"So what you’re saying is," Lucian said as he placed a hand on his chin, going over Adrian’s words, "instead of the city, you woke up in the middle of the black sea just a few hours ago?"

"Pretty much," Adrian replied with a shrug, not really against responding to the prince.

Did he dislike him? Yes, very much so.

To the point that he would end Lucian if given the slightest bit of reason to, without hesitation.

But right now, it seemed that the prince and Lady Renelle seemed to have come to a temporary agreement, so he’d cooperate for now.

"And what if you were just hiding from the monsters here for the past month while we do all the work," Cassian cut in with a frown on his face as he looked at Adrian.

In response, Adrian just shrugged again, his attention fully on his lady which caused Cassian to clench his fists in annoyance.

Why couldn’t this damn butler just die and get out of the way?

But he suddenly paused as an idea lit up in his head and a grin appeared on his face, one which he quickly hid.

Wasn’t there someone else interested in Lady Renelle?

Someone strong too, so all he had to do was put the damn butler against that person and he’d be sure to finally meet his end.

As for him, he’d find a way to get that person out of the way after they served their purpose of dealing with the annoying butler.

With that, he stepped back and let Adrian have his fun for now.

Lucian remained silent for a while, clearly deep in thought as he processed Adrian’s explanation.

"The black sea..." he muttered as he finally looked up at Adrian, "do you happen to have a sample of it? We’ve been avoiding it all this while, since even with my light mana, I don’t think I could stay uncorrupted for long."

Adrian thought for a while before his shadow extended and out came a wet white jacket, the academy’s uniform. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It was the one he had changed out of after escaping the black sea.

Drunk him was uncomfortable enough was aware enough to take them off before going on a corrupted mana hunting spree in the forest.

Without a word, the older girl identified as Aqua put on a glove and picked the jacket up, and Adrian watched as she curiously squeezed it into what seemed to be a cup made of glass.

"Aqua can identify the properties of any liquid since she possesses water mana," Lucian explained, "maybe she can find something out about the black sea."

"I see," Adrian muttered in response before turning to Renelle by his side, "is something wrong, my lady?"

She had been oddly quiet all this while as she tightly held on to his hand as if letting go would cause him to disappear again.

Renelle remained silent for a few seconds after his question, her blue eyes simply stayed on him, calmly observing his face as if confirming for herself that he was truly standing there.

"You broke your promise," she finally said, "and then left my side for a whole month."

"I’m sorry," Adrian apologized.

"The bracelet assured me that you were alive and yet, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find you," she continued.

Adrian continued looking at her before moving a strand of hair off her face and saying, "My apologies, my lady."

"Don’t apologize."

Her answer came immediately and her tone surprised him slightly.

Renelle lowered her gaze for a moment before quietly adding, "Just don’t do it again."

Adrian looked at her for a few seconds before nodding once.

"As you wish."

Lucian still couldn’t get used to the fact that someone obsessively chasing him just a few months back had directed that obsession to someone else entirely.

And the strangest part was, instead of being creeped out, it seemed that the butler was just as obsessed as Renelle was.

Noelle, on the other hand, had a small smile on her face as she looked at the two. She felt bad that she became the reason why the prince broke her engagement with Renelle.

But now, seeing her happy with someone else Noelle couldn’t help but feel relieved.

That was a lie.

She wasn’t relieved because Renelle was happy, she was happy because she finally found an excuse that would let her sleep guilt-free at night.

And although she knew that it was selfish of her, she was unwilling to let the prince go, especially given that the task assigned to her by the church had basically been completed.

Darius looked at the two for a while before he suddenly asked, "Are you two going to kiss?"

That reminded Renelle that she and Adrian weren’t alone right now, still, she didn’t care about the presence of others, as long as her Adrian was by her side

Before anyone else could say anything, Aqua suddenly spoke up as he looked at the black liquid in the glass, "That’s strange."

"What is?" Lucian asked as he snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the third year that was leading their team.

"The black sea," Aqua started with a frown on her face, "it’s alive."

***

Deep within the castle, just beside the camp where the eight were, was a throne room.

In said throne room were humans encased completely in ice standing on display, turned directly towards the throne.

On said throne, made of stone, was a man who seemed to be in his late twenties.

He had white hair, a crown on his head, and glowing red eyes which he looked towards the sculptures with.

He had a smile on his face as he recalled Renelle’s expression when he demanded she become his.

These were the idiots who had tried to attack her and force her to show respect.

Their current forms told that it hadn’t gone so well for them.

Now, he could’ve forced her to stay by his side, but he enjoyed her struggles. So, for now, he’d let her roam free.

The man’s expression suddenly changed as he looked towards a certain dark corner of the throne room.

A second later, a man in dark robes walked out with a smile on his face as he looked at the humans trapped in ice.

"I see you finally decided to do some decorating," the man spoke before turning towards the man on the throne.

"What do you want?" the king started, a frown still on his face as he looked towards the man in robes, "Marion."