The Reborn Magus and His Prince

Chapter 23

Once one of his problems was solved, Yulian became lax at his mission much to Ignis's displeasure. He coaxed the fallen god by reasoning to him that there's nothing they could do but wait patiently. All good things come to those who wait as they said. Ignis relented with a frown and as much as a flimsy excuse that was, Yulian had a point. Thus, the excused person spent his days in the academy in peace.

Too peaceful much he says.

The constant mocking gazes from his classmates had ceased. Given that the mohawk had already been warned by his father and whenever they met, he would instantly go the other way. But his other classmates, whenever he entered the classroom everyone would quiet down. They treat him like a professor and would solemnly sit on their desk. Even at breakfast, he would notice that the spaces around his table would miraculously clear up.

Are they playing a prank on him? He stared hard at the familiar faces that he could lay his eyes on but what he had seen in them were only curiosity and fear whenever his eyes meets theirs before quickly avoiding him. Vastly different from those haughty attitudes when he first came here.

Yulian once said this matter in passing to Emilia and ask her if this had happened to her too. In which Emilia nearly choked with her food when she heard his sincere question. She had an inkling of what he was referring to.

She did not know why but ever since her roommate made her read those novels with graphic images of two males, her views in life suddenly went 180 degrees upside down. And those rumors about her friend and the prince, and seeing them together made her cheeks flamed and her heart which she thought had frozen, suddenly beats faster. Her mind can't help but replace those graphic images with the faces of Yulian and the prince.

She offered an apology to her friend and the prince in her heart.

But like the rest of the students, Emilia also believed that the two had an intimate relationship especially a new rumor circulated how the prince would visit the other in his room at night cementing their 'not so open' relationships status.

So when asked about the bizarre change in his surroundings, she answered him with an 'I don't know' in her most straight face and continued eating.

Yulian had a glimpse of something different in the eyes of Frost. Something that brought chills to his spine. Did she join with the prank, now that she's getting friends?

But despite his suspicions, he still believes Emilia was a nice girl. Besides, the chill that he felt tells him that there's no danger coming from her. It was more like a creepy sensation that makes him want to cover his chest with his hands and protect his purity.

For a week, Yulian was on guard, watching his back for their game to come. However, nothing happened.

Confused and paranoid, he consulted Alex about his problem one night during their dinner.

He narrated the same thing that he said to Frost.

Yulian narrowed his keen eyes as he saw how Alex paused when he finished his story. Almost the same reaction with Frost less the choking. Something akin to guilt crossed the prince's eyes.

Now what? Is he in with the prank too?

A snort followed by a chortle came from the other side of the dining table in Alex's room.

This time, the twins were there too, claiming (mostly Leo who recovered his enthusiasm) that they're lonely without Alex joining their dinner.

Yulian guessed that before him, these three friends mostly spent their time together. Sometimes, he wondered why everything came naturally for the both of them to casually divert from their usual routine to accommodate each others'.

"You mean, you have no idea?" the having fun Leo had weird twinkling in his eyes. "The whole academy's ground been talking about it and the person involve don't know. Even it reached Alex's ears."

The person involved cast him a confused glance then to Alex. "What I don't know? What kind of a joke is this?"

Alex being questioned could not help but glare at the culprit who put him on the hot seat. Leo pretended not to notice and turned his attention to his twin who was eating in silence amidst the conversation.

"Ignore Leo. No one's trying to prank you."

Alex tried to feed him a slice of fruit to divert his attention. Though Yulian had accepted the offered fruit, Alex knew he failed at trying to coax him. The way he scrutinized him while chewing his offering.

Under the pressure of his stares, the prince's resolve melted, and sighed in defeat.

"There really is no prank. They acted that way towards you is because..." he sighed again and chose his words carefully. "everyone believes that you and I are in a relationship."

Yulian widened his eyes. "Relationship? What kind of relationship?"

He kind of had an idea what Alex meant but it's too absurd!

"You know, this kind of relationship." Leo on the side couldn't help but insert himself into the two. He showed Yulian his two hands touching together and made a kissing sound.

"Ugh. Could you stop with that vulgar... thing your doing. We're in front of the food." Luke could not keep his silence anymore and reprimanded his brother. "What vulgar? You mean this?" He showed Luke the vulgar 'thing' he was doing with his hands.

Luke rolled his eyes and avoided looking at it. He wiped his mouth with the napkin and stood up. "I'm done eating. Please excuse my rudeness but I have something to do." He said this to Alex for his permission as per custom which the prince gave his sign of approval. Luke bowed and nodded at Yulian before exiting the room.

"Haha!" Leo laughed when his twin disappeared. "That virgin, it's just a simple kissing."

However, when he returned his attention to those who gave him more amusement, he was met with two pairs of eyes that seemed to say, 'Aren't you going to follow your brother and get the f**k out?'

"Alright, alright," he raised his hands in defeat and stood up. "I'll see myself out. You enjoy your date."

"We are not dating!" Yulian shouted at his back but that guy turned a deaf ear and waved at them before following his brother.

"Don't stress yourself out and just eat." Alex continued his method of pacifying him by feeding him anything he could grab with his fork. In which every time, Yulian would open his mouth to accept them.

After several bites of a different kind of food being feed to him, he settled down and calmly ask Alex. "What in gods' words would they think that we are in 'that' relationship?"

"I'm not really sure. I've only heard about the rumors from Leo."

"Ha... these people have a wild and crazy imagination. They should spend their time studying instead of these nonsense things!"

"Calm down. These kinds of rumors would eventually die down over time. For now, just ignore them." Alex started feeding him again. "Open your mouth."

And with that, the two dense people continued their game. Alex would feed Yulian whenever his tension would rise by just thinking about those rumors. The two did not even bother to think that this kind of action and their past exchanges were the sparks of rumors.

Over some time, Yulian had gotten used to those 'highly over imagination' stares as he called it. And just like Alex had said, the rumors and the attention to him began to wane.

He could walk to the hallway with no one going in the other directions when seeing him nor everyone treating him like a respectable professor when entering the classroom. They would just casually glance at him before returning to what they were doing.

The only good side that came out of this event was some of his peers started talking to him. Though, not on a friendship level, just some small and meaningless talk that he immediately sensed that they only approached him because he was close with Alex. Still, he did not care as long as he knows their intention and do not cross their line.

Yulian had an impression that the rumors had died down and everything went back to normal. What he did not know was that everyone had fully accepted and got used to the fact that the prince had fallen in love and got together with a lowborn. And this kind of rumor without knowing by the two-person involve traveled outside the academy and made its way to the upper circle of the aristocrats.

And the day of the birth celebration of Marquis Stewart came. The people who wished to attend had doubled when words got out that Prince Alex had expressed his intention to attend the party much to the delight of the marquis and a certain someone who hid in the shadow of the manor.

Everyone was enthusiastic that day, not with the reason that it was the host's birthday but because the prince had brought his rumored lover!