Chapter Three

On the first day of the competition, all five hundred students from all the schools in Obsidian chosen to enter the competition were crowded into the courtyard where food vendors had set up stalls to pass out breakfast for the day. Rosé was sitting with Jennie and a few students from Amethysia, enjoying a screambled egg and goat cheese sandwich with some french fries. Some of the people at their table had recognized Rosé and she spent a good amont of time giving out high-fives and fist bumps. At least they thought she was a badass for this little stunt. If the headmaster found out, Rosé probably would be high-fiving her face with her mother's shoe instead. 

"Miss Lalisa Manoban." A sharp voice snapped just at the moment of Rosé's thoughts. A cold chill was sent down her spine and she knew who it was. She'd been dreading seeing the short thin woman here. Rosé could almost visually see Teacher Jeong standing behind her with a whip in one hand and a detention note in the other. She had an inkling the teacher would find her here at this event, but she prayed to the heavens that the woman would be left behind to take care of the other students at Amethysia. Apparently the gods didn't hear her plea. 

Rosé lowered her head slightly and without looking up from her seat, turned her body to face the owner of the snappy voice. "Teacher Jeong-" Rosé cleared and prepared her biggest and finest smile. 

"Save it." The teacher snapped again and Rosé closed automatically. "Your parents will be getting a phone call from me very soon, Lalisa." 

"But Teacher Jeong!" Jennie began to protest. 

"Zip it!" The woman glared at Jennie. 

"But-" Rosé began to speak again, but resorted to using the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster up. "I just wanted to watch the competitions. No teachers at the academy likes me enough to send me here. And not to mention my lack of powers my whole entire life-" 

"Miss Rosé Park, you know the rules." Teacher Jeong said simply and gave her one last look. "I am heading over to talk to Headmaster Kim, and then we will see if you will be sent home or your parents will pick you up." With that, the teacher gathered her robe and took her leave. 

Rosé groans and makes a face, slouching down in her seat. Not that she wasn't in the wrong for sneaking into the competition, but Rosé wholeheartedly felt like the chosing system for the competitors were unnecessarily biased. So what if she couldn't weild any magic? Why should she have to wait for a teacher to let her join? 

"She's so stinkin annoying." Jennie scrunched her nose, watching the teacher leave before turning back to Rosé. "You okay?" 

Rosé sighed and smiled, shrugging. "It was great here while it lasted. We had a good run boys." Rosé grinned at the people around her table, giving her apologetic looks. 

There was a sudden commotion near where the girls were sitting, and Jennie nearly let out a loud audible screech as they realized who was walking towards them. Prince Seungyoon and a total of four guards were dragging around a circle of onlookers wherever they went. It must have been annoying, but the Prince didn't look like he was hating it. He was smiling, a bit meekly, but spoke loudly and well. 

"Will you be needing a guide or something for the next few days?" Someone asked the Prince. 

"A guide? What for?" The Prince's voice was smooth but like velvet and had a raspy edge. Rosé could not pry her eyes away from where he was standing, a few tables from them. 

"To show you around? Maybe to talk to you about Amethysia?" 

"Ah, right. I would like to know more about this special school of yours. Hmm." Prince Seungyoon scanned the area and his eyes landed right on Rosé. He smiled and made his way over to her table. It took Rosé a few seconds to realize he was actually walking towards them. "Hello students. My name is Prince Seungyoon, will you be my guide for the next few days?" His smile didn't fade as he leaned downwards slightly towards Rosé. After the three seconds it took for Rosé and the rest of her table to realize they were just approached by the prince, they all stood up to greet the prince. Respectful greetings from civilian to prince was thrown out the window when you weren't given more than ten seconds to realize the situation. 

"I- uh-" Rosé stuttered. opened and closed as if she wanted to say something, but awestruck, nothing came out. 

"Great. Thank you so much. I want to hear all about Amethysia." The Prince held a hand out to Rosé. "Your name, love?" 

