FELIX remained standing there in shock.
He felt so…defeated.
But being cornered by Angelica had opened his eyes. She’d done to him what he’d been about to do to her. She was two steps ahead of him the entire time. How he cursed himself for his lack of foresight.
Felix couldn’t exist without Mia.
That one fatal flaw made Felix wholly unsuited to doing battle.
Angelica was terribly beautiful. Any man would go weak at the knees for her. But even so, Felix only wanted Mia.
Flirtation techniques…were wasted on him.
Urgh! I’m such an idiot! I was never going to be able to pull this off!!!
As if he didn’t have enough troubles to contend with, now he’d managed to dig an even bigger hole for himself. A hole he’d never be able to climb back out of.
Felix crouched down on the ground, yelling out loud with frustration.
“Hey! Are you all right?!”
Someone grabbed his arm, almost pulling it out of the socket.
He knew that strength.
“What are you…?!”
Looking up, he saw Mathias standing there with a look of flustered concern on his face.
“Another panic attack? Oh, no…apparently not.”
Mathias peered down at Felix, scrutinizing his complexion for signs of illness. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded. Then all of a sudden, he looked furious.
“You idiot! You complete and total idiot!”
He was yelling.
“Watch who you’re calling an idiot, idiot!”
Felix gave back as good as he got, despite his shock. Mathias had always treated him respectfully as Prince Emil. Right now, though, not a hint of that special treatment remained.
“No, I’m gonna say my piece now! You’ve lost your dang mind, Felix!”
Perhaps he’d been watching. Saw the whole thing. It was possible. Mathias could easily conceal himself using magic if the mood struck him.
In that case, it was also possible that he’d heard that final part.
Felix scrutinized Mathias’s expression. No, it didn’t seem like he’d caught that. If he had, he’d be even angrier.
“I have not lost my mind.”
“Oh yeah, you have! You must be insane to be with that witch!
“Witch?”
Oh yes, she was a witch. Felix was in complete agreement there.
Just as Felix would do anything for love, Angelica would do anything for status. They were similar in their determination, only the motivation was different.
Felix shivered, recalling the scene just before. Then he found himself mumbling aloud.
“Man, I was so freaked out…thought she was going to eat me alive.”
“Right?! Me too! You get caught in her trap, and she’ll end up gnawing your bones clean!”
“You’re not kidding…”
As Felix murmured softly in response, Mathias suddenly snorted with laughter. Soon he was bent double, clutching his stomach, tears rolling down his cheeks as he guffawed.
“She seriously thought she could flirt her way in with you? Oh man, she’s a complete lunatic!”
Felix was laughing too. Mathias’s mirth was contagious. He felt suddenly lighter than he had in ages. The dark, looming chasm he’d been picturing seemed to have instantly closed up in his mind.
After a few more minutes of companionable laughter, Mathias suddenly grew serious.
“Oh, no!”
“What? What’s wrong?!”
“I totally forgot I was in the middle of searching!”
Felix looked closer at Mathias. Something was missing. As he recalled Mia and Mathias’s sudden appearances in the classroom earlier, he realized what it was.
“Searching for what, the rabbit?”
Mathias nodded, shoulders slumping.
“Oh, that reminds me. While you’ve been gone, Mia and Henrik have come up with a candidate for a medicine! For Demon Claw!”
“What?! Then it’s possible? There’s a medicine? A cure?!”
If that was the case, then all of Felix’s efforts had been for nothing. But never mind that now.
Mathias nodded happily. But there was a hint of reservation in his eyes.
“But we need candidates for animal testing. Henrik, that monster, started talking about using Luna as a guinea pig, and she up and ran away! We were all in the middle of looking for her when you just had to distract everyone!”
Luna? Since when had they named the rabbit Luna?
Seeing how desperate Mathias was, Felix refrained from teasing him about the bunny. It would be counterproductive. And why was Mathias getting on his case? It wasn’t his fault the rabbit ran off.
“Just calm down. I’ll help you look for it.”
“Darn right, you will! Do you have any idea how worried you’ve been making me?!”
“You were worried…about me?”
Mathias blushed a deep red, mumbling under his breath, “We’re friends, after all.”
“Friends? Are we?”
Felix blinked at him in surprise, repeating what Mathias had just said. In response, Mathias exploded.
“You gotta problem with that?!”
Mathias loomed over Felix, bristling. He looked like a grizzly bear. Feeling deeply touched but also suddenly incredibly amused, Felix had to fight back a smile.
Mathias seemed to notice, though.
“Apologize to Mia at once. And to Henrik, too. He’s had a lot to deal with, y’know.”
“Has he?”
Felix thought back. Henrik probably knew how Felix felt all along. That look in his verdure-green eyes. “Are you sure you’re cool with this?” That’s what those eyes were asking.
Just then, Mathias set off running across the grounds. “I’ll search the school buildings and campus grounds!” he yelled as he went. Shrugging, Felix set off to search for the rabbit as well.
“I’ll be waiting…with excitement.”
Angelica’s parting words floated to the forefront of his mind again.
If they had a cure in the works, then there was no need for him to think any more about that whole entire plan.
But Felix was left with a lingering sense of disgust and unease that wouldn’t fade.