[ 40th Aquanis 1749 | Yuvel | 07:34 | Dormitory Room 231 ]

  Despite it being her day off, Catherine opened her eyes to the early morning light. Her gaze immediately drifted to the adjacent bed, only to find it empty of the one person she so deeply yearned to see. A fleeting spike of panic gripped her chest, but it dissolved a heartbeat later as reality set in: Artalis had left.

  Reluctantly turning onto her side, Catherine stared blankly at the wall, attempting to impose order upon the chaotic current of her thoughts.

  I wonder why Arta never takes me with her to Sumerenn? I am a guardian mage's assistant, after all. Does she really lack faith in my abilities?

  The mere thought paralyzed her. She rolled over abruptly, then threw herself out of bed.

  Nonsense. Arta would never simply forget me. And besides, what place do I have at the funeral of Queen Margaret’s consort?

  She hastily pulled on her uniform and skirt, which had been dutifully waiting for her in the wardrobe. With swift, practiced movements, she bound her hair into a tight ponytail, snatched up her keys, and slipped out of the room. Though she had arranged to meet Eloisa, she needed to eat and gather her strength first; only then would they head to Lilian's together.

  It was a simple, straightforward plan. A faint smile touched her lips as she stepped out into the crisp air. Her boots clicked sharply against the academy's cobblestones, keeping a brisk rhythm as she breathed in the spring morning, making her way to the dining hall. There, at the far right table, sat Lilian in quiet solitude, her missing eye concealed beneath a golden patch.

  Catherine approached the serving counter, swiftly procured a simple potato casserole and a cup of herbal infusion, and made her way toward her friend, who was picking at a bowl of cottage cheese and raisins with a melancholic air.

  "Morning, Lil," Catherine greeted with a gentle smile. "How are you feeling?"

  "Morning, Catherine!" Lilian replied, her demeanor brightening noticeably as she finally looked up from her plate.

  Catherine pulled her tray closer. She cast a brief glance around the hall to ensure no unwanted ears were listening before continuing. "Eloisa Garci and I were planning to come visit you today after breakfast."

  "Eloisa Garci? She's in the music club, isn't she?" Lilian asked, her tone driven more by polite obligation than genuine curiosity.

  "Yeah, that's her. But now I'm not so sure it was a good idea," Catherine confessed, drumming her fingertips against the edge of the table in quiet frustration.

  Lilian shrugged lightly. "I'm always happy to see you, Catherine. If you want to bring Eloisa along, I don't mind," she replied softly, picking up her fork. "By the way, do you know if Arta will be back soon?"

  Catherine arched an eyebrow. "Did you need something from her?"

  Lilian offered a broad smile. "Not that I need anything exactly... I was just hoping she’d continue teaching me magic control."

  Catherine swallowed the heavy sigh resting on her lips. She certainly didn't object to Arta tutoring Lilian, especially since those lessons always took place with her present. But right now, with Artalis gone, any claim on her time felt like a personal intrusion.

  "I'm sure she'll train with you as soon as she gets back. It's just that right now she's..." Catherine cut herself off. "Wait. How did you even know Arta left?"

  Lilian giggled. "Is it really that hard to notice? You follow her around like a puppy!"

  A faint blush stained Catherine’s cheeks. "I do not! We just share a room and take the same classes!"

  "Oh, let it go, I'm not judging," Lilian said, waving her hand dismissively. Her gaze drifted toward a group of first-year girls entering the hall, and her posture stiffened. "Let's just eat and get out of here. I don't want everyone staring at me."

  "I'm sorry, Lil," Catherine replied with deep sympathy, acutely aware of her friend's vulnerability. "Enjoy your food."

  "You too," Lilian murmured.

  They spent the rest of their meal in a comfortable silence. Fifteen minutes later, they deposited their trays at the counter and left the dining hall, setting their course for the third dormitory.

  『 ?? 』━━━???━━━『 ? 』

  [ 40th Aquanis 1749 | Yuvel | 08:23 | The Academy's Inner Park ]

  Catherine and Lilian strolled unhurriedly along the stone-paved paths of the academy's inner park. But as they neared one of the benches, Catherine spotted the exact people she desperately wanted to avoid. Reina sat with her legs crossed, recounting something with animated, sweeping gestures. Beside her sat Beatrice, hanging onto her friend's every word and movement, balancing a precarious stack of red-bound books on her lap.

  Knowing full well she had no desire to tangle with them, Catherine quickened her pace and muttered under her breath to Lilian, "Let's walk past them quickly."

