Flavia looked at his extented hand and didn't know what he wanted. Max also realised that he had extended his hand for a handshake however in this world people don't greet each other like this. However he didn't take his hand back and looked toward her hand. Seeing this Flavia also extended her hand hesitantly.
Seeing her slightly nervous face, Max didn't shake her hand. Instead he gently grabbed her fingertips and brought her hand toward him as he also leaned down slightly and kissed the back of her hand softly. He knew that there was this type of greeting so did it in order to not make her feel awkward.
Flavia was dazed seeing this. She hurriedly took her hand back as a tinge of red appeared on her cheeks. She turned around and walked towards their seats.
Neer who was standing behind Max, stared at this with his eyes opened wide. He didn't expect the Man he chose to follow would be so bold.
It should be known that this form of greeting was considered 'intimate' and people who are only acquaintances don't do this lest they offend the other party. However, Miss Flavia didn't see offended which surprised him.
"What, is something wrong?" Max asked Neer who was staring at him dazedly.
"No, It's nothing young master." Neer hurriedly shook his head.
Then they also walked to their seats. As Flavia was walking away, her heart was racing. This was completely new to her. No male, apart from her father, even touched her until now, neither she allowed anyone. However, someone not only touched her, he even kissed her hand. This made a strange feeling arise in her heart. She wanted to get angry at him but didn't because of this strange feeling.
....
Dalton was dazed when Flavia rejected first envoy's invitation and chose to join the Cloud Academy. His eyes never left her in his state of shock, which led him to witness the 'intimate' interaction between Max and Flavia. His face turned dark in anger as his murderous intent clouded his eyes.
Their plan to target Max in the third round was wasted because none of their man was matched up with Max and now he witnessed this. This made him even more furious. He turned to the man behind him.
"I want you to join the Cloud Academy and keep an eye on them. When you get a chance kill that b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You are allowed to used however much resources you require for this task." Dalton commanded grimly.
"Yes young master." The man replied as he also gave Max a murderous look.
....
"Now that envoys have personally selected a few disciples. The rest of you can go to the recruiters of whichever Academy you want to join." Elder Zhan announced.
He then also took a few name who couldn't qualify the elimination rounds due to being matched up against Samuel, Vincent and other but had good talent. One among them was the sand girl, Haory.
Quickly, ten long queues were formed in front of the recruiters. However the longest queue was in front of the recruiter from the Royal Academy.
Max sat beside Flavia as they watched people swarming the queues. Flavia wasn't speaking maybe because of the earlier incident. Therefore Max also kept quiet. Neer and the driver were also sitting beside Max.
After a long while Flavia finally spoke "Sir Max, why didn't you choose to join the Royal Academy? It's the first ranked academy after all."
Seeing that she was finally speaking to him, he felt relieved. However, he swore to never do this to anyone regardless of their beauty to avoid awkwardness.
Max glanced at her face and said "It's because the Royal academy seemed very arrogant, that was later proved when I rejected first envoy's invitation. The Cloud academy seemed better choise to me and someone from my family is a disciple of the Cloud Academy too. So I chose the Cloud Academy."
He then asked "What about you? What was your reason to join Cloud Academy when first envoy had invited you too? I saw that your friend had chosen the royal academy and wanted you to join too."
Flavia shook her head "He is not my friend. And the reason I didn't join the Royal Academy was precisely because he had joined it. My other reason is because the Cloud Academy don't treat their disciples unfairly even if they are only an outer disciple and also they don't have many restriction on disciples' freedom like the royal academy has."
"Restrictions? What restriction are you talking about?" Max asked, concerned. Emily was in the Royal academy. And when he transmigrated to this world, she helped him very much and from his memories, he also realised that although she was always indifferent, she cared for him just like Anna.
Noticing his concern, Flavia asked "Is there someone related to you in the royal academy too?"
Max nodded. Flavia shook her head "You don't need to worry. The restriction I'm talking about isn't particularly harmful and many considers it an advantage too. I called it a restriction because the disciples of Royal Academy will be under the royal family after joining. Those who willingly obey them, will have more privileges and higher status in the academy while those who don't will be suppressed albeit indirectly. And they also monitor your actions too."
"So Royal academy wants to nurture only those who will work for them in future." Max said. Now he understood why his father said that the Cloud Academy might be a better choice. He must have faced this situation when he was a disciple there too.
Flavia nodded.
Then Max suddenly smiled and asked while pointing towards Dalton "You said that he isn't your friend. Then why does it feel like that he wants to kill me just because I've been talking to you?"
Hearing this she looked in Dalton's direction and found that he was indeed glaring at him murderously.
She suddenly realised something and looked at Max apologetically "I'm sorry. Unknowingly, I've put you in danger. If I knew that he was this petty, I wouldn't have talked to you." After saying this she stood up to go and sit somewhere else.
However, Max stopped her "It's fine. You don't need to blame yourself. Moreover, now that he already sees me as his enemy, it wouldn't matter if you stop interacting with me now."
Flavia looked at him and shook her head "There is a chance that he will not trouble you if stop talking to you however if I remain by your side, he will definitely not let you go. He has great influence due to his-"
Max interrupted her and said, smiling "I don't fear him."
Flavia didn't know what to say now. She sat down again.
She looked at him while thinking 'Why? Why is it that I feel comfortable around him? Is it because he is handsome? No, that guy is also handsome but he only make me uncomfortable.'
"Am I too handsome?" Max asked seeing that She kept looking at him without blinking.
"Un." Flavia nodded unconsciously. However right after she realised what he asked and panicked "N-No sir Max, it didn't mean that. I was-"
"Oh, so you mean that I'm ugly?" Max said with a slight frown. However his tone was teasing, but she didn't notice it in her panic.
"No, I mean yes. You are handsome but I was thinking something and didn't realise that I was staring at you. Forgive me for making you uncomfortable." She quickly explained, flustered.
"No you are wrong here. There is no way in hell that I would feel uncomfortable when such a beautiful lady look at me." Max said with a solem expression with one hand over his chest as if he was making a vow.
"Pfftt." A soft giggle escaped her mouth when she saw this. However she again found it strange. If this was any other person who said this, she would definitely not like it. However, here she was, laughing.
Max, Neer, the driver and people around them looked at her smiling face. Her soft giggle sounded as if it was the best melody there is.
Seeing this, Flavia felt embarrassed and regained her usual stoic expression. Many were disappointed by this.
Max smiled wryly in his heart 'It seems my tolerance toward beautiful girls is very low.' He quickly tried calming the raging 'emotions' as it would make her hate him if she noticed that somewhere a mountain had risen because of her.
However he couldn't help himself from saying "You look gorgeous when you smile."
Flavia who had regained her composure, had her cheeks turn red after hearing this. This was also the first time she smiled in front of a stranger. In fact it had been years since she smiled because of some event that happened in past. Remembering this her expression became one of sadness and her eyes got slightly misty before returning to normal.
However Max who was looking her intently clearly noticed this change but he knew they weren't close enough to ask the reason.
Just then Elder Zhan's voice sounded in the Colosseum "Say your goodbyes to your families and get ready to depart now."
Max, Flavia and Neer looked around and noticed that the recruitment process had completed.
The second envoy was first to speak after Elder Zhan's announcement "The disciples of Could academy, follow the elders out."
After saying this walked towards the exit. Most of the people present had one thought in their minds "Was she only waiting for the process to end?"
Normally, after the recruitment had completed, the envoys would give a speech to encourage who couldn't make it to the academies. However, The candidates who chose to join Cloud academy hurriedly followed the elders in white robes out.
***
Don't forget to read Author's note.
