I quickly said a counter spell and pulled Cat away from the rushing blade.

He looked so surprised as his hood flew off, his blue eyes as round as saucers. He gave out a soft yelp and tried to pull at me instead, as if he could save me with his tiny body! I had to carry him on my shoulder as I used another sprinting spell to move to the next shadowy alcove.

I hurriedly mumbled the inconspicuous spell on him once more, all the while, keeping my eyes on the image that appeared in front of us.

It was a large man.

He was clad in gray and was bald.

That was all I could think of as I chanted the spell upon myself as well, hoping that it would work, since the man was still staring at us.

“What are you doing just standing there?” Another person appeared, clad in the same gray suit.

My heart seemed to stop, but the large man turned slightly to look at the person who called him. I took that chance to sprint to yet another shadowy alcove.

“I just thought I saw...” the large man trailed off in a deep husky voice.

“Idiot!” the shorter man slapped him on the shoulder. “Are you turning stupid again? Hurry up and help the servants get rid of that apprentice’s body!” he ordered him. “This is just great! Just when his highness is already in a dark mood, another favorite decides to kill himself again!” he mumbled.

The grumbling man turned away to leave. I then realized why the large person didn’t register much to me.

He was wearing a mask.

A featureless mask of the same gray color as his clothes.

He held a broad sword which he brandished and returned to a scabbard on his back, then he looked at our direction once more, before turning to leave.

“Is his highness eating right now?” I heard him ask the other.

“Yeah, he’ll be in the dining room with the rest of his vassals, so hurry up, we still need to look for another apprentice to satisfy him tonight.”

We hurried out of the palace after that.

We made sure to stay clear of the dining hall and was thankful to see that the portcullis was still open. We didn’t stop until we reached the dormitory, and I only removed our inconspicuous spell when we entered our room.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re both alive!” said Arman who threw his arms around the two of us.

“Well? How did it go?” Elliot asked, to which Cat started sobbing.

“Not so good, huh?” said Arman.

“We were not able to find Lycan,” I acknowledged, “but at least we didn’t find him in a detrimental situation either.”

“In a what?” Arman stared at me blankly.

“He meant, they didn’t find Lycan in any danger,” Elliot explained. “So what did you see? Were the apprentices all tied up in chains in a dungeon? Or were they all holed up in a room full of cushions and clad in flimsy see through lace?”

Cat glared at Elliot.

“J-just trying to lighten up the mood there... sorry...” he mumbled.

“There were too many rooms in the prince’s palace,” Cat told them. “We weren’t able to check all of them...”

“Most of the apprentices we found there have already been resigned to their fate,” I told them. “We found Darius as well... he seemed to have lost his senses... and another who had just ended his own life to break free from his prison.”

My three friends fell silent.

“You know, Pat,” said Arman who stared at me with his mouth ajar. “You speak very nicely, just like a poet or a minstrel, but my brain finds it hard to keep up with you sometimes.”

“I do beg your pardon then,” said I.

“Oh, no, I don’t mean to be rude, please don’t get offended,” he quickly added, shaking his hands before me.

“No... to ask for pardon is merely to ask for forgiveness...” I trailed off. “I am sorry,” I said instead with a slight bow.

“Hey, we’re getting out of topic here,” said Elliot. “So, you saw an apprentice commit suicide?”

“H-he was already dead when the servants saw him...” Cat mumbled. “We were following them around to look for Lycan in the top floor, when we saw...” he trailed off.

“My dear, poor Cat,” Arman pulled him into his arms. “You must have been traumatized! Poor baby!”

“W-what if... what if Lycan...” Cat stuttered.

“Don’t think of such things!” Arman interjected, his voice also shaking.

“Don’t worry, Cat,” said Elliot, “the academy always sends their students back. If anything ever happened to your friend, your family would have known about it already. Likewise, if a student decides to run away, his family would be forced to pay a large fine and send the next heir in line to take their firstborn’s place.”

