Chapter 54

54 Shadow and Obsession

Amaris stared into Justice’s eyes, and whispered, “The Arcana Tome, that is your answer.”

“The book of forbidden spell? Please tell me that...”

“Yes!” Yet, Amaris cut his words, before he couldn’t even finish, “That’s exactly what I said, you need to find the arcana tome. You will find your answer to the bewitched spell inside it.”

A bit annoyed by her other interruption, a frown came into the crown prince’s face, “and what about another one of my questions? Why do you have a sudden interest in Anne?”

“Why not? A girl from a secluded village has a particular color of hair and a silver pass recipient.” Said Amaris. Justice can see amusement in her eyes.

“Somehow, the answered wasn’t convincing enough for me,” Justice said to the chief alchemist with gritted teeth.

“Yet, somehow, you’re trying to avoid the girl but still wanted to know any of her d*mn business!” Amaris reciprocated with more sarcasm inside every word.

A cold gaze goes into Amaris. A harsh tone came from the crown prince. “I want to protect her.”

Amaris scoffed, she challenge the cold gaze that came from Justice with her own flare in her eyes, “Protect her from who? Her bullies? Well, I must say you haven’t had a good job doing that.”

.....

“What do you say so?”

“And you said that you want to protect her, yet you failed to notice how she walks in limp and full of bruises on her elbow and knees.” Said Amaris with a trace of bitterness in her voice.

“F*ck! I never noticed. I... I try so hard to avert my gaze. That’s why I noticed your carriage, and you looking at Anne from afar.” A regret came from the crown prince. “I was a fool. Why did the four of us make those agreements in the first place?”

Before Henry and Vale go to Gaftan, they have made an agreement to be as far as they could from Anne, until the four of them could figure out what to do with the spell. Somehow, after a lot of thought, the decision wasn’t a good one.

“You can always back down from a bad agreement, all of you. I have to tell you now, going away from her will never work.” Amaris tried to convince him. She even held his hand to calm him down.

He does agree to a certain degree, “Yes, pushing her away will going to be hurtful for Anne. We are constantly in Anne’s face, and for us to ignore her, is cruel from our end.”

“Finally, you nobles need to learn these words, common sense.”

Laughing at Amaris’s joke, He look into her and saw a motherly figure on her, which reminded him of his own mother. Tough exterior with a soft heart.

“Thank you, chief Amaris, appreciate your suggestion.”

Amaris gave him a warm smile. “The pleasure is mine, your majesty.”

“Although you never answered my second question.” Said Justice, stubbornly at the chief alchemist.

“The answer is still no... For now.” Answered Amaris, teasing the crown prince a bit.

Let out a sigh. Justice put the caftea cup back on the table and excused himself from Amaris. “Fair enough. I know I can trust you enough as the chief alchemist. You would never hurt her.”

“Yes, I do promise you, my test is about magica leveling test.”

Justice stopped at that moment, a frown came to his face. “We already have a magica test kit, and it was more simple and faster than using the alchemy test.”

“I am afraid. The magica test kit only works to test how much a person has magica inside their body. The alchemy test, however, revealed much more than just her level of magica.” Amaris explained the more complicated alchemy test that she had conducted.

“How much more? And, Should I be worried?” Asked Justice once again.

Amaris smiled at the crown prince and shook her head, “I’ll tell you when I get the answer, your majesty, and for you, it’s best to search the arcana tome and get them answered you seek about the bewitched spell.”

For a while, he stared at Amaris. Justice was thinking about which was continuing to push her further or to retreat. He let her go for now. With a smile coming from his face, Justice said his farewell to the chief alchemist.

“Alright, I bid you farewell then.” Said Justice, while extending his right hand for a handshake.

She took the right hand and shake it with confidence. Amaris knew Justice will never let her go. The bewitched spell is a strong love spell. Once people are ensnared by its spell, they will have a hard time letting go of the object of their desire. This means the more they tried to ignore the object, the more they will suffer heartache.

