After the intense first day, the backyard was a sea of scattered spirits and heavy breathing. As the energy finally began to settle, a strange, quiet respect lingered in the air. One by one, the other students began to pack up their gear.
The "Queen" Vela gave me a final, lingering look before turning away, and even the twins nodded toward us in a silent acknowledgement of survival. Everyone exchanged their goodbyes—some short and curt, others like Lucian offering a cheerful wave—as they filtered out of the school gates to head to their own dorms or estates. The chaotic energy of the A1 class finally dispersed, leaving the three of us to walk back together.
The walk back to the mini-mansion was peaceful. The adrenaline had fully drained, replaced by a comfortable silence as we entered the familiar foyer.
Euphyne didn't even bother headed for the kitchen. He let out a long, dramatic sigh and started trudging up the grand staircase. "I'll sleep now," he called out, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "I'm tired." Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared into the upstairs hallway to crash for the afternoon.
I made my way to the living room and sank into the soft cushions of the couch, feeling the weight of the day leave my bones. Elphyete stood nearby, looking at me as I got comfortable.
"What's lunch?" I asked.
The moment the words left my mouth, Elphyete's pointed ears turned a bright, vivid red. She stiffened for a second, her hands fidgeting, before she managed to pull herself together and the redness subsided. She looked away, a small, secretive smile playing on her lips.
"It's a surprise," she said softly.
She turned and headed toward the kitchen, leaving me alone in the quiet of the living room. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes and listening to the faint sounds of her starting to cook. For now, the mysteries of my "Error" status and the power of the other stars didn't matter—only the smell of whatever Elphyete was preparing and the rare chance to just rest.
After a while, the savory, mouth-watering aroma of home-cooked food began to drift from the kitchen and fill the living room. Elphyete walked out, wiping her hands on her apron and gesturing for me to come to the table. She had laid out a spread that looked—and smelled—incredible.
I didn't hold back. I dug in immediately, and as always, the flavors were perfect. There was something about the way she cooked that felt different from any restaurant or formal banquet; it felt like home.
"I love your cooking so much," I said between bites, looking up at her. "Elphyete, I want to eat your food every day forever."
The reaction was instantaneous. Her long, elegant ears didn't just turn pink—they flushed a deep, brilliant crimson that looked like it was glowing. She froze mid-movement, her eyes wide as she stared at her plate.
"Oh... uhm... ehh... ok..." she stammered, her voice barely a whisper.
She ducked her head, trying to hide her face behind her hair, but there was no hiding how much those words had affected her. She sat down across from me, picking at her food with a shy, clumsy energy, her ears still twitching with that bright red hue. The silence that followed wasn't awkward; it was warm, filled only with the sound of us eating together in the quiet of the mansion while Euphyne snored away upstairs.
I laughed slightly, seeing how flustered she had become. "I'm sorry," I said, leaning back a bit. "It's just that your cooking is genuinely that good, Elphyete."
Her face managed to turn an even deeper shade of red, the heat reaching all the way to her cheeks. She looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her silverware. "T-thanks," she whispered, her voice soft and shaky.
I gestured to the space right next to me. "Let's eat this together. Sit beside me."
She blinked, surprised for a second, then nodded shyly. "Oh, sure..." She moved her plate and sat down, her shoulder brushing against mine. We ate in a comfortable silence, the tension of the earlier training completely replaced by the warmth of the meal and the quiet hum of the mansion.
Once we finished, the heavy post-meal lethargy combined with the morning's exhaustion finally caught up to us. We moved over to the large, plush couch in the living room. I leaned back into the cushions, and Elphyete settled in right next to me. Slowly, her head tilted until it rested against my shoulder, and I could feel the rhythmic, steady breath of her falling into a deep sleep.
The afternoon sun streamed through the mansion windows, casting long, golden streaks across the floor. Before I knew it, my own eyes grew heavy. Surrounded by the scent of the home-cooked lunch and the peaceful quiet of the house, we napped there together, undisturbed.