“Then, I could just simply run away!” Arman said thoughtfully.

“You can try,” Elliot replied. Have you seen how tightly guarded this place is? Not to mention, how many spells there are on the gilded gates.”

“That’s right, even the prince’s palace was being heavily patrolled by knights,” Arman pouted.

“Actually, we almost got caught by one of the guards,” said Cat.

“What? How did you manage to get back, then?” asked Elliot.

“With Pat’s magic, of course,” Cat replied. “But then, we had no other choice but to leave.”

“That means Lycan is still in there somewhere...” Elliot said thoughtfully.

“That’s right, we just need to look for him again!” said Arman, hugging Cat tighter. “I’m just glad that you’re both okay.”

“Well, now that that’s over,” said Elliot, “who fancies some dinner at the dining hall? There’s a separate specialty for supper tonight!”

“That’s right,” Arman said to cat, “a good meal and a warm bath after would surely make you feel so much better.”

Arman was right, a good meal and a warm bath did do wonders on our Cat.

After getting three servings of cake and pudding, we went to our secret bath at 8 pm and soaked until our skins got all wrinkled up.

“Boulder dive!” cried Cat as he jumped into the water while clutching his knees.

It’s a move that Elliot just taught him.

“Here comes the big boulder!” cried Elliot, followed by a huge wave that almost emptied half the pool.

“Ugh! How can I keep my mask on if you two keep splashing us with water!” complained Arman.

“Um... can I take mine off now?” I asked as I sat submerged with my head leaning back on the pool’s edge.

“Not yet! It’s not enough to get rid of those dreadful black bags beneath your eyes!”

“How much longer then?”

“You still have a couple of minutes left!”

“Look Pat! I’m a dolphin!” Cat said happily, clapping his hands over his head while Elliot throws him in the air with one hand. “Woo! I had no idea having a big brother was this much fun!” he exclaimed after resurfacing.

“Honey, didn’t you say Lycan was older than you?” asked Arman.

“Yes, but he was quite skinny and we were just the same size, not as big as Elliot is, or as tall as Pat is, and my older sisters have always been modest ladies like any proper women should be.”

“Huh, you should meet my sisters, then,” said Elliot. “They can wrestle any man twice their size and would give them a good whipping as well,” he said proudly. “I taught them all myself!”

“You do wrestling?” Cat asked with interest.

“Yup, I’m one of the best in class, even the senior knights say I’m good!” he said proudly.

“That’s really interesting,” I said, trying not to drop the sliced cucumbers lined all over my face. “My younger sisters, on the other hand, started learning etiquette as soon as they learned how to walk.”

“All I learned was sword fighting with Lycan!” Cat said with a frown.

“Same here,” said Arman. “And I’m not even that good at it!”

“Not in my family!” Elliot continued. “As a knight’s family and a merchant to boot, we need to know how to defend ourselves, especially when we travel to trade with faraway countries. That’s why my parents decided that we should learn the different culture and traditions of different nations. In fact, my sisters could easily run the family business without me. My parents would gladly hand them the reins, if only the empire allowed women to own property.”

That’s right.

Women are thought of as mere commodity in the empire.

Something worth trading, for further family gain.

“Hmph. In our family, I’m the only one who knows anything about our family business,” Arman harrumphed. “My eldest sister only cares about her face, now that she’s married, her priority is to give her husband strong heirs. My younger brother, on the other hand, couldn’t be bothered. He gets pampered by his attendants all day while I stay in the workshop with the rest of the servants.”

“Well, at least you are now an expert in the field of your choice,” I told him.

“Of course, I am the family heir, after all. I just can’t wait to see their faces when I come back six years from now to claim what is rightfully mine!”

I gave a little chuckle to humor him, but deep inside, I had been thinking.

Does this mean that Arman’s parents decided to give up on him as well?

