Chapter 171: 21

"Hahah, you're so slow!" A young student runs through the nearly empty hallways of the school while a few others chase after him with varying levels of struggle.

"Shut up; it's you who's too fast!" The boy who was closest to catching up snaps irritatedly.

Another boy looks behind to see two of his less athletic friends struggling behind and laughs, feeling a little better that he wasn't last at least.

As if sensing the schadenfreude, the two students lagging behind looks up and scowl.

"Fuck, ugh, off.. damn!" One of them hisses, while the other, too tired to even speak, just weakly gives the other a shaky middle finger as support.

The fastest student did not feel bad at all about his friends' sufferings and just felt even more motivated to show off and collect more hatred points. Speeding up, he calls back playfully, "Come on, come on! If we're too slow we might miss class!"

"Whose fucking fault-"

"No running in the halls." Jia Hyson, who had heard the oncoming commotion opens the door to his classroom and reaches out to grab the fast-passing student with perfect timing and accuracy while scolding him gently. If it wasn't for his vampiric strength, then, given the student's fast speed, he might have actually been pulled along in the momentum of the other's mad dash for class. Instead, the quick-footed teenager nearly choked when his shirt was suddenly grabbed, and if it wasn't for Alaric's firm grip, he might have actually fallen onto his face.

Meanwhile, Alaric had turned to the other running students and also added meaningfully in a chiding tone, "No cursing either."

"Yes…" The boys who had been running blushed and slowed down their paces with red faces. The fastest student that had been caught hung his head like a deflated balloon, a little ashamed but excited to meet his idol despite the embarrassing situation.

Jia Hyson smiles and chuckles, "You're so obedient, like puppies." He teases.

The teenagers were thin-skinned and didn't know how to respond, flushing harder, while the fastest one had covered his face, half-glad the attention wasn't directed too much on him.

Knowing that they didn't truly mean to cause a large ruckus and were just being naturally chaotic as they raced to get to class, thanks to his superior hearing, Jia Hyson did not give them too much of a lecture. Instead, he briefly went over the problems of running through the halls during class hours as well as reminding them to be more careful with time and setting the appropriate alarms before letting them go. "-do you understand?"

"En." The younger students nodded like little chicks pecking rice.

Jia Hyson smiles supportively at them, his bright blue eyes curving into crescents and causing more than a few of the young and energetic students to clutch their chests to try to keep themselves together. Letting the fastest teenager go, he turns around to go back to class but pauses as the young man he had released immediately turns around to look back at him with an expression wanting to say something.

"A-Alaric.." The fastest student clenches his fist and then shouts passionately, "I-I will vote for you as president during the elections!"

"Yeah!" "Me too!" "Same, same!"

Jia Hyson laughs and felt some of the students here were really too cute. Waving away their determination helplessly, he could only reply, "I'm flattered, truly, but please vote for Silas instead. He is much more suitable than me."

Male students: '…' Where? Do you mean in terms of his face???

However, Jia Hyson could not hear the inner hearts of the group he had just left behind. He closes the class door quietly before turning around to be faced with his classmates' bright, admiring eyes.

Jia Hyson: '…' Aiyo, I'm so popular.

While he felt the reactions were a bit exaggerated, as a person who was actually quite introverted during his young formative years as a middle and even high school student, this sort of feeling was pretty good. Not to mention his narcissistic side, which had only been fuelled by Alaric's strong need for praise, was practically preening like a particularly proud peacock.

With a soft smile, he doesn't say anything and walks back to his table, pulling out his textbook and pretending to read it. The moment he does, the room descends into whispers and activity.

"Damn, Alaric is so handsome, as expected of the Gentle Emperor. How did he manage to catch that little freshman so accurately?"

"Could it be he has martial arts? Uh, karate? Wushu?"

"Damn, don't be racist, not every Asian knows how to fight like in the movies."

"Isn't Alaric mixed?"

"If not, how can you explain the blue eyes? Don't look at that gentle smile. He's really strict about the rules, no way those are contacts."

"Well if he's mixed then he doesn't know any ancient karate then, it's a shame I feel it'll be really handsome.

"Hey. That doesn't mean he doesn't know martial arts."

"I don't care; either way, I love him. He's so delicate, but he works so hard, and he's so nice and gentlemanly, and he is so serious and lovely, and he's better than those smelly boys and is more understanding and in touch with his emotions and romantic, and- haaaaaa-!" One of the teenage girls starts to hyperventilate, face flushed and watery eyes full of idol worship. Her deskmate pats her on the back, clearly used to her friend's excitability.

