A DRAGON'S JEWEL: the Ancient Mage and the dark arts

Chapter 12: The Troublesome Prince

"HAAAA!???" Alythia interrupted him, her face utterly discomposed.

"Kai and I... we're not... it's not... not yet anyway..." she said while glancing to the side with her head down, desperately trying to hide her blush.

Blake stared at her for a long time with a stupefied expression plastered all over his face.

"Pinky" he finally began, his eyes narrowing "Tell me, be honest now, are you some special kind of an idiot?"

Alythia's eyes stretched wide at his barefaced comment.

'This serpent!! Where does he even get off??? Between the two of us, isn't he the bigger idiot by far???'

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Ah I think the current situation calls for an interjection of some kind.

You see dear reader, the reason our lady dislikes this boy so much is the result of a series of unfortunate events.

Blake isn't really the type of person to think things through, and like most boys he has quite the adventurous streak. He is also very companion-oriented and thus finds little pleasure in doing anything alone – no matter how fun or heroic the act might seem.

For these reasons, poor little Alythia – as equally spontaneous and easily convinced as she's always been – has so very often had to be the unwilling ally of our Basilisk's schemes.

However, they make an absolutely horrendous team – which is unfortunate for both of them but most of all for Alythia since Karlyle always seems to be stuck cleaning up their messes in the end.

The little snake would scurry on home, leaving our pink-haired damsel to listen to hours upon hours of a furious Dragon's lecture all by her lonesome self.

So it's not at all surprising that the girl had developed somewhat of a distaste towards the Prince because of how often he had abandoned her in the past.

Though, let the reader not misunderstand me.

There is some affection for the black-haired boy edged within her heart as well, but it is the kind of affection that prefers to remain hidden.

The type of fondness one would feel towards an annoyingly arrogant older brother – though he continually rats you out to your parents you would still never wish for anything truly harmful to overtake him.

Or another way of looking at it is perhaps the affection a dog might feel towards a cat he grew up with. The dog would never hurt the cat – perhaps would even protect her against another dog – but he would never admit to his fondness for her, especially not in earshot of any other dogs.

Such was the affection both Alythia and the Prince held for one another.

But now enough of that – let us return to where we left off....

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"So listen" the prince continued, completely ignoring the girl's state of shock "I need your help with something. Accompany me to the garden ALONE after the entrance ceremony – make sure Kyle isn't around or he'll get in the way"

Alythia eyed him suspiciously before firmly rejecting his request. "You know Kai doesn't like it when you involve me in your schemes"

"Oh? I didn't know you were so obedient. Tell me, do you always do everything Kyle says? Shouldn't you start calling him 'daddy' then?" he said in a condescending tone.