Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 1-3) ✓

40 | Next Target

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"WHY DOES THIS STILL surprise me even though I already suspected it from the very beginning?" Max asks as he stares at Ari who's having a staring contest with his brother, Marcus.

     "If you didn't ask me to take care of your little brother here, then I would have lived my life in peace!" Ari angrily shouts.

     "Well if I didn't ask you to take care of him then you wouldn't even be here now would you?" Marcus fires back.

     Max sigh and goes in between them. "Excuse me, I'm right here. What do you guys think of me, a baby? Who needs to take care of who? If you ask me it's you two who needs serious parental guidance right now."

     Marcus and Ari look at Max, ready to defend themselves when Hans suddenly pushes the two off of each other and angrily says, "Have you no shame? Quarreling in front of your leader? I should strip both of your titles off."

     Marcus takes a deep breath and immediately bows in front of Hans. "I apologize. I just lost my temper, but let me assure you that it will never happen again."

     Hans sighs and massages his temple, trying his best not to lose his cool any further than this. "If president Janus didn't request for one of our underlings to babysit him, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. I know you two don't get along, but at least have the decency to hide it in front of everyone here," Hans scolds the two.

     "W-Wait a second...president Janus asked for Ari to watch over me?" Max asks as soon as Hans stopped talking.

     Arjun stands beside Max with his hands crossed and answers for him. "Well technically he just asked us to have a Rose watch over you, but we don't have sophomore underlings since they're all 3rd and 4th years, so Faulkner here was recruited. He fit the criteria well; he's smart and he's from a good family background of scholars and noble prize winners."

     "But he has a shitty personality," Khian adds, making Ari glare at him, which actually just proved his point.

     Arjun then points at Ari and continues, "We just needed to give him enough points to make him a gaffer, which is a title that will be enough to protect you. Or so president Janus said."

     Max nods his head thanks to the newfound information. But after letting that sink in for about a quick second, Max immediately looks back at Ari and asks, "So you're saying he wasn't a gaffer before I got here?"

     The members of BND become quiet for a second after hearing the question, but the silence was then filled with Marcus's annoying laughter. "Him? He only became a gaffer during the final term last year. If it wasn't for us he wouldn't be what he is now," Marcu explains.

     "But this asshole is already a notorious white uniform even though he was a serf, so making him a gaffer just gave the students more reason to fear him," Arjun adds.

     "He was initially a serf?" Max then asks, continuing to be shocked about the discoveries of his friend.

     Arjun moves close to Max and says in a soft voice, "To tell you the truth, aside from his family background, we chose him because of his hair. Since we call our underlings Roses, his crazy fake red hair made him stand out."

     Ari unconsciously touches his hair as he overhears what the Duke has to say.

     "I can't believe Ari was a serf. For some reason he always had the gaffer vibe," Max says instead, talking to himself and completely ignoring what Arjun just told him.

     While Max was spacing out, Hans takes a deep breath and says, "We don't have all day. Let's inspect him and get this over with."

     As soon as Hans said those words, Arjun takes a step closer to Max and grabs him by the chin, startling Max. A Rose approaches Arjun with a notebook and pen like he's some kind of assistant. Arjun then starts touching and scanning Max's body, immediately making Max feel uncomfortable since, as we all know, he's a boy who hates the fact that others are touching him without his consent. As he should.