Chapter : 1417

  She scanned the room. Her gaze locked onto the secluded table in the back. She saw Lloyd and Mina. She saw them leaning close. She saw the smiles that were just fading.

  She marched towards them. Her boots clicked sharply on the stone floor. It sounded like a drumbeat of war.

  The students parted like the Red Sea. They sensed the danger. The air temperature seemed to drop.

  Lloyd looked up. He saw her coming. He saw the expression on her face. It wasn't the playful rivalry they had established. It was cold, hard judgment.

  "Uh oh," Lloyd whispered.

  "Isabella," Mina said, standing up. She tried to look welcoming, but she looked nervous. "Princess. We were just..."

  "Researching?" Isabella cut her off. Her voice was icy. It carried across the silent library. "Is that what you call it?"

  She stopped in front of their table. She looked at the books. Then she looked at Mina. Her gaze was withering.

  "I see you have made yourself comfortable, Lady Mina," Isabella said. "Hiding in the shadows. Whispering in corners."

  "We are working," Lloyd said, standing up as well. "On the Golem Heart. On the curse."

  Isabella ignored him. She kept her eyes on Mina.

  "Tell me, Mina," Isabella said, her voice dripping with venom. "Does your historical research include the history of seduction? Are you studying how to steal a man who is already spoken for?"

  The library gasped. It was a collective intake of breath. The accusation hung in the air like a guillotine blade.

  "I... I do not know what you mean," Mina stammered. Her face went pale.

  "Don't you?" Isabella stepped closer. "You are smart, Mina. You know the laws. You know the contracts. Lloyd is betrothed to Princess Amina. He is married to your own sister, Rosa. And yet, here you are. Playing house in the library. Laughing. Touching."

  "It is not like that," Mina defended weakly.

  "It looks exactly like that," Isabella snapped. "It looks like a scandal. It looks like the Ferrum heir is making a fool of two great houses. And it looks like you are the willing accomplice."

  She raised her voice, making sure everyone could hear. "Is this how House Siddik honors its alliances? By sending one sister to marry a man, and the other to distract him? Is this your family's honor?"

  It was a brutal attack. It wasn't just personal; it was political. Isabella was framing Mina as a home-wrecker and a traitor to her family. The students whispered. The rumor mill was already spinning.

  Mina shrank back. She looked devastated. She wasn't a fighter. She was a scholar. She couldn't handle this kind of public evisceration.

  Lloyd watched Mina crumble. He felt a flash of heat in his chest.

  This wasn't a game. This wasn't playful banter. This was bullying. This was cruelty. Isabella was using her status, her voice, and the crowd to crush someone he cared about.

  "That's enough," Lloyd said. His voice was low, but dangerous.

  Isabella turned to him. "Is it? Are you going to deny it, Lloyd? Are you going to tell me that there is nothing between you? Because I have eyes. I see how you look at her."

  "I said, enough," Lloyd repeated.

  He stepped out from behind the table. He didn't step away. He stepped forward.

  He moved between Isabella and Mina. He placed his body directly in the line of fire. He became a wall.

  "You are talking to my partner," Lloyd said. He looked Isabella in the eye. He didn't blink. "You are talking to a member of my team. And you are doing it with a lack of respect that I find... disappointing."

  The library was dead silent. Even the dust motes seemed to stop moving. Everyone was watching the confrontation. The Professor standing up to the Princess.

  Isabella looked shocked. She had expected him to deny it. She had expected him to make a joke. She hadn't expected him to stand like a shield.

  "Disappointing?" Isabella scoffed. "I am trying to protect you, Lloyd. From your own foolishness. From a scandal that could ruin you."

  "You aren't protecting me," Lloyd said coldly. "You're attacking her. And I don't let people attack my people."

  He took a step toward Isabella, forcing her to take a half-step back.

  Chapter : 1418

  "Mina is here because she is brilliant," Lloyd declared, his voice ringing out. "She is here because she understands things that no one else does. She is vital to my work. She is vital to this Academy. And if you have a problem with her, you have a problem with me."

  Isabella's eyes flashed. "You are defending her? Publicly? Do you know what this looks like?"

  "I don't care what it looks like," Lloyd said. "I care about the truth. And the truth is, you are bullying a scholar because you are... what? Jealous? Bored? Angry that you don't understand the work?"

  "I am not jealous!" Isabella shouted. Her composure cracked. "I am the Commander of the Guard! I deal with honor! And this... this sneaking around... it is dishonorable!"

  "There is nothing dishonorable about friendship," Lloyd said. "There is nothing dishonorable about working together to save lives. Because that is what we are doing, Isabella. We are trying to stop a curse. We are trying to save students. While you are here playing high school drama queen."

  The insult hit its mark. Isabella flinched.

  "You dare..." she whispered.

  "I dare," Lloyd said. "Go ahead. Arrest me. Throw me in the dungeon. But don't you dare speak to her like that again."

  He turned his back on Isabella. It was the ultimate dismissal.

  He looked at Mina. She was trembling, tears in her eyes.

  "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

  Mina nodded, unable to speak.

