The Scholar and The Crown

11

Maude

It's been three days since I became a tutor for the noble ladies. While my first day was so unhinged because of all the experiences I had within that entire day, things calmed down yesterday. Aside from the noble ladies who don't care about my class, nothing dumb happened the entire day.

I hope today is the same.

Speaking of those noble ladies, if they continue not to listen or take the class seriously, I'm not afraid to give them a failing grade. I might seem always afraid of what nobles can do to me if I do something against them, but when it comes to studying, it's a whole other thing.

I might seem not to be taking things seriously right now, but they will see my revenge at the weekend when the assessment and the tallying of their points are conducted.

Maybe by giving them a true taste, they might want to take things seriously.

I sighed when the door opened and the royal duties tutors came into the faculty room. It was my cue that it's time to teach those noble brats once again.

They all seemed tired. "Are you guys alright?" I asked them as I stood up from my seat. "No, we're not," they answered in unison.

Oh, maybe something happened. "Did something happen?"

"The ladies broke into a fight," Robinson adjusted his necktie and plopped into his chair.

A fight?

"We were in the middle of teaching them how to deal with an upcoming festival when suddenly Lady Emme and Lady Kalista started to shout at each other out of nowhere," Karen explained.

I could picture the scene.

"We are glad we were able to separate them or those two would have ended up tweaking each other's hair and causing more chaos in the room," Thomas added and leaned on his chair.

What, is my class going to be fine later?

"Good luck handling them, Maude," Rebecca patted my shoulder as she walked past me. "If another fight breaks out, just run to the guards. Trust me, you cannot handle them by yourself," she added before heading to her table.

I sighed while standing in front of the door.

I knocked three times like I always do before entering.

"Greetings, my ladies," I greeted them as always while my head was bowed. "Greetings, Lady Maude. May your presence once again enlighten our minds ." I stopped for a moment when I heard them greet back.

The hell is happening?

I immediately lifted my head and to my surprise, they just bowed at me before lifting their heads too.

Huh?

In the past two days, they did not ever greet me. What is happening? It's creeping me out.

"Greetings to you too, Lady Maude. If you don't mind, I would like to sit in this class this time only," My head immediately turned to the Prince who just spoke right beside me.

When did he get there? And what's this? Sitting in on the class?

"Lady Maude," Cedric, who was right by the door, called me. "Sorry for the unannounced visitation. We're here because of the accounts of the fight that broke out earlier in the Royal Duties class. We're here to prevent another one from happening again," he whispered to me as he approached me.

Oh, I guess the fight earlier had reached the Prince.

"Yes, your majesty, please have a seat," I returned my side eye to the prince.

Then he proceeded to the seats.

So, he's the reason why these ladies are behaving so differently now, huh?

I bet every one of them is wishing the prince would sit next to them. Too bad the prince sat at the far back of the classroom, alone, while Cedric stood at the side.

Oh god, this is going to be so awkward.

I almost forgot that I compared his eye color to the color of a pumpkin the other night.

But let's put that thought aside for now and let this class start.

I put my book on the front table and opened it.

Almost 20 minutes had passed since I started the class and I'm not having a good time at all.

I can't concentrate at all because I can feel the prince looking at me the whole time. It's so uncomfortable to the extent that it's like his gaze is throwing daggers at me.

But I kept my seriousness and tried to ignore those dagger-throwing gazes he's giving me.

"...and that is all about how the first Aetherion battle started," I said finally at last and closed the book. "We will proceed to the battle itself tomorrow. Class dismissed," I announced to them.

I finally sighed in relief. Goodness, I can finally get out of here.

The ladies got up from their seats and picked up their books from their tables.

I hope they learned something, although they are pretending to learn just because the prince is here.

Then the ladies then bid goodbye to the prince.

"Thank you, Lady Maude," Lady Ian approached me and then smiled. I smiled at her too, and she proceeded to exit the room.

I looked at the prince, and he was still in his seat.

What is his deal now?

Should I leave him here?

All the ladies had now exited the room. Cedric seemed to have disappeared too.

I hate being left alone with this prince.

The Prince finally stood up from his seat and walked towards my direction.

"It seems you didn't tell anyone about what you saw the other night," he started and went to the board. "I keep my word, your majesty," I said to him.

I almost forgot the fact that he called the selection a mating game.

He turned his head to me, and I saw his amber-colored eyes once again.

I might have a growing hatred for his eyes right now.

"Don't worry, no one will know about your secret lair where you meet the ladies," I assured him.

"What?" He seemed surprised about that. "Does the prince have poor hearing now?" I smirked at him.

I'm just fooling around at this point.

I don't care if I'm talking back to a freaking royal family member right now.

He snickered. "You've really made talking back to the prince a habit, huh?"

Yeah, it's pretty entertaining to do.

"I can't believe this, you're the first person to ever talk back to me like that," he commented and facepalmed.

"Fair enough, you're the first person who made me hate the color of the pumpkin for the first time too," I talked back while smirking.

👑📚