A change swept over the land and colored the bright green trees in a sea of colors from the most diverse red and yellow tones. Also the air had become all at once completely different. Colder and fresher.
With the change of seasons, the vacations also came to an end and everyone gradually returned to school for good and evil.
Y/N was looking forward to the time of returning to the regular school routine, even if she looked back a bit wistfully on the time she and Lesso had spent together on her estate.
A few days before arriving at the School for Good, Y/N received a carrier pigeon that Dovey had sent her. It said that they would soon be welcoming another teacher to their school, a young man who had agreed to support their school as best he could. What was he like?
Excited, she waited for the vacations to end so that she could take a closer look at the mysterious young man.
Despite the autumn weather, the sun shone in the hazy midday sky as the schools slowly but surely filled with life again.
"I guess I'll see you later, have fun!" hummed Y/N cheerfully as she bid farewell to Lesso with a gentle kiss on the cheek and disappeared behind the bright gates of the School for Good.
"Hello Miss Y/N! It's so good to see you again!"
A few voices filtered through to her, with a friendly smile she welcomed each and every one of her students back, her greeting this time a very different one from her first day at this school as a teacher. It triggered a comforting warm feeling inside her and filled her with the necessary euphoria and belief that this year would be unforgettable.
Y/N continued to walk through the large castle, which had been specially decorated for the day, when she noticed someone whose face she did not yet know. A young man stood in the middle of the room and seemed to look around searchingly. At first glance, he seemed a little lost, which is why Y/N approached him and looked at him curiously.
"Can I be of any assistance?"
At the sound of her voice, the man turned to face her, his hazel eyes beginning to glow a little at the sight of her. The young man in front of Y/N was quite tall and possessed a good and strong build, she would almost go so far as to say that there was some muscle under that fine robe. His eyes were clear and almost reminded one a bit of the creamiest chocolate and his black hair shimmered as much as liquid ink. A relieved smile flitted across his face and now that Y/N looked at him like this, there was no doubt about it: the young man in front of her was clearly quite a charming prince who managed to captivate every young lady. Well, almost every one.
"Thank the gods, I have finally found someone I can turn to. My name is Damian and with whom do I have the pleasure?"
If it wasn't clear before, it was now at the latest: This Damian was a Prince Charming through and through.
"Pleased to meet you, my name is Y/N and I can imagine how lost you can feel here when you just arrived." After all, she hadn't been at this school for all that long.
Damian let his gaze wander once over Y/N, the smile on his lips did not disappear for a second and so he gently took Y/N's hand and brought it to his lips to breathe a kiss on the back of her hand. "It is my great pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Y/N. Your help is invaluable to me, I fear I am lost in these vastly imposing hallways and could desperately use rescue."
Y/N had to smile a little, even if the whole situation made her a little uncomfortable when he kissed her hand. Nonetheless, she quickly shook those thoughts aside and gestured for her counterpart to follow him. "But of course, come with me I can show you the way. I assume it's your rooms you're looking for?" she inquired, while she already started moving to lead the young man to the dormitories.
Getting there was quite a pleasant conversation, she found.
"If you'll allow me to ask. What is a pretty young lady like you doing at a school like this? I had assumed someone like you would..." Of course, Y/N already knew how this question would end. "Would be sitting happily married in a warm castle somewhere with my husband, enjoying the rest of my days?" she finished his question.
The look on Damian's face told her that she had probably hit the mark completely. "Please forgive me, it was not meant to be mean in any way and I didn't mean to jump to conclusions." He seemed genuinely embarrassed. Something Y/N could only laugh softly at. "Oh, don't apologize. I'm already used to it, and by now I don't resent the whole thing. So you're forgiven." After the latest sentence, she smoothly had to grin a little mischievously.
"So, here we are. This should be your room. Mine is just a few hallways down, so if you need help with anything again, don't hesitate and feel free to let me know" she let the dark haired one know. The former thanked the young woman one more time for helping him along. "Then I'll see you later at dinner, esteemed Y/N."
And they did, because as soon as Y/N entered the already filled dining room, she already saw the friendly face of Damian sitting at the large dining table. She couldn't explain it, but she had the feeling as if this could yet become an excellent friendship between them.
"Good evening, pretty lady," he said, which made Y/N smile before she sat down with him. "Please, let's not stand on ceremony, I must confess I'm not too fond of such compliments." Especially not when they didn't come from her girlfriend Lesso.
Said girlfriend sat just a few seats away and looked over at the two of them. Ever since Y/N had graced the dining room with her presence, Lesso had tried to get her attention and looked over at her, but her looks were returned with nothing. Y/N had been fully fixated on this handsome preppy and on having a conversation with him.
Lesso couldn't explain it, but there was a feeling in her stomach that she hadn't experienced before. It was a negative feeling, that much was certain, and far from the beautiful exhilaration she had felt in recent days and weeks. The redhead felt like it was eating her up from the inside and not letting go.
But Y/N didn't notice any of this, she listened spellbound to the conversation with Damian, who told her about one of his great adventures, which he had already passed as a prince. He told her about a breathtaking landscape that he had never seen before, about a mighty waterfall, the lushest meadows and a splendor of various flowers. "It had been truly magical" was his comment and by the way his eyes began to shine Y/N knew his words were true.
"Wow, that's really quite impressive" she admitted, almost a little speechless as he told her he had already taken down one or two dark creatures. It suddenly seemed as if they were the only ones in the room and not still surrounded by the countless voices of the many students. "I have also fought monsters and forces of evil many times, but those stories are nowhere near as noteworthy as your deeds."
