"Cyprian...Mayfield?" Zen asked with a shocked look.

Reyna and Arvell weren't any better themselves.

"He's THE Cyprian Mayfield?" Reyna exclaimed.

Almost everyone in the country knew of Cyprian Mayfield.

​ After all... He was the heir to one of the 4 great ducal houses, The House of Mayfield!

Realizing who he was, Arvell's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

'So he's that Cyprian....'

This wasn't the first time the two of them had met.

Arvell had only met Cyprian before, but that was back when Arvell was only 5 years old, during his first visit to the Elantrya kingdom to see his newly betrothed fiance.

Each ducal house guarded the 4 cardinal directions to defend Elantrya from threats from all sides.

The Silvercolts guarded the east, the Verlices guarded the west, the Brandels guarded the north, and the Mayfields guarded the south.

While the other 3 had to watch land borders while wary of an incoming invasion, only Mayfield house didn't need to bother with that.

After all, the only border they maintained was the sea border.

They only needed to worry about sealife attacking supply ships since most of the time, no one dared to raid the Mayfield house from the sea.

Why would anyone want to fight a group of highly skilled water mages at sea?

Due to their strong deterrence, the Mayfield house typically had more spare time on their hands and would frequent banquets held by the royal family.

That's why when the Elantryan king organized a banquet to welcome the Vispian Royal family, one of the attendees was the Mayfield family.

While Arvell only shared a few words with Cyprian, his noble conduct and overwhelming charisma had left a strong impression on Arvell, to the point where even 8 years later, he would still feel somewhat familiar.

Zen politely bowed to Cyprian in return.

"Hello Cyprian, I'm Zen Silvercolt... but you already know that. Anyways is there something you need?"

Cyprian shook his head while still having the same smile on his face.

"I just wanted to greet you since I have worked alongside your sister for quite a few years. I remember meeting you once in the past, but you were probably too young to remember."

"Please forgive me for that."

"Oh no, there is no need to apologize. You were still so young back then, so forgetting one or two faces isn't a big deal. I also met your lovely fiance too before."

"O-Oh?" Reyna stuttered.

Suddenly getting called out like that put her on the spot.

"The two of you are just as close as I remember!"

Reyna and Zen turned red as tomatoes but tried to play it off.

Hiding their faces in the middle of a conversation was bad manners, after all!

Cyprian cuckold lightly to himself under his breath before directing his attention to the silver-haired youth that watched everything play out with a somewhat amused expression.

"But... I don't believe I had the pleasure of meeting you before. May I have the honour of knowing your name?"

Cyprian flashed Arvell a smile.

Arvell returned the gesture before politely bowing to Cyprian, mimicking Zen's earlier actions.

"Nice to meet you, Cyprian. My name is Arvell Silvanus."

Cyprian's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard Arvell's name but quickly returned to normal.

"So you're the one who got rank 1 on the entrance exam! You have my congratulations!"

Arvell nodded his head.

"Thank you for your praise."

The surrounding girls watched the scene with rapt attention.

Two ridiculously handsome men talking to each other in such close proximity?

Some felt an inner fire burning at the scene, with a couple opening their bags to fetch sketchbooks.

They needed to capture this moment!

While they looked like they drawing a beautiful portrait of the two... the reality couldn't be further off.

Luckily Arvell was oblivious to this fact. Else he might have puked blood after seeing some of their more... 'graphic' illustrations.

Even so, he didn't like the gaze that the girls were giving him and felt it was about time to go.

Just as he opened his mouth to tell Cyprian they needed to get going, Cyprian cut him off.

"Anyways, I need to go back to instructing first years on how to get their student IDs and attend the new student orientation event at the amphitheatre. I trust you three can find you the way there?"

"I mean, it's not too hard," Zen gestured at the theatre situated not too far from their current location, "we're basically already there."

"Hahaha, how right you are," Cyprian lightly chuckled, "don't let me hold you up anymore, don't be late."

"Thank you, Cyprian, have a good day!"

Zen waved as the three slipped back into the sea of students, headed for the amphitheatre.

Cyprian watched the three walk away with a neutral expression before turning back to the gaggle of girls eagerly waiting for his return.

"Now, ladies, where were we?"

***

Arvell, Zen and Reyna slowly walked through the entrance to the amphitheatre, showing their student IDs to guards near the doors.

While everyone who was here was only people who had already gained admission, the use of the guards was primarily to ensure all the students who entered picked up their student cards.

As for those who didn't?

They were patiently given the instructions to the observatory to pick it up.

After getting their student Ids back from the guard, the three of them walked through the elegantly designed red-velvet coloured doubled doors and took their first step into the theatre.

It wasn't long before they all found a couple of empty seats, which they quickly occupied.

Unlucky for Arvell, Zen and Angela both sat on his right-hand side... leaving the left-hand side seat free for anyone else to come and sit down.

After looking at Arvell, the nearby female students immediately rose to their feet as if they were possessed.

It didn't matter to them that they had already acquired a seat... these girls knew what they wanted, and they would do anything to get it, no matter the cost!

They immediately took the nuclear approach without even taking a second to negotiate with each other.

Any semblance of humanity was cast aside as they devolved from civilized humans back to mindless animals.

"It's mine!"

"Back off, you skank, that seat belongs to me!!"

"Give me that spot!"

Suddenly a gust of air rushed past them as a confident girl ran past her countless competitors and seized that highly prized seat as her own.

Knowing that the spot was already claimed, the surrounding girls fiercely glared at the girl but couldn't do anything more than that.

They'd lost.

Arvell turned to look at the girl who managed to secure the seat beside him.

"I see, you're doing well... Lydia."