Chapter 8: CHAPTER 8: CAMPAIGN AND REVELATIONS

As I head back to my classroom after lunch, I decide to confront the two teachers on my list who I feel might support me. For this to happen, I have to catch them when they aren't busy which could prove to be challenging since they always have students around them. However, there is one time in the day when they don't have students nearby: school dismissal. This is the time that students are more occupied with what they are going to do after school, so only the students who are delivering class papers are around them.

 

Be that as it may, not all my plans go accordingly.

 

When I arrive back at the classroom, my homeroom teacher was waiting for me outside the doors. After she notices my return, she calls me over to her.

 

"Miss Winter, are you sure about running for Student Council President? You won't be receiving any aid from the school if you choose to do so since your grades dropped last year."

 

I nod my head. "Yes, Mrs. Giselle. I am absolutely sure."

 

The woman crosses her arms and sighs. "You do realize that you will be at a huge disadvantage since you can't promote your campaign as extravagantly as the other candidates. Right?"

 

"I won't be at a disadvantage. If anything, I believe that I will be at a greater advantage since I can display my skills of self-discipline and management at a better capacity if I do this without help. Isn't that what a leader needs to exemplify?"

 

The woman begins to chuckle to herself. "I see you are returning back to your original self, Miss Winter." The woman straightens herself back up and places a hand on my shoulder. "I don't know if I will be much help, but I would like to be one of your supporting faculty members. Is that okay with you?"

 

I gaze quietly at the slender woman in front of me. Mrs. Giselle is a lower wealth class teacher. Since I have Delic, who is a higher wealth class teacher and guidance counselor, supporting me; this actually couldn't be more perfect. Initially, I wanted my former higher wealth teachers to support me since it would get the attention of the students in those classes; however, I never thought about garnering the support of the lower class students. Just those who were in my class. If I have both Mrs. Giselle and Delic by my side, I can appeal to the students in both of these sectors of classes.

 

Gently grabbing Mrs. Giselle's delicate hands from my shoulder, I clasp both my hands around hers. "That would make me very happy, Mrs. Giselle," I respond with a warm smile. This seems to please the woman because she proceeds to pat my head with thanks and walks off. In the end, I did manage to find a second faculty member to support me, so now I am officially in the running for Student Council President.

 

After school ends, Delic meets me in front of the school with the car.

 

"I heard from other students that you have shown a marvelous display of your powers during lunch. I take it that Miss Abigail did not initially apologize to you."

 

Throwing my bag into the car, I slip inside and put my seatbelt on. "Everything concerning Abigail went according to plan. I just need the students who were watching to spread the news about the new leader of the Winter Family to everyone. I want it to reach every nook and cranny of the school campus."

 

As Delic starts the car, he notices a woman running out of the school building. She appears to be holding something and waving us down. As the woman gets closer, I realize that it is Mrs. Giselle, so I roll down the window. Out of breath, the woman makes it to the car and hands me the sheet of paper in her hands.

 

"I thought you might want to see the previous presidents' campaigns and what they did during their presidency to give you an idea of what you are up against. Also, I need you to sign the paper at the back stating that you understand that you will not be receiving the school's aid."

 

I take the papers and proceed to pick out the sheet that needs to be signed. Reading over it, it appears to be more like a liability waiver than anything mentioning how the student won't ask for donations from other students or faculty members or how any damages caused on the student's flyers and decorations is not the school's fault and should not be responsible for reimbursement. Garbage like that.

 

Irritated by the school's greediness, I sign the paper and give it back to Mrs. Giselle. She smiles and sends her goodbyes as she turns back to return inside the school. Once she disappears into the building, Delic drives off. It was a nice and quiet ride.

 

Upon arriving home, I am greeted by the workers out front, so I return the warm greetings and head inside the main house. After Delic changes me into some more comfortable clothing, he hands me the checklist for today. Glancing down at the long list, I review over the first few and initiate my family head duties.

 

1. Check the garden for any improvements *Check

 

2. New shipment of ingredients has arrived. Check for any discrepancies. *Check

 

3. Three people are interested in working at the estate. Conduct interviews.

 

....?

