I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

Raph nodded, snapping himself back to reality as Alicia turned to walk away.

"Should I come with?".

His gaze flickered as he looked down, locking gazes with Elsie.

His worry seemed to have dissipated after staring at her. He found himself amused instead, at her reaction.

Why did she seem more worried than him, when he was the one they called for?

Elise's brow furrowed, and her expression was a palpable sum of surprise. She seemed eager to follow him to wherever he was heading but it seemed like a situation where she would have no power over.

'This is just the first day….and she's showing this much loyalty…I find it…' He thought, a light sigh exuding from his lips as he curled it up into one of his best smiles.

"Don't worry about it, Elsie; I'll be back before you know it".

'Well, I have to be. I still haven't established the Club yet'.

He patted her lightly, causing her tail to wag then walked down the steps towards the door. As he did, some students stared quietly, a knowing feeling gnawing at them.

One of these students was the princess, her gaze lingering on the boy until he walked out of the classroom.

"Lana" Meadow called as she stood up from her seat.

The girl turned towards her Master's direction, a raised brow as she asked. "Yes, my Lady".

"Let's go, I need you to get Raffaelo's attention for me. There is much to discuss between the both of us".

She said, as she hurriedly walked past them. "Royce, do what you've always done".

She instructed, before rushing out of the class to the surprise of the class.

Lana had to quickly catch up at one point while Royce was left alone again to his own devices. This wasn't the first neither was it the second, but the Princess had never attempted to trust him, even after spending up to 6 years together.

With a puff, he turned away from the door and picked up some notes as a Lecturer walked in to begin the next class.

***

On a pathway leading to an Auditorium with sparkling royal blue glass windows and intricately sculptured columns and pillars, a large building with a delicate yet sophisticated and indomitable structure stood in place.

It was known as the Visiting Hall, and it was located much closer to the first-year LT since they were most likely to gain visitors.

A pavement with a see-through ceramic roofing was adorned along the path, and a building to his left was the Teacher's lounge.

It had similar colors to most of the facilities, which were white and blue.

Along this roofed pavement walked a white-haired boy, his hands in his pocket and his mind reeling in on itself, as he came up with quick solutions to his predicament.

'This is most likely going to be an issue with the King…What sort of verdict would he administer?'. He thought, a sigh exuding his lips in the end.

The King was greedy, and he required a puppet to use as a means of aligning those who threatened his authority.

He probably wanted a powerful knight, and the Jun household just happened to be a family of talented ones.

'It's annoying having to deal with this'.

He thought, but all his thinking was not availed. He had an idea, something that could lengthen whatever decision the King intended.

'Well, that's if the King is the reason for their visitation'. Though he doubted they would visit him for anything less.

After all, he had warned them once.

With another deep sigh, he shoved down those thoughts to welcome a new one.

'Now, the club-'

"Raffaelo!".

Though, he didn't get the chance to as someone's voice cut through his thoughts.

His aura could feel the person's presence and he already identified the individual before he fully turned back.

"...Did you get the wrong person?".

An amused and confused tone was etched in his tone as Lana panted softly after catching up with him.

"You–You're quick on your feet". She muttered, disregarding his statement while she took a short break to compose herself.

Raph let her be for a while but then the feeling to leave became heavy.

Time was of the essence.

"Did you call me just so you could waste my time?" He asked, his tone laced with annoyance as he prepared to walk away, but Lana's click of the tongue stopped him.

For some reason, he found this pattern…familiar.

"The princess wishes to see you"

Raph turned to her, a raised brow on his face as he asked.

"Why?".

Lana clicked her tongue again and turned away from him. "I would like to know as well". She said sarcastically, turning around towards their LT building.

"Huh? Did you expect me to follow you back? I have somewhere to be" Raph said with an amused tone in his voice. 'She is the princess, yes, but all forms of nobility are stripped off when you walk into this grounds'.

Not to mention, he just didn't care.

Lana felt a bulge of vein appear on her forehead as she snapped back towards him. "You said what? You ungrateful son of a fallen household dares to?!" She muttered, her tone laced with anger and spite, but Raph didn't bother to pay attention to her tone, but rather her words.

"Fallen?" He asked, his expression turning blank.

