Knight (37 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four ♣ Concern or Guilt

V

aleriana's eyes fluttered open and light blinded her eyes. She blinked rapidly and rubbed them, yawning loudly. She rose from the unfamiliar bed and looked around. This place certainly wasn't her room. She was hoping that somehow the thing about
Valemnia
and
demons
was just a dream, but reality was harsh after all.

“Where am I?” She asked. Headache was pounding between her eyes.

“You're already awake?” Olivia, who was sitting on a chair, craned her neck and gave her a smile. “You overworked yourself and fainted.”

“I fainted? Oh, man. Corvan is going to kill me.” She massaged her forehead in irritation and sighed. “This never happened to me before.”

The lady shook her head. “You're too hardworking.”

“Well, I have no choice but to be. I've heard from Chavi that the academy is strict when it comes to their students' performance. If by any chance, I fail, I'll be expelled, and if I'm expelled, I have no choice but to work for the Court Leader.”

“But you're included among the Celestial Twelve, right? That gives you the advantage.”

“I don't plan on taking advantage of my position.” She laughed. “I'm not worthy of it yet, anyway. I just got it with a stroke of luck.”

“I wouldn't say that if I were you.”

Valeriana just smiled.

“Do you feel fine now?” The lady asked.

“Yes, I do. I think it's time for me to go back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To my room.”

“To rest?”

“Uh . . . not exactly.”

The healer shook her head. “Don't try to rush very much. If you continue like that, your body will fall. Try to mind your health, dear. That's a warrior's greatest wealth, you know.”

“I guess I was a bit reckless. But I only have about a week left. Our real lessons would start after that.”

“That's right. The Celeste Academy only uses the first month of the year as an eye-opener for the students. The real challenge will start, like you said, after that.” The healer teasingly remarked.

“Please don't remind me. It delivers more stress!” She wanted to scream out her frustrations, but that would create unnecessary noise, so she buried her face into the pillow and let out a silent scream.

The healer laughed. “It's alright to cry out, you know. I'm willing to listen to your complaints. This would help vent out your frustrations, yes?”

Valeriana almost wanted to cry. “Oh my gosh, you're so kind.” She grunted, tears pooling in her vision. “Why can't everyone else be like you?”

“You can't blame anyone.” She said. “They all carry huge burdens on their shoulders. You should be thankful they even bother paying attention to you. Unlike me, healing is all I do and I'm through.”

“Ugh. You're right. But I gotta say,” Valeriana looked down at the floor and hugged her knees. “This week's kind of been fun.”

“Really?”

“I was always looking for things to do, and now work's been piling up in front of me. I'm the type who wants to go insane trying to do this and that. I just like having a lot of things to do. Since my father died, our life's been really boring. I just want to work to forget about it all. I find happiness in doing things.”

“Alright,” The healer laughed. “Just don't go overboard with everything and get some sleep at least six hours a day.”

“Understood.”

“You don't have to be afraid of not being able to catch up. Believe me, I have an eye for things and I know you can do it.” She winked encouragingly at Valeriana.

“Thank you so much for believing in me.” She smiled.

“No problem. You can come here any time you like when you have problems.”

Valeriana nodded. “Sure. Thanks.”

“Oh, and by the way.” The woman added.

“Yeah?”

“Did you know you have two boys fighting over you?”

Valeriana looked clueless. “What?”

Olivia chuckled. “You had visitors who came a while ago. They were talking about who gets who.” She winked.

“Excuse me?”

“Never mind.” She said. “Go on.”

The girl started to get up. “Thank you very much for everything.” Valeriana bobbed her head swiftly at Olivia before dashing right out of the door.

She managed to catch a swift glance of the time at the infirmary. Apparently, it was already a little past six o'clock. She thought it would help relieve her stress if she listened to music while reading the sixteenth chapter of her history book. Her mother did bother sending her the gadgets she owned, so she should at least use it from time to time.

The human girl managed to finally familiarize herself with the route heading towards the high-class building the Celestial Circle kept to themselves. After almost a month of running around and doing the ridiculous things the circle made her do, she probably could walk her way back with her eyes closed. Of course, with running back and forth to fetch things for them, how could she not already know the way by heart?

Just as she was about to take a right turn, she smacked right into a hard chest which caused her to fall over and land straight on her rear end. She grunted from the pain and looked up, only to see Corvan staring intently at her.

Why was it that she always had to run into Corvan, slam into that ridiculously muscular, hard chest of his, and fall straight on her ass every time? Could it be not Rowe? Keelan? Brindon? Heck. Zion?

She fumed and stuck out her bottom lip in frustration. “Why is it that I have to run into you every damn time since the moment I came here? Are you doing that on purpose or something?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Funny. I thought it was you who had the habit of bumping into me. It's either that, or I would've thought that you liked having to run into my chest.”

“Haha. I'm laughing.” She sarcastically remarked, her face unexpressive.

“Besides, shouldn't you be resting?”

She sighed and stood up. “I'm perfectly fine, mind you.”

“Then why did you faint? The healer said you had greatly overworked yourself, that's why you collapsed.”

“Well, I guess it's my fault for going overboard. I just didn't have time to rest, that's all.” She dusted off her bottom and looked up at the young lord, whose frown seemed to get worse every passing second.

