Tale of the Lotus Heart

"One of the four arts, zither, chess, calligraphy, or dance. If I'm as barbaric as you think, I wouldn't have the grace or class to challenge you in one of these. How about this: I'll let you pick the category and we'll compete here and now. The students will be our judge. If you win, I'll let you have Longevity Courtyard. If I win, you apologize to me publicly and never let my name pass out of your mouth negatively again," I challenged her. She smirked before turning to look at the platform in the middle of the floor.

"You clearly don't know who you challenged. I've won best dancer of the three realms five years in a row," she bragged before gliding on to the platform. "Listen up! The Princess has challenged me to dance. The winner will be decided by all of you," she announced. She got into her starting pose as the musicians changed the song. She danced cockily. I admit, she was a good dancer, but she relied heavily on muscle memory. There was no feeling or grace behind her actions. It almost seemed like a puppet being controlled. After she finished, there was a good amount of applause. She huffed at me as I made my way to the platform. She stood amongst the crowd as I started on my knees. I moved my arms fluidly as I danced. As I spun gentle circles, I even used a little trick Tase taught me and made flower petals rain down over me. I caught a petal gently in my palm and blew it away before finishing my dance. The result was thunderous applause. Alexander volunteered to come to the stage with Hana.

"All in favor of Hana?" He asked. There was a polite applause from the students, but I could feel the suspense of them waiting for my name to be called.

"All in favor of Princess Aivi?" Alexander asked. The applause was deafening. I curtsied to the crowd politely before I turned to face Hana. The crowd quieted as they waited.

"I believe you owe me an apology," I said calmly. Hana was enraged, and I could tell. She summoned her sword before surprise attacking me. I wasn't prepared, and could have easily been hurt, but before I could react, a light shown from around me, encasing me in a protective barrier of a dragon's tail. Hana was thrown back onto her bottom as her sword fell out of her hand and disappeared. I looked around me in confusion. I still didn't understand what happened, but Alexander was looking at me in awe.

"The Crown Prince's protective spell," Alexander breathed. The students quickly dropped to their knees and put their heads to the ground in a deep bow of respect.

"Impossible," Hana breathed as she stared wide eyed at the protection layer before it receded. Alexander snapped out of it as Hana stood. He glared before slapping her across the cheek.

"You were supposed to apologize, but instead you decided to attack the Second Prince's goddaughter?! You could be killed for that thought alone. Kneel!" Alexander ranted before pushed her shoulder down, sending her to her knees. She hesitated before lowering her head to the ground.

"I apologize, Princess. I guess I'm a sore loser. I pulled my sword without thinking," she said frantically. It was actually kind of funny how scared she was. I smiled gently as I took a step forward.

"Was that so hard? All I asked for was an apology. I had a lot more on the line than you did. If I'd lost today, I would have conceded quietly. Why go through all the extra trouble?" I asked. A gust of wind blew through the banquet hall suddenly. I felt a hand on my arm from behind.

"Who was the one that dared to have malicious intent towards the Princess," a voice said angrily from behind me. I froze in shock. How was he here?

"Crown Prince!" The Heavenly General said in shock as he dropped to his knees in greeting as he entered the hall. I didn't know what to do. He wasn't supposed to be here right now. How did he know to come?

"Rise," Yong said, calming down slightly.

"May I ask what brought you to our humble academy?" The General asked hesitantly.

"Second Prince only dropped off his goddaughter earlier today. You can imagine my surprise when my Dragon charm was activated because someone tried to harm the Princess," Yong explained in irritation.

"Crown Prince, this is a misunderstanding. My senior challenged me to a competition. I agreed, but forgot to take the charm off first," I lied. I couldn't have Yong swoop in and save the day. That would give me a bad reputation from day one, and I wanted to be successful from my own abilities.

"The charm read that your senior's intent was to murder you," Yong argued. I gave him a brief pointed look. Even though I couldn't say it out loud, I could only hope he would read my expression clearly. He was ruining things for me. I had everything under control.

"We just got overexcited. We didn't mean to alarm you, Crown Prince," I said calmly. He gave me a look that said he wasn't buying it, but whether he bought it or not, I needed him to leave it to me, or I would never be able to stand on my own two feet.

