*(A/N: Sorry... I accidentally scheduled this chapter wrong so it didn’t get released. And just so you know, I will upload three chapters tomorrow.)*
*******
It was a normal day.
Just like every other day.
The academy was quiet, students were everywhere. Classes were only half an hour away and everyone was heading to their classrooms.
And this academy... was very much in my hands. Jack and Maeve weren’t that powerful. So I was in control... I had been until just a few days ago, at least.
And now...
"Tch."
Aiden Tenebra.
Just rembering his face made involuntarily nervous. His confidence, his strength, his eyes that looked as if... as if he was looking down on everyone, on .
Yes... he won a war. He beca a hero, maybe he beca stronger than anyone else because of that... but he shouldn’t think he’s sothing just because he did it.
Couldn’t he have graduated quietly, without getting involved? Why bother with the academy when there are so many things he can accomplish using his status?
It’s annoying.
But... I’ll get rid of him sohow.
I picked up my watch and called the person who was, and indeed still is, my enemy.
"Cassandra! I didn’t expect you to call so early..."
His voice was the sa as always. Calm, but sarcastic... as if he had never seen the ground with in the arena.
He really had all the characteristics of the Laehera Family.
"Jack, you’ve taken care of everything on your side... right?"
Jack answered my question with a smile in his voice.
"Of course. It’s just that in a few days the rumors will be so bad that even he won’t be able to help. And we’ll act according to his answer."
"Make sure that everything is foolproof. Aiden... it may look like he’s on his own from the outside, but he needs a few people supporting him to be able to move so freely."
"You don’t have to worry so much. I will handle my side of things flawlessly, and as long as you do the sa... there will be no problem."
He was confident... just as he had been before the arena.
"Well... we’ll talk again after classes, then."
And... as much as I disliked his attitude, I had to tolerate it because he was soone I needed to build an alliance with.
"All right."
After the call ended, I looked out the window of my room one last ti, watching the students, the academy.
But I had classes too.
And if I wanted to be on ti, I had to leave now.
I approached the window, drew the curtain, and tidied up the room for the last ti. Finally, just as I was about to go out...
~beep! ~beep! ~beep!
I got a notification on my watch.
And the source of the notification was... my family.
My hand stayed on the door handle for a mont. I frowned, took a few involuntary steps back and double-checked the na I saw on the screen.
My father... was not soone who called often. Neither was my mother.
Both were always busy. They were both people who were always striving to rise up. Neither of them... was content to be a simple family under the na Potenbea.
I coughed slightly, cleared my throat, and spoke as respectfully as I could as I answered the call.
"Yes, Fath-"
"Co ho, Cassandra."
I stood completely still for a mont. I felt myself tense involuntarily as my already furrowed brow furrowed even more.
I might have... misheard, maybe?
"Excuse , Father. Can you repeat what you just said?"
"Co ho, Cassandra... right now."
What... exactly is going on?
"Is sothing wrong, Father? Why... why do you sound so bad?"
He was silent for a while. As if he wasn’t listening to , as if he didn’t even realize he was on call.
"Don’t question it too much, Cassandra. We’ll talk when you get ho... You... You just have to co ho."
And then he just hung up the call, not even waiting for to answer.
All thoughts of classes faded from my mind. Jack, Aiden, the academy... everything.
What could make my father like this, what could make him want to co ho imdiately... it couldn’t be good, after all.
*******
The na Bealy... was never a well-known na. It may have been one of the best-paid and best-positioned of the Baron families, but... it was never particularly famous.
There was a period when one of the daughters of the family beca the wife of a mber of the Potenbea family. But even that was short-lived and the Bealy na was forgotten again.
But being forgotten was not the family’s wish. In fact... quite the opposite, actually. That’s why it gradually turned into a family that would do anything to rise to the top.
Maybe it didn’t do anything illegal... but it beca a family that was willing to play dirty and try to sohow profit from almost everything.
And that’s what they instilled in too.
You have to make the family better.
You have to fulfill our dream.
You have to succeed.
It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s not illegal.
"Whatever you’re doing... stop doing it, Cassandra."
And now...
"Wh- what...?"
Why are they doing this now?
"What are you trying to say... Father? I stop doing what?"
My father, Steven Bealy, put his hands on my shoulders. His bright violet eyes, perhaps the most striking feature of our family, flickered, the color almost fading.
It was as if... he had seen a devil.
"The Academy... Cassandra... whatever it is you’re doing at the Academy, you have to stop doing it imdiately..."
I turned my gaze back to where my mother was sitting. Her expression was no different, as if she, too, had seen the devil.
"There’s nothing I’m doi-"
I paused for a mont, my eyes gradually widening as I stayed where I was.
The academy?
What I was doing?
These two...
"Aha, you’ve finally realized the situation."
Every word I heard echoed in my mind. I slowly turned around, ignoring my father’s hand on my shoulder, and then I saw the figure leaning against the door of our huge hall.
He had his usual smile on his face and a cane in his left hand. His gray eyes were on . Not only his expression, but even his eyes were... mocking .
"I thought you would be faster, though. So I’m a little... disappointed in you, Cassandra. I won’t be able to attend any of my classes today because of you."
Slowly, he straightened up from where he was leaning. He may have put his cane down gently, but the sound coming from it was so full and... echoing that for a mont I felt my whole body trembling.
