Valeriana's heart had long lodged to her throat by the time they reached the group. Tamara did not have any problems inserting herself in the conversation and—rambunctiously—greeted out loud like it was some casual get together of some sort. Contrary to her expectations, they were both greeted warmly. Tamara was a person hard not to like but easy to hate to a certain degree. Luckily for Val, she knew a couple of faces in the group, so she did not feel too alienated.

"Everyone! Everyone!" Tamara was like a mischievous little child as she came to greet their seniors. "You're all here."

"Tam!" Claude exclaimed. "How are you, dear niece? I hardly recognized you!"

"Oh, please." She waved her wrist dismissively. "I came because everyone was together and I told myself I just had to come."

"Yes, this is a very rare occurrence for everyone to be here," said a guy to Manilla's right. His redeeming quality was his green hair and silver eyes. "And your friend is?"

"Oh, this is Valeriana," Tamara said. "Val, this is Count Aodan. He rules the borderland country of Lasairiona in Arlandia, he's also a very high-ranking Celeste and was—what was your rank?"

"With Kylon, I was a mere ninth, but I graduated as fifth," he said with a smile.

"Oh, there you go!"

Valeriana was lost in deep thought. Back on Earth, this guy would've been hailed as king since he was basically ruling over a country. However, in Valemnia, he was only granted the title of count. The hierarchy in this world was rigorous.

"Oh yes, Valeriana, my not-so-human long lost little cousin," Claude said. "You look so much like my older sister, it breaks my heart." He sighed regretfully as he stared at Valeriana.

"Unadra Arlandos, you are right," someone exclaimed.

Valeriana looked up at the Larkovian duke with confusion.

"News travel fast," Claude added.

"How exactly are you related to the Vernados?"

"My father is Garvyn . . . Garvyn Elgar."

*A/N: I keep on mistyping ELGAR to EDGAR out of habit. Sorry for being confusing, but it's supposed to be ELGAR, yes, yes.

The looks of confusion did not come scarce after they heard her answer.

"Garvyn? Didn't he die?"

"It's a very complicated topic, but I grew up on Earth," Valeriana told them. After having gotten used to the fact, she no longer had any trouble admitting her human life.

"I have a lot of questions but it seems inappropriate," someone muttered.

"If you all have questions, you can ask them at a later time. What you only need to know is that Valeriana is an exceptional girl, both as a student and a friend," her lady knight guardian said. "Valeriana." Seraphina came forward to kiss her on the cheeks. Her affectionate gesture set the current fifth at ease.

Somebody started laughing. "Aw, Phina is so sweet to her junior," the guy teased. "That is so adorable, but from a fish you become a dragon, good gods."

Seraphina turned to the ordinary guy with a dull shade of brown for both the hair and eyes. "I suggest you shut your trap, Gaylord," her tone was condescending and something Valeriana had not seen before—at least not too often. Lady Seraphina acted different around these bunch.

The guy grimaced when his name was called. "Lord is fine."

Valeriana giggled as she looked at Tamara. "Seriously?"

Gaylord looked at the girl with a frown. "Yes, that is my actual name."

Tamara's face erupted with a smile and they all laughed.

"It's not my fault meanings of words change with times." He sulked and drank his glass of wine. "This all started with that godsdamned Lord Aeron."

"Oh, Lord Aeron." Valeriana shook her head with a smile.

"Speaking of Lord Aeron," Kylon stated.

"Probably off scheming somewhere," Lord Eres said.

"What about your brother?" Seraphina turned to the Denovegasian lord. "Aren't you going to find him?"

"I know where he is even if he doesn't tell me." Eres wound his hands on his back and shook his head lightly. "Two places—table or buffet. Even girls cannot faze him. If it weren't for the fact that he had to physically exert himself, he would not fit through the door at all."

"Oh, be honest, Eres," Gaylor cut in. "You can't deny you have the same voracious appetite as your brother. Don't act as though you are different."

Eres's features twisted in discontentment at the mention.

"You're resemble a giant, quiet void when it comes to food," Count Aodan added as he laughed softly. "I almost feel sorry for the cooks back in Denovegasia, they have to prepare a feast each day."

There was a chorus of laughter within the group.

"At this point, I'm not sure if the forests can handle the abuse," Kylon said as well.

The laughter continued.

"Well, you people seem to be having fun." Charles walked over with Corvan by his side.

"Lord Charles! It seems you are not wearing your glasses, what happened? And young lord Corvan, your hair! I almost did not recognize you," Count Aodan remarked with surprise.

"You can ask a certain redhead about it," Charles replied with disdain as he tapped on the bridge of his nose out of habit. When he realized he was not wearing his glasses, the sour look worsened.

