It was a good thing that their professor demanded their full attention then, because Blythe was on the verge of snapping and saying something stupid to Cole. Both boys turned back in their seats, forced to look at the front of the classroom instead.

  First period went by smoothly after that, although she spent most of the lesson dreading her next class. When they were dismissed, Magnus walked her to the greenhouse where they had Botany together.

  Much to Blythe’s shock, he hung back and chose a different workbench from the one she sat at. It was two rows in front of hers. He wouldn’t be able to observe her without turning his head around. The boy who was already sitting there seemed pleasantly surprised, and they began conversing.

  Was he doing this because he could see how tired she was of being around him? He hadn’t seemed to care before.

  Blythe didn’t plan on ruining her newfound peace by asking him, though. She’d just enjoy this while it lasted.

  ???

  Beryllian IV was next, and she had it with Giovanni and Cole.

  Normally, she didn’t interact with them in this class at all—Giovanni sat by himself, and Cole had a group of acquaintances or friends here he could sit with at will. On occasion, Giovanni would sit beside Cole if the latter called him over. They were very light acquaintances according to the game, so it made sense that they didn’t go out of their way to be near each other most of the time.

  Giovanni, with his long legs, arrived before her at their classroom on the second floor. As she pushed the door open and walked in, Blythe spotted him at the back right away.

  She hadn’t had the chance to give her obligatory chocolate to Giovanni in Botany earlier. Now was as good an opportunity as any other.

  Thanks to Jessica, she learned that the only boys she needed to give obligatory chocolates to were the rest of the game’s love interests, excluding Jude. Although the original Blythe ‘knew’ who they were because of the royal balls that were thrown for the children of nobility, she wouldn’t have associated with them at all if not for Magnus.

  Jessica had been horrified that she’d ’forgotten’ that much, but she’d still supplemented Blythe with the necessary information. Magnus began getting to know the other love interests better after entering the academy. As a result, Blythe spoke more with them as well, albeit only in Magnus’ presence.

  Everyone else was either talking to their friend or what looked like their crush. Nobody even glanced in her direction as she made her way to Giovanni’s desk. The boy in question noticed her approach from several feet away, and his usual scowl deepened into one of suspicion.

  She got her obligatory chocolate foil bag ready. Once she got within an arm’s length, she held it out to him.

  “Hi,” she said. “Your obligatory chocolate.”

  The furrow in his brow eased a little as he took it from her.

  “Thanks.”

  She got a green light.

  “You sat away from Magnus again today,” he stated, chucking it into his school bag.

  “I did.” Her clipped tone carried an unspoken ‘And?’ in it.

  “I don’t care if you’re still fighting or whatever as long as you don’t sit with me again. I don’t want any trouble.”

  Brushing aside the stab of irritation, Blythe replied, "There won't be any trouble. Magnus isn't that unreasonable. He knew I was just choosing any random seat away from him."

  Giovanni's frown deepened again, and suddenly he looked super judgemental. "Huh."

  She narrowed her eyes. "Problem?"

  "The way you're talking is weird. Did you hit your head?"

  She'd forgotten how annoying Giovanni was before the player reached 'friends' status with him the game. None of the others had been as blunt about her out-of-character behavior before.

  "Maybe you hit your head," she snapped before thinking. "What kind of question is that?"

  Scoffing, he leaned back in his seat. "Yeah, that sounds more like you."

  She ignored him in favor of picking a desk on the opposite side of the classroom to sit at.

  ???

  Blythe had just met up with Sophie outside the dining hall when Jessica’s blue quaker parrot flew to them and delivered a message.

  “Sophie, I’m meeting Clyde near the stadium. I might not be joining you for lunch today, so go ahead without me.”

  Sophie sent Jessica a message to acknowledge it before turning to Blythe.

  "Are you going to give His Highness his chocolates too?"

  Blythe shook her head. "I already gave them to him. I'll have lunch as usual in the dining hall."

  Sophie raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t press. She’d probably expected Blythe to devise some kind of romantic plan to have quality time with Magnus at lunch or something.

