'I should've stayed dead when I had the chance.' Acton thought with a deadpan expression, watching as the villainess and heroine tried to make each other open the giant doors first. The heroine gave in, opening the door with tense shoulders and pushing Acton in, unexpected to him. He stumbled into the room, glaring at Emily for her childish action and recognizing the people in the room.
"Young master?" Acton sent a surprised look at Alex, seeing as Cade and him were probably discussing with the others about his lack of information of the attack. "Ah... Hello." He spoke meekly, watching as Emily seemed to grow more confidence and reintroduced herself and why she was there. "Name is Emily Miller! I came here with my friends!" She grinned, pointing her thumb at her chest and then at Acton and Shappire.
"Are they trying to become council members too I assume?" A male with dazzling dark grayish blue eyes questioned, turning his head to the side, someone with a similar appearance next to him. "Greetings to your royal highnesses, princes of Draria, Zane Zachery and Milton Zachery. My name is Shappire Blake daughter of the Duke and I wish to also join the council member as well, your highnesses." Acton and Emily eyes widen for different reasons, Emily's realizing the person she talked informally was the first prince and Acton freaked out by Shappire's sudden politeness.
Acton only known her for a day but he felt like he's known her for years by the way she acted with him. He deemed her as pretty blunt and strong headed through their small interactions and seeing her bow down and act all obedient was slightly off putting.
'Her reactions are bland and stiff. Almost like a doll...' If she never showed Acton her lovestruck side he would've thought she was a true villainess who felt no emotion towards anything expect hatred and jealousy.
Now that he thought of this whole interaction, why was there a need to have council members in an college? Was this game so desperate to fit in any cliche they could find and make it a otome game? And what was up with it becoming popular? There was nothing other to offer but cliche storylines?
It's just another reason for Acton to dislike this otome game and calls it bland. He was still bitter he became apart of this game and is now his new life. He couldn't understand why he just didn't transmigrate into a body half across the world who had no involvement to the story. Why couldn't he just have been someone not in the plot and unknowing of what world he came into?
"Acton Addington correct?" He snapped out of his daze with a startle, hearing his name being used. Locking eye contact with one of the crown prince candidates he noticed how gentle his eyes seemed to be. Though he shivered as he looked deeper, noticing the calculating and slyness in them too. It was at that instant he knew he was being watched, observed, just like a prey where the predator was trying to find it's weakness and perfect chance to attack. It was only for a second as they stared at each other, Acton giving in and looking away.
Acton nodded reluctantly, stealing a few glances at his appearance. He noted how shiny his blond hair was, being at a softer tone than the 2nd prince hair color if he remembered correctly but it didn't make his appearance any less breathtaking. His features were gentle yet sharp like the rest, being an overall highly attractive being. He was 20 years old.
'That's a capture target for you...' Acton thought slightly amazed.
Though his quietness and lack of eye contact almost made the prince think he was nervous being in his presence. Zane remember the short observation of Cade and Alex had on the new noble. 'He seems to have a unique charm to him.' The prince chuckled at the small description of Acton, eyes glistening with curiosity as he saw the boy in question have his head hanging low meekly.
'How cute. Just like a bunny.' Though he did understand now what Cade and Alex were saying about his strange presence, seeing as just being around him made the room lighter for reason. No doubt the others noticed the change too, seeing the glances they shared with each other.
"Stop biting your lips that's a bad habit and it's going to hurt you." Alex scolded towards Acton, making the boy slightly flinch at being called out. "Oh... Sorry I didn't notice I was doing that." He apologized making the butler scold him again for saying sorry towards a servant.
After awhile of being interviewed personally by the head council member, the first prince, they surprisingly got in pretty easily. Well not really considering how stupid this world was and bended itself for the main characters.
"Wow that was easy!" Emily voiced out Acton thoughts, making the boy chuckle softly. "It's because of your bravery that you showed during the attack." A quiet but smooth voice spoke, Acton noticing he was the second prince. The prince noticed the stare, realizing he hasn't introduced himself yet.
"My name is Milton Zachery, second Prince of Draria. And my brother over there is Zane Zachery, first prince of Draria. Welcome to the council member organization." The prince with golden hair said politely with a stiff face, his eyes color similar to his hair. The country's name, Draria, reminded Acton that he should probably learn a bit more about his country just in case.
He noticed his hair was more wavy and a tad longer than his older brother who was a few days older than him. It parted in on right side, having similar hairstyles at the end. His facial features were similar to his older brother's too, the only difference being he had a beauty mark under his left eye. He was also 20 years old.
They had looked like twins but in reality they were half brothers.
