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CHAPTER 262
~Principal Whitmore's POV~
I had been dodging the summons for weeks. Carefully. Deliberately.
There was always something—an outbreak of hex fever among the first-years, a misfired portal that nearly swallowed the northern corridor, a staff dispute that supposedly required my delicate mediation. Convenient chaos, believable lies.
But the third letter was different.
It arrived glowing, sealed with the mark of the United Council of Alphas. The kind of letter you didn't ignore.
Not without consequences. No pleasantries, no option to reschedule—just a place, a time, and an order etched in binding runes I couldn't defy.
So now here I stood.
The chamber was colder than I remembered. Every time I came here, it felt less like a council hall and more like a crypt.
Ornate carvings lined the walls, symbols of legacy and law, power and punishment.
