When I woke up the next morning, I didn't find any text messages on my phone. I heaved a sigh of relief. 

I'm sorry, Ivy. But I will not sacrifice myself for you just yet, so it's best to keep our distance. Yes, I'll admit it- I liked Ivy. But not enough to die for her. I was too full of myself for that. 

That is what I'd decided last night. To stay away from Ivy. I went to the regular training center, and thank heavens, Ivy wasn't there. I practiced on my own, till I had scared the living daylights out of everyone.

Then, for the first time, I went to have lunch at the training center, since I had missed my breakfast. The lunch was okay, not good enough to call good, and Ivy wasn't there either. It was almost as if I wanted her to cross paths with me, though I needed to stay away from her. 

Then I went for a jog around the campus of the training center, it wasn't that hot, the sky was filled with dark grey clouds, and a breeze was flowing. 

It was pleasant, so a lot of the people were outside, sitting on benches and chairs. I still kept my eyes out for Ivy. No sign of her. 

I saw Hudson and Landon sitting on a bench, and I knew they hadn't seen me. I wanted to hear what they were talking about, so I crept towards them, but as soon as I came within earshot, Landon noticed me. 

"You fucking shit!" He screamed at me. 

Okay. Prince mode: ON 

"I am a prince you know." I said calmly, "I can have you behind bars with just that sentence."

"Fucking hell! Shut the fuck up!" He yelled. 

I reached into my pocket for my phone, and I called one of my favourite soldiers, Bernard. "Good afternoon." 

"How may I help you, Prince Lucian?" He said with the respect I DESERVED. 

I stated, "There's this commoner bad-mouthing me, so I need you to come and arrest him."

"Okay! I'm sorry! I won't do it again!" Landon exclaimed.

I said to the soldier, "Keep on hold."

"First of all, stop yelling. I can hear perfectly fine you know. Second of all, don't mess with me or Ivy again. If you do, I won't hesitate to call Bernard. And stay away." I said, and started to walk away, after cutting the call. 

Hudson groaned, "What's the deal with your freaky little partner anyways?"

"Don't call her freaky." I threatened again. 

Landon mimicked me, "Don't call her freaky! Why? You'll call the guards on us again to save your girlfriend?"

I am a prince. Be cool. I am a prince. Be calm. Fuck it. He just called Ivy freaky, and that ticked me off for some reason. I punched Landon, before I could even think and process what I just did. 

I picked a fight with him. AGAIN. And this time, there was no Ivy to save me. 

"You bastard!" He yelled, and pushed me off him quite roughly. I brushed off my clothes, and dodged quite gracefully as he tried to punch me. He practically pounced on me, and pinned me to the ground. 

I was conjuring up all my magic and concentrating it to blow him off me, but another man stopped me. Black hair, purple eyes. He was the Rank 4 dude!

"Don't kill the principe just yet." He ordered Landon. What was the deal with calling me prince in Italian?! I seriously didn't get it. 

Landon obediently got off me, and I stood up. That's when I realized, the Rank 4 had been magicking his words. He made Landon get off me against his will. 

That means he can make me do whatever I want? Oh hell no. (I got Landon's bad cursing habit.)

I should leave. I pretended to take a call and walk away, but the Rank 4 man pulled me by my collar like I was a feather. 

"Now listen both of you," He said with his twisted words, "No more fighting till I say so." He said that in a calm and collected manner, but I could hear his true words screaming in the back of my head. 'YOU MUST OBEY ME.' 

Yet, for some reason, I didn't feel compelled to obey him. It was like a normal conversation for me, but Landon had a strange, transfixed look on his face, and said, "Yes, sir."

"Alright." I also agreed to him, because in the end, no more fighting was actually beneficial for me. The Rank 4 gave me a strange look, but I carefully kept my expression neutral. 

I don't know why but the awkward silence made me want to burst out laughing, so I just thought about the saddest thing in my life- Ivy. Suddenly all my desire to laugh evaporated, but I heard Landon laughing loudly. Why was he laughing?

Oh shit, Rank 4 was still manipulating our heads. I didn't want him to know that I could resist his magic, so I forced out some awkward chuckled.

"How are you even Rank 1?" Rank 4 muttered.

It's all because of Ivy. Ivy is the most powerful here.

"Can I go now? I need to use the restroom." I said urgently. 

Rank 4 took a sharp breath, "Go." And I heard the subliminal message he had left in my head, Come as soon as you can.