They stared at each other without saying anything for a few moments before Corvan finally decided to break the silence. For some reason . . . Valeriana noticed something strange about him. His frown was . . . different. Seeing that frown of his every time, she was sort of able to identify his frown when he was mad, annoyed, or displeased . . .

What was the difference between them anyway?

“I see. Then blame yourself for your stupidity.” He told her, which made her deadpan.

Was he serious? And she thought he was going to ask her if she was fine. She mentally berated herself for even thinking that way. This was the great Lord Corvan. He would never show his concern for another person other than himself.

“You insensitive jerk!” She stomped her feet in aggravation. “Why do you think I'm even in this situation anyway? If there's anyone to blame, it's you!”

He frowned even more, wrinkling the space between his brows. To her shock, he didn't make any sort of retort that would counter what she said. Instead, he remained quiet.

His silence made her . . . guilty.

“Uh . . . sorry.” She whispered, feeling awkward about his unexpected silence.

“When you get back to the residences, make sure not to do anything strenuous.” He told her before shoving something inside her hands. “Better yet, don't do anything stupid that will make you fall face first on the ground. You shame the Twelve by doing so.”

She raised a brow at him. “Huh?”             

After that, he turned his back on her and walked away. Valeriana stared at his retreating form before looking down to see what he gave her. It was a small pouch tied together by a small string. Opening it curiously, she saw herbs.

She brought it up to her nose and sniffed, catching a whiff of a familiar fragrant aroma. It belonged to that drink that Charles made for her a few weeks ago. If she wasn't mistaken, it was supposed to give her enough energy to move about for a day.

She didn't get it.

Valeriana glanced back up at Corvan as he continued to walk away.

Was he concerned? Or just guilty?

Chapter Thirty-Five ♣ The Package

After that little encounter with Corvan, she decided to head back to the Twelve's residences. She held that little pouch in her hands, but shoved it deep into her pocket to avoid losing it. When she entered the lobby, all eyes were curiously examining her up and down. Perhaps they were unfamiliar with the delicateness of human life? Hashtag weak people. As expected, Tamara was the first to comment.

“Oh, Valeriana! Back so soon?” She guffawed.

“Uh . . . yeah, sorry for fainting earlier.”

“See! See!” Tamara nudged Charles, who was sitting beside her, with her elbow. “She did faint! I won the bet!”

“I don't remember agreeing on a bet with you.” Answered Charles.

“Aw! No need to be shy!” She nudged him again numerous times.

“Will you stop that?!” He exclaimed. “It's seriously annoying!”

Tamara sighed in displeasure. “Anyway,” The third-ranker turned to Valeriana and grinned. “A package arrived for you a while ago.” She jerked her finger towards a brown box settled in the middle of the room. “It looks weird. It's shaped like a crate, but it's not made of wood.”

“Oh my gosh!” She squealed. “It’s here just as promised!”

She rushed towards the box and hugged it affectionately. “Anybody got a knife?” She then pulled back and looked around the room.

Charles fished a sheathed knife from his pocket and tossed it to Valeriana's direction. The girl gave him her thanks before pulling the weapon out of its sheath and slicing through the tapes that held the package together. The other rankers came forward, leaning over Valeriana’s shoulder as she pulled the flaps apart, revealing the contents.

“Mom, you are awesome.” She said in excitement and took out a box of Oreo Double Stuff. This was the only sweets she ever liked. She never really took a liking to other brands of cookies or chocolates, but this one was an exception. “I can't wait to munch on this.”

“What's that?” Keelan asked, sniffing. “Smells sweet.”

Valeriana ripped one open and took out an Oreo before shoving it to Keelan's mouth. “Taste it for yourself! You'll like it!”

Keelan looked shocked for moment before he eventually chewed the whole thing and started swallowing on it. As the biscuit melted on his tongue, his eyes sparkled and he jumped excitedly. The strawberry-blond hair on top of his head bobbed along with him as he leaned towards Valeriana for more.

“Can I have some more?” He said.

“Here.” The girl shoved the packet in his hands. “Make sure not to eat the packet—only the cookies.”

Keelan peered into the packet before pulling out another cookie and shoving it into his mouth. “This is amazing!” He then smiled, revealing a row of teeth crusted with dark crumbs.

Those who saw this could not help but chuckle at the sight of the twelfth-ranker.

Valeriana pulled another one open before shoving one cookie in each of the rankers' mouth when they curiously asked what Keelan was eating. She couldn't help but giggle at the look on their faces when the crunch reverberated in their ears.

When everyone got their share, Valeriana went towards Corvan. She held out a cookie to him. “Want one?”

“What is that?” He frowned. “If you're trying to poison me in anyway by deceiving me with such a sweet aroma, then you are horribly mistaken.”

“Relax.” Valeriana rolled her eyes. “It's only a cookie. Although, you're starting to make me hope I did put something in here.” She told him.

“I don't eat human—”

He was cut off when Valeriana violently shoved a piece into his mouth, practically taking him aback. The girl grinned at him before walking away to go back to where her package was. She stopped short and gasped when she saw Raziel holding a pack of her menstrual pads.

“What is this contraption?”

The girl rushed to where he was and snatched it from his hands. “Don't touch this!” She exclaimed.

Raziel raised a brow at him. “What's it for?”

She went beet red. “It's not something you should know about.” She turned her back on him, leaving a confused Raziel to himself.

“Did I do something wrong?” The sixth-ranker's forehead wrinkled.