Rosé made a quick glance at Jennie but she was just as stricken. "Uh- um. Lisa. Lalisa Manoban." She took the Prince's hand cautiously. 

"A pleasure to meet you Lisa." The Prince shakes her hand with a gentle smile. "I apologize for taking up your lunch time. Are you finished?" 

"N-yes." Rosé wanted to slap herself. Why would her words not come out right now? Her big mouth would never shut up at home or in school. But here? Why now? Why with this gorgeous creature of a man standing before her. "Yes. I'm finished." 

"Great." He offered an arm to her and she considered wiping her hands on her own dress before taking his arm, but decided against it. She took a step towards him and wrapped an arm around his. Before she could make another move, he had tugged her arm close to his and leaned in to whisper, "Hold on tight." With that, he nearly power walked right out of the venue. After losing almost half of the crowd half-running, the Prince took Rosé's hand and linked their fingers, making it easier for the two to make a run for a clear area. She hadn't realized she was blushing until they found their way into an empty part of the courthouse, surrounded by rose bushes. She panted and tried to catch her breath, but didn't dare to let go of the Prince's hand. She was already in deep trouble for coming here, and now this. 

After the Prince made sure nobody else was following them, he apologized and let go. "Are you alright?" He looked at her, a hand patting her back. 

"Ha- yeah- yes. Yes I'm good. Just a little shaken up." She looked up and around the area they had found themselves. There was a small fountain with a stone angel holding a dove statue at the center. Water was flowing peacefully from the angel's hands. Rosé thanked the heavens for the bushes, covering this area from the main courtyard. They must have walked a good few couple hundred yards from the main event area. Beyond where they were was just forest. "It must be -" Rosé mentally groaned and tried to speak again. "It must be inconvenient for you with all these people following you around." 

The Prince chuckled and nodded, finding a seat at the fountain edge. "It can be at times. But I understand." 

"You do?" Rosé blinked, thinking if she should join the Prince at his seat or not. Probably not. She wandered around the area, touching the white rose buds starting to bloom on the bushes. 

"Yes of course. When there's someone you're supposed to look up to, it's hard not to want to follow them around." He shrugged. Rosé thought she heard a tone of arrogance in his voice, but he smiled sadly. "My father, was that to me." 

The amount of times Rosé had already mentally smacked herself would have possibly given her actual psychic powers. She mentally groaned at herself again for even daring to judge this perfection of a man. "Ah...I see. I never thought a prince would be so..." She trailed off, looked at him, and when his eyes caught hers, she quickly looked away. "Um. Relatable. So relatable." 

The Prince laughed, "Well, princes are also just human." He said. "We also know and feel the same things as everyone else." Rosé swore she saw a certain sadness in his eyes as he glanced towards his guards who had been standing wait across from them in the garden area. "So Lisa. You're from Amethysia?" 

"Mm-hm. I'm a fourth year student of Amethysia." Rosé smiled, her eyes lighting up at the mention of her school. 

"So you're about twenty-one years old?" The Prince asked, and Rosé nodded. "Great. I'm three years older than you. You can call me Seungyoon Oppa*." 

Rosé blinked and immediately shook her head fiercely. "No no, I wouldn't dare, Prince." Rosé bowed, lowering her eyes. Something about this prince made Rosé feel so comfortable. As if she would dare to call him such an endearing and close term. As if they had already known each other and were very close. He was sweet and spoke ot her like you would to someone you trusted. Little did he know Rosé was already lying to him about her identity. 

"You are to call me Seungyoon Oppa." He teased, "I will you to." 

"I- You're putting me in a very tough spot, Prince Seungyoon." Rosé panicked, not looking up at the Prince but rather biting her lip anxiously. If the others ever heard her call him oppa, they would until her grave. 

"I'm only kidding." The Prince chuckled, "You may call me that in private." As if he expected to hear from Rosé after this event. Rosé already had plans to go home, bleach her hair, change her identity, and never be seen again at this point. "So tell me about Amethysia, Lisa." 

