"Why is a lonely peasant playing in the royal park?" the boy had asked coldly before snorting and turning his head causing her to look up at him with curious eyes, her hands remained on a spare bucket that she was using to add an extra sandcastle.

"But I thought the king had made this park so everyone can play in it" she had said in a meek voice while tilting her head, her shoulder-length hair moved sharply to one side. Hearing this, the boy narrowed his eyes.

"Hmph! Such impudence! You even look like a weak, ugly rat" he said with a cruel smile. This horrified the girl who had been playing with her sandcastles while trying to practice with her bucket by using her magic while no one was watching. Sadly, that was until this boy showed up now resulting in trouble.

The reason she unsettled was from the fact that normally nobles or some who were gifted could only practice magic. In truth it was rare for non-nobles to reveal that they had magic in public for fear of being persecuted.

A majority of the population in the kingdom had no magic in their bones, nor could they use anything connected to magic. As a result it caused a rift between both magic and non-magic users resulting in resentment and hatred from the non-magical population. To the dismay of the inhabitants of the country, a war eventually broke out resulting in significant losses from both sides without any signs of stopping.

The king of that era had eventually caused both sides to cease and forced a treaty between the sides in hopes of stopping the ongoing wars completely, despite this prejudicial issues had resumed within his own lands once more.

This in turn had left the king upset and angry at how callous his own people could be when it came to the gifted and non-gifted. But he could only do so much given how some of his allies even deserted him to take part in the war for their own benefits.

By the time he had eventually gained enough power to stop the war, thanks to his faithful followers and supporters had allowed them to create a ceasefire on both sides. Stopping everything completely leaving mixed emotions from both sides on how it was done.

In exchange for stopping the war, the ones responsible- those who had agreed to stop the war be them magic users or non-magic users were sent away to another area uninhabited by anyone. Only they could never leave the barrier that had been put in place to protect themselves and others around them.

As a result caused the group to never see the true sunlight of their world again. As expected some individuals would try to escape from the barrier, due to the fact that they felt as if they were trapped like rats in a cage for the war they hadn't caused.

However the individuals were quickly put in their place thanks to the elders of the country as part of the agreement to keep the people out of trouble. Four hundred years had passed and some skirmishes would occur from time to time, but not enough to break out into another damaging war.

It was then the current king had contacted the ruler of the banished ones, claiming it was time to make peace between both sides which led to an uproar in his country for allowing the Dark Dwellers to enter their land after what happened before.

Eventually a selected number of children would transfer to the school that was run by the Light Dwellers in order to start the integration, regardless of what the Light Dwellers would think or say.

At first the Dark Dwellers resented and were completely suspicious of the idea, unsure of what the king was trying to accomplish by allowing them to enter their realm. However some inhabitants on the other hand wanted a change. Wanting nothing more than to give their children or relatives a choice to be free compared to how they endured over the years.

Thanks to the years of living in their Realm, the Dark Dwellers who were now pale skinned due to the lack of sunlight would often be forced to wear protective clothing that had magic in them.

In order to prevent them from either burning up and suffering the negative effects of the sun. As a result a handful of Light Dwellers refused to let the Dark Dwellers have any respite and mocked them for having to wear such things.

Another common noticeable sign of a Dark Dweller would be their hair colour- black or green. Mostly to the conditions of their home realm had caused not only their hair colour but their eyes as well. Despite all this, the Dark Dwellers travelled through the harsh sunlight with their heads held high.

No, they would never be put down regardless of who or what they were, magic users or not they wanted to be free and achieve something for themselves. Seeing this as a chance to escape the pain they and their ancestors endured.

At the same time, some chose to do it for their families or to simply make a difference but sadly prejudice still existed leaving it hard for some to want a job in the Light Realm.

Sadly no matter what, whether someone was Light Dwellers or not if a noble spotted a non-noble child using magic, scorn would be often introduced regardless.

It would be a miracle in itself if the nobles were able to show kindness to those lesser than them, fearful of being judged caused the kind ones to shy away causing more resentment from both classes.

~

"Make sure you drink this an hour before going into class or else you will be caught out by the teachers" a blunt voiced girl with bland green eyes said tersely, she stared quietly at a girl who stood near the opposite end of the table with a guarded look on her face.

The girl who had spoken contained long brown hair that went up to her waist, on her fair skin- her face contained a medium amount of freckles that often resulting in others teasing her due to how unflattering they appeared to be.

That and along with the fact she would always have her nose in books would cause the other students to call her a bookworm.

To the girl's dismay however, worst of the insults came from a royal cocky red-haired male teen who had noticeable grey eyes much to her disgust.

Just hearing his voice grated on her nerves and the worst part was that they had known the other for years.

Sadly even back then the pair had bad blood from the moment they met, only what also made it worse for her was that the boy's father was the King of Camelot. The King to her shock instead of disciplining him had turned a blind eye to his son's antics.