  "Good idea," Sophie said, looping her arm through Blythe's. "The garden's bound to be crowded today."

  The dining hall itself really wasn’t any better. A large section of it was blocked off by a massive horde of girls, all of them calling out something loudly to whomever it was they were crowding around. Blythe couldn’t make out any individual sentences; it was a singular mass of noise at this point.

  Some of the boys looked on with a sour expression.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “That’s … quite rowdy of them,” Blythe remarked to Sophie, setting down her tray of food on the table they decided on.

  Sophie’s startled glance lasted for a second before she shrugged. “They did that last year too. Cole’s been popular since our third year. Valentine’s Day is a pass for us to openly declare our feelings towards the boys.”

  “Those are all Cole’s admirers?” She could easily count thirty of them. It certainly explained the Cole-exclusive mini game the player had to clear in order to successfully deliver chocolate to him.

  “I think some of those are Titus’, actually,” Sophie said thoughtfully, scooping up a spoonful of her broccoli cheddar soup. “They sit at the same lunch table after all.”

  “By the way, I was reminded this morning,” Blythe added, suddenly recalling the matter, “by Magnus that I used to have a huge problem with other girls giving him obligatory chocolate. But I’m fine with it now. Let them know, would you?”

  Sophie proceeded to cough violently, whipping out a handkerchief to cover her mouth with it.

  Upon recovering, she gaped at Blythe.

  “Do you mean that? Truly? Do you really not”—she whispered the next part—“remember your feelings for him anymore?”

  Blythe made a face. She was sick of everyone acting like her life revolved around the guy. At least her lobster bisque tasted great.

  “Even if I did, it would still be irrational to ban the other girls from giving him obligatory chocolates. I mean, I give obligatory chocolates to Cole and some other boys and it’s not a big deal.”

  “That’s true, but everyone also knows you only have eyes for His Highness. They would never dare to think your obligatory chocolates to other boys could have any other meaning.” Concern entered Sophie’s voice. “There are girls who still harbor the hopes of becoming his wife some day, you know.”

  “And that’s great for them. I trust Magnus. It’s just chocolate.”

  In Waiting for Fireflies, Magnus wasn’t interested in romance until he began having more interactions with Daisy. Blythe doubted he’d be swayed by chocolates from another girl in the meantime. But if it did happen … she wouldn’t be upset about it.

  “That’s so gracious of you, Blythe,” Sophie said, regaining her composure. “Jess and I will let everyone know. It’s very probable that His Highness will be swamped with obligatory chocolates next year. Of course, it won’t look anything like that.”

  She shot a pointed look at the gaggle of girls trying to push past each other to get to either Cole or Titus at the other side of the dining hall. As some girls left, their hands empty as proof of having unburdened their chocolate on their target, other girls came along and joined the crowd. As a result, it never thinned out too much.

  When Sophie and Blythe were done eating, they went to Blythe’s dorm room to spend the rest of lunch period in some peace and quiet. While Sophie sat on the desk chair and reviewed her Advanced Botany material, Blythe lounged on her armchair by the bay window and continued reading her romance novel.

  Blythe arrived early at her Economics IV classroom after lunch, which provided her with an opportunity to give the obligatory chocolates to Titus and Noel before class started. Both of them were already seated in different corners of the classroom.

  As with her shared Beryllian class with Giovanni and Cole, she never really interacted with Titus or Noel in this class.

  Unlike Noel, who was all alone at his desk reading a book, Titus was encircled by girls at his desk. There weren’t as many of them as there were at lunch, but they were all planting beautifully-wrapped boxes of chocolate one after another on his desk.

  “These are the hazelnut-flavored chocolates you said you wanted to try before,” Blythe heard one of the girls say. “I spent a long time perfecting them, so I really hope you’ll give them a try!”

  “I’m so honored you did that for me, Ophelia,” Titus said. “I’ll try it right now.”

  As she walked down the aisle towards Noel’s desk, Blythe glanced in Titus’ direction. She knew he was popular with many girls in the game, and that he had a sweet tooth, but it was never explicitly stated that he actually ate most of the chocolates he received. She didn’t know he was the type to eat all these Valentine’s chocolates on the spot.

