"You? What are you doing?" Xiao Lan watched as the instructor raised the clasped arm she held high above. It was almost a mocking repeat of what had happened earlier with brother Zhang and the other kid.

The height difference between the two figures also made it difficult for the kid to reach the ground and the burning feeling of anger and disappointment was back. Even the adults behaved in the same way?

Was it because the other was a slave or was there another reason behind everything? Xiao Lan desperately hoped that it was not how all slaves were treated. His mother had always said that humans were humans and they needed to be treated with respect.

Father was trying to change things for slaves but with a society filled with nobles and those who believed themselves to be superior, it seemed to be getting increasingly difficult to pass those laws.

"I-I was assigned this a-area to clean." The kid seemed to be almost sobbing at this point but was clearly trying to hold himself back.

"Cleaning or trying to rob us of our books? Don't think I did not notice the missing book a few days back. Thankfully a generous student was kind enough to donate their own to us before we left or we would be short on books" the kid shook in her grasp, even more, his body hunching over himself.

"I-I did not-" the kid did not get to finish. Xiao Lan watched as the instructor let the kid fall, her gaze filled with almost disgust when she looked at the kid in front of her.

"You should be grateful for your Fu blood or you would have been killed as soon as you were born. You were even kind enough to kill your mother, the last remaining pure-blooded Fu priestess so we had no choice but to keep you alive. But what do you do in return? Steal and cause problems for us?" The female lost her patience and the sound of a slap echoed inside the room.

Xiao Lan felt himself freeze at the sound. The kid had not really done anything to deserve it from his perspective. From what he saw of the kid, he was not even sure if the other had the courage to steal anything from here.

The kid was too meek and afraid.

But he did understand his position now. Fu was the family name of the kingdom's ancient priest line and to have that surname was an honour. When the last full-blooded priestess had died it had been a commission.

Mostly because no one else had enough pure blood and power to inherit the mark of the priestess. The current charge had been handed over to the side family surnamed Xi and that had been it.

Xiao Lan knew nothing more about this topic.

"If only you did not have the mark we could have gotten rid of you but you just had to be a trouble magnet. Why would Lady Fu even consider having you after the ordeal she went through with that 'man'. She was such a noble lady and now she's considered an almost traitor" which had been news to Xiao Lan.

The kid did not say anything, he just took the weight of it all.

"Clean this room up now and if I found anything missing this time, I would not be lenient" the lady left and the kid finally looked over Xiao Lan's direction. The silver eyes were indifferent now, no longer shining with any emotion.

"Y-You can come out n-now. I-I'll take the magic down" magic? The kid knew magic? How? Was he a cultivator?

But hadn't he been a slave who was not taught how to cultivate yet? How can he use magic if he did not know anything at all?

"It's alright. I-I just like to study a lot and my m-mark helps me out" the kid still stuttered his words but they seemed to be getting better as more time passed.

Xiao Lan felt red and exposed when the kid answered his questions. While Xiao Lan had not said anything, the other had guessed what he had wanted to ask. Finally, after a few tries, Xiao Lan was able to move his body properly.

"Are you alright? What are you going to do now?" Something about this kid fascinated Xiao Lan a lot and he could not stay away from him. He wanted to know more about this kid and understand his situation.

From what he had gathered, the kid had been here for his whole life. Had he been a slave the whole time? But he had a family in the Fu and their sister clam Xi so why had they not taken him in?

Why give him to the academy like this?

"I-I'll clean this place u-up and then go to s-sleep" Xiao Lan took a look at the room but it looked clean enough to him. A few books seemed out of place and the tables needed to be dusted but that was something the users would have done themselves.

Why would this kid be expected to clean everything up? But the kid did not seem to consider these questions as he got to work. He picked up the books and began setting them back into the racks.

Xiao Lan saw the longing look the kid gave these books but made no attempt to pick one up and take it with him. Xiao Lan wanted to help but he was not an academy student yet and could not borrow these books.

"Do you need help?" Xiao Lan asked but did not give the other a chance to deny his help. He picked up the remaining books and made his way over to the racks as well.

The other child panicked, his eyes wide in fright.

"N-No, please don't" the fear of punishment was clear in the other's eyes and it made Xiao Lan sad and angry to see. He knew the other dreaded the punishment that would fall on him should this matter come to the light.

"I won't tell if you won't tell. Besides, you already trusted me with one secret so why not another one?" The kid still looked panicked but it was subdued. The kid still looked scared but he had also resigned himself to the inevitable help he would be getting.

"Alright. But promise to leave after this" the kid requested in a nervous voice. He knew he was not in a position to ask anything of the other but he still tried. After all this master seemed to care about his circumstance and had even tried defending him once.

The circumstance would change and the other would turn into one of the standard nobles, the kid was more than sure of that particular fact but it would be nice till it lasts.

Xiao Lan agreed easily but the kid fell asleep halfway through the work. The stress and the encounters he had today had drained his mental strength and he had no longer been able to fight.

Xiao Lan just picked the kid up and decided to put him to bed. Since he had no idea where the sleeping quarters for this kid were, he decided to take him back to his own room and share it.

His retainers had still not arrived and he was more than sure that they had left him here to fend for himself. He would square them out as soon as he gets a chance to. They were not getting away that easily and he would also look into the 'brother Zhang' case he had been presented with.

The following years at the academy would see a huge change and it would start with this one fateful encounter between the younger prince and the slave body with the surname 'Fu.'

However, in the end, Xiao Lan could not tell if it was a good change or not. The years that had followed had been happy but also painful. Things had changed, some had remained the same.

He had loved, lost and grown up with other things mixed in between. Yet, the memoirs of that first meet were vivid and now the current moment a mockery of that memory.

In his bed, Fu Hua slept away his worries for the time being and the sun finally went down.

Xiao Lan was worried about a lot of things now and he did not know which way the future would take now. From that small slave, Fu Hua had grown up to be a ferocious tiger threatening all but the small insecure child had always stayed.

Xiao Lan had thought he knew the other, had even pleased with the court and gotten Fu Hua an important position in the court. The kingdom had moved in the right direction finally, the right way his mother and father had wanted it to move.

But then things had gone wrong and Xiao Lan could not understand why. What had changed and what had brought about those changes.