The current Queen was the mother of the first prince while the second prince was the kid of a consort. The Queen and King were not in love, it was an arranged marriage placed upon them. The second prince's mother however had been in a relationship with the king, yet she was sick and unfit to take the role as Queen. That had led to arranged marriage.
Five years after giving birth to the second prince, the favored consort had died. Her body had weakened when giving birth and was practically a miracle she was capable of surviving that long. Milton was incapable of actually knowing his mother because of her illness that plagued her, only having small interactions with her.
The first prince mother did not care about the first prince. She did not have a say in giving birth to him, she was required to have him. She had been forced into a loveless marriage without a say. She could not look at the thing she was forced to create no matter what, being a distant and cold mother towards Zane.
The King himself was heartbroken over the lost of his lover, blaming Milton for her death even though it was his consort wish to have a baby. The king despised the Queen himself, wanting nothing to do with her. He did not like Zane one bit either.
Therefore these two princes had never been loved correctly. After Milton's mother death, he was moved into the area the king pushed the Queen and first prince away. There the half brothers met and spent their time together all time, being known as the brothers who will soon rule together over Draria in the future.
They both were light magic wielders but used their elements differently. Milton would be the one to strategize and defend while Zane was to follow through and attack. They could often switch when it came to defense and attacking but the two were best at their first strengths. Milton was basically the brains while Zane was the brawns. Though it didn't mean Milton was weak and Zane was stupid.
Acton could only nod turning towards the next person to be introduced which was the was protector of the two princes. He was also known as the son of general, captain of Fallengarde, the strongest army force that hundreds of men dream to join one day. He would soon take over his father's job. "Name's Olin Vann. Nice to meet you shorty." He reached for Acton hand who unknowingly allowed it, feeling the peck he put on the back of his hand.
Olin eyes widened for a split second at the strange sensation that shoot through his body, believing that if he held any longer the sensation would overwhelm him. It wasn't a terrible feeling at all, maybe even addictive if Olin got use to Acton's presence. Although he felt it before he touched him, he thought he was imagining the strange sense of comfort.
'How strange.' Olin thought as he watched in amusement of the shorter male's reaction.
It took Acton a bit to realize what happen till he scowled, slapping Olin's hand away. "You know I'm a male right?" Acton was defensive simply because this character was a playboy. Olin only had a smug smile on his lips as his amber eyes glowed with amusement.
"Was making sure you were one shorty. Still your hands are rather feminine, just as soft as a female too. You must have never held a sword before in your life. Might have to check down there to make sure." He explained, winking at the end.
The only look Acton could generate was a look of annoyance and disgust. Another male came by, slapping the male's head and earning a ouch from him. "Stop antagonizing him Olin. Pardon his behavior, he's usually like this whether your a female or male but don't worry, he doesn't swing that way. My name is Landon Vale." Another voice explained blandly. Acton could tell that this was the most he'll hear him talk in awhile, as in the otome game he wasn't exactly a talkative character. He wasn't as bad the future duke though.
Acton noticed the hand offer towards him by Landon, grabbing it reluctantly and shaking it. 'They are soft.' Landon noted, slightly suspicious of the boy as he also felt the comfort radiating off the boy and touch. He believed it was just his character that bought that feeling, something maternal like a mother or doting person. Though his appearance was delicate there were indications he was obviously not a female, he was just short and skinny.
Acton quickly glazed over their appearances, noticing the amber eyes staring back at him with amusement. Olin's hair was slightly wavy, being a dark brown color. Unlike the rest of the characters, he was only one who didn't have pale skin. His mother was from a ruined country where it was normal to have tanned skin so he basically inherited her traits. He was 20 years old.
Olin's mother was a noble's daughter who's father was conspiring against Draria and ended up dead by Olin's father hands right in-front of her. His father found her to be a beauty and forcefully married her. Olin was 8 years old when he witness his mother kill herself.
At first Acton was of course sad for Olin's tragic backstory but he felt slightly unnerved knowing he didn't actually care about his mother dying in front of him. Olin could not understand why he should care that his mother died, much less died in front of him.
His unbothered reaction towards death was caused by the constant exposure of war. Olin's father started to take him with him when he went to war at the age of 5. Even if it wasn't a mini war, he made sure his son witness something gruesome.
Olin was one of the strongest earth users in the country, using his sword and element to cause ultimate destruction. His control over his element was strong, often capable of creating hundreds of walls or creating giant cracks in the ground from a simple movement.
Acton's element was like a weaker version of earth element, only capable of controlling living plants. But earth users could not do what plant users do, more like they could control the dirt, stones, manipulating earth's resources while plant users created plants.
