After class, Ren Xiyang and Rian went to meet Dean Palatinate.
Once again, there was also Vice Dean Blewitt, Lord Zaffre, Lord Coquelicot, Lord Elfenbein and Lady Celeste.
“The academy board has come to an agreement,” Dean Palatinate said. “To preface, what our teachers teach is necessary of a mage of Sedaveria. It is a requirement that you can demonstrate this knowledge if you wish to graduate from the academy. In addition, the academy requires you to attend 75% of classes.”
Ren Xiyang nodded.
Dean Palatinate glanced at Rian. “We considered your suggestions and have formulated a path forward. We have decided to offer an alternative research-study pathway in the academy. This special research unit will be more flexible. A student in the research unit has some capacity to arrange times with their research supervisor. We will communicate with the university and the Capital Hospital to find suitable supervisors.”
Ren Xiyang’s eyes became a fraction brighter. He glanced at Rian—this was the outcome he wanted!
“However, to enter the research stream, you must first acquire your parents’ permission—if applicable—and you must pass special exams. These exams will be more stringent than the end-of-year exams. For each exam you pass, you may replace that subject with the research unit. If you fail any exams, we expect that you still attend that class and take the end-of-year exams. The research unit will expand to fill the rest of your class time. The topics you will explore in that research unit should be in the areas of the subjects you are no longer attending. We also expect all students to attend the weekly selected-topics class, noting that it doesn’t have an end-of-year exam.”
“If I understand correctly, this will be open to all students, including students from the second- and third-year levels,” Rian said.
“Correct,” Dean Palatinate said. “Provided a student’s parents or guardian comes to the academy to provide explicit permission. Earl Rosewood, in your case, you can provide your own permission.”
Ren Xiyang nodded. “When will the exams be?”
“Given that these exams will be at a higher difficulty, such that the academy board finds acceptable, we estimate that they’ll happen in one to two months,” Dean Palatinate said.
“And when will the announcement be?” Rian asked.
“We will make the announcement once the academy board approves this proposal without further revisions,” Dean Palatinate said. “This should take one to two weeks. Any further questions?”
Ren Xiyang and Rian glanced at each other.
Rian shook his head. “We have no further questions. Do you require any assistance?”
“There is no need,” Dean Palatinate said.
“Thank you,” Ren Xiyang said.
Dean Palatinate inclined his head in acknowledgement.
After a round of farewells, Ren Xiyang and Rian left the room.
Rian raised an eyebrow. Ren Xiyang looked at him.
The Royal Guards standing outside were professionally stoic.
Without speaking, they went back to their quarters first.
“Happy?” Rian asked, once the door closed.
“Can you help me review the expected exam content?” Ren Xiyang asked. “Do you want to take the exams too and join the research unit with me?”
Rian was conflicted. He was confident that he could pass all the exams, but this completely disrupted his detailed visions for his academy life.
“I don’t think I have enough time to study for all subjects and pass,” Ren Xiyang added. “So, my plan is to study for a few and make sure I pass those…enough so that the research unit makes up 75% of attendance and I take leave for the other subjects and just take their exams at the end of the year as normal.”
Ren Xiyang opened his notebook and checked his weekly class schedule.
There were 20 hours of class per week. Magical theory took 6 hours, magical history took 2 hours, spell writing took 5 hours, magical combat took 5 hours, political science took 1 hour, and the weekly selected-topics class series took 1 hour.
A 75% attendance was equivalent to skipping 5 hours work of classes. It was enough to skip magical history, political science and the weekly class series.
“If I pass magical theory, spell writing, and magical combat, then I can take leave for the remaining classes, and attend only the lessons that you had flagged as important,” Ren Xiyang said. “And I don’t want to do research related to history or political science anyway.” He looked at Rian. “Well?”
Rian frowned. “If I take those exams, I’ll pass all of them. Would you still go to those classes by yourself?”
“Ah…no.”
“Then you should aim to pass all the exams!”
Ren Xiyang had a dubious expression.
Rian pulled Ren Xiyang to his desk. “No, we’re going to make a study plan right now.”
With Rian’s rich knowledge, he drew up a study plan in one breath. “Here!”
“Thank you. So, are you going to take the exams too?” Ren Xiyang asked.
Rian exhaled. “Yes. Which means you must pass everything, understood?”
Ren Xiyang suppressed a small smile. “Yes, Rian.”
“Hmpf,” Rian snorted. “You’re not going to fail anything on my watch. Don’t even think about!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ren Xiyang took Rian’s hand. “Thank you.”
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On the afternoon of the next day, Florence went to the Rosewood house.
“Florence!” Ayden greeted with bright eyes. “It’s been too long.”
“I’ve been busy getting everything harvested and done before coming here,” Florence said. She turned to Prince Pollux and Hadrian. She hadn’t expected Prince Pollux, but perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised given the way Ayden attracted princes to him.
