Her heart felt relieved the moment she saw her brother walking towards the podium.

He was alive... that was what mattered the most to her.

Though she hadn’t been able to sense his actual rank, Alicia could tell that he was far stronger than her or even Noah, who had ranked second in the entrance test.

Kael’s speech too had been something that made Alicia re-evaluate her brother again.

He had announced scholarships for the commoners with no discrimination in its implementation whatsoever.

Many wondered how he had been able to amass such huge wealth in such a short period of time, but for the rest, it was a blessing.

Almost all of the commoners in the academy had now become the supporters of Kael, as he was now a sort of saviour in their eyes.

Diana too had been equally relieved seeing Kael doing well.

The only difference being that Diana took the courage to talk with Kael once again, even after everything that he had done to her.

Alicia on her part found it impossible to strike a conversation with him, as their last conversations in the past, just before Kael had left the banquet, hadn’t been the best.

Somewhere along the line, it was Alicia’s pride that stopped her from making any sort of apologies to remedy the situation.

But Diana on the other hand had sacrificed her pride and everything and had already apologized to Kael, resulting in her being able to freely talk with him.

Knowing what had happened in the past, Alicia still had her reservations over Diana being close to Kael, but in the end she was happy for her friend.

Alicia even envied Diana for being able to improve her relation with Kael.

Alicia had the chance to amend things whenever they were forced by Diana to eat with Kael in the cafeteria, but... Alicia couldn’t help but display hints of hostility towards her brother, owing to their relations in the past.

Relations that were destroyed for quite a few years.

Alicia wasn’t as adaptive as Diana, to be able to overturn everything and change the status of relations between them that had been on the negative side for quite a long time.

Still whenever she would see Kael, Alicia would try her best to tell her mind to take the first step, but somehow her courage would falter at the last moment, preventing her from doing anything that could rebuild their relation.

Kael too had never taken the initiative to talk with her or Kevin, which hurt Alicia more than anything.

It wasn’t that Kael was actively showing his hate towards them, though that would have been a manageable thing for Alicia—

It was the indifference with which he was treating them that made Alicia’s heart ache with pain.

It was like... for Kael, neither of them existed.

Though he had never shown it from the outside, Alicia knew that Kevin was hurt by this very fact too.

Still even after everything, Alicia couldn’t muster the confidence to take the first step.

Diana seemed to have noticed it too, but she didn’t say anything to Alicia, letting her take her decisions by her own will, and Alicia was grateful for that.

She didn’t want to be seen as someone who was weak at heart, like how she had always been in her childhood.

Alicia wanted Kael to see that she too had grown over the years, but maybe, her way to showcase her growth wasn’t the best, as Kael hadn’t even uttered a single word since coming to the academy.

Alicia felt alienated like never before, and seeing Kael’s indifference towards her and Kevin, she felt like she wasn’t seeing her brother, but some stranger who just seemed to have the face of her brother.

And the most hurtful thing was that, Kael was positive in conversing with Diana.

Though Diana had been proactive in her approach, still that didn’t explain the way in which Kael talked with her.

Though he wasn’t friendly with her, and to outsiders it may seem like Kael was treating Diana with indifference, Alicia could notice the faint signs of interest that he showed while talking to her friend.

It was like... he was open to having good relations with Diana again, or maybe that was just something that Alicia felt and not a reality.

But now after seeing Kael bringing Diana from the palace for the assignments, Alicia couldn’t dismiss her thoughts.

Indeed Kael had now once again grown close to Diana, as could be seen from the way in which he was going along with everything that Diana was saying.

But—

Never did Alicia expect that Diana would become so aggressive in her approach that she would directly ask her about her thoughts regarding Kael.

Alicia had been blank at first, and didn’t want to respond, as her pride wouldn’t allow it, but somehow Diana’s words had a magical effect, making Alicia agree with things that she would have never agreed to, and that too in front of her brother.

’Hug him.’

The moment Alicia had heard those words, her first thought was to leave the scene and not show even the slightest hints of the expressions on her face, but Diana... she was having none of it.

Still, somewhere deep within, Diana’s words had given Alicia the courage to finally rebuild her relation with her brother again, but Alicia was never going to directly accept that. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

This resulted in her portraying the situation as Diana forcing her to hug her brother, but Kael... his response made Alicia’s heart ache again.

’You don’t have to.’

That was what he said.

As if it didn’t really matter to him whether Alicia wanted to see her family together again or not.

Alicia wanted to run away, as the humiliation was being a lot more than what she could handle at the moment, but Diana’s statement—

’This might be the last chance that you will ever get to remedy the situation.’

Diana’s words made her realize that this might very well be the only opportunity for her to speak what was on her mind for a long time.

The only chance when she could somehow stop her pride from clashing with the thoughts in her mind... in her heart and her soul.

Looking at Kael, Alicia could see that he had already closed his eyes, as if bored by whatever was happening around him.

"Excuse me."