The handsome man stared, momentarily entranced, at Wendy before him. Her eyes brimmed with laughter, and her exquisite face seemed to glow faintly in the sunlight.
Just then, a hand reached over and patted his shoulder, followed by a voice that sounded somewhat displeased:
"What are you looking at?"
The handsome man snapped back to his senses and bowed to the person behind him:
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
The newcomer was none other than the eldest prince of the Chris Empire, heir to that vast empire. The prince leaned down and whispered into the handsome man's ear:
"Don't entertain any thoughts you shouldn't. She's mine."
The handsome man's face alternated between pale and flushed, but he said nothing more.
Wendy frowned. "Saliba, what are you doing here?"
Saliba, the imperial prince, smiled, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth:
"Naturally, I came to meet my future little brother."
As he spoke, he tried to slip an arm around Wendy's slender waist, only to catch empty air.
Wendy dodged Saliba's hand, her voice tinged with disgust. "Don't overstep!"
Saliba seemed unconcerned. Just then, a derisive laugh came from nearby:
"What year is he in? He actually needs people to carry him up the mountain."
After the speaker finished, a chorus of mocking laughter rose around him.
They had originally followed along to get a look at the "genius" whose reputation had spread far and wide since childhood, only to stumble upon such an amusing scene.
The others turned to look in the same direction and saw Eros on the steps below, seated in a sedan chair as four men carried him up the mountain.
Eros was rather speechless himself. Looking at the four fellows who had stopped in their tracks, he said:
"Ignore them. Let's keep going."
Bru and the other three looked uneasily at the crowd above. Every one of them wore splendid, luxurious clothes.
They were obviously children of the nobility. To be honest, having so many young nobles staring at them made the four feel rather intimidated.
Saliba couldn't help giving a mocking chuckle as well. "He needs people to carry him just to get up a mountain? How embarrassing."
"All of you, shut up!" Wendy snapped angrily, then hurried down the steps.
The mocking laughter stopped abruptly, and everyone present exchanged bewildered looks.
Seeing Wendy racing down from above, Eros patted Bru on the shoulder:
"Buddy, you can put me down now."
Bru froze for a moment before coming to his senses. "Oh, right!"
He then lowered Eros to the ground. By then, Wendy had reached them, and she spoke with a hint of reproach:
"Why didn't you wait for me to come down and get you?"
She had just been about to head down the steps, never expecting her little brother to arrive so early.
Eros gave her a sidelong glance. "How was I supposed to know you'd come down? You never told me there was such a long staircase into the academy."
Wendy's pretty face flushed with embarrassment. That really was her fault. Mainly, she had thought it was only six thousand steps, hardly anything important, so she hadn't mentioned it.
But she had overlooked the fact that Eros was unwell, and she hadn't expected him to travel without servants this time.
Embarrassed or not, she still needed to thank the people who had helped her little brother. She turned to Bru and the other three, bowed to them, and said softly:
"Thank you."
Seeing such an exquisite face up close made Bru and the other three blush. They hastily waved their hands. "N-no, no need to thank us!" They even stumbled over their words.
Eros, meanwhile, simply held out his hand. "Give me two hundred gold pounds."
Wendy didn't ask what he needed the money for. She immediately took two banknotes worth one hundred gold pounds each from her little bag and placed them in Eros's hand.
Eros held the banknotes out to Bru and patted his shoulder with his other hand:
"Thanks, buddy. This is what we agreed on earlier."
Bru glanced at Wendy, then at the two banknotes in Eros's hand, and found himself hesitating.
[This is a supernatural world where individual fighting strength matters. Don't apply the standards of historical Europe.]
[A lot of you keep saying things like Western royalty was kept in check by the nobility, or that nobles banded together and had royals beheaded.]
[But that was the real world. Historical Europe never had anyone who could smash an entire country to pieces with one hand.]
[The royal family here can.]
Before you continue