After Luca apologized to lina and her roommates, his group started to hang out with them more often.
lina kept skipping most of her classes to work on the black pearls, so Luca didn’t get to interact with her as much as he thought he would.
Nonetheless, he would sotis accompany Yuki or Eve to their rooms to use it as an excuse to hang out with lina for a few minutes.
Luca used those monts to ask lina questions about her life and get to know her more, but unluckily for him, most of the stories that the princess talked about involved Ichiro.
Keiko, the princess of Lotus and lina’s new friend, also enjoyed stopping by their room every once in a while as she preferred the light atmosphere with the other princesses over her own room.
At one point, lina had finished cleansing all the black pearls in her crate and decided to attend all her lessons for that day.
There was a class called "Combat Theory," which focused on explaining the different types of combat and magic that people were able to use around the world.
The lesson also talked about the different kinds of monsters and their weaknesses, but lina never showed much interest as she believed the information to be outdated or way too basic.
That specific day, however, the professor started discussing the war with Kalusia and how devils were the most dangerous monsters that anyone could ever face.
The professor’s words caught lina’s attention, making her raise her gaze toward the blackboard with interest.
"While it’s said that a devil conquered Kalusia, many people doubt it, as they have never seen one..." the professor explained.
"Still, there are records out there that talk about their existence and how heroes from the past were able to destroy these demons and get them out of our world..." he continued.
"It is said that the single touch of a devil can make a person experience despair and solitude, which made the fight against them in the past much more difficult for those heroes..."
lina kept listening to the professor attentively. Even though so of the information he said made her feel a little frustrated, she found it fascinating.
She had seen and fought against the devil Armaros, but the one who finished him off was Ichiro, making her rember the tears that he shed by the end of the battle.
lina never asked Ichiro what made him so emotional, but she recalled seeing Armaros touching Ichiro’s chest right before passing away and concluded that Ichiro was shown a vision of sothing horrible that broke him.
Once the lesson was over, lina returned to her room, feeling sad that she couldn’t be with Ichiro while he fought another devil, who was supposedly more dangerous than Armaros.
When she arrived, her roommates were sitting on the balcony, accompanied by Luca, who had gone with them to wait for the princess until she ca from her classes.
"Hey, lina... oh, are you okay?" the elf princess said after noticing lina’s disgruntled expression.
The silver-haired princess sighed and sat down next to her friends, letting out a groan of defeat, showing a side of her that Luca had never seen.
She told them how she had attended the class and listened to the professor talk about devils, which made her miss Ichiro even more.
Nobody at the academy was aware of lina and Ichiro’s encounter with Armaros, as the kingdom decided to leave that incident as a small secret.
All of the knights knew the reality of what had happened, and rumors started to spread around the nation about Ichiro and lina vanquishing a devil. However, lots of people didn’t believe the gossip.
Luca had heard about it when he asked his friends to look for information on Ichiro, but he was one of those people who didn’t believe it was real.
lina told her friends the story of when they fought Armaros close to Port Town Blue, which confird the rumors to Luca, leaving him speechless.
Luca thought that the more he hung out with lina, the more accurate information he would hear about the man Ichiro, who Luca considered his rival to win the princess’ heart. Still, he wasn’t expecting it to be that difficult.
The group looked unsettled as lina told the story and described the body of the devil, recalling that it had been extrely tough to kill him and expressing her worry for Ichiro, who was on his way to fight against another one.
Luca’s mind started racing, thinking of all the different rumors he had heard and how they were all most likely true.
While they kept talking, lina’s voice crystal started glowing red, and the princess suddenly stood up from her seat and ran inside to listen to the ssage.
"W-what is she doing?" Luca asked, confused after seeing the princess leaving in such a hurry.
"Oh, that’s normal..." Yuki replied vaguely.
"She is talking to Ichiro!" Eve continued before taking a bite of a piece of chocolate placed on the table.
"She is talking to him!? How!?" Luca asked, raising his tone of voice with a mix of jealousy.
lina’s roommates didn’t know the details of how the artifact worked, but they explained that it allowed both of them to send each other ssages with their voices and that anyti the crystal glowed red, it ant that Ichiro had sent one.
Luca felt defeated. If she smiled and ran just to listen to a simple ssage from Ichiro, he couldn’t see a way he could win lina’s heart.
"You finally understand?" Yuki asked with a carefree tone, sipping from her tea.
"W-what do you an?" Luca replied with another question, trying to play off his frustration.
"lina doesn’t have eyes for anyone other than that man. I knew you would be stubborn, so I decided to let you see it for yourself..." the black-haired princess explained.
Luca looked down with a dejected expression and stood up montarily to walk around the balcony to clear his mind when he overheard lina speaking inside the room.
"Please be careful, okay? I’ll be waiting for you... Please co back safely..." she muttered in between breaths.
Hearing the words coming out of her mouth made Luca look out into the distance with frustration. Feeling defeated, he started to secretly root for Ichiro to return safely, as now he wanted to et the man he lost against without even seeing him.
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