Episode 54. Prince in the Cage pt.8

Point of View: Earl Stevent Xander

I was dragged into that damn teacher's sandstorm magic.

I should have realized he couldn't possibly help with this. Coercion was definitely the thing he will do.

And sadly, right now, I can't see anything than the damn sand around me.

'How strange, why this sand did not hurt my eyes?' I said while trying to take off my glasses.

There is no pain when I take it off. Had that teacher anticipated it?

"In that case, this should neutralize it!" I said while taking out a water shield that protect me from the sand around me.

Where should I walk?

I continued forward without knowing the direction. If only he had come up with an easier way to help me, this probably wouldn't have happened.

THUD!

I hit someone. Luckily I didn't fall and hit that person.

When I see it, the person in front of me right now is none other than the person who suddenly won the war of love, Dahlia.

"Dahlia?" I said while looking at her who was confused.

"Oh Stevent, huh?" Dahlia looked at me with her typical welding gaze.

Accidentally, I feel a sweat when standing close to her. I remember she stabbed me in the back of the neck. But when? It's hard to remember.

"Y-you... also separated?" I asked about her condition.

"Are you blind?!" She looked at me uncomfortably but she quickly returned to her normal position as soon as possible. "Apparently, Ras- I mean Mr. Rasyid really wants us all to get along with people that we still think of as strangers, huh?"

She seemed to have gotten very close to the teacher. Even in just a few days, their relationship went too fast. I hope they both don't overdo it.

"Why is he so insistent?!" I stared intently at the blank sandstorm.

"Maybe it has something to do with his past?" (Dahlia)

"Past?" (I)

"Not having happy times…" (Dahlia)

"Well, in that case, I experienced it too...!"

Dahlia was silent without saying anything after that.

If his past experience is not good, everyone has experienced them. In fact, I think I'm the one suffering the most right now.

What does the teacher really know about suffering? He is rich, he is strong, and he is popular. Such a person could not possibly know the meaning of pain.

"Stevent, it's best if we start moving. If this is according to what Rasyi-, I mean Mr. Rasyid said, then we have to fight together with people we don't really know well, right?" Dahlia began to look ahead.

"Okay, if that's what the teacher wants..." My eyes tried to see what she saw.

"Oh yeah... You don't need to correct your call for calling that teacher's name. Just call Rasyid... Everyone in this school already knows about your relationship!" I looked at her with disdain.

She didn't answer me, probably out of shame. Her face was already very red just by hearing that.

Without listening to me any further, Dahlia started walking towards the direction she believed.

I who was used to being an NPC just followed her without asking more questions.

'Wait?! If I follow people without questioning it, aren't I have no different from a fool?' I realized it.

I'm sure that damn teacher will laugh at me if I hide behind a girl's back. After realizing that, I tried to run until I could walk beside her.

The water shield I had taken out came to protect her just as I walked beside her.

By the way, what element does this girl have? She looks calm and mysterious.

'calm means ice, and mysterious means darkness.' I hope my guess is right.

Sometimes Anitya doesn't suit the person's personality. The greatest example is that teacher.

I don't want to mention it, but sadly, I have to.

The water and earth elements in his Anitya always bother me. The element does not match his behavior. Even in logic, the original elements should be more to ice and electricity.

Note: For adults, Anitya's injection is done in their 20s. Just to remember, Anitya only existed in 2042 and was perfect in 2046.

The two of us continued walking side by side until something stopped us in our tracks.

"UWAHHHH!"

Someone was thrown at both of us.

"Dahlia watch out!" I caught Dahlia and jumped aside to avoid that bounced person.

THUD!

That person landed behind us. An ordinary-looking girl with loose black hair had been flung towards us. Her fan was stuck right in front of her face.

"So-Sophia?!" Dahlia let go of my grip and ran towards the girl.

"Ah...!" Dahlia groaned while holding her back which was used to land when landing.

"Are you okay?!" Dahlia tried to check the girl's condition.

But suddenly.

CRACK!!

A smacking sound was heard.

Sophia brushed off Dahlia's hand away who tried to help.

She seemed to be carried away by her feelings. The feeling they used to call love. It seemed that the thing still hadn't been lost in her.

Dahlia's eyes widened in disbelief. "Why...?" She said softly.

Sophia tried to get up on her own. A sad look appeared on her face. she felt guilty because of her body reflex by itself earlier.

"Sorry..." Sophia groaned quietly.

Dahlia didn't seem to mind that earlier. She even replied with a warm smile typical of a calm girl.

"It's okay, emotions during the fight are normal. But don't get too carried away, okay?!" Dahlia also stood up and started to look towards the source where Sophia had been thrown.

Dahlia didn't notice Sophia's feelings.

So she doesn't know that Sophia is angry because her love hasn't been conveyed and Dahlia doesn't know that she's the one who stole it.

"W-what is that?!" I looked in the same direction.

"Rasyid?!" Dahlia quickly came to her senses.

A knight-like creature in armor came towards us.

His body which was protected from armor made of earth magic and gave off a weak impression. But we know, this person that stand in front of us was the winner of last week's Teacher Test.

'Weak' word didn't suit him as well as we saw him like that.

Seeing that, I immediately stood in front of the two girls. I put my sword in front of my teacher.

As if remembering what happened yesterday, I remember how stupid I was for not being able to help Hakam yesterday during the attack.

