For as long as she could remember, Cassandra had seen dreams of another world. A strange, bland world that constantly sought the wonder of magic through entertainment. Much of this entertainment reminded her of the legends of her homeland, Tethia.

However, there was one thing Cassandra never understood about the stories from the world in her dreams. Why did the princesses always have to marry princes to become queens and kings? The king and queen of Tethia were both happily married to other people. Everyone here thought it was perfectly normal for things to be that way.

Not only that, the queen of Tethia was a woman who held the future of magic in her hands. Perhaps she was influenced by her dreams, for all Cassandra wanted was to be in such a position. That was how she found herself at sixteen years of age, going out to meet the carriage that would take her to the entrance exam for Nobility.

Nobility was the only school that raised the talents that would lead the future of Tethia and later become one of the four pillars. There was, of course, the king and queen. The king led the nation in times of political turmoil and war. The queen led with diplomacy with other nations which was why she had just as much say in the future of magic as the archmage.

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The archmage was the father of all magic. At least, the first archmage was. After that, each one was charged with the duty to keep that magic alive throughout Tethia. That left one last and final pillar of Tethia. This was none other than the headmaster of Nobility himself. His duty was to nurture the talents of the future to bring glory to the kingdom.

That very headmaster had arranged a system that sent carriages to all of the regions so no talent would be left untested. Now all Cassandra had to figure out was exactly where that carriage was.

It had never occurred to her before that there would be multiple carriage lines at the location she had been directed to. Perhaps the test had already begun? That was an exciting thought. There were two options that came to her mind right away. All of these carriages took them to the test or none of them did. If it was the latter, where was the real carriage?

Rather than just standing around and wondering, Cassandra approached a carriage and asked the driver.

“I am here for the Nobility entrance exam,” she told him, “Which carriage will take me there?”

“We all can,” he replied, “For a fee.”

So that was the catch. “Are there any that have already been paid?” Cassandra checked.

“Looking for a free ride, miss? The ones who paid may resent you for that.”

“Even if the one who paid was the headmaster?”

There was a moment of silence as they stared each other down. Cassandra was confident she had found the answer to the first test. Then the driver suddenly grinned...