Nearby another group of male classmates were having their own similar but very different conversation, "Alaric is pretty cool for a nag, like the mother I always wanted."

One of the boys snaps his fingers, "Yes! Oh my god! Yes! He's like the gentle mother or kind mature older sister of my dreams! That is exactly it!"

"I can see that!"

"Totally!"

"To be honest, I once called him 'mum'.. it just slipped. I was so embarrassed."

"…To be more honest I accidentally referred to him as my mum to my other friends outside of school."

"….To be more honest, I started watching stepmother porn after meeting Alaric."

"…..To be honest, get the fuck out, George. You are not welcome here."

"I thought we were being honest!?!?!?"

Jia Hyson's lips twitch as multiple similar conversations like this are picked up by him. He didn't know if it was because of the way the original plot formed this part of the world and the characters in it, but everyone was really, on varying levels, a big fucking gossip. He was sure even without vampire hearing, he would still be able to catch more or less the general idea of what they were talking about.

This was most likely due to the exposition-like nature of many characters' dialogues one would usually see in some stories. After all, there were many times Jessica Fang, the original protagonist, would be clueless and would rely on the constant gossip or the fact that there simply were just too many people who couldn't seem to keep their mouths shut and had the urge to educate to her everything that could possibly be explained about the situation.

Honestly though, when not used maliciously, it was quite cute ah. Like little chittering birds. Jia Hyson's smile widens, and he lowers his head to try to hide the smugness.

"You're so popular."

A low and lazy voice rumbles into his ear, making him twitch. Subconsciously, Jia Hyson waves off the itchy feeling in his ear like how one would instinctively wave when a fly buzzes too close. "You would be popular too if you did more." Jia Hyson complains half-heartedly. However, to be honest, he was already fairly pleased with Prince Silas' attitude.

Prince Silas huffs, "Why would I need to worry about such a thing? If I am not well-liked for myself, then what's the point of putting so much effort into forcing others to like a fake me?" He reaches over to lightly poke the side of Jia Hyson's wrist, "It's so tiring, besides I'm already so popular anyway. Why would I need to try?"

Jia Hyson sighs, "It's still good to spend a bit more effort developing your social skills, Silas. Just having natural talent, good status, and an attractive face will only bring shallow connections with motive. It's better for you to develop more sincere friendships. It's good you're cultivating an interest in reading and the internet, but what's the point if you barely utilise it on others?"

"You think I'm attractive?" Prince Silas leans over and whispers into his ear again. This time he purposely lowers his voice to give it a seductive and flirtatious timbre that made Jia Hyson tremble slightly.

"Is that all you got from that?" Jia Hyson clicks his tongue, trying to ignore the warmth on his cheeks.

"I already know the other things; therefore this was the most important one to me." Prince Silas smiles a little foolishly.

Maybe it's because they had been in the school environment for so long, or maybe it's because Silas had become more prone to internet addiction. Still, his originally aloof and lazy temperament had slowly become a bit more rogue-like. At least toward him. However, overall, Jia Hyson had to admit he had become far more lively and expressive than before.

But still pretty damn lazy.

"If you already know the other things, then why aren't you doing them?" Jia Hyson felt like a tutor trying to teach a bear child* how to do their homework. "You can't always hang around me like you've been doing since we started school here."

*bear children are difficult to handle, naughty and overbearing kiddos like lil bears.

Yes, it had already been two years since they entered St Lailah's Academy.

There was not much to say about school life there. In Jia Hyson's opinion, it was simply just a more regulated and education-based way of living than he had done so before. While he couldn't do any patrolling, the academy allowed students to leave the premises after school and on weekends to go to nearby cities and parks, provided that they came back before a set curfew.

However, since the students were mainly children of important and high-standing public figures or vampires, of course, there were security measures both on the light and dark side of the academy to ensure minimal security risks.

Generally, though, most prestigious children were more or less used to such things. While the vampires weren't happy about it, most of them believed it was mainly for the weaker humans' sake and were, therefore, mostly appeased by this belief.

Jia Hyson wasn't affected much by that either. After all, Alaric was a good child who wouldn't go wild, and basically, Jia Hyson was the type who was happy to spend his days at home with stable wi-fi and good food anyway. It's not that he dislikes going out, but more often than not, a warm bed, a good story, and some warm tea were far more enticing than a hot body and a passionately exciting time.

