With the Del Monique estate being close to the capital Lua was one of the first to return to school for his second year. He was nervous, this would be the year that would let him know if he was meant to be with Henri or if the game would override his life. He sat in the Cafeteria with a few other students who had also arrived early. If he recalled correctly, the opening scene was Henri would meet her by the entrance and show her around the school. He hadn’t seen Henri there when he arrived, but they planned to meet in the Cafeteria today for lunch. So far he didn’t see him, so he sat down alone at a random table smiling and acknowledging  those few faces he knew. He had only taken a single bite when someone came up behind him and covered his eyes and then in a deeper voice they asked “guess who?” He knew who it was instantly from the warm touch that could only come from one person.

“Humm, well from that deep voice it’s not one of my female friends, and it’s not Ivan. These hands are too large, so it must be my beloved finance.” He said tilting his head back so he could look into Henri’s face as he stood over him. “Good afternoon Henri.” he said with a smile feeling relieved especially when he kissed his forehead affectionately.

“You got it right, and good afternoon my dear Lua.” he told him as he lovingly rubbed his cheek. 

“Come sit down.” He told him, patting the seat next to him. Henri sat down and took his hand.

“It’s been a rough morning and it’s going to be a boring afternoon.” He told him.

“Why is that? Did you order lunch? Do you need me to while you rest?” He asked.

“I ordered, and it was a hectic morning because I was told at the last minute I’d have to show another new student around. It's bad enough I had to show my little brother around yesterday.”

Martin was Henri’s little brother and he looked a lot like Henri but younger, he was also an Alpha humankin and he had his father’s dark gray hair cut short and his mother’s amber eyes where Henri had his father’s Amethyst eyes and his mother’s silver hair. He looked smaller than Henri almost like he was an Omega but he too would end up looking much like his father when he hit his last growth spurt.

“A new Student?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard that there is a new Light magic user that was found over the summer right?”

Lua nodded, he’d heard unfortunately.

“They should be arriving today so I was asked to show them around and I really don’t want to, I honestly don’t get this whole importance of a light magic user.” He complained as he leaned against him. Lua smiled and leaned back into him.

“Oh the woes of being a prince, if you really want me to go with you I will.” He told him. He wished he would so he could keep her away.

“No, I can do this on my own. If you did, I know I’d be too busy flirting with you to do my ‘job’ properly.”

Lua turned bright red, or as red as he could from the tips of his ears to his chest.

“You are so cute and I’m glad I’ll get to see you more often.” He told him as he stole a kiss as his lunch came. Lua kissed him back.

“You are too much.” Lua told him as his ears wiggled with joy. “But I’m also glad I get to see you more often now, we should get our schedules tomorrow, I hope to have some classes with you again.”

“Me too, it’s nice to have that smart brain to help with homework.” He told him truthfully, enjoying how he made his Fiancee blush.

“I’ll try to keep up with your expectations, I want to support you the best I can for the rest of our lives.” He told him honestly. He was feeling a little relieved that he’d not met Marissa yet, and that he was only his. He felt connected and loved and if he stayed like this and found out they were mates like true soulmates he’d do his best at the Empress to support his country and his husband. He tried not to think of the future too much but he couldn’t help it when it came to him.

“That’s all I can ask of you.” He told him and he kissed his forehead. “Let’s eat.”

They ate lunch and talked about things they’d missed since they last saw each other. Lua wanted to go to the adventurers guild that weekend now that he was 15 and could go into dungeons. Henri was worried about him going alone and getting hurt. Lua pointed out most people their age went and were fine and he promised that he wouldn’t take on anything dangerous alone. He asked him if he wanted to go with him for the first time. Henri thought about it and figured if Lua was going to be brave enough to do it, so should he, it might be nice to go out of the city once in a while and show he could protect his beloved Omega mate. They made it a date. After finishing lunch Lua told him he was going to the Library and then he’d meet him for tea. 

They walked out together and then he found himself witnessing the opening sequence for the game unraveled. The heroine was waiting at the front gate looking beautiful as always with her long flowing golden hair, her blue eyes the color of a cloudless day, her skin was a flawless fresh cream color with rosy cheeks and most of all, she was humankin. She stood in a simple sundress of white trimmed with blue. She stood taller than he expected her to be at 5’5”, with a beautiful curvy body of an Omega female. Lua felt envious she was everything he wasn’t, Henri Squeezed his hand and promised to see him later before he walked over to her and introduced himself. Lua watched for a moment as she seemed to be instantly smitten with him blushing brightly as he offered to show her around after introducing himself, she instantly took his arm and let him lead her away. He turned and walked to the Library quickly reminding himself that he was already an anomaly so the story didn’t have to go that way and Henri was just as in love with him as he was with him. This was their life, it wasn't a game anymore this was reality that just happened to be based on a game. He walked into the Library and went to look for a book and a quiet place to read.

Henri showed Marissa around the school and various other places, he didn’t like how she clung to his arm as they walked. Everyone knew he was already engaged and he wasn’t interested in this, well for a better lack of words bimbo seemed to fit. She had to be told twice what some places were, and she smelt like harsh cinnamon, one of his least favorite scents. He tried to end it at the Library just so he could leave her and find Lua. He knew exactly where he’d find him, and if he wasn’t there his nose would lead him right to him. Yet Marissa didn’t seem to want to leave him alone, he was trying to be polite so he decided to take her back to the dorm room and suggested she should find her room and settle in. It had been a long day and they could always see each other at dinner. Now free from her and not knowing she took it as an invitation as a date he went to the Library and found his Lua deep in a book in a large chair by the window where he usually was. The chair was big enough, and Lua small enough, for him to plop down next to him and look at what he was reading. Lua jumped slightly as he did, clearly having been lost in the pages of the book. 