  "Come on," Lloyd said. "Let's go. The air in here is bad."

  He offered her his arm. Not in a romantic way, but in a formal, protective way. Like a knight escorting a queen through a battlefield.

  Mina took his arm. She held on tight.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Lloyd led her toward the door. The students parted for them. They walked past Isabella, who stood frozen, her fists clenched, her face a mask of furious humiliation.

  As they reached the door, Lloyd stopped. He looked back at the room.

  "If anyone has any other comments about my staff," Lloyd said to the crowd, "you can submit them to me in writing. I will file them in the incinerator."

  He pushed the doors open and led Mina out into the sunlight.

  They walked in silence until they reached the safety of the Old Tower. Once inside, behind the heavy door, Mina let out a sob.

  "Lloyd," she cried. "You shouldn't have done that. The rumors... the scandal..."

  "Let them talk," Lloyd said. He handed her a handkerchief. "They talk anyway. Today, they learned something new."

  "What?" Mina asked, wiping her eyes.

  "They learned that I pick my side," Lloyd said. "And I picked you."

  Mina looked at him. Her heart felt like it was going to burst. He had stood up to a princess for her. He had risked his reputation for her.

  "You are a fool," she whispered, smiling through her tears.

  "I know," Lloyd said. "But I'm your fool."

  He went back to the workbench. He picked up his tools. But his hands were shaking slightly. It had been a close call. He had made an enemy of Isabella today. A real enemy.

  "Worth it," he thought.

  He looked at Mina, who was settling back into her chair, looking safer, looking protected.

  Yes. Definitely worth it.

  But outside the tower, the storm was gathering. Isabella wasn't the type to forgive a public humiliation. And the curse was still spreading.

  The war had just gotten a lot louder.

  The Royal Academy was usually a place of learning, magic, and the occasional explosion caused by a student mixing the wrong potions. But for the last twenty-four hours, it had transformed into a giant, stone-walled rumor mill. The incident in the library—where Lloyd had publicly defended Mina against Princess Isabella—had spread faster than a grease fire in a wooden kitchen.

  Lloyd sat in his office in the Old Tower, staring at a stack of papers he was supposed to be grading. He couldn't focus. Every time he stepped outside, the whispering started.

  "Did you hear?" a student would whisper loudly. "Professor Ferrum challenged the Princess to a duel of honor over Lady Mina!"

  "No," another would reply. "I heard he declared war on the Royal Guard using only a quill and a menacing stare."

  "I heard he is secretly building a harem and the library was just the recruitment center," a third would add.

  Chapter : 1419

  Lloyd rubbed his face with his hands. "Why does everyone assume I have the energy for a harem? I barely have the energy to put on socks in the morning."

  He was tired. The confrontation with Isabella had been necessary, but it was exhausting. He had made a powerful enemy, protected his partner, and fueled a scandal all before lunch. It was a productive day, but a headache-inducing one.

  He needed fresh air. The air in the tower smelled like ozone and old books. He grabbed his coat and slipped out the back door, hoping to avoid the main courtyards where the gossip was thickest.

  It was late evening. The sun had set, painting the sky in deep purples and blacks. The Academy grounds were mostly empty, save for the few diligent students heading to the late-night study halls.

  Lloyd walked towards the botanical gardens. It was usually quiet there. The plants didn't gossip. They just ate bugs and looked green.

  As he turned a corner onto a gravel path, he saw a figure sitting on a stone bench under a weeping willow. It was Airin.

  She was staring at the moon, her hands folded in her lap. She looked small. She looked lonely. And she looked so much like Anastasia that for a second, Lloyd’s heart forgot to beat.

  He stopped. He should turn around. He should leave her alone. He had enough complications with Mina and Rosa and Amina and Isabella. Adding Airin to the mix was like adding nitroglycerin to a smoothie.

  But then she turned and saw him. She didn't look away. She didn't whisper. She just offered a small, sad smile.

  "Professor," she said softly.

  "Scholar Airin," Lloyd nodded, walking over. "Enjoying the night air? Or hiding from the rumor mill?"

  "Both," she admitted. She patted the empty space on the bench. "It is loud today. The whispers are very loud."

  Lloyd sat down, leaving a respectful distance between them. "I apologize for the noise. My life seems to be a magnet for drama. I try to be boring. I really do. But then someone yells at me, and I have to yell back, and suddenly everyone is talking."

  "You defended Lady Mina," Airin said. It wasn't a question. "They say you stood against the Princess. That was brave."

  "It was necessary," Lloyd sighed. "Bullying is efficient, but it’s ugly. I don't like ugly things."

  "Most people would have stayed silent," Airin observed. "To protect their position. To protect their reputation. You didn't care about those things."

  "Reputation is just a shadow," Lloyd said, looking at his boots. "It changes with the light. Character is the object casting the shadow. I worry about the object, not the shape on the ground."

  Airin looked at him. Her eyes were searching his face. "You look tired, Professor."

