10. A Hidden Conspiracy

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The next day, Celia took drastic measures by swapping classes, trading her light blue necktie for a red one and joining Ruby Class.

It wasn't an official switch, since that was prohibited, but one of the many ladies who had a crush on Taze had willingly done it, so she could be in Taze's class.

But to Celia's dismay, Taze followed her to Ruby Class!

She sealed at him. "You - !"

"This is a nice class! Good choice!" He said, grinning down at her. "Switching classes? I can do it too!!" He pointedly adjusted his red bowtie, and then sat right behind her.

~"Tch! Little Fool!"~ Celia telepathically shot back as she rose to leave, but the teacher walked in, and she had to sit back down.

Taze taunted her, lightly tugging her braid. ~"Try swapping again! I also want to see if you can run somewhere I can't follow!"~

Celia returned to Jade class after that, and the girl she had swapped with gave her a dirty look, clearly unhappy that Taze had followed her to Ruby Class.

'I thought these ladies were here to study!' Celia complained.

Once, a pretty fairy confessed to Taze in front of everyone, but he scowled. "Don't waste your time! I'm only interested in Celia Scar-!"

Fortunately, Celia cut in and dragged Taze away.

"Little Fool! How can you be so mean?! Don't you feel bad at all?! And how dare you mention my name there?!! Do you want those young ladies to kill me?!" She demanded.

She could handle them easily, but it might force her to show her talents!

"Ah! You're speaking to me?!" Taze taunted with a boyish grin, which made Celia's will turn to mushy!

But she quickly turned away. "Hmph! Dream on!" And she picked her skirts and stormed off in a huff.

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A few days later, Celia was in Class when a whisper reached her ears...

"Did you hear?" A male fairy whispered to another fairy. "The Crown Prince of Luxia is ill!"

Celia's ears perked up at the mention of 'Crown Prince'.

Their teacher was absent, and only half the class was present, so Celia cast a simple spell to hear the gossip better.

"The King is trying to hide it!" The boy continued. "But King Faria already knows! He heard from one of the Fairy Mages that tried to heal the Crown Prince!"

King Faria was one of the Fairy Kings, ruler of Darnia, which bordered Luxia in the South, and he constantly sought opportunities to overthrow Luxia.

"Does this mean Luxia's power is finally shaken? There's no other heir?!"

"Idiots." Princess Larya suddenly spoke, revealing she had been eavesdropping as well. "If that's the limit of your information, then you shouldn't run your mouths."

"How dare you?!" One of the fairies challenged. "Who do you think you ar-?!"

A shower of foul-smelling water suddenly fell on both fairies.

"Urgh!" The fairies looked at themselves in disgust, and everyone else covered their noses.

"Disrespect!" Lufar, Larya's brother had been the one to attack. "She's the Princess of Altea!" Altea was the Eastern Sea Kingdom, and Lufar was practically its Crown Prince.

"Since you dared to disrespect her, enjoy the water from the darkest and grossest part of our seas!"

Larya folded her arms sassily. "Hmph! Father is already working on my engagement to another Prince here in Luxia! He's going to rule eventually!"

The fairies and mer people started bickering after that, but Celia remained still, not believing what she heard.

The Mer people already knew about Vitav and were even certain that he would rule!

'But How?!' She contemplated. 'And why are they carelessly discussing it here?!'

'Do they already know there's no hope for Taze's illness...?'

The entire thing felt unfair, even though she already knew it would happen, and she let out a frustrated sigh.

'Little Fool, will you really die like that...?'

But Celia suddenly gasped when a beautiful pure white rose with a red stem and red leaves grew out of her desk.

~"Celia! You thought of me?!"~ The familiar voice asked, sounding a bit surprised, and Celia glanced up sharply to see Taze passing by the window.

~"You read my thoughts!"~ She accused, but he simply shrugged.

~"You projected your thoughts!"~ And then he walked out of sight.

'That little- !' The fact that she had been caught thinking of him annoyed her to no end, but her hand automatically reached for the white rose and she preserved it within an ice case.

She was still admiring the delicate red stems of the rose, when her irises suddenly darted to Princess Larya.

'How do they know about Vitav?' And more importantly... 'How are they so certain Taze would lose the throne?!'

... 'Or die?!'

In previous lives, Vitav was well known by now, and the King favoured him already, so this might have been expected.

But that wasn't the case in this life...

Celia had a suspicion that Vitav's lack of presence had something to do with Taze's alter-ego, but whatever the reason, Vitav was still a complete mystery in this life.

Most elves knew nothing of his existence, and yet Princess Larya, a foreigner, already knew of him, and knew he would rule!

There wasn't much to feed Celia's suspicion, but her mind had already latched on to a last sliver of hope, and she wondered for the first time in twenty-five lifetimes...

Was Taze's death planned?!

Was he born with his sickness, or was it induced?

Even if it was natural, was it being 'helped along', so Vitav could ascend?

The questions came fast and furiously, each one refusing to be dismissed.

"Oye! What are you staring at?!" Lufar's voice snapped Celia out of her thoughts, and she realized she had been staring at Larya all the while.

Larya was staring right back at her, brow raised in a calm but puzzled expression.

Celia didn't miss a beat. "Ehehe, I was just admiring Princess Larya." She said with an off-handed shrug. "Sh- She's a princess, she's the top of the Class, and she's so beautiful! It's something commendable!"

Lufar smiled smugly, "Hmph! Of course! No one can compete with my Big Sister!" He squinted at Celia, as if seeing her for the first time.

This had recently happened a lot... Despite her attempts to remain obscure, she was growing into her striking looks, and no amount of careless hairdos could stop her hair's silvery lustre, or the striking brilliance of her red irises.

These days, any slight attention made the boys react as if they never knew someone like her was in their class!

"Say, your looks are not bad!" Lufar was saying, and he suddenly appeared in front of her. "Do you want to be a princess as well? Father has already selected a bride for me, but I wouldn't mind accepting you in my harem!"

Celia raised an eyebrow. For some ladies, this was an honour, and Lufar hadn't yet been named Crown Prince of Altea, but that was a formality. He was the only legitimate Prince out of five brothers.

Added to that, he was rather handsome to look at, and like Larya, his hair fell in immaculate waves to his waist.

But Celia only felt insulted, and extra annoyed that he had drawn attention to her.

"Me and you?" She began. "Not likely. You have water magic, so why not make a pool and look at your reflection first?!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself, and she clapped a hand over her mouth

Lufar drew in an angry breath and scowled at her, but most of the class were laughing, and his cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

Larya rolled her eyes. "Come back here." She quietly ordered, and Lufar turned and strutted away, keeping his chin high, but not before sneering and snapping his fingers.

Celia could feel his magic spell, and even knew that the gross water was about to pour on her, but she didn't do anything to stop it, and she let it rain down.

"Urgh!" The girl beside her grimaced, as a few splashes reached her desk. "Watch it!"

Celia hurried out of the class amidst guffaws and snickers, but she smirked once out of sight.

'Such a childish spell.' She shook her head, and with a snap of her fingers, the sludgy water vanished.

In fact, she had already covered every inch of herself with an invisible layer before Lufar completed the spell, and this prevented the sludgy water from touching her in the slightest, while making it look like it did...

And it gave her the perfect excuse to leave the class!

She was filled with new hope, and felt lighter than she had in days!

Was it perhaps... possible to heal Taze...?!!!

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