Heidith narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dylan, taking out his sword from his scabbard, pointing it at him, saying, "Let's begin."
Zadhea, lemme expose you today...
They were currently at the empty park next to the academy. As for the reason for the existence of such a place, it was unknown. Many people said that the park belonged to a duke and he once held hopes to turn it into a children's park but since his only son's death, everything went wrong and the park became a lonely place. Some people even believed that his son was still there, walking around with toys. Because of that, they feared to go there.
Zadhea shivered a little when she heard Heidith. She wasn't ready to fight with him. Not yet.
What should I do?
It's not the right time yet...
At this moment, Lucas appeared out of nowhere, pushing her aside as he stood face-to-face with the prince, giving him a fierce look. "I know the person you like is Zadhea. Not Evelyn," He said. "Same goes for me too. I love Zadhea. So let's fight instead and decide who's going to own her."
Zadhea's mouth twitched at his words. She felt like smashing his head for telling such bullshit.
I know Lucas was joking when he said he liked me. She shook her head with a sigh. I'm used to his flirting. But he shouldn't have said such a thing to provoke this guy! See, Heidith won't let him go that easily! Aaah, this is crazy!
Heidith wanted to say that she wasn't a property to own but when his eyes fell on her, he changed his mind. Yeah, she's indeed a property. In fact, she's MY property. So...
Fuck off Lucas!
"Okay, fine." Heidith nodded as he raised a brow with a smirk, expressing a challenging look.
"Come." He hooked a finger at him.
Lucas clenched the handle of his sword as he ran towards him and began attacking.
Heidith avoided his attacks and waited for the opportunities to counterattack.
Like that, they fought for hours until their shirts glued to their bodies, drenched in sweat.
While handling his sword, using one hand, Heidith removed his shirt in a quick motion, uncovering his upper body.
When Lucas saw that, he did the same.
Zadhea, who was sitting on the ground, hugging her knees, raised her eyebrows at that eye-catching scene. Her eyes couldn't help comparing two men's bodies.
Although Lucas has a god like face, his body isn't muscular enough. His muscles don't look that strong and he kinda has a feminine looking body. Not entirely. Kinda... More like the figure of a Popstar... Maybe...
As for Heidith... As expected from a male lead of a romance novel, his muscles scream masculinity. The most impressive fact is unlike most of the actors, he doesn't wear fake muscles kit. That's such a shame that he can't enter the entertainment industry in our world. If he could, he would be the most handsome actor within a short time. Even if he couldn't act, people would still watch his movies just to get a glimpse of his handsome figure.
Tsk, tsk...
The fight went on until the blue hour which lasted half an hour before the sunrise.
Zadhea knew morning would arrive soon when she looked up at the sky.
Rising to her feet, she almost tripped because her feet were a little numb since she sat on the ground for hours.
"Lucas," She called out. "Didn't you say you have to meet your father this morning? Stop this thing and go there soon."
When Heidith heard it, he stopped his actions. Taking advantage of it, Lucas aimed his sword at his neck as he laughed evilly. "Ha ha, I won! See, I won! Zadhea is mine now!"
"Lucas!" Zadhea gritted her teeth. "It's cheating!"
"There were no rules to begin with, honey." He blinked at her before putting back his sword in his scabbard as he rubbed his ring, addressing his dragon.
Sherrie flew towards them as she landed on the ground, letting Lucas sit on her back. When he did, she swung her wings and flew away.
"That guy is hella crazy. Don't mind him," Zadhea turned to Heidith as she said, only to wide her eyes and exclaim, "Gosh! Heidith!!!"
He was lying on the ground, unconscious.
Zadhea rushed to his side and squatted near him as she checked for injuries, specially his neck while shaking his shoulders and slapping his cheeks. "Hey, wake up! Did Lucas do something to you? Tell me!"
"No." Heidith half opened his eyes, mumbling weakly, "M-my stomach..." Then he passed out again.
"Your stomach?" Zadhea frowned. When she realized what was wrong, she covered her forehead using her palm. "That chicken curry! Damn! Zadhea, what kind of an idiot are you?"
She hesitated for a moment before putting him on her back as she walked towards the entrance of the academy.
"What happened?" The security guard asked when he saw this scene.
"He's ill." Zadhea, dressed as Dylan, said while panting.
Although Heidith looked thin, he was so heavy!
Maybe his bones were the case...
The officer didn't ask anything further as he quickly let them in.
When Zadhea arrived at the boys' hostel, she didn't stop asking for help as she continued carrying Heidith to his room.
Some boys whispered among themselves when they saw a pretty boy carrying the vise president to his room.
"Who's that? I haven't seen him before," Someone said. "And what happened to the vise president?"
"Most important question is... What their relationship is. I smell gay vibes," Another one chimed in.
"Don't even think about such forbidden things," His friend warned. "It's a sin to like someone from the same gender."
"I know. But they look cute together. What a pity!"
When Zadhea went inside, she quickly threw Heidith on his bed as she exhaled loudly.
When Heidith was thrown onto his bed, the old bed made a loud noise like it was about to break within the next second.
"What a bed!" Zadhea murmured.
She didn't spend time for resting as she began searching the room for some medicine since she heard from Evelyn that he had herbs and stuff like that with him almost all the time.
When she found a box under the table, labelled as 'For emergency', she opened it to take a look only to find the things she wanted.
There were herbs, oils, and some weird looking powders. Every one of them with a small note that described the illness.
She didn't have to check for too long as she found medicine for stomachaches too. She read the note carefully for the confirmation before preparing the medicine for him.
Zadhea prepared a bowl of porridge and added herbs to it before sitting on the edge of the bed, holding the bowl using one hand. She shook Heidith using the other hand, trying to wake him up.
