After the principal's speech that left the students in utter silence, another professor came on stage. This professor wore a long black robe that hung around his body like a curtain. He was over seven feet tall, and his body was heavily built, and yet the robe was still large enough to hide him within.
He looked at the students with a smile—a friendly smile that was a little too friendly, but it was enough to put most of the students at ease.
"I am Professor Lucius Benignus Verus. You can just call me Lucius," he said. His voice was very warm, and even Hildr found herself being pulled in. She quickly trembled and pulled herself back to reality.
She did not know what was going on, and she was not sure whether it was good or bad, but she was not willing to leave her fate in the hands of others. This was what her father had taught her from the moment she was born. She had to always be in control of her fate. This was the only way to reach the top and achieve all her goals.
The moment she pulled back, the professor looked at her and smiled. There was no shame on his face, since what he had been doing was nothing sinister. It was meant to help the students calm down after what they had gone through with the principal. He was using his power to take away the anger that students had gained due to the principal's speech. By doing this, he was the one on the losing end, since this anger would end up within his mind.
After the professor gave a warm speech, he stood on the stage and looked at Hildr with his eyes wide open. Hildr was prepared for what would come next.
"I now invite this year's Prodigy," the moment he said this, Hildr stood up and walked up to the stage. She walked with confidence and a charisma that not many could have. She was in complete control of herself and her surroundings.
She walked up the steps. At this moment, murmurs broke out all over the hall. Principal Audax was not too pleased, and she did not hide her feelings on the matter.
"She is the best-performing student this year. She got perfect scores in everything. In fact, she made a new record by getting the best results since the academy was opened."
By now, Hildr had already reached next to the professor and waited in silence. Her blue eyes looked out at the masses with indifference, and her body gave off a faint aura of superiority.
The professor said nothing in response to her. He still had things to say, but he moved to the side and allowed Hildr to take over.
She stepped forward and looked at the students. These students ranged from about seventeen to nineteen years old. Since they were Otherkind, they were considered to be very young, since some of them would live almost eternally.
Among the students, there were a few oddities like Hildr, who were thousands of years old but, due to unique circumstances, they were allowed to join the academy. For Hildr, it was well known that thousands of years ago, when she was just nineteen years old, she had been kidnapped by a group of powerful Otherkind who tried to kill her. When they realized that they could not do so without facing too many consequences, they sealed her in a sarcophagus after mummifying her body.
They then hid her as far away from her raging father as they could. No one truly understood why these people had done this and gone so far. The only message these people had for the world was that Hildr was the Cursed Princess, and if left on the mortal plane, she would lead to the end of the Otherkind.
When the people looked into what Hildr had done to deserve such a fate, they discovered that she had indeed committed a lot of evils in the few years she had been alive. She had killed many powerful people all over the world, and she had even done so without her father's knowledge. Her murderous nature toward her own kind was clear, and so the masses agreed with the mysterious organization that had apparently acted in the name of righteousness.
This organization left behind its name in history. After that incident, they appeared several more times, and each time they acted, it was to serve all that was good and righteous. This organization was called Eterna, and apart from their desire to spread righteousness, this was the only thing known about them.
Still, the fact remained that Hildr had only lived for nineteen years, and the thousands of years after that did not count since she had been sealed. Everyone knew the Night King had only recently been able to find the sarcophagus and unseal his daughter.
Even though the principal was against enrolling Hildr, she had been forced by the rules. Hildr passed all the tests with the greatest possible scores, and not only that, she sent an explanation for the crimes she had committed in the past.
After the academy council read through her explanation, they were left shaken. They could not believe what she had written, but after investigating a little, the evidence she had sent along with her message was easily authenticated. They were left with no choice but to allow her to join the academy.
With her logical explanation, the academy no longer had a valid reason to stop her enrollment, and on top of this, her father was a known madman who had rampaged all over the world in search of his daughter. If they were to stop her enrollment for no reason at all, there was a very good chance that he would declare war on the academy. Even if he did not go this far, he could order the Children of Night to leave the academy. Since he was the Night King, they had to obey. The Children of Night made up over forty percent of the academy's students, and they also provided over sixty percent of the academy's revenue. To lose this Otherkind would leave the academy in a very bad situation.
Hildr hinted at this possibility in her message. She was clearly threatening the academy, but there was nothing they could do, since her threat was very feasible. Apart from the explanations and the threats, there were a few professors and members of the council who supported Hildr's enrollment. These people were all Children of the Night.With their support and all the other factors at play ,even the principal was left helpless.