Overlooking the students relaxing at the celebration, Lady Kiana observed the faces of the students. She wondered how many bore deep new traumas, painted over by feeble masks of coping. Corrupted beasts were a mysterious and rare occurrence in this world. It was unclear how they were made and why they exist.

However, they were something an average citizen would only hear in reports and stories, never encountering one themselves. Even Lady Kiana had never seen one in real life before this. It was thanks to her prior research in an odd streak of interest in obscure subjects that she was prepared to deal with such a crisis.

The corrupted beasts don’t venture this far in. They were usually only encountered at the edges of the mapped world.

‘Perhaps we are beginning to see the consequences of Hunters’ absence. I should prepare my sisters for this becoming a less uncommon occurrence.’

Despite the traumatic experience it posed, Lady Kiana couldn’t help but be proud of the youth of this academy. It was the reason she also insisted they’d be rewarded. The fact that they managed not only to survive the danger but also to work up a plan to fight against it was truly miraculous.

While Kiana was deep in her thoughts, preparing for future troubles, Tanya quietly approached her, taking a position beside her.

“It was strange seeing you calling up students to the stand to congratulate them. I’m surprised Amanda allowed you to take over that role from her,” Tanya’s voice carried a note of scepticism.

Kiana chuckled, a sound that held both amusement and a hint of superiority. “She can’t be so imprudent as to hold a ceremony for her own shortcomings.”

Students were in danger. It was her responsibility to ensure their safety.

“For someone preaching about the safety of students being her utmost priority, this trimester sure had an awful start.”

“Perhaps we can hope this is the beginning of her downfall,” Kiana responded with strategic optimism.

“Ha! As if,” Tanya’s words were laced with resentment. “Considering what she got away with before, I’m highly doubtful.”

“She’s bound to have a weakness,” Kiana patted her on the shoulder compassionately. “Patience.”

Tanya looked away. Her gaze captured the students at the honoured table where laughter reverberated.

“I almost thought you were going to do something foolish when you shook that girl’s hand on the stage,” Tanya commented.

“I was tempted.”

“I’m surprised you held back.”

“Amanda has a special dislike toward that baby chick. I wouldn’t be so crass to paint a target on a student already out of her favour no matter how curious I am as to why.”

“You’re too kind.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” Kiana didn’t receive Tanya’s compliment. “Though, that quadripartite baby chick… It no longer seems like just a coincidence, right?”

Tanya’s gaze drifted toward Maya in the distance. A knot tightened in her chest, an unexplainable heaviness settling there. Every time she looked at the girl, she felt a mixture of curiosity and unease, although the reason kept escaping her.

“But it has to be. There’s no connection. I searched like mad, but there was nothing.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Hmm…” Kiana elegantly scratched her chin, gently brushing past her platinum hair. “That may be a good thing for us. If you were unable to find a connection, that means others didn’t suspect it either.”

Maya’s existence remains an enigma to Tanya. It often made her question her knowledge of the world. Could gods be throwing a sick prank?

“My instincts, as well as yours, are screaming that it’s no coincidence despite proof pointing otherwise,” Kiana concluded.

Tanya sighed. “Have you decided?”

“We have to tread carefully before they catch on. That little chick still needs to grow a bit before I approach her. Until then, you know what to do.”

“Yes, Lady Kiana.”

🜺🜺🜺🜺

Maya and Elena returned to their dorm room, the air was still heavy with the lingering tension from the celebration. Maya hesitated at the door, her hand on the knob, unsure of how to broach the subject that had been gnawing at her since the relay race. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the conversation that needed to happen.

Elena, seemingly unfazed, headed straight to her easel, silently retreating into her artistic sanctuary. The cluttered room now felt like a barrier, separating them emotionally.

“Can we talk, Elena?” Maya’s voice wavered with a subtle blend of vulnerability and determination.

Elena glanced over her shoulder, her gaze meeting Maya’s. There was a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes before she sighed and put down her paintbrush.

“Talk,” Elena replied, her tone devoid of its usual sharpness.

Maya closed the door behind her and approached Elena. The silence still hung in the room while Maya searched for the right words to address the underlying issues.

“I don’t understand why you’re acting like nothing happened,” Maya began, her frustration resurfacing. “You almost died back there because Isaac did nothing!”

Perhaps the thing that bothered Maya the most was the lack of any response on Elena’s part to Isaac’s misgivings. It wouldn’t matter whether she was mad and cross with him, or understanding and forgiving, but some kind of reaction would be acceptable. It seems both of them want to sweep this incident under the rug.

Elena sighed. “Maya, do you remember the reason I gave you for being interested in fighting?” she asked with a calm tone.

“Huh?” Maya furrowed her brows, grappling with the memory.

‘It was something ridiculous, like…’

“It’s dangerous to be weak?” Maya said, unsure.

Elena’s lips curled into a small smile at Maya’s success in remembering.

“At that moment, Isaac was weak. Weak people can’t protect anything,” Elena explained, firm in her belief.

Maya stared at Elena in bewilderment. With the response she received, her confusion only deepened.

‘Is that what she meant? It wasn’t that being weak puts you in danger, but being weak makes you a danger to others? This girl thinks in a way as if she had spent her whole life on a battlefield.’

“Is that how you categorize people? Into the weak and the strong? So you don’t concern yourself with Isaac because he is weak?” Maya pressed.

“What would be the point?” Elena replied. “It was also my fault for being weak enough to have to rely on such a weak person in the first place.”

Maya’s empathy shifted toward Isaac. ‘If he knew the way Elena was thinking, it would make him feel even worse.’

“Do you think of me as weak as well?” Maya asked, her voice small.

Elena looked at her almost pitifully and then turned away. “Those aren’t constants,” she said before abruptly leaving the room.

Maya stood alone.

‘Ah. I still don’t understand the way she thinks.’

Since the conclusion of the incident, Maya kept thinking about the world and the future. Her own flaws painfully came under the spotlight, and she made a decision.

“I’m going to need Elena,” she whispered out loud.

Elena was reckless, but she never struggled with resolve when needing to act. That aspect of her behaviour had lately been brushing onto Maya. Although Maya wasn’t yet there, having Elena nearby as a lead example would give her the courage to act.

During the incident, when Maya proposed her idea to her friends, Maya didn’t grasp at the time how much it meant to her when Elena listened ready and was willing to proceed with determination while her other friends wavered. Even facing the terror head-on, Elena didn’t choose to run when her life was in danger.

But to get Elena on her side completely, she needed to understand her.