Damian still hadn’t gotteo the food he received at the Sed Battalion. ing from the main line of House Nemo, he was aced to grand bas aic dishes. In the mess hall, however, you found the plete opposite—bnd food, g texture and life. But at least he had learo force the food down his throat.

  His table was alacked with other boys and girls from his battalion. Although it was easier to make friends with the boys sihey were in the same dormitory, he put in signifit effort to build retionships and bridges.

  ‘You never know when one of them might be useful,’ Damian thought.

  trolling monsters was his Boon; trolling people was his teique.

  Although he was still unhappy with the oute of the exercise, having pced 41st, at least he had mao cel the event. Obviously, a few people had been injured, but that happened all the time at the Academy. It wasn’t something he o worry about.

  As he scooped another spoonful of whatever mixture was on his pte, he began to hear a voice.

  “Damian! Damian!”

  In front of him was Leo, waving his arms to get his attention while trying to make his way to the table. After pushing through a few people and squeezing past others, the short boy finally reached him. With his brown hair and round gsses, the boy had an unassuming appearaill, Damian trusted him, mainly because Leo was from a branch family of House Lot, which meant he never got much attention. But he had a knack fathering information.

  “What is it, Leo?” Damian wao uand the boy's excitement.

  “The st two students from the exercise have arrived. The ones who got left behind.” Leo expihough Damian already knew. Basically, everyone khat two students hadn’t returned with the main group, but few knew who they were or why they had been separated from the rest.

  “What about them?” Damian inquired.

  “I heard it was a boy from the Sed Battalion and a girl from the First Battalion.” As Leo expihe rest of the table leaned in to listen closely.

  “But the most surprising thing is that the girl… she’s a Princess.” As soon as the st word left Leo’s mouth, the blood drained from Damian’s face.

  ‘Holy crap, a Princess,’ Damian cursed inwardly.

  The Academy accepted the loss of students at any moment in exge for cadets capable of reag higher levels of evolution. Even the Houses wouldn’t push for a thh iigation. Many heirs had gohrough the training and uood horous it was. However, Great Houses, especially those trolliire ps, were on another level. Worse yet, this was someone from the line of succession—a Heir.

  ‘There’s definitely going to be an iigation… and what if it leads bae?’ Damian thought, unaware that his legs had begun shaking with nervousness. His ay was through the roof, unsure how much they would discover.

  “And it seems that Captain e was iigating the boy, some guy named Oliver,” Leo tinued, making Damian’s eyes light up upon hearing Oliver’s name.

  ‘I just o redirect the attention, take the heat off me,’ Damian thought while pnning his moves.

  “It makes sense. I saw him during the battle, shooting from a distance. He probably shot at the separated horde and then tried to flee, getti behind.” Damian he others at the table to believe him, so he mixed truth with lies. If they started spreading rumors that Oliver was responsible for the i during the exercise, it would be unlikely anyone would waste time analyzing the Crabbits' movement.

  “He was ranked pretty high, wasn’t he? Maybe he tried to gain more points by targeting other enemies, but it backfired,” Leo tinued, spiring with Damian.

  Leo didn’t know why Damian reading rumors, but he uood it wasn’t for nothing. He wasn’t physically strong, but his ability to read people was exceptional. Staying in Damian’s good graces would help him rise and perhaps even leave House Lot for House Nemo.

  With the two boys dropping bits of information and speg on what Oliver might have do didn’t take long for the rumors to spread and grow.

  “Oliver, the boy who caused the act during the on bat css.”

  “Oliver, the boy who faked kills during the on bat exercise.”

  “Oliver, the boy who the York Princess saved.”

  These were just a few of the rumors—some were even worse—but all poio the same person. Oliver was no longer seen as a suspect; he was guilty.

  Only a few hours had passed since Oliver had fallen asleep on his bunk when someone burst into the dormitory. Making as muoise as possible, An raween the beds until he found him.

  “Hey, Sleepiy, wake up.”

  With a sp across the chest, An jolted Oliver awake.

  “Holy crap! What’s the deal with waking me up like that?!” Oliver scowled, trying to make sense of what had happened.

  “First, you send a message and then fall asleep. Sed, have you seen what’s going on in the chat?” An asked nervously, pointing at the gau.

  “No? I just sent a message to you guys,” Oliver expined.

