Lucian held his injured hand, looking at the group of four students approaching him with malicious smiles.
He sighed, "It seems we are in for a more...practical demonstration today. Let's see how well you fare in a real-life negotiation scenario."
Before the nobles could lay their hands on him, Lucian moved, his speed catching them off guard.
He dodged the first punch, and countered with a strike to the stomach, making the noble student double over in pain.
He then blocked the next attack and pushed the student back, making him stumble and fall on his desk.
The other nobles tried to surround him, but Lucian was faster, and more skilled. He used their own momentum against them, making them hit each other, or trip over their own feet.
It was a chaotic scene of flailing limbs and yells of pain. Lucian was in the middle of it, using the opportunity as an excuse to beat up some of Celine's enemies.
The young Lady watched from her seat, failing to hide her "shock" at the turn of events. She pretended not to have expected this outcome, when in truth, she had.
She waited patiently until the last one got defeated before throwing another tantrum.
"Y-you! How dare you raise your hand against a noble!" She stood up, her eyes flashing with anger, and pointed her finger at Lucian. "You are done for. I will make sure you never set foot in this Academy again!"
Lucian, who was currently holding a student by his collar, said, "I forgot to mention that I'm allowed to defend myself in extreme situations like this, it's in my contract."
He raised his injured hand, showing the blood and proof of the extreme situation, "So, unless you want to face charges of assaulting a teacher, I suggest you sit down and enjoy the lesson, Lady Rochefort."
"..." Celine was forced to sit down, her face red with frustration, or was it a blush? She hid it behind her hand, her teeth grinding together.
Their new teacher was not someone to be trifled with, the students realized.
They all returned to their seats, a bit more subdued and cautious than before.
Lucian smiled at them, his demeanor changing back to friendly and approachable, as if nothing had happened.
"I'm sorry for being late!" a girl with pink hair entered the classroom, panting, and apologizing profusely. "I was...oh."
Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the state of the classroom, the scattered papers, a female student with a red face sitting behind the teacher's desk, and a male without a school uniform standing in front of the blackboard.
She looked at Lucian, and recognized him as the man she had met at the pawn shop.
"You're the...the teacher?" she asked, making Lucian curse internally.
Celine's blushing face slowly turned back to normal, her sharp eyes now focusing on the pink-haired girl.
Lucian nodded, "Yes. Take a seat, Lady...?"
"Bianca. Bianca Lacroix," the Heroine replied, and took an empty seat, which belonged to Celine originally, not knowing who it belonged to, just that it was empty.
"Let's continue our lesson..." Lucian said, not wanting to draw more attention to the fact that she had chosen to sit in the wolf's den, of all places.
The Crown Prince also entered the classroom late, and was about to take his usual seat, when he noticed his new neighbor.
He raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything, and sat down next to the heroine.
Celine was fuming as she watched the scene unfold.
Lucian added more salt to the wound by letting the students practice their negotiation skills by working in pairs.
He paired Bianca with Prince Aldric, much to Celine's "dismay" and Prince's "indifference".
Lucian took the handkerchief he had in his pocket and wrapped it around his hand.
Celine tried to stand up and stop the other pairings from happening, but Lucian had other ideas.
He gave her extra tasks to do to "make up for her earlier behavior", such as making her write on the board in his stead as he dictated his lecture notes.
Because she was pregnant, he had to be careful with how much he bullied her back. Celine took advantage of his softness for her, enjoying the attention Lucian gave her.
They were no longer the center of focus.
The Crown Prince and the commoner girl were having an intense discussion over a hypothetical negotiation scenario.
The commoner girl was speaking her mind freely, without fear of offending the prince, making him more interested in her.
She was not impressed by the Crown Prince's status, nor intimidated by his presence. She treated him like an equal, and that intrigued him.
Wasn't this why Celine got intrigued by Lucian in the first place? Why was she so obsessed with him? He had to remember to ask her later.
Lucian finished the class without further incidents, and dismissed the students, except Celine, whom he made stay behind to clean the mess she had caused.
Celine sent the heroine a few ugly looks when she was walking out of the classroom, her face showing her dissatisfaction.
The heroine didn't seem to notice, too busy rushing to her next class, hoping not to be late again.
The door closed, leaving Lucian and Celine alone in the classroom.
Lucian grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the faucet to wash her chalked hands.
She watched on silently, her eyes following his movements, not offering any resistance.
Her fingers were soft without callouses, so he had to be more gentle with them than with his own.
"She seems to know you," Celine commented, her voice low.
Lucian glanced at her, then went back to washing her hands, "I met her at the pawn shop. She helped me pick out a bow. Nice girl."
No longer deeming the heroine as an important topic, Celine wiped her hands against his shirt, drying them, smearing the wet marks, "Now, nobody will dare to touch you." she said, a hint of satisfaction in her tone.
Nobody would dare look down on Lucian when even the elites of the Academy couldn't lay a finger on him.
There was a disadvantage of being a non conflictive person. People didn't pick up fights with Lucian, but they also didn't respect him. They would still look down on him instead of admiring him.
They might have not taken him seriously at first because of his commoner background, but now they would have to admit that he was someone to be reckoned with.
Lucian couldn't have done a better job than that. He started cleaning the mess in her stead, throwing die letters in the bin, keeping the loved ones as souvenirs.
"Won't you be jealous?" he asked, "That I'm going to pay someone else attention?"
He expected her to say no, just to annoy him. But she didn't.
He turned to see her sitting on top of a desk, her legs swinging, and her eyes looking down at him as he picked the crumbled papers in a crouched position.
She enjoyed being above him too much, this girl.
"Maybe," she said, her voice quiet, as if it was hard to admit it.
She was territorial, which could have been mistaken as jealous behavior.
Jealousy was when you wanted something that someone else had. Territoriality was when you wanted to keep what you already had.
She had claimed Lucian as hers, while he was still unsure if she was his.
Her heart had a strange tendency to slip out of his grasp when he thought he had it in the palm of his hand.
Especially when she felt threatened, or…
…or when it came to her behavior around the Crown Prince.
He knew it was all an act, but she was too good of an actress.
'Stupid, I'm here to protect the child, not get jealous over my bully's victims.'