After the night with my surprise visitor, Lona was extra careful to keep an eye on me. Luckily, no one ever caught him, but Lona did think I had been staying up at night instead of recovering. She decided it was best if she stayed by my side nonstop.

It was a shame I couldn't even indulge in those books that Dante worked so hard to give to me.

The next day I coughed slightly and was immediately placed on house arrest. The doctor spun some lies and declared me too sick to return to school. Don't ask me why, I couldn't figure it out either. He made it sound like I would fall over at any moment, but I felt perfectly fine.

Thus, a few months passed by. I even had to miss my own birthday party as a result. I didn't care too much about having a party, but I really did want to eat some cake.

The worse part is that I haven't had any dessert since this whole thing started. They really intend to starve me. I couldn't even escape to Mama O's because Lona was constantly by my side. If I moved in bed slightly, she would immediately wake up.

Sleeping in a chair seemed like a bad idea, but she kept saying that leaving me by myself was a worse idea.

So I stayed in bed patiently waiting to get better (More like impatiently). I made sure to be the model patient and luckily, the doctor finally approved of my release from house arrest!

I didn't think I could be so excited to return to school!

That is, until I had to wake up for school.

I groaned as Lona shook me. She shouted, "Why are you being difficult! You've been bugging me these past few months to let you leave!!"

I moaned, "Yes, but now I want to sleep in."

Lona made a strange noise and dragged me out of bed. I whined as she continued to get me ready. When I entered the dining room, I sat down with a sigh.

My father looked at me nervously, "What is it? Do you feel sick?! Is it too hot?" He started fanning me, "Too cold?"

I sat there with a blank stare. Ever since I got sick, he's been acting like this. Almost as if he was worried that the very air was toxic to me. I never could have guessed that he could become more overprotective.

He looked at me with worried eyes, "What can I do for you to make you feel better?"

I sighed, "A cup of coffee would suffice."

He shook his head quickly, "No. You are too young."

"Why am I too young? Coffee is good for the body. It lengthens your lifespan and reduces your risks for certain diseases."

I bit into my food and started chewing it. He thought about this, "Is that true?"

"Yup."

Well. Trueish.

"Hmm. Maybe I will ask some people about it."

I finished my meal and left to go to school. It was strange getting into a carriage after so long. At first, I thought I had conquered my motion sickness. That is, until it started moving. Then I realized it had in fact came back with a passion.

Once I arrived to school, I chuckled to myself when I noticed William wasn't there waiting.

Of course! He must have given up waiting because I was sick. This is the perfect opportunity to...

I felt a strong grip on my shoulder and let out a high pitched shriek. Lona stood there, looking down at me and smiling.

"I need to talk to the administrator. So I figured I would walk you to class."

I smiled innocently, "No, that's not necessary. I will be fine."

Her smile grew darker, "I think it is."

Does she know that I regularly try to skip class?! Perhaps because William wasn't here waiting, she knew I would try to.

I gulped, "Did William tell you I've been trying to skip class?"

Her face changed abruptly, "WHAT?! You've been trying to skip?!"

I bit my tongue angry at myself. I spoke quickly, "No! No! I haven't!"

"Tch. So that's why Prince William is always here waiting. It's because he's the only one who can catch you!"

She grabbed me by my hand and started dragging me to class. I felt like crying at selling myself out.

I whined, "Why are you doing this?!"

"Because if I don't, you won't go."

"But Lona! You shouldn't act like this! Are you just going to be a helicopter parent from now on?!"

"If that's what is required, then I will."

"Lona! That's no good! Use that energy to get yourself a man!"

"Why do you keep trying to marry me off?!"

The teacher cleared his throat and we grew quiet. We were too busy arguing we hadn't even noticed that we were standing in the doorway of my classroom.

Lona blushed abruptly and bowed, "I apologize. I have brought Miss Seri today."

Millie stood up from her seat, "Seri!!"

I ran towards her with my arms spread out. I hugged her, "Ah! My little Millie! I've missed that innocent smile of yours!"

She giggled, "I missed you so much!! I'm so glad you're okay!"

The teacher cleared his throat once more. We quickly took a seat and Lona left to go speak to an administrator.

I looked at him and tilted my head. I turned to Millie, "Why does he look different? Did he get work done?"

She whispered back, "You didn't notice? This is a new room. We moved up a grade, so we got a new teacher."

I stared at him, "Oh. Weird."

The teacher spoke to me with a sigh, "I would ask if you did your homework to catch up with us, but your previous teacher said that it wouldn't be necessary. He has a lot of faith in you."

I giggled, "You sure you don't want to test me the way he did? I don't mind going another round."

Everyone in the room instantly had dark faces. In fact, just by seeing Seri they were already frowning. Her ability to make anyone look foolish had spread throughout the school. Including the teachers. They missed the carefree days when Seri wasn't attending school.

The teacher quickly shook his head, "No. I have no reason to doubt your last teacher. However, this grade is significantly harder. So try to pay attention."