 

There a three people who are interested in working here? That can't be right. My position isn't known to the general public yet. How could ordinary people find out that I'm the new leader? Did news from the Underground make its way to the surface? No... It shouldn't have. Those people would never slip and say something that would give them a disadvantage.

 

"Delic. Bring the three people who wish to work here into the meeting room as soon as possible. They are guests so treat them nicely."

 

"As you wish, Master."

 

With that, Delic disappears from my sight, so I continue with the rest of the checklist. I need to free up as much time as possible for campaign preparations.

 

A couple of hours go by and Delic returns with the three people in tow. He walks them into the meeting room, offers refreshments, and leaves the room to come and retrieve me.

 

Meanwhile, the three in the room have a meeting of their own.

 

"So who hired you guys to grab intel on the new so-called leader of the Winter Family?" asks the man with horns, kicking his feet up onto the table.

 

"Shouldn't you tell us who hired you first since you brought it up?" the fat woman responds.

 

"The Demon Phantom Gang hired me to see how strong the new 'leader' is. She shouldn't be strong at all in my opinion," retorts the horned man. "I heard that she is only a high schooler. And a slim one at that. No way she has any muscle in that tiny body to make a scratch on me."

 

"The Black Coyote Sisterhood sent me to see if we can add another beneficial group to our network," states the girl with a pair of wolf-like ears.

 

"I was hired by the Warthogs Association to scope out the new competition for power," snorts the fat woman.

 

The wolf girl reaches over to grab a biscuit off the plate in front of them. "She's just a little girl. How much competition could she possibly be?"

 

"I can be quite the competition if you don't look down on me," I proclaim as I enter the room. "You guys sure do talk loud. I can hear you from down the hall." I take my seat at the front and examine the three people who are in front of me: A demon, a lycanthrope, and a warthog. 

 

They sure do look strong. I really hope I don't need to fight them. I'm tired from using my power earlier today.

 

"So I can safely assume that you guys aren't actually here to work for me. Right?"

 

"As if I would voluntarily work for a tiny human like you," remarks the horned man.

 

The other two ladies remain quiet. I exhaustedly sigh and lean back in my chair. "Now that you have seen me, you can report back to your respective groups. 'The leader of the Winter Family is a skinny high school girl blah blah blah.'" 

 

Man, at least they made it easy for me to shut them down. If they had continued to pretend to work here, it would have been pretty tiring.

 

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I take another sip of the coffee in front of me when the horned man interrupts the silence.

 

"I was sent here to see how strong you are. They told me to just watch you from afar as I worked for you, but since our cover is blown, how about having a match with me right now?"

 

But I'm so tired!!!!

 

"Fine, if that will make you leave faster. Please follow my secretary to the practice hall. I will change and meet you there." I proceed to stand up and head for the door when the horned man runs up to me. Delic blocks the man's path to me.

 

The horned man tries to get around Delic but fails. "You know, that tone of yours is very rude to guests, little girl. Why not show your elders some respect?"

 

I sharply turn around and glare at the man in front of Delic. "My tone is rude? Show respect?" As my last bit of patience is breaking, a trail of ice forms its way back to the meeting room where the man stands. "You three are the ones who pretended to want to work for me just to gather intel. You three are the ones disrespecting my home with your demeaning tone towards the master of the house. And you want me to be nicer to you?"

 

By now, my growing anger has turned the meeting room and adjacent hallway into ice. The three people in the meeting room begin to feel a wave of fear as the radiating cold aura from my body envelops them. Delic takes heed to this and grabs my shoulder.

 

"Master, I understand that you are upset, but you need to calm down. You are losing control of your powers. Killing these people will not solve anything." Noticing that I am nowhere near calming down, Delic strongly advises the three people to leave.

 

Watching them leave without apologizing for being disrespectful makes me even angrier. I start forming an icicle spear to shoot them down, but Delic picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.

 

"Master, I think you need to rest in your room for the rest of the day. As much as I would love to enjoy carrying you like this, I feel like you might actually try to kill me if I joke around with you."

 

I wriggle around trying to free myself from Delic's grasp until I suddenly feel a rush of weariness come over me. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

 

When I wake up, a sense of grogginess washes over my eyes, so I sit up on my bed only to look over at the calendar and find that I have been asleep for two days. I call for Delic to come to my room in which he dashes through the doors and throws himself onto me for a hug.

