“Mm…My opinion is mine, your opinion is yours,” Bi Chanjuan replied sweetly, tapping her cheek with golden nails. “Now, as I was saying before, isn’t it interesting that our Han Abrial Chae-young here can’t seem to affect that bowl of water no matter what she tries? Don’t you think that suggests you’re actually…spiritually dumb? That you can’t perform magic at all? And, tell me — how does that feel, for someone so arrogant, to know that you’re unlucky enough to not have the ability to perform magic?”

Abrial opened her mouth. No sound emerged; her throat seemed to have constricted and stopped working. Her whole face was tingling numbly, and her body felt like a bowl of ice-cold water had been dumped all over it. What were these emotions rushing through her blood like fire and ice at the same time? Was it fury? Or shock? Or humiliation? Or all three at once?!

As she struggled to form a reply, Finley’s arm shot out of nowhere, slamming down on the table in front of Abrial so that Abrial was shielded by her arm. Abrial stared at Finley, who was looking coldly down at Bi Chanjuan with a look that could make water freeze to ice.

“Bi Chanjuan, there is nothing wrong with those who cannot perform magic. And do not make assumptions. Abrial has performed healing before. She is not void of spiritual energy. But speaking of the inability to perform natural magic...” Finley’s eyes flashed. “I see that your table is soaked, Bi Chanjuan. Could you not lift the water from your own bowl? Are you perhaps struggling with spiritual energy and taking your anger out on someone else?”

Abrial raised her eyebrows. Wait—that was true! How had she not noticed before? The bowl on Bi Chanjuan’s table was half-empty, and the water had spilled all over the table top, dripping now into the grass.

Bi Chanjuan looked unfazed, but her eyes twitched slightly. She seemed bored, a floating cold cherry smile on her lips as she traced the thorny vines wrapping her forearm.

“Natural magic isn’t my forte,” she shrugged dismissively. The thorns seemed to darken. “But I’m not worthless, like some…others.” Yep, she was definitely talking not-so-subtly about Abrial. “I practice shadow magic instead. It’s far more fun. Who wants to clear their mind of thoughts, when you can lean into utter chaos instead? It’s far more…stimulating.” Bi Chanjuan’s smile widened into her typical leer again, her eyes glittering terrifyingly. Abrial leaned back automatically. She didn’t really know what shadow magic was, but whatever it was, if Bi Chanjuan liked it that much, it couldn’t be good.

“I see. Is that why you act in such a twisted manner?” Finley retorted frostily, the palm of her hand still placed firmly on Abrial’s table. “Shadow magic is well known to have the potential to drive a magician insane if they are not careful. Perhaps you have already reached that point?”

Bi Chanjuan’s leer stretched into a gleeful scarlet grin.

“Ah! You’re angry again. Where’d that little saintess go? You act all gentle and innocent, but on the inside, you’ve got all kinds of anger. What a joke! You’d be good at shadow magic, Finley Fellner. So would Abrial! But Abrial…she can’t really do magic in the first place, can she? What a tragic shame. And I’m afraid even if she could and went down the path of chaos, she’s already so out of control that she’d just explode in flames, or vomit and die off the bat!”

At last, Abrial had had enough.

“All right, that’s enough! Shut up!” she bellowed, vaulting to her feet. As she shot up, she accidentally knocked Finley’s arm to the side and overturned her own table. The bowl of water flung out, soaking the person in front of Abrial, who turned to glare at her furiously. Abrial ignored them and scowled down at Bi Chanjuan, her eyes glittering darkly.

“First off, I’ve had enough of you insulting me! Second off, shut up about Finley! Third off—I don’t even know what shadow magic is, so your insults don’t even mean anything to me!”

Bi Chanjuan stared at Abrial for a full second. Then she burst into cackles.

“Ooh!” she mocked, wiggling her golden-tipped fingers. “Someone’s mad! Angry that I insulted your special someone? Or are you angry that you just realized how uneducated you are again?”

Abrial didn’t really know what to say to that, but she knew that she was mad. She cracked her knuckles in an intimidating way, fully prepared to tackle Bi Chanjuan to the ground. But before she could pounce, Bi Chanjuan’s eyes shifted to something behind Abrial and widened. Her already jade-white face went even paler.

“Oh, shit,” she mumbled. In a low voice, she muttered, “Later, fuckers.”

Then she sprang lightly to her feet, turned on her heel, and sprinted away, holding up the folds of her satin deep green robes.

Abrial blinked. Had that woman…really left, just like that? Was she that scared of a fight? The only sign that Bi Chanjuan had been right here a moment ago was the faint smell of blood and flowers hanging in the air. Abrial lowered her fist, miffed.

“What the fuck?” she muttered in the direction Bi Chanjuan had fled in. “Why’d she leave all of a sudden? What, was she scared? You know what? She should be! I was about to whoop her sorry ass in front of everyone here!”

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“Abrial…” Finley murmured.

“What?” Abrial was still puzzled and staring after where Bi Chanjuan had disappeared. “What is it? You saw that too, right, Finley? That woman, she’s such a — !”

Abrial turned around, and the words died in her throat.

…Shit.

Standing only an arm’s length away was Bi Gho, lovely as a white jade statue of a goddess. Her pale porcelain hand was gripping her closed white fan tightly, and her smooth forehead was creased slightly with a frown. But the fact that she was standing there wasn’t the scary part.