  "I am tired," Lloyd admitted. He leaned his head back against the tree trunk. "I am tired of politics. I am tired of games. I just want to build things. I want to fix things. But every time I pick up a wrench, someone hands me a sword."

  He hadn't meant to say that. He usually kept his guard up. He kept his masks tight. The Major General. The Genius. The Merchant. But here, in the dark, with a girl who looked like his lost past, the masks felt heavy.

  "I understand," Airin said quietly. "Everyone looks at you and sees the Hero. The Genius. The Lord. They see the power. But they don't see the weight."

  Lloyd turned to look at her. "And what do you see, Airin?"

  "I see a man who is carrying a very heavy backpack," Airin said with a small laugh. "And he refuses to put it down because he thinks if he does, the world will fall over."

  Lloyd chuckled. It was a genuine sound. "That is... a very accurate description. Although sometimes the backpack is full of angry cats."

  "You are lonely," Airin said. It wasn't an accusation. It was a gentle observation. "Even with all the people around you. Even with the Princesses and the Ladies. You are standing in the middle of a crowd, but you are standing alone."

  The truth of her words hit Lloyd in the chest. She was right. Mina was his partner, but their relationship was secret and fraught with danger. Rosa was his wife, but they were at war. Amina was his political ally. But Airin... Airin was just seeing him.

  Chapter : 1420

  "It's the curse of leadership," Lloyd deflected, trying to lighten the mood. "It's lonely at the top. The air is thin. The coffee is expensive."

  "You don't have to be alone right now," Airin said. "We can just sit. The plants don't care who we are. The moon doesn't care about the scandal."

  "That sounds nice," Lloyd said. "I like plants. They are very non-judgmental."

  They sat in silence for a while. It wasn't the heavy, loaded silence he shared with Mina. It wasn't the icy silence of Rosa. It was a comfortable silence. A peaceful silence.

  For the first time all day, the buzzing in Lloyd's head quieted down. He watched a firefly buzz past—a real insect, not the corporation—and felt a strange sense of calm.

  "So," Lloyd said after a few minutes. "How is your project? The self-watering pot?"

  "It drowned the begonia," Airin admitted sheepishly. "I calibrated the water rune wrong. It created a small geyser. My roommate was not happy."

  Lloyd laughed. "That's progress! You created a fountain. Failure is just success that is wet."

  "You are very optimistic for a tired man," Airin noted.

  "I have to be," Lloyd said. "Pessimism is heavy. I'm already carrying the backpack, remember?"

  The garden was vast, a labyrinth of hedges and flowerbeds that seemed to go on forever. Lloyd and Airin began to walk. It wasn't planned; they just fell into step together, moving deeper into the quiet sanctuary of the greenery.

  The gravel crunched softly under their boots. The air smelled of jasmine and night-blooming lilies. It was a world away from the stone corridors and sharp whispers of the Academy halls.

  "You know," Lloyd said, hands in his pockets. "Most people avoid me right now. They think I'm radioactive. Or they think I'm going to challenge them to a duel. Why aren't you running away?"

  Airin looked up at the stars through the leaves. "I don't listen to gossip. It's usually boring. And... you helped me. In the market. In the classroom. When Zeba was hurt. I judge people by what they do, not what people say they do."

  "That is a dangerous philosophy," Lloyd warned playfully. "You might find out that I am actually three goblins in a trench coat."

  "I suspect you are actually a very tired bear in a trench coat," Airin countered. "Grumpy, but soft on the inside."

  "Soft?" Lloyd feigned outrage. "I am steel! I am iron! I am... okay, maybe a little soft. But only for cats. And good pastries."

  Airin giggled. It was a light, musical sound that made the shadows seem a little less dark.

  "I have a secret too," Airin said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Everyone thinks I am this brilliant scholarship student. The 'Princess's Scholar'. They think I have a grand destiny."

  "And you don't?"

  "I just want to open a bakery," Airin confessed. "I like magic. Magic is useful. But bread... bread makes people happy. Healing magic fixes a wound, but a warm bun fixes a bad day. I want to make people smile, not just patch them up so they can go fight again."

  Lloyd stopped walking. He looked at her. In his past life, Anastasia had loved baking. She used to make these terrible, rock-hard cookies that he ate anyway because he loved her. Hearing Airin say this was like hearing an echo from a life he could never touch again.

  But instead of pain, he felt a warm nostalgia.

  "That is a worthy dream," Lloyd said seriously. "Maybe the most worthy dream I have heard in this entire castle. Everyone wants to rule, or conquer, or become the greatest mage. You just want to feed people. That is... noble."

  "It's not noble," Airin shook her head. "It's simple. I like simple."

  "Simple is a luxury," Lloyd said. "One I can't afford right now. But maybe, one day... I can buy a loaf of bread from your bakery. And I will pay you in compliments."

  "I accept gold too," Airin said with a grin. "Flour is expensive."

  "Mercenary," Lloyd accused. "I like it."

  They continued walking. The path wound around a pond where moon-frogs were croaking a rhythmic song.

  "Can I ask you something?" Airin asked, her tone shifting to something more hesitant. "About the burden."

  "The backpack?"