Cat’s family were in tears when they left him at the gates. Elliot wouldn’t be here if his older twin didn’t perish in an accident, yet Arman and I came from families that had no other use for us.

It made me wonder what my mother would do if I come home five years later.

Would she give me the duchy?

Or would she send me off somewhere else and keep pretending that I don’t exist?

I hate to admit, but being sent away sounds so much more appealing than being welcomed back home.

“Oh, I think half an hour has just passed,” said Arman. He went beside me and peeled the cucumbers off my face one by one. “There, a healthy glowing face!”

He stared at me and frowned.

“Hmm, I guess you would need a couple more sessions...”

“Ah, I could finally look around properly!” I washed my face in a cubicle and noticed that my skin had gotten a bit softer.

“Pat! Pat! Look at me swim!” cried Cat as he did a butterfly stroke on top of a floating Elliot’s round stomach.

“We’re a seal pop and pup!” Elliot grinned at me.

“That’s enough monkeying around,” Arman scolded them. “Come here so I can treat your hair! Also, you should try this perfumed soap my family bought from the Flower continent in the east!”

“Yey! More pampering!” Cat went to the nearest cubicle and sat on a small stool, waiting for Arman to spoil him. “I want to have long beautiful hair like you do!”

Arman flipped his long black hair. “It takes a lot of care, but leave it all to me,” he said, with his nose up high. “I can’t wait for Pat’s hair to grow longer, too,” he added, “I’ve seen your mother, the grand duchess Patricia, in our main boutique before, she has the most beautiful, jet black hair I’ve ever seen that shines with a deep purple hue under the sunlight!”

“Wow! Jet black hair is real rare now-a-days,” said Elliot. “I guess it comes with being a royal with pure blood.”

“I guess you can say that,” I smiled at him, “but my siblings have the same black hair I do with a tinge of darkest brown from our father’s chestnut hair. Mine probably has the same brown tinge.”

In truth, I have always hated my black hair. I never wanted to look like my mother, sometimes I wish I was a common blond instead.

“Now, Arman’s hair...”

“Oh, I just dye mine black.”

“Pardon?”

“I color my hair. I’m actually a red head,” he said while massaging scented oils on Cat’s hair. “Red is too distracting, so I dyed it black instead, in memory of your mother’s fabulous hair!”

“Wow! Lycan has red hair too! It goes ‘puff’ in all direction and looks so pretty like a flower!” said Cat whose voice trailed off. “I used to braid it to keep it neat and put small white daisies all over it...”

The whole room went silent.

“Well, I bet he’ll be happy to braid your hair once it gets longer!” said Arman who is now working on Elliot’s hair. “Now, massage your scalp like that for about five minutes, and we’re through!” he said while working on mine.

“Hair grows six inches a year on average,” he told us. “That’s half an inch per month, and severely damaged hair like Pat’s can take half a year to heal, but with these special oils which I prepared myself, I give you four weeks max to see the results,” he went on proudly, “It’s a good thing that your hair is so short, too,” he told me, “that way, we have less to work on and can simply wait for new growth to cover the thin patches on your scalp.”

“Thank you, Arman,” I said with a smile. “But don’t you think you’re doing too much just for my sake?”

“Nonsense!” he cut in. “I would do anything to see that jet black hair again!”

“But we really need to fatten you up, too,” Elliot piped in while looking at my body with a deep frown on his face. I subconsciously adjusted the towel tied around my waist.

“There, all done, now we just need to rinse it out with cold water tomorrow morning.”

“We need to take a bath in the morning too?” asked Cat.

“Nah, the tap in the toilet is enough when you go wash your face.”

“So, we can finally go back now?” I asked, standing up from the low stool.

“Well, I still have some lotion for your dry skin, but we can just apply it in our room,” Arman added.

“That’s good, I’ve still got some snacks left in my pouch,” said Elliot with a grin. “It’s ‘fattening Pat up’ next.”