It had now been an hour since that whole quarrel in the courtyard, and now the group that was composed of Adrian, Cecilia, Elysia, and a knocked out Vincent were in a dorm room. In fact, it was Adrian's.

And while the blonde man was still knocked out, the group had been discussing a way to approach both him for interrogation, and Marilyn for comfort.

“We should really try to go and look for her right now, but we can't just leave him behind.” Elysia said, her tone sounding rather concerned. “This place is too big, we need multiple people to do this.”

Adrian had just been calming himself down, leaning against the wall crossing his arms. “Right, and we don't even know where she headed to, it's been an hour now and she can fly.” He said, sighing.

While the two had conversed for a way to handle the situation, it was Cecilia who had been silent. She was rather…saddened by the event. It almost felt like she lost someone, albeit not in a way that would make her grief. She did in fact promise to the maid to protect her, yet she failed.

But, she couldn't give up just now, she had to at least try. She was a princess of the Lenore Royal Family, well-known for her pridefulness; simply giving up wasn't an option for her.

Plus, she had talked to Marilyn sometime ago, about what kind of places they liked to go whenever they wanted to think. It was a talk past Cecilia would've been annoyed by, but the information right now is valuable.

“I know where to look.”

The other two people with her perked up, hearing those words.

“Are you sure?” Responded Adrian, to which Cecilia nodded to.

“Tall places, but not too tall, where the scene is beautiful and there are many things to look at. It's a wide search, but I reckon she's not the type to go that far off.”

“That's too broad of a scope! This place is big y'know!?” Elysia argued back.

“I know, but I can also fly, remember?” Cecilia replied back to her, “I have to try, I’ve promised someone close to her that.”

“I…see.” Adrian would say, “That'll be your responsibility then. I’ll handle this man right here.”

And the moment he did say those words, the groans of a man waking up was clearly heard. “Fuck…” It's Vincent.

Elysia, pretty angered by him, had decided to march towards him and summoned her claw, picking him up and lifting him up by the collar. “You, frickin’ apologise to her, right now.”

Adrian and Cecilia could really only look onwards at her, awaiting for the moment that the two might actually fight.

But still groggy and with a hazy-mind, the man in question just responded with a—

“Fine, damn it. I was drunk alright?” He said, “The words I said stay true, I won't take it back till she actually grows up. But I’ll fuckin’ apologise for the tone, deal?”

The way he said it only caused the dragon girl to be more upset. “That's not en—”

“Now now…in a moment like this, the Academy should get involved, right?”

But she, in fact all of them, were interrupted by a sudden voice. It was one that they'd all be familiar with ever since their entry here. Elysia dropped Vincent off to the floor, turning around, not even bothering to let him see what's going on.

It was the headmaster himself, standing by the door with his eye-patch and cane, with that same handsome look too. Despite being presumably sixty years old by Marilyn’s approximation, he still looked like someone much younger than that, mid forties at least.

Beside him would be Professor Winston too, arms wrapped on his back, standing in attendance to the headmaster.

“We’ve heard the news, it has spread quite far. The way you all handled it was not gentle, but I commend it.” He said to them, but before he could even continue on…

“Where in the gods damned is he?! I want to cut him down right now!” An older girl’s voice was heard, barging into the scene already with her sword at the ready.

“That's an unethical approach to this situation, Ms. Althorn. I appreciate the sentiment but we will make sure he gets the proper punishment.” But Professor Winston would block her, hand extended to prevent her entry.

“It's you!” And Cecilia, as well as the rest, recognise her. It was Helena herself.

“But-!”

“We will invite you to my office once we're done here, Ms. Althorn. You will act as Marilyn's representative in the matter as we put Mr. Morales into questioning.” Alden's words were polite and diplomatic, it essentially calmed her down enough to not want to kill the man that offended her sister right there and then.

“...fine.” And she would unsheathe her sword afterwards.

