The students trained until they were exhausted, and the Red Dragon finally demanded that they return home, well after their usual bedtime.
That let Karl take Rue to bed at a reasonable hour, and let the other dragons return to their rooms to prepare for the return to work in the morning. The only one that wasn't planning a big morning was Prince Lukas, as he was deliberately putting off all the interesting parts of his day for after lunch, so that Rue would be there to see that his day was more than endless boredom.
It was the opposite of how he usually did things.
Normally, he would get all the fun things done first, and then do the rest so that he didn't have the temptation to ditch the boring parts.
It was the only way that he got them done at all.
While Rue and Karl worked on her mana reserves for the morning, having her draw in increasingly large amounts with Cara's enthusiastic assistance, the Crown Prince focused on finishing all the paperwork waiting in his inbox.
