Jeremy took a step back. He lowered his eyes to look at their two bruised faces.
Regardless of how masculine, handsome, or bewitching these two guys looked on normal days, at this very moment, Jeremy only wanted to swing his fists and deliver another punch to each of their faces.
Jeremy had just leisurely stepped into the academy’s commercial district, intending to find a decent meal to soothe his empty stomach after a week of roughing it out. Before he could even order his food, Griffin had grabbed Jeremy by the collar and thrown him straight into this dark solitary confinement room.
The reason for the punishment given by Griffin left them utterly speechless: the squad members had engaged in an unauthorized brawl and caused a disturbance in the classroom, destroying all of the faculty’s facilities. Jeremy, in his capacity as the captain, had failed to fulfill his responsibilities of supervision and leadership.
As for the reason why Evelyn and Phoenix were also grabbed by the collar and locked in here, it was ridiculously simple: as teammates fighting side by side under the same contract, upon seeing their teammates fighting, one chose to coldly turn her back and walk away, while the other chose to sit in silence and ignore it. Both Evelyn and Phoenix had failed to fulfill their responsibilities and the team’s spirit of solidarity.
Did anyone in this world understand the misery of being implicated as a figurehead captain like Jeremy?
Back in the administration office, upon hearing this reason for punishment, Jeremy could not hold back a cold scoff in his throat. If one did not know better, they would think Jeremy was not a student, but rather the guardian and babysitter of these four delinquent young masters.
The recent scuffle was not a fight with students from another faculty, but an internal clash among members of the same team. Furthermore, although their strikes were ruthless, they had not reached the threshold of endangering lives. Therefore, this behavior was temporarily not judged as a violation of the expulsion clauses in the academy’s rules.
Griffin also did not report this scandal to the higher disciplinary council. In return, Griffin fully grounded all five of them for a week.
Even more ruthlessly, that jellyfish-headed instructor personally cast upon the souls of all five an ancient cursing magic that extremely few people mastered nowadays—the Empathy Blood Contract Curse.
As long as this contract remained in effect, the nerves of the five connected individuals would be forced to empathize and collectively bear all the physical pain that any of their counterparts had to endure. (Naturally, the backlash and lawful death caused by breaking through personal realms would not fall within the shared scope).
Although this type of curse generally did not carry lethal damage directly threatening human life, the torment and annoyance it brought were more than enough to frustrate a person to the point of madness.
According to Griffin’s cold warning before he left, placing this invisible magical shackle on their shoulders was to completely eradicate internal fighting troubles from recurring a second time, or even multiple times in the future. Whether the barrier of this curse could be removed would depend on their performance and practical mission completion index at the end of this semester.
Speaking pragmatically, was this damn rule forcing them to love and protect each other’s bodies like protecting their own lives for the next half year?
Jeremy lowered his eyelashes. He swept his gaze over the four people in the room. Lucius and Leon were arrogant, finding each other to be an eyesore, constantly wishing they could draw their weapons and point the sharp tips straight at the other’s throat. Evelyn and Phoenix were aloof, their emotions so faintly still that it was as if they had strangled their own human desires and passions.
Added to that was Jeremy himself—a reluctant captain forced to shoulder the responsibility, who, at some unknown point, had been forged by this high-pressure environment into an irritable person with erratic moods.
Was this freakish team structure activating a survival system, forcing the members to conquer each other’s affection levels just to keep their lives?
If a golden cheat like a legendary support system truly existed, Jeremy might not have been this speechless and helpless; at least with a system, there would be a place to occasionally extract a bit of benefit or upgrade rewards.
But cruel reality proved: fanciful things like a system absolutely did not exist in this world. Jeremy at this moment was no different from an unfortunate owner who, failing to closely watch his ferocious pets, allowed them to bite and destroy the neighbor’s furniture, and thus had to bear the implication of being locked in the same cage as a punishment.
It was truly so ridiculous and tragic that there were no words left to describe it.
Precisely because of the sensation-sharing mechanism of the empathy curse, Jeremy currently only felt the muscles on his face aching dully. His lower abdomen spasmed with piercing pain, while a numb, stinging sensation from bruises transmitted from his arms and leg joints.
Jeremy had a full supply of high-grade pharmaceuticals in his spatial ring. However, at this very moment, even if he poured tens of thousands of healing potion vials into his own mouth, it would be completely useless, because the true owners of those physical wounds were inherently not Jeremy.
Jeremy reached out to support his throbbing, aching forehead. He turned and took long strides toward a pile of clean, dry thatch lined in the corner of the confinement wall, then sat down. Jeremy absolutely did not have the magnanimous intention of personally feeding medicine to those two troublemaking jellyfish-heads. He currently had absolutely no mood to play babysitter, and temporarily did not want to look at those two detestable faces for another second either.
