Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

“What the hell Freya?” I growled at the wind mage who definitely just used a wind spell to pin me to the wall.

“That should be my question! What the hell was that out there?!” she retorted, her face filled with anger. “You abandoned your post, disobeyed orders from the team captain and stormed into enemy territory by yourself!”

“We won didn’t we?” I questioned, dusting myself once the spell vanished.

“You-“

Freya was about to attack me but she was held back by Senior Daniel and Senior George. Senior Trent was trying to calm her down while Senior Anastasia was watching the boys hold Freya back.

-Wait, where’s Torii?

All of a sudden, the sound of a slap echoed in the empty hall, my head was whipped to the side and seconds later, my left cheek stung. Once I turned my head back to the front, Torii was there with her usual stoic face.

I called it usual since she was someone who couldn’t understand and process emotions, but her face was currently dark and her eyes looked much colder than usual.

-She’s angry.

It was easy to guess what she felt even if Torii doesn’t know it. We did train together for quite some time under Aunt Zaira’s wing. Torii wasn’t one to express herself openly because of her situation, sometimes others even say that she was slightly a little hard to approach to, but actually she rarely got angry.

“You didn’t return to the residence last night and don’t think I didn’t notice you went hunting in the forest by yourself. Vyfal came home crying last night and Ilra had to comfort her. And now you pulled that kind of stunt during an important match. What is your problem?”

“We won. I don’t think there’s any problem with that.” I simply state.

“LUNA!” Freya shouted, getting angrier. I could even see and feel her magic power rising up, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Luna, there’s a reason why events like this are done by more than one person, and that’s the goal of the Capture the Flag Event, to show sportsmanship. What you did out there is not sportsmanship.” she said, not even flinching or changing her expressions.

I scoffed. “Sportsmanship is useless in a real battle.”

Torii only sighed and shook her head. “There’s obviously something bothering you but you’re not really someone who’d share your worries at the drop of a hat. Now then how about this, you will not be participating in tomorrow’s match, or any other future matches for that matter, until you’ve reflected on your actions and settle what’s troubling you.”

“WHAT?! Torii I-“

“That’s final. That’s okay right? Trent?”

We both eyed our team captain who looked nervous. I already knew he was someone who won’t say no to me, but-

-He’s scared of Torii whenever she gets angry.

“Uhm… yes.”

Torii looked at me in the eye. “Fix what’s wrong with you first. We don’t need a loose cannon in the team.”

I stood frozen on the spot. It was my first time being spoken by Torii in such a tone. I watched them pass by me, disappearing into the corner and dragging a furious Freya with them. Senior Trent, who remained, put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sad smile.

“Torii is right you know your majesty. You need to cool your head. Settle whatever’s troubling you first, once you do, you know where to find us.”

He left me alone in the hall, my head blank and confused. I couldn’t help but scream out of frustration and punch the wall. I walked out of Anatoli Stadium and rushed to the nearest hill I found.

At that moment, I wasn’t only angry and frustrated at what happened, I was also angry at myself. It was my first time getting rejected, hated by someone I cherished and I couldn’t contain myself. Sure my life had never been easy either but I got used to the fact that the people around me just seem to be always cheerful and happy. Kai’s words were grating on me and I couldn’t control my feelings about it.

-Why? Why do I feel this way? Kai is just my friend, then why did his words affect me this badly?

All of a sudden I felt a familiar presence. I couldn’t help but click my tongue in annoyance I really did not want to face anyone at the moment, and to be honest I’d rather not deal with this particular guy either.

“I have to say, your match against Cedi was a sight to see. Your display of power was really amazing.”

“Not now Senior Andrei.” I growled. “What are you even doing here? Heck how did you even find me?”

“I’ve been following you.” he replied nonchalantly.

I felt chills run down my spine.

-Is he serious? This guy is really dangerous.

“You look troubled though… Mind telling me? I might be able to help.” he said with a smile on his face. “I heard talking about your problems is actually helpful.”

I stiffened at his words. I used to say that to Freya on the first few sessions we had concerning her multiple personalities, and yet I bottle up my own problems and feelings.

-I’m such a hypocrite.

“Will you listen then?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“You’re weird, you know that?” I commented in which he only laughed.

“You’re not the first one to call me that. Now then, I’m all ears.”

Senior Andrei was one big enigma. One moment he was his usual annoying self who liked to mess with me, and the next he was this strange guy who had the air of a reliable older brother. I was at a loss on how to deal with him.

Despite that I told him my troubles. I just felt like I could actually talk to him about it. Plus I had the feeling that if I talked to my circle of friends they’d just tell me to do what I think was right. That was how they rolled.

“Hmm… I see.” he commented after I told him about Kai and my thoughts about his words. “So basically, you got hurt because he told you to stop prying into his life. You couldn’t understand why you felt that way even though you’re just friends and that’s the reason you took out your anger on the participants from Cedi Royal Academy.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a simple answer to that.” I gave him a skeptical look. “You like him.”

“Hmm? Of course I do! Why do you think I’m friends with him?” I retorted but the bastard only chuckled.

“No, not that way Luna. I meant you like Kai the way a woman looks at a man. You like Kai as a member of the opposite sex.”

My breath hitched for a moment and my eyes were probably as wide as saucers.

“HA?!”

-Is this guy serious?

“I suppose you’re neither familiar nor knowledgeable on that area. I can now see why you’d feel frustrated about it. You’re angry at him yet you don’t know why you’re extremely angry at him. You never realized you actually have feelings for him. To you, Kai is more than just a friend.”

-What? More than just a friend? I actually like him?

“You’re saying I have a crush on him?”

“Well… yes.”

-Now that he said that…

I realized Senior Andrei actually had a point. On the days I spent my time with Kai, I seemed to be very comfortable. I paid attention to him most of the times and I always felt like I should make him see me all the time.

-That’s actually crushing on someone?

“That feeling will only continue to grow unless you face it. As to how you face it will be up to you.”

I kept my eyes down, obviously ashamed at the sudden revelation and realization.

“I-“

“And also, you should talk it out soon. Like soon.” he grinned. “I should go now.”

“Eh? But-“

Before I could even ask him to stay so I can ask more questions, he was already retreating. His presence totally vanished but was replaced by someone else. From the slope of the hill, the white-haired young man who was the reason of my predicament emerged with a serious look on his face.

“Luna, we need to talk.”