  Lilian didn't need to be told twice. Understanding that Catherine wanted to escape a thoroughly uncomfortable interaction, she gave a curt nod and matched her hastened stride. Yet, avoiding the collision proved impossible. Reina possessed phenomenal peripheral vision when it came to potential victims of her attention.

  "Hey, girls!" Reina’s ringing voice sliced through the crisp morning air. "What’s the rush? Not even going to say hello?" Reina slipped effortlessly off the bench, closing the distance in a few quick strides to block their path, cutting off any chance of retreat. Beatrice remained seated, merely adjusting the top book in her stack as if terrified the entire tower might tumble to the earth.

  "Ren, are we not allowed to have our own business to attend to?" Catherine asked, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

  "Well, if you put it like that, of course you can." Reina paused, a wide, knowing smile spreading across her lips. "But let's be honest, you're on your way to see someone specific, aren't you?" She theatrically pressed a finger to the corner of her lower lip and cast her gaze aside. "Now, I wonder who that could be..."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Lilian closed her solitary eye, shook her head, and looked away. Catherine, however, dropped her hands and stepped half a pace forward, boldly invading Reina’s personal space. The situation she found herself forced into yet again struck a deep nerve, and she simply couldn't let it slide.

  "Your omniscience is exhausting, Reina. Just like these cheap theatrics," Catherine hissed. "Are you ever actually yourself, or is your entire life just a terrible play where you're the only actor?"

  "Oh!" Reina dramatically clutched a hand to her chest and spun toward the bench. "Beatrice! Did you hear that? I'm being accused of being fake! Tell me, am I overly theatrical?"

  Clearly flustered at being dragged into the confrontation, Beatrice tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Yet, perfectly understanding the script her friend demanded, she answered quietly, "No, Reina. I wouldn't say that. Rather... you're expressive. Like Isabella from The Crown of Thorns. Remember the scene in the rose labyrinth by the silver fountain?"

  "Oh, a classic!" Reina’s face lit up, completely forgetting Catherine for a fleeting second. "I adore that moment. I'm so glad things worked out between her and the Countess, despite the Duke's schemes. Though I'm a far cry from Isabella... she had a poisoned dagger, while I only have good intentions."

  "Well, it was just the closest comparison," Beatrice smiled shyly. She rested the hand that had just fixed her hair atop the uppermost book, her fingers delicately tracing its spine. "I just try to be accurate about these things."

  Reina skipped over to her friend, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and planted a loud kiss on the crown of her head. Beatrice flushed a deep crimson.

  "I know, Bea! You're the best!"

  Catherine watched the spectacle with mounting irritation. The two of them were speaking in their own coded language of romantic plots, erecting a wall Catherine had absolutely no desire to look behind.

  "Do you really think this circus impresses me?!" Catherine snapped, finally losing her grip on her emotions. Her voice cracked, betraying the raw anger simmering beneath.

  Reina immediately pivoted back, the mirth in her eyes instantly replaced by a mask of utter boredom.

  "Cat, you're entirely too impulsive. It ruins your complexion." She waved a dismissive hand toward the third dormitory building. "If you want to go see Eloisa, we won't keep you. Though, she might not actually be there. But you don't care about that, do you?"

  Reina's words rang in Catherine's ears like the maddening whine of a mosquito. Making a show of turning her back on Reina and Beatrice, she realized she had lost this verbal duel.

  "Let's go, Lilian," she spat sharply, accepting her defeat in this round.

  "Let's go," Lilian echoed, her voice steady and calm.

  Catherine marched briskly toward the third dormitory, the weight of Reina's mocking gaze burning into her back. Catherine knew she was right, that this was merely a strategic retreat, yet she still couldn't fathom the shape of the game she was being dragged into.

  『 ?? 』━━━???━━━『 ? 』

  [ 40th Aquanis 1749 | Yuvel | 08:37 | Dormitory No. 3, Room 341]

  Catherine rapped her knuckles against the wood in a series of short, demanding knocks. No one rushed to answer. It was only as she drew her hand back to strike again that the latch clicked, and the door creaked open. The figure on the threshold was not Eloisa, but an unfamiliar brunette. Her hair, black as pitch, was swept up into an intricate, towering hairstyle—a structural marvel that surely demanded hours before a mirror. Keen brown eyes stared back at the guests with an absolute void of interest.

  "Who are you looking for?" the girl asked, doing nothing to hide the exhaustion seeping into her voice.

  "We're here for Eloisa," Catherine replied, her tone even and composed.

