"Why are you going to the cafeteria, Alec?" Taryeon asked with a slight frown. It wasn't because Alec was headed to the cafeteria. That in itself wasn't a problem. The problem lay with the fact that Alec was smarter than that.
He knew Benjamin would still get in his way. It also seemed like Alec enjoyed spending his lunch at the library.
Then there was Alec's expression.
Taryeon hadn't known Alec that long, but he had seen that expression a couple of times.
It was the expression that Alec wore when he was ready to cause trouble. In a way, it was a handsome expression. He refused to back down and cower.
Unfortunately, Alec was a kid with no backing whatsoever.
"To have a chat."
"With Benjamin…?" Taryeon asked, hoping the answer would be negative.
Alec nodded.
Taryeon sighed.
"What are you trying to do right now?"
"I'm just going to talk to him."
"Well, yeah! Anything else and you can say goodbye to your beating heart, man! Considering what he's done so far, he might try to have you disappear if you cross another line! I know it isn't fair, but sometimes, you just have to bear with it."
Alec heard what Taryeon had to say.
"He's already done that."
"Done what?"
"Tried to have me killed. Why do you think I was in the forest?"
"Don't tell me he lured you there!"
"No."
"Phew—"
"He abducted me by blackmailing my roommate."
"...Mm." Taryeon's expression darkened.
"Just a chat?" Taryeon asked after a moment's deliberation.
"Just a chat."
"Should I bring backup?"
"Backup?"
"Isidore and Erio. We probably shouldn't tell Maura until it's settled. But Isidore, Erio, and I can handle Benjamin and his two minions, I'm pretty sure."
"And me?"
"Aren't you a bookworm?"
"Do you think I survived because the monsters in the forest went on vacation?"
"No, I thought you didn't go that deep since you were sleepwalking…"
If Benjamin and his gang kidnapped Alec, they wouldn't have just dumped him on the edge. They would have brought him deep enough to make sure he didn't make it back.
"Are you saying you encountered a monster and lived? You?" Taryeon frowned and looked Alec up and down, skeptical enough for Alec to smell it on his breath.
"I didn't just live. I killed it."
"Yeah, and I'm the Headmaster in disguise."
"Good for you, fucker. If you don't believe me, don't, just know that I'll whoop your ass in a fight."
"Oh, is that a challenge?" Taryeon responded with perhaps a little bit too much excitement in response to Alec's threat.
"Damn right."
"Good. As soon as you get your first circle, we'll—"
"Do you already have yours?"
"Nope, but I'm close. I'll get it as soon as I get struck by lightning."
"What?"
"I'm following that librarian guy's tip."
"You're crazy."
"I do not want to hear that from you."
"Don't worry, you'll hear it from the others as well."
"...Go get yourself hanged for treason now."
Alec ignored Taryeon's regards and entered the cafeteria, his heart beating a little faster than usual. He couldn't deny that Taryeon had a point. He was provoking Benjamin again.
It wasn't a good idea.
But that wasn't the only reason his heart was beating hard.
Alec couldn't forgive someone who blackmailed an orphanage and threatened to put a bunch of kids on the street for such a dumb reason.
He quickly located Benjamin's table in the nobles' section of the cafeteria. It stood out, even among the fancy ones. But it had nothing to do with Benjamin himself. It was because he was sharing a table with Victoria.
'I guess it's the perfect opportunity.'
Alec strode up to Victoria's and Benjamin's table, half expecting guards to pop out of some shadow and block him. But maybe because he showed no fear, he didn't get such an event.
Benjamin looked up as he noticed someone approach, and his eyes almost bugged out of his head as he choked on the potato he just tried to swallow. But before he could clear his throat and tell Alec to get away or on his knees, Alec bowed.
It wasn't a perfect bow, but it was far better than anyone around the table would have expected from a commoner orphan without formal training.
Considering everything Alec had said and done, Benjamin thought he would be the last person to possess such exquisite manners.
"I apologize for intruding on your meal, Lady Victoria, Lord Benjamin, Lady Madelynn, Lady Ticka, Lord Claas, and Lady Nia."
Alec identified the ones he hadn't met before by using the crests on their chests. He greeted the ones sitting at the table, but didn't bother with the ones standing around it. They weren't part of this conversation.
After his bow, he raised his head slightly and glanced at Victoria. She had the highest position at the table. If she didn't want to talk with him, she just had to glance at any of her attendants, and they would tell him to get lost in the polite way nobles did so.
But Victoria looked at him while perfectly hiding her thoughts.
"Speak." Her command was simple.
"Thank you. First, I wish to express my gratitude and my apologies. During our first lesson with Miss Woltz, I used the enlightenment your answer provided me to get the teacher's recognition. It should have rightfully been yours." Alec bowed his head in apology.
"The answer was yours. The teacher recognized it as such. You need not apologize to me for that. If you gained enlightenment, it was through your ability, not my previous answer."
In other words, she did not care about that.
"Thank you, Lady Victoria."
"Pay it no heed."
'I guess that translates to, 'Don't think too much about it,' or something.'
"Secondly, I would like to speak with Lord Benjamin if I may."
"That is up to him."
One of Victoria's eyebrows rose slightly as she looked at Alec for a moment before turning to Benjamin, leaving it to him.
Benjamin was already staring at Alec with a glare so intense that Alec was amazed he hadn't turned red in the face yet.
'In private?'
'In private.'
Alec and Benjamin shared a silent exchange with nothing but their eyes.
Benjamin nodded and wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin.
"I will excuse myself, Lady Victoria. I would prefer not to dirty the atmosphere around the table with this commoner's presence any longer."
"And if I insist you stay?"
Benjamin froze in the middle of getting up.
"Then I would have no choice but to oblige and become entertainment for you all alongside this commoner."
'Clever,' Alec commented to himself. Benjamin could have just accepted it. Instead, he phrased it so that if Victoria insisted, she would also insist on shaming Benjamin by making him stay for the others' entertainment. A little rude, perhaps, but it worked.
Victoria rolled her eyes and dismissed the two of them.
As soon as Benjamin's face was out of sight from the others, it filled with rage.