Lord of Charm

Gale improved by leaps and bounds compared to before his training session with Alice. She felt reassured of her choice to believe in his potential when she saw how fast he could learn.

"Good, you're better than I expected. You may go now to meet your friends and attend classes again, have fun."

"Thank you, Professor Alice."

Gale left her room and went out. He tried to contact Valentina through his Alessa watch but got no response.

'Maybe she's busy training.'

He tried contacting Tim, and this time got a reply.

- I'm in class right now, you can meet me in one hour outside the Round Building.

- Sure, I will be waiting for you.

He spent the hour ordering huge amounts of food. He was starving after two weeks with Alice since she only let him take a meal break twice a day, and it was never long enough to fill his belly. He checked his Alessa watch a few times, but Valentina didn't reply to his message.

He waited outside as a stream of students left the building until he caught sight of Tim and Amanda walking toward him. To his bewilderment, there was no trace of happiness in their eyes when they saw him. In fact, there was anger in Amanda's eyes.

"Thank you for paying attention to us."

She said with a sarcastic voice.

"I'm sorry for disappearing without saying anything. Two weeks ago Professor Alice called me to her office and decided to train me for two weeks before letting me out. I will explain myself to Valentina too when she sees my message."

He figured she must be angry with him for disappearing for two weeks right after sleeping with her sister. He could understand how people might misinterpret his intentions.

"THAT'S SO KIND OF YOU! You said you will not pull her into your mess! If you disappeared a few days earlier, then maybe she wouldn't get attacked by an advanced mage in the forest!"

Amanda was trembling with anger as she shouted at Gale. Gale widened his eyes in surprise and fear.

"What happened? What did they do to her?"

He first felt fear for Valentina's fate, then felt anger rising inside of him. He swore to himself that Ronda wasn't getting away with it.

"Do you even care?"

Amanda refused to tell him, making him almost burst with anger at her. However, Tim saw that the matter was escalating and answered instead.

"She was injured badly, but luckily there was a guard nearby and he saved her. She is still recovering, but she was released from the infirmary to her room. If you sent her a message and she didn't reply, it probably means she's resting; it's a side effect of some medicines."

Gale heaved a sigh of relief when he heard she was saved.

"Is there any permanent injury? Will she make a full recovery?"

"There is none, and she will fully recover in a week or two."

He sighed with relief again.

"I will go to visit her. Thank you for telling me about it."

He turned around and left toward the dorms.

----

2 weeks earlier:

Alice kept an eye open for Ronda's next move and expected her to try to take revenge. She also asked Alessa to inform her if someone related to Gale goes outside the academy since those places granted Ronda the best opportunity to act.

"Student Valentina Noons left the academy and entered Monte Forest."

Alessa's voice sounded, and Alice rolled her eyes.

'Does this stupid girl have a death wish or something?'

She opened her watch and texted one of the expert mage guards.

- Follow the student Valentina Noons into Monte Forest. If she is attacked, save her after she gets injured.

She added the second half after remembering Elizabeth's request to make him quarrel with the academy's girls.

'Well, if I let her kill Valentina, then the relationship between Ronda and Gale will become unreconcilable, and they will try to kill each other forever. If Valentina gets injured but not killed, it will somewhat appease Ronda, and despite Gale's expected anger, the situation won't deteriorate too much.'

Ronda was recognized by the world as a lower elite beast, and her advance to the Magus Phase was very likely. Losing either her or Gale would be a great loss for the empire.

She believed that once Ronda will overcome her grief, she will understand that it was an accident, and Gale wasn't to blame for Joanna's death. Although she knew that Ronda and Gale wouldn't become friends, Alice still believed they could at least avoid each other instead of coming at each other's throats.

'And besides, if Valentina dies when I ban him from leaving my office, he will suspect me or even blame me.'

She was training him because she believed he could get to the top, so souring their relationship wasn't a wise thing to do.

------

Gale waited for 2 hours outside Valentina's door until she saw his message and Alessa's notification that he had come to visit her. She asked Alessa to let him in, and he entered her room.

Gale found her in her bed, covered with a blanket, but seemingly unwounded.

"Hey, Vale, are you ok? Do you need something?"

He hurriedly went to her side and touched her shoulder in concern.

"No, I just needed you by my side. Where have you been?"

She reached with her hand to his and held it in her palm. He felt relief when he saw she wasn't blaming him for his absence. Her tone was worried and caring.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be by your side those two weeks. I was summoned to Alice's office, and she didn't let me leave or hear news from outside all this time. I only heard about what happened to you now and rushed here to see you immediately."

He squeezed her hand gently to convey his worry and she smiled when she heard it. She'd lie if she said she wasn't affected by Amanda's theory that he abandoned her after taking a bite.