"Are you serious about making her your student, or is it just, so she warms up to you because I feel like she is never going to break. She clearly has deep trust issues, so I feel like you're just wasting her time… Plus, the drug is coming in soon for the gladiators, so you can just feed it to her,"

"Watch your tone,"

"Forgive me, but I feel like everything that you're doing is severely unnecessary,"

"Shut your mouth and just watch,"

…

(Cora POV)

Another morning, another hot meal, and another day of waiting around, looking over some men who had been placed under me.

I feel like I've done a good job at training and surveying them, but there's been a few thoughts on my mind over the course of this past week.

Where did Lucy go? Did she die? Did she get killed by the Empress? Is the Empress really that cruel? Would she really kill somebody who could easily lead tons of men?

That's right… for the first time in what seemed to be a decade, I was actually worried about somebody.

I thought of Lucy as my sister, and the thought of her dying continuously ate away at my heart, but each time I asked the Empress, she only gave me a cold glance.

I felt sorry for Lucy that I couldn't speak up against the Empress, but she was just too damn scary.

I felt a shiver run up and down my spine each time I met eyes with her.

Though I continued to blame myself for being so weak, I couldn't step up and do anything… until early this morning, when all of the new commanders were having breakfast, a familiar face stepped in.

"L-Lucy?" I muttered, shocked to the core, and before she could even reply, I jumped out of my seat and hugged her.

"Oh, what's up, guys? How you doin'?" She smirked before hugging me back.

Everybody was pretty shocked by her appearance, but the reunion was soon stopped as an icy figure entered the grand hall.

Her aura immediately spoiled the mood of everybody present.

"Oh man, you guys are looking at me like you hate me," She smirked before waltzing over to Lucy and then tickling her neck, causing her to scrunch up.

"Hey! What the hell was that for!" I shouted before pushing the Empress away, and for some reason, she didn't even retaliate nor make a face.

Normally the Empress would've given me a cold gaze or punished me by punching me in the stomach, sending me flying across the entire room.

"It's fine. Just leave it," Lucy said before calling over one of the servers, and her breakfast was immediately brought over.

Excited to see her back, I decided to sit down next to her and eat the rest of my breakfast while talking about various things like how much I had improved my skills.

Plus, with a leadership necessary position being forced onto me, I can feel and see my leadership growing and evolving with each passing day.

"Anyway, what happened over the past two weeks?" I finally asked the big question, and the entire hall went silent, everybody curious as the Empress never even gave us a slight hint or tip-off.

"You don't need to know," She replied, and her voice went really cold before she slowly shifted her eyes onto me.

Her normal cheery and upbeat attitude was completely gone, but it seemed more from exhaustion rather than a shift in her personality, so I was a bit relieved.

"Th-that's fine. You don't need to tell me now… or ever at that. I'm just glad you're back," I said before hugging her again and her cold skin slowly wrapped around me.

She felt so comfortable to be around… she almost felt like my big sister.

"Lucy~! Lessons start in the afternoon, so don't be late~!" I heard the Empress shout from across the hall, and before Lucy could even give a sign for confirmation, she bolted out the door with her loyal butler by her side.

That guy is powerful… I'd even go as far to say that he is as powerful as Lucy.

"*sigh*... That guy pisses me off," Lucy muttered before slowly standing up and cracking each and every limb.

"Who? The butler?"

"Yeah… I want to break every bone in his body," She replied, and my face went pale, a complete opposite to Lucy's, who was scrunched with anger.

"W-What's wrong?" I stuttered, and the girl before me just let out a singular light breath before walking out of the room.

Well, at least she's back… Now I have more than enough motivation to complete my tasks!

…

(Lucy POV)

I hate that damn butler who stays at the side of the Empress…

When I was in that dark and depressing dungeon, he would always throw the scraps of food right at me and force me to eat that shit like a dog.

He even seemed a bit amused with each time that I practically devoured the scraps in just a few seconds.

After arriving back at my room, I planned out everything on the carpet smack dab in front of my bed.

I formed webs of ice, and just when the Empress came to pick me up personally, I snapped my fingers, disintegrating the ice into nothing and erasing my plans from existence.

"Oh, what was that ice magic for?" The Empress immediately began to interrogate me, but I kept my lips sewn and just gave her a wide smile.

The butler beside her was clearly suspicious of me and looked at me with jealous eyes… it was a bit funny.

"What are you smirking for?" The butler asked, but the Empress immediately stopped him before he could grab my shoulder.

"Anyway, snake, can I ask for a favor if we win the war?"

"Call me Master," The icy woman immediately replied.

"I'm fine. I'll just stick with snake… it suits you-"

"I won't be giving you any favors if you keep running your mouth like that,"

"Tch… Fine,"

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