---

Flashback

---

Back to the previous day.

"It's getting late, we should go home!" Hakam said that while staring at the setting sun.

"Yeah... I know. But before that, there's one more thing I want to tell you!" I said while touching the wall near me.

"What's that?" He who had been about to walk home now stopped and turned his body.

"How do you think, when you meet someone who always thinks he's right?" I looked down at the ground.

This question sounded out of the blue. But since Hakam started it, so I want to just take it out.

"I would definitely feel; he's not the person I should be talking to," Hakam said without any sense of lying.

"As expected, it must be. Back then... when my father was alive, he always felt that he was the most righteous. He just asks someone else to do this and that without seeing the consequences.

He even foolishly believed in a bogus app. Spending tens of millions just for something that is not clear.

My mother had reminded him many times, but all she got was insults and that humiliation by him. And when the mistake happened because of him, he threw it at us instead.

'I have lived longer than you! What do you know about this world?!' Those words always echoed in my mind whenever I recalled his name.

My status as a troublemaker child was always used as a scapegoat by him. All the blame was thrown at me..." I told it to my servant with a sad look.

No answer from him. He motioned for me to continue.

"Last month, he suddenly announced a political engagement between my brother and the royal princess Tyas.

My brother obviously turned it down because he was currently dating someone else.

Worse yet, our father was not aware that he was being tricked by the head of the Tyas family.

The person only has to promise financial assistance if he accepts the offer. Even though it was clear that it was all a lie.

Our father never wanted to learn from his mistake. His confidence as a wise man made him forget the meaning of life even further.

My father, displeased with my brother's answer, secretly threatened the person my brother was dating. He continued to give her a death threat from Cìkè Nǚwáng.

Until one day, my brother's girlfriend suddenly disappeared without a word...

My brother who heard it at first wanted to look for her, but our father stopped him and said.

"You'd better leave her, she was leaving you, it means that she doesn't love you at all!" His mouth easily deceived my brother.

My brother obviously didn't know about the death threat letter. But sadly, I know that. My existence at that time was still not very visible to them, and because of that, I could easily eavesdrop on what my father was doing.

My brother was silent as he clenched his fist tightly. He couldn't do anything about it, but luckily, his desire to look for her still hadn't dissipated.

On the same day after the departure of my brother who went to find his girlfriend...

A disastrous night came to my father.

In my father's office, a woman with long hair and clad in a robe that covered her entire body arrived right in front of that old man. The one who came was none other than Cìkè Nǚwáng. The man my father used as a scapegoat to get rid of my brother's girlfriend.

The soldiers tried to protect my father but were unlucky. They were even killed by her ferocity. They didn't even leave any piece of their last part of the body, and all that was left was my father's lifeless body.

When heard that, my brother who was on his way to find his girlfriend, immediately went home after hearing the news.

This incident forced my brother to become Xander's family head and forced him to have a wife immediately. That means he was forced to agree to his engagement with Princess Tyas.

At the funeral, I laughed a little in front of his tomb. I began to want to feel the so-called rebelliousness. The feeling of wanting to see people like him feel to suffer the worst of pain.

That's why, whenever I see someone like that, I always make fun of him. People who think they are always right are just trash who will destroy a thing."

I end my story here.

The silent Hakam just nodded his head. He seemed to have quite understood why I became such an annoying person.

"I understand your case, but I don't know how to answer it." Hakam closed his eyes while holding his forehead.

"It's fine if you don't answer. After all, it's just a story..." I smiled at him.

My laughter lit up the late afternoon. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

Not long after, about 4 tall, white, and muscular foreigners circled the two of us.

"Hakam!"

"Stevent!"

We stand opposite each other. Our backs touch each other.

In short, I can fight 2 of them. But unfortunately, the other 2 managed to catch Hakam and take him away.

When saw that, I immediately ran towards my car that just arrived.

"Follow the car!" I ordered my driver to hurry.

He understood the meaning of my nervousness and started chasing the car.

"What happened?!" Ask my driver.

"I don't know, suddenly we were attacked!" I don't know what should I say.

"Tch! Calm down young master, leave it to me! I'm the expert!" He was worried but kept his focus on the road.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the chase, our front car tire caught fire, and could not continue the chase.

When I wanted to run out of the car to continue the chase, a teacher came in their car and approached me with her friend. Short body, blonde hair, and twintails, there's no mistaking it, it's Miss Tasya.

Beside her, was a woman in a purple suit and brown hair braided and slung over her shoulders. She is Miss Erika

"Stevent! Are you chasing that car?!" Asked Tasya.

I nodded nervously. It is something strange to meet the teacher outside of class hours. I'm not too used to this situation.

"Let us take care of it! They are more than you think! There are many of them!" Miss Erika who was sitting beside her forbade me.

At that time, my eyes widened, and couldn't believe what was happening. But inside I realized I couldn't fight it.

---

Flashback end

---

Back to the current time.

I don't want this to happen again, but the thing I must remember... This is the lesson Mr. Rasyid gave to me. So for now, I have to follow what he wants.

"Sophia! Dahlia! Let's fight him together!" I looked at them with a serious face.

I don't want to be seen as a hero or anything. I hate people who are always right, so I can't be them.

Harmony is what you want, right?!

Mr. Rasyid Londerik!