Yes, the Empress was right on top of me.
Yes, I had been the one following her around like a creep.
Was I in a shitty situation?
Probably.
But, let’s be honest. Why was the Empress walking there at that time…? She rammed into me right as I managed to enter the banquet, just my luck.
Either way, I needed to get out of this situation.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you,” I said, slowly moving her away from me and standing up like nothing had happened.
The Empress looked at me with a frown, which was understandable. She was probably mad at me for what had just happened.
However, the words that came out of her mouth were completely different from what I had expected.
“Ah, it’s fine.” She stood up. “I was also at fault. Still, you really came out of nowhere!”
I just nodded. She was right; I came out from a door where no one should go.
I could feel the stares from everyone in the room. They were all on me, staring. Honestly, it was stressful, and I wasn’t sure what to do next. So, I just did the first thing that came to mind.
I held my hand out to her. “Nice to meet you, Caedrel Stuart, a new professor at the Royal Academy.”
She glanced at it, and I prayed she would take it. If she didn’t, it would be very humiliating.
Seconds passed by, and sweat started to form on my forehead. I could feel it trickling down the side of my face. ‘Please, take my hand!’
As I prayed in my mind, I felt a cold hand lock into mine. When I looked down, I saw she had shaken my hand! I had just shaken the hand of a literal Empress. Also, she wasn’t just any Empress; she was probably the prettiest person I had ever seen. Being so close to her was quite difficult since I had to stay stoic, not showing the slightest emotion.
“Nice to meet you, Caedrel!” She smiled. “I heard about your great job with the Apex Class!”
Woah. Did I hear that right? She heard about my job with the Apex Class? Well, it made sense. The Emperor had probably talked about me to her.
I returned her politeness with a bow. “Thank you for the kind words! It’s very nice to meet you.”
I glanced to my right, where most of the parents and students had their mouths wide open, looking at us. ‘Bet you didn’t expect that, huh?’
It felt good when I looked at them. I was proud of myself as none of them could say anything at the moment.
After exchanging some words, I was about to leave anywhere remotely close to either the Emperor or the Empress. My goal wasn’t to be in the spotlight tonight; I just wanted to hide in a corner and stay there for the rest of the night.
However, just as I turned around to leave, I saw the director with the Emperor right beside her. ‘Ah…why does it have to be me!’ I sighed. ‘Go see someone else, please I’m begging you.’
“I see you’ve already met my wife, Mister Caedrel.”
The Emperor was quite respectful as he held his hand out to me. I had expected him to be mad at me since his wife had been on top of me just a few moments ago, but from the look in his eyes, it was like it had never happened in the first place.
“I did indeed. She looks amazing tonight, just like you!”
“Oh, you flatter me.” He smiled at my compliment. “Either way, it’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve long wanted to meet you.”
I clenched my teeth. ‘It’s about damn time. It almost took me a month to meet you!’
It was clear that most people present in the banquet were listening in on our conversation because it was absolutely dead silent.
“Same here! It’s an honor.”
We both nodded at one another. I wasn’t sure what to say next, and he also didn’t seem quite sure. And that was exactly what I wanted.
“So, if you’ll excuse—”
“My daughter told me all about you and the test that you prepared for them. She told me that the manner in which you defeated Cyclops was impressive, to say the least.”
I blinked. ‘I must have heard that wrong. Daughter? Nah, no way.’
“Could you repeat that, please?”
He laughed. “My daughter. She told me all about you. You might know her as Ariel Valandor. You’ll have to excuse us; we had to give her a fake identity to be treated like the rest of the students. But I guess there’s no point in keeping her identity a secret with you around.”
There was a strange glint in his eyes as he uttered those words, but I just glossed over it. Still, the Emperor had to be a moron. If you say things like that in front of all the students a few days after school started, then what was the point of her having a secret identity?
Now that everyone knows, it would just make my job more difficult. Everyone would try to please her one way or another. I restrained myself from sighing in his face, but god, I wanted to.
Still, I smiled back at him. “Of course, I already told all my students that their social title doesn’t mean anything in my class, whether that be for a normal noble or the daughter of the Emperor.”
I made sure for the tone of my voice to be extremely stale and stoic for him to know that I was dead serious.
“And if she’s a troublemaker, I’ll have no problem kicking her out of my class.”
Yes, I added a threat because why not? That conversation was getting on my nerves. I wanted to talk to him in private as soon as possible. This public conversation was just wasting our time.
“Haha! That’s great to hear!” He smiled. “That attitude! That’s why I asked you to become a professor at the Royal Academy. You’re not scared of anyone!”
I frowned, almost sure that I had heard that wrong. But I didn’t, he really did reveal for everyone to hear.
But why?
‘Wasn’t I supposed to be a spy? This makes absolutely no sense?!’
