Numerous high pillars propped up the arched roof, and as usual, the spacious school hall was bathed in bright sunlight. The wind blew from the large lotus pond on one side, with the fragrance of lotus flowers, passing over the open hall on all sides.
On the soft blanket spread on the ground, a group of teenagers sat cross-legged, and a middle-aged scholar was handing out examination papers of parchment paper to the hands of each teenager. Most of the grades on the scroll were on the upper level.
After everyone received their own papers, they didnât read them immediately. Instead, they rolled up the parchment in their hands to cover the results, and then secretly turned their eyes to the other side.
On the other side of the more special cushion, the blond-haired little Prince sat cross-legged, head looking up, with large amber jewel-like eyes looking at a certain Priest standing in front of him.
The Priest of Shamash stood there with a piece of parchment in his hand, which seemed to be Garlanâs examination paper. However, he didnât give Garlan the test paper immediately, but frowned and stared at Garlan as if thinking about something.
The awe-inspiring and stern gaze made the teenagers who were just on the sidelines frightened, and the nearest little chubby boy became even more nervous. He looked at the frowning Ziemuer with a petrified gaze, while looking at Garlan worriedly.
Could it be that His Royal Highness Garlanâs performance this time was the worst in history?
Was that why Lord Ziemuer showed such a stern expression?
Everyone thought so nervously. For a while, the school hall was silent, and the teenagers waited for the next storm with fear.
The only child, who was in the center of the storm that was about to break out, had no nervous expression at all. It was as if he didnât feel the tense atmosphere at all. He raised his head, his big eyes blinked and looked at Ziemuerâs stern expression.
The Priest of Shamash stared at the blond-haired little Prince for a long time, and then handed over the examination paper in his hand.
Garlan took it and indifferently unraveled it in public.
Everyone took a breath of air, and saw that the grade on the paper turned out to be a âmediumâ.
Did Prince Garlan pass?
He actually âpassedâhis exam paper?!
Almost everyone couldnât believe their eyes. After all, in their weekly test for more than two months, Garlanâs test results had always been inferior, that is, he usually failed them.
Every week today, the Ziemuer would mercilessly reprimand Garlan âso they were all prepared for the Priest to be angry today.
âŠ
But, wait a minute, since His Royal Highness Garlan had rarely passed the test, why did Lord Ziemuerâs face look uglier than before?
The teenagers looked at one another for a while.
But the little fat Tarl was heartless, and didnât think so much at all. Seeing that Garlanâs grades were the same as his own, he immediately cheered.
âYour Royal Highness, weâre the same, weâre the same!â
He leaned over with joy and showed his paper to Garlan. Seeing the Princeâs paper was exactly the same grade as himself, the little stout teenager was rejoiced.
âLook, we are all medium ahââ
All the teenagers, ââŠâ
What did Prince Garlan see in this stupid chubby teenager who could only flatter?
They thought very hard to understand.
It was absolutely impossible for them to guess the reason why Garlan chose Tarl as a companion at the time was because this person was the worst of allâŠ
Hearing Tarlâs cheers, Ziemuerâs face became even more ugly.
He looked down at Garlan and said, âYour Royal Highness, knowledge can be slowly learned. We still have a long time, butâŠâ
He paused, his fierce gaze getting more intense.
âThis is the hall of learning, the place where Solgaleoâs gaze is watching. Under his gaze, fraud is absolutely not allowed!â
In the land of Aaron Landis, when every newborn was baptized, others would bless himââmay the light of Shamash bathe him forever, and may Solgaleo give him wisdom. â
Solgaleo, the god of the sky, was in charge of all knowledge in the world, the god of wisdom, and the god of learning.
It was said that his wise gaze was always watching every school hall on the earth, and the students who resorted to deceit in the school hall would be severely punished by him.
Garlan tilted his head and looked up at Ziemuer with his head up.
âYou mean I cheated?â
His eyes rolled with careful consideration. âEn, letâs do it then. Ziemuer, you can directly test me here. If I get all the answers right, can it prove that I didnât cheat?â
Seeing Garlanâs determined tone, Ziemuerâs face eased.
But the next second, his face turned black again.
Because Garlan continued, âYou know, I never cared about the results.â
The child smiled and said, âSo why should I cheat on something that I donât care about?â
It made so much sense that Priest Ziemuer was speechless.
The teenagers on the side looked at Ziemuer, who was so speechless and unable to lose his temper because of Garlanâs words. While admiring Garlan, they thought so silently in their hearts.
