(A few minutes before Aiden and along with other noble youths entered the classroom…)
"So, you’re telling me that we three are being requested for at the Vice Dean’s office?" Aiden said to the senior who had been asked to come get them one more time with a questioning tone.
"Yes. Flynn Belmont is free to go to the classroom but for the rest of you, your presence is being requested for" the senior answered with a nod.
Compared to Aiden, Flynn and Ivar’s uniforms, which had them wearing black pants, shoes, socks and plaid ties along with white shirts and navy blue blazers with gold buttons and a logo of an ancient castle on their breast pockets, Ivelia wore the exact same but with a high waist pleated skirt and black thick leggings instead.
The senior before them also wore the exact same as the boys, but instead had a grey blazer on, indicating that he was in his second year.
Third years on the other hand like Derek, usually wore red blazers instead.
"Alright" Flynn responded calmly, after which he then turned to all three and said.
"I doubt it’s anything remotely crazy considering it’s the first day of school so don’t fret. I’ll be waiting for you guys in class"
"See you soon then Flynn" Aiden replied while Ivar and Ivelia gave him a slight nod.
They all then watched as he turned around and began walking along the long elegantly structured hallways of the academy that led to the grand arched doorways of the A-class, a few students here and there also present in the hallways and looking for their own classes.
"This way" the dirty-blonde haired senior motioned to them with a gesture of his hands after Flynn had walked off into the distance and the youths promptly obliged and followed suit.
After leading them through another section of the opulent hallways adorned with multitude of vibrant colorful tapestries and priceless artworks, combined with the gleaming marbled floors that reflected the soft lights of the crystal chandeliers, the senior finally stopped in front of a modernly designed door with beautifully designed gold engravings on it and motioned for them to step in.
Upon doing as they were told, all three had been surprised to see that Caroline was also already there, sitting on the comfy yet expensive silk couch while speaking to a woman who was impeccably dressed and seemed to be in her late fifties.
The woman had meticulously coiffed shoulder length black hair with strands of grey mixed in, a glasses framing her expressive brown eyes that seemed to exude intelligence and wisdom, and an inviting warm smile on her face that greeted all three youths the moment her eyes settled on them.
"Good morning Aiden Belmont, Ivelia Steelblade and Ivar Steelblade" she greeted calmly, as she continued.
"I apologize for suddenly requesting for your presence but we needed to sort this out as soon as possible" she gently added.
"No, it’s alright. Good morning to you too ma’am" they all politely greeted as Aiden sat beside Caroline on the couch who was beaming at him while Ivar and Ivelia sat on his other side.
"So, first things first. Ivelia and Ivar, an award ceremony will be coming up soon in probably two weeks’ time and you two have been chosen to receive a medal of excellence for your great achievements. I trust that you’ll be ready to prepare your appreciation speeches by then" she calmly said to both youths after which she added immediately upon seeing the looks in their eyes.
"And no, you can’t reject it" she added with a gentle smile.
Ivar and Ivelia just nodded in response to her words upon realizing that they didn’t even have a say in whether they could accept it or not.
"Now, as for you Aiden Belmont…" she shifted her gaze to him with a smile too,
’I don’t like where this is going! I don’t like where this is going at all!’ Aiden inwardly complained upon guessing what was about to happen.
"Every class is usually tasked with having two representatives. A male and a female…" the vice dean explained.
’Well shit!’ Aiden inwardly cursed, despite his outward appearance being very calm about the whole thing.
’This was supposed to be Adrian’s job but now it’s going to be mine…’ he continued with an inward groan.
"Considering you came out on top at the entrance exams, you have been selected along with Caroline Roseblade to be the representative of your class. What do you say to that?" she asked calmly.
Now although Aiden wanted to use every blessed fiber of his being to reject the proposition of Arcana Academy’s Vice Dean, also known as Senya Brunhildr, was offering to him, he knew that if he rejected it, she would just find another way to dump it on his head.