“Hi, what are you reading?” He asked as he put his arm around him.

“Just a book.” He said shyly, putting the ribbon into his spot. It was somewhat spicy and romantic and he was getting up to the good part so he hadn’t been paying any attention to things around him. 

“Just a book?” He tried to read the title but Lua put it face down in his lap with the spine facing away from him so he couldn’t. 

“Yup, what time is it?” He asked innocently as he looked out into the yard at the large clock tower. 

“Almost time for tea, did you check these out?” he asked, looking at the small pile of books next to him.

“Yes, but I’m not sure I’ll have time to read all of them before school starts.” He sighed.

“Just read what you can.” Henri told him. “Books aren’t going to go anywhere so if they make you happy then I’ll make sure you always have time to curl up with me and a good book. And if you ever want to act out those bedroom scenes…” Lua turned brilliant red and looked at him in surprise. He smiled seeing his reaction solidified what kind of book he had been caught reading. “But those are for when we’re older, right now I just want you to be my sweet innocent and pure Lua.”

“I don’t think I’m that innocent or pure, especially while reading these kinds of books.” Lua told him recovering slightly. 

“That’s fine too, as long as you are mine.” He said a bit possessively. 

“I am yours.” He said submissively. Henri smiled and kissed him causing him to go red all over again. 

“Let’s go to our usual spot for tea, I thought I saw some of the other’s arriving as I was giving the world's most boring tour.” He told him.

“I’m good with that, I should drop these books off at my room first.” He told him.

“If you want, I’ll carry them for you till the dorm.” He said standing up first then offering to help him up. Lua took his hand, he liked being pampered like this, sure he could be independent but he had his Alpha, and Henri was the only person he felt he could relax around, and that he let treat him like this. 

They walked together Lua carrying his one book and Henri carrying the six others for him till they got to the dorm where Henri was not allowed to enter and was watched like a hawk by the Dorm mothers till Lua returned hand’s emptied and ready for tea with Shena on his heels. She’d just finished setting the room back up the way they liked it. The bells chimed as he did and they made their way to the gazebo where they met with some of the other’s, Felicia, Evan, Oliver, Lidia, Christina, and Roy to be exact, and caught up over tea and snacks. The next day a majority of students returned and class schedules were handed out. Henri had both History and Math with Lua as well as etiquette class. 

Christina Triss Bailey was a petite Omega female lion beastkin with long sandy blond hair, lion ears and tail, and stunning green eyes. She appeared to be delicate standing at 5’3” but she had 4 alpha brother’s who liked to romp around and they always included her. She had met Roy as a child and told him that she was going to be his wife when they were older, shrugging their parents agreed and they met again two years ago when their engagement was announced she was still obsessed with him and she only had one stipulation that he ranked at least in the top 20 before he graduated.

Irena De Poppy was Martian’s Fiance, she was a pretty little redhead with a fiery personality to match. She was an Omega humankin who stood at 5’3” with green eyes, long curly vividly red hair that reached her mid back, and her face was covered in a smattering of freckles on porcelain white skin. Though she was from a knight’s family she was also from a Dukal family that had no direct heirs except her and her brother. She liked Martian but she actually wanted him to be more protective and wished he looked more like Roy. She was a fire mage and a talented one at that having learned how to use and control her powers at only 8 years old.

To Lua’s joy he didn’t see Marissa until school started the following week. Henri didn’t have the same pleasure as every time he was alone she seemed to have found him and clung to him like a parasyte. He did not like her, especially since she was eating up his time with his precious Lua. Soon after school started she started to invade their lunch time, always trying to insist on sitting next to him. Most of the time she tried to sit in what everyone deemed Lua’s spot, to his right, like she belonged there instead of him. Then she started to do the same at dinner and the others were all starting to get annoyed with her even sweet Irena. Lidia was the first to lose her temper with her when she had started to flirt in front of her with her fiance. Lua, who was more or less the head of the girls group and as the possible future Empress, took it as a part of his duties to take on the complaints and address them properly. He didn’t want to but he also didn’t like what she was doing so he did what he felt was the most proper thing to do. First he talked to the etiquette teacher. He then with the teacher spoke to her about her bad habits of clinging to people who had fiance's and other things she’d been doing. She promised to behave but this only would last a few weeks before she started it up again. 

This was also when little things started to occur, she started to cry over being tripped or pushed to Henri. She also started to complain about threatening notes in her bag, yet no note was ever produced. Then the boy’s seemed to slowly start to listen to her, and sympathize with her. She was new and didn’t know better because her family didn’t expect her to have to know any of this, and she was the light magic user. And soon they were believing her over anyone else. It was frustrating because there wasn’t much they could do other than defend themselves politely. Whispered rumors started and none of them were nice, some were defending them against Marissa, others were cruel and talked about how Marissa was a better match for Henri. Lua felt his heart breaking as he started to spend less time with Henri but he didn’t cause a fuss he did what he knew best and hid his pain deep down.