Elias watched Professor Windsor leave, inwardly elated on being finally granted an opportunity to send a letter back home.

It had almost been a month since he had left home and become an Apprentice of White Helm, which meant that he hadn't heard from his family in that amount of time as well.

He could almost picture the expression of worry that must have been plaguing Sister Marie all this time, most especially his siblings to whom he had promised to send frequent letters.

He wasn't aware at the time that the academy had strict regulations in place for outside communication, as each student was only allowed to send out a letter once every month.

This was put in place to limit their parental dependence, as well as to foster a trait of strong mental fortitude that came with maturity and independence.

This restriction was mainly set up to checkmate the actions of any of the overly imposing nobles or elites, as limited communication would reduce the chance of them using their background to bully other students.

Elias was thinking about how he couldn't wait to rush to his dorm to write his letter, before realizing that two people had held onto his arms at some point in time.

He looked to his side and noticed Aamiya and Yves grabbing onto him before suddenly yanking him out of his seat and dragging him out of the hall.

Elias let all of this happen with a blank expression, thoroughly confused as to why he was being abducted and where they were taking him.

Damien, who was busy trying to finish up an assignment for his next class, missed all of this happening and was quite shocked to not see either Elias or Aamiya beside him once he raised his head.

He looked towards Ne'em with a questioning glance, while the latter continued to scan the pages of his story while pointing to the entrance of the hall.

"He was dragged out by Aamiya a little while ago. Don't ask me why, because I'm not aware as well."

Damien felt a bit confused as to why Aamiya would leave the hall with Elias but essentially brushed it off thinking it wasn't much of an issue.

They were both friends after all.

...

In one of the secluded corners beside the school cafeteria, Elias could be seen cornered by Yves and Aamiya, both girls directing cold and curious gazes at him respectively.

Yves especially gazed at him intently, as if ready to tear him apart if he said just a single wrong word.

This caused cold sweat to form on Elias's back, thoroughly confused as to what he had done to warrant such treatment.

He took a few seconds to collect himself, before posing a question to his two abductors.

"Why did you guys drag me out here? You two are acting very strange."

His question regarding both of them caused the intensity in Yves' eyes to deepen, bringing about a slight drop in the temperature around her.

She gazed at Elias for a few more seconds in silence, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

He was about to break away from the situation and leave, before finally hearing Yves speak.

"Why can you see me?"

Her voice was flat and direct but strangely wasn't unpleasant to the ear. She didn't mince her words but instead went straight to the point as if she didn't enjoy unnecessary talking.

Elias finally realized why she had been acting so guarded around him, as he too would find it strange if someone who previously couldn't notice his presence just a few days ago now suddenly did with no prior signs or warning.

Her reaction also confirmed that there was something purposely eliminating her presence and that it wasn't a fault from the mind of the innocent observers.

Elias had already noticed that apart from the professors, none of the other students aside from him and Aamiya could pay attention to the Apprentice with the identity of 'Yves', almost as if it was a drifting image in each of their consciousness.

This made it quite obvious that it was done on purpose by her, probably due to the fact that she didn't want her royal affiliation revealed during her time in the academy.

Elias sighed,

"I honestly wanted to avoid this discussion, but I guess nothing can be done about it." He looked at Yves, his gaze knowing and meaningful. "Your Royal Highness, the Third Princess Yves."

Immediately he spoke a sharp glint appeared in the Third Princess's eyes, causing the temperature around her to drop even further as a flurry of snow petals danced in the air.

Aamiya suddenly stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder while speaking in a soft voice. "Now, now... why don't we all calm down? Let's hear what he has to say first, there must be a reason why he is suddenly able to see you, don't you think?"

Yves continued to gaze at Elias intently but made sure to regulate the pressure emanating from her cold ability.

Elias sighed at the display, all the while dusting off the layer of frost that had formed on his uniform.

"Honestly I don't have an issue with revealing how I was able to see you, but I feel like that would be quite unfair on your part. This would have to be a two-way transaction for me to do so, in which we both share about the nature of our unique circumstances." He directed his gaze to Yves, speaking quite casually. "You have to trust me for me to trust you."

Stolen story; please report.

Yves appeared quite reluctant, which was a sharp contrast to Aamiya who had on a spurious smile.

She calmly whispered something to Yves, a whisper which reduced her hesitancy by a lot.

The princess then drew in a calming breath, before relaxing her nerves while backing off from Elias.

"Alright, I think that's fair. However, you will have to share yours first if that's okay with you?"

Elias felt like there was no problem with the request and agreed, as it didn't make much of a difference to him whoever went first.

...

Elias had already come up with a perfect excuse for the situation, so it didn't take long for him to narrate his experiences to both girls present.

He told them about how he was born with the gift of seeing beyond the physical presence, as his eyes enabled him to also detect someone based on their spiritual body as well.

He solidified it by saying that his eyes prioritize the soul over the body, meaning that he would be able to identify anyone so long as their soul wasn't concealed.

This was apparently how he was able to notice Aamiya during the banquet, as even though he couldn't 'see' her physical form while they were at school, he was at least able to pay attention to her spiritual signature, a signature which he noticed during the banquet that aligned with the presence of the Third Princess of Lorraine, Yves Aubrie Moreau.

Elias said that at that point it felt like a veil concealing his mind had been lifted, which then allowed his recollections of her in school to flood into his mind, further granting him the ability to see her.

