34 Ymiden 716
There must have been at least eighty of them, eighty pairs of eyes, all full of questions, all staring at him. Malcolm moved to the front of the lecture hall and put his things down on the desk, his desk that one of the substitutes had seemingly made her own. He sat down in the leather chair and straightened the papers in front of him before skimming some of the notes the other history professor had left him, relative information about what the class had been studying during his absence and common misconceptions they had come across regarding the reign of Cassander's parents, Adele and Stephen Renault. Malcolm sat back in his chair and stared up at all of the faces fixed on him, the students looked surprised to see him return so soon, and though he was sure they all had a lot they wanted to ask him, he chose not to indulge the crowd by giving them the opportunity to speak first and got straight to work, diving into the subject at hand.
"Good morning, I'd like everyone to write a list of the things they know or understand about King Cassander and his family."
The sound of rustled papers and shuffled chairs filled the lecture hall momentarily as the students, both young and old, organised their things and rearranged the books on their desks to clear up enough space to write down and take notes. Meanwhile, Malcolm flicked through one of the books he had been left on the royal family and skimmed the basic facts, the shortest and longest reign, the most loved and feared rulers, number of children, taxes and city law changes, and the most mysterious or unexplained deaths during the kingdom's history. He smirked at some of the facts and shook his head, closing the cover to see who had printed the book.
"I didn't realise this was a work of fiction," the man muttered to himself before he continued reading, amused but not surprised.