  “Wait, please try mine first! I made them caramel-flavored because you said you like caramel the best!”

  “No, Titus should try my chocolates first! I had a confectioner come in to help with designing the ones I made!”

  “Alright,” Titus cut in, quelling the bickering that was almost certainly about to begin. “I’m very flattered by everyone’s consideration, so I’ll try all your chocolates right now. But I can’t do it all at once, so I’ll have to start with someone’s.”

  Blythe stopped paying attention to their conversation once they all quieted and discussed who should go first.

  Noel pushed up his glasses and watched as Blythe approached him. He didn’t look at all surprised when she presented her foil bag of chocolates to him. They definitely exchanged chocolates every year.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hello.” He mechanically accepted them, immediately tucking them into his bag. “Thank you.”

  The green light she’d grown accustomed to flashed before her.

  She then turned and walked away, and that was the end of it. It was such a smooth and hassle-free process; Blythe loved it.

  The girls surrounding Titus fell silent the moment Blythe got within three feet of them. They seemed to realize she was looking for him, because they parted before her to give her a direct path to him. These were one of the few times it was somehow convenient to be a villainous character. They all eyed at her warily, and some of them lowered their heads.

  “Blythe,” Titus said, putting down the box of chocolates in his hand. “Good afternoon. What can I do for you?”

  “Good afternoon,” she said. “Here, your obligatory chocolates.”

  His eyes lit up as he took the bag from her. It seemed Cole wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the chocolates her home chef made.

  Blythe scored another green light notification.

  “Thanks. Any preferences for your White Day’s return chocolates?”

  He was the first one among them all to have asked her that. Then again, he was the sweet tooth love interest.

  “Anything sweet and milky,” she said. “Without nuts.”

  She had nothing against nuts of any kind, but she preferred her chocolates smooth and not crunchy.

  Cocking an eyebrow, he said, “I could’ve sworn you liked those. Well, it’s fine either way. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  The other girls stood by and said nothing, stepping back in to fill the empty space after Blythe left.

  With that, she was done with distributing chocolates for the day. Glad that all the hassles of Valentine’s Day were finally over, she sat at a random desk and sagged in her chair.

  The rest of Blythe’s classes went by uneventfully until she found herself dismissing her friends after her final class of the day. Jessica wanted to find Clyde to determine if Leah had attempted to give him any chocolates today, and Sophie had to visit the greenhouse again to check on Dewy.

  Blythe wanted to review the new concepts Professor Fulbright had gone through in class today, so she just wanted to sit at her desk for a bit to digest them. Most of the other students had already left the classroom, and the professor was also making her way out. Students were allowed to stay behind as long as there weren’t any upcoming classes in the classroom.

  Sometimes, when a lesson was especially difficult, she would hang back and go through the examples the professor had provided. Because the lesson was still fresh in her mind, it worked better waiting until she was in her dorm to organize her thoughts.

  “I’ll send you a VocAvis when I’m done,” Sophie promised. “But if you’re not free, I’ll see you at dinner.”

  Jessica was already gone, because time was of the essence when it came to stalking her crush.

  “Sounds good,” Blythe said. “I’ll let you know again.”

  Math as a subject had never come easily to Blythe. She’d always had to study hard and work through a multitude of practice questions to master a new concept. Although they were encouraged to ask their professors if they had any questions about the material, Blythe was used to trying to figure things out herself. She’d only gone to her teachers when she failed to comprehend it in spite of her efforts.

  She was engrossed in following the example solution when she heard it.

  Haphazard footsteps amounting to the cacophony of a stampede from somewhere outside traveled to her ears. Voices that were talking about something grew louder with each passing second. Frowning, she lifted her head.

  Normally, the hallways were fairly quiet at this timing. Most people would be out in the courtyard or on the first floor where the lockers were.

  As she blinked, someone zipped into the room and shut the door behind him.

  “Oh, hey,” Cole said upon turning around. “Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was in here. Let me hide out here for a minute.”