Glancing at the grinning child, the expressionless adult priest raised his hand and patted off the dust that had just fallen on the sleeve of his shirt.
âItâs just a passing grade, so itâs too early to be proud and complacent,â He continued coldly, âWhen you get the grades of Prince Heimos, itâs not too late to be proud.â
If it was an ordinary child who had finally attained a little achievement, he would be fainted by Ziemuerâs cold blow
However, Garlan was not an ordinary child. He blinked without showing any discouragement.
To be honest, it was very easy for him to get an excellent grade for this level of examination paper.
Just considering that it was too strange to suddenly rush from inferior class to top class like riding on a rocket, so he considered it and got a passing grade.
Iâll slowly improve in the future.
After all, he used to hide his clumsiness in order to let Ziemuer persuade King Camos to abolish his brother, but now it seemed that Ziemuer was set on that he had other qualifications and was just lazy. So the priest was full of energy and he urged him to study every day, and it seemed he was determined to grind his stubborn stone into beautiful jade.
Since this approach was useless, Garlan felt that he should give up this path of pretending to be stupid.
What was more, he used to face Ziemuer purposely like this. He pretended to be an ignorant kid who wanted to embarrass Ziemuer, and deliberately angered him⊠Now that he thought about it, his approach was simply that of a naive child, saying that he was going to deal with an annoying adult, but deep in his heart, he vaguely wanted to use this method to get the attention of the âannoying personââŠ
It turned out that the importance of this person who was like a master and a father to him had never disappeared in his heart.
âEn.â
Garlan sat cross-legged on the soft cushion, tilted his head and smiled at Ziemuer. His little appearance looked too well-behaved.
âIâll continue to work hard.â
The little Princeâs rare and well-behaved appearance made Ziemuer uncomfortable for a while. He regretted what he said just now, thinking that the Prince rarely started to work hard, he shouldnât question him but instead praise him.
Therefore, the Priest coughed slightly and said something awkwardly.
âTake it slowly. Although itâs only medium, youâve also improved.â
He went on to add another sentence.
âDonât be arrogant and be complacent. You must be on par with Prince Heimos.â
Then, he began to explain to Garlan the wrong questions on the exam paper. It was just that Ziemuer was talking, he felt something was wrong. Although the little Prince was listening obediently, he felt that something was amiss.
He glanced at his side in wonder, and suddenly understood what was wrong.
Heimos sat quietly on the other side, flipping through the scroll on his lap.
Not only did his behaviour make Ziemuer feel puzzled, the teenagers next to him also felt strange.
In the past, every time Ziemuer explained the exam papers for Garlan, Heimos would pass by and accompany Garlan. He, who was more patient with Garlan than Ziemu, would then whisper and explain it in detail to Garlan whenever Ziemuer spoke briefly or parts that were difficult to understand.
And over time, Ziemuer also acquiesced in this way.
At this moment, Heimos sat there, and everyone who felt surprised peeked at him and gossiped in a low voice.
Some caring people even discovered that this afternoon, the two Princes, Heimos and Garlan, didnât seem to have said a word when they met each other until now.
Although Ziemuer felt it was a bit strange, he was not a gossiper. After teaching Garlan, he soon left as he had some affairs to deal with.
As soon as he left, the little chubby Tarl leaned in and asked Garlan in a low voice.
âYour Royal Highness, you quarreled with Prince Heimos?â
When asked this way, Garlan subconsciously raised his eyes and glanced at Heimos, who was not far away. However, Heimos seemed to have heard what Tarl had said, and turned his head to the side at almost the same moment.
The eyes of the two suddenly collided.
Garlan didnât react for a moment, and was taken aback.
There was no expression on Hiemosâ face. He just looked at Garlan deeply, instead it was Garlan who turned his head back and looked away.
Garlan lowered his eyes, the shadow of his eyelashes fell on his cheeks. He pursed his lower lip and loosened it again.
He softly replied to Tarl, âThere is nothing not to quarrel about. Iâm just not familiar with him.â
Although his voice was soft, in the quiet hall of learning, almost all the young people were watching him with their breaths held up and their ears erected.
Naturally, those closer to Garlan heard this sentence. Although it seemed to be an understatement, it was like a big rock smashed into the calm lake, causing an uproar among the teenagers.
Although they didnât dare to say anything clearly, they all exchanged eye contact with one another. Some people even got together and whispered.
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Heimos didnât seem to hear these words at all. He sat still reading the scroll on his lap with a calm expression.
It was just that no one saw it. When Garlan said that sentence, his fingers on the parchment paused slightly.