She thought he'd never ask. Rosé sat down on the soft grass by the rose bushes and crossed her legs, taking in a deep breath of the rose scent. The Prince came over to join her, and she reluctantly folded her arms and legs inwards, as to not accidentally bump the Prince. He sat knee to knee next to her though, and listened to her speak about Amethysia with utmost interest. She found herself leaning away from him as he leaned in towards her at very important topics they discussed. She was quite literally just so awed by his presence that it almost made her uncomfortable. He was uncomfortably handsome and charming and sweet. It felt like hours had passed as they continued to talk on and on about the academy. How the headmaster ran the school. Who of the teachers Rosé loved and who she didn't like as much. Where the different cliques of students hang out during breaks or afterschool. If the dorms were comfortable or whether she preferred living at home with her parents. 

When the Prince's guard finally cleared his throat and informed the two that the first game would be beginning, the Prince seemed like he didn't want to leave the conversation. But nevertheless, the two of them made their way back to the site. 

"Thank you for being my guide, Lisa. Will you watch the game with me?" The Prince smiled at Rosé and they joined the crowd of people making their way into the auditorium.

Just at that moment, Jennie came running up to Rosé and the Prince. "Ros-" Jennie stopped, noticing the Prince. "Ah- Lisa!" She corrected herself and bowed to the Prince. He smiled at her too and Rosé eyed her friend before turning to the Prince. 

"We have assinged seats, and I'll be sitting with Amethysia. Thank you though Prince Seungyoon. Please enjoy the games." Rosé mustered and bowed to the Prince before taking Jennie's arm and heading towards the Amethysia area of the auditorium. As soon as they were ten feet away from the Prince, Jennie let out a screech and started shaking Rosé's arm excitedly. 

"So? Soo? Tell me everything!" 



The girls basically missed Proper Uses of Crystals and Gemstones, because Jennie would not stop talking and asking Rosé questions about the Prince. Rosé could barely hear the contestants at the center stage of the auditorium, because Jennie was going off in her right ear. Rosé was feeling the same exact way Jennie was, but instead of going on and on talking about it, Rosé was mostly dumbstruck. She could only give Jennie some of the details of her day with the Prince because she also couldn't remember most of it. It was like a dream to her. As if she was visited by some kind of fairy godmother and she'd slept through the entire ordeal. 

The third group of participants were beginning their evalutation of the crystals and gemstones that were layed out before them on a table on stage. Rosé felt slightly faint and let Jennie know she was heading to the bathroom. Jennie, who had began a conversation with the person next to her now, nodded and asked if she wanted her to come with. Rosé shook her head promptly and stood up, sliding out of the row they were sitting at and made her way to the exit of the auditorium. Her head felt light. Probably because she wasn't able to finish her breakfast that morning and she'd always had sticks and skin for a body. Her parents had taken her to the hospital once when she was younger because she was fainting everywhere. They had thought someone had put a fainting spell on her, but it turned out that she was just very iron deficient. She could already feel herself lose her breath and could feel her heart thumping loudly in her chest. That was always a bad sign for her. When she could hear her heart thumping and feel the beat against the skin on her chest, she knew she was in trouble. 

Rosé looked towards the exit doors. They were pinned open and had sunlight streaming inside the dark auditorium. She was nearly to the doors when she noticed there was someone standing right next to the doors on the back wall. Heaving a breath, she squinted to see who it was. She had hoped it was a teacher or someone who could help her grab a seat and maybe some water. She squinted her eyes again at the figure of the person, and raised a hand towards them. At a closer and very blurry inspection, there looked to be a something shiny or sparkling at the top of the figure's head, like a crown. 

The moment right before fainting was a scary thing. One could never know where his or her feet or head would land. One could never know if their arms would help shield his or her head from the blow of hitting the cold hard ground. Rosé expected to hear a loud thump or crash as her vision blurred even more. She felt only the weight of her body drop from her consciousness and the arms of a stranger before everything went black. 



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*Oppa: Endearing term for "older brother".