"Why are you so stressed, then? Isn"t this your life long dream? Libea excluded, obviously." Lith could understand her being a pain in the a*s but not like that. Yurial seemed to be well fed and rested, yet had lost at least five kilos.

"Because besides being paraded like an exotic animal 24/7 to affirm our new status in front of the Crown and our neighbors, which is already quite stressing, there have been five attempts on my life, already. Do you see that woman?"

Yurial tilted his head towards a gorgeous redhead. She was wearing an emerald dress that emphasized her fair white skin and green eyes. The red scarf on her neck matched her hair, partially covering her shoulders and arms that the dress left exposed.

"Do you mean that Battle Mage?" Lith replied while his eyes indulged on her neckline a second longer than it was polite.

"Yeah. She is my new personal a.s.sistant/mistress/bodyguard. I can"t go anywhere without her following me around."

"Lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Lith"s voice had a tinge of envy.

"Wow, that"s new from you." Yurial was surprised. He had always considered Lith made of stone, or at least the next best thing.

"By the way, how do you know she is a Battle Mage?"

"Ever since my earlier little stunt, she hasn"t taken her eyes off me. Hence, she knows what happened, but it"s not afraid of me, just wary. That makes her a mage. She bears no sword, has too many muscles to be a civilian but too little to be just a hired muscle. If she was a Mage Knight, she would stick closer to you.

The only explanation left is for her being a Battle Mage." Lith explained his Holmes-like reasoning with a smug expression.

"You really are shameless." Solus made a mental retching sound.

"You didn"t notice anything outside her three sizes, while I understood she is a mage from her bright blue mana core and her specialization from the enchanted items she wears. They come straight out of Wanemyre"s catalogue. Yurial"s dad spares no expenses."

"Well, you know how they say. Hindsight is correct 100% of the times. Also, it"s not like I can tell him about your existence. Since I need a cover story, I can as well use it to appear as a keen observer."

"Brilliant deduction." Yurial nodded in approval.

"You are lucky none of the girls was here. Otherwise Phloria would never let you hear the end of it, if she learns about your previous remark."

"The Ernas are here too? I heard they didn"t have the time to attend."

"They are fas.h.i.+onably late, as usual." Yurial shrugged.

"From what my father said to me, the Marchioness insisted for their presence. Just like she did for yours, I guess. I didn"t expect to see you at all. You know, being the party full of stuck up n.o.bles while your parents are…"

Yurial didn"t complete the sentence, but there was no need to.

"Indeed she did. I came here with Count Lark as my chaperon." Lith pointed at the jovial n.o.ble talking with other mages, losing his monocle from time to time due to the excitement. Lark didn"t care about hanging with influential n.o.bles as much as sharing his pa.s.sion about magic.

"Speak of the phoenix and there is the smoke. Friya, nice to see you." Friya gave them a small curtsy to which they replied with a bow. She was wearing a gold embroidered cream colored evening dress that covered her up to the shoulder.

Her hair was arranged into an elaborate updo, with several tresses knot together that left her neck exposed, emphasizing the leaves shaped parure composed of golden necklace and earrings with black diamonds that complimented her dark eyes and hair.

She also wore evening gloves, giving her outfit a maiden look, being the one that left the most to imagination compared to the other n.o.ble dames.

"Nice to see you guys too. Thank the G.o.ds you didn"t get any taller." She said with a smug expression while looking Lith in the eyes thanks to the high heels.

"I am still taller than you and I"ve got plenty of time to grow." He shrugged. "Nice dress. It looks lovely on you."

"Thanks, but I actually don"t like it." She snorted. "I was just tired of men complimenting at my b.r.e.a.s.t.s for their rank at the academy while other girls called me a sl*t behind my back. At first, I tried to ignore them, but after a while they really got under my skin."

"Seriously? Again with those rumors?" Lith raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah. Beware that you got it even worse than me. Some say that you slept with both the male and female Professors, others that you are the Marchioness" boy toy. Some even that you are the forbidden love child between her and Linjos."

Lith laughed heartily at the thought.

"Let them talk, I don"t care. Where are the others?"

"Do you mean Phloria?" She winked at him. "Don"t worry, she is eager to see you too. We just split up to search for you guys more quickly."

Their chatter was interrupted when they saw Marchioness Distar coming towards them, followed by three youths. The four ladies all wore magnificent evening dresses, embroidered with small gemstones complimenting either their eyes, hair, or skin.

"Ladies, allow me to introduce to you our guests of honour from the White Griffon academy. They are Yurial Deirus, Friya Ernas, and Lith of Lutia." Each one of them politely greeted the newcomers as soon the Marchioness called their name.

"These three girls are the top rankers from the Lightning Griffon. Lusa Erjar, Kyla Dornar, and Vala Rothar." The girls gave them a small curtsy, having a hard time hiding their surprise.

Usually, the first ranker was also the one awarded with the academy"s crown jewel, the colored griffon pin. Lusa Erjar wore them both side by side, the golden griffon and the topaz griffon pins.

That was also the reason why Yurial was the only one forced to wear his uniform, otherwise he would be forced to specify countless times which academy he was from.

The second anomaly was the trio composition. On Mogar women were naturally more talented for magic, to the point that even inside the academies the males/females ratio was four to six.

For both the pin awarded rankers to be men was something rarer than finding a unicorn on the doorstep. The three girls from the Lightning Griffon had prepared some nasty remarks for their opponents, but suddenly they were at a loss for words.

The Marchioness didn"t seem intentioned to leave the six of them. To make things worse, Yurial was way more handsome than they had pictured him, making hard for them being mean to him. Lith was a good head taller than the Lightning Griffon"s golden trio and was looking at them with the same cold gaze an undertaker would use while preparing the boxes for his latest clients.

Friya would have been the easiest mark, if not for the considerable amount of killing intent she was emitting. The muscles on her arms had been finely chiseled by daily training, while her soft smile was warning them that Friya had no problem breaking a jaw or two by "accident".