The next day, students gathered in their classes for regular lectures.
Aurelia noticed the space first.
Not the empty chair beside her. The space around it.
The classroom was full, yet something about the air felt thinner, stretched. Students adjusted their seats by small, careful margins. No one sat close to her. No one looked at her for long.
She took her seat anyway.
Back straight. Chin level. Hands neatly on the desk. Discipline was easier than thinking.
The chair beside her scraped softly against the floor.
Aurelia's fingers twitched.
Chris sat down as if the seat had always been his.
He did not hesitate or glance around. No pause to measure reactions. He simply placed his bag beneath the desk and leaned back, relaxed in a way that felt almost deliberate.
The room noticed.
Not openly. Just enough.
The whispers didn't stop. They shifted.
She's got someone on her side. Who's he supposed to be? Doesn't he know?
From the other corner of the class, Celine watched quietly.
She was positioned perfectly. Near the windows on the front. Close enough to be seen, distant enough to appear modest. Her hands rested neatly atop her desk, fingers folded, posture gentle.
She looked exactly like someone who had been wronged.
Her gaze drifted, idly, and landed on the boy beside Aurelia.
The unfamiliar one.
Her smile faltered for half a heartbeat.
"That's the guy who was talking to Aurelia yesterday. Who is he?"
She searched her memory. Routes. Side characters. Background students. She knew them all. Or she should have.
"No name." "No route." "No relevance."
And yet, he was sitting there.
Calm. Unbothered. As if the entire room wasn't leaning away from that desk.
Celine's lips curved again, slow and indulgent.
"Ah." "I see."
So that was it.
A nobody seeing an opportunity.
"How predictable." "A fallen noblewoman. Isolated. Vulnerable." "He must think this is his chance."
Her interest faded almost immediately.
A man like that could only want one thing: proximity to status. Even tarnished, Aurelia was still above him. The idea amused her more than it concerned her.
"Let him play hero." "He'll tire."
She returned her attention to the front, her expression gentle and unassuming.
----------------------------------------------
Aurelia spoke first, keeping her gaze forward. "You don't have to," she said quietly.
Chris tilted his head. "I know."
"…Then why?"
"Because I want to attend to the lecture," he replied. "And this seat just so happens to have the best angle."
She almost smiled. Almost.
Aurelia exhaled slowly. "They'll think poorly of you."
Chris shrugged. "I don't care about others opinions."
She finally looked at him finally.
"You haven't done anything," she said.
"Yes, I usually don't do much anyways" he answered smugly.
Before she could respond, the doors opened. Heels struck marble with measured confidence.
Instructor Caitlin Viremont entered the room.
She was a woman in her early thirties. Tall and sharply composed, her silver hair braided tightly down her back. Her Grey eyes brimmed with confidence and her movements precise. Her uniform was a deep purple, trimmed with silver thread and reinforced at the shoulders. Her body had a mature charm. She had a noticeable chest. Her large, strong and round hips swayed as she moved, covered by her long purple skirt. A silver sword hung at her side, ceremonial but well-used. The faint scent of steel followed her.
Selene's eyes swept the room in a single pass.
Her expression did not change.
"Good morning," she said. Her voice was calm, firm, and utterly uninterested in gossip. "Take your seats properly. Today's lesson will require attention."
She turned, drawing a circle of magic on the chalkboard with a flick of her hands.
"Magic," Caitlin continued, "is not power. It is expression."
A few students straightened unconsciously.
"Each of you is born aligned to a single element," she said. "Flame, Aqua, Earth, Wind, Electrco, Light, Shadow. This alignment does not change."
She glanced at a red-haired student whose flames sputtered eagerly through her flowing hair.
"What does change," Caitlin went on, "is how you manifest it."
She opened her palm wide, magic manifesting through it.
A blade of silver steel formed in her hand, solid, shinning and humming. Hovering above her outstreched palm vertically.
" Some individuals like Prince Lucas and Miss Aurelia of House Valen, channel magic through weaponization. They integrate light magic and flame magic into their swordsmanship respectively."
Aurelia stiffened as several heads turned toward her.
Caitlin continued as if nothing had happened.
"Others reinforce their bodies. Some manipulate terrain. Some throw projectiles. Some alter perception."
Her gaze drifted, briefly, toward Celine.
Celine lowered her eyes modestly.
"Now," Caitlin said, dismissing the hovering construct, "Another important part of our lives, skills. Skills fall into two categories. Innate skills and acquired skills."
Chris thought to himself. "This part matters, I should take this chance to know more about this world."
"Innate skills are born with you," Selene explained. "They reflect temperament, talent, and sometimes… fate. They grow slowly, shaped by use and understanding."
She tapped the board.
"Acquired skills are different. They are obtained through cards."
A murmur rippled through the room.
"As you all know, Cards are naturally occurring magical substances," Selene said. "Absorbed by living beings. Sometimes passed. Sometimes lost. They grant abilities outside your natural inclination, within the bounds of your element."
A student raised a hand. "And if someone uses them frequently?"
