Chapter 5: Esmond's First Day

"Thank you for attending our academy's elementary orientation; we will soon begin to announce the house and their corresponding housemasters. Please come forward when your name is called,"

Esmond listlessly sat among the audience, surrounded by other children the same age as him. He looked around the 360 lecture hall with disinterest when he remembered a certain black-haired boy wasn't with him.

"Class one, Cleming Hall. William Cowart, Spendan Dian, ..."

The sound of the man announcing students into their respective classrooms turned into a bunch of white noise for him. The extra eyes of those children stuck to him like tar; it made him feel suffocated and stiff, their gaze full of ambition and desire to climb the ladder. It was unlike the gaze Kai would stare at him with.

Recalling the first time they met, he felt scared from being stared at by those dark pair of eyes. Although their first meeting wasn't the most pleasant, for him, it was a lot more different than those other children who insisted on befriending him through false smiles and fake pleasantries. It was a breath of fresh air for him.

But now...surrounded by all those people who only perceived him as an object and target, it was like being thrown back into the quagmire.

"Class three, His Highness Esmond Aethalwead..." A loud and booming applause rang out through the hall. Continuous waves of applause followed his figure as he walked down the hall, stopping in line for his respective class. Whispers and murmurs rang out and the gazes around him further increased.

Esmond desperately wanted this moment to end as quickly as possible, he wanted to go back to Kai. To make him look at himself and make sure his existence wasn't only that of his status as the prince, that he was normal.

Attending his first class at the academy, Esmond could sense the teacher's firey gaze full of greed whenever they landed on him; at the same time, countless classmates hovered around him like swarms of mosquitoes, wanting to suck the worth and power from him. Esmond's gaze was dull as he stared ahead. The lecture ahead of him turned into background noise, going into one ear and out the other. At the same time, his right hand moved efficiently across the piece of parchment, and a written scripture of incantations appeared instantly on the surface, made into a circular shape.

The student sitting beside Esmond couldn't help but look in amazement, as he knew the difficult feat Esmond just committed in seconds and without even a sweat. A cold bead of sweat dripped down his temple and he glanced at the boy with a weary look.

Since the prince could already make a magic circle, surpassing 90% of the majority of the students in their academy level...why was he here?

Although this question popped inside of his head, he didn't even have time to simmer on the answer as the next thing he witnessed completely blanked out his mind.

With a poof of smoke, the student witnessed a small and chubby human figure appear on top of the magic circle; just barely the size of a palm, it wore a white bunny onesie with two white loopy ears hanging down its head. And the beady black eyes that momentarily stared through his soul, he swore his heart stopped beating, and not in a good way.

The student watched as the renowned prince laid his hand palm-up on the table like he was waiting for the small thing to waddle into his hands, but contrary to either of their expectations, the small white bunny did neither go towards the prince nor poof away into smoke...

"Ah-!" The student unconsciously let out a gasp as he saw the bunny jump off the table but when it hit the ground, he heard a small high-pitched squeak and the next thing he knew...the bunny disappeared into a puff of smoke.

There was a moment of silence.

And the prince let out a sigh as if he already knew this was coming. The student suddenly turned his head to him, his expression incredulous but he did not have the confidence to speak out his words.

Of course, Esmond noticed the watching eyes beside him but he paid no mind to it, he only wondered why every time he made a mini version of Kai...it would rather run towards death. The 1st and 2nd time, he would understand it if it was accidental...but this was the 53rd time.

Esmond put a finger under his chin, taking on a contemplative posture.

What was he doing wrong? It couldn't be that he was the problem, that's impossible. It was the first factor he ruled out. It must still be something with the inscription or spell! Yes! That must be it! After the 54th attempt, it must work! Definitely! He couldn't possibly be the problem...no, it was impossible. Kai likes him so much...

There truly wasn't a reason for Esmond to be attending such an academy, after all, he was the prince of a country; he had the best tutors at a beck and call and the talent to prove it. Esmond already understood the reason he was sent to this academy and it wasn't to advance his 'studies', as stated from the reasons above, he had no need for it.

It was his resentful father. His narrow-minded father didn't like to be overshadowed, it gave a big blow to his overgrown ego, and to be overshadowed by his own flesh-n-blood only added salt to the wound. Esmond had no opinion of his father, he was a decent ruler and that was his main role as the king, but he just wished he would stop sleeping with women outside of his harem; spreading more of his breed like some disease.

Diseases that only brought further shame to their royal family name.