This was a white lie of course because it was made up of both true and false statements. He told the truth in revealing the circumstances and the process but had switched out the main detail which was the usage of his Innate Blessing.

Elias could actually see spirits, a gift that he gained from the death side of his identity. It was a perfect excuse for the situation, especially because Yves would be more compelled to believe him if his explanation didn't lack a physical element.

He also tossed in the detail of his being able to perform minor healing, stating that he had been born with a unique constitution that housed traits born from both concepts of life and death.

His explanation took a moment to settle into the minds of both girls present, as they hadn't even suspected that Elias housed such a vast secret.

It took almost five minutes before one of them moved to speak, as Aamiya could be seen brushing aside her pink hair.

"Indeed, it all seems to make sense. I wouldn't have believed that you were holding onto such a secret if you didn't directly tell me yourself, Eli."

Yves calmly nodded, indicating that she agreed with her friend.

Elias simply shrugged his shoulders, as if not shocked.

"I'm more surprised about how the both of you aren't freaking out though. Isn't there a stigma surrounding anyone who has an affiliation to death? I half expected both of you to become quite scared and run off with disgust."

Aamiya scoffed, amused at what Elias had said.

"And why would we do that? It isn't your fault that you were both with such a weird constitution, and your Spiritual Resonance Test must have pointed to you having a much higher affinity to life, if not you wouldn't have been placed in your current Echelon group and may have been directly kicked out of the academy.

"Besides, irrespective of all of that you are a good person, so I fail to see why I would ever judge you over such a shallow reason as that."

Yves said nothing, but it seemed like she shared the same perspective with her friend.

Elias pursed his lips, feeling quite guilty.

The simplistic outlook on life of both girls came as quite a shock to him, making him feel a bit bad about lying to them.

'Sigh... I doubt you will be able to say the same thing if you knew the truth.'

Elias maintained his calm outward look before flashing Aamiya a coy smile.

"Well okay. Just don't go around being mad if I end up being a bad guy."

Aamiya rolled her eyes at him, before turning her eyes to Yves to gesture her to speak.

Yves nodded, beginning her confession with a steady voice.

"As you already know I'm the Third Princess of the Moreau royal family of Lorraine, so my attendance in the academy may have caused me a lot of problems. I'm a simple person who doesn't like attention, so if I attended the academy as the Third Princess it would have been very uncomfortable for me.

"Even if the teachers don't treat the students with bias, we the students regard each other based on power and standing. I didn't want to be a center of attention, and more than that I didn't want people to gather around me just because I was of royal blood." She took a breath, her cold eyes deep and calm. "I wanted to attend the academy as just 'Yves', not as 'Yves Aubrie Moreau.' "

Elias felt an undercurrent of emotions hidden beneath the last statement, as he could already tell that there was a deep story hidden beneath the entire thing.

He decided to not pry too much into her personal life, but instead asked a question he was more curious about.

"I see. Well, how were you able to conceal your presence then? It is actually quite startling to think about."

Yves pulled out a necklace hidden beneath her uniform, one which housed a small ice crystal embedded into a silver chain. The crystal glistened in the sun but showed no sign of melting from the gentle heat.

Yves held the necklace carefully as if to ensure it didn't slip from her hands.

"It is because of this. This was a gift given to me by my mother—the Queen when I made my intentions of living a simple academic life known to her. It has the ability to freeze and isolate the presence of its wearer at a single point in time, meaning that their identity from the point of wearing it would be erased and completely undetectable.

"Only people who were very close to me before I put it on will be able to notice me, hence why Aamiya could always see me clearly since we grew up as childhood friends. It was created by my mother, and I was told that I had to get a new one each year since its effects fade over time."

Elias listened with curiosity, his interest piqued.

"Then how come the professors are all able to notice you? I doubt they all have close relationships with you, especially the newcomers like Professor Windsor."

"Well, that's because it mainly affects anyone that's a Disciple and below, and not official Apostles. It can slightly hinder Apostolic Deacons from noticing me, but fails to work if they take the initiative to scrutinize me properly. It is also completely ineffective on Apostolic Priests and above, as my mother made it with the intention of blocking only the minds of students."

Elias ran over the details, now understanding why he had been able to see her.

'Indeed. Once I actually took the initiative to piece together the clues because she wasn't wearing the necklace during the banquet, I was finally able to instantly notice her. What a scary artifact.

'It also seems like most of our professors are at least at the Apostolic Deacon level, a suspicion which I have always had but still quite shocked to confirm. They act so normal, who would have thought?'

Elias nodded to Yves, giving her his thanks for trusting him with all of this. The cold princess simply waved it off but made him give his promise to not reveal her identity to any of the other students.

Elias swiftly agreed as he had never thought of doing so in the first place.

Aamiya clasped her hands cheerfully as she watched her friends near the end of their exchange, as if satisfied with how it had turned out.

"Well, That's that. I'm glad you two came to an agreement, but we should probably be heading back to class now."

Elias looked at her with confusion,

"Excuse me? I'm pretty sure I said this was a two-way exchange. You heard mine, so we aren't leaving until you reveal your own unique circumstances, Aamy."

Aamiya first looked clueless, as if not understanding what he was saying.

It took almost an entire minute for her to drop the pretense, as her previously soft and cheerful demeanor dissolved into a mature and domineering air, almost as if she had become an entirely different person.

She gazed at Elias amusingly, her voice cold and flat.

"Ha... You are honestly too smart for your own good."