Sylaphine's Perspective:
I remember how I straightened in alarm, my wings humming faintly with magic. "Ivy, listen to me. Where is Victor Sterling?"
Silence for three heartbeats. Then a whisper, almost drowned by wind:
"H‑his group disappeared first… I‑I found them, mother. Victor's… he's… his body…"
A muffled sob.
"H‑his body was broken, all twisted, like something beat him apart even after death. His face distorted and tortured mercilessly. I ran, I couldn't look again… there were eyes, mother… glowing blue eyes watching me from the dark… glowing through the rain—"
I remember Sylaris joined the link then, her tone sharp but concerned.
"Blue eyes? What creature, Ivy? Describe it."
"I‑I don't know! I don't know! They were just there— closer each time I blinked—"
Her breathing turned frantic. We both tried to calm her, Sylaris's voice steady, mine edged with command.
"Ivy, think. Did your class have enemies? Anyone with a reason to sabotage you?"
"N‑no! Victor was loved! He was kind! He said we'd win together… he said he'd make us proud—"
She paused. The sound that followed wasn't crying anymore — it was trembling words that barely shaped themselves.
"But… something did happen before the exam…"
My pulse quickened even in the memory. "What happened, child?"
"The visiting day… when parents came to see us… t‑there was someone… I can't—"
The connection faltered again, a shriek of wind and thunder blurring her voice.
"No—! M‑mother—! Those eyes— they're here— I see them— I—"
I remember shouting her name through the ether, my voice echoing uselessly through the storm.
"Ivy! Remain calm! You carry my blessing— no magic can touch your soul. Breathe! You are safe! I will bring you back here the moment its dangerous."
Her voice came one last time, soft, breaking apart like wet paper:
"I'm hiding… i‑in the bushes… it's cold… mother… I'm scared…"
And then nothing.
"Mother…" she stammered, shivering. "Most of the parents… they came. Even… even the Emperor. Princess Rose Valentine's father… Class A was… perfect… shining… but…"
Her voice faltered, and I tightened my grip on the arm of my throne, eyes narrowing.
"But during the gathering," she continued, teeth chattering faintly from cold and fear, "Victor's father… Monsieur Sterling… he heard a student's last name… it… it was Everhart."
I froze mid‑ though. Everhart…? How? Impossible… he told me he was born in celestine, he said he was… a normal child.
"What about him?"
Ivy swallowed again, tremors in her tiny voice. "There was… a fight, mother. Victor's father… he… he went to that student… Kaiser Everhart… asked him about his name. Said… that Cartethyia Everhart… once was his spouse… but she could not bear him a child. Even as a Lady in Waiting. He… he didn't fear saying it… told Kaiser that when he heard Victor's mother was pregnant with his child… he left Cartethyia… for her… to have a rightful heir."
Her words fell like shards. I felt the thread of memory tighten around my senses.
"And…?" I prompted.
Ivy's voice quivered. "He… mocked him, mother. Told him he… shouldn't use the last name. That he was… unworthy… just an adopted child… that he could never be hers."
"Why… why say such a thing?" I whispered in the memory, though my mind flared with a sharp, cautious edge.
"Disappointment, mother…" she stammered. "Cartethyia… went missing… he said she left her normal life… serving the Empress… to raise a… pathetic child… who couldn't even wield magic… and was here… in the academy… he pitied her. And… he said… she probably died because of him. No matter what… he'll never be her son."
I felt my wings twitch subtly, the hairs along my spine rising.
"And Kaiser?" I asked, keeping my voice measured, though the storm of the memory pressed in.
"He… he was quiet. Hurt, maybe… I never… really knew him. He was always with Elfina… the Class C leader… but he… never did anything remarkable. Always invisible… lowest grades… a laughingstock. Sometimes… We laughed… at him. But…" Ivy's voice faltered, the static of her fear catching in the threads.
"But?" I urged.
"But… he told Monsieur Sterling to shut up. Said… he didn't know anything… shouldn't be judged… neither he nor his mother."
I exhaled softly. "Responsible… he must have cared. Maybe even blamed himself. But why would that make enemies with Victor?"
Ivy shivered. "Mother… when Kaiser spoke back… Victor… he snapped. Pushed him, said he must know his place… and Kaiser… he fell. We… all watched. Even the Emperor."
The wind of the memory howled around us, biting at Ivy's tiny wings. Her voice flickered through the storm.
"M‑mother… I‑I'm cold… the storm… so cold…"
"Don't worry. I'll bring you back if anything happens," I said, steady.
"I‑I… t‑trust you, Mother…"
A pause, then her voice returned, small and broken. "While Kaiser was down… Elfina wasn't there. Most classmates… they just… watched. Nobody helped. Nobody tried. Just… stared."
The shame in her words hung between us.
"V‑Victor… really admired his father," she said, voice soft and breaking. "A‑always told me he was his r‑role model. A man of h‑honor and dignity. Pure… n-noble blood. B‑but when Kaiser told a noble like him to 'shut up'… he just… snapped. I've never seen him so angry. He—"
Her voice faltered.
