Along the way in the car, Kayla sometimes takes a glance at the person sitting opposite of her cautiously, he just keeps on putting on a smiling face that creeps her out. Kayla had never thought that the car that was picking her up would actually be this luxurious, it has been modified so well that it could even be called extravagant.

When Kayla first sees the interior she is beyond speechless because this is actually the first time she has seen the car seats that are facing each other, she doesn’t even know where to sit, it is Hugo who kindly points it to her.

‘I don’t even know if sitting like this is much better or him sitting beside me is less awkward, both are not very good’, she sighed inwardly,

She no longer pays attention to him, but her mother's words keep on budging inside her head, so she can’t shake off this uneasy feeling in her heart. Kayla started to examine the surroundings inside the car, she started to recall the plate number and kept on reciting it in her heart, in fear she would forget it, she also told her parents to take a picture, but she was not sure if they remember it or not, which is making her more anxious.

When she took a glance again at the man in front of her, she noticed that even though his demeanor was quite mature, his face was still quite young, probably around his late thirties. With one look, Kayla knew that this person was a perfectionist, she couldn’t even find one tiny place of his clothes that are wrinkled or untidy.

After taking a closer look, she could see something on his wrist, something like a tattoo, a tattoo of a white bird with a pair of wings crossing, it looked quite aesthetic, but she couldn’t really make out how it looked because it was too far. Kayla notices that she has been glaring at him too much, so she turns around to look outside.

Kayla noticed that the road they were going was quite familiar to her, this road was heading to the airport. The man suddenly spoke, making Kayla a little startled,

“Lady Kayla don’t need to be nervous, I understand that you are being vigilant towards me and that is a good thing. You only need to know that I won’t bring any harm to you”

Kayla slowly nodded and gave him a forced smile, seeing that he was being attentive to her, it would be rude if Kayla didn’t respond anything to his kindness,

“I believe that Lady Kayla has brought your passport with you?”

“I do.. Are we going there by plane? I thought we were going there by car”, if they were going to board a plane, then why make the trouble to even pick her up? She could board the plane just fine alone and they could just pick her up when she arrived at the destination, but her question only makes him smile more widely,

“That will be taking a lot of time and not efficient, it is much better and comfortable for you to take an airplane there with a couple of other applicants that are also heading there right now”, hearing that there are other people who are being escorted(taken) like her, she suddenly feels a bit relax and the stress suddenly gone. Kayla is actually a slow person in the matter of making friends, she finds it quite difficult to keep a conversation going, which is why her circle is small but full of positive people, and that is what matters. So hearing the man saying that, Kayla just nodded her head silently.

***

When they were approaching the airport Kayla prepared herself to get off, but she was stunned to find that they were actually heading to a road she had never known about, it directly took them inside the land of the airport, she looked at Hugo and he just smiles at her, Kayla suddenly doesn’t want to ask him anything anymore,

‘It seems that despite the small amount of graduates, they could still earn a lot of money— Tsk, I forgot to ask Mom and Dad if they have asked about the tuition fee, did they even know that the school fee might probably lead them to bankruptcy? And even worse, have to sell their own organs just to let their daughter get into a nice school?’, she sighs internally, ‘How stupid could they become? Should I ask him now? It is still not too late right?’, Kayla eyed him from the side and decided to give it a go,

Kayla, “Ehm, Mister Hugo, could I ask you something”, he nodded, “How much is the tuition fee for a semester?”, Hugo suddenly laughed at her question,

“Don’t need to worry, Miss Kayla, it is complimentary until you graduate, you don’t even have to worry about your daily necessities either. Well, except if you wish to have other things that the school didn’t provide you with, you are free to buy anything with your own money as long as it did not violate the rule”

Kayla, “A prestigious school with incredible services. Didn’t even take money as tuition?”, Kayla clarified it once more and he nodded politely with a smile on his face,

‘Could it be this place is a place for money laundering?’, Kayla looked at him suspiciously and carefully examined his expression, but Kayla couldn’t see anything except that smiling face and it already started to creep her out, so Kayla could only smiled at him and averted her gaze.

