Monday had finally arrived, and other than being the worst day of the week, it was also the most-awaited day for a lot of J.S. High students. 

Like yesterday, Max was sitting inside their car, memorizing the map of his new campus, while Marcus sat beside him in silence because he had been scolded by his little brother for being way too active on a Monday.

"Why aren't the students allowed at places like the stadium, greenhouse, and rooftop? And even at the Hall of Janus? What's in there anyway, other than the fact our uncle shamelessly used his own name to name it?" Max asked as he stared at the map he had downloaded on his tablet. During yesterday's orientation, he had found out that that specific area was off-limits, but any other building wasn't. They never explained why, and Max's curiosity had skyrocketed because of it.

"You'll find out eventually," Marcus muttered with a cautious tone.

Marcus continued to glance at Max like Max had dirt on his face, and he was just way too polite to point it out. Max wanted to ignore his brother, but after a couple more glances, the young heir had enough. With no other choice, Max put his tablet down and finally said, "If you have something to say, you can say it now."

Marcus flinched after being called out. He then scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry, I don't know where to start."

"Then stop looking at me like a kid who's expecting to be scolded," Max told him, looking back at his tablet again.

Marcus opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to. He sighed and looked out of the window instead. Without looking back at his brother, he assured him, "Max, whatever happens, I just want you to know that I have my reasons for doing this."

Max looked at his brother and cocked his head in complete confusion, but he didn't ask about it further. He knew Marcus wasn't going to answer him anyway. Instead, he remembered his brother's sudden disappearance during the orientation and decided to bring that up instead. 

"By the way, where were you yesterday? You just completely vanished."

Marcus looked at Max and laughed upon remembering what had happened. "President Ian got mad and sent me home."

"The student council president? Does he even have the right to do that?" Max asked, but before his brother could come up with an answer, Étienne looked back at them through the rearview mirror and interrupted, "Should I drop Master Leigh here?"

Marcus and Max looked out of their window and realized they were already parked in front of the Keep. Compared to yesterday, it was now packed with thrice the number of students.

"Yeah, drop him off here. Then drive back to the tower near gate 3. I'll enter through there," Marcus instructed, so Étienne stepped out of the car and walked to the side where Max was sitting so he could hold the door open for him.

"Please don't make any trouble," Marcus told Max before he headed out. It might have sounded like a light joke between two siblings, but Max could tell that the advice had a heavier meaning.

"Don't mock me," Max replied, finally taking a step out of their car to officially start his first day of school. 

His appearance instantly caused a ripple.

At first, some stole glances, curious to see who the newcomer was. Others walked past, completely ignoring him. But when Max fixed his posture and sharpened his gaze, the attention shifted. One by one, they started to recognize who he was. Like moths to a flame, it didn't take long for everyone's eyes to be on him.

"No way, that's Maximilian Sinclaire."

"He's really here."

"It's rumored that he's a member of Crème de la Crème."

"Well, if it's him, then it must be true. Both his parents are super elites, especially his mother's side."

"He's crazy for enrolling here."

The students started talking about him like he wasn't there at all. Of course, it was bothersome, but it was a scene Max was already used to, so it didn't annoy him as much as before. All he could do now was pretend like he wasn't hearing a thing.

"And I thought what I am outside wouldn't matter here," Max mumbled to himself as he took his bag from Étienne's hand.

"Enjoy your first day, Master Leigh," Étienne said with a short bow before heading back to the car to drive Marcus to the other building.

Max took a deep breath and looked back at the students, immediately making them look away from him. He closed his eyes to try to relax. He didn't want to make a fool of himself on the first day, so everything had to be calculated perfectly. But as soon as Max placed his right foot on the first step that led to the Keep, a bunch of students suddenly ran past him, pushing Max out of the way.

The heir stumbled backward and fell to the ground, accidentally dropping his bag while his peaked cap got knocked off his head.

Students who witnessed what happened chuckled at him and didn't even try to help him out. Max cursed under his breath and stood up on his own. He brushed off the dirt on his white uniform and picked up his bag from the ground. 

He was about to grab his cap too when a yellow McLaren sports car suddenly rushed towards him and drove over it. If Max hadn't moved away quickly enough, he could have been hit.

"W-What the actual fuck?"

Max's eyes widened from shock as the car made a sudden stop just inches away from him. His heart was beating fast. He thought he was going to die right there. He wanted to be calm and collected, but his anger took over him, so without thinking, he headed to the passenger's window and aggressively banged his fist on the glass.

"Didn't you see that I was about to grab my cap? You almost fucking hit me, you asshole!" Max shouted in an obviously angry tone.

The students who were in the area wanted to know what the ruckus was about. But when they identified the car, they pretended like they didn't see anything and immediately walked away. No one dared to approach them at all. They knew who the owner of that car was, and they knew the smartest thing to do was turn a blind eye.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Max continued to shout.

The window pulled down, and Max directly looked at the man sitting in the driver's seat. To his surprise, the driver was a student who was wearing the same uniform as his brother. He was wearing jet black shades, and when he took them off, Max couldn't help but take a step back. Something about him felt ominous.

"Get your filthy hands off my window," the student snapped, shocking Max even more. He wanted to grab a rock and throw it at the window of the car, but he knew nothing good would come out of it if he started acting like a wild man now.

"My cap is underneath your tire. Move," Max said, but in a calmer voice this time.

The student raised his right eyebrow and stared down at Max. "You've got the guts to command me like that, white uniform."

"W-White..."

Max was left speechless, and it was mostly because the guy had called him a white uniform as a form of insult. 

