Chapter Four : Cursed Necklace

The carriage rattled as they made their way across the busy street of the capital. Its occupants, two young ladies, and two young gentlemen, excitedly share their thoughts about the royal ball. After all, it will be their first time participating in a ball that the royal family planned.

Three more carriages are behind them. One of them contains three professors, and the second one contains another two young ladies and two young gentlemen. While the last one contains their headmaster and two young ladies. The carriages they are riding are all owned and designed by the academy. Its design is not as glamorous as the nobles' but more formal and simple.

On the carriages, doors are embedded with the academy's symbol, which is a simple Iris flower inside a magic circle. The flower symbolizes the hope of every mage to be finally accepted as a fellow human and not a monster that the world sees them as.

All the carriages are heading towards the palace. They are all going to attend the royal ball that is currently being held by the royal family of Caswell.

The carriages finally arrived at the main road that will lead to the palace gate. Up ahead of them lies a series of other carriages containing the nobles of the kingdom.

A long time has passed before they finally entered the castle gates. A series of admiration was heard from the group, their chaperons ( aka their professors ) reminded them to act more formal and graceful as they are the representative of the academy.

A lot of noble names were called by the man standing beside the door that will lead to the ballroom.

And their turn finally arrives, "The headmaster of the Mage Academy, Asha Silvers. Along their representatives have arrived."

Headmaster Asha is the first one to walk inside before the students who were arranged from their ranks 1 to 10. Behind them are their three professors who are eyeing how they present themselves. One of the professors is wearing clear eyeglasses, the other has a mustache while the last one has a strong build that almost tears his suit.

All the nobles' eyes are on them... some are eyeing them with curiosity, while others are looking down on them.

The students were taught to ignore the stares of the nobles as they walked with their heads held high... despite the way their hearts are pounding loudly inside their chests.

"So this what a ball looks like..." Clara whispers to Shaelyn as they walk side by side. Walking together side by side is the only thing that made both of them feel relaxed as they enter an unfamiliar room, full of unfamiliar faces.

"Yeah... there's a lot of people here than I thought. Hey, do you think they would notice if we swapped their earrings with another noble?" Shaelyn asks while silently pointing to a lady noble who is busy talking to another lady. Thinking of doing a harmless prank is the only way she can ignore the loud pounding of her heart.

"Shae! Do you want the headmaster to be angry with us?... Cause I like your idea!" Clara replies with a hint of mischievousness. Her small eyes glitter in excitement at the thought of creating a mess at the party.

Someone coughs from behind as they both flinch in surprise.

"What are you two whispering about?" headmaster Asha quietly ask them.

They both look at one another as they gave her a sheepish smile.

"Nothing headmaster. We were just wondering if we can take a breather for a few minutes?" Shaelyn answers as a small smile forms on her lips.

Asha merely stares at them as she shakes her head. She fully knows what kind of trouble the two of them are capable of doing. Just like how they almost burned the academy back then.

"Don't wander too far, we still need to greet the royal family later. And please behave while we're here," Asha warns them as she motions for them to go. They still have enough time to take a breather on the balcony before the arrival of the royal family.

The two ladies lower their heads slightly as they thank her. A giggle escapes their lips as they hold each other hand while walking away from their group.

"Is it alright for them to be left alone like that? I'm worried they will cause trouble," one of the teachers, Fiona, whispers to the headmaster while they watch the two walk away.

She pushes her glasses upwards and fixes the hem of her light green dress. Her feet are balancing perfectly on top of her three inches high heels. She is a bit shorter than the rest of the professors, with a height of 4'5. Her long brown hair is braided into a crown. Though she is only in her 20s, she was chosen to be a history teacher for her outstanding knowledge of the kingdom's history.

"It's fine. They know not to cause trouble while we're here. Just focus on our other students. I'm more worried about how the nobles are going to interact with them," Asha responds as she shifts her attention to the rest of the students currently enjoying the party.

She, who was always wearing a white gown which has almost the same design as the head nun of the church... is currently wearing a light yellow formal dress pair with two inches heels. Her hair is naturally curly, so she only added a hair ornament to design her black hair.