‘If it is a place for money laundering, it all kind of makes sense, but why makes such a big scene for it? A scholarship if we fail the test? Then how much money are they making?', the more Kayla thinks about it, the more she is baffled by the entire situation, there are a lot of questions in her heart that needed an answer, but she doesn’t know who to ask. Could this matter really be that simple? And why are they choosing her out of so many people in the world, did they make a random vote, or did they have to search for their background first?

The car stopped and Kayla silently took a glance from the window, it seemed that this was a place for the rich to board their own private jet, and this immediately made Kayla's hair stand on end,

‘Just what kind of school boarded their student in a private jet?! Should I ran away? It is still not too late right?!’, Kayla's heart thumped loudly and it felt like she was going to faint at any moment.

Hugo got out of the car and assisted Kayla, she hesitated a moment before finally grabbing his arms and stepping out, she felt like her legs were about to give out at any moment, but in order to not embarrass herself, she had to pull herself together. When she got out, she felt a little relieved when she found that there were other people apart from her.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Kayla sees three people standing there waiting, two boys and a girl. The girl has a shoulders length soft wavy hair tied in accent braids, she wears a black browline glasses, she looks smart but her small figure makes her look fragile, and she seems scared right now, making the impression that she is timid and looking like a nerd, an attractive nerd.

While the other two boys, one who looked like a typical normal student, while the other looked like a pampered boy with his feet stomping on the ground as if he was annoyed, Kayla silently sighed, she wanted to go and get her belongings, but Hugo said that he will handle it, so she could only walk towards them to join them.

When Kayla approached them, one of the boys, the pampered one, seemed to have been captivated by Kayla's graceful appearance, looked excited, and hurriedly extended his hand,

“Hi! My name is Ruben, you are also dragged here huh?”,

Kayla seemed to be unwilling to grab his hand, but it seemed like she was being rude when another had the initiative to introduce himself first, so she grabbed his hand swiftly and introduced herself before immediately changing her attention to the other girl, extending her hand to her, Kayla could see that person eyes suddenly beaming in happiness,

“Clara, Clara Davidson. Do.. do you know where they are taking us? Why are we taken to this place?!”, she said freaking out, Ruben who hear her whining just scoff,

Ruben, “Didn't they self-announce themselves as a prestigious university that no one could even compare to them? Isn't this what they were supposed to do to match up with their status? What is so weird about it?”, he rolls his eyes, he seems to be very confident about his belief, or should we say, he believes that someone as highly like him should get this kind of treatment.

Kayla doesn't even pay attention to him and gently shakes her head, “I also didn’t know anything, let's just see, if they are using an airplane, then there must be a record, they won’t be able to do anything to us”,

Clara hurriedly nodded in agreement and seemed to relax a little, the other man also extended his hand to her,

“Ferdinand Lambert”

“Kayla Sterendelle”, Kayla extended her hand to grab his, and the both of them just nodded awkwardly.

“Alright, Miss and Mister, it is time to get on the airplane”, originally they thought that they would just board a commercial airplane, except that they were boarding in a special way, but when they saw the private jet, they couldn’t believe their eyes, and Clara nearly cried, she clutched Kayla arm tightly,

“Are they really here just to take us to school? What type of school uses a private jet to take the student to the school?!”, she whispers worriedly for Kayla to hear. In order to reassure her, Kayla pats her hand gently, but she herself is also trying to calm her beating heart down, it is not because of the excitement, but an awful feeling that keeps on creeping into her heart.

Ruben excitedly climbed up to it, he seemed to be proud and pulled out his phone to take a selfie with the jet, he had completely forgotten about his annoyance and anger towards his parents who made such a rushed decision to suddenly enroll him in such a deserted and boring school according to him. But now that he has seen something so cool, he feels that this school isn't half bad, and for him to be able to enroll, he thought that he was somewhat special. Since how many people would be able to fly on a private jet in their life, it could be an experience that is hard to forget and boost to others.

