "I can't move a muscle..."

"So, this is Mother Lotus..." Epel muttered in dismay as he sat in the chair, "So ruthlessly shoving vegetables down our throats..."

"Fgna... I don't want to see another vegetable in my life..." Grim lamented.

Lotus shook her head and frowned, "I did say that I would serve a table of vegetables if you didn't get first place. Although the performance is good, I don't go back on my words. But, it seems you have some complaints towards my dishes. Perhaps, a bowl of salad and simple water is a better alternative..."

"No, no, no!" Ace hurriedly responded with a dry smile as he responded, "There was just a lot to eat today, r-right?"

As he elbowed Deuce, Deuce looked up in bewilderment, "Eh, what? R-Right! There was just too much for us to finish!"

"Is that so..." Lotus sighed in disappointment, "I guess I will have to cut down on the amount of fish and meats tomorrow."

"W-wait!" Deuce and Grim cried out in defeat.

Ace sighed and muttered in exasperation, "This isn't fair..."

Yuu wore a dry smile and said, "He's just mad that we got into a fight right before the show. Haha..."

"Who knew that the celebratory meal was one full of veggies..." Kalim sighed as he drank his cup of tea, "Eh? It's sweet and cold?"

"Ah, that's the Chrysanthemum tea." Yuu responded, "Lotus makes them apparently."

"Lotus makes them?" Vil raised a brow and glanced over to her in surprise who was reading on a seat from afar.

However, Lotus did not pay attention to them as she continued to read her book. Seeing this, Yuu sighed in exasperation and began to explain the health benefits of the tea. When Vil heard this, he wanted to ask her for the ingredients, but she refuses to acknowledge his presence, giving him a cold shoulder.

In the end, Vil gave up as Rook could only shake his head in futility as he also failed to catch her attention.

In truth, it wasn't that Lotus refuses to acknowledge, but that she can't help but worry over the impending karma that would come for them. Though she knew of the good the world had given her, she also knew that Karma was an unavoidable consequence and she was worried of what may become of them. She watched them eat well and spend much time together. Now, it was time for Karma to hit them. Question is what would become of them?

After having spent just a few months with them, she can't help but worry for the hardships that is to come.

That night before going to her ring, she gathered the Zhang siblings and recounted the situation before giving out her command, "Tomorrow, you must begin your own training golden core is not enough and I can feel that karma will soon befall on everyone starting tonight. Go notify Huo Wei as well. Have him report any actions the others take. This school has also been a home to me and the teachers taught me much. I don't care what the others plan to do to it. We will not let them succeed. Tonight, something big will happen. I've already sent someone to help notify my mother and father and the butterflies to send a visible message to everyone else involved in this project. Your task is to get stronger and stay in contact with Huo Wei. If he ever stops contacting you, let me know as well."

"Yes, master!"