  "Alas, she isn't here." The response dripped with profound apathy, lacking any desire to engage with their problem. Yet, a moment later, she turned back into the room. "Gabrielle, do you have any idea where Eloisa wandered off to?"

  "Nope," a gruff voice echoed from the depths of the room. "But her violin is still here, so she didn't go to practice," Gabrielle added with a faint chuckle.

  "I see, thank you. By the way, it's strange that, unlike Gabrielle, this is the first time I'm seeing you." Sensing she was being kept in the dark, Catherine decided to shift her tactics. "I haven't been in my first year for very long, but I usually have a good memory for faces."

  Lilian delicately tugged on the sleeve of Catherine's uniform, cutting off the brewing interrogation.

  "This is Nita Kraur, a student from the Arzanir Empire. She transferred here recently." Lilian offered the brunette a polite smile. "Nita, this is Catherine Holu, second year."

  "A pleasure." Nita stretched her lips into a wide, painfully insincere smile that failed entirely to reach her eyes. "In any case, Eloisa isn't here, and she isn't hiding under the bed."

  "My apologies then, but where exactly did she go? We agreed to meet this morning..." Catherine stared directly into Nita's eyes, hoping the direct approach might extract the answer she sought.

  "Like I said: she’s not here. And she didn't report her destination to me..." Nita stifled a yawn behind her palm. "Although, some plump girl came by yesterday and handed her some book. Honestly, this room feels like a public thoroughfare sometimes."

  Catherine froze. The information struck her with a sharp, unpleasant precision. It meant Reina had orchestrated this entire sequence yesterday. Exploiting Eloisa’s vulnerability, she had slipped her one of those idiotic romance novels—and she hadn’t even dirtied her own hands to do it.

  "And she just... took it?" Catherine asked, a dull, heavy irritation swelling in her chest.

  "Yeah, she took it. And bolted out first thing this morning to read it, muttering some nonsense," Nita shrugged with utter indifference. "Where to look for her now? I don't care. But I can tell her you dropped by."

  "Alright..." was all Catherine could manage.

  Nita gave her a final look, shook her head, and shut the door with a soft, yet incredibly eloquent thud. Catherine was left standing in the corridor, blinking at the brass numbers '341'.

  "Well, so much for seeing Eloisa," Lilian remarked, shaking her head. "By the way, if it isn't a secret... what are those books Beatrice and Reina read about?"

  Catherine closed her eyes for a fleeting second. Lilian’s question had caught her off guard—not because it was difficult to answer, but because of the sheer agony of the memory it invoked. The cover of Petals on a Cold Blade flashed before her mind's eye, the exact book Reina had pressed into her hands with a sickly sweet smile, presenting it as an instruction manual for conquering Artalis's heart.

  Frame by grueling frame, the humiliating scenario Reina had entangled her in played out in her head, culminating in the pathetic note that had ended it all. Even now, simply recalling it made Catherine wish the floor would swallow her whole.

  To her, Reina's books were no longer merely 'forbidden literature.' They were a concentrated dose of lies and hollow hopes, destined to shatter against reality with a deafening crash.

  "They're romance novels from Anix. Absolute bottom-tier trash," Catherine said, turning away to hide the shadow of old humiliation flickering in her eyes. "I was foolish enough to read one... I genuinely believed it held answers. But it's just garbage. A sweet, implausible lie that has nothing to do with real feelings."

  Lilian gazed thoughtfully out the corridor window, watching the sunbeams dance across the glass. She didn't know the underlying history, but the raw sincerity in her friend's voice left no room for doubt.

  "Honestly, I'm not surprised authors from Anix have wretched taste." She shifted her gaze back to Catherine, a look of calm acceptance shining in her good eye.

  "Alright, since Eloisa is a lost cause, why don't we go hang out at my place or yours? After all, why waste a day off being miserable? There are already enough things in life forcing us to be sad all the time."

  "In that case, let's go," Catherine smiled, a wave of profound relief washing over her. She had managed to save face, keeping the true, humiliating root of her hatred for Reina's 'literature' a secret.

  "Let's go, Cat!" Lilian replied cheerfully, genuinely glad she would spend the day with her friend.

  Soon, they were strolling together toward the second dormitory building. Catherine forced Eloisa and those idiotic books out of her mind, convincing herself that if those lies hadn't worked on her, they wouldn't corrupt Eloisa either. However, she failed to account for the precise details that Reina had meticulously calculated long ago. The new script, hastily set into motion, was already bearing its first, bitter fruits.

  Arbiter Visions installment, feel free to leave a comment with the character’s POV and the time period you’re interested in.