I wasn't even ten minutes into the lecture when I got in trouble with the Professor.

"Huff... Huff..."

My chest boiled as I stared at Leon's back.

All of a sudden, I started to regret so much. So... so much.

'Forty million? I'd sell him for less... Hmm, actually, not less. About the same. But I'd sell him!'

If someone asked me right now if Leon was for sale, I'd sell him in a heartbeat. No discount but for well-spent money.

Either way, they were the ones getting screwed.

"...The runes within the spells each contain a certain property that enables them to function. There's a reason why stronger spells have a lot more runes. It needs more of them in order for the spell to remain intact. Otherwise, the spell would break."

Despite the scolding, the lecture continued.

I tried to pay attention, but I could hardly understand what was happening. There was a lot of key information that I had missed out on due to my absence.

'I'll have to start studying again.'

The thought felt daunting, but I had no other choice but to do so. "Hm?"

As I lowered my head, planning on writing notes, I sensed a gaze.

That was when I met a pair of light yellow eyes. They stared deeply at me, unflinching and indifferently.

I couldn't detect a single hint of emotion in them.

'Caius.'

I frowned slightly.

'....I didn't expect him to be here as well.'

I only thought it was Amell and Agatha, but looking around I could see that there were more people.

In the far right of the classroom, Kaelion sat by himself.

As if sensing my gaze, he turned his head and met my eyes. He stared at me for a few seconds before nodding and shifting his attention back towards the lecture.

'Crazy...'

I didn't know how to feel about the situation.

This was out of my control and felt like a lot of trouble.

'More importantly, why would the Empires send their best prospects here? Wouldn't that be the equivalent of giving the Nurs Ancifa Empire leverage against them?'

....It made no sense at all.

And yet, there was no denying the situation.

I could only brush the thoughts away and focus on the lecture one more. Unfortunately, the confusion, added to my lack of understanding of what was happening made it impossible for me to follow along the lecture.

In the end, I spent a major part of the lecture just blankly staring at my notes.

By the time the lecture ended, I had only written a few words on the paper in front of me.

"The lecture will end here now. Make sure you study well for the upcoming examinations, and... make sure you're not late for your next lessons."

The last words were targeted right at me and Leon.

I hardly paid attention to them as I once again turned my attention towards Aoife who had started to pack up.

"For how long will they stay with us? A semester?"

"...No."

Aoife closed the book in front of her while neatly arranging her notes.

"Then?"

"... Indefinite amount of time."

Aoife replied in a flat tone.

"Indefinite? What...? How does this ma-"

"It doesn't."

Aoife cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"The first to push this were those from the Verdant Empire. Apparently, the Emperor and Empress personally came to make this happen. My father was more than happy to take the agreement. I'm sure you know why."

"Yes... But what about the rest?"

I looked towards Kaelion and Caius.

Aoife's expression changed slightly at that. Eventually, she shook her head.

"I want to know that too."

Placing her notes into her notebook, Aoife stood up and moved past me. I didn't try to stop

her and just watched as she left the classroom.

A shadow cast over me shortly after.

I didn't even bother looking at him.

"Go."

"...I didn't say anything."

"You don't have to."

"Why?"

"...Because I'm too busy thinking about how much I should sell you for."

"Uh?"

"Fifty million? Sixty...? I won't go below forty..."

***

"Help!"

"Someone...!"

"M-monster! Someone!"

Screams of despair echoed in the distance while everyone frantically ran away.

The scent of burning wood lingered in the air as a pair of hazel eyes looked down at him.

They were cold and indifferent.

Crackle~ Crackle~

A fire raged behind him as his clothes fluttered. He stood amidst the raging flames, his lips

slowly distorting into a smile.

"You should've seen this coming from miles away."

His voice was faint, drowned amidst the crackling and screams.

Yet, the mockery in his tone was unmistakable, cutting through the chaos around them.

"...You guys are worthless. You're worthless. Regardless of how much you try or know, you won't be able to beat me. I-"

To Tok-

"Uha...!"

Linus was startled awake by the sudden sound of someone knocking on his door.

"Наа... Наа..."

His breath was heavy, and sweat poured down from the side of his face. Looking back, his entire sheets were drenched in his own sweat as Linus realized what had happened.

'....Another nightmare.'

How many times has it been?

Linus had long lost count of the number of times he had seen the same nightmare over and

over again.

There... He saw Julien.

He stood before him while the estate burned behind him.

.... And he was without a doubt the one responsible for all of it.

Clench.

Linus's expression twisted.