As if. I jogged back to my dorm, and closed the door. That was so weird. How could he just like compel me to do stuff? And why could he fully control Landon and not me?

Maybe because I'm a prince. No. That's not it. His magic was not manipulating me. His power was immense, and his aura was sinister, but I had more power than him. Landon, did not have more power than him.  That is why he subjected to purple eyes' demands.

I should ask Ivy to analyse him with her darkness void. Ughh! Learn to do something yourself, Luke!

I was laying on my bed trying to figure out what truly was happening, when something magical, out of this world happened. Ivy Walker texted me. 

Ivy: Hi. I think we should talk. 

Me: About? (I typed it without thinking, I know I'm dumb)

Ivy: I'm not gonna type it.

Me: So how will you tell me?

Ivy: Are you free right now?

Me: Yes.

Ivy: So... Can you meet me in my room in two hours?

I was puzzled. Why two hours?

Me: Okay.

Ivy: What's wrong?

Why was she asking that? Did she figure out I knew? 

Me: Nothing. 

Ivy: Okay.

Ivy: Bye. 

She was definitely going to tell me about her illness. 

After waiting for one hour forty five minutes, I got impatient, and knocked on her door. 

I heard her voice but I wasn't sure what she had said, but it was something along the lines of 'Come in!' 

So I pushed open the door, and entered the room. She was gulping down some water. Ohh. She must be having her medicines. 

She said, "I said, don't come in!" 

"Sorry. What do we need to talk about?" I asked. 

Sh winced, "I might've done something very wrong."

I looked at her, and gestured her to tell me. 

"I kind of pissed of the Rank 4s." She said, "And they challenged us to a fight."

Oh. It was not about her illness. 

"Purple eyes?" I confirmed. 

She nodded, "I got egoistic, and I agreed to it."

"Are you sure he did not manipulate you to do that?" I asked. I didn't trust that man. 

She shook her head, "His silver tongue does not affect me much, I have more power than him. But it did try to influence me."

That's what had happened today with me! "Wait. When did this happen, exactly?"

"Today morning at breakfast." When I was asleep! That means... he picked a fight with me on purpose!

If the Rank 4s want to defeat us, and the Rank 2s (Hudson and Landon) want to defeat us, that means, Landon agreed to stop fighting with me on his own will, knowing that they could team up to defeat both of us!

That makes zero sense! Theory 2: Rank 4 manipulated Landon to team up, because Landon is 'I-can-do-shit-on-my-own' kind of guy, and out of hatred for me, Landon wasn't too hard to convince. Who knows?

"Uh... Lucian?" Ivy said. 

My head snapped up to look at Ivy. "I think we might have a bigger problem than just the Rank 4s." Ivy just said my name, without Prince and without the formality! 

"What do you mean by that?" She blinked.

I sighed, "It's a little hard to explain, but I think Landon teamed up with the Rank 4s."

"Seriously?" She said, sounding a little annoyed. "At least we have time to prepare."

"When is the fight?" I asked, hopefully. 

"Sunday."

We sat there in silence, contemplating our futures. 

"Prince Lucian?" She said formally. Why? We were just making progress. "If it gets hard, you can let me die. I don't want you to die."

"No." I said stiffly, "You said, 'I'm dying anyways.' What does it mean?"

She laughed awkwardly, "Nothing. I just said it."

I stared at her. 

"What?" She said. 

"Tell me the truth." I said, and used my emotional magic of making her feel more comfortable around me. 

She crossed her arms and obstinately said, "No."

"Why?" I asked. 

"Please get out of my dorm." She said enmagiking her words. 

Her words had a deeper effect on me than Rank 4s, and I almost did get up and go, but my power was more. It didn't count whose power was stronger, the quantity of the power counted. And I, a prince, had abundant power in my heritage and my blood. 

"You learned Rank 4s trick." I complimented her. 

She shrugged, "It wasn't that hard."

"Now that I think about it, your aura is much warmer than before." I said. 

And just like that, aura shifted, and her cold aura knocked me off the chair I was sitting on. 

"Yikes!" I exclaimed, and she started laughing. 

I gave her a blank stare, and said, "Who even says yikes anymore?"

"Next time you do that, give me a warning." I said grumpily. I wished I could capture her laugh forever, it was such a pure and beautiful thing, though I know it is very cliche to say that.

I smiled at her and quickly composed my demeanour, "If it comes to that, I won't let you just die. I swear on the River Styx."