Allowing the boy to have more reasons to do whatever he wanted, especially since it would always be his word against her.

Who would be more believable? In the end it was all about power and status, if one had neither then they would easily be disregarded and treated as a liar. Persecuted for trying to stand up for themselves.

Even now the girl as she thought of the boy, who back then had not only destroyed her sandcastle but also kicked sand into her eyes mercilessly. The sheer bitterness of being unjustly attacked had left her wanting to get even with him at that moment.

Especially since she had done nothing to provoke him. To her joy her aunt had found before she could react and took the distressed girl home in order to tend to her injured eyes.

"It will do you no good to retaliate, you never know who you could be insulting" her aunt had said in a tender voice while soothing the distressed girl who wanted to completely avoid the rude boy.

Sadly the boy would often find her even at times she would not normally be out. This resulted in her being mocked or teased, until eventually some other nobles would get involved and bully her leaving her more recluse than ever.

Seeing this had worried her aunt to the point that she was very nervous about leaving her niece alone or allowing her to go outside if it would result in being bullied. Sadly there was so much the aunt could do and she could only pray for her niece's safety.

"Weak and pathetic like a brat, your magic's too good for a dumb rat like you" the boy had jeered even after she didn't retaliate months later, not once did she make a noise nor allow her distressed eyes to release tears.

"Why don't you fight back? Too scared to fight back you wimp?" he challenged while scowling at her as she walked away before wincing as he kicked her to the floor.

However just as things seemed to never get any better a boy, despite enduring challenges of his own slowly but surely became close friends with the girl to the aunt's relief. It was then small child slowly started to smile and laugh happily like she use to before the bullying started.

Looking at her hands now which were slightly covered by sleeves, she then stared at the fair-skinned girl who had orange hair that went up to her lower back, on the tips of her hair contained light blue highlights.

The girl meanwhile continued to smirk at the blank-faced girl, not caring to hide the fact that she was up to no good. The green-eyed girl continued to at her not caring about what the girl would do as she wanted nothing more than to leave before she was made to do something else.

"Thanks, always such a help. I can see why others go to you for stuff" said the orange-haired girl smugly before dropping her ruby earrings on the table in front of the quiet girl as payment.

Sighing mentally the brown-haired girl stared at it knowing that they wouldn't stop going to her for spells or potions, or at worst their homework.

Mostly thanks to the fact she was classified as the 'nerd' and 'bookworm' given how she would always study, even during her spare time outside of class her she would often experiment with potions and spells to improve her knowledge in order to be a sorceress.

Despite being ridiculed and pushed about by others until she would often end up being made to make potions and spells for various people. Very soon it had come to a point when she had come up with the idea of turning what she could do into a small business only known to most students.

Except, she would require a fee of something valuable, that is if they were willing to part with family heirlooms or precious possessions that quickly in order to get ahead. To her surprise most of her 'customers' were leaving her sad at how eager they were to get ahead by taking the easy way out.

Very soon the more students that approached her despite her conditions, caused the dismayed girl to slowly stopped caring as they only cared about themselves.

In a way this gave her more of an excuse to practice and learn even advanced art that resulted in getting high marks in her tests. The repercussions sadly ended up her being a target for bullies and some students forcing her to 'help' them with homework.

This in turn resulted in her needing to complete the works within a set timeframe, but at the same time also tried to make sure she would not be caught out.

In truth it made her sick and miserable that she had to be put through this, after all this was supposed to be the best school in the country only it turned out that it wasn't what it made out to be.

"It's just a shame parents can't see the farce behind this grand school" the girl muttered mentally as she placed a lock of her fringe behind her ear.

Getting up she grabbed her worn brown bag and packed her books away, as expected the teacher had gone to the offices after classes leaving students behind to do whatever they wanted. Which was both good and bad for certain students.

Seeing that it was lunchtime she tucked her chair in and left the storeroom knowing that no one would enter, especially since it was abandoned even by the janitor who refused to clean the place for an odd reason or two.

As a result the girl would see this as a place to hide and study in peace. That was until others would enter and make her help them.

As she walked the girl continued to keep her guard up in case someone would jump out and bother her given that it would happen almost every day.

As she walked she took subtle reflections of herself in the glass windows, there peeking at her was a sad fair-skinned girl wearing a burgundy jacket over her white shirt, she also wore a pair dull grey trousers that hid her burgundy socks and black shoes.

Despite being called a tomboy and other unwanted names thanks to being reduced to wearing trousers instead of skirts, the girl kept her head level while ignoring the people as much as she could.

"Oh look it's the bookworm" a girl's jeering voice came from her right, immediately the girl tensed up as she now predicted a stream of mishaps waiting to happen thanks to being spotted.

"Ugh, the nerve of her acting like she even has any rights to be here. She's not even a noble! What was the king thinking allowing trash to enter the school" another teen girl said as they watched her grab a tray and observe the food that was available.

