At the podium stood the five Calamities of the first year, Leomaris at the front, quietly briefing the class on their approach to the Great Citadel raid. Those in attendance were first-class cadets and the various faction leaders from the remaining classes.

"As she did during the Citadel simulation, we will divide into classes: knights, casters, thieves, assassins, flight, and tanks. Each faction will be restricted to a single role."

Leomaris paused, letting his words hang, golden eyes moving steadily from one cadet to the next. He knew doubt was sitting heavily on most of them when it came to the importance of this mission, and he intended to lift it.

"There will be no points rewarded, and unlike the simulation, death is real. But do not underestimate this by thinking the cons outweigh the pros. We must succeed in this mission if we want to remain cadets in this academy. Failure will remain on our résumés."

Murmurs coursed through the hall, though a single clearing of his throat was enough to silence them and pull every eye back to him.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"I believe we all enrolled here for a reason. If you wanted a sheltered life of a scholar or to avoid gore and conflict, you would have gone to a university, or continued living off your family’s fortune like a burden."

"But no, you came through these walls because you had a dream. You want respect — to be a hero, a war mage, a ruler, a legend — because you want to leave your mark on history. Something worth being proud of."

He paused.

"None of this will be possible if we fail this mission. Not even the academy will respect us if we fail, and our dreams will become nothing but dreams. That is why the price of this mission is our lives. If we die out there, it means we were not ready, unprepared for our own desires."

As if he understood exactly what they were feeling, the seriousness left his expression and a warm smile pulled at the corners of his lips. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"But that won’t happen. I believe we are all more than capable of surviving this mission. And after it, we will look into our mirrors and be proud of who we are becoming; the kind of people who walk through death’s door and return alive."

The class looked motivated, and Leomaris was glad to see it. He knew the mission wouldn’t be hard enough to kill anyone, after all, the person they would be facing was Einstein, and Einstein was little more than a Brainless black mage at this point. There was nothing he could do.

But they needed to believe in the cause and trust that they were facing something truly threatening. Their actions that day might be the very thing that helped him recover the two items in Einstein’s possession and, beyond that, to deal with those coming after his head.

While he stood there, someone leaned in from behind and whispered:

"You are doing well, Leomaris. Now explain the plan in detail. They will need time to prepare."

Leomaris turned to Lucius and exhaled. He had been seeing Lucius with Raine more and more lately, and she had even left his faction to join Lucius’s.

He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but they were the main characters of the novel after all. What mattered most was that Raine would help him retrieve the Ascension Chest when the time came.

His gaze found Raine almost on instinct as he looked back across the class.

For just a moment, all he could see were those horrific, enormous eyes suspended above her, staring down at him. A sign that she had indeed been cursed. But his focus soon shifted.

She looked as though she hadn’t been sleeping enough... not that there were any dark circles to show for it, but he felt he knew her well enough to tell.

Instinctively, his hand found his back, where the mark of the curse lay. Raine couldn’t come near him. Whoever had placed the curse had made certain of that, ensuring that anyone who could heal him would never be able to get close enough.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

But this was Raine, and she was more than capable of removing the curse from a distance. The problem was that Leomaris wanted it there. Without it, his plan fell apart.

’Does she look this sad because Ren hasn’t returned? Hmph... her emotions begin to override her logic without her. But it’s not time for that kind of character development yet.’

He buried his thoughts, his expression shifting into something more serious, and turned to the class once more.

"We will be heading to the mountains at night. This should give you enough time to prepare and plan in accordance with it."

A cadet hurried over at his command, carrying a board with their plans displayed perfectly, exactly the way he intended his enemies to see them.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

—

Raine’s POV:

’Why does he look so confident? Does he truly believe in us that much, or is it just overconfidence from our success during the simulation?’

Raine’s gaze slowly found Emerald, who sat among Leomaris’s faction as though she belonged there.

The irony was hard to ignore. The very person who planned to kill him, right there in his corner. Worse still was the casual conversation she was having with his butler, a smile on her face as though she truly cared for her.

’Leomaris already knew she hated him. So why did he add her to his faction? Was it optimism... or foolishness?’

A part of her wanted to transfer the guilt. She knew Emerald intended to kill Leomaris during the raid and that she wasn’t doing it alone, but the fact that Leomaris had actually killed her father wouldn’t stop nagging at her.

If Leomaris truly had done it, then punishment was only right. But almost as soon as that thought settled, her expression darkened. Something crossed her mind that she hadn’t considered before.

’What if Leomaris never did it?’

She gave her head a quick shake, pushing those thoughts aside.

’Why would someone feel this level of rage toward someone innocent? And Leomaris had never truly been the innocent type. His reputation alone makes it clear what he is capable of.’

A slight shiver ran through her, as though her soul itself were pushing the words away.

She had been a target, marked for death, not long ago, all because of the pain Leomaris had inflicted on others. Letting go of that side of him just because things had recently changed wasn’t something that came easily.

’Ren...’ The thought settled quietly in her mind as she leaned back into her seat, a broken look crossing her face.

Getting used to her maid’s absence was something she would never manage.