  “I’m not talking about roup; I’m talking about the Sed Battalion el,” An replied.

  Oliver sat up in bed and opehe chat.

  || els| Sed Battalion [143]||| Sed Battalion| [PeachMy] No doubt, it went to his head.| [Born2CS3] Haha, he must’ve been happy about getting a good rank and screwed up.| [Fulbrac] It’s still under iigation, don’t fet.| [KhadCool] Iigation, my ass! They just don’t want to bme a student. It would tarnish the Academy’s image.|

  “What are they talking about?” Oliver asked, still not uanding what he was reading.

  “They’re talking about you! Ever since you got back, there have been rumors…” An expined.

  “Rumors about what?” Oliver frowned.

  It didn’t make sense for there to be rumors. In theory, the iigation was just between the captains, and he was i.

  “Rumors that you’re the one who caused the i during the training,” A pag bad forth while expining.

  “Ahh! How did they find out about the iigation?!” Oliver excimed, tinuing to scroll through the seemingly endless stream of messages. “Well… the iigation should soon, and they’ll prove I’m i.”

  “e on, Oliver! Don’t you use any social media? It doesn’t matter if you’re i uilty, especially during the stress peak of training. They just want someoo bme,” An raised his voice, clearly frustrated.

  “To be ho, I don’t. I only use the for chat or watg videos…” Oliver scratched his head, trying to think of what to do. “So what do I do now, oh wise and all-knowing An?”

  An turned, seeing the sarcastic expression on Oliver’s face, and replied seriously. “Let the dust settle. Responding to fight back will only fuel the rumors.”

  “And maybe the iigation will clear your hat would help a lot.” An scratched his , thinking about what might happen in the few days.

  “What do you mean ‘maybe clear my name’? I am i,” Oliver said, incredulous that his friend would question his innoce.

  “Oliver… it’s so cute to see someone so i. It’s like seeing a slow uni. Unique, but you wonder how it’s survived this long.” An id on the irony, shaking his head and wiping away imaginary tears. “Did you not learn anything from what I told you? I believe you’re i, and maybe the Academy knows you’re i. But will they openly protect you?”

  “The York family is far more powerful than you imagine, and to make matters worse, she’s a Princess. If they put too much pressure on the Academy, they’ll need a scapegoat, and you might end up being the ‘guilty’ one.”

  Oliver was still reeling from the possibilities An had raised.

  “Princess?” Oliver asked, furrowing his brow as he began to uaer what he had heard.

  “That’s what they call the Heirs of the Great Houses. Princes and Princesses. They’re the few who have power within the Senate, aside from a House’s Patriarch,” An expined.

  To Oliver, half of what An was trying to expin sounded like anuage, but at least he uood the basics of Katherine’s impa the Senate and Imperial politics.

  “If that’s the case… I don’t think anything will happen to me. I mao save Katherine. As soon as she wakes up in the infirmary, she’ll be able to clear everything up,” Oliver reasoned, feeling like there was a simple solution to his problems.

  “Here’s another issue: she’s not in the infirmary. She was taken to be treated outside the Academy. Do you really think they’d let her stay here after the disaster that was this exercise?” An delivered the final blow to Oliver’s st hope, making the boy clutch his head in despair. It seemed like the universe had spired to get him into trouble over the past few days.

  “Well… then I’ll just stay quiet. Keep my head down and avoid getting involved in any more problems. Soon, they’ll fet, and with some luck, when Katheriurns, this whole misuanding will be cleared up,” Oliver cluded, sketg out his pn with An.

  An nodded while still watg the messages flying in the el. “At least now you’re famous. There’s probably not a single person in the Academy who doesn’t know you.”

  “And what good is that?” Oliver asked.

  “Absolutely none, unless you want to join a House someday,” An replied without much thought.

  The two boys returo watg the chat until An couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer.

  “e on. Spit it out. How did you save a Princess?” he asked, giving Oliver a judgmental look.

  The two boys started talking again, with Oliver reting every detail of his ret experiences and close calls while An criticized every poor decision Oliver had made.

  By the time the day was over, and they finally went to bed, Oliver was tent—worried but tent. He felt like he was bae, or at least in something that felt like home. His optimism made him believe he would get through these rumors without any major issues.

  Unfortunately, as usual, Oliver was wrong.

  GCLopes