“Did you see her eyes change color to red when she used the spell?” Yvain grasped Matthew’s shoulder, his hand trembling.

“What? You can see her eyes from this far away?” Alan asked.

“I used my Force. You two didn’t?” Yvain lied. He used his Vision to see further, and he was almost certain he saw her eyes change from purple to red for a split second.

“I don’t know if it was the lighting, some glowing effect from her spell, or if her eyes changed color. Why?” Matthew asked.

“That’s… a sign of emerging specialties,” Yvain said as he left them and walked down the stadium's stairs.

Alan stared at Matthew, who looked back at him. “You… have you been awakened?”

“For a while,” Matthew shrugged. “I look stupid because I don’t know a thing about the academy’s entrance exam, right? Well, that’s because I never cared about the academy before.”

They looked at Yvain, who would have flown down the stairs if he could, trying to keep his composure as he walked quickly toward the princess who was walking up to him.

“Until now,” Matthew grinned.

***

Blair froze when she saw Yvain’s expression. She immediately flinched and watched as he quickly walked down the stairs to approach her.

She bowed to the examiner, who looked at her with a business smile on his face, and headed in the direction Yvain was coming from. Sensing his urgency, and recalling his earlier caution about the Vision Resonator, she grew curious.

“My lady,” Yvain called out. “That was amazing!”

The boy descended to her and leaped over the stadium railing, landing right in front of her. “You must meet my Mas—I mean, my Mama.”

“H-huh?” Blair's face exploded in red. “Y-your M-Mother? Why…?”

“She’ll love to meet you, I promise. Please have dinner with us,” Yvain exclaimed.

“B-but we’ve just met! I-isn’t that skipping a lot of steps…?!” Blair nervously waved her hands.

“Steps?” Yvain tilted his head.

“W-well, we’ve just met today…” It had only been three hours since morning, and he was already casually inviting her for dinner with his family?

“Screw that,” Yvain chuckled. “I want to know more about you. Right now.”

Blair raised her gaze to meet his eyes. His look somehow made her heart tremble. He seemed very straightforward and casual, yet his words carried weight she couldn’t resist.

It felt like an order, more absolute than a request, despite his casual tone. Perhaps it was his demeanor—an attitude that suggested no one dared to challenge him easily.

Someone with great authority.

“S-sure… I guess?” Blair shrunk a bit, her face warm and fuzzy, her hands defensively over her chest, and her shoulders raised.

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“Thank you very much. I'm sorry for being sudden and rude, but I feel very honored, Your Highness,” Yvain beamed, and Blair narrowed her eyes.

As she looked at him again, she noticed something strange. She was small, smaller than him, but the boy seemed quite small that morning as well. Upon closer inspection, she realized she needed to raise her head higher up.

“Umm, Sir Sator… is it just me, or did you just grow taller?”

Yvain raised his eyebrows. Indeed, his clothes now felt a lot tighter.

“Hmm,” Yvain pondered, “Maybe it’s because I just awakened my Force in the test earlier.”

“Huh?!” Blair flinched in shock. “F-Force awakening… Come to think of it, how did you get here so fast after leaving for the Force test…?”

“Well, I passed after Young Lord Mossflower, and the test only took a minute of our time each,” Yvain explained.

“That’s right!” Matthew exclaimed from behind Yvain.

Both Alan and Matthew followed him down the stadium, and Alan continued Matthew’s statement, “We passed because, well, we had already awakened our Force.”

“It seems many people have awakened their Force this year. I believe we'll see more announcements during the entrance ceremony,” Matthew said.

“Well, including you and me, who awakened our Force before the test, we have a new one awakened right here today,” Alan grinned at Yvain, who just chuckled.

“You should’ve seen him, Your Highness! He was so cool! In the beginning, he suddenly let our examiner attack him, breaking the protection spell from his bracelet. We were so shocked?! Then he went woosh! Slash! Slash! Slash! And BAM! Suddenly, he awakened!” Matthew reenacted.

“Ooh…” Blair widened her eyes in curiosity, her face increasingly innocent as she listened, apparently imagining the situation. This just fueled Matthew’s fiery storytelling.

“He awakened his Force just right after he received an arrow to his arm! And then, he said coolly, “Hah—So this—this is Force?” while looking all handsome and bloody, and we’re like, huuuuuh? You’re awakening NOW?!”

Blair immediately turned toward Yvain’s arm. He was wearing a black suit, so she didn’t see any blood. The color of his scarf, used to tie around his wound, was also dark, making it less noticeable.

“Y-you’re hurt, but you came here?!” Blair asked.

“Ah, it’s healed,” Yvain said calmly.

“That’s crazy, right?! He already knew how to heal himself with Force! But what’s even crazier is when he said after he got hurt and awakened himself, “Senior,” and then, “Let’s continue the test,” and dashed forward! That was so cool! Whaaaat?”

“Stop, Young Lord Padparadscha,” Yvain felt embarrassed.

“But everything I told you until now is NOTHING compared to what happened after. Ooohhh, so it was the elven princess who tested us, right? And we’re like what are you doing?! Why are you being serious while fighting him?! Are you trying to kill him? And he—ow! OWOWOWOW OW OW!”

Out of the blue behind Matthew, a figure of a woman appeared, yanking his ear skywards—

“Well, well, well! Look who this is!”

Matthew turned around to find a woman there, yanking his ear in a way that felt all too familiar—“Ouch! That hurts! S-Sorry, Mom! Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!”

The woman was a mature brunette, sporting a robe with the academy’s emblem on it. Mom, huh? It turned out to be none other than Princess Bianca Lumine, the headmaster of Saint Lucia Academy.

“Oh, you ungrateful little rascal! So many kids dream of getting into this academy, and here you are, being a selfish little devil—oh, pardon me. Has this troublesome son of mine given you a hard time?” Bianca inquired calmly, all while still dragging and twisting her son's ear into the stratosphere.

“Your Highness,” Yvain awkwardly bowed, with Blair and Alan following suit.

“Alright, let's excuse this one. The boy must endure the test no matter what. You naughty little troublemaker, I’ll make you suffer!”

The woman dragged the boy up the stadium, probably straight to the Romeuf Stadium, to force him to participate in the test. The boy was screaming and getting dragged by the ear all the way there.

“Pfft—” Alan couldn’t help but laugh, and so did Yvain and Blair.

“Oh, right,” Yvain said. “I must invite you and Young Lord Padparadscha too. I will send an invitation through the Sator Merchant Group. Mama will be glad if you come.”

Alan and Blair looked at each other and smiled. Alan said, “Thank you. I will certainly come.”

Yvain turned to Blair and said, “And if dinner is too much, maybe lunch?”

Blair blushed, “I’d like that. Thank you, Sir Sator.”

Allies and enemies, Yvain must keep them close. Blair, the beloved younger sister of the first prince, Alan Mossflower, the son of the right hand of the Prime Minister… and Matthew Padparadscha, a son of a figure of great power in Inkia, and the headmaster of the academy.

But well, Yvain was still unsure of his connection with one missing puzzle piece.

Princess Nahwu.