Ch 68: Melissa’s Feelings
Melissa heaved a long sigh of relief after finally escaping from the clutches of the princess. Amber was one of those girls who reminded her of a girl from her village, someone who would always cling to her and refuse to let her go for whatever reason, and Melissa had finally escaped that girl after her recent marriage into another village. But to think she would meet someone just like her here in the academy was not something she had ever anticipated.
More than anything, Melissa would have been fine with someone tagging along, but Amber was a literal princess of the empire, and Melissa had endured enough for today and found it the hard way what it meant to be the princess of the empire.
Every time they entered an elective class together, every single head would turn toward them, and more than anything, those eyes would always settle on Melissa with a questioning look, as though silently asking who she was to be walking alongside the princess of the empire.
Melissa did not like those stares, not even one bit. She tried her best not to focus on them, but feeling the weight of so many gazes was not something she desired at all. She would rather be alone than tag along with the princess. As a matter of fact, she did not particularly enjoy being alone either, but perhaps in a few days she could have made other friends, ones who were not so high-profile that students would crane their necks just to look at them.
Melissa sighed once again, rubbing her forehead. Tomorrow, again, the princess would be tagging along with her to visit other elective classes, and it would be tough, extremely tough for Melissa.
Melissa had felt such a burst of happiness for a brief second when she learned that Amber was leaning toward runecrafting, but then, like the flip of a switch, the princess announced that even though she was interested in runecrafting, she still wanted to check out the other elective classes first. Right then and there, the moment Melissa heard those words, her relief and short-lived happiness were stripped from her entirely.
What made it even worse was that Melissa had let her emotions show plainly on her face, and the princess had almost caught on to Melissa’s feelings. Had Amber not second-guessed herself and hesitated before pressing further, Melissa would have very likely blurted out the truth, or if not that, simply turned and fled.
Melissa wanted to cover her face and let out a cry because just remembering the stares from the other students made her feel suffocation again, and she already felt a familiar dread creeping in just imagining having to endure the same feeling tomorrow as she accompanied the princess through yet more elective classes.
But then, suddenly, an image of Lucien appeared before her. She was hallucinating him, she was certain of it, yet right then and there it gave her an idea, a way out. She had to find Lucien, ask him which elective she should choose, commit to that one, and stop visiting the rest of the classes alongside the princess.
Determined, Melissa rose from the bench and had barely taken a single step before she walked straight into Lucien and found her head bumping into it hard. She rubbed her head and stared up at him. Wasn't she hallucinating? She reached her hand out and touched his shoulder, then his arm. What? The shoulders and arms are quite strong? Aren’t they? Then, like a bucket of cold ice was dropped over her, Melissa gasped as realization crashed over her and she stumbled a step back, falling right back onto the bench.
Melissa pressed both hands over her chest and felt her heart hammering hard against her ribs. She had not been hallucinating, and good heavens, what in the world would possess her to hallucinate Lucien of all people. Lucien was in fact real, and was standing perfectly still before her, his eyelids twitching ever so slightly, something she did not miss. But he had appeared before her so suddenly and so silently, like a ghost, that she truly had no other explanation.
"What are you doing here?" Melissa blurted out, pointing a finger at him.
Lucien's eyelids twitched once more, just barely, but she caught it. He pointed a finger at himself, then directed it toward her. "I should be the one asking that," he replied, his voice cold as ice. "Why were you grabbing my shoulder and arms?"
"Me?" Melissa's voice dropped, and her face burned with embarrassment. She glanced around quickly and felt a small mercy that the street was empty, the night having already settled in with only the warm glow of the lamplights stretching across the cobblestones. "You appeared so suddenly that I genuinely thought I was seeing a hallucination," she answered, trying her best to redirect the blame onto him. "You were the one who startled me." But her voice lacked the conviction to carry the defense, and it trailed off weakly toward the end.
Lucien's lips twitched slightly at her words, something Melissa caught, or perhaps imagined, but either way she was not about to let herself be mocked by him again like yesterday.
"Whatever," Lucien said, seeming to let the matter go with a quiet exhale. "Come to the training ground tomorrow at four in the morning. I will be training your body personally."
"Huh?" Melissa stared at him, completely dumbfounded. "Me? At the training ground? At four in the morning?"
"Yes," Lucien confirmed with a nod, and for just a breath of a second, a smirk crossed his face. "Make sure to arrive five minutes early. I cannot stand someone who is not punctual." Saying that, he turned away and began walking, not waiting for Melissa's response, not asking whether she even agreed to such an arrangement, not pausing to hear that Melissa could not possibly drag herself out of bed that early or that she would have preferred five in the morning, no, six would have been the sweet spot. But no, Lucien had already turned away, already vanishing into the night without leaving her a single moment to get a word in.
Melissa angrily stomped her foot on the ground, and then she stopped.
What exactly did he mean by training her body personally?
Melissa's neck turned red and her face flushed a deep scarlet as her imagination immediately ran somewhere it absolutely should not have.
***
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