Chapter 306: Meeting Old Acquaintances [Part 2]
The age group of Chang Four’s classmates ranged between twelve to twenty. It was nothing unusual, however. It was a pretty common sight in a higher education institution (HEI)*.
At first, the students didn’t think too highly of Cillin. For starters, Cillin wasn’t wearing a noble emblem. Two, both Cillin and Chang Four were studying in a HEI, but Cillin was much older than Chang Four was. Naturally, they assumed that he was just a man of average talent.
Of course, that changed immediately when Chang Four revealed that Cillin was an AF1 student. Admiration, envy, jealousy; you name it, they felt it. but Cillin didn’t care. He wasn’t petty enough to be offended by a bunch of brats.
Chang Four’s communicator rang while they were conversing with each other. A short while later, he hung up the call and told everyone, “The girls are here. Let’s meet up with them immediately.”
The girls Chang Four were referring to were his female schoolmates, and the person he was talking to on the communicator just now was Lunani.
Most of the people enjoying the sights of Blossoms Garden were foreigners, probably because the locals had seen it so many times that the novelty had worn off a long time ago.
“Little Four!” A girl skipped toward Chang Four the moment they got off a public transport and entered Blossoms Garden. It was none other than Lunani herself. The young girl hadn’t dressed herself like a queen, but her refreshing attire and her beautiful looks still drew a lot of gazes, especially because she had a family emblem sewn into her clothes. If she wasn’t a noble, she would already be at the center of many webs of intrigue.
At the entrance, Lunani was growing impatient because people kept trying to chat with her while she was waiting for Chang Four. So when they finally got off a public transport, the girl immediately escaped the persistent people and walked up to them with a bright smile on her face.
“What’s that guy?” There was another group of people standing not far away from the entrance. One of the guys of the group was going to strike a conversation with Lunani on the basis that he was of noble blood when the latter suddenly dropped all pretenses of courtesy and ran toward Chang Four.
“You don’t know yet, do you? That immature boy at the front is the one Lunani fancied deeply despite her status. I don’t know what Lunani saw in that commoner, but she is so infatuated she literally forgot her own surname!” The speaker was none other than Sharalisa, the sharp-tongued girl who jumped at every opportunity to criticize Lunani.
“That is harsh, Lisa. Are you sure you’re not calling that boy a sour grape because you failed to win his heart?” Another noble girl mocked her.
Sharalisa’s face turned stiff for a second before she quickly assumed a disdainful expression. “Of course not! Why would I, a noble, fall for a commoner like that? Did you think that everyone’s as dumb as Lunani?”
“Tsk, and here I thought he was a person to watch out for.” The noble youngster who wanted to chat up to Lunani glanced at his noble emblem once before glaring at Chang Four, who was now talking intimately with Lunani. “Crushing that kid would be as easy as crushing an ant!”
“Now that’s a bit presumptuous. He’s a commoner, sure, but I also heard that he isn’t defenseless,” another noble youngster said.
“So what if he has an umbrella? Who can possibly be more powerful than my cousin here, Thomas?”
Everyone instinctively shot looked at a guy at the center of their group upon hearing that. Then, they fell silent.
Out of habit, Lunani automatically filtered everyone out of her mind until she was finally done talking to Chang Four. Turning toward his classmates, she was just about to explain to everyone about their schedule today when she suddenly noticed Cillin. Caught completely off guard, she instinctively tried to give him a salute.
“Your High—”
“Long time no see, Lunani.” Cillin interrupted her and stopped her from completing her salute.
The group of nobles were still discussing how to teach Chang Four a lesson when the guy at the center of the group suddenly stopped twirling his cup. Frowning and staring intensely at Lunani, he asked, “Who is that other guy?”
No one could give him an answer, but Sharalisa recalled Cillin almost immediately. “He’s Chang Four’s older brother, I think. I remember him visiting Chang Four in the school…” She suddenly turned a little white as if she recalled something terrifying.
“Tsk, just another commoner…” Thomas, Sharalisa’s cousin glared at the speaker and shut him up before he could finish his sentence.
“Lisa, continue. Tell me everything you know.” Thomas’s gaze never averted from Chang Four’s group.
“I… I think Chang Four and his family was an acquaintance of the prince of the Blazing Eagle Vogel Family?…”
A lot of people immediately disagreed with her. Why would a prince ever make the acquaintance of a commoner? She must’ve been mistaken, they said. The prince probably pitied the guy and gave him a few kind words, that’s all.
“Continue!” Thomas interrupted their discussion and growled.
The group fell silent again when they noticed that their leader was showing signs of anger for some reason.
Sharalisa wasn’t too sure what happened at Baelenbaatar back then. Most of what she heard were rumors at best.