For all he knew, his family was very much nobility, led by two Duchesses at the moment. It made no sense to refer to their family as fallen, at least not yet.

Lana may have realized her blunder, and her expression turned calm while she quickly placed her hand on her mouth.

She stared at Raph, her gaze shaky when they heard footsteps approaching them.

"Yes, fallen" The familiar voice of Princess Meadow echoed as she stood next to Lana, her imperial gaze fixed up on Raph.

Her petite build was a contrast to Raph's and he found this comedic.

A small chuckle escaped his lips as he looked away. "Hah, Meadow, you appeared right in time".

Lana felt multiple bulges as she pulled out a silver longsword from thin air, a growing bloodlust within her chest. "You must be courting death".

She proclaimed, ready to take the next step against him when she felt a thug on the side of her blazer.

Flinching, her growing bloodlust collapsed like a fallen tree as she whipped around to face her Master.

"Ye–Yes Princess?" She stammered, unable to meet eyes with her.

"When did I tell you to draw your sword?" There was a cold eminence to her tone, and it became palpable towards Lana.

She could feel the usual sensation of a chill creeping up her bones and the condescending gaze of disappointment.

Oh, how much she disliked this look.

With a forced Yelp, she retreated. Taking a few steps back, then settling into her new position.

But that chill had still not died down, and without needing to look at her Princess, she could tell Meadow wanted her to retreat further.

And so she did until she was at least fifty meters away.

Raph watched this event unfold with amused eyes and a curious smile. For some reason, he felt like he wanted to know more about their Princess–Knight relationship.

"Now that that is out of the way, I shall get straight to the point". Meadow said, her tone even and concise as she lowered her gaze as if building courage within her.

"...well?" Raph nudged, curiosity palpable in his voice.

"...I can read Minds".

A brief silence descended upon them, causing both to retreat to their lines of thoughts.

'...Huh? Why would she reveal something like that?' Raph wondered, confusion replacing his curiosity.

He had always thought she could read minds, but for some reason, he had not expected her to reveal it this easily.

Why would she need to do so?

Raph was concerned with the reason for revealing such a secret. Of course, he had his doubts, but this didn't seem like a good time to pull a joke on him, and he had seen some signs causing him to come to that theory.

But Meadow was concerned with something else.

".....as I thought, you don't believe me" She muttered, unable to withhold her disappointment, as she turned around to leave.

"Um, quite contrary princess, I do believe you". Raph said with a sigh, scratching the back of his head for a moment as Meadow halted in her actions.

She turned around, her lips curling into a smile, and her eyes brightening up like stars.

For a moment there, she felt ethereal and his heart nearly skipped a beat.

"Oh, so why were you taking so long to reply? Oh you," She teased, punching his elbow playfully with her small fist.

"Well, what can I say? This seems like something you don't just go about saying to people you don't know." Raph said with a light chuckle. "I found it difficult to understand why you revealed it".

"...Oh" Meadow turned her gaze away, staring at the sky, her thoughts reeling in and her expression straightening. "There are times when we must face challenges alone, and there are times when we must pick up worthy allies to face those same challenges.

Every challenge has a different level of difficulty, Raffaelo, but the most difficult bring the best rewards".

Her tone dropped, sounding almost solace.

It seemed like she may have not just revealed this on a whim.

A calm silence descended as Raph stared at her, his thoughts contemplating her words. Explore stories at empire

"It is time to face my challenge, and I need worthy allies, Raffaelo, and out of everyone I could think of, you seemed to be different; a call for attention, maybe? I don't know what it is, but your fate shouldn't be that different from mine.

We're aligned, don't you think?"

Raph had never found himself considering things like that. No, more like he didn't need to.

After all, Princess Meadow was someone who died at an early age in his past life. He never got the chance to even see, not to mention speak to her directly as he did, but now that he thought about it. Was there an alignment he couldn't see?

"So, Raffaelo. Would you join hands with this rebel, and turn this Kingdom inside out until it becomes worthy of my reign?" She asked her tone even, her eyes brightening and twinkling like little stars, and her golden hair shimmering in the afternoon light.

It didn't make sense, none of it did and for some reason, Raph found himself captivated.

"No, let me put it differently–Join hands with me, so we can put this King to judgment."

And it happened. Raph's cold heart skipped a beat.