There was a slight pause that no one could see.
On the surface, the school hall seemed to be quiet, but undercurrents were raging, and peopleâs hearts were unsteady.
It was just that the little chubby guy who couldnât read the atmosphere at all didnât feel the monstrous waves that surged among the teenagers. He just thought, if His Royal Highness Garlan said that he was not familiar with Prince Huimos, then who was Royal Highness Garlan familiar with?
Of course it was Tarl, who knows him the best! If one were to know, he was specially appointed by His Highness to accompany him!
When he thought of this, the little chubby teenager was even more happy. He approached Garlan and his chubby face was like a chick pecking rice, and said, âYes, thatâs right, Your Royal Highness is not familiar with him. He always deliberately behaves better than your highness, so that you are reprimanded by Lord Ziemuer.â
He happily patted the fat little chest and promised, âIâm different. Iâll never perform better than your Highness. No matter what, Iâll never surpass Your Highness!â
Garlan, ââŠâ
Do you want to be better than me, but donât have that ability, okay?
He murmured like this from the bottom of his heart, looked up at the sky, rolled the book, and stood up.
âIâm going back.â
âOkay, Your Highness. See you tomorrow~~â
The little stout teenager who was still immersed in rounding Garlanâs words to make up his mind into âHis Royal Highness said he and I are the most familiarâ waved goodbye to Garlanâs back happily.
He didnât notice at all that when Garlan got up and left, not long after, Heimos, who seemed to be immersed in a scroll, suddenly rolled up the parchment, put it away, and got up and left.
When the two Princes were still there, the hall was quiet, and now when the Princes had left, with a bang, the whole hall exploded. Now there was no need to make eye contact, no more whispering. Everyone went to openly gossip with those they were close to.
They used to gather around Prince Garlan to ostracise Prince Heimos, but later because Prince Garlan didnât target Heimos much, and the two Princes seemed to have a good relationship, they stopped doing this.
But nowâŠâŠ
If the relationship between the two Princes had soured, then they must change their attitude as soon as possible.
âŠ
âGarlan.â
Garlan had just walked to the side of the long steps when the familiar voice suddenly sounded behind him.
He turned his head and, not surprisingly, saw Heimos standing behind him.
The young teenager with golden-red eyes looked at him deeply, opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, and his right hand was also stretched out towards him at the same time, as if he wanted to hold his hand.
However, just as Heimos was about to grab his wrist, the other hand suddenly inserted itself in the diagonally, blocking his hand.
It was a big white hand with thick calluses on its fingertips and tigerâs mouth.
Heimos raised his eyes, and what he saw was the one-eyed knight who always followed Garlan.
The knight who didnât know when he appeared stood in between him and Garlan, and the raised left hand resisted his right hand extended to Garlan.
âKaijos.â
Heimos called out the knightâs name.
The one-eyed knight blocked his master behind his tall body and stretched out his hand to separate the distance between Heimos and Garlan.
âPlease forgive my offense, Prince Heimos.â
He continued, âBut this is an order from my Master, please forgive me.â
ââŠOrder?â
Kaijos stared at Heimos, and even if there was only one left eye, the knightâs gaze was so sharp that it was impossible to directly look at him.
âYes,â he said, staring at Heimos with that one eye. âPrince Garlan doesnât want you to be near him.â
Heimosâ pupils sharply shrank.
He didnât speak, just looked at Garlan behind Kaijos.
The child was leaning on his side, mostly blocked by the knight in front of him, only the small half of his face could be seen. His lips were slightly pursed, his eyes dropped, his gaze fell in the air, and he didnât even look at him.
Kaijos said that Garlan didnât want him to be near him.
Heimos looked at Garlan, his golden-red eyes seemed to be disappearing little by little. Something that existed deep in his eyes, at this time, disappeared little by little with the passage of time.
His pupils, which had contracted sharply just now, slowed down and calmed down little by little.
It is not so much calmness restored, as indifference has been restored.
âI just want to ask the reason why you hate me.â
Heimos said, his eyes were indifferent.
âBut now it seems that it is no longer necessary.â
Heimos had always been a man with pride.
This proud teenager would never allow others to trample on his dignity.
At this moment, he looked at Garlan, his eyes no longer had the softness towards this child in the past, but became very calm, as if looking at a stranger.
The corners of his lips raised slightly, and he couldnât tell whether it was a mockery or something else.
At this moment, he seemed to have changed back to the boy who had just arrived in the royal city. He was calm, deep, and arrogant. He could not see anyone but himself.