A collective sigh spread across the room. Sure enough, this teacher didn't fully grasp the situation.

I shrugged, "Whatever." I laid my head down and quickly started snoozing.

He continued his lesson until he noticed me asleep. He didn't care if a student wasn't paying attention, but one that was so obviously sleeping was too much!

He shouted, "Seri! If you have such audacity to fall asleep in my class, how about you answer these questions?"

I blinked my eyes sleepily and stretched. I cracked my knuckles, "Alright. Let's see how much you know."

As I walked over to the board, a collective groan filled the room. Each student couldn't help but think: Here we go again.

I quickly put the teacher back into his place. This time I was much more ruthless in embarrassing him and didn't stop until it looked as if his soul had left him.

He whimpered out, "Enough. It's time for lunch. All of you just leave already."

I smiled and grabbed Millie, "Millie! Let's go! I haven't had cake in months!"

I dragged her out of the room quickly leaving behind the devastated teacher. Later, the previous teacher poked his head in the door. When he had heard that I had returned, he wanted to check on the new teacher. When he saw my current teacher's state, he recognized the feeling immediately.

He spoke, "I told you not to bother with her."

He whimpered, "You said she was too smart. You didn't say she was THAT smart."

The other teacher chuckled. He had purposely left out the exact details so another would share his shame. He could never forget being mocked by his fellow peers for letting a child beat him so easily. After recalling his previous shame, he also grew dispirited and sat down at a desk with a defeated expression.

After me and Millie grabbed our food, we sat at our regular table. I quickly devoured my cake.

She chuckled, "You finished that faster than usual. Did you really not get to have any dessert that entire time?"

"No! Lona was over my shoulder the entire time forbidding it. I couldn't even sneak out to get some!"

She pushed over her dessert, "Here. You can have mine."

My eyes watered from such a generous action, "Really?"

She nodded, "Yes. Really."

I threw my arms around "Ahhh! Millie You're the best!"

I bit into the cake and heard William shout behind me, "Y-you! You're really here!?!"

I turned to see William with a dumbstruck but excited face. I shook my head and spoke with my mouth full of cake, "Nope. I'm just a figment of your imagination."

He put his tray down and sat down across from me. He tried to glare but it was obvious he was overjoyed, "It's definitely you."

Dante sat down and glanced at me. I smiled at him but he just continued to stare at me with cold eyes. Finally he spoke up, "I thought you said you'd be back sooner."

"What? Why can't you say, oh hey Seri! I've missed you! I'm glad you're alright!"

He continued to stare at me. I forced a smile under that cold face of his. And here I thought his fake smile was scary.

I spoke to avoid the tension, "Well I was supposed to, because of an unannounced visit, I got caught staying up late. Then when I let one cough slip, they all freaked out and put me on house arrest!"

William pretended to be uninterested, "Well maybe you should have just stayed home if you're going to complain so much." I was just about to shout at him when he grabbed his cake and pushed it over, "Do you want it?"

I took it and sighed, "I see you're still a tsundere."

He blinked in confusion, "Huh? Tsundere?"

I took a bite of cake, "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

William turned to Dante and he shrugged back at him. I felt Millie grab my arm. I turned to look at her with my mouth full of cake.

Her eyes looked worried, "Are you really okay though? Dante said you almost died!"

I turned to look at him and glared. He met my eyes unwavering. I sighed and looked away, "Like I told Dante, it was just Lona acting dramatic. It wasn't that serious."

She tilted her head, "Huh? But Dante said he heard it from the doctor himself!"

I turned to look at him but he munched on his food ignoring me.

This little bastard.

I smiled at her, "It doesn't matter. I'm fine now, right? The doctor even said I'm okay to go back to training as long as I don't overwork myself."

She smiled, "That's good. I'm glad you're alright."

I turned back to my cake and took a bite. William smiled at me mischievously, "And how did you like your gifts?"

I nearly choked on my cake. He began to laugh boisterously as if he had heard the funniest joke. I contemplated stabbing him with a fork.

Finally I shouted, "Oh enough already! It's not that funny!"

You wouldn't be laughing if you heard what genre was TRULY my favorite. Actually, he would probably faint if he found out.

He giggled trying to control his laughter, "How could you like such trash?! I mean I guess it makes sense."

I frowned, "Don't call it trash! It's much better than that boring sh*t you read."

He wiped a tear away, "This entire time I've wondered why you weren't interested in anything in the library. I just thought you weren't interested in books. To think this was the reason why!"

I grinded my teeth as he broke out into another wave of laughter. I glared at Dante with a look saying that I blame him for this as well. He just gave me a cold smile in response.

This f*cking bastard is enjoying this!!! Ugh. Why am I not surprised.

Irritated by the laughter, I gave William a hard kick to the shin under the table. He yelped in pain, "Oi! Did you just kick me?!"

I bit into my food innocently, "No. You must be imagining things."

"I am not! You just kicked me!"

As I continued to fight with William, Millie glanced at Dante, "Everything is back to normal. Isn't that nice?"

He glanced over at me before giving a slight nod.