Because they were only dragged in under supervisory implication and were not the ones directly getting physical to destroy the classroom, Jeremy, along with Evelyn and Phoenix, were not forced to wear magic chains restricting their magic power, nor were they cast with a silencing spell. They were simply locked in here to reflect on their mistake regarding solidarity.
Jeremy could use the rationality of an experienced person to understand the rebellious, arrogant phase of youths bearing the bloodline of prodigies going through puberty with unstable temperaments. Jeremy also knew full well that arrogant individuals like Lucius and Leon inexplicably possessed opposing magnetic fields, so finding the other displeasing to the eye was a normal occurrence.
But understanding was one thing. Being dragged down into a pointless trouble that could have easily been avoided if they had a bit of restraint... still left Jeremy feeling incredibly speechless.
In the end, pondering down to the very root of the problem, the biggest cause was still that his current title of captain was excessively weak. Jeremy did not possess enough absolute deterrence and an authoritative voice on the scale of magic power.
If Jeremy’s cultivation realm and melee combat strength had been capable of leaving them far behind right from the first day, then just a raise of his hand or a cold glare from him would have been enough to make these two brats obediently retract their claws. He absolutely would not have let himself be implicated in such a ridiculous play.
Jeremy leaned his back against the cold marble wall. He tilted his head back toward the ceiling, his chest heaving as he exhaled a breath of murky frustration.
The urge, the fierce desire to elevate his magic power realm within the depths of his heart had exploded at this moment, reaching the peak of greed.
That was right. Lacking authority, one must use absolute strength to crush others. Jeremy only needed to exhaust himself cultivating, elevating his magic realm to a threshold sufficient to crush and knock down all these arrogant individuals with a single slash. Only then could he hope for peaceful, easy-breathing days during his upcoming six years of study at St. Aetherwing Academy.
As soon as Jeremy determined his most pragmatic survival goal, the irritation and instability in his mind completely settled back to stillness in the blink of an eye. Jeremy decisively closed his eyes, locked down his six senses, and began to circulate his magic power for cultivation right on the spot. He casually treated the four people present around him as if they did not exist.
Three days later, Jeremy automatically regulated his magic element cycle. He slowly exited his deep cultivation state.
Although during the meditation process of absorbing natural elements, a mage’s consciousness nearly sank into a semi-dormant state to protect the sea of consciousness, the space around Jeremy was not absolutely sealed. Therefore, occasionally, his ears could still register faint sounds of communication and daily activities from the outside world.
Throughout the past three days of confinement, their meals consisted of standard food periodically brought and placed at the door by the academy’s underground dungeon guards.
As for the matter of personal hygiene, inside this spacious solitary confinement room, a separate magic bathroom with an automatic hot and cold water system had been pre-installed. The magic chains locking Lucius’s and Leon’s hands and feet possessed an automatic time-recognition mechanism. They would temporarily extend during mealtimes and bathing hours. During all other times, the chains would shorten, maximally restricting the movement range of the two troublemakers.
But those daily living details were absolutely not the main point. The focal point that made Jeremy frown the moment he opened his eyes... was that clearly, over the past three days, both Leon and Lucius had been issued and had ingested healing recovery potions.
Then why, even up to this very second, did Jeremy still clearly feel a dull, aching pain and persistent, unceasing spasms deep within his joints and flesh?
St. Aetherwing Academy’s high-grade recovery pharmaceuticals could absolutely not be counterfeit, knock-off goods useless to that extent.
Jeremy lightly moved his stiff shoulder. His cold gaze swept through the space, looking straight toward the position of the two culprits kneeling in the corner of the room.
Leon’s physical condition was visibly, incredibly impressively restored. Although Leon’s sharp face still clearly revealed exhaustion and deterioration, with two dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep in the solitary confinement room, the bruises and torn flesh exposed on the outside had completely disappeared. His bloodline’s self-healing speed was indeed not bad.
As for the remaining trouble-making machine...
Lucius still maintained a kneeling, hunched posture, his face bowed to the ground. Lucius hid his tall body entirely within the deep darkness of the wall corner, not uttering a single word or making a single sound from beginning to end.
Sitting from afar, Jeremy could not clearly see the expression on Lucius’s face right now. However, Jeremy’s sharp line of sight immediately locked onto the bluish, swollen bruises still imprinted intact on Lucius’s slender back of the hand, his pale bare neck, and even the corner of his jaw beneath his forehead exposed to the light.
Sure enough... the root cause of all the persistent pain on his body originated from this aristocratic dandy.
