A Deal With The Prince

Chapter 12: Test partner

Few months went by and the first exam of the year was here. Most were written tests but we still had practical ones. There was one where we had to be paired up together with someone and showcase a small magic show. We also had another test to see how strong our magic was.

"Lily let's pair up!!" Catherine immediately asked me once our teacher told us about the practical test.

I was about to agree when I noticed Blaive's stare on me. 'I want to pair up with her.' was the look Blaive was giving me.

I sighed and sent him a glare meaning, 'You own me one.'

Turning my gaze back at Catherine, I showed her a sheepish smile, "Sorry Cath but someone already asked me to be their partner."

Catherine's face paled, "W-who?!"

"Phillip." I quickly answered.

Catherine squinted her eyes. I gulped, although Catherine was a sweet and innocent girl, she has a really scary side that I do not want to cross.

"How dare he ask first when he knows I want to pair up with you!" she angrily said.

"I'm sorry, next test we pair up?" I say trying to make it up to her.

Her eyes lit up and she nodded happily, "That's a promise! Blaive can you pair up with me?" she turned to Blaive who nodded without missing a beat.

'I better get a good reward for this.' I thought to myself before turning around to Phillip.

"Hey Phillip, pair up with me." I casually said, leaning back on my chair.

"I thought you were going to pair up with Cath?" Phillip responded, leaning back on his chair as well.

I clicked my tongue and pointed at the culprit who wouldn't let me pair up with her. Phillip looked and nodded in understanding.

"Unfortunately for you, miss Pratt just requested me to be her partner for the test."

I blinked before frowning, "When?"

"Just now while you were talking to Cath."

"Oh, I see. That means I have to find someone else to be my partner." I sighed, massaging my temples before leaving my seat to find a partner.

"I can ask her to switch if you-" Turning to Phillip, I shook my head.

"No need. I will look for someone else."

Looking around, I noticed everyone already found a partner. I was losing hope until I noticed someone at the back sitting alone at the corner. Walking towards them, I softly spoke, not wanting to scare them away.

"Excuse me but do you have a partner for the practical test?" I asked, trying to get a good look at them.

He looked up with cold menacing eyes, giving the impression of not wanting to do anything with this. He had messy red hair and red eyes, a mole under their lip and had gold framed circular glasses on their nose.

He did not reply to me as he looked back down to their textbook. I puffed up my cheeks, clearly not amused by his attitude.

"Do you have a partner?" I asked again.

"I don't." he rudely answered back.

'Better than nothing...'

"Would you like to be partners-"

"No. Go away." he cut me off, flipping to the next page, ignoring my presence.

Getting pissed off by his attitude, I slammed my hand down on the table, startling him. I sent him a menacing smile as anger bubbled in my stomach.

"If you don't have a partner, let's team up. Okay?"

Seeing how my tone changed for the worse, he meekly nodded. I smiled, "Great then let's meet up at the library in lunch. Understood?"

He nodded again, his menacing look he had been giving me, disappearing as he feared of me. "Y-yes madam."

When lunch came around, I headed my way to the library where I had asked him to go. Finding a seat not far from the doors, I sat down and waited. The doors opened to reveal him walking in. I sighed in relief, I thought he wouldn't actually come.

He found where I was seated and cautiously walked over. Feeling bad, I try to look friendlier.

"Sorry about that in class, let's start over. My name is Lilyana Kimberleye." I spoke once he took a seat.

He nodded, pushing the glasses up, "...Ralph Hendmann."

"Ah Earl Hendmann's second son?" I questioned.

He nodded again as if he was afraid of opening his mouth. Where did your scary appearance go? You looked like you were ready to fight me not long ago..

I cleared my throat before speaking again, "Shall we discuss what we should do for the test?"

I snapped my fingers and tiny specks of magic came out of my fingers, "I use water and wind. What about you?"

"...Dark and earth." he replied after a long pause.

I nodded and from there we discussed what we could do for the practical test. Lunch was soon coming to an end so we stopped for today and decided to continue the next day.

"Are you hungry?" I asked when we walked out of the library.

He shook his head, "No I'm fine-" his stomach started gurgling. I looked at him then at his stomach.

Face heating up from embarrassment, he tried to come up with excuses. "Uh- that wasn't me! Yes that wasn't me..."

I laughed before grabbing hold of his hand, "Let's go get something to eat."

"N-no it's actually fine.."

"No good will come out from lying." I nagged, dragging him to the cafeteria to grab some food.

We got some food and sat down. Ralph seemed hesitant about eating but not long after he took a bite into it. His eyes seemed to light up as he continued eating the food.

"That's Earl Hendmann's illegitimate son right?"

"Hey look over there it's the rumoured illegitimate son of Earl Hendmann."

"He has the nerves to come here."

"But I wonder why Lady Lilyana is with him.."

I could hear whispers from everywhere in the cafeteria as we ate. Frowning, I stopped eating. I heard Ralph chuckling.

"I'm sure you wouldn't want to continue being partners now." he said in a resentful tone.

I raised my eyebrow, does he really think I'm like that? Placing my eating utensils down I looked straight in his eyes and confidently spoke back.

"No, I still want to be partners with you. So what about the rumours? Is it true?"

Ralph, surprised, nearly dropped his utensils. "No it isn't! My family has a tradition where once in every ten years there would be a red hair and eyes that would be born."

I nodded, picking back up my utensils, "Exactly so there is no reason for me to believe such useless rumours."

I side glanced at the people who were still whispering, sending them a glare, they instantly froze up and kept their mouths shut.

"..You knew?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No but you told me. Even if you didn't, I still wouldn't believe in those rumours that noble people love to make." I responded calmly, taking another bite of my food.

Ralph, still surprised, slowly started laughing before finally genuinely smiling, "Thank you..Lady Lilyana."

I waved it off, taking another bite, "There's no need for thanks, I'm your test partner after all."

Ralph nodded, going back to his food. After that incident at the cafeteria, it seems like Ralph was open to being my test partner now.

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Author's note: Not gonna lie, I love Ralph and my friend who read this book also loves him heh, and yes extra updates!!