The scary part was Bi Gho’s eyes. They were dark and stormy as a typhoon, and glaring straight at Abrial as though they would shoot out and spear her through the skull.

“G-Gho-jie,” Abrial stammered. She had never felt her knees wobble like this from just a single look. “I mean, Teacher…Respectable Teacher Bi Gho…I was just…uh…”

Abrial’s face contorted as she tried to come up with an excuse. But under that piercing gaze, nothing was coming to mind! Thankfully, Bi Gho spoke first, so she didn’t have to say anything right away.

“Tell me,” Bi Gho said quietly, her voice sending shivers of fear down Abrial’s spine. “Was my sister insulting you?”

“Um…” Abrial’s mind raced. She rubbed her knuckles together, forehead creasing. What would be better to say? The truth, that she had been insulting her? Would that make Bi Gho even angrier?

By now, a good number of students nearby had turned to watch, some with bated breath, and others with great interest, as Bi Gho stared daggers at Abrial.

Abrial twisted her hands together. “She — well…We were talking…and…”

“Yes.” Finley spoke. She had risen to her feet behind Bi Gho and stood with her hand clasped tightly together, eyes glinting. “Bi Chanjuan referred to Abrial several times as ‘spiritually dumb’. She also used the phrase…‘to vomit and die’ in referring to Abrial.”

Gasps emitted from the surrounding students, and a hushed chatter began among them.

“‘Spiritually dumb’? ‘Vomit and die’? Did Bi Chanuan really say those things?”

“Of course! Only Bi Chanjuan could dig up such vile curse words.”

“What context would you ever even say ‘spiritually dumb’ in? Isn’t that an ancient insult? Bi Chanjuan sure knows how to insult people!”

Bi Gho’s icy gaze did not dissipate, but she sighed, rubbing her temple with two long, pale fingers.

“I knew it,” she hissed, flicking her fan open menacingly with her other hand. “That lunatic girl can’t go a day without trying to get someone to scream in rage or fear.”

Abrial blinked. Her hands, which had been anxiously twisted from the pressure of Bi Gho’s gaze a moment ago, paused.

“Are you…not angry with me?” she asked somewhat timidly, which was unusual for her. That gaze had really taken the confidence out of her.

Bi Gho blinked, closing her fan and continuing to rub her temple. She frowned at Abrial as though she thought Abrial was crazy.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked incredulously. “Why would I be angry with you? I’m going to tear that girl’s ears off! She never listens! I’m so ashamed! Everyone!” Bi Gho raised her arms, long pale jade sleeves draping down and revealing her pale, lovely wrists.

With all of the students in the clearing paying attention, besides a few who seemed to have lost control of their spheres of water and were desperately trying to stop them from exploding, Bi Gho sighed. She looked both exhausted and extremely angry, the corners of her divinely glimmering red lips turned down.

“I’m dismissing the lesson early today, since I need to go take care of something. Please stack your tables at the side of the field as usual! You have all done a wonderful job, and every one of you is making progress. Have a wonderful lunch! Goodbye!”

With a wave, Bi Gho bowed her head to Abrial, repeating how ashamed she was that her delinquent sister had acted in such a manner again, and sped off in the direction Bi Chanjuan had fled, fast as the wind.

Abrial stared after her, shocked. Only after everyone stood to carry their tables and conversation filled the air again did she turn around to Finley with a pale face.

“I can understand…” she muttered, slightly dazed, “Why Bi Chanjuan is so scared of her sister.”

Finley nodded grimly. “Bi Gho is formidable when she is angry. But the only one I’ve seen get on her angry side is Bi Chanjuan. Personally…” Finley’s pale pink lips twitched slightly into something resembling a dark expression. “I hope she catches Bi Chanjuan and yells at her for a long time.”

Abrial thought about it, lifting her table and stacking it onto Finley’s. “Yeah…” she said, hefting up both tables and shaking off Finley’s hand that tried to help. “Bi Chanjuan is a real pain in the ass. But in any case, I wouldn’t want to be her right now. Or ever. Who would want to be so annoying? And act like they enjoy it like that?”

As she lifted the tables onto a stack at the clearing edge, a thought struck Abrial. Her face darkened.

“Hey, Finley — what Bi Chanjuan said before, about being…not able to do magic. Do you think something’s wrong with me? Like, I was born without enough spiritual energy to perform natural magic, or something?”

Finley thought for a moment. Her hesitation made Abrial’s stomach drop. She couldn’t remember any time when something Finley had told her had been untrue. If Finley wasn’t sure, couldn’t it be possible that she was simply born without the ability to perform anything more than simple healing spells?

At last, Finley shook her head. Her hazel eyes were firm, but Abrial didn’t fail to notice that she pursed her pink lips slightly. That was a tell-tale sign that she was troubled.

“That is not the case,” Finley said firmly. “It cannot be. You have an aura of spiritual energy, and you have accomplished healing magic before, so you were not born without the ability. You have never tried natural magic before. Many people cannot perform it on their first try. We may be able to draw out your spiritual energy with practice and through experimenting.”

“...Okay.”

Abrial felt something heavy and dark drop in her chest.

If she hadn’t even made the water ripple after that hour of sweat and near-furious tears, how could it be that she’d failed just because she was a beginner? If she couldn’t so much as shift the water a hair after all that, how could she ever do natural magic at all?