Smolder in the Afterglow | Tales of Luminozenko

Chapter 18| Capitalism At Its Finest

"Is she one of yours, perhaps, Your Highness?" asked a jade-haired young man beside the lady, another descendant of Faenice. Despite his green locks, he had brown feathers and eyes. He had the looks—the looks of a punchable face.

I forced out a chuckle and kept my expression schooled. "I beg your pardon?" But he merely shot a glance at me and kept his attention on the crown prince. This son of a . . .

Kieran's head tilted an inch to the side and demanded, "Elaborate that, Lord Fronterra."

"Your servant." He waved a hand. "I mean, pretty much anyone here from Winacellu is our subject, as you are the future king and I am one of your Viscount—"

"So you think anyone who's lower than you is your servant?" I spat out and scoffed. "And some of the people here may be Kieran's subjects, at least he doesn't think of them as his servants unless they officially want to be. So don't put yourself in his league when you're but a narrow-minded noble with a superiority complex."

"Excuse me?" He shouted at top of his lungs. He shot up from his chair, brown eyes flaring with rage.

Chatters began around the room.

"I said you're one of those brats who had never been humbled since everyone kisses their ass for being oh-so almighty and rich!" I screamed. "What's a noble without—hmph!" Prince Murien cupped my mouth with his cold hand after jumping over the table, stopping my words from coming out.

At that instant, my body froze and my skin felt as though thousands of spiders marched through it.

"Cyan, enough," Prince Murien hushed and let some ryulis crawl up on his arm from mine. "Nod if you agree to keep your legs to yourself and not speak any word after I remove my hand."

"No, Prince Murien, let her speak. Let's hear what she got!" the jade-haired tadpole shrieked, going down from his place, but Kieran stepped in before he could approach me and anglerfish.

"Do not take any step closer to her, Warren," Kieran demanded, standing firm on his ground before me and Prince Murien. "Cyan has stated a fact and I have no intention of disagreeing with her."

I held Prince Murien's wrist and attempted to wrench his hand from me, but he wouldn't budge.

"Let Kieran handle this," he said, bending down and bringing his mouth near my ear. My grip tightened around his wrist, which made him frown. "Cyan, I know you're getting angry, but could you loosen up? I'll also let go of you because I think my hand is going to die at this rate."

I quickly unwrapped his wrist and he pulled himself away from me. With a scowl, I wiped my mouth and ear with my sleeve and caught Murien raising one of his brows at me.

The frog called Warren Fronterra whatever, widened his eyes as he listened to the crown prince's words, and he took in a deep inhale as if gasping. "But Your Highness, she had disrespected me, a noble! She called you by your given name without any title, the crown prince of—"

"I told her to call me by my name," Kieran cut in, his voice colder, more demanding, and serious than earlier. "Moreover, you are the first one to disrespect Cyan by speaking nonsense about her as if she isn't right in front of you and me. You have disrespected your classmates as well, so I don't see it a surprise to be answered in such a way by your junior who is more perspective and sense than you."

He paused and frowned as we heard snickers from some of his classmates, before shooting them a glance. The noises died down and he brought his attention back to the toad. "Do you have anything to say, Fronterra?"

He chewed on his lip, his teeth digging so hard that they began to bleed. But he uttered not a word and went back to his desk, putting his things in his bracelet. He climbed down the stairs, keeping his eyes on me the whole time. He passed by the crown prince, not bothering to bid him notice that he was leaving. Then, he walked by me and Prince Murien and gave me a glare that I reckoned was supposed to scare me. Well, it did nothing.