On a palace balcony built by renowned masters, a figure stood tall, overlooking the elven forest. His back was adorned by a royal red, heavy cape, and a crown rested upon his head.

“Your majesty,” a servant walked toward the crowned figure, kneeling in reverence.

The king of Yuriel, raised his hand. Without turning around, he spoke, his voice heavy on the servant’s shoulders.

“Have the druids found my heir?” he asked, and a light breeze suddenly entered.

A dim, green glow was cast upon them both. If the servant looks up, he’d see a tiny, winged creature sitting on the king’s shoulder, staring at him.

“Afraid not, my king,” the servant bowed his head deeper in shame.

“Prince Tera left no trace upon his—”

“Enough,” the king growled.

“You are dismissed. Do guard the Ganesha well,” he hummed, “the kingdom is welcoming the second prince.”

Hearing the queen’s name and the sudden news, the servant trembled.

“King, what have I done to deserve—”

The king waved his hand, and the servant’s head rolled on the ground. Not a single drop of blood stained the ground, not even its stench could be sniffed.

As the green light faded, the king said a final sentence to the departed servant.

“I can respect my enemies, but I can’t find mercy for them,” he said, turning around and walking away.

On the ground, the servant elf’s platinum hair faded, slowly turning darker and darker until they were pitch-black.

----------------------------------------

“It’s Horlum,” an elf whispered, glaring at Horlum with disgust.

“I heard he touched Freya. How is he still here?”

“He did that to Freya too? That’s ten girls now…” another one whispered.

“They should kick him out. He’ll corrupt the students next year, and the years after that!” one more elf said, this time, they didn’t bother to lower their voice.

Clenching his teeth and fists, Horlum walked with his head down toward the library. Ever since he was framed last week, more and more blame fell on his head. It got so bad that the entire academy knew his name!

Worse, if there was something bad happening, he’d be the first to be mentioned!

‘Bastards, I’m not even an adult yet. Why would I do those things? Blame an old elf, not me!’

Knowing he frequented the library, many elves visited the library less and less. Not that he minded, the less elves bothering him, the better. Besides, the library was his safe place, and the librarian gave him zero attention.

Not before the rumors, and not after them.

Walking to his usual place, he greeted the hanging spirit plant. Sitting down, he took out a book.

‘A shame that the book I was reading suddenly vanished,’ he sighed.

He asked the librarian about it, and the latter said someone took it. Naturally, he smelled something fishy, but what could he do?

‘Anyway, studying green magic is not that bad either,’ he wiped the book’s cover, reading the title written in cursive.

“Wisdom of the Sages, Green Magic.”

‘I’m not sure if there are books about druids in the library, but I sure haven’t seen any. Maybe I haven’t found it yet,’ he scratched his head.

‘Ahh, starting with green magic is enough,’ he opened the book.

This would be his second time reading it. The first time, he skimmed over it to make sure it had real knowledge. He went through a lot of books about green magic, though most of them were simply theories and speculation.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“...green magic is a practice our ancestors developed. Through incantations, the caster seeks to connect with the past Legends and borrow their power, using it for themselves.”

Horlum scratched his head. ‘But haven’t the Legends all perished?’

Either way, the book didn’t explain it.

“...green magic incantations are divided into three parts. The caster must first call a Legend’s name, and then praise them, before stating their wish. Most incantations are fixed, but the caster can shorten them to three phrases.”

Horlum tilted his head, turning the page over. But then, he heard someone’s voice behind the bookshelves to his right. Though he didn’t mean it, he felt bad for eavesdropping.

Even as a half, he was still an elf, after all.

‘I’ll just ignore them,’ he thought, looking at the book again.

But just as he was about to keep reading, he paused.

“I heard professor Ian was angry today,” an elf said.

Another elf hummed in reply. “It’s because of the freak.”

Horlum held the book tightly, even making the edges crumple.

‘Because of me? What did I do?’

For starters, he didn’t know anyone named Ian. The only professor he knew was the one teaching their class, Kier.

“Again? What’d the freak do this time?” the first elf asked, sounding fed up.

‘I never did anything!’ Horlum furrowed his brows. His eyes blurred, but he stared at the book without blinking.

“Someone told me that the freak… uh, did something to professor Ian’s son,” the second elf said.

The first elf gasped. “Really?! He even does it to boys…”

The second elf hurriedly corrected him. “He didn’t do that, geez. He just, you know, beat the kid up.”

“But why?” the first elf asked.

“Beats me,” the second elf said, before shifting the subject.

On the other hand, Horlum was biting his tongue, not seeing the wet spots on the book that kept increasing.

‘Why me?’ he asked himself.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong, I didn’t offend anyone, so why? Does god hate me?’ he snickered, knowing it was ridiculous.

