Josette stood close by as she observed even the smallest actions done by the Healer to her lady – her hawk eyes didn’t even seem to blink. The maid’s intense gaze wasn’t unnoticed by the Light user and Roseline as the air certainly did feel to be suffocating after a while.

“You’re burning up a little but that’s normal for a fire user, especially if they’ve enchanted a spell,” the Healer spoke as he removed his hand from Roseline’s forehead. His hands gently took Roseline’s arms as he felt for her pulse, checking his watch as he did so, “Your heartbeat is quicker as well.”

He flips through Roseline’s recent health charts but found that nothing was irregular, just the fact that the lady was recovering at a faster rate than what the Healers had assumed. She wasn’t supposed to be able to use magic without drastic health consequences for a few more weeks but here she was, in good health after pulling off a rather difficult spell from what the noble lady’s maid had brief him upon arrival. He could only describe it to be a miracle of sorts – her surviving the horrid drowning incident was already a miracle by itself.

“Everything seems to be looking just fine so I won’t hold you up here for long. I’ll fix her up in a moment. May I, Lady Roseline?”

“Of course. Go ahead,” Roseline nods her head as she listens to him mutter a soft spell before a warm glow of light emerged from his hands. The light seemed to travel from his fingertips to Roseline’s body before it dimmed and disappeared. In just a blink of an eye, Roseline felt much better.

She didn’t feel light-headed or warm anymore and the previous aching of her muscles also seemed to disappear. Truly, light users were a blessing to the world that she was forever grateful for.

“Thank heavens for Healers, I don’t know what we’d do without you,” she quickly jumps back to her feet as she feels a new surge of energy rushing through her veins. She’s eager to continue her classes, worried over how much material she’s missed since being absent but Josette doesn’t seem all too thrilled to her lady back to class.

Josette hesitates for a moment, knowing better than to speak out of place in all her years of serving Lady Roseline but for the lady’s well-being – she tosses that rule out the door.

“Forgive me for speaking, Milady but perhaps you should rest for a while before returning to your lessons,” she tilts her head downwards, bowing a full 90 degrees as she waits for the expected lashing out from the lady. She closes her eyes, her ears getting ready to deal with one of Lady Roseline’s infamous screeches.

“Did I worry you that much, Josette?”

The maid lifts her head up and sees Lady Roseline’s soft smile. With how Lady Roseline was looking at her full of admiration and appreciation, it nearly catches her off guard. Really, the change in Lady Roseline’s attitude was something the maid could not get herself used to. She had yet to pass on her new observations to the Beaumont Brothers since she assumed the sudden change was from shock but seeing her now… Josette wasn’t sure what could have caused Lady Roseline’s drastic change.

“I appreciate the concern but I do feel fine. It’s all thanks to our blessed Healer’s wonderful healing,” she gestures to the man in front of her dressed in the usual white suit that came with being a certified Healer.

“Please, Lady Roseline. Your kind words are too flattering for a mere Healer as myself,” he stands up from his seat and heads back to his desk, “But I do agree with your maid. Some rest would do you well. Just some friendly advice.”

Roseline thinks for a moment but still, she’s already made up her mind to return back to her lessons as soon as she was healed as she couldn’t afford to miss more lessons than she already had. Plus, she wasn’t fond of the idea of laying around while thinking too much about her own death – going to classes and being busy with lessons would be a good diversion.

“Thank you for your advice but I’d prefer if I was to return to my usual routine,” Roseline slightly bows as way to show her appreciation and thanks for his help, “I would be delighted to know the name of the Healer before me.”

He waves her off, fixing his spectacles with a chuckle, “It’s Aeson, Lady Roseline, and please – your words are too kind. I’m doing nothing more than what God intended me to do. There’s no greater pleasure than to see that I’m able to take away someone’s pain even if it is momentarily.”

“Sir Aeson-“

He has to stop himself from chuckling in front of the lady. He puts his hand up to stop her words, “Just Aeson is good enough, Lady Roseline. We’re acquaintances as of now so there’s no need for such formalities.”

The dazzling gray eyes that stare back at her curved into soft crescents as he smiles. The golden hair that’s tied up in a neat ponytail seemed to be shining as he sits down just where the sunlight seemed to enter the room. He looked even more angelic that Roseline was sure she would have gotten a nosebleed if she weren’t immune to godly looks thanks to her older brothers.

There’s a soft blush on her cheeks as she answers him with a smile, “Then I’d expect you to do the same while addressing me, Aeson.”

It’s not the answer he expected to hear coming from a famous name in the noble circle but still, he doesn’t think much of it.

