an illusion of mind

"you think she..." Rica said hinting at something, they were now sitting at a bonfire, Rica, David, and Arron for some reason sat together around a bonfire.

"most likely..." David replied letting out a long sigh, Regina had defended Adam and stood up for him, hell, she even insulted the prince right in front of his face for him! and then followed after him when he left, if that wasn't deep love he wouldn't know what was...

"does she not know what happened to the last girl he'd been with...?" Rica said shivering slightly.

"what? what happened?" Arron said his words muffled mouth full of fish meat.

"ugh... stop acting like a glutton and speak after you swallow..." Rica spoke, her words had no heat though, these 3 days she had gotten familiar with Arron and no longer held any animosity towards him for his commoner origins.

Arron just blushed and swallowed before scratching the back of his head.

"and to answer your question..." David trailed off, his face turning disgusted, "he sexually assaulted a girl... that's the main reason he was disowned..." he spoke to Arron's shock.

"he what?!"

"yeah, that's the main reason nobody likes him... if he had a hot temper we could pass it off, but his actions are the real reason everyone avoids him..." David spoke.

"th-then Regina... does she know?" he turned an expression of concern on his face, he wasn't familiar with Regina, they talked a couple of times and he couldn't say he understood her personality, she was a strange girl, but that couldn't mean he wasn't concerned for her.

"... I don't think she does..." Rica said.

"ugh... the girl seems so in love too... she's so innocent she's going to have her heart broken..." Rica held her face in her hands, she felt genuinely bad about this.

"what? in love??? but weren't Regina and Adam fighting from the first day???" Arron asked confused, he was really confused.

"did you see the look in her eyes? she smiled each time she looked at Adam... she's so obviously in love..." Rica said, she might have been reading a little too many romance novels because that wasn't the case... Regina just thought that it was a bad idea to throw away a strong and valuable member of their group, and the reason she smiled when she looked at him was because... Regina was always smiling.

Rica had misunderstood...

"we should tell her about-" David said interjecting before he was cut off harshly.

"NO!... no one will tell her anything!" she glared at both Arron and David which gulped at her glare.

"did you see the look in her eyes?! the fierce fiery love... she likes him too much! if she finds out about what he did! she'll be heart broken!"

"bu-"

"NO BUTS!" she glared even more fiercely at Arron.

"yes ma'am..." Arron said deflating under her fierce glare.

"god, That bastard Adam doesn't deserve her love..." she said shaking her head.

"I don't think any of the class realize this so keep it a secret from the others too..."

Arron had a feeling Rica was a little bit off about her conclusion... but he decided to not share his thoughts when he saw her glare.

Evan sat around the bonfire with his group members, he had been reprimanded and scolded by Regina, when he thought back to her words, he blushed slightly from embarrassment, no one his age had ever spoken to him that way...

he had made a mistake by jumping into conclusions without sufficient evidence, he gritted his teeth his cheeks slightly pink from embarrassment.

'I made a mistake... I shouldn't have done that... i should've been a better leader!' he thought inwardly as he clenched his fists.

he looked at the fire crackling his eyes unfocused, he felt weak... he might be sick... his face was turning redder from the heat.

"your highness-" a girl approached the prince, but then she noticed his red cheeks and expression and she froze, the girl's name was Bella Cadell, she was the daughter of a viscount, but unlike other noble kids she didn't pay the tuition and instead earned her scholarship here, she was a talented sword student, she had long black hair, and grey eyes, she was beautiful.

and she froze seeing the prince's expression, sweat rolled down the side of her face and she spoke stuttering slightly, "nevermind your highness... i'll take my leave." she said scurrying away, the expression on the prince's face was... strange.

'no way... no way, no way! the prince has a crush on Regina?' she thought to herself clutching her mouth stopping a gasp from escaping her mouth.

she was sure of it, that expression he had, his red cheeks, his unfocused eyes... the way he just relented and apologized when Regina reprimanded him...

she blushed furiously at the thought and peaked from around a tree to peak at the prince.

the prince was sure now, Evan had a fever, and he has to get some rest, he let out a hot breath and got up to walk into one of the huts and he layed down.