Based off of the previous events of the novel, Aiden remembered how Caroline had rejected Senya’s proposition but still eventually found herself eventually doing it at the end of the day with no idea of how she even got to doing it again.
That was because Senya had a keen eye for people and once she selects someone to perform a task, no matter how mundane it seemed, she would stop at nothing to get them to complete said task.
Of course she never used terrible means to do so, just subtle manipulations here and there was all she would ever do until you were eventually left with no choice but to do her bidding.
That being said, she was still a very good woman and judging by how she had sacrificed her life to protect the Academy and its students in Aiden’s third year of the novel from an attack by Obelisk, it was safe to say that she legitimately did the things she did for the greater good.
"I’ll do it" Aiden responded calmly with a small smile to which Caroline who was beside him beamed even brighter at, although the youth himself didn’t notice it.
"Very well then. Thank you for your cooperation. You may now leave for your class" Senya replied with a genuine smile.
Following this, all four youths promptly left her office and began heading for their class.
Aiden, Ivelia and Ivar upon getting out of the office though, all let out tired sighs after glancing at themselves, a stark contrast to Caroline who was just continuously beaming happily, her smile turning the heads of all the male youths and stunning almost every single one of them that walked past their group.
"What are you so happy about?" Aiden had asked the lady with a questioning expression on his face.
"Oh it’s nothing Aiden…" she replied with a happy smile.
"It doesn’t seem like nothing though, judging by that expression of yours?" he had asked her.
"It really isn’t anything though~…" she had coyly replied.
Aiden just gave a light tired smile in response to her ambiguous response while shaking his head in resignation at whatever the hell was swirling around in that head of hers.
’I’m quite surprised she didn’t reject the idea of being a class representative this time though… hmmm… Is that perhaps because of me?’ Aiden wondered as they all kept moving through the now fairly crowded hallways to reach their class.
Just before reaching the large arched door of their classroom, all four youths had seen Adrian, Beatrice, Bryan, Amelia, Lucas and Ben coming from the other end of the hallway, almost as if they had just arrived at the academy.
Upon spotting them in the distance too, Beatrice had waved over at them, to which they all gave a slight respectful nod in response and upon doing that, finally moved towards the door and opened it, all of them casually strolling into the classroom.
Upon entering the class, they all were met with things they were all pretty used to at this point as people kept speaking about them in hushed tones while they occupied the free seats that were left.
Maybe it was due to the long chair and desks around Flynn being free since no one had approached him but even then, it was odd that they all just gravitated towards where he sat and began claiming the free seats for themselves.
"So that’s why you were all requested for…" Flynn spoke, amusement in his tone after Aiden and the twins explained what had happened to them.
The youth then added a few more words with an even more amused smile, his curled fist still propping his face up while staring at his brother who was seated right beside him.
"Aiden sure is responsible, isn’t he?"
Ivar and Ivelia on the other hand, who were sitting on Flynn’s other side and knowing fully well where he was going with this, all ganged up on Aiden and spoke in unison.
"He sure is!" they added with smiles that were threatening to turn into a full-blown laughter as Aiden glared intensely at all three of them, especially Flynn.
"I hate you guys…" he calmly declared with a bit of annoyance in his tone.
Before they could respond to his words though, the doors to the class opened and in walked the instructor that was solely assigned to their class, causing the class to become completely silent in an instant.
The instructor in question was a man, probably in his early forties and for a man in his early forties, he was extremely good-looking.
Brown hair that was styled in a wavy yet rare manner that almost covered one of his ocean blue eyes while the rest were slicked back, along with perfect facial features, broad shoulders and a perfect physique to boot.
Just from the way he entered alone, the man commanded an air of authority and discipline but despite this, the man in question did not even bother to introduce himself as he placed a tablet containing the registry of students in his class on the podium while uttering a few words.
"Nice to meet you all. Let’s begin."