“Good afternoon, Your Highness, Hadrian. How have you been?”
“Well,” Prince Pollux said.
Hadrian nodded in agreement.
“Ayden has lent me office space here, so it’s quite convenient to work with him and Hadrian,” Prince Pollux said.
Ayden looked at Florence. “Florence, do you want office space here too?”
Florence suppressed her amusement. “There’s no need, the Sage house has a small greenhouse and a garden.”
“Oh,” Ayden said. He looked at Prince Pollux. “We also have many spare bedrooms. You could also move here if you wish and save time travelling between here and the Angio embassy.”
Prince Pollux’s eyes brightened, but then he calmed down. “I’ll consider it.”
Florence wouldn’t be surprised if Prince Pollux moved in soon.
After a brief exchange, Prince Pollux and Hadrian went to Hadrian’s workroom, while Florence followed Ayden into a storeroom that turned out to be a growing room. There were several shelves, laden with different mediums.
Ayden cleared his throat. “I tried growing mushrooms lately. I wanted to see if plant growth magic could work on them, but it doesn’t seem to be quite right. See, I applied magic to these ones, and I didn’t to these…”
Florence took a closer look at the mushrooms. At this stage, their fruiting bodies weren’t visible yet. The mushrooms were currently just mycellium growing inside their mediums. In the natural mushrooms, the mycellium were fine and dense. In the spelled mushrooms, the mycellium were thicker and less dense—more like plant roots. This would affect the mushroom’s ability to obtain nutrients and grow.
“Plant mages don’t usually grow fungi,” she said. “Healers and herbalist-specialists might grow certain mushrooms for medicine, though. Perhaps healing magic could work.”
Ayden frowned thoughtfully. “Healers that grow plants…I met someone who does that recently. Anya Rose.”
“Oh? Is she back from her research trip?”
“You know about her?”
“Dr Lady Anya Rose is the leading mage when it comes to growing magical herbs,” Florence said. “She would either know about growing mushrooms personally or have some ideas about how to proceed.”
“Hm…I’ve sensed her around but haven’t seen her.”
Ayden then took Florence to another storeroom-turned-growing-facility. Here, there were shallow trays with densely backed seedlings.
Florence frowned. “You’ve sown the seeds densely.”
Ayden nodded. “This isn’t an experiment. These are meant to be harvested at this stage.” He picked a few from the edges of the trays and handed them to Florence. “Look, they’re even smaller than baby greens. I call them micro-greens.”
Florence accepted the tiny seedlings.
“The key is presentation,” Ayden said. “I was going to cook dinner tonight but the chefs here disagreed…Anyway, I need to harvest these and send them to the kitchens.”
Florence suddenly realised. “Do you plan to sell these at a high price?”
“At a reasonable price given their costs. Maybe a little high. It just depends on the demand,” Ayden said modestly. “By the way, Rian is also coming for dinner tonight.”
Florence understood. Ayden was about to start a new food trend! And he was telling her because he was inviting her to make money too!
Together, they harvested the tiny little plants into small little baskets, separated by type: beetroot, broccoli, lettuce, mustard, peas, rocket, sorrel, sunflower, and watercress. They took them to the kitchens, and Ayden explained the vision he wanted: decadent yet small servings on large plates, with artistic drizzles of sauce around the food.
The chefs respectfully agreed and respectfully asked Earl Rosewood not to enter the kitchens as it was not proper.
As such, Ayden couldn’t stand around and watch, and they had to go back to his office.
“The chefs here are a bit too strict,” Ayden complained.
Florence laughed. “In reality, it’s that the chefs at the Rosewood house are atypically friendly.”
Ayden couldn’t deny that.
Florence became a little more serious. “So, what happened while I was gone? I heard you’re skipping classes.”
“Yes. Classes were boring, so I skipped them.”
“I heard you had a falling out with Prince Rian too…”
Ayden’s ears reddened slightly. “It’s fine now.”
Florence was relieved. If she had been at the Capital, she was 90% sure that Prince Rian would have come to her for ‘advice’.
“We talked to Dean Palatinate together, and they’re working something out,” Ayden said. “They’re going to make an announcement in a week or two.”
“You don’t need to tell me.”
Ayden inclined his head. “It should be good.”
Florence immediately suspected it was something that would allow Ayden to farm on campus during class time. “Did Queen Aurelia contact you recently?”
Ayden shook his head.
“One of her ladies-in-waiting contacted me. They asked me about the Agricultural and Food Security Initiative. I got the feeling that they want to develop something similar for Angio.”
“They should hire you as a consultant if they keep asking you questions,” Ayden said.
Florence quirked her lips. “It’s not like that. At the moment, you mostly work with and send seeds to Marquis Terra, right? I was thinking that we could expand this and establish some kind of relationship with Angio.”
“Prince Pollux told me that Queen Aurelia is sending over some healers, so that they can come here and learn. You could ask them to send over some other people to learn how our agricultural initiative works.”
