It started with a bouquet. An innocent, lovely bouquet of fresh wildflowers—glimmering with dew, wrapped in silver lace, and tied with a soft pink ribbon. It was sitting atop Emilia's desk when she arrived for class, just as the morning sun painted golden rays across the academy's stained-glass windows.
It also reeked of nightshade, arsenic, and an ancient Elven poison historically used to assassinate dragons.
"Oh! How sweet!" Emilia smiled, oblivious to the toxic aura radiating from the floral deathtrap. "Someone left me flowers~!"
Across the classroom, five very specific women froze.
Princess Seraphina's hand twitched toward her wand.
Drakana dropped her sharpening stone and cracked the floor.
Rosette's eye twitched with the precision of a triggered magical proximity sensor.
Lilia began chanting a purification prayer in Ancient Old Holy Husband Latin.
And Alicia—who hadn't blinked in three minutes—slowly, very deliberately, set her tea cup down.