"If you say it was an accident, I'll believe you for now. I'll inform the Second Prince of this incident as well. I hope the masters of the school will do a thorough investigation and punish the appropriate party accordingly," Yong said before disappearing in another gust of wind. As soon as he left, Hana crawled to me with tears streaming down her face.

"I'm so sorry! I acted irrationally. Thank you! Thank you for saving my life," Hana cried. I took a breath and held her arms gently and brought her off the ground to a standing position.

"Quickly, rise. I never wanted your life, I just wanted you to treat me with the same respect everyone is supposed to have when meeting new people," I explained.

"You saved my life. Thank you," Hana continued crying.

"Student Hana, did you intend to kill the Princess earlier?" Heavenly General asked Hana frantically. She shook her head quickly.

"I didn't mean it! I just got so angry, I acted without thinking," she tried to explain. I put a hand on her arm before taking a step forward.

"Heavenly General, it's clear that Hana has learned her lesson, and she's already been publicly humiliated by myself and the Crown Prince. I think we should let this matter go. If you explain to my godfather in this way, I'm sure he'll agree with me. After all, Senior Hana is still just a student," I defended her. I wasn't actually angry at her actions tonight. A little annoyed, yes, but it wasn't worthy of her life in exchange. Heavenly General sighed before slouching slightly.

"Forget it. If the Princess is personally pardoning you, I'll pass the word along. Student Hana, you're lucky that the Princess is such a graceful and magnanimous person. You're also lucky no harm came to the Princess. I'll tell the headmaster of tonight's events and let the Second Prince make the final decision. You'll be grounded to your dorm until a decision has been made. Servants! Take Student Hana back to her dorm and keep an eye on her," Heavenly General ordered. Two of his own soldiers retrieved Hana before taking her out.

"Let's end the festivities here. We can't afford to offend anyone else," the general half muttered to himself as he left. The students began filing out of the hall as Alexander turned to me.

"That was gracious of you to pardon Hana. She's not a bad person, she's just been spoiled since childhood," Alexander said to me. I sighed as I began walking out of the banquet hall. Alexander followed.

"I have no grudge with her. She set her sights on me first, I merely defended myself," I talked easily.

"But you have the Crown Prince's protection charm. You must be more important to the Royal family than we realize," he replied. I reached up and touched the hairpin Yong gave me gently. Now it made sense why he insisted on giving it to me. It was his own personal 'danger' alarm. I would have to remember to take it off for the remainder of my time here. I couldn't have him show up on a whim every time I was in a little bit of danger.

"The Second Prince is my godfather. The Crown Prince is his closest brother. My godfather simply asked the Crown Prince for the charm in order to protect me. Being that it's the Crown Prince's charm, it makes sense that he would show up right away when alarmed. If it really is an emergency, he wouldn't have the time to tell my godfather first," I lied. Some of it was true, but I couldn't have people knowing about my relationship with Yong.

I sighed as I finally made it back to Longevity Courtyard. I quickly took the hairpin out and placed it by itself in a jewelry box. Regardless of the dangers I would face in Heavenly Cloud, I would face them myself. I knew Yong was concerned about me, but I needed to become stronger on my own, I couldn't risk Yong running to me every time there was a little bit of danger. I would never get stronger that way.

"Princess, you're back. How was your day?" Ixia asked.

"Did you know that the hairpin the Crown Prince gave me was a protection charm?" I asked immediately. Ixia hesitated before she nodded.

"He asked me not to inform you of its purpose, but how did you find out about it? It's just a regular hairpin until-"

"Until I'm approached with malicious intent or danger," I finished for her as I held up the small wooden box.

"Keep this is a safe place," I said as I handed the box to her.

"But Princess, the Crown Prince only wants to protect you," Ixia said hesitantly.

"If he insists on protecting me at every turn, I'll never be taken seriously here. Even worse, I'll never become stronger," I answered her.

"Help me dress for bed after putting that away. It's been a long day," I sighed. She curtsied before doing as I asked. I was more than ready to sleep after the day I had.