“I’ll propose that to them next time,” Florence said.
Ayden opened his notebook. “We have some time; do you have any ideas about the mushrooms?”
“You could try a more generalised local time-acceleration spell,” Florence mused. “Many plant spells incorporate some time-acceleration elements. One of those spells could be modified, taking the plant-specific component out and replacing it with something fungi-specific…”
Rian arrived at the Rosewood house in time for dinner. “Florence, welcome back,” he greeted warmly.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Florence replied.
“What did you two do today?” Rian asked innocently.
“A secret,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian pouted.
Ren Xiyang patted him on the shoulder. “You’ll know one of the secrets soon.”
“Are you telling me you share more than one secret with Florence?”
Florence: “…” She was right there, and Prince Rian didn’t need to put that kind of act in front of her!
“Yes,” Ren Xiyang answered calmly.
This made Rian give Florence a look.
Florence: “…”
Ren Xiyang nudged Rian. “Come on, Prince Pollux and Hadrian are waiting for us in the dining room.”
“You’re not cooking?” Rian asked.
Ren Xiyang shook his head. “The chefs won’t let me.”
After everyone sat down, two waiters arrived and served drinks. Then, five waiters came back each carrying a moderately sized white plate, followed by the head chef.
“Our first course, a light appetiser,” the head chef said. “Roasted sweet potato.”
On the plate was a small, sliced round of roasted sweet potato. On top of it, there was creamy yoghurt and whipped feta, fig wedges, pomegranate seeds, and tiny little greens. Dark balsamic vinegar was drizzled artistically on top.
Ren Xiyang gave a slight nod.
The head chef saw the small movement and was self-satisfied. The chef and the waiters silently departed, letting the dinner guests eat.
Rian had sharp eyes. “What are the greens on top?”
Ren Xiyang nudged him under the table. “Have a taste first.”
Rian picked up his knife and fork and took the first bite. The others followed.
Sweet, savoury, sour; the tiny greens were soft, crisp, and refreshing and added delicacy to the dish.
Rian gave Ren Xiyang a look. “This dish would be different if larger greens were used.”
“The greens taste a little familiar,” Prince Pollux said. “Ayden, what is it?”
“Rocket, peas, sorrel, and watercress,” Ren Xiyang said. “But as you can see, these are miniature versions.”
Rian’s eye flashed. “This is what you’ve been secretly growing lately.”
Ren Xiyang: I will fail [some exams for tactical reasons].
Rian: My Yangyang will never fail, not if I’m here! Let’s study!
Ren Xiyang: Oh, Florence is back!
Rian: …Why isn’t Yangyang that happy to see me? *bites handkerchief in grievance*
Thank you to NekumaBaiRuoYan and 1000odysseys for the ink!
Thank you to 314159265358979323846264338327950288Alex for the suggestion of using healing magic on mushrooms!
I have a short BL story out as part of the BL Palace’s winter anthology:
Tags: Pining, Flatmates, Friends First, Romance, Flangst
Summary:
Years ago, during their university years, Pei Yichen and Yun Zimo were good friends and flatmates.
But before Pei Yichen could express any of his feelings—about forming a company together, about maybe trying to be together—Yun Zimo moved out with his new boyfriend, the white moonlight in his heart.
They agreed to keep in touch, but life took over for both of them.
It was five years later when they saw each other again.
And Pei Yichen’s cold heart ached when he saw Yun Zimo’s tears.
“Come back with me.”
“Do you still like me?”
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Hah, looking forward to seeing Rian’s expertise in studying. Let the studying god help!
(Also I read “Do you still like me?” It was lovely! I half-way completely forgot about who wrote it haha. Though I guess a bigger resolution would’ve been fun it felt very cozy and realistic for the characters)
Rian is the smartest, he’s gonna make Ren Xiyang pass!!!!
Thank you for reading “Do you still like me?”! There was a word limit so I couldn’t write too much haha, and I’m not so great at writing angst…
Thank you for the chapter.
Thank you for reading!
They were already fancy, but now they’re extra fancy
EXTRA fancy!
rian wants attention 😆
Of course he does 🤭🤭🤭🤭
Ren xiyang is officially a prince’s magnet by lady Florence standards 😂
It’s basically true, though!! 🤣🤣🤣
I used to consider Ren Xiyang way cooler than Rian; Rian’s gestures seemed to me reeking of the “Prince Charming” attitude, but in a calculative way that was too pompous for my liking. But now I have to admit, I actually like Rian a lot more now; he can be so sweet and thoughtful! 🥰 Thank you for the chapter! And the ine-shot was so so nice to read too! I don’t think I’ve ever read a story of yours I wouldn’t like <3
HAHAHA I’m glad you like Rian more now! He’s calculative but also earnest 🤭🤭🤭🤭
Thank youuu 🥰🥰🥰🥰
hang in there Florence (⇀‸↼‶)
Florence is used to it 😆