From the window of her living room, Amaris saw the crown prince go away from the alchemia tower. He skillfully rode his horse, a beautiful black horse, with the accompaniment of one guard behind him with his brown mare. She recognized the guard; it was Bernard. She actually takes part in the civil service exam in the same year as him. They were never close, but knew each other well. She let out a sighed of relief and continued her test inside the laboratory.

At the palace, after two hours’ ride from the alchemia tower, Justice was in his room, ready to go to sleep, when he heard a sound coming from his balcony. A shadow of a man appears from the window. He took a deep breath and pulled the curtain. A black-haired man with a pair of golden eyes leaning on his balustrade.

“Took you long enough.” Grinned Xavier at Justice.

“Seriously, you need to stop sneaking from the woods and go to my room. They will think that we are lovers.” Said Justice while he smirk at his best friend.

Xavier snorted and then laughed uncontrollably. “Hey, I was a good catch, rather than having that brooding magi or that playboy knight.”

“True.” Justice raised a glass to Xavier’s excuse. “I know why you come here.”

Xavier’s expression suddenly changed. “Why the f*ck did you go to the alchemia tower?”

Pointing at the sofa, Justice took a seat before Xavier, and when he got comfortable, he explain his sudden visit to the alchemia tower, “I saw the chief alchemist snooping on Anne, I followed her, and have a civil conversation with her.”

“Means, that you interrogating her, right?”

“Exactly. We knew from Vale that she was the one who conducted the test. I thought she take an interest in Anne.”

“Why? What did she do? And what exactly did she say to you?” Xavier’s curiosity peaked when Justice explained how Amaris took an interest in Anne.”

A frown came onto Justice’s face. “Calm down, she tried to help us. At least that’s what she said to me.”

“Well, you never know. I think we need to take a closer look at that woman.”

“Xave, what are you doing?” This time, Justice felt uncomfortable. He knew something about Xavier, his uncontrollable obsession with anything or anyone.

Ignoring Justice, Xavier turns his head into his shadow. “Ageha, you know what to do.”

‘At once, master.’

A black butterfly appears from Xavier’s shadow, she flies away and disappears into the night. Justice massaged his temple, already thinking of the headache that will come later.

“Xavier, you sent Ageha to spy on Amaris, the chief alchemist, really?!”

“This is just for a precaution. No need to be alerted, Justice.”

“You spy on someone. That was an invasion of her privacy! Get it together!” Justice was yelling at him. He blamed himself for not taking a counter-measurement of Xavier’s behavior earlier.

“It will be fine. Ageha would do nothing. She is just going to observe.” Said Xavier to the crown prince, and he would not back down on the matter. Xavier took a leave and walk to the balcony, but, before he go away, his head turned once more to Justice, “You know, she was hurt, right?”

“Yes, Amaris told me, I... I wasn’t aware before, too infested on Amaris, and tried to avoid her like we were agreeing to.” Justice answered his question with a face full of regrets.

“That stupid agreement. I never said I agreed to it. So, I’ll be protecting her, whether or not the three of you like it.”

The crown prince prevents Xavier from going, “Wait, before you go, Amaris also told me that we need to search for the arcana tome.”

“What for?” Asked Xavier, he was so uninterested in the arcana tome, until Justice explained the content of the forbidden book to him.

“The bewitched spell, the arcana tome have one whole session explaining about the spell.”

“Well, we need to search for it, then I’ll go to the main library tomorrow.”

Justice nodded in an agreement with Xavier, “I’ll search the palace library. Let’s meet up at the bar tomorrow night.”

With the verbal agreement between the two of them, Xavier then jumped from the balcony of the third floor of Justice’s room. He couldn’t care less, he know Xavier will never get hurt. The only thing that they need to care about is how to find the arcana tome.

The next morning, our purple hair girl already wakes up and looks refreshed for the day. Darla, her friend, was already waiting for her in the hallway of their third-floor dorm.

“Ready for today?” Asked Darla with a grin on her face.

“Yes, let’s go!” Anne answered her friend, trying not to sound so nervous.

The second exam finally begins.