Chapter 105: New Combat Instructor

Elara:

Monday arrived with a surprise I hadn’t seen coming, and considering the amount of chaos that had entered my life since arriving at Moonveil Academy, that was saying something.

Professor Kael stood at the front of the combat hall with his usual stern expression, waiting for the students to settle down before finally announcing that we would have a new combat arts instructor.

I barely paid attention at first. New instructors came and went, and honestly, I had far more important things occupying my mind. That changed the second Professor Kael stepped aside and revealed the man standing behind him. My entire body went still.

"This is Instructor Jasper Frost. He will be taking over your Combat Arts classes from today onward," Professor Kael announced before giving Jasper a brief nod.

Jasper stepped forward, and for a moment, I simply stared at him in disbelief. My blood knight was standing inside my classroom, wearing the dark academy instructor’s uniform as though he had been doing it for years.

Professor Kael hadn’t even finished saying that Jasper would be responsible for our training before the entire hall erupted in cheers, and the loudest reaction came from the girls. A few of them actually squealed, while others whispered excitedly about how handsome the new instructor was.

I almost shook my head at the absurdity of it. Jasper was attractive, certainly, but watching half the class practically melt over him was a sight I hadn’t expected to witness.

Professor Kael apparently had no interest in watching the spectacle either. He handed the class over to Jasper and left without another word, leaving my blood knight standing before over sixty students who were now staring at him with varying degrees of fascination. Jasper, however, didn’t seem remotely bothered by the attention. His gaze swept over the room once before he calmly announced that everyone would be running ten laps around the playground.

The cheers died instantly. Instead, a collective groan rose from the students, followed by hurried movement as everyone began making their way toward the doors.

I was still trying to process how exactly Jasper had gone from my lifelong protector to my combat instructor as I followed the others. However, I had barely taken two steps when his voice stopped me.

"Princess, stay."

Several heads immediately turned in my direction, and judging by the expressions on the girls’ faces, most of them were probably wondering why the gorgeous new instructor was singling me out. I felt at least a dozen pairs of eyes burning holes into my back.

Jasper didn’t even need to raise his voice. One sharp look from him was enough to send every lingering student rushing out of the hall. Within seconds, the enormous room was empty except for the two of us.

The moment the doors closed, I turned toward him with my hands on my hips. "What are you doing here?" I demanded, unable to keep the disbelief from my voice.

His lips twitched as though he had been expecting that exact reaction. "Good morning to you too, Princess."

"Don’t Princess me right now," I muttered, narrowing my eyes. "Why are you suddenly teaching at Moonveil?"

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned casually against one of the training mats. "Because the academy and I reached an agreement."

That answer only made me more suspicious. "What kind of agreement?"

Jasper’s expression became more serious as he explained that the academy administration had refused to make an exception for him. Their rules were very clear - non-students couldn’t enter the academy grounds regularly without an official reason, and simply being my blood knight wasn’t considered sufficient justification for allowing him to stay inside indefinitely.

Apparently, Jasper had refused to accept that answer. After everything that had happened to me few weeks ago, he no longer trusted the academy to keep me safe.

So when neither side was willing to compromise, the council had come up with another solution. They appointed him as a combat arts instructor. That gave him a legitimate identity within the academy, unrestricted access to the grounds, and more importantly, the ability to remain close enough to intervene if something happened to me again. They had even agreed to give him a flexible schedule so that his instructor duties wouldn’t interfere with his responsibilities toward me.

I stared at him for several seconds after he finished explaining, trying to decide whether I was more stunned by the absurdity of the arrangement or by the fact that he had actually gone through all of this simply because he didn’t trust anyone else to protect me.

"You seriously did all that?" I finally asked.

He shrugged, but there was an unmistakable hint of pride in his expression. "I had to."

"You could have just visited when allowed."

"And what would I do if something happened to you when I wasn’t here?" The question was so straightforward that I didn’t immediately have an answer. His gaze softened slightly as he looked at me. "I have already failed to protect you once," he said quietly. "I’m not going to make that mistake twice."

My chest tightened. He didn’t say it dramatically. There was no attempt to make me feel guilty. He simply stated it as a fact, and somehow that made his words hit harder.

I had known him for less than a month, even if he insisted that our bond went back to the day I was born. Yet every time he looked at me, I could see the worry in his eyes. It wasn’t forced. It wasn’t duty performed because someone had ordered him to do it. It was genuine, almost painfully so.

"You didn’t need to go to such lengths for me," I said eventually, my voice quieter.

Jasper’s expression changed immediately. "Yes, I did." There was no hesitation whatsoever. "Your safety is the sole purpose of my life, Elara." He pushed himself away from the wall and stood straight, his eyes never leaving mine. "Being your blood knight isn’t a title I wear when it’s convenient. It is a responsibility I accepted willingly, and I will not take it lightly."

I swallowed, unsure how to respond. I kind of knew what the bond meant. I knew what everyone expected from him. But knowing didn’t make it easier. There was still a part of me that couldn’t accept the idea that a bond had tied him to me so completely that his life had been shaped around protecting someone he might never have chosen if he’d been given a choice.

Perhaps he truly meant every word. Perhaps he had never resented it. But how could I know that for certain? How could I ask someone whether he wished his life had belonged to him instead?

I’d thought about finding a way to free him from this chain almost from the moment I learned what a blood knight was. If there was some way to break the bond without hurting him, I wanted to find it. I wanted Jasper to have a choice. Unfortunately, the past few weeks had been so chaotic that I hadn’t even had enough time to breathe, let alone investigate ancient royal bonds and blood oaths.

But standing here with Jasper now reminded me that I couldn’t keep ignoring it. So I planned to look into the matter when I would visit the library later that evening.

I was going to find out whether Jasper truly had a choice. And if he did, then I would give it to him.