"Is that so?" she said with a soft smile.
She continued looking at me with that same warm expression, the kind that made it obvious she genuinely cared about how people were doing.
Then her gaze slowly moved away from me and toward the rest of the room.
"Everyone," she said.
Her eyes scanned across the table carefully, landing on each student one by one. She didn't rush it. She made sure every single person felt included in what she was about to say.
And just from the shift in her tone, it was obvious that this wasn't casual conversation anymore.
"I'm sure many of you are already aware that something unusual has been happening within the castle," she began.
The room immediately became quieter.
"Right now, the Kingdom stands on the brink of a civil war. There are factions attempting to seize control of the throne."
Soft murmurs spread across the table.
A civil war.
Even if the term sounded unfamiliar to some of the students, the meaning behind it was easy to understand.