"damn it! I was right! this is so scandalous....." Bella said her cheeks turning a bright pink thinking about the situation.

she was wrong, she was dead wrong, the prince didn't have any feelings for Regina he just had a fever...

as misunderstandings continued to pile one after another, something was brewing in the class.

BOOM!

a loud explosion woke everyone out of their sleep and they rushed to the origins of it, standing there a student with brown hair and amber eyes stood in his hand he held a fireball, he was the cause, and he wasn't from group 2.

"identify yourself!" the prince yelled his voice hoarse from the fever.

the boy just smirked his flames blazing even more, he had blown up a couple of their huts, but he didn't hurt anyone.

"oh, I don't need to say any-" before he could finish he was knocked out from behind hit hard in the back of the head by Arron, he hit him with a wooden stick, he didn't want to use his sword.

"oh... he's out..." Arron scratched the back of his head looking down at him.

"grab him and bring him to me..." the prince said coughing slightly.

two students walked over and picked him up by the arms and dragged him to a hut.

the prince entered the hut too and ordered them to tie him up for interrogation.

the student slowly awoke his head throbbing and hurting, he looked around still disoriented and spotted the prince sitting down next to him.

"you're finally awake, now I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer honestly, or you're eliminated." Evan spoke despite his voice being hoarse it still held a threatening tone.

"wha..."the student was still disoriented, but then he regained clarity as his eyes widened.

"what?"

"which group do you belong to?" the prince asked.

"none of your business..."

the prince raises an eyebrow clearly not expecting that.

"well it won't matter much, i'm just going to eliminate you then." the prince said brandishing a sword, the boy's eyes widened and he panicked, "n-no wait i'll answer!"

the prince smiled and sheathed his sword once again.

"i-i'm from group 1..."

the prince raises an eyebrow, "so why did you attack our group?" he asked tilting his head.

"i did it because i wanted a fight... and the group leader didn't allow us to go fight with other groups so i sneaked out..." he said looking at the ground.

he raised an eyebrow and continued interrogating the boy.

"really now? so my sister can't keep her subjects at bay?" he smirked before he slashed with his sword at the boy's neck, the boy's eyes widened and he spoke "you said you wouldn-" he was cut off as he disappeared into blue particles.

he was eliminated, once a student's life was in danger a device they had given them would automatically detect it and teleport them away but they will be eliminated and they will fail the test.

this test wasn't really going to count in their grades but it was to see their survival ability and gouge how they would deal with certain situations, they would never put the valuable lives of royal class students into danger.

the prince left the small hut and explained what he did to the group, everyone seemed a little surprised, some were expecting it, and Regina just didn't care, Arron thought it was cruel to eliminate him after promising to spare him, Rica was in line with what the prince did, David also didn't care.

Adam... was just far away, he decided not to speak to the group members after what they did to him, the only one he spoke with and chatted with was Regina, at first he was apprehensive about speaking to her, after all they fought and pretty violently at that, but after a while, he realized Regina wasn't a bad person and they had just started off at the wrong, foot.

"Adam, what do you think about that?" she asked.

"well, I think it's just unnecessary stupidity, why would anyone risk getting eliminated by attacking another group? the only objective is to survive 5 days." he shrugged.

Regina's blood red eyes flash and she smiles, "I think it's stupid too." she said smiling widely.

Rica stared at Regina, her eyes boring into her back, "she even asked for his opinion.... she's a lost cause... she's far too in love..." she muttered so no one could hear her, Rica's cheeks turned slightly pinkish as she shook her head.

the prince looked towards Regina, he was still sick, "Regina, can I speak with you for a minute?" he asked.

the blonde haired girl turned to him and smiled, "yeah, sure."

at this, Bella's head snapped to them, her eyes wide open, she knew what the prince was going talk to her about, her face turned redder and redder at the thought, she didn't have the courage to intervene.

the prince is about to confess... and in the middle of a test too, this is so embarrassing...

Regina followed after Evan as he lead her towards the woods.