"Hey, I prepared some medicine for you. Hurry up and eat it."
Heidith opened his eyes with difficulty. Turning his back towards her, he mumbled, "No, go away."
Zadhea's hand itched to slap his butt and she did exactly that.
Heidith: "..."
He turned towards her with his eyes widened. "Wait, did you slap me?" His face flushed like a beetroot maybe because of anger or embarrassment or both.
Zadhea moved the spoon filled with porridge towards his mouth. "Eat," She urged. "You'll recover soon."
"I don't know you." Heidith looked at her coldly. "What if you are poisoning me?"
Zadhea could only sigh in her heart.
"I'm Dylan. Think of me as a friend."
"Nope. I can't." Heidith muttered straightforwardly.
"Then as an acquaintance?" Zadhea was at the verge of losing her patience.
"No!"
"Then how about as a brother?"
Heidith gave her a deep look. "Are you dumb?"
When she heard him, she almost wanted to slam the bowl on his dog head.
"Then what do you want me to do?" She asked as her face turned red in anger. If he wasn't sick, she might stick out her tongue at him and go away.
She thought of taking care of him out of kindness, okay?
How could he act arrogantly?
Just how???
"Be my servant," Heidith commanded. "I can pay for the service."
"I don't need any paym..." She swallowed her words and nodded. Just whatever. "Okay. I'll be your servant."
Maybe that was for the better. That way, if he was gay, he would have to restrain himself from taking advantage of her since she was just a servant and it would be a humiliation if others found out.
"Good. Feed me." He opened his mouth.
"Aye, sire."
"Nope, call me master."
"Yes, master." She bit her tongue.
When she was finally done feeding the porridge, she heard him say, "Prepare some warm water for me to take a bath."
Zadhea quickly washed the bowl and put it away before nodding. "Right away, master." Be patient, girl. It's not that hard to do.
She poured some water into the bathtub after boiling them in a giant pot. Fortunately, there were enough water and she didn't have to go out to fill water from the well.
Usually, most of the students carried servants with them especially because of that bathing problem. Queen Margaret also sent her a maid to do that task.
Since students only had a single room to live in, they had to share it with their servants since the school didn't give any rooms for the servants. Because of that, many servants had to go back and forth to the academy because most of the students didn't like to share their rooms with them.
Zadhea was the same.
She needed her privacy!
Their parents had to pay extra for the servants for the inconvenience which she didn't really think of as a problem. Her parents were wealthy royalties, okay? Plus, others might spread rumours if she, a royal princess, were to go to the well to fill the pots.
As for poor students, they did it by themselves. Seemed like although Heidith wasn't poor, he did the same since he didn't care about rumours.
Zadhea knew as a lady, she had to follow some unspoken rules eventhough she liked it or not. She understood that she shouldn't bring shame to her country.
When the water was ready, she called out to 'Her master'.
Zadhea heaved a sigh as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. She was already feeling exhausted. Aaah, I can understand how tough it is to be a servant. She was determined to treat her maid even better in the future.
She closed her eyes to take a short nap since she couldn't sleep the whole night the other day. However, she couldn't rest for long as she jolted awake when she heard Heidith yell, "Too hot! Are you gonna kill me?"
She slapped her forehead and ran towards the door before yelling back, "I'm sorry, master."
"Come inside." She heard him say again, this time his voice much calmer.
Zadhea thought she heard it wrong. "Wh-what did you say, master?"
"I won't repeat myself. Come here and correct the temperature."
Zadhea became speechless.
Is he a kid or something? She thought frustratingly. He can't even do such a small thing himself?!
---------
Lucas tapped on his father's office door before stepping inside. There, he saw him busy with something. Silently, he took the seat before his father's and observed the documents on his desk. He saw various letters, that were from the king and other nobles, especially duke Justin and some officials.
Fifteen minutes later, duke Ferdinand closed the document and put it away. Intertwining his ten fingers together, he paid his entire attention to his son.
"Luke, can I ask you a question?"
"Ask anything you want, father," Lucas answered respectfully.
"Do you know the real reason behind King Edwin's decision to the secret marriage contract with us?"
His question made Lucas think for a bit before replying, "Because of my capabilities? I'm the youngest, most talented swordsman in Edwina. Who else is capable of taking princess Zadhea's hand if it's not me?"
"I'm glad you believe in yourself so much." Duke Ferdinand smiled proudly. "But, son, it's not the only reason. There's a bigger reason behind it."
"What is it?" Lucas clenched his hands, appearing a little nervous.
Instead of answering his question, duke Ferdinand asked back, "Will you believe me if I tell you... You aren't my son?"
There was a moment of silence between them before Lucas exclaimed in disbelief, "No way! I can't believe it! No way! We both have silver hair and yellow eyes. Are you teasing me, father? Or are you drunk or sick?"
"I'm perfectly fine." Duke Ferdinand smiled even wider.
"Then why are you telling me such..." Bullshit? "Things that are quite unbelievable?" Lucas felt anxious. He loved and respected his father. He didn't want another family. He loved being the future heir of Ferdinand dukedom.
If he wasn't his son, who would be the next heir?
He felt frustrated at that thought.
"Yeah, we do have similar features. It's because..." Duke Ferdinand deliberately paused his sentence to increase his curiosity.
"It's because?" Lucas bit his cheeks. He always did that whenever he felt depressed.
"I'm your uncle. Your mother is my twin sister. We both got yellow eyes and silver hair from our mother. That means your grandma."
"Why are you telling me this now?" Lucas brushed his hands through his silver hair, making it messy.
Duke Ferdinand rose from his seat, handing over a golden envelope to Lucas.
"It's time to take the throne."