Despite his high libido, Jia Hyson was not the type to live and die for his dick. Hence, when he heard there were curfews, he didn't struggle too much with it, nor did he rebel like a lot of other students and sneak out. Instead, it provided a valid excuse to stay in his dorms and enjoy himself reading, writing, taking photos of himself for the blog, watching shows and doing whatever he pleased.

And if he needed to vent… well, there was no one as skilled as himself ah~ It's not that he doesn't want to do a school romance, but there was simply nobody to catch his eyes that wasn't going to be troublesome to deal with. After all, one shouldn't shit where one eats; with the same logic, one can't simply just fuck with people you share a class with.

Not to mention the human options around him were simply too young, and the vampires were a bit too… politically entangled. In the past two years, he only looked toward catching a handsome or pretty graduating student for a few months of secret dating or even just a short, very intense 'celebration' with the other before they left the school.

Heh, during the end of the first year he had entered St Lailah's, Jia Hyson only spent time with one graduating student and had eaten up the cute young man thoroughly during their month together before he spat him out into the adult world. After this taste of success, it was like a new world was open to him. At the end of the second year of school, he had become even bolder and accepted four confessions by offering to sleep with them once if they so desired before they left the school. After some thought, one young lady declined, but the other admirers- two female, one male- agreed, eager to enjoy themselves with their love interest and leave with no regrets.

This year, Jia Hyson, who was even more popular than before, was completely looking forward to the end of the year once more. (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)

"This is Prince Rigel Delune, Royal heir of the Eclipse Coven." The principal introduces as he wipes some sweat from his forehead, not noticing Jia Hyson's wandering thoughts. "I understand things are a bit tense politically between the covens but I believe you, Alaric are still the best fit to help him despite that."

Alaric's smile stiffens as the words the other had said sunk in. Suddenly his gaze toward the angelic teenager became more complicated.

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A/N: Hello hello~ it has been about three weeks~

This author has been having a bit of issues and stuff in real life as her father, with all of the author's father issues and depression, has come home for a few weeks which means author is hiding a lot in her room and no computer time D:

Btw speaking of having issues, I also got a very awful comment which I will put in the paragraph comment here ah~ I would like to say, I was very surprised and shocked when I got it, I thought omg what scene could have triggered this person to say these things- and when I saw my shock went to "..." very fast. The person was triggered by the explanation I gave last chapter about how some parents compare their children with other children.

I would like to say that 1. if it triggers you so badly that the mention of people comparing children will send you into such an emotional state, than I strongly suggest you get some mental help, because you do seriously need it and 2. fuck you, fuck you and fuck you back ah, this was hella unwarranted.

If I went ahead to single you out with malicious intent to trigger you then I would be the asshole here, but as I see it, I gave an explanation toward something so common that it's a saying/idiom in Chinese culture and you have decided to put the blame over your childhood problems and self-worth onto me. While I didn't contemplate suicide, this author has a glass heart and this comment has been living rent free on and off in my head which is very bad for my motivation really. Not to mention I'm also dealing with family issues right now and it makes me think, what gives you the right to think it's ok to put that sort of anger on a stranger? Are you the only one with family problems and it's okay to aim that frustration onto people unrelated just to make you feel better? Do you not think what you said was far more malicious than the description I provided to the general public to view? The intent was clearly to make me feel bad about what I wrote but the thing is, I don't see what I did was wrong.

Tbh its been three weeks and I am no longer so bothered with it ah but I needed to write this to clear up the grievances and let everyone know that I am also a person and you cannot just treat this little author like this. HealingMoon, you probably won't read this but I just want to say- I hate readers like you, I prefer straight up haters or people I can happily debate with on why x character sucks etc but readers who act like this, I really quite despise. I cant stop you from reading this, I cant control who reads or not, but I hope you know that I really hope you aren't ah.

My father will be gone in a week so hopefully chapters will come back properly by then oh~

My big book recc is I'm Walking the Career Line In Dog Blood - it's MTL again and the start is a bit hard to get through but I guarantee it's beautiful. I don't call stories beautiful but this one is - especially the first three arcs (the rest is ok and the ending is super abrupt), its GORGEOUS. This is the first time I've read a BL QT where the romance line is legit more a side story and doesn't take over the main thing (again mostly in first three arcs but I do like other arcs too very sweet) it's got a lot of unique points, not much humor though, and one of the most considerate MLs everrrrr. Highly recc it's one of my top favs, at least top 10 in my opinion.