"But not so. From what I've heard, you are a woman who has already accomplished so much in her life. Many can only dream of doing what you have done. And I must confess, everything the stories tell about you are true, you are truly a formidable princess who deserves my utmost respect."
Icy blue eyes practically bored into the skin of the young man who had just complimented Y/N. Lesso's grip on her cutlery tightened and she really had to hold on to herself not to give in to her anger right away. "Get the hell away from her right now, she's my girl" Lesso muttered softly to herself.
Dovey, who was sitting right next to Lesso gave the other dean a quick look. "Good grief Lesso, what's the matter with you? You look in an even worse mood than usual today." A fatal mistake on Dovey's part, as she merely got an angry and warning look from Lesso, signaling that she should probably keep quiet. "It's nothing, just shut up" the redhead hissed softly. Not very convincing, Dovey thought, and so she wanted to get to the bottom of it more. "Come on, you can't tell me it's nothing. You-"
The dean didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Lesso stood up and jammed her pointed knife into the wooden table. "I told you to shut up!" The redhead had become so loud that her words still reverberated a little in the large hall. Everything had fallen silent all at once and all eyes were on Lady Lesso.
Even Y/N looked over at her girlfriend a little speechless and couldn't explain this bad mood, after all everything had been fine this morning.
"Enjoy your dinner" Lesso merely said, pure sarcasm in her voice and she rushed out of the room, her cane leaving loud sounds on the floor and she didn't disappear without giving Y/N one last look. A look that was as cool and distant as the young woman had seen in a while.
"Oh dear, that was almost to be expected. I'd have been surprised if the Nevers got through a day without making a big scene." Damian had looked after Lesso for a moment and simply shook his head in bewilderment. But this time Y/N was silent, and a feeling spread through her as if something was very wrong here. Lesso was always a bit moody now and then, Y/N was used to that by now, but this... this was something completely different. Lesso was angry and clearly so.
In the evening Y/N sat at the window of her room and looked out into the distance. A little wistfully her view fell on the Never castle. Actually, she had hoped that the other would come to her today, because she really wanted to talk to Lesso about what had happened in the dining room earlier. But with every hour that passed and the night progressed, Y/N lost more and more hope that Lesso would show up at her place.
"She's almost certainly just way too busy to come."
That's what she kept telling herself all the while, finally able to sink into sleep. The thing that remained for her was hope. Hope that tomorrow everything would be better again. But it should turn out differently.
The next day nothing was good again. Y/N hardly saw Lesso and if she did see her at dinner, she was so distant from Y/N that there was no chance to start a reasonable conversation with her. And the heavy feeling that lay in her chest since then became stronger with every day that Lesso and she became more and more estranged. One could almost think that the two were not in a relationship and hardly knew each other.
On the fifth day, when the dean and she had not exchanged a word, was the day when Y/N could not stand it anymore. The young woman timed the moment Lesso was about to leave the hall and hurried after her at a fast pace. "My love, please wait!" she called after her in the long hallway. No response.
"Lesso!"
And finally, the tall woman came to a stop and turned to Y/N. "What is it?" It wasn't just her gaze that had turned cooler. The way she spoke to Y/N now was also so very different from what she was used to.
"Please tell me what this is all about. I don't understand what's going on. Ever since we got back to school you've been avoiding me completely, you don't even look at me anymore, and when you do your eyes are so cold and empty I hardly recognize them." Y/N looked at her, desperately searching for the other's love, which all of a sudden seemed to be extinguished.
"I don't know, will you tell me? Or no, much better. Why don't you ask your new friend why I can't talk to you? He's literally glued to you, it's disgusting to have to witness that." There was scorn and derision in her voice and when the words reached Y/N's ear, she slowly but surely began to understand what exactly was going on here.
"Are you jealous of Damian?" asked Y/N incredulously, and instantly Lesso tensed a little. "I'm not-!" Her voice was loud and quivered with resentment, making even Y/N flinch a tiny bit. Lesso then lowered her voice a bit, but she still spoke with anger, "I'm not jealous, but if that's what you want to tell yourself to make yourself feel better, go ahead. Knock yourself out. I'm done here."
Lesso had turned to leave again, but in the meantime Y/N had also become somewhat angry. She wasn't going to let Lesso take it that easily. "Why do you always have to be so damn stubborn?! There I want to talk to you once and try to straighten everything out, but you make off right away to escape this situation." The young woman crossed her arms in front of her chest. She couldn't believe that Lesso didn't even try to do something to stop this little quarrel that was slowly but surely turning into a bigger and bigger one.
The dean had stopped again, her body trembling slightly for once, an attempt to suppress her anger. She merely turned her head in Y/N's direction and threw at her the words the other least wanted to hear.
"Then just don't. Stop always trying to fix everything. I never asked you to talk to me about it."
Her gaze fell on something, or rather someone, that had appeared behind Y/N. "Go back to your new acquaintance, it seems he is already eagerly waiting for you. I have more important things to attend to now, my work calls."
And then she was gone. Just like that, without another word. The lump in Y/N's throat grew larger by the minute, and only with great effort did she manage to suppress the tears that were welling up.
"Y/N, are you all right?"
Damian's voice filtered through to her from further back. She took one deep breath and turned back to him, with a put on and tortured smile she walked back to him. "Yeah, we're fine. Let's go back."
And while Y/N returned to the dining room, Lesso entrenched herself in her castle. The castle over which Rafal had cast a spell, when it had stood unprotected for so long. The spell feasted on the bad emotions of the Nevers and drew Lesso, overflowing with jealousy, further and further into its grip, from which she was no longer able to free herself.