Sol.

Sol Vassilea didn't understand.

She had been totally and cleanly defeated by Bianca, who should have been at her side laughing at her jokes, like her former friends Caroline and Ashe did, grateful that she had accepted her as a friend at the academy.

And yet, she never did.

That lesser noble approached her at the beginning and Sol was cordial with her. They chatted, she liked her, and she opened the doors of her social circle to her and her two other friends—all nobles belonging to families less illustrious than hers.

However, Bianca ignored her and completely isolated herself at the academy for over two months. Then she began frequenting none other than the second prince, for whom Sol had been pining since she was a child.

Vincent had once saved her from a snake that slipped into the garden where she, her sister, and Erika were playing with their dolls. It was autumn. Their families had been invited to one of the royal estates for a hunt.

The snake was behind her favorite doll and when she picked it up from the ground, the snake—not very large but terrifying for a child of such a young age—reared up threateningly. Sol shrieked in fear and her friend and sister froze, not knowing what to do. Then Vincent appeared, grabbed it by the tail, and threw it far away.

It turned out later that it wasn't venomous, but she didn't care. At that moment her retinas captured the vision of a boy with golden eyes and sun-like hair who, with determination, removed the danger from her and then asked if she was alright. That image, years later, she still treasured in her memory.

In her family, nothing was said about betrothing them. After all, thanks to her sister, they had already secured the best marriage alliance possible with the royal family. However, Sol kept dreaming that someday her prince would kneel before her and ask for her hand.

Instead, it was Bianca who had joined his group and who seemed to be getting closer and closer to him. Moreover, that day in the dining hall when Vincent told her she wasn't welcome at his table, she felt as if her heart shattered into a thousand pieces. And she blamed Bianca for all of it.

She had to do something to put her in her place.

But instead, she let herself be deceived by the seemingly harmless earth mage. First the position of first queen of the ball, then the hand of her prince. And now... now she had returned the attack in a sudden fit of rage and it turned out the only one who looked guilty was her.

Now, she was before the headmaster, who had been pulled from the ball to go to his office. They had taken her there while Bianca left for the infirmary.

She had to wait for the headmaster for twenty long minutes, accompanied by two guards. Afterward, his lecture had been epic. She had never been spoken to like that.

It became clear that her attack on Bianca from behind was more serious than it seemed, because now she, being engaged to Vincent, was part of the royal family. Luckily her sister was too, since she was the future queen. And her father was very influential in the kingdom.

All of that meant the headmaster sent her to her room to wait until the next day, when he would tell her the punishment.

She didn't even defend herself. What for?

Bianca had healed her, there wasn't a trace of her punches. Who would have thought the mediocre earth mage also had light magic.

Maybe she hadn't even paid anyone to collect the trials materials for her.

She'd have to investigate her.

If she still had her head on her shoulders, of course.

An execution... she trusted her family could save her from that. Her days at the academy, however, she suspected were numbered.

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The headmaster, who had dismissed the two guards when he arrived, didn't assign one to accompany her back to her room. Normal, the academy was full of surveillance on the day of the ball and, besides, he trusted the sermon he had given her.

As she walked, Sol realized the ball must have ended. Her plan with Mary... she was probably already too late for it. Nevertheless, she passed through the gardens, in case she saw her.

Mary was on a bench, with Theodore.

She shouldn't... she'd already thrown enough shit on herself with the Bianca thing... But this was more Damien's thing. She was only going to separate her from Theodore.

She started walking toward them and stopped, hesitant.

She didn't know why, but she imagined her friend Erika looking at her with concern and shaking her head with some disappointment.

Fuck it all! And Erika and her condescension too. Who was she to judge her?

She didn't have a sister like Faith.

A small voice in her head said "no, but she has a brother like Octavius."

She dismissed it.

That commoner with her airs of innocent and pure young woman had everyone fooled. She was a damn manipulator and nobody saw it.

If Damien and Kai wanted to have some fun with her, good. That way they'd remove her mask and, while they were at it, maybe even change her affinity.

She was sick of hypocrites, manipulators, and social climbers pretending to be who they weren't.

Like her sister.

Or did Faith think that, with what she'd done to her as a child, she didn't know she had dark magic but was hiding it? She had heard her talking about it with her parents when she went to the capital to touch the slab. They had bribed the government worker who was in charge of the readings that day. Since she was born, her parents had decided Faith had to be the future queen and it wouldn't look good if she had dark magic. And since she was so powerful she had received no less than two affinities... well, officially she only had one.

Earth.

How Sol hated earth mages.

Ronan's Experiment Notebook. Experiment No. 73: Is it necessary to see or touch it?

When he was a child, one day like any other, Ronan waited for his friend to arrive. He neither knew his name nor had given him one because he was waiting for him to tell him.

He was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall under a barred skylight that dimly illuminated the basement room. That's where his friend came down from.

After a while, he heard a noise he recognized immediately. Worried, he stacked books and everything within reach under the skylight to try to see what was happening. He saw his friend being swallowed by a snake, trying unsuccessfully to escape.

The snake began to engulf him slowly and Ronan couldn't do anything. Gripping the skylight bars tightly, he managed to get one of his arms out, hurting himself from rubbing against the wall. However, his friend was too far away and he couldn't reach him. The snake saw Ronan's arm and hand and completely ignored them.

Little by little, he could see the mouse being devour by the snake. Afterward, it moved barely a meter to a nearby shadow, still within Ronan's sight.

Minutes passed and the snake remained still, motionless and ignoring the boy, who was already able to feel that his friend had died. His essence was crying inside the snake. Hurt by not being able to save him, Ronan tormented himself while continuing to grip the bars with all his strength.

When, resigned by the pain, he was ready to let his friend go, he looked away to get back down to the ground. Then an idea crossed his mind.

What if it worked?

He had done it before with food scraps and, if it was a way to get his friend back, he had to try it.

With what little strength he had left, he gripped the bars again, stuck out his bruised arm, and brought his hand as close as his arm would allow. He closed his eyes to concentrate and better visualize his friend and, when he managed to see him clearly, he focused on him. Remembering the sensation from previous times and focusing on how good his friend was, he did it.

The snake's eyes snapped open. It immediately began to writhe, coiling around itself as it rolled on the ground. Then, it emitted a deafening hiss as it continued writhing.

"Fffssssk!"

"Get out of there and come," Ronan shouted.

Although he saw him as a great friend, there was the power of a master's command in his voice.

The snake kept hissing loudly as it writhed in pain. After a few seconds, a small wound appeared on its belly—the most swollen area of the snake due to the mouse's body. And something emerged. Inert, now dead, the snake staggered as claws finished tearing through its flesh and his friend, soaked in viscous liquid and blood, emerged from inside the predator. Once free, he ran toward Ronan, jumping happily on him.

Ronan fell to the ground, badly hurting his side and further injuring the arm that had been torn against the skylight bars. As soon as he recovered, he looked for his friend. He was clinging tightly to his chest as if it were a big hug, one full of strength and life.

Ronan laughed for the first time in days as he also hugged him.

Afterward, while talking to him, he went about picking up the things he had moved to avoid problems. He realized it wasn't necessary to touch or even directly see someone to cast the resurrection spell on them.

He completed Experiment 73 over several days, during which he experimented with small lizards his friend brought him.

Experiment No. 73. Is it necessary to see or touch it? No.

As for his friend, he always accompanied him from then on. When he entered the academy, he took him with him in a small pocket he never opens.

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