He wanted to argue, but before he could even do or say anything about it, the student with the cocky attitude drove away as if nothing had happened. Max stood frozen in place. He had never experienced something so frustrating in his life, except for the time Marcus brought him to an amusement park that he rented for his 15th birthday.

"Did that just happen?" Max asked himself as he picked up his white peaked cap that now had a tire print on it. He took out his handkerchief and tried to wipe the dirt off, but it only caused it to smudge more. Max gave up without even trying further and decided to just shove his dirty cap and handkerchief inside his bag in defeat.

Max reminded himself that this was only his first day. There couldn't be anything more terrifying than what had just happened to him. 

But of course, he was wrong about that because when he finally arrived at the Keep, he was welcomed by dozens of loud students, all pushing and pulling each other like animals as they tried to catch a glimpse of the class lists that could be found on four large screens.

Max's mouth opened wide as he watched the chaos in front of him. For a second, he almost forgot this was a school filled with heirs.

"Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to J.S. High!" A familiar voice greeted through the speakers that surrounded the campus. Without anyone to point it out, Max recognized that it was President Ian.

The students stopped moving so they could cheer,  startling Max with how loud it was.

"Our house assembly will begin shortly. May we request that all students proceed to their respective rooms for the time being? Thank you," President Ian announced, and the students became even more chaotic.

Heirs tried to get through the crowd of students so they could reach the screens, while Max took a step back instead because of what had already happened to him earlier. He didn't want to get pushed to the ground again, so Max decided to just wait it out. Those students were going to find their names on the list and leave eventually. It was better to be late now than go through all the trouble of falling and getting stepped on.

"...need any help?" a voice suddenly asked while Max was waiting.

Max turned his head to the right to see a model-like Asian man with the same black uniform as his brother and the student who had driven the yellow McLaren. Max opened his mouth to answer him, but he stopped when he realized that everyone around him had become dead silent, and all of them were looking in his direction...or rather, looking at the man standing before him.

"That's a prince," someone said with a soft yet terrified tone. The term prince made Max confused for a second because he didn't know if it was figurative or literal.

"Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire. It is an honor to meet you," the man greeted with a flawless curtsy. His voice was also soothing, like he was singing you a lullaby. There was just something about him that felt sensual.

Max studied the man in front of him. Other than wearing the same black uniform as his brother, he noticed he was wearing a different brooch on his collar. There were two of them, too—a golden rose and a crown. It was different from his brother, who had a silver lock and a key. It was also apparent that this student wasn't ordinary, so Max looked straight into his eyes and said back, "It seems as though the honor is not mine."

The man whom they called a 'prince' smirked upon hearing what Max had to say. He was content with the response, so he let go of Max's shoulder and walked towards one of the screens.

Like Moses, everyone moved aside and gave him a clear path. When he reached the screen, he typed a name with his slender fingers, and Max's student information appeared. "As expected of a Sinclaire. You're in Class II-A. It's already an impressive title to be in an A-class, so I commend you for that."

Max didn't know what that was about, but everyone's terrified gaze wasn't helping the situation at all.

Who was that man?

"So, how has your first day been going, Sinclaire? How does it feel to be no one when the world outside revolves around you?" the man asked with a coy smile. He wanted a reaction from Max, but Max was smart enough to ignore the bait rather than be provoked by it.

"Even if I answered your question, I don't expect you to understand it," Max said back, and the shock on everyone's faces could be seen from a mile away. It was like he had just publicly committed a crime, and everyone was ready to condemn him.

The man grinned, and without any warning, he touched Max's chin and tilted it upward so Max could look straight at him. He could have chosen to do something else, but he decided to take the risk and touch Max like that.

One of the things Max hated the most was when people touched him. It was one thing when they touched his shoulder, but it was another when they touched his face. At this point, Max didn't care if he was an actual son of a king or not.

"Let go of me," Max commanded, but the man didn't say anything and leaned close to his face until he was only a few inches away.

Max got ready to push the living hell out of that man, but before he could do anything that he'd regret in the future, someone arrived at the scene and pushed the man away from Max first. 

Students gasped.

That someone was none other than Max's brother, Marcus Thompson.

"How dare you touch him with such filthy hands?" Marcus said in such a serious tone that even Max was surprised by it. The students who were now surrounding them couldn't even move anymore. They had already looked scared when they saw this other guy, but now that Marcus had gotten involved, they looked even more terrified.

Unfortunately, the man who was face-to-face with Marcus didn't even look fazed as he showed him his hand. "Don't worry, Marcus. I'm wearing gloves."

Marcus pushed the man's hand away from his face in anger. "Don't even try to act funny. Don't you know who he is?" Marcus asked, and the Asian man chuckled like Marcus had just asked him what 1+1 was.

"Oh, I know. I know him very well," he answered before looking back at Max. "But I don't want to get into a fight with the third strongest brotherhood on the first day. Isn't that right, Sinclaire?" he asked, but the confusion on Max's face made him pause for a second.

"Wait, no way," the prince tried suppressing a smile. But after processing the newfound information, he couldn't help but laugh hysterically. 

Everyone who was there just watched in silence as the man's laughter echoed around the halls of the building. "Holy shit, he doesn't know a goddamn thing," he said in between his growing laughter.

"You fucking shut up," Marcus demanded, but the man ignored him and turned his back away from Marcus.

Max was confused about the entire situation, but before he could even ask anyone to make it clearer for him, the man in front of him stopped laughing. With an excited smile, he continued, "I'm sorry for the late introduction. I am Ren Adachi, a member of Pretty Duo under the Prince Brotherhood PHD. Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire, I welcome you...to the House of Kings."