***

Kayla became quiet after they boarded the jet, she kept on looking at her hometown that become more and more far away from the sights, she sighed internally and took a glance behind her seat where Hugo and the other three people seemed to bring each one of them here. Hugo who noticed his glance looked at her with a smile, Kayla quickly glanced away and looked back at the window, she decided to just sleep while the other enjoyed the services given to them.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to arrive in ten minutes”, hearing those words, Kayla immediately fluttered open her eyes and looked out to the window, she was shocked to see what she was seeing right now, the location of the school was so high that they are actually so close to the cloud, there is a big mountain that surrounds the building, like a place where fairy will exist.

Each building is separated by a vast beautiful garden, but one that really captures their attention the most is the center part of the land, a building that is so magnificent and majestic, classical French architectures that show the grandiosity and elegance, the beautifully craved detailed and sculpture, the floor to sky windows that looks extravagant, Kayla doesn't even know how to describe it in words, just by looking at it, she thought that this is not a school, but a castle!

‘Just how huge is this place?’

***

They landed in an empty space and they had to take a car that directly took them in front of the gates of the castle-like building. When they got off, the gates looked gigantic and beautifully craved door plaque with a a name hung up with golden color, “The Regalis”

The moment they walked inside, they could smell the fragrance of the flowers and the grass, the wind coming was quite cool and fresh too. The more they walk closer to the castle, the more they were mesmerized by it, it feels kind of ethereal.

“It is like a museum in here”, Ruben silently stated in awed. It indeed feels like a place with a lot of history.

They have to step on the big long staircase before they finally arrived at the entrance, the door is so huge that it feels impossible to be opened by one person. The moment they inch closer, the door suddenly opened by itself, making them gasp in awed,

‘Why do I suddenly feel like I have gone back in time?’, Kayla silently thought, the atmosphere here felt like they were in the traditional era, the decoration and atmosphere felt like so, but when she saw tablets and CCTV lying around does she finally sure they are indeed in modern time.

The first thing that greeted them was a long corridor with chandeliers hanging above along the way, there were a lot of articles, pictures, and tabloids posted around the wall, seems to be the history of the student, staff, and teacher who once came here and become the only trace of evidence that they once were a part of the school.

They kept on walking inside and they could see a very bright light coming from the end of the long corridor, seems to be a very high and vast hall, and they could see a crystal fountain in the middle of it. Just as they thought that they were about to catch a glimpse of the magnificent hall, Hugo suddenly led them to turn to the right, they were heading to another corridor, but this time it was an open space with an open roof with a small garden in it, Kayla suddenly thought that this is a good place to just sit down and close her eyes, enjoying the sunlight and the gentle wind flowing through your hair.

They could see the building opposite it, but the window was closed with a curtain, Kayla couldn't help but think that it was kind of comforting for the people up there who could study and even look at the small garden here.

“Where are we going?”, Ferdinand suddenly asked, they seemed to be too dazzled by the magnificent of the building that they were just blindly following Hugo around,

Hugo, “This place will only be available for you if you have been accepted as a part of The Regalis. Right now, we are heading towards another building where you will reside for the next three months”

When Kayla heard that she was confused, ‘Another building? Then why are we here?’

Hugo led them down the stairs, Hugo had to tap his card for the big door to open, and they were shocked to see a black modern train in it, Hugo tapped his card again and led them inside the train,

“Walking to the building is possible, but isn't using the train much easier and efficient?”, he explains when Kayla looks at him with an astonishing expression. For Kayla, this seems to be an effective solution, but kind of a waste of resources.

Kayla silently looked at the train stop written above the door, there were actually four stops they could make, the main building, the residence, the art building, and the academic building. She frowned after seeing it,

‘Four stops, but when on the plane I saw five buildings, the four are located quite close while one is located quite far away behind the lake, could it be that it is an abandoned building?’

As Kayla thinks of this they finally arrive at the place they will be spending the next three months in, to see if they can change their fate and be accepted to this mysterious school or have to be sent home with broken hearts.

TO BE CONTINUED…