“Now then…” Alden would turn towards the rest of the group, Marilyn’s friends and Vincent. “I shall assume that one of you has an idea on how to search for her? If not, I can send Professor Hilde on the case. Though she might be a bit busy right now with some work related to what was reported to her two weeks ago.”

He looked at Cecilia when he told them that, as if to confirm it.

“You're still on with that case huh…?” Cecilia silently commented, but quickly shaking her head off, “I have an idea on how to look for her, sir.”

“Very well then, we will leave you to it.” The headmaster stepped aside from the door, with Professor Winston doing the same as well as Helena too.

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Cecilia turned to the rest of the group as a sort of final affirmation from them, to which Adrian would respond with, “Keep her safe, don't give up on her."

She nodded to those words and walked out of the door, before boosting herself with fire magic to quickly leave the building.

Alden was the one to completely observe the princess leaving the scene, before turning around saying, “Well…I’d say that would go against academy policy of no sudden use of magic, but the matter is urgent and I’ll let it pass for now.”

The others looked at him rather weirdly, but he didn't respond to it. “With that said, since there's nothing that you all needed to do, I’d say that you two should follow from behind, in case something bad will happen. Leave Mr. Morales’ case to the Academy.”

Adrian and Elysia looked to each other, and then back to the headmaster. “Promise us that he won't go unpunished.” Adrian would ask of him.

Alden nodded, “There's an obvious answer to that question, Mr. Hunt. Now go.”

Elysia and Adrian accepted the offer, and left the scene as well, walking out of the door before running to chase after Cecilia's assumed trail.

“...tsk.” That was all really that Vincent could sound out now, “I’m screwed, am I?”

It was clearly an obvious route to go down in, but old habits do indeed die hard, the cowboy thought.

But Alden has something to say to him, “It fully depends on how you will approach this destiny of yours, Mr. Morales. I implore that you cooperate with us fully on this endeavour.” He said so as he faced him, with a gentlemanly smile.

Winston responded with quiet listening, and Helena just glared at him, awfully pissed at what he's done.

And Vincent would respond, “Fuckin’ hell…”

————————

It would be night time now, the rising moon present upon the starry sky. There was really no light pollution here, so it was beautiful to her who is sitting with her legs close to her chest, arms wrapped around it in deep melancholy.

She was currently up high, but not too high. During her second week here in this Academy, she discovered this place. A hidden part of the Royal Academy that was rarely passed by. An open-ended hallway of sorts, leading to a large fenceless balcony littered with an overgrowth of moss.

She had heard that elves tend to like moon-watching and star-gazing, so this could in fact be used for that activity alone.

But she was not here for that, she was here to think. To think of where she went wrong to be hated by that one person.

The words he said had several truths to it.

Vincent's speech had pointed out the flaws of her current mindset, that Marylin couldn’t stand up for herself and that she relied too much on others for reason to go on. It was even reinforced by the fact that she could not even argue back, she had no backbone to him.

There were reasons for this behaviour, but it was one that Vincent most likely wouldn't even know of despite how good he was at reading people. So, to both of them, he was very much on point.

Therefore—

“So you're here, huh?”

She was interrupted, but Marilyn did not bother to turn around, she's too unmotivated to do so. Nonetheless, she knew who the voice belonged to.

“Cecilia, there's no need for you to be here, you know? I would've returned to the dorm room eventually.” She said, her tone indicating a sore and dry throat, she had been crying all this time.

Cecilia stood still, looking at the moon, both of their forms showered by the night time sky. It was, once again, beautiful here. But she was not here to enjoy the view either.

But noticing Marilyn's currently passive demeanour, she had no choice but to continue her speech.

“You should know that most of what he said shouldn't affect you like this.” The princess said, “Several points of his are…admittedly true, but you shouldn't mull over this.”

“I know…I’m an idiot in your eyes because of it, huh?”

