Chapter 23: The Alchemy Academy (4)

“Miss Lan Yu, please keep an eye on the young master. I’ll go fetch some food; he’s been waiting for too long and must be hungry,” Tiger Girl reminded them, then went to get the food.

This was a self-service restaurant, where all food and drinks were provided free of charge. You could take as much as you pleased, as long as you finished it—there could not be even the slightest waste.

“I really can’t understand you. Why refuse to go to Star-Seeking Academy? That’s the finest academy in the world. Most people would never even qualify to attend,” Lan Yu complained to the Seventh Princess after Tiger Girl left, seemingly forgetting that she herself hadn’t gone either.

“You’re no different than me. What right do you have to say that?” the Seventh Princess retorted.

“It’s not the same. I have to look after my little brother. Besides, I think there’s no real difference between here and there. I can still become the greatest magician.”

“I’m just the same. I have to look after my fiancé. And I don’t see any difference either. I, too, can become the greatest magician.”

“You—”

“Why are you two arguing? Don’t you both agree? Why do you always have to quarrel?” Thirteenth Young Master interrupted their bickering. He could never understand it; there was no real conflict between them, and their goals were almost identical.

Not only he, but neither the Ye family nor the royal household could understand why the two always quarreled. Was it because they once commented on each other’s figures? That hardly seemed reason enough.

Perhaps it was the matter of their elemental attributes: the Seventh Princess was fire, while Lan Yu possessed a rare water-variant ice attribute, inherited from Long Anqi. Among the four siblings, only she had inherited this rare trait.

Fate had made them ice and fire—irreconcilable.

“Who agrees with her?” both girls declared in unison.

“Oh, let’s eat,” Thirteenth Young Master merely responded, then took the food Tiger Girl had brought and began to devour it eagerly.

“Hmph…” The two girls exchanged glances, then began eating as well.

Tiger Girl could only shake her head in resignation, marveling at how the young master always attracted peculiar people. Miss Lan Yu was odd enough, and now there was the even stranger Seventh Princess.

She wondered what exactly the Seventh Princess liked about the young master. Though it wasn’t that kind of affection, she always enjoyed being around her clumsy young master.

“Full now, time to go play!” Thirteenth Young Master patted his stomach, wiped his mouth, and immediately rose to leave, not bothering to wait for the girls still chewing slowly—except for Tiger Girl, whose hearty appetite meant she ate more slowly overall.

“Young master!” Tiger Girl quickly wiped her mouth, stood up, and followed after him. Eight-tenths full was good enough.

Eight-tenths full!? No wonder the Tiger Clan was renowned—her portion could feed several ordinary people.

“You little rascal, get back here and wait for me…” Lan Yu shouted in annoyance at Thirteenth Young Master’s habit of leaving her behind. She was thoroughly displeased.

Although she knew her brother was always like this, it still irritated her.

But before she could finish her sentence, something unexpected happened—a silent beginning to an encounter between two who should never have crossed paths.

At that moment, Thirteenth Young Master held a bottle of juice in his hand, as was his habit. But today, it led to a scene that left everyone speechless.

Someone, seeing him alone and vulnerable, decided to play a prank and tripped him with a well-placed foot.

Clumsy as ever, Thirteenth Young Master took the bait, fell flat onto the ground, and his juice spilled everywhere.

“Ah…”

“Ow, that hurts…”

“Young master!”

“Brother!”

“Ye Lang!”

A melodious cry of surprise, Thirteenth Young Master’s pain, and the anxious shouts of Tiger Girl and the other two girls resounded almost simultaneously throughout the restaurant hall.

The latter voices were normal enough, but the first, that clear cry of surprise, sparked curiosity. Who had uttered it?

It was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen, dressed in white, with a face of exquisite beauty, silver hair cascading down her back, and skin as pale as snow—her appearance refreshing as ice cream.

She stood directly in front of Thirteenth Young Master. Her cry was not prompted by his sudden fall, but by the juice now staining her face and chest. Yes, it was his juice.

The once snow-white, delicate girl now bore traces of color—the juice had marred her appearance, and worse, ruined her pristine white dress.

Her brows knitted tightly, her face showing signs of anger, which soon intensified to outright fury.

“Young master, are you all right?” Tiger Girl helped Thirteenth Young Master up.

“My nose hurts… White underwear, Tiger Girl, she’s all in white. Looks nice,” Thirteenth Young Master remarked, holding his nose in an utterly casual tone, as if commenting on the weather.

The entire scene fell silent.

The person who had tripped Thirteenth Young Master now regretted his prank, wishing he had been the one to fall. Likely, every boy in the hall shared that sentiment.

Disaster. This foolish brother—he says anything that comes to mind, even blurting out what he saw under her skirt.

Lan Yu withdrew the spell she’d been about to cast; if not for this incident, the prankster would have been frozen solid for a while.

“Heh, beautiful lady, forgive my brother—he’s a fool. He didn’t mean to peek at your underwear, he just got tripped,” Lan Yu said, hoping to placate the girl before she lost her temper. Yet her words only drew more attention to the incident.

“Honestly, you have no tact at all!” The Seventh Princess whispered, then went up to the girl and addressed her: “I apologize. Neither of the siblings is good with words. Ye Lang was tripped, that’s why this happened. Please forgive us—Ye Lang, say you’re sorry.”

“Oh, sorry,” Thirteenth Young Master replied honestly. Though he’d been tripped, he knew spilling juice on someone was wrong and deserved an apology.

“A trip and a ‘sorry’—do you think that erases all fault?” the girl said coldly, her voice icy as frost, clearly refusing to accept the apology.