7 MONTHS AGO, AT SCHOOL
"Yes, this is your new classmate, Akuon Maximus. Get along well with him!" said the female teacher. The boy standing next to her had blond hair, a very clean face, and a noble appearance. A silver necklace, and again a silver ring on his finger… "You may start by introducing yourself." said the female teacher, looking at Akuon. Then Akuon first scanned the classroom, looked at the students inside, and a girl and a boy sitting next to each other caught his attention—they were whispering quietly and seemed happy. Akuon began to introduce himself, "I am Akuon Maximus, I was expelled from the country's most elite private school, and I came here." he said and fell silent. Everyone in the class was shocked; that private school was truly a school where only nobles could attend, and if you weren't a noble, entering it was impossible. And naturally, as any person would think, if you were a noble, getting expelled was something very difficult… But that school was different; no matter how noble you were, if you disrupted the school's order, you received no tolerance, and if you did something like what Akuon did…
The female teacher looked at Akuon and smiled, then said, "Don't worry, this is your new school… Everyone here is very kind, you will definitely adapt!" and told him to take an empty seat. Akuon slowly walked, quietly sat in the empty desk behind the happy couple he saw earlier, and next to him sat a boy—Akuon had taken the seat behind the girl. Akuon had a bag worthy of nobles, made of leather with silver plating on it. He placed the bag under his desk, in the empty space where his feet were, and minutes passed…
The first class bell rang, and Akuon did not get up from his seat. From the couple in front of him, the girl started speaking after hearing the bell, "Nox, I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back in a few minutes!" she said, walking out of the classroom with happy, excited steps. At that moment, the boy named Nox was watching her with lovestruck eyes, as if lost in her hair… His eyes were fixed on her, but then someone tapped his shoulder. Nox woke from the feeling he was engulfed in and looked to see who touched him—it was Akuon. Akuon quickly smiled and began to speak, "Hello, I'm Akuon."
Nox adjusted to Akuon's gesture and smiled back, "I'm Nox, nice to meet you, Akuon." Then Akuon spoke again, "Me too, you seem happy with your girlfriend." After this sentence, Nox didn't sense any danger, but he was surprised… He only looked for a few seconds before answering, "Yes." Akuon once again touched Nox's shoulder and said, "I see, I hope you two are always happy…" Then Nox thanked him, and they started chatting. After a few minutes passed, the girl who went to the bathroom returned, saying loudly and excitedly from the classroom entrance, "Nox, I'm back!" It was obvious that this couple was truly happy and loved each other. When the girl saw Nox talking to someone, she slowed down and began walking with heavy steps, approaching them with a curious expression. Then when Nox saw her, he spoke, "Ah, Liliane, we became friends with Akuon, we were just talking." he said. The girl said nothing and sat down. Three months passed.
"Liliane, I have something to do with Akuon after school today, can you go home alone?" said Nox, looking at Liliane. Liliane nodded as if to say yes, she was a little upset but tried not to show it. Nox understood this and spoke again, "Just for one day… I'm sorry, Liliane." After Nox's words, Liliane suddenly felt as if she were guilty of something, "No! Why are you apologizing, I said it's fine…!" she said to Nox with a sweet expression. Then Nox smiled and said, "Okay okay, sorry…" School ended, and Akuon and Nox started walking somewhere. After about 20 minutes, they entered a place with a sign that read "World of Cards!" This was a place where you could play card games with playing cards and pay by the hour. Akuon paid for one hour, and they sat down and started playing. They played and chatted for an entire hour… When their time was up, the staff informed them, and they left the place and started walking again. The sun was setting, and Nox began to speak, "Hey Akuon, I should go to my teacher." he said calmly. Akuon replied, "Yes… Today you were going to cook with her, right?" Then Nox said, "Yes." and they said goodbye. They both began walking in opposite directions, but a few seconds later, both suddenly turned around. Akuon laughed and said with a cheerful expression, "What will you say this time?" Nox, calm but showing his happiness, said, "You've become like a brother to me… Akuon." They looked at each other for a few seconds, then waved at each other, and this time walked in opposite directions without turning back. When Akuon arrived home, he went to his room, lay on his bed in a half-sitting position, and began to think, "Poor Nox… If you knew everything between us was a lie… Could you still call me brother…? But these are meaningless! I will show everyone what a real noble looks like… That day my life changed… I saw once again just how cursed the lowborns of this world truly are!"
THE DAY AKUON WAS TALKING ABOUT, DURING HIS TIME AT THE PRIVATE SCHOOL
Akuon was walking to school with his bodyguards… While walking, he saw a "lowborn" man on the street, and a very interesting idea came to his mind. He told his guards to go home, and he walked toward the "lowborn" man. The man was surprised and a little scared when he saw him—such things weren't very normal in the country, and if a noble was walking toward you, the chances that something bad was about to happen were high. Akuon smiled and began to speak to the man, "Shall we switch our clothes?"
Yes, Akuon was a noble, but once, he wanted to prank the people at school by wearing lowborn clothes… But the moment he entered the school wearing lowborn clothing, everything changed. Everyone there knew he was Akuon… But those clothes had erased Akuon's nobility… Everyone looked at him with disgust; everyone began to think he was filthy… After this incident, Akuon questioned his entire life and realized that no one accepted him because he was himself… Everyone accepted him because he was a noble… Loved him because he was a noble… Wearing that lowborn clothing appeared as something disgusting both to his family and to everyone else… Yes, even to his own family. After this incident, his family was very angry at him and told him never to do it again… In those moments Akuon became extremely angry at that lowborn man, even though the man had done nothing wrong, and yes, he went with his bodyguards to find him, forced him to take off the clothes, the man was still wearing the clothes Akuon gave him, but of course, who would take off the clothes of a highly influential noble once they wore them? Akuon had that man killed right then and there, even though he had no fault… And while the man was naked. When the School Principal somehow learned of this, since it would damage the school's reputation and because Akuon had already done something foolish like wearing lowborn clothes, they expelled him from the school… Afterwards, Akuon swore that he would never again lose his nobility, and that everyone would unmistakably understand that he was noble… And that was exactly the reason he became friends with Nox… He would take Liliane away from Nox with his money and show Nox what a real noble could do… And he did.
THE ABANDONED OLD PORT
Just when Nox was about to stab the sword, he stopped, and everything he had lived with Akuon flashed before his eyes… Meanwhile, what came to Akuon's mind was the promise he made to himself, and how that beautiful friendship had come to this point. Very soon after, Akuon slowly and quietly, but in a way Nox could hear, spoke, "I lost…Poor Nox… I'm ending everything here, but you will never be at peace for the rest of your life, the one who killed your teacher… Was my brother."
When Nox heard this, in extreme anger, he gripped the sword even tighter, preparing to stab, and after a few seconds, the difficulty of killing someone—the trembling that came with that difficulty—hit Nox, but his rage and desire to kill suppressed that trembling. Then Nox quickly drove the sword into Akuon… At that moment, a strange light came from Akuon, and before dying, Akuon, whose face showed no panic or surprise, suddenly had a terrified, panicked, shocked expression, as if trying to say something… After this, Nox placed Akuon's corpse in the most deserted, unreachable part of the port, inside an abandoned ship. Then, trembling all over, he walked home with heavy steps.