“So what should I call you, your grace?” Cat asked as we entered the tall gilded gates of the academy.

“Pat would be fine,” I told him.

“You can call me Cat!” he said with a bright smile. “It’s short for Cathal which means mighty battle ruler! It’s my grandpa’s name!”

“Hmm...” I nodded. I was too busy looking at the surroundings, particularly the tall gates.

I felt a slight vibration as I passed beneath it, indicating that it was riddled with different charms and spells.

The front of the campus was a wide spacey field where tall pine trees line a wide road that could fit two grand carriages side by side.

We were currently walking with several other students. Perhaps the rest finally decided to enter the campus after the page announced the deadline at 4 pm.

My eyes wondered around some more and stopped at a back which looked quite familiar.

It was the blond I saw earlier on the road.

“I have eight older sisters,” Cat continued in his introduction. “I’m the youngest, but all my older sisters were crying like little babies when the letter came to our house, telling me to report here in the Royal Mauve Academy. They say all of the men who come here are never the same when they come out. Something about being apprenticed to some Sodam guy... anyway, I’m here to look for my best friend Lycan who came here three years ago, my sisters said I must look for him and become his apprentice as soon as I arrive!”

“Hmm...”

We approached the main school building’s arched doorway. It is a wide, three storey building of Romanesque architecture with two tall towers at either side, the right of which housed a clock on its top. Behind it, I could see the roofs of several other towers in the distance.

The Main entrance was wide enough to fit ten people side by side, and the shiny marble interior opened into a wide hall accented by the same gilded silver and gold design as the main gates.

I looked inside as a student by the entrance stopped the rest of us to check our identification cards.

“What’s this?!” I heard laughter break inside the hall.

A group of students have surrounded a neophyte.

“What a pity, that this one’s defective!”

I saw a big burn scar covering half of the student’s face as they pushed him aside. He quickly covered it with his hood.

“Go straight to your assigned room and stay there!” they mocked him. “Don’t you dare show your ugly face in front of us again!”

There were several other people inside who stood in groups.

They were all looking at the blond student in front of me who now walked across the hall.

“So, this is Darius, Duke Ancyon’s heir?” I heard someone say as snickering laughter filled the room.

“He’s as beautiful as the rumors say...”

“I wonder who the lucky bastard is that gets him as an apprentice?” I heard another person say.

“Darius Everett Ancyon.” A tall man with dark brown hair and a long nose called out to him.

“His highness, the First Prince Nigellus Vladimir Indicum V, welcomes you to the Royal Mauve Academy and invites you to his private residence.”

The whole hall went silent.

“I am flattered,” Darius answered in a clear voice, “but I am tired in my travels and wish to freshen myself and rest before I meet with him.”

“I’m afraid, this isn’t a request,” the latter said with a sly smile on his face. “His majesty wants to see you. Now.”

“Don’t worry, I bet his majesty would be more than willing to freshen you up himself,” I heard someone snicker.

“Why does he always get the good ones, isn’t his harem full already?” another whispered from a side.

“I-I am not feeling well...” Darius insisted. “Please excuse me...”

He was about to move away, when the tall man he was talking to nodded at a group behind him.

Four muscular students made their way towards Darius who stepped back and touched the hilt of his sword.

“May I remind you that titles and houses are left behind at the academy’s gates,” he told the men approaching him, “and that I have all the right to defend myself!”

But the four men just grinned and pulled out swords of their own.

“Just come willingly, Darius,” the tall man with a long nose looked haughtily at the young lord. “You can tell his highness your complaints yourself.”

“What’s happening?” Cat asked from behind me.

“Damn... I had no idea the rumors about the first prince were real!”

“What rumors?” I asked a chubby, dark skinned young man who was mumbling behind us.

“They say all the beautiful men who enter this academy are dragged to the prince’s harem,” he whispered. “They are never seen again, until his highness grows tired of them, or worst...”

“Or worst, what?” Cat asked, his big blue eyes open wide.

“Well...” the man continued, “all I heard was that a lot of nobles fear that their heirs would return home inside long wooden boxes...”

“Why would they travel inside wooden boxes?” Cat asked. “Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?”

“It means they return inside a coffin,” I explained.

“...Oh...” Cat looked thoughtfully at the scene inside the hall.

Darius had pulled out his sword and is currently fighting two of the four men who approached him.

I admit, he is quite skilled with the blade, but the four men were bigger and stronger, and a sudden parry from a third opponent sent his sword clattering to the marble floor.”

“I’ll never go with you!” Darius yelled as he ran towards a stairway, but the other students blocked his way, and soon, he was held by two large men and dragged out of the hall.

I saw his face then.

The Lilac eyes full of rage as he cursed his captors. The thin red lips snarling at the students who blocked his way.

I can see why the crown prince wanted him.

But a harem?

“Next.”

I almost forgot that I was next in line.

I went closer to the man holding a list and pulled Cat by my side.

“ID please.”

“Give me your ID as well,” I whispered to Cat.

He handed me his card without complaint.

“Patrick and Felix Cathan,” I said as I handed them over.

“Here’s your room assignment.” The person handed me back my ID. “You will be in room 328 with your friend, go towards the hallway and exit to the left to get to the east dormitories.”

He looked up from the bunch of paper he held and looked at Cat who was still silent beside me.

“Hey, you’re kinda cute,” he said with a dirty grin.

“Thank you, we shall be going now,” I said as I took back the ID’s and pulled Cat after me.

“Cat, for now, I need you to stay quiet, okay?” I told him.

Cat looked pale and simply nodded.

I placed an arm over his shoulder and hid him beneath my cloak, chanting a short prayer as I did, thankful that the other students were still busy watching Darius trying to escape.

“Now, who have we got here?”

Two men approached us.

“This one better be good, I haven’t chosen an apprentice all day!” his companion said while three others came closer.

“This one’s pretty tall. Is he from a knight’s family?”

“Hey, you,” called the first one. “Take your hood off.”

I raised my left arm and took off my hood.

There was an audible gasp across the room.

“What in heaven’s name happened to your face?!” asked one of the men.

“Is he still alive? Perhaps I should practice my skill with the holy sword to rid us of this undead imp?” someone said which made the whole hall break into laughter.

I, myself, smiled at their joke.

“Oh, is that unnaturally long crack on your face supposed to be a smile?” they mocked me.

“But look at his purple eyes...” one of them exclaimed. “It’s the clearest purple I have ever seen...”

“You, what house do you come from?” they asked me.

“I’m sorry, but Prof. Laurel Novil told me to leave my family’s name behind the gilded gates, as well as my title.”

The room went silent for a moment at the mention of the professor’s name.

Is he a well known instructor here, perhaps?

The men gave me a final frown before turning away.

“So, who wants this walking corpse as their apprentice?” Again, the hall was filled with laughter.

“Oh, the next one’s a pig! Aren’t there any other good neophytes left?” complained the rest.

I was glad that they easily lost interest in me.