Isabella Pov
' how did things end up like this... '
The grand pearl of the Whiteheart family, that is what those nobles would call her. Each time they would come and talk to her singing her praises and flattering her in all sorts of ways trying to gain her favour yet never once had she ever felt pleased by it, because she could always sense that sick intent behind it.
Her father had told that her it was a gift, while her younger had overwhelming raw power in white magic, she had high sensitivity which made her able to discern the intent of people, a feeling of sorts.
Still, no-one aside her father knew about this, not even her mother and brother, the fact that a person can discern someone's intent especially in high society can be seen as a great danger, so her father decided to keep it a secret so she could live a relatively normal life well as much as a daughter of a duke can that is.
That vague feeling though started growing stronger as she grew becoming a six sense of sorts, helping her out in all sorts of situations even at times she wished it wasn't true. Old friends becoming enemies and such, no matter how much she wished it wasn't real.
In fact, she believed she would never get married in her life let alone go on a date all because of this ability of hers, until he suddenly appeared.
....
At first it was mild intrigue, when the head of arcane was said to attend she believed that all hell would break loose remembering the endless tales of his shenanigans in the social circles but that never happened.
What stood before her was a dignified, handsome, young man who instead of showing any hostility towards a member of the whiteheart family showed a feeling of warmth.
It made no sense at all while other men, aside from her brother and father, always had that primal feeling of lust for power or just lust while being with her, here is man who is known as the scummiest of all showing no signs of those things.
' A child admiring a flower '
For some reason such a thought passed through her mind at the time yet thinking back on it know that seems the best way to describe it and was also the reason she had started developing an interest in Nicholos.
Developing an interest or not didn't quite matter though as she still had work to do and would not be able to see him for a while...
Is what she thought before he entered her office after her brother called him out in front of the whole classroom, just thinking about that time brought a whole load of emotions at what her brother had done.
The head of Arcane seemed to be a reasonable man and was probably wishing to not cause any problems in the academy but here comes Jake to ruin it all.
She was prepared to get an earful from Nicholos but instead was given a love confession, one with no other hidden intent and one that was incredibly embarrassing to hear.
' Fell in love at first sight who even says that!!! '
Yet even as he said these words bringing endless confusion to her that same feeling of warmth remained.
As such a day passed by and she found herself in front of him yet again still in the midst of recuperating from his confession, still professional and personal life should be separated so she had to make sure she focuses on her tasks.
Thankfully, nothing much happened, and she was able to assign the pairs preparing to leave, well until her eyes landed on Nicholos and Christine. It was not because of jealousy or anything but rather how Christine seemed to emit that endless sense of fear and the sight of Nicholos trying to calm her down, it just made her stop for a second admiring the view.
' It is a good thing they got paired up together '
Hoping for the best for the duo she left for a while only returning later on having forgotten some papers, she went to the classroom but for some reason already standing inside was Christine and Nicholos with the former collapsing and having an entire panic attack inside.
She wanted to help but the more she heard and understood about the situation the more her blood boiled. The so-called great house vorago endlessly abused a child and when Sir Nicholos who realized something was wrong and tried to help, he was mistakenly thought to be a collaborator by Christina.
' It makes no sense and to such a kind child '
Yet that was the truth and instead of her useless self who stood outside Nicholos actually went as far as to make a mana pact to calm her down taking care of her even as she cried for a quarter of an hour.
Then as if he was a knight in shining armour, he asked her to leave with him on a vacation so she could rest. There was no harmful intent, just a feeling of care and something like how a parent would feel towards their child which was a rather weird thing considering the age difference.
However, contemplating those emotions by the door wasn't the best move as they started walking towards the it all of a sudden but well, she was an A rank for a reason, and she was rather confident in her running speed disappearing before they could even touch the knob.
Later on, she came to know more about what occurred in the practical lecture, how Nicholos decided to forfeit and also realising how it was most definitely for Christine's sake and how she came to the conclusion that Nicholos Arcane was a truly kind soul.
Still, it was only after another week had passed that she was able to see him again, she was a bit nervous but as always, he entered with that warmth of his beside him Christine who seemed to be in a better state than before.
All seemed to go well until the princess decided to intervene and in the rudest way possible, she could still feel the aura of anger that Nicholos had when speaking about his father, still maintaining decorum he didn't admonish her at all.
' I made sure she got a good talking to though '
With that resolved the classes continued as normal following the disappearance of him and Jake, discovering that Nicholos had somehow enlightened Jake and his subsequent date request which she agreed to.
At the very least she was willing to give the man in front of her that much of a chance, with that she ran off and how wonderful it would have been if it had ended there, but the world tends to be cruel sometimes.
A sudden nobles duel, the risk of extreme injury, and the threatening of his position as head all those problems faced Nicholos at the same time and when she finally met him again the previous warm presence was gone.
No that was wrong it wasn't that it was gone rather that it was suppressed, endless restraints seemed to claw at him who tried to keep a smile even in such a situation only to disappear as if it was all for nothing.
He continued to put on a " show " as he liked to call it wearing a smile as if entertained, he wore that smile for all of those three gruelling hours.
As if frightened by him all kept their eyes upfront not willing to look up, however if one had the courage, they would meet with his eyes that looked as if he had been stripped from the brightness they once had.
.....
I sat down in my desk trying to understand what could have caused this all to happen when a presence suddenly approached my door.
Entering with his usual smile was Nicholos the man who had been the main topic of my thoughts for the last few hours, I wanted to ask for his reason for coming but he beat me to it saying that Lord Merlin sent him here to relay his absenteeism for the next few days.
I of course refuted that immediately yet when he insisted that it is what happened all my instincts were telling me that he was telling the truth.
' Then why did lord Merlin do this? '
As if reading my mind Nicholos spoke up jokingly mentioning how Lord Merlin seems to have set us up and seeing him like that, watching him smile again I couldn't help myself because for some reason that smile of his seemed forced.
So, I questioned him, I wished he would tell me what he was thinking, why he is doing such a thing. And for the first time a glimpse of what he was truly feeling being shown and understanding what it was broke my heart.
As if trying to make excuse he rambled on asking why I thought he was a good person, when I replied to that he started to he started talking about the how it was necessary all while unconsciously smiling,
Suddenly it all made sense, his actions despite his obvious anguish and how he kept smiling even when he didn't want to, it all correlated to a single thing.
' Necessary, he wanted to live so it was necessary '
He spoke about how all the other heads were the same, how it was simply a thing that comes with his position, but the truth was that he despised it all, yet he continued doing it because no one else would, because he had to.
Despite all that he never hurt anyone innocent though, nor did he ever complain, he instead went out of his way to help Christine when she was in trouble while no one else batted her an eye.
' I want to know him more '
She wanted to talk to him, sit with him, go out and hang out, for some reason that was all that occupied her mind as she found herself scheduling her date with him, not once did she hesitate considering the original topic their conversation but as if that didn't matter to him as well the suffocating aura that hung over him suddenly disappeared regaining its previous warmth,
Staring at him colouring his face was a smile she had never seen on him before as he agreed with her arrangements.
Even as he left right after it took her a while to focus on any other topic as she sat frozen on her desk, endlessly replaying in her mind she knew that smile was something that she would never forget.
It was truly beautiful.