Chapter 78 78:Funeral
A place for the deceased who treated Horizon as their home, giving their all for its betterment, and had no families to carry out the rituals.
Most of the bodies of the dead students due to the Omen\'s attack were sent to their respective houses.
Parents were asked whether they wanted to bury their children in their Hometown or Horizon. Some agreed to let Horizon take over the funeral as many of them came from orphanages with no place to go.
Everyone moved without delay.
After going on for a while, they entered the forest, and after going a bit deeper a large clearing appeared.
There were many whitish altars built over a small ridge. Some had coffins buried underneath while others had an altar with their name engraved on it.
On top of some, corpses dressed in white clothes lie neatly. Lucas\'s expression was especially gloomy, feeling vexed and unable to sort out his feelings.
He did not remember the exact number of people who died in this event but he was sure the original number was close to a hundred. His interference had lessened the numbers but should he be happy about it?
Lucas just stood quietly with his gang oblivious to Charles\'s uncanny stare.
Many priests recited in front of the altar. After the prayer, people started to put flowers.
At that time, the silence was broken by the sudden appearance of the Student Council.
A group of boys and girls walked, led by the President Of the Student Council.
Everyone gaped in shock at her sight.
She was tall, slender, with long white hair with a bluish end cascading down to the waist. There were no accessories on her face nor there was any makeup, in fact, no external aid was needed to enhance her beauty.
Seeing the pretty sculpture-like face makes one lament about the creator\'s partiality. Her red eyes seemed to flow with resolute confidence combined with the cold icy expression on her face complimenting her beauty.
Taking long strides with her long legs as she walked with a resolute expression. Combined with her cold temperament which glorifies the title of Ice Princess, she is the only Princess of the Cyprus Empire, Julian Von Stan.
Everyone swallowed their saliva seeing her. Some were stupefied, unable to utter anything.
Beside her, Vice President Isaac Holmes with an arrogant expression matched her strides.
Behind them, other important seniors walked giving a gloomy look.
Following the teachers, she took flowers and placed them on Altar offering her deep condolences.
Everyone from the student council belongs to a noble house having a strong political background.
Soon after, Priest moved around solemnly drawing signs and spilling oil over the bodies.
Previously, people were just placed in coffins but after fear of necromancers misusing the bodies increased, the corpses were burnt and ashes were put in the coffins and buried thereafter.
The oil-soaked log catches fire and spreads around the bodies.
There are no cries and sobs that one often hears at the funeral. There is only solemnity and restrained sadness in people\'s eyes.
However, even in this situation some as if this whole place had nothing to do with them were in their own world staring at peeking at others.
Lucas stared at Julian\'s back gasping in cold air. At first, he felt odd but after glancing around a few times, he felt that the back was quite familiar to the one he saw before passing out.
Feeling betrayed by Miss Ami, he knew something was going to happen. So, his mind was already searching for the cards to play.
Looking at the grey smoke rising in the sky Vice Vice-Principal Josh appeared and gave a short speech marking the end of the funeral.
...
The Academy classes for the first year were closed for a few days. Some who live in or near the Capital left.
Frederick, Parth, and Roan along with many left leaving Lucas to have time in his hand. If he was in his world, he would have also left alas.
Instead of being saddened, he tried to look at the brighter side.
"Finally, I got some free time."
After getting adjusted to the schedule, Lucas learnt one thing that is, training felt easier than listening to lectures and studying. Maybe he was affected by Parth, but this was his true feeling.
Whistling, and humming pleasantly, Lucas on reaching before his chamber, found a letter in the letterbox.
"Did Mother send another silent protest letter?"
A smile leaked from his lips as he thought about how much his mother loved him, making him completely lose his guard.
However, as soon as he held the letter his soul almost left out of his body.
"What the hell?"
Lucas tried to suppress his bewilderment and entered inside at once to read the content.
The letter was from a Student Council.