Meanwhile, grimness and uncertainty flickered in Thomas’ eyes. If that young man was only an acquaintance of the prince, then his worries were unnecessary. After all, there were plenty of nobles who were acquainted with the royal family one way or another. However, he clearly saw Lunani performing a salute that was meant for a member of the royal family only before she was interrupted just now!
Having lost all hope in the band of idiots around him, Thomas decided to take matters into his own hands and walked toward Cillin’s group, wine glass still in his hand. However, there were too many people around Cillin right now, so he simply followed them around and waited for a suitable opportunity to show up.
No one in the noble group acted carelessly because they were warned by Thomas, but just because they didn’t move didn’t mean that Cillin was unaware of their observation. He simply couldn’t care less about them right now.
Lunani started acting a lot more reservedly after Cillin showed up. Her schoolmates had no idea, but whatever little she knew about Cillin made her spine tingle with apprehension and worry. She might not know who he really was to this day, but a man who was allowed to address the prince of the Snowstorm Wendyska Family by his nickname, and a man who could hang out with the three princes like actual friends could only be…
Meanwhile, Lunani’s schoolmates thought that the girl was embarrassed because her boyfriend was around and teased her, unaware that cold sweat was forming behind her back. She turned especially pale when the girls moved onto Cillin next and made fun of him, and she couldn’t help but observe his expression from the corner of her eye carefully.
She had been able to converse with Cillin normally when she knew nothing about him. But now, she couldn’t even drop her excessively respectful manner around him.
Blossoms Garden was a beautiful place, especially since the scenic spots were naturally cultivated over a couple centuries. Although it was still incomparable to the scenic planet where Ulaganuo cousin’s wedding was held, natural sceneries like this were incredibly precious in a world where technology was applied to almost every aspect of appearances.
It wasn’t the first time he saw a sight like this, so Cillin wasn’t as blown away as he used to be. But Chang Four and his classmates were definitely enjoying a good time and taking pictures and videos wherever they went. A while later, Cillin got a call and had to leave to take it. He left for a quiet spot after informing Chang Four.
The girls immediately swarmed Chang Four and asked him about Cillin after he left. Cillin was pretty good-looking, elegant and friendly. It was natural that he would garner some attention.
But Lunani warned them sternly, “Don’t talk about unnecessary things, get it!?”
“What’s wrong with you, Lunani?”
Her classmates were confused by her reaction, but Lunani refused to reveal what was bothering her. Only Chang Four was staring at Cillin thoughtfully.
Guan Feng was the one who called Cillin. San Calombo’s administration still hadn’t heard from Cillin, so they were worried that there would be a last-minute cancellation. After they made a fearful call to the RAS, a supervisor contacted Guan Feng and requested him to provide a clear answer. One, they would like to assuage San Calombo’s worries. Two, the institution had already advertised the presentation all over the place, so it would be embarrassing for both San Calombo and the RAS if it was cancelled last minute.
After receiving an answer from Cillin, Guan Feng called San Calombo’s administration and informed them that Cillin had already arrived. His reply caused a wave of panic to break out among the higher-ups of the institution. That wasn’t how the RAS representatives usually worked in the past! Why had he entered their institution without informing them? Worse, there was no way they could find out who the representative was because of the sheer amount of foreigners that had entered, and was still entering their campus.
Guan Feng didn’t tell them the answer. All he said that the representative himself would contact them when it was time, and that they had nothing to worry about.
But how could they not?! Could it be that the RAS wished to conduct a secret investigation of their institution? If the representative encountered something unpleasant during their trip and lost their mood, what would happen to their reputation?? What would happen to their standing in the twenty-third star region??
All Guan Feng’s reassurances did was worsen their anxiety!
Meanwhile, Thomas was still observing Cillin and getting nowhere close to an answer. He had done his research on all the royal families including the emperor’s, but this was literally the first time he saw this person.
It was at this moment a person interrupted his thoughts. “Eh? Thomas! What are you doing here?”
The guy who greeted him was a young noble who studied in San Calombo. He was of equal status with Thomas.
Thomas shot the guy a glance but didn’t say anything. When the young noble shrugged and was about to leave, he suddenly smiled and pointed at Cillin, asking, “Do you know who that guy is?”
Surprised by Thomas’ sudden change of mind, Hong Xi looked at the direction he was pointing at while saying, “Who? Which one? Please don’t tell me it’s an underaged girl, if it is all I can tell you is that your taste is holy shit am I seeing right???”
Hong Xi suddenly abandoned Thomas and ran toward Cillin while shouting like a madman, “Ah! My idol, my idol!”
Cillin was just wondering if he should contact San Calombo’s administration right away when he saw a man with a colorful-dyed quiff running toward him while shouting on top of his lungs. He looked around himself and saw no one close, meaning that the guy was probably looking for him. But who was he?