Despite being the headmaster of the well-known first magical academy, she is only in her middle 20s. It was also a well-known fact that she is from a noble family. She achieved greater things that promoted her as the headmaster of the school. But her main reason for accepting the position was that she didn't want to marry someone her family has chosen for her.

Though, thanks to her natural beauty, many suitors are still trying to woo her.

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"Hah... finally some peace," Shaelyn exclaims once they set foot on the balcony away from the loud music of the ball. She can't stand the constant staring of the nobles inside. Thus she can only distract herself by thinking of doing something mischievous.

Shaelyn, despite her protest, is wearing an elegant silver dress paired with two inches of blue glitter high heels, which she was forced to wear. She was planning to wear her school shoes but she received a glare from Asha as Clara laughs at her choice. It was not her fault that she was not used to wearing high heels.

Asha let down her blonde hair which she always wears into a ponytail. Her hair was also decorated with hair ornaments that were bought by the headmaster herself.

Since she never learned how to put on makeup, she resisted the headmaster at first. But, with one flick of Asha's hand, Shaelyn freezes allowing Asha to apply simple makeup on her face.

She already has natural pinks lips, which the headmaster only enhances more.

"Are you okay?" Clara asks in concern. She understands how Shaelyn must have felt from all the judging stares they have received from the nobles. Despite acting all childishly, it doesn't mean she doesn't pay attention when someone was openly judging them. She fully knows the reason behind that, it's because they were born different than the rest.

Clara, on the other hand, excitedly wore her high-neck, A-line navy blue dress. She is also wearing two inches silver high heels. Unlike Shaelyn, she excitedly allows Asha to apply simple makeup on her face. Clara in terms of height is a bit shorter than Shaelyn is, she is about five feet tall while Shaelyn is about 5'3 tall.

The mages have long received hatred from society just from being born different from them. But how is that their fault? They didn't wish to be born this way, nor did they wish to be born into a judging society. All they can do now is to live to the best they can. And face their judgments head-on. They have to prove not only to themselves but also to others, that they may have something special, still, they are just the same as them. That they too can feel and get hurt all the same.

"Are you listening?" Clara shake off her thoughts when she heard Shaelyn's voice.

"Sorry I got distracted by my thoughts. You know I got quite a speech in my head. Anyway, what did you say again?" Clara explains as she starts humming a song that was stuck in her head for the past few days.

Shaelyn just stares at her before shaking her head. She should not have expected that Clara was listening to her stories.

"Forget it," she answers as she let out a tired sigh.

The two continue to overlook the beautiful garden from afar when a quiet tune seems to echo in the air.

"Did you hear that?" Shaelyn asks Clara who has seated on top of the balcony railings, as she turns to look around to where the music is playing.

"Heard what?" asks Clara as she stops humming.

Shaelyn was about to answer when she heard the same tune once again.

"There it is again! It's like a humming sound," she replies to Clara as she took a step away from the railings.

"You mean my humming?" Clara asks as she raises her eyebrows.

Shaelyn shakes her head, as her heart starts pounding loudly inside her ribcage the more the sounds start to hum louder.

"No... it's a different sound than yours. It's more like — there! Did you hear that?" Shaelyn exclaims as she tries to listen once again while taking more steps away from Clara.

"No. I don't hear anything aside from the music from the party. Are you sure it's not your imagination?" Clara asks skeptically, as she stands up from her sitting position.

The humming sounds seem to lure her as she can feel her fingertips tingling for some reason. And her mana seems to respond to whatever is making that sound.

"No, it's not... I'm sure of it. I don't why but I feel like it's calling to me," she answers before completely walking away from Clara.

"Wait— where are you going? Shae! Hey!!" Clara tries to stop Shaelyn from leaving but as if in a daze, Shaelyn didn't stop walking. She can't hear any sounds other than the humming tune that is calling for her.

Her feet continue walking turning left and right to different corridors... until she dives deeper inside the palace.

She can feel her mana buzz every time she heard the humming sound. Until a bright light awakens her from her daze.

The next thing she knows, she is inside a bright golden room surrounded by a bunch of artifacts.

Her eyes widen in surprise, as she looks around the unfamiliar room.

"How did I get here?! Clara where are you?!" Shaelyn shouts in confusion as she desperately looks around trying to find a sign of her friend.