"When it comes to having a bad premonition, it seems I have reached yet another level of mastery. Instead of rotting here, I should join a Spirit club or work as a fortune teller...Hmmm!"Lucas snorted.
Though he somehow predicted things to go on like this still he hoped for a better future but his hopes were trampled. Moreover, he guessed that he would get a private invitation letter to a secret meeting.
Lucas tearing the envelope skimmed through the contents.
Reading it, his hands started to tremble.
Gasping heavily, his eyes bulged out of the socket.
"No...for God\'s sake, what is this shitty turn of events?"
"Why don\'t I remember applying?"Lucas controlled the urge to hit his head.
Lucas thought he was going to be called because his performance might have been seen by the Princess when she saved him.
Contrary to his expectation, the contents were about him being selected for an interview for the Secretary of The Student Council President.
"When did I apply for the Secretary post? Why don\'t I remember?"
Rubbing his eyes, Lucas attempted to oversee the things that should have happened.
The Princess, through the cameras, would glimpse Frederick\'s prowess. Shocked, she would offer the Secretary post to him but Frederick finding it uncomfortable, yielded the position for others which was taken by Rose.
Lucas did not care about that shit rather he was nervous about the meeting.
Out of all the characters, Julian was one of the most loved characters.
She had a charm of her own.
An icy cold Tsundere cold Princess, what could be better than that?
She knew when to be ruthless and when to be mild.
Towards her people, she can go to any length. Lucas wanted to secretly drop pieces and raise the value of his existence, and find a way to work under her wings.
Under her shade, no one would be daring enough to harm him. At least he was not going to be killed if he offended any noble.
However, she just had a supporting role in the entire series. There was even a foreshadowing of her death.
If compared, Frederick really falls short in front of her.
For her to take an interest in a matter is already astonishing.
"Did my bad luck turn into good luck? Is this blessing in disguise?"
"No, Lucas, hold yourself."
Lucas hit his cheek. No matter what, he cannot leave an unfavourable impression on her.
Red eyes…
People born with red eyes were considered evil, bloodthirsty, and tyrants.
Though she was not that much, she was quite arrogant in her childhood days. On top of that, people spread various bad rumours about this.
The Emperor was attending to an important matter in the North so he was unaware of all that and his negligence made everyone think of her as an unfavourable Princess.
She started to get cornered by the servants silently and she was too young to notice.
After the troublesome matter was over, a welcoming banquet was held where Princes from other nations were invited.
A Prince from Silver Knight taking fancy on her started to force an engagement. She was 9 that year while the boy was 13.
When she refused, The Prince started to get physical with her saying that she was just an unfavourable useless wench whose blessing was to marry him.
The feeling of fear along with the suppressed emotions that were bottled inside her erupted frighteningly.
She awakened her mana during that. The matter which should be joyful instead became a disaster. For a small girl, her mana was as vast as an ocean.
Moreover, she had the purest ice bloodline ability which affected her mana, making her permanently affected by coldness and she often succumbed to cold attacks if she used too much of her power.
Even though people with elemental bloodline ability had high resistance, it wasn\'t able to protect her.
The Emperor after knowing all this punished everyone without sparing a single one. Even the Prince was reprimanded and the relationship with Silver Knight became worse.
From that instance, she started to stay aloof which went on increasing as she grew up.
Her illness was cleared by the Princess of Ralph who was quite adept in magic to the point she became the Archmage and the youngest in the history.
"This is going to be troublesome. Her cure was quite easy, which was to draw a firewall magic circle using rare certain ingredients in specific ratios. It\'s the ratio that is most troublesome to find. If only I reme....."
Lucas\'s breathing ceased for a moment.
His back was drenched in a cold sweat thinking about this.
"I remember bits of the ingredients. How is this possible?"
"This feels odd. I forget many small and simple things but I remembered something so complex."
"This is troublesome."Lucas pinched the spot between his brows.
Thinking about this, Lucas decided to write down the ingredients in his diary while wondering where this meeting will lead him in the future.