“...Yes. But that's besides the main point.” She said, “I know that you couldn't take his tone and hostility, and I agree he said too much, but this is not the way you should react to it. It's not right.”

“I guess so…” Marilyn had not been turning around at all as they talked, she did not even bother to look at the moon either. “I thought you’d be saying the classic stuff to comfort me. But you're just criticising me right now, right?”

“You deserve to know it, you won't be able to grow up if you don't.” She said once again, sighing and stepping closer. “Look, Marilyn, I would also like to apologise on how I treated you a couple of weeks earlier, okay?”

“No need, I was the one that needed to do it. I deserve the berating.”

“That’s not the point.” She responded, “I’ve talked to your maid a few days ago, Bethany Hart, was it?”

“...” She's silent, “What about her?”

“She wanted me to take care of you, to protect you in times where she or Helena is absent.” She explained, “So you could say I’m doing this for them, but…”

“But what…?”

“I’m a prideful girl. I rarely apologise nor do I often listen to demands from people lower than me, but I know when I need to do something for someone. I’m prideful, so I am doing this for both you and me. So, I wanted to apologise first so that we’re equal in that department too.”

“And what's the point in that, Cecilia?”

“I say you should take a look at yourself, and focus. What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to do?”

That phrase again, said by Violet once, then Helena. Now, it was Cecilia's turn.

What does she want to do, truly?

That's obvious enough in her eyes. She wanted to be capable, to be someone worthy of acceptance, to be happy and to thank the world for bringing her here.

As said by Sophia, she was blessed with this reverie to fulfil that dream. One could say it was an immortal reverie, an undying wish from when she was just Kei Etsuko, the moment Violet asked that same question to her.

Her answer had always been the same, even if it relied on someone prior to help her say it. Therefore…

“I want to be someone useful, worthy to be by the side of people I love. I want to be strong for them, so that they would accept me. I want to be happy, to say thank you to the world for bringing me here.”

Cecilia nodded, “Then to fulfil that wish, I’d say you should be more prideful about it, Marilyn. Be greedy. Don't just rely on others to keep yourself going and motivated for it, rely on yourself too. Be strong for that dream.”

Marilyn was silent when she heard those words, so Cecilia continued.

“This doesn't mean you should stop caring, or stop being your current self. But I want you to grow up and have empathy for yourself, to be happy for yourself, to be greedy for yourself. You want that dream of yours? Then make sure you will have it.”

“I…see.”

She stood up, dusting herself off from the dirt that was scattered throughout this place. She would turn her face to the side, as if to take a glance at the princess behind her.

“Cecilia, am I wrong for wanting to rely on others for this?”

The princess stood firm, “No, hence why you're much better than me when it comes to being kind and all.” She said, smiling, “Because you rely on others, you're kind and caring. You're willing to listen to people, because you rely on them for support too. So, don't abandon that. Instead, find a second reason to keep going, whenever you don't have someone to rely on.”

“Myself…?”

Cecilia nodded, “Yes. Rely on yourself and others. Train yourself for yourself and others. Care for yourself and others.”

Marilyn’s gaze turned towards the moon now. With that newfound outlook, she could finally appreciate its beauty more than ever before. She smiled for the first time since her sobs were made.

She turned around to face the princess fully, and would then say to her, “Thank you, for this. I’ll try my best to work hard.”

It was certainly a process indeed, for she wouldn't turn into someone better overnight. She would have to get used to being this new self, and officially train herself to get stronger now.

A new starting point was what this was.

And Cecilia smiled in response, her prideful self showing, but not just for herself either. Obvious enough that this was also for—

“-!?”

Blood came out of Marilyn's mouth, and the blade that was stabbed from behind into her heart. There was no scream, only a small gasp.

A figure stood behind the silver-eyed girl. Someone half a head taller than them, perhaps more, with red eyes and an obscured face and form.

There was no warning, and there will be no warning. For that is the essence of an assassin on the hunt.