Location: Royal Academy – Garden Pavilion, Afternoon
The sun filtered lazily through enchanted willow trees, casting golden spirals across the academy’s most peaceful garden.
Zephyr Arclight
was on his knees.
No, not in combat.
He was scrubbing a marble koi fountain.
“Why does the royal koi keep spitting jam?” he muttered, eyeing the sticky red substance dripping from the fish’s mouth.
A scroll floated beside him, titled: Emergency Custodial Request – Level 3: Magical Jam Contamination.
“This has Selena’s handwriting all over it,” Zephyr sighed.
“BOO!”
A burst of wind knocked leaves everywhere as
Drakynia Flameheart
dropped from a tree, grinning.
Zephyr didn’t flinch. “You’ve tried that every day this week.”
She pouted. “You used to react.”
“You used to breathe fire when embarrassed.”
“That was one time!”
Suddenly, a wave of
noble magic
rolled across the garden.
A golden carriage pulled by floating peacocks landed delicately beside the fountain.
From it stepped
Princess Lyssette von Regalia
— heir to the Empire of Aurellia, third in line to the Sun Throne, and incidentally… the newest
transfer student.
She radiated elegance, pride, and just a touch of unnecessary sparkle.
“...Oh no,” Zephyr muttered.
Lyssette
approached with a practiced smile. “Janitor. I require your assistance.”
Zephyr stood slowly. “I don’t clean peacocks.”
“Perish the thought!” she gasped, horrified. “No — I simply need your hand in courtly demonstration. For our cultural diplomacy class.”
“…You want me to pretend to be your date?”
“Escort,” she corrected, cheeks faintly pink.
Drakynia
narrowed her eyes. “Is this class mandatory?”
“For noble students, yes,” Lyssette replied smoothly.
“I’m failing it,” Drakynia muttered.
Location: Ballroom #9 – Cultural Diplomacy Class
Zephyr stood in the middle of an ornate hall wearing an ill-fitting tuxedo and holding a cue card that read: Smile once every 3 minutes to reassure foreign dignitaries.
Across from him,
Princess Lyssette
stood with perfect poise, her hair glowing like sunlight trapped in gold silk.
“And now,” said
Professor Velmont
, “demonstrate the traditional Aurellian Proposal Bow.”
Lyssette turned.
Zephyr blinked.
She stepped forward.
The class gasped.
She knelt.
“Wait—” Zephyr began.
“I,
Lyssette von Regalia
, offer you this symbolic handkerchief embroidered with my house crest, signifying—”
“Proposal?!”
Arwen, Rosalia, Selena, and Drakynia said in unison from behind a potted plant.
The professor coughed. “Symbolic. Totally symbolic.”
Zephyr accepted the handkerchief awkwardly.
It sparkled.
It radiated
marriage-class enchantment levels.
“Why does this have a legal-binding mana thread?!” Selena barked.
“...I thought this was a drama class,” Zephyr muttered.
Later That Evening: Student Council War Room
“She's clearly trying to claim him diplomatically!” Arwen snapped.
“She used a royal heirloom! That’s like… holy bait!” Rosalia exclaimed.
“She’s lucky I didn’t challenge her to a duel,” Drakynia growled.
Selena was silent, staring at the handkerchief now hovering in a magical containment orb.
“It’s stitched with a spell that adjusts based on Zephyr’s emotions,” she muttered. “It’s a soulweave artifact. Ancient class.”
All four girls turned slowly toward the janitor in question… who was sipping tea, expression blank.
“I’m just trying to clean a fountain,” Zephyr said.
Location: Clocktower – Same Time
The
Cloaked Watcher
stared at a magic feed of the ballroom scene, muttering.
“…He deflected a royal proposal using only mild confusion and herbal tea. What is he?”
A raven landed beside him, dropping a scroll.
He unrolled it.
His eyes widened.
“…No. That princess was just the beginning…”
End of Chapter 25