She was about to take a step back when she felt something heavy around her neck. Raising her right hand, she touches an unfamiliar thing hanging around her neck.

"A necklace? Since when did I wear one?" Shaelyn murmurs, while tracing the necklace's unique design. The necklace has a silver chain and a light blue heart-shaped crystal hanging in the middle. The crystal has a strange light surrounding it.

Shaelyn never wore a necklace, even if both Clara and headmaster Asha insisted. She didn't like the feeling of a necklace around her neck. That's why it's a surprise to suddenly have one around her neck.

Shaelyn tried to remove the necklace but its no use. It seems the necklace is a magical artifact, and it can't be removed easily.

"How in the world did I wear this?! And where am I ?!" Shaelyn grunted in frustration as she continue to try and remove the necklace.

*clang!*

The sound of the metal lock dropping echoes in the whole room,

making Shaelyn freeze in shock. Before she heard footsteps start walking towards her position and someone unsheathing a sword. The whole atmosphere seems to change and almost feels suffocated.

She felt something sharp-pointed to her neck.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" a low voice asks her from behind.

She took a gulp, as she can't move even if she wanted to. Whoever this person is, they have a very high magical aura. And it's much higher than her own, considering that she has a much higher aura than the rest of the professors teaching at the academy.

Shaelyn tries to clear her throat, but she can't even swallow the saliva forming in her mouth.

The person moves a bit closer to her, they froze when they catch a glimpse of the necklace around her neck.

"Why are you wearing that? Answer me or I'll cut off your hands," the person ordered in a low intimidating voice. The temperature in the room seems to drop drastically, and she can't help but shiver.

Shaelyn's hand trembles, as she began to think of a way to escape the current situation. She opens her mouth slightly as she tries to explain.

"I... I apologize. But... I don't quite fully remember how I got h-here," She trembles as the sword move closer to her neck.

She is still facing away from the man, so she can't see what he looks like.

"Is that your excuse? You should have thought of a more believable one. Now hand me back the necklace," the man scoffs, as he moves the sword much closer to her neck than it draws blood.

Shaelyn felt something warm trickle down her neck. She grips the necklace she's holding.

"I-I'm not l-lying! I don't know how I g-got here! And if this necklace is yours... P-please, take it. I can't r-remove them!" Shaelyn's voice trembles as she tries to explain.

Tears prickle her eyes as she can feel her heart hammers in her chest. She cannot believe that she got herself in trouble like this.

She forcefully closes her eyes as she felt the man move closer. Preparing herself as to what will happen to her when she heard footsteps outside the room.

"!"

"Excuse me, my lady but you have no permission to access that room," a solders' voice echoes from the outside of the room, breaking the tense atmosphere.

Shaelyn used this chance to break away from the man's sword as she quickly cast a spell.

"Come! Blinding light!" she invokes a spell she learned for self-defense, as a bright light surrounds the room temporarily blinding the man.

Once the light fades away, Shaelyn is nowhere to be seen.

"..." the man draws back his sword as he looks around.

Soon enough a set of footsteps enter the room breaking the silence.

"Your highness, his majesty is waiting for your arrival... Did something happen?" a man wearing a black suit walked towards the man while pushing his glasses upwards. He seems to notice a sense of hostility in the air. His long silver hair sways at every step he took, and his jade green eyes show a glint of awareness as he scans the whole room.

The man fixes his clothing and just stares at the silver-haired man. The man with the sword has long silky black hair ended just above his waist, he also has clear emerald eyes which can be seen as almost the same color as the silver-haired man when seen from afar.

He is wearing a black formal suit, which is embedded with a small sun in his left chest area. He is also wearing a golden colored cape made of pure satin. The cape is embedded with the kingdom's insignia, a blue dragon with its wings flapped open placed in the middle of a magic circle. It wasn't well known that the design is a magic circle until the kingdom's first mage was hired.

"Where is his majesty?" he asks once they are out of the cursed room, ignoring the question of the silver-haired man.

It was called a cursed room since its a room full of artifacts with cursed magic placed on it.

"His majesty, the King, and her majesty the Queen are already waiting for you at the banquet hall," the silver-haired guy answers.

