Chapter 26

"Why didn't you come sooner!" A youth shouted at Alexis who was taken aback. His body was only barely smaller than hers and those familiar red eyes that she couldn't place anywhere unsettled her.

"What do you mean?" Her voice seemed to echo in the strange place she was in. It wasn't a room, but a space her brain had made for this dream.

The youth didn't hear her at all and continued to glare at her until his eyes glistened and his face dropped slowly to his fisted hands.

"Why didn't you come for me sooner!" Alexis felt like a wound had been cut open in her chest and warm liquid fell from her own eyes. Somehow the only words she could utter were.

"I'm sorry." And then the tears had opened her eyes and she stared at her ceiling with tears pouring down her face.

She realised she had spoken the words out loud and felt a strong urge to say it again.

"I'm sorry? Why am I sorry?" She stared around the room that held a dark blue tint, the sun should be dawning soon and yet she didn't run to see it like she usually might. Instead, she sat with a desolate gaze as she realised she had dreamt about the Emperor again.

It was happening frequently and in most they spoke, and he was always sad in them. He said words that would cause her to tear up, but she didn't expect to see him so young.

She stepped out of the room and on the balcony, staring down at the gardens, she spotted dwarfs rushing to fix things, like cuts in hedges, and smiled suddenly while shrugging off her anxious feelings.

——————-

"Why is this spell much more difficult than the last one?" Alexis groaned at the lilac head of hair that diligently worked through the exam sheets. He wasn't marking by ticking through, but with a spell, Alexis herself was being forced to write it down since it was a written spell. But, she couldn't make it work at all. It didn't matter how much she redid it.

And worst of all, it was a mathematic spell, meaning she had to write a formula and then dose it in mana. It was tiring and since she had repeated it so many times she felt a bit dizzy.

"I can't do it..." her head slumped on the desk and a hand soon patted it as if she were an attention starved dog.

"That's alright, its an advanced spell, but I thought It might be better than doing nothing if you gave it a try", he consoled her and continued working through sheets of papers placing marks on the individual sheets of subjects.

Alexis glanced to the doorway of the office space she was currently sharing with Agathus who was nowhere to be seen.

Agathus was currently by his highness who seemed to be discussing something about the ambassador visits from Arkala, a small country that seemed to feel threatened by the capture of the Eastern Empire.

"Since we've already prepared the magical contract which should be bought back by them signed, we shouldn't have too much to worry about", Joshua reassured Alastair who wanted to really avoid another war. Agathus stayed close by, marking through some of the finances.

"Agathus, what are your thoughts?" Asked Alastair, he valued the small mans opinion.

"I think what Sir Enflada says is true, there's not much to fret", a gloomy look washed over his face, "I can't wait for those two to get out of my office".

"Hm...?" Joshua hummed.

"Miss Alexis and Sir Mainstar are currently marking through some work". The words, 'In my office' was silently added.

"Work?" Joshua asked, preoccupied by a strange substance in an oddly shaped jar.

"Alexis proposed supporting some orphans to improve my public image" Alastair spoke, he felt a weird fluttering feeling in his stomach when he said her name. A blush, faint as one could be, spread across his face. He realised that the two must be alone and clicked his tongue as he glared at Agathus.

"Y-Your Highness?" He stammered at the cold glare that seemed to cut through him.

"Go by them. Don't leave them alone". A cold imperative voice made his little legs shake.

"Y-your highness! I came here to escape from them!" He cried.

"That's an order".

"But why?" The small green man calmed down and questioned the stiff-faced Emperor.

"Because I don't enjoy seeing them alone", His voice became low and something, a voice?, a lost thought? Told him that he shouldn't speak so openly about the strangeness of the feelings he felt.

"Your highness..." Agathus' voice became gravely as he realised that the lonely man, he loyally served, was becoming attached to the crazy girl. He frowned, a look of pity crossing his face, "don't get attached".

Alastair's head snapped towards the small green man and his eyes widened in realisation. He laughed at him.

"Don't be silly Agathus, when do I ever get attached", he scoffed, but despite his exterior he knew. It might've been a bit too late.

——————-

"So the grades are sorted by the subjects then?" Alexis beamed at Hector who gave a tired face in reply.

"Yes".

"Pass the magic one first", it was the easiest one to sort. Apparently there was an academy for gifted young magicians and naturally they would sponsor the orphans who went to study there. Three of them at that.

"Hans, Elios and shin, those are the ones with the top score. Why don't they have surnames?" She frowned.

'What if their was another Hans?'

"They get their names changed for instances like that".

"How awful..." she had already had her name changed from Alexis to Dirt (not officially) and it was infuriating.

"Let's sort of the scholarships to the academy first with Agathus and then focus on the other students".

Alexis dreaded this task, because it meant her doing tons of research and surveying, but thankfully for her, she would soon find out she wouldn't be doing that and her set of task would be very different than what she would've thought.