“Of course, Roseline. I pray that you’ll be in good health for the rest of your day.”

Roseline smiles at him as he bows at her when she’s leaving with her maid. Aeson maintains his position until he hears the door click on their way out before he sits back down, taking out the file he had managed to hid earlier before the pair entered.

Inside of the file was a picture of Roseline and an envelope with a letter from an old friend of his who was asking for a simple favor. All he could do after reading the letter was sigh – wondering what he was supposed to do next now. He can’t help but feel more intrigued about the famous lady as he leans back into his seat.

“Ah, Lady Roseline.”

The teacher turned around just in the middle of his lesson, a book in his hand while he drew a diagram on the board. Even the other students in the class seemed to stop midway through their writing when Roseline suddenly appeared.

“Pardon me for my tardiness,” her voice is soft and low, not wanting to attract to much attention considering she had appeared in the middle of the lesson. “Please continue on with the lesson. No need to take mind of me,” she tells the teacher, quietly but quickly making her way to her seat.

“O-Of course,” the teacher clears his throat, turning back to the blackboard, “As I was saying, summoning Fire spells from the third rank require…“

As the teacher continues on, Roseline seats herself at the back of the class – different from her usual seat at the very front of the class. Even the other students seemed to watch her with curious eyes, especially the noble ladies that were used to sitting with Roseline. They tried to get her attention but it seemed that the lady wasn’t interested in sitting with them at the moment.

The empty spots at the back of the class were usually for those who were deemed to be ‘outcast’ to the rest of the class. These would usually be people who came from commoner background, low titled nobles with little influence or those who had weak magic in their affinity. The old Roseline would have rarely grouped herself with these people in order to maintain her reputation and likeness by other high ranking noble families but things were different now.

Searching for an empty seat, her eyes finally land on one near a girl who looked very familiar to Roseline though she couldn’t quite recall her name.

“Excuse me, I’ll be sitting over here if that’s alright with you,” she places down her books on the table as the other student nods her head, not really saying much. Roseline herself doesn’t try to dig in to figure out the name of this student, for now, switching her attention to flipping through her textbook until she landed on the page they were on. She doesn’t seem to be aware, or maybe she didn’t want to care, of the stares that were directed at her.

“Are you guys seeing this?”

Alex whispers under her breath to her seatmate who sneaked a glance at Roseline’s new seating. Her seatmate only shrugs and turns their attention to the teacher. The princess frowns at the lack of response but doesn’t keep pressing for an answer.

“She’s acting so… weird,” Alex mutters under her breath, folding her arms before she rests her head on the table. A yawn left her lips, her eyelids getting heavier with each passing second as the sound of the teacher’s voice began to drown out. In less than a few minutes, Alex was out cold – the book in front of her acting as a wall to prevent the teacher from noticing the princess was napping. Taking a nap was better than filling her thoughts about Roseline and to Alex, she didn’t know what exactly should she think about Roseline’s stunt earlier.

“Let’s just sleep it off for now…”

“Alex? Alex?”

“So noisy…”

Alex groans at the voice that interrupted her slumber.

“Alex, everyone left for break-”

“Shush…”

“…Alex, there’s no one left except me and you.”

It’s at that sentence does Alex’s brain finally wakes up from its groggy state as she recognizes the voice that had been trying to wake her up. She sits up straight almost immediately, rubbing her eyes as she focused on the face in front of her.

“Roseline?”

Roseline takes a step closer to examine Alex’s face. She was worried that Alex was mentally exhausted from the incident earlier, “Are you alright? You slept through the entire class and even the teacher gave up on waking you up. Do you need to see the Healer?”

Alex’s eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared at Roseline’s nice behavior. Her surprise turned into suspicion as her eyes narrowed, staring at Roseline longer than what people would be comfortable with. Though Alex was the one who seemed to be needing some rest, she was more worried on Roseline. The princess places her head on the lady’s forehead.

“I-Is something wrong?”

 “Yeah, you,” Alex scoffs at the sight of Roseline being all flabbergasted and nervous, “You’re… being all weird and nice.”

Roseline didn’t know what to answer since what could she even tell Alex? Explaining everything would just make her sound crazy and the last thing she would like was to have her sent to the Holy Church and be ‘exorcised’. So, she just gives off a slight laugh and hoped that Alex wouldn’t pry any further for now.

And thankfully, she did.

“Geez, as controversial as it sounds, I think I kind of like you better when you were too self-centered,” her eyes start looking around the classroom to find it was empty. Even her usual classmates didn’t seem to linger around and wait for her to get up – on