"He… said hurtful things, Mother…"
"Like what?" I asked, quietly.
Ivy shivered. "He mocked Kaiser… his family… even his mother. Didn't care about his father's past… didn't stop, even when others tried."
"What did he say?"
"I… I can't remember everything. But he… humiliated him in front of everyone. Called things… names… implied things about his mother. The worst."
I felt a cold tightness in my chest.
"Kaiser… he punched the floor," Ivy whispered. "Hard. Like he wanted to break the world beneath him."
Her words shook, full of guilt. "Victor… he didn't stop. Kept going… mocked him for everything… said he was worthless… a failure… a mistake… the worst of them all."
Ivy's voice wavered. "…He called her… his f‑father's used mistress."
The wind hissed through the memory.
"I… we… we used to laugh too," Ivy said, her voice small and hollow. "W‑we thought it was just another day. Everyone laughed. M‑mostly our class. The group of twenty. W‑we even joined Victor. I remember..."
My tone dropped. "Did you do anything else, Ivy?"
"N‑no, Mother," she whimpered. "I just… laughed… because Victor did."
"You shouldn't laugh at things like that, Ivy. It was wrong."
"I k‑know, Mother… I know… now that I think about it… it was so wrong… b‑but now…"
Her voice trailed off.
"Tell me," I said softly, "did Kaiser fight back?"
"H‑he didn't… not until Elfina arrived. He just… sat there, silent, taking it all. She d‑defended him, stood up to Victor, even challenged him. But Victor's father stopped it. And Kaiser… he just… looked at them."
"Looked?"
"Y‑yes," Ivy whispered, her tone almost breaking. "He looked at Victor. His father. All of us. His eyes… they weren't angry anymore. They were empty. Completely empty. Like everything inside him was gone. And then he said…"
She paused — the storm's roar filling the silence.
"He said, 'I hope you live long enough to regret it.'"
The way she spoke it — trembling, yet certain — made the air in the room colder.
"No shouting. No fury. Just… emptiness," Ivy continued. "We all thought it was just him trying to act tough. Some poor commoner's pride. We even laughed again… but now…"
She inhaled sharply, the link flickering with fear. "M‑mother… now I think… he's the one who destroyed us here."
My eyes lifted slowly, the present world bleeding back into focus — the throne room, the dim glow of magic, the human bowed below me, silent, calm, unreadable.
"That's…" I murmured.
"Mother… I hear footsteps…" Ivy's voice trembled through the link, thin as thread. "I‑I'm so scared…"
"Ivy, do not worry," I told her, closing my eyes to strengthen the connection. "I've cast another blessing upon you. My authority protects you. A mere human cannot harm a fairy under my grace."
"I‑It's just… so cold," she whispered. Wind howled behind her words. "The storm won't stop… and the footsteps—they keep getting closer."
"Ivy, calm yourself. It's only a human, not a demon."
"No, Mother…" her voice cracked. "Please… don't underestimate him. Please."
A chill crawled up my spine. "Ivy—"
"SAVE ME, MOTHER!" she screamed, her cry breaking into static.
"Calm down, Ivy! I said it'll be—"
"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE HIM!" she sobbed. "He… he did it all! I'm going to die!"
The sound of her breathing turned ragged, frantic—like someone drowning on land.
"Ivy!" I shouted through the link. "Why are you screaming?!"
"He's in front of me!" she gasped, voice shattering. "I can't—his eyes—his eyes are so cold! I can't breathe!"
For a brief second, her sight came through to me. Through her trembling vision, I saw a figure in the storm: a man standing just beyond the treeline, rain slicing across his body. A sword hung at his side, its edge darkened with something the rain couldn't wash away. Blood of the victims.
His face—pale, streaked with red—was expressionless. Only his eyes moved, dark blue blue, fixed on her. His judgement upon her.
He stepped forward once, and Ivy fell to her knees.
"Mother…" she whimpered, barely audible. "Please… save me…"
Then—silence.
The memory snapped apart. The connection died.
I opened my eyes in the white chamber, the air around me still as ice. Before me, Kaiser knelt, head bowed, the same blue eyes now hidden beneath his dark hair.
Ivy never spoke again after that night. Her blessing failed. My protection failed. Somehow he bypassed my authority and silenced her for laughing at him…
None of it made sense.
He said he was a farmer's son with a family once. Born in Celestine. But Ivy's story and his… they couldn't match, like truth and lie stitched into one body. He was a walking talking contradiction to magic itself.
I rose slowly from my throne. The light of the room dimmed against the edge of my suspicion.
He lifted his head. Those same eyes met mine—unblinking, ancient, and eerily calm.
"You lied to me. Even with the slave crest…" I whispered.
He was never in my control. He was acting...
For a heartbeat, there was only silence between us.
Then his lips parted.
And he smiled.
A slow, terrible smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Took you long enough," he said softly.
"Didn't think a Milf like you would figure it out so late."
I was… Deceived.