Three Noble Sons

"So, the village was attacked and you're only now telling me." The king leaned back in his chair pinching the bridge of his nose.

Liam sipped his coffee before saying, "I'm afraid so. I was too caught up with helping the village rebuild and reorganize. Not only that but Frida held me hostage for a while as well."

"I see." The king took a moment to process everything. He knew this would only bring more paperwork for him to do. "At least we know your invention works…kinda."

"It's still a work in progress. The energy supply was destroyed in the fight so I have to create a new one. Hopefully, the next one will be able to withstand an attack like that." Liam said.

The king groaned as a headache started to build up. Liam, tired yet happy, sat back in his seat, taking a sip of his coffee. He then looked up at the king and said, "Need some help?"

"Please. I've been stuck here for days. I can't even distract myself now that my sweet little girl has left." The king placed his head down on his desk, looking miserable.

Liam chuckled at the king's misery. "You and Erik are both the same. Both of you fall apart once your precious daughters leave. I'm so glad I don't have kids."

The king gave Liam a dirty look. "I don't know how you haven't had a child yet. With how Frida is, I expected you to have multiple kids by now."

"I don't want to talk about it." Liam seemed to have a shiver run up his spine at the thought of what Frida had done to him.

Liam shook his head and said, "Anyways, let me help you with your paperwork. I have some time to spare."

…

Back at the Academy, Ian was eating his breakfast as he dried his hair off. Outside his window, students started walking around, going to where they needed to.

As he took his last bite of his breakfast, he heard a knock at his door. Ian stood up from his desk and walked to his door, opening it to see Kevin.

"Mornin, Ian. I see you're up already." Kevin gave Ian a smug look.

"Why do you look so smug?" Ian already had an annoyed look on his face.

"Well, no particular reason. I've just been hearing things and seeing people stare at me more. Especially some of the girls." Kevin's smirk grew wider.

Ian gave Kevin a disgusted and disappointed look. They haven't been at the academy for that long and Kevin was already planning to do no good.

Ian stepped out of his room, locking it behind him before walking with Kevin. The two of them walked around campus while they waited for the testing center to open. As they walked, many students eyed them and whispered to each other.

Even though Kevin couldn't hear the people around him clearly, he still basked in the attention. Ian on the other hand just ignored it or didn't notice it.

They eventually made their way to the cafeteria, which wasn't much of a cafeteria. It was more like a food court. There were two stories to the food court. Along the edge of both floors, multiple booths were selling different kinds of food. The first floor had the main sitting area but there were more spots on the second floor.

When Ian and Kevin entered, they saw everyone avoiding a specific corner. When they took a closer look, they saw Ellie and Amanda sitting at a table talking.

Kevin immediately headed in their direction, Ian following behind him. As they approached their table, many of the students turned to look at them. Kevin had a big smile on his face as he stepped closer. Ian looked uncomfortable.

Once they reached Ellie and Amanda's table, Kevin bowed his head and said, "Good morning ladies. It's nice to see you two again." Ian stood quietly next to Kevin as he put on a show.

"What do you want?" Ellie quickly turned hostile towards Kevin.

Kevin pulled up a chair to sit on as he said, "Nothing much. I was just going to get breakfast until I saw you two lovely ladies sitting here." Kevin had a smirk plastered on his face. He placed his head on his hands as he looked at them.

Ian also took a seat at the table, sitting next to Kevin. He just sat there, watching the interaction unfold, as many of the other students did so too.

Ellie looked frustrated now. It seemed like she wanted to hit Kevin but she refrained from doing so, not wanting to cause a scene. Amanda, seeing this, quickly shifted things by turning her attention to Ian and saying, "How are you doing Ian?"

Ian was caught off guard and said, "Oh…I um, I'm fine."

The mood quickly changed. There was no more tension in the air.

"That's good to hear. I was hoping to get your help with unpacking yesterday but Ellie and Ash helped me out instead," Amanda said.

Now that everyone had calmed down, they started talking to each other. Every other student also seemed to slowly return to their prior conversation. However, students still avoided their corner.

Half an hour later, the group gathered themselves and left the cafeteria. They, alongside many others, made their way to the testing center.

As they walked, they eventually came across Emmett and Zoey. Those two were eating together outside in the garden. When they saw Ian and everyone else walking towards them, they cleaned up their trays and went to join the group.

The six of them walked together towards the testing center, talking along the way. When they arrived at the testing center, the group was met by the sight of hundreds of other students gathered there. An attendant told them to join the rest as they would be starting soon.

The group ventured inside the large gymnasium-like testing center, looking at all the students waiting to get tested. All the students were huddled in their own groups or were just standing around waiting.

Most of the students seemed average, with only a few standing out. Darren was one of these students who stood out due to his above-average height.

Besides him, Ian, and the others in Ian's group, only three other students stood out. One was a massive guy who was both tall, around 7 feet, and ridiculously muscular. He had an intimidating aura to him. However, he had a very chiseled and handsome face.