 

Sobbing, Delic squeezes me tightly. "Master! You didn't wake up the next morning, so I suddenly got worried. I couldn't be with you since I had to work at the school, but I sent a medium-ranked wolf spirit to watch over you in my absence. I informed the school about what happened and that I didn't know when you would wake up. I'm just so happy that you didn't stay asleep for several days like last time."

 

Delic continues to hug me as he lays beside me crying. I gently pet his head and tell him that it’s okay. He must have been worried that it was going to be like how it was last time. I'm pretty sure that everyone else on the estate was just as worried as Delic was.

 

"It's okay now, Delic,” I comfort, lifting his head so that he can see my face. “I'm awake. You're going to worry everyone if you keep crying as loud as you are now."

 

"I was just so scared," Delic replies through his tears.

 

His entire existence depends on me being alive. Since he was still alive, he knew that I was okay, but that doesn't lessen the fear of being alone while waiting for the person you care about to return. I run my fingers through Delic's slicky snow-white hair and lightly kiss the top of his head.

 

"Take this in while you can," I jokingly say to Delic. "Who knows when the next time will be when I hold you in my arms?" 

 

Delic laughs as he raises himself. Looking at his eyes, I can tell that he wasn't getting much sleep even though he laid with me the nights I was recovering. The dark circles under his eyes have a mixture of redness from the crying, so I wipe the tears that continue to fall from Delic's face.

 

 "Aren't you supposed to be older than me," I tease, trying to hide my growing urge to cry. "Why am I comforting you?"

 

Delic lets out another small laugh when he notices that I want to cry. He gives me a warm loving smile as he greets, "Welcome back, Viola."

 

"I'm back, Delic." Not even a second after I said that, the tears begin flowing from my eyes. I almost lost the warmth and love that I just got back after so many months of being alone. I almost left Delic by himself again. I almost let the chance to get revenge for my parents slip from my fingers. I need to get a hold of this power within me. I can't let it take over again.

 

Moreover, I need to have more people on my side. People who can fight or are willing to learn how to fight to protect not only me but also everyone else on the estate from powerful people. The brief meeting with the three people two days ago was a huge eye opener that powerful groups are starting to take action towards me.

 

I wipe my tears and make my way to the edge of the bed. "Delic, please help me change into some better clothes."

 

"Why is that, Master? You need to be resting."

 

"I am pretty sure that the others are worried about me. I need to put those worries to rest and let them know that I am okay. A leader who makes her people worry isn't a very good one. Right?"

 

"If that is what you wish, I don't think you need to change." Delic walks over to the door and opens it up to find the workers falling on top of themselves. "I think everyone knows that you are okay now."

 

"My Lady!" everyone exclaims as they rush over to me.

 

Just from their appearance, I can tell that they were working hard while waiting for my return. The gardeners are covered in more dirt than usual. The cooks have a different smell than normal from trying out new recipes for me to taste when I wake up. My room is completely spotless, so the maids must have been trying to keep my room as clean as possible to speed up my recovery.

 

I stand up and bow to everyone. "I'm sorry for worrying you all. As you all are probably now aware, I am the new Winter Vessel. I let my powers take control over me which ended up with me falling into a deep sleep for two days. I will do better in controlling this power so that I will not have to worry you again. I'm so sorry."

 

Edward moves from where he was standing to where I am and grabs my shoulders to raise me up. "The master of the house has nothing to apologize for. While it is an honor to hear such sincerity from our master, you did nothing wrong. You should be holding your head up high."

 

"But I left everyone without a leader for two days. If I had better control of this power, this would never have happened."

 

"Delic did a great job of leading us while you were in deep sleep. Plus, we are professionals in our area of work. How about you put more faith in the people who work for you instead of beating yourself up? Hm?"

 

I observe the workers who were standing behind Edward as they all smile and nod. 

 

Have I not been putting my faith into my workers? Man, if that isn't a slap in the face, then I don't know what is. 

 

"Okay," I respond, "I will believe in my staff of workers more. I hope that you all will continue to work hard for me."

 

Everyone laughs with roars of agreements as they come over to welcome me back from my deep sleep. However, even with all of the laughs and smiles around me, I was still being bugged by the fact that I need fighters, and I need them now.

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