The Nightmare... it felt all too real to be fake. Linus knew that what he was seeing was the

future. He was certain of it.

Especially since this was exactly the Julien he knew.

...This was something he'd do.

'I can't allow for it to happen.'

Linus's worries only grew once he saw just how powerful Julien had become. He was slowly

starting to become the person in his nightmares.

It was for this reason that he enrolled himself in Haven.

... It was so that he could stop all of this before it was too late. He needed to get stronger.

Being one of the top rankers in the first years was still not good enough.

His brother...

He had gone beyond that.

To Tok-

"Linus?"

The door knocked again and a soft voice echoed from behind.

"Huuu."

Linus took a deep breath and turned to the door.

"...I was sleeping."

"This late? It's the afternoon."

"I know. I woke up early to train."

Linus took off his new clothes and switched for new ones. His body was still sticky from the

sweat but this had to do as he opened the door.

Clank!

A thin figure with short yellow hair and blue eyes appeared.

"Linus...?"

Jacob called out, taken aback by Linus's haggard appearance. However, his face soon

scrunched up.

"...You stink."

"I know. I went to sleep right after training."

"The hell?"

"I was that tired."

"Doesn't make it right."

"I know."

Linus ruffled his hair and headed back inside. Jacob followed him in. Pausing, Linus looked

back.

"Why did you come here? Classes are over. You don't usually come at this time."

"Um? Oh, right!"

As if remembering why he had come, Jacob's eyes brightened, and he rushed over to Linus,

grabbing his hand.

"....Eh?"

Stunned, Linus tried to retrieve his hand back but Jacob's grip was too strong.

It was then that Jacob spoke,

"Your brother...! He's back! Hahaha."

There was a sparkle in his eyes as he spoke. On the other hand, Linus's entire body froze.

Brother...? He's back?

Right, his father had indeed mentioned it a couple of days ago.

So he...

"That's right! He's back! You seem surprised. Didn't he tell you? Whatever, whatever, please

introduce me... I watched the entire Summit and-"

'This...'

Linus gazed at Jacob, but his words faded into the background. Even though he was looking

directly at Jacob, his mind was elsewhere.

He was thinking about something else.

His brother...

'Ah.'

Linus bit his lips.

'He's finally here...'

***

Click-

The lights turned off, shrouding the room in utter darkness.

A pair of red eyes gleamed beneath the darkness as a figure sat in the middle, her entire body

trembling.

"Hoo."

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

Kiera could feel the beat of her heart drum loudly within her mind.

....It was all she could hear within the darkness.

She felt scared by the darkness that surrounded her from all sides, hugging her body tightly

while depriving her of any air.

Despite everything, the trembling body, the suffocating feeling, and the discomfort, Kiera

was able to remain seated without giving up.

She just sat in the darkness while her heart beat loudly in her mind.

Kiera sat for an unknown period of time.

The trembling of her body grew the longer she stayed in the darkness as she secretly

swallowed her saliva.

'A few more seconds...'

"H-hoo."

Each breath felt suffocating as anxiety started to gnaw at her.

Sweat poured down from all sides as she brought her teeth closer together.

'Just a little...'

Her entire body started to shake.

Her eyes widened.

"Kh."

A sound escaped her lips as her mind started to grow faint.

The silence and darkness started to overwhelm her.

Kiera clenched her teeth as hard as possible.

'More...!'

"Ukh."

Her toes curled inward.

The anxiety gnawing at her started to overwhelm her mind.

"No, that's it...! No-kh!"

Swoosh!

Flames erupted in the room as Kiera waved her hand. Instantly, the room lit up as Kiera

slumped down on the floor.

"Haa... Haa..."

Her chest rose and fell in a continuous manner as she breathed heavily.

"Наа... Наа..."

She was exhausted and her mind was faint.

However, this was necessary.

In order to get stronger... She had to embrace the darkness. She couldn't feel scared by it.

Otherwise, she would stop growing from there.

She... had no other choice but to get used to the darkness.

"Haa..."

Taking another deep breath, Kiera slowly stood up, using a clean towel to wipe her face and

hair.

As she stood up, she turned to face the table.

She lifted her head and focused on the wall above the table, where her eyes landed on a

multitude of papers and notes, all interconnected with red wires.

Pictures of figures appeared on the wall. Her aunt, Professor Bucklam, and several other

notable figures.

Eventually, her gaze settled towards the middle where a single image appeared.

It was...

The image of a four-leaved clover.

...The organization linked to her mother's death and to which her aunt also belonged. The one

place she needed to get rid of in order to get her revenge.