Previously on the deserted island, Jeremy had accidentally swung his hand and delivered a slap to Lucius while possessed by the phantom. The red, swollen handprint on Lucius’s cheek, even after Jeremy personally applied the best healing ointment, took a very long time before the traces finally completely faded.
The cause was definitely that the innate constitution of this guy possessed something extremely special and abnormal. The degree to which his body tolerated and absorbed medicinal properties from healing drugs was pathetically low. This led to physical wounds recovering at a snail’s pace like this.
On the outside, Lucius possessed a tall, masculine physique. Yet, his inner essence was as fragile and sickly as an arrogant greenhouse flower needing others’ pampering and protection. As for his true personality hidden behind the smile... if one were forced to use plants to accurately describe it, then perhaps in this world, only the highly toxic oleander and the addictive poppy could grudgingly relate to and match his bewitching nature.
Jeremy’s mood at this moment, after three days of peaceful cultivation, was as completely flat as deep water. The irritation and fury from a few days ago were gone. Jeremy casually braced his hands to stand up straight. He took leisurely, long strides, stopping right in front of Lucius. Lowering his eyelashes to look down coldly, Jeremy said, "Raise your head. I will apply medicine for you."
This bit of dull pain from the bruises was nothing to Jeremy’s endurance. However, due to the absolutely lawful connection of the empathy curse, an aching sensation transmitted through his flesh with every passing second and minute. It was very difficult to completely ignore it while focusing on meditation.
Fortunately, a few vials of specially formulated ointment specifically used to handle severe external trauma situations were still stored inside his spatial ring. Although the cellular regeneration speed of this ointment was not much different from ordinary liquid potions, an additional layer of herbal extract was integrated into its composition. This extract had an extremely powerful effect of reducing pain and blocking sensory nerves.
Combining the two effects together, no matter how much Lucius’s body rejected medicinal properties, at least the speed of soothing the pain and healing the wounds would be accelerated a bit.
Lucius’s figure kneeling in the darkness seemed to completely ignore Jeremy’s direct, commanding words. Looking at that motionless posture, it seemed Lucius had no intention of obediently raising his head to cooperate either.
Jeremy was inherently not a patient person. Seeing the other party refuse to communicate, Jeremy decisively took coercive action himself.
Lucius possessed an outstanding height of about 1.88 meters. Jeremy’s physique belonged to the standard tier, currently at 1.72 meters; standing beside him, Jeremy was not considered short. But because Lucius’s legs were currently pinned firmly to the floor by magic chains, only able to maintain a kneeling posture on the ground, Jeremy would be forced to lean over slightly or squat down in front of Lucius if he wanted to look straight into his eyes from an equal angle.
But where would Jeremy find the free mood and patience to perform that gentle action right now?
Jeremy directly reached out his right hand. His two long, slender, and firm fingers roughly and mercilessly pushed Lucius’s chin up hard. Jeremy used a resolute force to compel Lucius’s neck to tilt high upwards, facing straight into the light.
The brilliant silver long hair hung slightly disheveled down both sides of his cheeks at this moment. The pale, candle-wax-like skin of that face was clearly covered in crisscrossing bruises and swellings caused by punches and kicks. A faint dark circle from exhaustion also lay beneath his undereye bags. Yet, the overall masculine face still radiated an excessively bewitching, eye-catching beauty.
The moment Jeremy’s gaze swept past and saw the outer corners of those narrow, elongated phoenix eyes flushing a teary red, Jeremy’s hand lifting the other’s chin could not help but freeze in astonishment for a split second.
Was he crying? An arrogant guy getting hit with a few punches actually became overly sentimental to the point of shedding tears?
This absurd thought had just flashed in Jeremy’s brain before it was immediately and mercilessly dismissed by his rationality.
That was not right. With the ruthless, cunning, and stubborn nature of this aristocratic dandy, how could he easily shed tears over a bit of physical pain? To speak of it... normally, even when smiling leisurely, the skin around his eyes, and especially near the outer corners, naturally carried a faint, bewitching red tint. He looked exactly like an aristocratic guy addicted to makeup who had deliberately blended a layer of peach blossom-colored eyeshadow.
It was definitely just because Lucius had not slept well while chained in the basement these past few days. His nerves were exhausted, combined with the backlash traces from the new wounds inflicted by Leon. That was why his appearance looked so battered and pathetic.
"...How much longer do you plan on staring at my face?" Lucius’s voice rang out hoarse, as dry as the friction of sandpaper. The perfect face no longer wore its usual fake smile. Instead, it was completely covered in a layer of frost, carrying an added degree of perilous unfamiliarity and vigilance.
"What? I can’t even look for a bit?" Because Jeremy had to use one hand to maintain the lifting force to hold the arrogant face of this young master firmly, Jeremy could not let go. He had to expertly pop open the lid of the ointment box with his other hand.