The soft, rhythmic sound of the mansion's grandfather clock echoed through the halls, a sharp contrast to the noise that had jolted us awake. Euphyne had come stomping down the stairs, clutching his stomach and lamenting to the empty air about the "tragedy" of an empty stomach and the sun having the audacity to set before he'd had dinner.
Elphyete, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a small, drowsy yawn, had just chuckled at his dramatics. "Sure thing," she'd said, her voice still a bit thick with sleep. "I'll cook something."
Dinner was a quieter affair, with Euphyne inhaling his portions before announcing he needed "beauty sleep" to maintain his dazzling reputation for the next school day. He disappeared back upstairs, leaving a lingering silence in his wake.
Now, the room was bathed in the cool, silver glow of the moon filtering through the window. Elphyete was already deep in sleep on her side of the room, her breathing steady and peaceful. I lay flat on my back, the mattress firm beneath me, staring up at the dark patterns of the ceiling.
My hand reached up, my fingers curling instinctively around the cold metal of the necklace resting against my chest. It was the only physical piece of my mother I had left.
I closed my eyes, letting the darkness take over.
The silence of the morning was shattered by a sound like a localized earthquake. A deafening, metallic CRUNCH echoed through the mansion, followed by the screeching of splintering wood and the heavy thud of stone hitting stone.
Elphyete and I practically bolted from our beds. We threw open our bedroom doors, hearts racing, and looked toward the right wing where Euphyne's room was located. The hallway was filled with a thick cloud of dust and plaster. Through the haze, we saw Euphyne standing at the edge of his doorway, looking down into a gaping, jagged hole where his floor used to be.
Down in the center of the first-floor living room, sitting amidst a pile of shattered floorboards and broken joists, was his massive, solid gold throne.
"NOT MY THRONE!!!!!! NOOOOOO!" Euphyne wailed, his voice reaching a pitch that could have cracked glass. He collapsed to his knees at the edge of the crater, reaching out a hand toward the luxury seat below. "MY MAJESTY! MY COMFORT! WHY HAS THE ARCHITECTURE BETRAYED ME?!"
It was a predictable disaster. Solid gold is incredibly dense, and that throne was so ridiculously heavy that it had been slowly taxing the mansion's structural integrity since the moment he hauled it in. It had only lasted a few days before the floor finally gave up the ghost and let the "dazzling" weight sink straight through to the foundation.
Elphyete stared at the wreckage, then at Euphyne's dramatic sobbing, and then at me. A small, tired smile twitched on her lips. "I... I don't think we're getting our security deposit back," she whispered.
I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "At least it didn't land on the kitchen."
"MY DIVINE SEAT!" Euphyne continued to shout, his EGO stat probably plummeting alongside his furniture. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO START THE DAY WITHOUT MY ELEVATION?!"
Euphyne stopped his dramatic wailing mid-sob, blinking through his fingers as Elphyete stepped forward. She didn't even look stressed; she just sighed, a gentle glow beginning to radiate from her fingertips.
With a graceful wave of her hand, her Creation Magic flared to life. It was a mesmerizing sight—shards of splintered wood rose from the first floor like a film being played in reverse. New, reinforced steel beams materialized out of thin air, weaving themselves into the structure of the mansion with a rhythmic clink-clink-clink. The jagged hole in the ceiling closed up perfectly, but this time, the floor didn't just look like wood; it hummed with a faint, magical reinforcement.
The massive gold throne was hoisted back up by an invisible force, settling into its original spot with a much more solid thud.
"There," Elphyete said, dusting off her hands with a satisfied nod. "It's fixed. And I made the floor stronger, so it won't happen again. It's okay now."
Euphyne leaped to his feet, instantly regaining his usual radiance. "AHAHA! AS EXPECTED OF MY COMPANION! THE PRINCESS HAS RESTORED THE KING'S RESTING PLACE!" He marched over and sat on the throne, bouncing slightly to test the new floor. It didn't even creak. "Sturdy! Magnificent!"
"We're still going to be late," I reminded them, though I was secretly impressed. Elphyete's creation magic was becoming much more precise and effortless, even if she still claimed to be physically weak.