Elise showed up during the second class three days later. Two dark bags were visible beneath her eyes.

It looked as though she hadn’t slept for days. Her unkempt and thick hair draped down her rounded shoulders and reached down to her elbows.

She swung open the door in the middle of the lecture and plonked down beside the elf, who was sitting closest to the exit.

Not even once did she look up and look at him, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened between them – as if skipping classes three days in a row without saying anything was the most normal thing.

Then again, she was the headmaster’s daughter and for her to do something like this was perhaps considered normal.

As soon as the bells rang throughout Lárhus, everyone rushed out like it was a matter of life and death.

She glanced at him for a split second as he closed in on her and the elf, who fumed with anger. He was too angry to even fake a smile.

Hain dropped his head and avoided looking at the two of them. Not because he was afraid of confronting her about what happened three days ago, but because he felt that Jhaan needed to air out his boiling fury first.

The elf turned sour like lemon and acted like a mad person ever since Elise stopped coming to the classes.

“Where were you!? Do you even have the faintest idea—”

“I just needed some time for myself. Dad already knows. I’m sure he told you.”

“And that makes it okay? Just disappearing without saying a word?”

She forced a smile. “I just wanted to take a break, okay?” Before the elf could chime in, she added. “I didn’t miss anything, did I?”

“Hell, you did! Mind telling me the next time you decide to take a break!? I could need some rest, too!”

“There you go again! Acting like I’m a child! I’ve grown up Jhaan and so have you! You can’t treat me like this forever!”

“Treat you like what?”

“Like I’m a child! I’m not! Both you and Dad think I know noting and can’t do anything by myself! You keep telling me off as if—never mind. There’s no point in talking to you, anyway.”

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Pouting, perhaps at a loss for words to say to defend himself, the elf stormed out. Even Ms Yones, who was listening to the strange conversation excused herself and traipsed out of the door.

Seeing her worked-up state, Hain was about to follow suit when Elise broke the silence.

“We need to talk, the two of us.”

She didn’t wait for a response. It was a command. As she headed out of the door, Hain let out a deep breath and watched her for a few seconds.

Why did she get so worked up? Sure, the elf did cross the line by acting as if she were a kid, but anyone could tell that he did it out of worry – not to belittle her or doubt what she was capable of.

He hurried down the stairs and caught up to the girl. Since everyone was eating lunch in the dining hall, they were the only ones in the hallway.

He frowned upon seeing her venture outside. Why were they going outside for?

Elise waved at him to hurry before the gnomes came over with their tiny hands full of delicious dishes.

Staring into the distance enclosed by thickets and trees, they sneaked around the corner and advanced to the back of the massive castle. The outer-walls were all lined up with ivy and moss, which lived off of the castle like parasites.

“I talked to my dad.”

Hain nodded, there was no need for an explanation. They both knew what this was about.

“And what did he say?”

Elise sighed and looked up at the bright sky like she were a rose with a broken neck. Her pearl-black eyes sloped downwards and her brows knitted into a frown.

She looked sad. Did she feel sad, too? She sounded as if she could cry a river of tears any second.

“He told me not to stick my nose into matters I don’t understand and stay put…”

“You told him you knew about the missing apprentices, then?”

She nodded. “I can’t believe he’d say something like this! Not when I was trying to lend a hand!”

“He might be right, Elise. We shouldn’t have—”

“You want me to pretend I don’t know what happened to the missing apprentices and just turn a blind eye?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just… We can’t get involved with these kinds of things more than we already have. We need to let the adults handle these things.”

The girl shook her head, a bitter smirk crept on her lips.

“I thought you were different from them. But you’re not! You’re just like Jhaan and my dad!”

Realising he made a mistake, he was about to defend himself when the girl made a break for it.

As she ran around the corner and disappeared from view, Hain swore under his breath and picked up the pace to catch up to her.

But as he reached the main gates, he noticed belatedly that the portcullis was down and that he was now locked out.

But that wasn’t even the worst part. Elise couldn’t have entered through the locked gates, either. So where was she?

He looked around his surroundings for the third time and his grey eyes soon landed on the pitch-black moat.

A bubble rose to the surface.

Thinking the girl had jumped into the moat and drowned herself, he hurried across the wooden bridge with a heavy heart and crouched down.

His heart almost skipped a beat when he realised there was nothing in there but the whispering fish.

Then he saw it. A fleeting glimpse of the headmaster’s daughter in the shrewd reflection in the moat. He rose to his feet.