As brown-haired girl obtained some lunch her stomach twisted in fear, she always resented the nobles who remained stuck up because their parents were higher up in the hierarchy.

Thanking the elderly woman at the counter who handed her a cup of juice, the woman's eyes showed some warmth which made the brown-haired girl feel that there was some good in the school even if it was hard to find it.

Now turning to find a place Anberine immediately felt her stomach leap up to her throat as she suddenly tripped and fell straight on to the floor.

This to her sorrow resulted in laughter from the ones who saw her fall. Food and juice now covered her semi shaking body after hitting the floor.

Even though she was in pain she tried not to whimper even though her hands and knees were screaming from the impact as she tried to get up.

Her hands that held the tray released the item thanks to the fall while they turned red.

"Ooops, looks like you fell" said a voice, soon she saw a pair of black shoes that appeared in her line of vision.

Looking up she saw a smug red-haired grey-eyed boy staring at her while folding his arms. Holding his right arm was a blond-haired teen girl with blue eyes wearing semi-short clothes.

Even though it was against the school dress code given she was wearing semi revealing clothes.

The blue-eyed girl snorted as she saw the state of the girl but didn't bother to help as she watched the injured girl struggle.

The brown-haired girl looked up at him weakly knowing that it had been him who did this.

"Of course... who else would have done it?" she muttered grudgingly as she looked back at the male, masking her bitterness at how he could not only hurt but humiliate her in front of their classmates.

"Might want to watch where you're walking, then again you are clumsy rat girl" the boy jeered while some students laughed at the state she was in, not caring that it was upsetting her as it was something they witnessed nowadays.

"Hmm? Nothing to say?" the boy asked with a mocking smile as he bent down slightly to look at her, his hands were on his hips while a cold glint formed in his eyes.

"Prince Skye let's just leave her, she's just a nobody so why bother dealing with her?" the blue-eyed girl cooed causing him to scoff in disgust before kicking some of the food that was on the floor into injured girl's eyes.

This in turn caused the already injured girl to whine loudly in pain as some of the food was still hot.

Shakily she placed her hands to her face in order to help remove the gunk and pain that continued to sear her face.

"Weakling" he muttered darkly as she continued to groan weakly while rubbing her eyes with her sleeves.

Mentally she was thankful that the food and water were masking her tears preventing anyone from mocking her anymore.

"Anberine" a boy whose voice she quickly caught out despite the loud noises that echoed in her ear leaving her thinking that wasps and locusts were in the area.

Knowing that for now she was unable to see or get up without crashing into things left her more uncomfortable as she was vulnerable to more attacks.

Feeling someone eventually help her up by her arms, she immediately tensed up until she felt hands on her back. Regardless of the help she still remained tense to the boy's anger from seeing how scared and upset she was.

"I've got you Anberine, don't worry I'm here" the boy whispered soft words of comfort before flashing a cold glare at the prince who just smirked cruelly at the pair.

"A weak rat always leans towards an even weaker rat, you two are perfect for each other" Prince Skye had said with a mocking jeer before going to sit at his table with the girl still hanging on to his arm.

Something that got the boy who was helping her to mutter under his breath at how the prince could do anything and not care about who he was hurting as long as he got what he wanted.

Everything was a joke to him to the point he saw people even nobles as dirt under his shoes.

"Get her inside" the cook said sternly once she approached the pair after shooing a few students who were about to make more trouble for the pair, glaring at the group the boy helped Anberine to the kitchen thankful to the elderly woman who opened the door for them.

~

Once inside did the woman help Anberine by grabbing a towel soaked with water and used it to wipe the distressed girl's eyes.

The boy watched with a sad look as Anberine squeezed his hand tightly due to the pain, just watching her had left the boy feeling angrier at how most of the students would continue to torment her.

Regardless of the fact that she was trying to remain out of the public eye.

But no matter what she did she was always subjected to their abuse and most of it was thanks to the prince who had a vendetta against her for whatever reason he had in mind.

"S-Sorry Marcus, didn't mean to hurt your hand" Anberine said weakly as her teeth chattered from pain thanks to her body shaking, wanting nothing more than to cry until there were no more tears to shed.

Wanting the pain to leave for good but alas when it did it was only temporary.

Staring at her Marcus an orange-haired male with hazel brown eyes stared at her with sad eyes.

He wore a white shirt under his black jacket, black faded jeans and black trainers. Smiling softly in hopes of cheering her up he patted her head softly.

"It's okay Anbery, I'm sorry I couldn't be there sooner" he said before turning quickly in order to look at the door that released a loud bang.

A frown quickly formed on his face thanks to whoever sent the door open in a violent manner.

"Oh for goodness sake! Get out of my kitchen!" the elderly cook snapped sharply as two individuals entered the kitchen.