Sniffling, he wiped his eyes and stared at the book.

“Great,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Now it’s all wet.”

He chuckled, grabbing the page and turning it. Even though he hadn’t read it yet. Even though he was nearly tearing the paper from his grip. Even though—

“Uhm, don’t ruin the book?”

Horlum jumped, making the chair he was sitting on tumble to the floor. Turning around, he saw an elf who was staring at the fallen chair.

“You are?” Horlum asked, before quickly turning around to wipe his face with his sleeves.

Turning around again, he stared at the elf. He wore his long hair in a ponytail, and his eyes were blurred by a pair of thick eyeglasses.

‘What’s his name again?’ Horlum searched his head, feeling a bit bad.

Hearing his question, the elf frowned, pouting at him.

“I’m Fredrinn, rememberrr?” he said, before handing over a handkerchief.

But then, Horlum wiped his nose with the sleeves of his uniform. Fredrinn’s outstretched hand twitched, and he awkwardly patted the book dry instead.

“Why were you crying? … erm, sorry for asking,” Fredrinn faked a chuckle, his soft voice making Horlum look everywhere else but the elf.

Horlum opened and closed his mouth, though nothing came out. Finally, when Fredrinn finished drying the book as best as he could, he answered.

“Didn’t you hear? I’m a bad elf.”

Fredrinn looked at him, eyes wide. “A-a bad elf?” He shivered, though Horlum didn’t catch it.

“Ahem! I mean, what do you mean? You don’t seem like a bad–a bad elf…”

Horlum’s shoulders dropped, gritting his teeth as he felt his vision blurring again.

“I don’t know,” he said.

Fredrinn squinted, his brows raising up.

“You… don’t know? I can help— I! I mean! Um, why don't you know?” Fredrinn giggled, a faint blush appearing on his face.

Horlum was a bit dense, he’d admit. But even he wasn’t so blind to not notice anything strange.

‘Why’s he acting weird?’ He thought, staring at Fredrinn’s flushed face.

His lips curled down, and for a moment, his worries seemed to vanish.

“Do you have a fever?” He asked, reaching out and touching the other’s forehead with his palm.

The moment his palm touched Fredrinn's hot skin, he could’ve sworn a chill ran down his spine.

“No, no! I-I just, don’t worry,” Fredrinn brushed off Horlum’s hand, though his fingers were slick with sweat.

“Um, Horlum. You’re not bad. Don’t worry, don’t listen to them!” he said, seemingly oblivious to the rumors.

Horlum chuckled, smiling for the first time in seven days.

“Thanks, Fredrinn. You’re a good…” His words abruptly ended, his eyes wide as Fredrinn’s knees buckled without warning.

“Fredrinn!” Horlum rushed to the unstable elven boy, who was nursing his head.

Fredrinn quickly pushed him off. “I-I’m fine, really…”

“If you’re sick, tell your professor and rest at home,” Horlum shook his head.

Stretching his arm, he tried to aid Fredrinn in standing up. The latter stumbled back, stuttering while staring at Horum’s hand.

“I’m fine, I’m fine! Don’t worry, my arms—my legs just lost balance for a second,” he laughed, steadying himself by holding onto the bookshelves.

“So,” he looked at Horlum, who reluctantly returned to his chair.

Thinking for a bit, he sat across Horlum. “Uh, anyway, why did you say you’re a bad…”

Horlum shrugged, not letting Fredrinn finish his words. “Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you I did all the bad things in the academy.”

Fredrinn said without a pause, “But you didn’t.”

Horlum blinked, looking at Fredrinn helplessly. “How can you be so sure?”

“‘Cause I was following y—” Fredrinn stopped himself, losing his voice and staring at Horlum’s questioning face.

Changing his too honest words, he cleared his throat, looking a little sideways. “Common sense. I’m just following common sense. Elves are gossipy, it’ll pass soon. But, uh, did you do those things?”

Horlum scoffed. “Of course not, I’m here to study. If anything, I can accept being framed for stealing books.”

Fredrinn nodded, his eyes closed. “That’s right, that’s right.”

Seeing the somewhat silly elf, Horlum smiled. “Thank you, Fredrinn. This means a lot to me.”

“Eh?” Fredrinn looked at Horlum’s smiling face.

Rays of sunshine seemed to burst through the library ceiling, illuminating the latter’s face. Horlum wasn’t handsome, not by elven standards. But he had good looks—his eyelashes were long, his nose was straight, his eyes were sharp, and his face was shaped nicely.

“It feels nice, knowing someone believes in me,” Horlum chuckled a little, looking at Fredrinn only to freeze.

Fredrinn fell face first on the table, smoke rising from his head like bread fresh from the oven.