Acton briefly glanced Landon, noticing his pure white strands of hair and the circle frames that was in front of his light gray eyes that had specks of light blue in them. He took in his sophisticated appearance, his hair straight but short. He had a overall neat appearance that was also breathtaking. He was 20 years old.
Landon was born into a promising noble family where it was natural for prodigies to come out. Landon was obviously one of them, often finding him in the library even if he had read the books a million times. He was one of the rare magic wielders who had inherited a bloodline magic, ice magic that was thought to be lost forever.
Because of his unique ability it was normal for him to go through hell. His parents were never happy with what he gave them and often pushed him further and further. They were willing to inflict psychical and mental harm towards their own children for the hopes of his ability and knowledge to improve. They broke him and rebuilt him up to repeat the process for the sake of improvement. Breaking. Rebuilding. Breaking. Rebuilding. It was a vicious and continuous cycle that he could not break out.
Acton shook his head slightly to snap himself out his thoughts, turning towards the villainess sibling. "Dale Blake." His brief introduction made Acton laugh out of awkwardness. His features and colors were the exact same as his sister, just being a male version of her. He was 19 years old.
Dale had a similar background like Landon, having more of an overbearing father figure who demanded him to be strong. His father has made his son into a robot, someone who didn't flinch at the sight of blood, dead bodies, nor him being hit himself. His mother hated Dale with a strong passion because of his similar appearance of his dad, often abusive towards him in his early childhood.
At age 10 when his father found out his only heir was being abused, he was forced to watch his mother get beaten by his dad. She died that day from blood loss and the only thing she mutter with her faded eyes were insults and curses towards her only son.
Shappire was obviously not informed of the event, thinking that their mother died from a accident rather than murder. She also didn't know her mother well, as her mother was rather distant but not as abusive as she was to Dale towards her. Shappire was naive to the fact that having her parents attention wasn't actually great.
The reason their father was mainly focused on Dale was because how powerful he was as a water user. He could control a whole pond at age 10, no doubt could he control a ocean with a snap of his finger now.
The last person Acton turned to made him slightly dread his introduction. "My name is Elton Yarnell! Nice to meet you!" Acton slowly nodded, observing the taller male as he was smiling. He scanned and looked at his teal eyes and how his pink hair was slightly messy. Even how his smile seem to be slightly strained and how his eyes pried through him. He is also 19 years old.
The strongest magician in the country at the moment was standing in front of him.
Magicians did not have the ability to control any elements but they could do things that were considered magical. Magicians could point at someone and make them float, make spells, do anything to brainwashing to tracking someone down. They were rather powerful but only some magicians were truly capable of using their gifts.
Elton control over his strong magic power was weak as a child and resulted in killing his own parents by accident at 6 years. The only reason his magic was running wild was because of his parents constant fighting, at that moment their fight turning rather violent. He did not mean to kill them but he was rather relieved that he could finally hear the silence.
That is one of the reasons why there are not many magicians now. They either kill themselves, got killed, or never have enough control to do one basic spell. And just like with dark magic, it can strain their mental state. It was honestly better to be a plant user than magic user. At least that's what Acton believed.
But the only reason why Acton was slightly guarded was because of male before him. While he was usually quite innocent and cute for his routes, his bad ones were typically not so great. He was the one who locked the heroine up. Of course the other characters bad routes were just as bad but Acton just didn't like the thought of the cheerful and free Emily being locked up away from society.
He knew all the capture targets were fucked up, almost forgetting Wyatt was like that too. He was carried away by his teasing and playful remarks during his class time he actually forgot he was a capture target.
Wyatt had electric magic, just like Landon it was bloodline trait and was also rare. Only two current people having electric magic, the other being the principal of the school they were in now.
His parents were corrupted and wished to control him because the dad was unable to inherit the ability. He was rather smart as a kid and his grandpa knew it so he offered a deal. He would let him live and pass Wyatt as the heir of the family, letting him take over his job but in return he had to kill his parents. If not he would die with them.
The choice he was going to make was obvious.
Those tattoos he had on his arms showed what powers he wields. Only the people granted with electric magic had it across their arms and torso. Just like his eyes that turn almost all yellow from the usage of his element, his tattoos would turn to a dim color of yellow.
It was obvious that all of them experienced crap but Acton had to actually interact with them to realize these capture targets actually gone through these traumatic events.
Acton now finally understood that even if they were now real people to him these male leads are nowhere near normal. Something he tried to avoid thinking.
And that's when it completely settled in.
These people are dangerous.
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A/N: Barley did any editing on this chap