CHAPTER 256: 256-I DEMANDED REJECTION

Clementine:

"So we give you a little bit of respect, and this is what you do, attack our lurkers?" The headmaster muttered, tapping his fingers on the hard surface of the table as he sat across from us.

The four of us had been arrested and brought before the headmaster, while Ian stayed behind, of course, since he hadn’t participated in anything.

"I’m so sorry, but it was a nerve impulse," I started, noticing how the headmaster turned to give me a full head-to-toe glance.

"I’m sorry if that upset them, but all we saw was our crusader getting attacked, and it took us back to the north," I mumbled, partly honest, partly lying only because they weren’t honest either.

And of course, with a statement like that, it’s not as if they could attack us for it. They wanted us to be present for our crusaders. How could they expect us to close our eyes when one of us was being dragged around like that?

"We’d like to know what happened. Why was she disrespected this way?" Haiden spoke up, questioning the headmaster, who had been watching us intently.

"Well, just like you, she broke the rules," he replied. "She was returned to the academy, and she even refused to come back. That’s why she was being—" His voice wavered oddly, as if something was off. This was how he always spoke, but I could never get used to it.

"Why weren’t her other squadmates returned like we were?" Yorick questioned.

"Because no family said she deserved to leave. She just had no reason to stay there anymore," the headmaster said before straightening his back in the seat.

"Anyway, since you’ve all been so eager to fight, I’ve decided that while the others return, we’ll arrange another task for you up north."

Those words from the headmaster scared me deeply. They reminded me of the things the ringleaders had said about us, especially that they thought it would’ve been better if we had died, since we were causing trouble.

And now that we truly were causing trouble, I wondered what would become of it.

"But why? That’s unfair," Troy stuttered, trying to reason with the man hiding behind a large hat and a mask covering his mouth.

"You should’ve thought about that before. The way you were acting, it seemed like you weren’t afraid of anything—that no amount of punishment was scary enough for you. So, since you’ve been retaliating so much, we’ve decided to do the same to show you. If you want, we can punish you even harder. Now, dismiss."

As the headmaster waved his hand at us, the lurkers barged in, almost as if they had been on call with him the whole time, listening to the conversation and waiting for his signal. They stood around us, a clear sign that it was time for us to go.

Once we left his office, we were taken back to the academy, where we found Ian waiting for us at the doorstep of our dorm room.

"I heard what you guys did, and I heard about the punishment," he muttered, probably because he had just come back from the hall, where Miss Rue must have told him that we’d be returning to the North soon.

"So you guys couldn’t control yourselves and got me in trouble too. Not only did you cut my vacation short, but now, because of you, I’ll be going back to the north," he almost screamed, so angry that we were all taken aback by his reaction.

"Oh please, if that worries you, then we’re so glad we’re going back to the North," Troy commented, brushing past his shoulder and stepping into the dorm room, but he made sure to get Ian’s attention as he did.

Yorick blocked me as we walked inside, making sure I was on the other side with him between Ian and me. He did it casually, not trying to make it obvious.

"And this time, we’ll make sure you never return from the North. This is what you get for forcibly marking my mate," Haiden added, grunting angrily as he followed us into the room.

"Don’t give me ideas," Ian commented, suddenly sounding relaxed. But his words made all of us turn and glare at him.

While everyone was settling down, I faced Ian again, looking him straight in the eye.

"Reject me," I demanded.

He paused dramatically, almost like he was about to bump into me, but I knew I’d been cautious.

"Step aside, Redhead. I’m not in the mood to argue with anyone. First, you guys ruined my vacation, then planned a trip to the North, and now you want me to reject you. What, you want me to suffer all at once?" he commented, purposely trying to annoy me, knowing full well that I was aware he didn’t give a damn about our mate bond.

He dodged past me and went to the bathroom. I stood there for a few seconds before turning around to face Yorick.

"What were you two talking about back when you left to find him?" I asked Yorick about the strawberry collection task. He probably didn’t expect me to ask that because he froze for a few seconds, then pouted.

"Yeah, dude, we saw you talking to him. What was it about?" Troy joined in, making sure he couldn’t escape our questions.

"Okay, fine. He asked me not to tell you guys before, but now that he’s fucking marked my mate by force, I’m not keeping his secrets anymore," Yorick admitted, making it clear why he was finally ready to expose him.

And we were all ears.

"Actually, I found him passed out near the border."

As soon as Yorick said that, something clicked in my mind, something that made me want to dig deeper. But I didn’t know what it was or why it made me so uneasy. Because I remembered, after he passed out was when we met again, and he was being really rude to me. Why?