His index fingertip decisively swiped a large clump of the cool ointment. Without any reservation, Jeremy applied it directly straight onto the bruised patch on Lucius’s cheek: "Because you know you are handsome, are you planning to charge an observation fee from your captain too?"
"..."
Lucius lowered his long eyelashes. His head moved slightly, struggling to turn his face to dodge Jeremy’s finger: "...My whole body is filthy and my face is pathetic like this right now, what the hell is there that is beautiful to look at."
Lucius frowned tightly. His voice dropped low, carrying a hint of refusal: "Do not touch me forcefully... it hurts."
Hearing that hoarse voice and the words complaining of pain like a cat scratching, Jeremy truly had a bizarre feeling. It was as if Jeremy were patiently serving and coaxing an arrogant, snobbish Her Highness the princess stepping straight out of a Japanese anime.
Jeremy had absolutely no intention of playing along with his fragility. His fingers continued to steadily and firmly rub the ointment to absorb into the skin. He coldly mocked: "Since you already know your body is fragile, snobbish, and has such a poor pain tolerance... then what the hell did you go crazy and lunge into a fight for in the first place?"
Lucius slightly narrowed his phoenix eyes. He let out a sneer carrying an arrogant disdain: "Looking at his face made my eyes itch, I wanted to punch him."
Jeremy fell into silence, his hands continuing the task of applying the medicine.
The real reason causing this guy—who always liked to use a smile to hide his emotions—to suddenly explode in madness... was probably eight or nine parts due to the mocking phrase ’you are his good dog’ or whatever that Leon spat out before leaving the class.
Thinking back on it, it made sense. Being a proud aristocratic young master, suddenly getting pointed at and insulted right in the face with such degrading language by someone he had barely known for less than a week. If swapped with any man possessing self-esteem, he would also explode in fury and murderous intent. Even Jeremy himself, sitting in the classroom hearing that wild barking, was so speechless that he had to stand up and walk away.
But the problem was that these two arrogant guys mocking and despising each other with venomous words had not just happened once or twice. Who was wrong first, and who provoked later had inherently become a chaotic cycle. It was absolutely not a matter that an outsider captain like Jeremy could step up to judge or determine right and wrong.
Jeremy’s fingertips, calloused from practicing with his blade, gently glided across the bleeding tear near the corner of Lucius’s mouth. He carefully applied a thin layer of ointment to reduce the pain. Jeremy’s deep, cold voice naturally mellowed out a few notches as well: "From now on... please get along, and bite and tear at each other a bit less."
"..."
Lucius did not struggle anymore. He slowly lifted his phoenix eyes. He quietly pinned his sharp line of sight onto the face of the red-haired youth standing straight at an extremely close distance right in front of him: "From the past until now... I have always been very harmonious with you, Captain."
His tone was even. The timbre completely revealed not a hint of emotional fluctuation or sarcasm. Yet, those blue pupils bearing a clear hue exactly like a drifting iceberg were, in this moment, as deep and murky as the absolute bottom of the ocean. The exhausted dark circles beneath his undereye bags further accentuated his somewhat gloomy, dangerous irises, reflecting only Jeremy’s silhouette inside.
The careless moment he met those profound phoenix eyes directly, Jeremy immediately had a chilling sensation as if his entire disguise and soul had just been thoroughly seen through by the other party. A stifling pressure, carrying the sensation of sinking deep to the ocean floor unable to breathe, naturally arose from the bottom of his heart, causing his heartbeat to skip a beat...
Not having time to think much, Jeremy instinctively reached out his left hand. He decisively covered Lucius’s bewitching cyan-blue eyes completely, isolating that oppressive line of sight.
An answer that completely slipped off the main point like that... was truly something Jeremy’s logical thinking had never calculated for.
It was not that Jeremy was not sharp enough to realize: from the very first moment stepping through the academy gates until before being thrown into this solitary confinement room, this freak Lucius D’Arsy had inexplicably always maintained an extremely close distance, constantly revolving around Jeremy’s existence. Aside from occasionally opening his mouth to mock and provoke Leon to madness, the number of times Lucius proactively communicated or talked with the remaining two teammates, Evelyn and Phoenix, was pitifully scarce.
It was just that... Jeremy remained pragmatic and could not understand. What in the end was the true purpose causing an unpredictable prodigy like Lucius to pay special attention and cling to him to this extent?
Was it because Lucius wanted to exploit the value of his status as the only son of Duke Valmont—his aristocratic family holding the top military power of the Empire?
Or perhaps... all those bizarre actions recently were simply because Lucius found him pleasing to the eye, and thus genuinely wanted to develop from a normal practical team member relationship into close friends?