Another was a skinny guy with long silver hair covering one of his eyes. He leaned against a pillar, looking depressed and moody but he looked very handsome.

The last student that stood out was a handsome blond guy. He stood proudly near the front with a massive smile on his face. His appearance was flawless with an aura of confidence radiating off of him. He seemed to attract a lot of attention from the girls around him but he did not pay them any attention.

All three of these guys were standing close to each other talking. There was an air around them that just emanated a sense of superiority.

Amanda noticed them and immediately turned to walk away from them, her face had an annoyed look. Sadly, she only managed to take a few steps before hearing, "Lady Amanda. How wonderful it is to see you again."

Amanda turned around and saw the handsome blond guy standing in front of her. He got down on one knee, gently grabbing Amanda's hand and saying, "Oh what a blessed day to be in your presence. Your beauty is like no other."

Amanda cringed upon hearing this, pulling her hand away. She gave the handsome blond guy a disgusted look and said, "Leonardo, I see you're doing well."

Leonardo stood up straight and said, "Yes, I've been doing very well. I've been training hard and working even harder."

"I see," Amanda said, shifting her gaze to the side.

The other two guys walked up behind Leonardo once they saw him talk to Amanda. They both kneeled in front of Amanda showing their respect. Afterwards, they stood back up and faced Amanda.

"Lady Amanda, what a pleasure it is to see you again," the tall muscular guy said. His voice was very polite and gentle but it carried a weight to it.

"How have you been, your highness?" The moody silver-haired asked. His voice was soft yet sharp.

"It's nice to see you too, Gavin. And I've been doing well. Thanks for asking, Kai."

As this whole interaction happened, Ellie walked up behind Amanda looking angry. She went up to Amanda and asked, "Amanda, are you okay? These guys aren't bothering you, are they?"

"No, I'm fine. These are just the sons of a few nobles. This is Leonardo, the son of the Duke," Amanda said, gesturing towards Leonardo. "This is Gavin, the son of an Earl," she said, pointing at the tall muscular guy. "And this is Kai, the son of a Marquis," She said, pointing at the silver-haired guy.

"I see," said Ellie, looking unimpressed.

Leonardo was the first to speak up and ask, "My Lady, who is this?"

"She's my dear cousin and best friend," Amanda said as she gave Ellie a big hug, nuzzling up to her.

"Your cousin? I thought the king was an only child?" Leonardo looked perplexed.

Amanda turned to face Leonardo, while still hugging Ellie, and said, "You would be correct, my father is an only child."

"Then how could she possibly be your cousin?" Leonardo seems confused at the impossibility.

"She's my cousin because I said she is, so deal with it." Amanda angrily proclaimed.

"Don't be ridiculous, My Lady. You can't just claim her to be your cousin," Leonardo said.

Ellie gave Leonardo a dirty look and said, "You got a problem with that?"

Before Leonardo could respond, Amanda said, "She is my cousin and that's final."

Leonardo didn't argue back. He stayed quiet and stared at Amanda and Ellie as they continued hugging.

Ian and the others didn't get close for most of the interaction. It wasn't until Ellie spoke up that they approached them.

Gavin and Kai glared at the group as they approached. They were going to say something, but Leonardo spoke up first, "Can I help you all."

"Nah, we're just keeping up with these two," Kevin spoke casually. He gave Leonardo a dirty look.

"They're with me. These are my friends," Amanda confidently said.

"Your friends? I didn't know you were friends with common civilians. You always seemed so refined and reserved." Leonardo had an even more perplexed look on his face.

"There's a lot you don't know about me. I wouldn't dare share such information about myself with people such as you three. You all wouldn't understand." Amanda kept glaring at Leonardo, Kai, and Gavin as she held Ellie against her chest, caressing her head.

She then turned to Ian and the others, saying, "These guys understand me better. They know what living is like."

Kevin gained a smug look on his face upon hearing this. "Why, thank you, Aman-"

"Not you. You cause nothing but trouble for my dear Ellie," Amanda sternly said. Kevin's face quickly changed to an exaggerated frown.

Amanda returned her attention to the noble sons and said, "Anyways, let me introduce them to you. The frowning one is Kevin. He's annoying. The guy standing to his left is Emmett, Ellie's other brother. The lovely lady hiding behind him is His girlfriend Zoey. And lastly-" Amanda smiled at Ian, "-there's Ian, Ellie's other older brother."

Leonardo saw the way Amanda looked at Ian and was perplexed. He felt a new feeling in his heart he never felt before. He didn't know what it was but he didn't like it.

Amanda once again turned to Leonardo and said, "Also, just so you know, Ellie and her brothers are the kids of Erik Crest."

Upon hearing this, the three noble sons' eyes opened widely. All three of them knew about Erik and how prestigious he was. Even among nobles, he was well known. Now, Leonardo understood the relationship between Amanda and the others. And yet, something didn't add up for him but he kept that to himself.

He wanted to learn more about the group Amanda was with but that would have to wait. The testing was going to begin soon. More teachers and other staff were starting to show up as they set up everything.