"I see..." he only nods his head as a smirk forms on his lips.

"It turns out you were right, Jasper. Today's ball is going to be interesting," he added as Jasper, the silver-haired man walked beside him.

"What do you mean by that? Your highness?" Jasper asks, his left eyebrow rising in curiosity.

The Crown Prince only glances at him before continue walking away.

—

"Shae!! Hold on!" Clara tried to catch up to Shaelyn but she seems to vanish in front of her. It was a good thing that she can still smell the perfume she was wearing.

"To think that smelling training the headmaster taught me can be this handy. I guess I should pay attention more from now on," Clara mumbles to herself as she continues to follow Shaelyn's scent while avoiding the guards.

She ended up looking everywhere for her all around the palace until a guard stops her from going furthermore.

"Excuse me, my lady but you have no permission to access that room," the guard blocks her from trying to open the door where she can smell Shaelyn's perfume more strongly.

"I'm just trying to find my —," her words were cut off when a blinding light burst from the room.

She tried to shield her eyes from the light but someone grab her arm and began dragging her away. She was about to protest when a familiar scent hit her nose. When her eyes finally adjusted, she saw Shaelyn's hand holding her arm.

"Shae!! What happened?!" she exclaims as they continue to run away.

"I'll explain later!" Shaelyn responds without looking at her.

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The two catch their breath as they lean on one of the pillars, they ended up running back to the balcony.

"Ha!... Just what happened? Where did you go off to? And what was that light earlier?!" Clara asks as she took a deep breath while wiping off the sweat that formed on her forehead.

Shaelyn took another deep breath trying to calm down her frantic heart. Her hands are cold as she closes her eyes while still leaning on the pillar for support.

She never wants to be in that situation again, it only reminded her of when she was with the mercenaries before. It was during the time she was caught freeing a hostage they took back then.

"Blood! You're bleeding!!" Clara's eyes widen in surprise the moment she glances at Shaelyn. Blood is still dripping down from the wound Shaelyn got from the sword. The blood soaks through the collar of her dress, staining it.

"I'm fine... it's only a scratch," Shaelyn mumbles as she covers the wound with her left hand.

"What do you mean it's fine?! How did you get that wound anyway?!" Clara protested as she swats away Shaelyn's hand. She began to inspect the wound before cleaning the blood with her clean handkerchief which she dabs with a healing potion they always carry.

When she saw that the blood-stained the collar of Shaelyn's dress, she grumbles under her breath before proceeding to remove the stain using a spell. The spell will not exactly remove it but just temporarily cover it up for at least a few hours.

Shaelyn opens her eyes and stares at the night sky, while Clara cleans her wound.

"Will you tell me what happened?" Clara whispers after a moment of silence.

"Maybe not now. We should head back to the party. The headmaster will be worried if we don't come back," Shaelyn replied once she made herself presentable again. Clara sprays some perfume on her to try to cover the smell of blood.

Shaelyn coughs slightly surprised by the sudden spray of perfume but she's thankful nonetheless. She knew she will be in deep trouble once that man finds her again.

Remembering the encounter, she stares at the necklace she's wearing and it hums softly as if responding to her.

"Change its appearance to a simple one," Shaelyn whispers to the necklace as her magic glows.

The spell changed the appearance of the necklace to a simple one that is commonly worn by a lower noble.

Then she changed the color and design of her dress to a simple beige long dress. Clara also fixes Shaelyn's hairstyle and make-up which Shaelyn tried to protest, but Clara just glared at her. Clara also fixes her clothing, hairstyle, and make-up.

They manage to learn all these spells from Asha who discovered them when she was younger.

"Are you not going to tell me where you got that?" Clara asks once they are done fixing their selves. They are now walking back to the party to greet the royal family or they will be punished by the headmaster.

Shaelyn only glances at her, she remembered the low deep voice of the man that tried to slice her neck. She manages to catch a glimpse of him when she ran away earlier. Though she only managed to see his long silky black hair from behind, she didn't manage to catch a glimpse of his eyes since he closed them because of the spell she cast.

"I don't want to see him again..." Shaelyn whispers, her heart still beating fast inside her ribcage. Clara only looked at her confused, she wants to ask more but they already reached the party hall.