Chapter 213: Chapter 213: Quiet Stages and Loud Rumors
Instead of heading back to the lecture hall, Alexander turned toward the main courtyard, abandoning the midterms. The persistent whispers followed him like a bad shadow, students nudging each other and pointing at his bruised face. He couldn’t go around breaking every nose on campus, so he just ignored them and kept walking.
His feet naturally guided him back toward the library entrance. Through the glass doors, he spotted Lilly standing near the reception desk, quietly speaking with a small group of students. Alexander paused for a brief second. He knew there wasn’t much he could say to fix what had happened two days ago without making a scene, so he decided to do nothing. He turned on his heel and walked away, heading toward the auditorium.
Inside the library, Lilly’s eyes caught a glimpse of his retreating form through the glass. Her chest tightened, and she took a half-step forward as if to chase after him, but she stopped herself, her hand dropping back to her side as she watched him disappear down the hall.
Alexander pushed open the heavy double doors of the auditorium, the vast room dark and silent. He climbed onto the main stage, slumping down and laying flat on his back on the smooth wooden boards, his arms folded behind his head as he stared blankly up at the high ceiling.
"Slowing things down really isn’t easy..." Alexander muttered into the empty space, a hollow chuckle escaping his lips. "My vacation hasn’t even officially started yet and I’m already bored out of my mind... Am I seriously becoming addicted to the adrenaline?"
He closed his eyes, letting the quiet stillness of the auditorium wash over him, and drifted off into a deep sleep.
Several hours later, the loud, echoing sound of the heavy side doors opening snapped him awake. He opened his eyes to see Ben and Leo walking into the auditorium. The moment his two theater club disciples caught sight of him lying on the stage, their jaws dropped.
"Holy shit, Master...!" said Ben, rushing toward the stage alongside Leo. "Your face is an disaster! Marcus went to town on you, didn’t he?"
Alexander sat up, rubbing his stiff neck and wincing slightly as his bruised ribs protested. "It wasn’t him. That whole thing was just a ridiculous misunderstanding."
"Oh, yeah, Boss," said Leo, nodding frantically with a knowing, unconvinced grin. "Of course it was. We never doubted your supremacy for a single second."
"Tch..." Alexander simply shook his head, giving up on trying to correct the campus gossip. He shifted his weight and looked down at them. "Where are your partners? Are you guys ready for the upcoming play?"
Ben and Leo immediately looked down, scratching the backs of their necks in unison.
"They got furious with us..." said Ben with a nervous laugh. "We don’t actually have partners anymore."
"What the hell happened?" asked Alexander, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, the day you had that blow-up with Lilly and Marcus dragged you out of the school, Lilly was devastated," said Leo, unable to suppress a proud, wide grin. "We immediately went over to comfort her and help her out. I guess our partners saw us, got jealous, and blew their tops."
Both of them burst out laughing, clearly not broken-hearted at all. For two guys who used to be invisible on campus, having girls get jealous over them was an new, thrilling experience.
Alexander let out a dry, amused chuckle, looking down at his two disciples. "So you idiots managed to ruin your own girls because you wanted to play heroes. Impressive."
"Hey, it was worth it, Master!" Ben said, puffing out his chest with a stupidly proud grin. "I mean, we actually had girls, calling us names and slamming doors. Before we came to the club, the only thing girls slammed in our faces were library books."
"Exactly," Leo joined in, leaning against the edge of the stage. "But seriously, Boss, what are we going to do about the play for the festival now? If we don’t have female leads, the student council is going to scrap our budget."
Alexander rubbed his chin, his eyes drifting back up to the rafters. The festival booth was already paid for, but the theater club performance was a different story. "Don’t sweat the script. If worst comes to worst, we’ll just rewrite the whole damn play into a tragedy where you two get executed in the first act. The audience would probably love it."
"Whoa, whoa, hold on, Master! Let’s not get drastic!" Ben laughed, waving his hands nervously.
"I’ll think of something," Alexander said, swinging his legs over the edge of the stage and standing up. His muscles felt stiff, but the hours of sleep had done wonders for his battered body. "For now, just focus on your lines. I have a few errands to run before the day ends."
"You got it, Boss," Leo said, snapping a mock salute. "Just try not to run into the King on your way out. We don’t want to have to cast you as a ghost."
Alexander gave them a lazy wave over his shoulder as he walked down the center aisle toward the exit. "Let him try. Next time, I’m the one bringing the trunk."
Walking alone through the crowd, a rare, unfamiliar wave of slight depression washed over him; the mundane rhythm of school life felt suffocating compared to the lethal adrenaline of the streets.
Suddenly, the bustling courtyard went dead silent.
Alexander stopped. Out from the shadow of the administration building, Marcus stepped into the open air.
The entire world seemed to screech to an halt. Hundreds of students froze in their tracks, their eyes darting between the two tall figures standing at opposite ends of the plaza. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Every single onlooker held their breath, paralyzed with anticipation, desperately waiting to see what would happen next—wondering if the King of the school was about to brutally break the Prince once again, or if this was the exact moment a violent coup would take place to crown a brand new ruler.