I swallowed, couldn’t help squinting my eyes as I took an involuntary step back.
"What are you... doing here?"
He widened his smile and tapped his cane on the ground again. I heard my father drop himself into the couch behind as if the strength in his legs had disappeared. But... I couldn’t even check him.
I don’t know why, but...
I had a feeling I couldn’t make sense of.
"We talked the other day... don’t you rember?"
What was... this feeling?
"I said I’d crush anyone who got in my way, didn’t I?"
What made my body tense up so much, what made feel like I was almost out of breath...
"I just did not tell you how I was going to do it, that’s all."
Ah...
"And... that’s exactly what I’m doing."
When he was right in front of , he paused. His cane between both hands, his eyes with a slight twinkle in them... his calm and cold deanor. His gentle smile...
Is this...
"I crush my enemy."
Fear?
Am I... afraid of him?
"N- no..."
I clenched my fist, narrowed my eyes, and regulated my breathing.
It was an attack on private property. He was... threatening us here.
He wasn’t allowed to be here.
But before I could voice it, he reached into the pocket of his suit and my tongue tangled again. I could only watch what he was doing, silently... without reacting.
And what he pulled out of his pocket was... a card.
A card of the Holar Republic, a card that only the highest officials of the country have, but whose function is known to almost the whole world...
But he didn’t stop there.
He just dropped the card on the floor. And as the card fell to the floor like an insignificant feather, he pulled sothing else out of his pocket. And... it was a dallion this ti. A limited-use dallion that the Cevilian Royal Family gave as a reward to noble families, allowing them to demand a few things from the kingdom.
And Aiden dropped this one on the floor, unceremoniously.
The next things he pulled out of his pocket... were the stamps of the Quie and Potenbea Families respectively. Stamps that served much the sa function as the previous ones.
"Do you understand now, Cassandra?"
My knees suddenly felt weak, just like my father’s. I looked at the four things on the floor as if... they couldn’t be real.
Because they couldn’t be.
"How I’m gonna crush you."
Those who supported him... it couldn’t be...
I fell down, right on my knees.
"The Bealy Family... will end because of you."
He took another gentle step toward , as if he wanted to look down on even more.
"Because you oppose , everything your family has ever worked for will be a waste."
Waste... it was a word he didn’t really emphasize that much. But it grew and grew in my mind’s eye... I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening even more.
"All because you don’t know your place."
The four items he had just waved on the ground were carried away by the winds and flew away, in order and with perfect control, back into the pocket of his suit.
And... all Aiden did was smile gently.
"That’s all I have to say."
He turned around. Again, he walked away, step by step, every sound of his cane echoing in my ears in a way that shook my entire being.
"See you... good luck in your future life."
Holar Republic.
Cevilian Kingdom.
The Quie Family.
The Potenbea Family.
I paused, the group of his friends suddenly ca to my mind, and as my breath refused to leave my lungs, I realized what a big... mistake we had made.
The Virhen family...
Adrian Caleo...
And the ones he already held in the palm of his hand...
I realized how politically dangerous Aiden Tenebra really is... and how dangerous he will be in the future.
What a mistake it was to think that the person or the family who supported him was a simple person.
Because... Aiden wasn’t just a war hero. He hadn’t just won a war for the Holar.
"W- wait..."
But he didn’t stop. And... a certain sentence of his ca back to .
I’m not giving you a choice...
"No..."
I forced myself to stand up, tried to run after him, but I felt my father’s hands on my shoulder again.
I didn’t care. I pushed his arm back and ran to Aiden, not letting him grab again. I stepped in front of him, panting heavily.
There wasn’t even a ter between him and the door.
But now I was between him and it.
He tilted his head slightly to the left, looking at with a puzzled expression. But... without lowering his smile.
"I won’t care if you apologize or if you beg at my feet."
"I will withdraw... I will withdraw from the battle for control in the academy..."
"Even if you don’t withdraw, it won’t change anything."
"Don’t... Don’t touch my family, just... Just don’t do that..."
"I didn’t say what my thod would be. And you didn’t object."
"I will erase my na from my family... I will renounce my noble status..."
"But I want to make you do more... I want to see you destroyed, Cassandra. I want to see everything connected to you obliterated so that you can be an example to everyone. So that everyone knows what it ans to stand before ."
He widened his smile even wider. He slowly lifted his finger to my chin, pulling my head up.
"But... maybe I can make an exception for you. You are talented, after all."
He lowered his finger back down. He looked behind him, in the direction of my parents.
They were both looking... horrified... at where we were.
"Work for . Control the academy for . Be my right and left hand in the academy with Maeve. Live in my shadow. Separate your political allegiance from the kingdom... and give it to ."
Slave...
It’s no different than being his slave...
"But know this, Cassandra. You’ve already chosen to be my enemy once, you’ve already taken that risk once. And... I don’t like to give people second chances. So... don’t ever expect a high position from . Don’t go behind my back, no... don’t even think about it. Because the mont you do, I will know about it."
After his words, a blue glow appeared between us, followed by a system window... with a simple inscription.
It was a Mana Contract.
I swallowed, just staring at the word ’contract’.
Out of the corner of my eye, I looked toward my parents again. How scared they were, how their legs were stiff... how they looked like they were about to faint.
What other choice... did I have?
Aiden...
He had already won.
From the very start.
He was just... literally playing with us.
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