At present, Rosay was operating under her calm and refined personality. It cost her stamina, but it made her overly confident in return, and perhaps that was innate, given that she couldn’t remember the last time confidence had been something she lacked.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The third-year Calamities had been brought to the examiners’ room. By the time they arrived, only four instructors remained: Abigail, Mike, Rohan, and Stella.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

They eased into their seats and turned their gaze to the walls, every surface covered in projections of the first-year cadets’ citadel raiding simulations.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Instructor Abigail turned toward Rosay with a gentle expression, while Rosay watched in curiosity.

"Are you here to see your brother?"

Abigail smiled and spoke again before Rosay could respond. "I am as well. In fact, I believe we all are."

Instructor Mike laughed.

"I’ve already seen enough of that bastard."

Then, as if recalling something important, his expression darkened as he turned to Rosay.

"I take it you’ll be paying for the damage your little brother caused me, Rosalith? He managed to make my precious dummy artifact go berserk. Can you believe it? And he refused to pay for it."

Rosay shrugged lightly. "I’m sorry about that, Instructor Mike, but I’m already paying enough for that broke boy. You may have to contact my father."

Mike’s expression went up in shock. "The Duke?"

With a teasing smile, Rosay nodded.

Mike exhaled in disappointment. "Just forget it."

For all her proud, confident posturing in bringing the Calamities here to prove Leomaris’s worth, Rosay wasn’t sure of a thing. It had been a bluff from the start. What she truly wanted, more than anything, was to see what her little brother was actually capable of.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For the time being, the first-year cadets simply marched through the cold, their Calamities resting undisturbed in the cabin.

The carriage, being external to the simulation rather than part of it, meant that whatever the Calamities were planning remained hidden from view.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

More than anything, Rosay couldn’t see what Leomaris was planning. All she could do was watch as the nameless cadets, without reputation to their names, trudged through the cold.

Then they stopped, suddenly, without warning. The Calamities emerged from the cabin and began addressing the cadets, and before long the formation was splitting into groups.

Cassius leaned forward, eyes sparkling. "What’s your brother doing? Is he giving a speech?"

Celestial giggled. "He’s truly a leader. Who would choose to give such a heartwarming speech in a situation like this?"

Arthur was entirely unbothered, but Will was far from it. Rosalith, the Ace of the third-year cadets, had told him outright that a mere first-year cadet was better than him.

Unlike the others, he wasn’t watching Leomaris with admiration. He was watching him with contempt.

"Wasn’t this the same guy who gave a speech to his minions during the Strategic Warfare and Tactics exam?" Instructor Stella asked, sounding confused.

"I’ve heard of something like that, but I didn’t realize it was him. That guy is always dozing off in my class."

Rohan said, his expression slightly displeased, since none of the ladies wore anything revealing.

Even with the attention Leomaris was commanding from the very start, Rosay wasn’t pleased. She expected more than this.

Everyone admired him, her mother included, and she wanted to know why. What was it about her younger brother that captivated them so?

It wasn’t long before the simulation moved much further along, and everything Leomaris was doing was something Rosay would have done given his circumstances. Then something shifted.

Celestial leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she focused on Leomaris. "What’s he doing? Is he considering entering the citadel alone?"

Instructor Abigail leaned back in her chair.

"I believe so. His team is supposed to gather information on the others, but they have not yet encountered the creatures. Retrieving anything without more than the citadel’s layout would be a waste."

Celestial frowned.

"I get it. They want to assess the enemy’s strength first. But isn’t sending just one person into the fortress a bit reckless?"

Rosay’s eyes narrowed. She had been wondering the very same thing, though she believed she understood why Leomaris had made such a choice. He had been cursed and had likely figured out what it meant.

But how? The language was beyond even her comprehension. How had Leomaris deciphered it?

’I saw the mark this morning, and it was the same, the same gibberish writing as before. Did he figure it out by reading how others reacted to him?’

The questions felt as though they had no end. She had been certain Leomaris couldn’t read it — that was the very reason he had sought her help. Was she mistaken?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

While her thoughts wandered, something brought Will bolting to his feet, mouth wide open, pointing at Leomaris as though he had seen something that couldn’t possibly be explained.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"How? How did he move like that?"

Instructor Abigail and Mike shared a knowing glance before the laughter took them. Mike especially couldn’t keep it in.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Surprised, are you? This is nothing. I’ve seen him react fast enough to dodge spatial magic. Worse, four spells cast at once."

Will’s words sat heavy in his throat as he watched them treat something so extraordinary with such casual ease.

He had seen Leomaris move at an incredible pace... not once, which might have been dismissed as a fluke, but three times.

On any other person, those movements might not have turned heads, but for a first-year cadet who had been a Magician for less than a month, they were nothing short of extraordinary.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Even I struggle to move like that, let alone three times faster."

Cassius gestured for Will to sit, almost as if consoling him, and slowly, reluctantly, Will took his seat, still struggling to make sense of how Leomaris had moved.

"There was something unique about it, though... it didn’t seem like just a strike."

"It was as if his body acted for him... like a seasoned warrior responding on instinct," Rosay said, turning to Will as a soft smile formed on her lips.

Will hesitated. This was tantamount to saying Leomaris was more than qualified to work alongside the third-year cadets, and that sat uncomfortably. But he didn’t let his pride get the better of him this time. He admitted it.

Rosay exhaled quietly. A seasoned veteran?

’The only time I saw Leomaris train was before his enrollment, when he had to save his fiancée. When did he become a veteran...? Does this have anything to do with his ability?’

Barely a second after her thoughts came together, someone pushed the entrance door open, and the sight of them brought the entire room to its feet, instructors and all.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

He looked almost like a child: silver-blue hair, blue eyes, wearing a black robe that seemed to swallow him whole...​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

’The headmaster? What is he doing here?’

The headmaster broke into a broad grin. "I hope I’m not too late."