Caitlin smiled thinly. "Then they improve. Evolve into stronger tier of themselves"
The room quieted.
"Cards are not just magic learning tools. Cards fuel economies," she continued. "They elevate status. Increase personal strength. With the right skills, the course of one's life can be changed"
She turned away from the board.
"That is why their distribution is regulated by the WCA."
A pause.
"Since many of you may pursue careers that involve card management, Oversight, Enforcement. Some may also join the Hunters Association. What you do with your knowledge and powers, is a choice you will have to make yourselves." Her tone made it clear this was not a casual talk. "You will learn more when appropriate. For now, understand this: cards are not toys."
Chris felt it then. A faint pressure.
Caitlin's gaze swept the room once more, lingered for a split second on Chris, then she continued the lecture for the next hour.
After a while the bell rang.
"That will be all for today. Lunch break."
Chairs scraped. Conversations ignited. The class emptied quickly once the bell rang.
--------------------------------------------
Chris slung his bag over his shoulder and glanced towards her "Lunch at the cafeteria?"
Aurelia paused mid-step.
"…No," she said after a moment. "I know a better place."
He blinked. "Better, how?"
She hesitated, then turned down a side corridor instead of answering.
Chris followed.
They passed through an archway partially hidden by ivy, the noise of the academy fading with each step. The stone path curved gently, opening into a small garden tucked behind one of the older wings. It wasn't grand. No fountains or statues. Just trimmed hedges, pale blue flowers blooming stubbornly between stone tiles, and a single wooden bench beneath a tree whose leaves filtered the sunlight into soft patches.
Aurelia stopped beside the bench.
"This is… quiet," Chris said.
She nodded. "People don't come here much. It's out of the way."
She sat down, smoothing her skirt automatically before placing her bag beside her feet. Chris took the other end of the bench, leaving a careful, respectful gap between them.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Birdsong filled the space where conversation hadn't yet decided to exist.
Aurelia opened her bag and took out a neatly wrapped lunch. Simple. Bread and Butter, sliced fruit, a small container of soup sealed tightly. Everything packed with military efficiency.
Chris produced his own meal, far less orderly. A wrapped meat roll, slightly squashed, and an apple with a visible bite mark already taken.
She noticed.
He noticed her noticing.
"…It helped me survive the morning," he said.
"That's good," she chuckled.
They ate in silence for a while.
It wasn't uncomfortable. Just unformed.
The bench was worn smooth by time, the wood warm where the sun touched it, cool where shadows lingered. A breeze stirred the leaves above them, scattering dappled light across Aurelia's hands as she held her soup.
She broke the silence first.
"Why are you helping me?"
Chris paused mid-bite.
"I don't think I am," he said.
She looked at him.
"You sat with me. You walked with me. You're here with me."
He considered that sentence, chewing slowly. "How's that considered helping again?." he asked.
"That IS helping. You stayed with me when no one even looked at me" she said diligently.
Chris swallowed. "Then… I guess I didn't like the alternative."
"Which was?"
"Doing nothing. Just standing on the sidelines"
"Which is funny to me because I usually prefer that option" he smirked
She studied him again, more carefully this time.
"You don't know me," Aurelia said. "You don't know if I deserve it."
He shrugged lightly. "But your fiancé knew you. So did your friends. Yet they choose to believe Celine"
"That's different."
"Is it?"
She frowned, searching for an answer, then sighed. "People usually want something."
"And you think I do too?"
"I think," she said carefully, "that you chose a strange time to be kind."
Chris leaned back slightly, resting his hands on the bench.
"I suppose I've always been bad at timings." he smiled.
She huffed, a faint sound that might have been a laugh if she'd allowed it.
They sat in silence for a while
"Aren't you afraid of being outcast too?" Aurelia asked suddenly.
"I am afraid," he replied. "Just not of that."
"Then what?"
He glanced at the garden. At the quiet. At the way the academy felt very far away from this bench.
"Pretending I didn't notice," he said. "Becoming Someone who cannot speak up for themself and someone who decides their actions based on others opinions, not their own desires"
Aurelia lowered her gaze to her soup.
She said after a while. "I thought… if I followed the rules closely enough, everything would sort itself out."
Chris nodded, as if that made sense.
"And now?"
She stared at the rippling surface of the broth. "Now I'm not sure what the rules are anymore. I am questioning the values I upheld all my life"
"Well, isn't that good in a way? If your way of thinking does not change over time, you wont be able to grow as person."
Aurelia nodded silently.
They sat with that. No dramatic comfort. No promises.
Just shared uncertainty.
When they finished eating, Aurelia carefully repacked her things.
"This place," Chris said, standing, "you come here often?"
"Yes."
"…Can I come again?"
She hesitated, then nodded. "As long as you don't tell anyone."
"Of course," he said. "That would defeat the purpose."
As they left the garden together, the academy noise slowly returned, creeping back into the edges of the world.
But something lingered. Not trust. Not completely yet.
Just the quiet understanding that neither of them was completely alone anymore.