"Hm." Corvan glanced at him with dismissive eyes.

"He looks so boring with those, that's why," Tamara cut in.

"Whether they're boring or not is for me to decide! I wear them . . ."

"What about you, Lord Corvan?"

"The story is long, I do not wish to start," he replied numbly.

"Valeriana cut his hair by accident during a duel," Charles said simply, making the first-ranker's brow twitch as he closed his eyes and sighed.

A chorus of surprised gasps and chuckles reverberated.

"This is, what some people would dub as, long story short," Gaylord declared.

Valeriana knew it was disrespectful to call a person a name he didn't want to be called—which she had been doing for the past few months with a certain somebody, so this kind of thinking was definitely not applicable—but she kept on addressing Gaylord as Gaylord in her mind although she was told to call him Lord.

"Hm," Manilla hummed as she let the wine spin within her glass, disregarding the incoming argument between Tamara and Charles. "I must say I'm looking forward to the presentation in a few minutes. Not to mention, I have yet to see my third sister."

"You mean Courtney," someone filled in.

"That's right. My brother wanted to stay home to tend to his creepy puppets. If it weren't for the upcoming performance, he wouldn't have come at all."

"Lord Byrd has not gotten over his fixation, I see," Corvan said.

Manilla looked over the current first-ranker and smiled lightly. "It's nice seeing you, Lord Corvan. Congratulations for maintaining the position of first this year as well. You're absolutely exceptional. Your performance has been nothing short of commendable so far."

Corvan nodded her way mutely.

"And I've yet to meet this girl," the Evereeshan heiress glanced Valeriana's way with a smile. "Ever since I heard you put my sister in her place, I've been dying to meet you. She comes off like a brat because she's the most pampered of us four, being the youngest, but she has a good heart—most of the time. Although I do find her a bit unbearable myself at times."

Valeriana did not know how to respond.

"Talking about me behind my back as always, eldest sister," Courtney's voice came in imposing waves.

Brindon stood blankly by her side while another girl with pinkish hair had her arm in a twist with her own.

"Oh, this is what they call speak of the devil. Courtney and Suzanne, how nice of you to join us. Who is this you brought over?" She motioned to the motionless Brindon.

"This is Brindon, twelfth-ranker, he's my escort," Courtney said a matter-of-factly.

Manilla sipped her wine with a hint of a smile. "Hm? I see. You must be a first year. I haven't seen you before."

Courtney glared at her but Brindon's head bobbed in reply.

"Anyhow, I've been itching to dance." She approached Eres with a swing of her hips and raised one brow. "Mind escorting me to the dance floor?"

Eres gave her a look that revealed nothing in the eyes before nodding. They clasped hands and headed for the middle of the room, where the sea of bodies continued tiding tirelessly.

"Do they have, like, a thing?" Valeriana asked Tamara, pointing at the Denovegasian lord and the Evereeshan heiress.

"They can't, though," Tamara whispered back.

"Why?"

"Because they're both heirs. It'll be chaotic if they marry. It probably won't go anywhere. Not to mention Prelurésia and Denovegasia are in two direct opposites of the world. You go north and you go an extreme south. Not to mention their elements are polar opposites too—wind and earth. How do you think they'll manage it? Their temperance are definitely different as well."

"How star-crossed," Valeriana muttered. "It's romantic though. I can totally see them together."

"You've been infected by the twin's shipping tendencies."

"I do that all the time back home, actually," she told her.

"Gossiping again?" Charles interjected.

"It's not gossip, it's speculation," Tamara said crossly. "Or, if you want to, theorizing."

"Hasn't there be an instance of two polar opposite elements marrying?" Valeriana continued.

"Of course there was. A lot actually, but this is a whole 'nother issue. It's sort of complicated."

Valeriana looked at Charles' way to see him socializing. As she shifted her gaze once more, she accidentally met Corvan's eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments. She unconsciously searched for any sign of emotion and found none, which made her especially nervous.

Corvan was cold. But never this cold.

Grinding her teeth, she glanced Tamara's way to see that she had already engaged herself in a conversation with somebody else. This girl was a quick jump. Valeriana slipped to his side. "Hey, what's up with that face?"

He simply stared at her without replying.

"Are you planning on giving me the silent treatment all night?"

"I simply don't feel like talking," he replied stiffly.

"You didn't seem that way a few moments ago!"

He fell quiet.

"Geez, I don't get you sometimes." Valeriana crossed her arms and felt a bunch of tendrils cascade down her cheek. Unknowingly, she moved it back and tucked it behind her ear as she looked about the room quietly.

Valeriana felt that the air suddenly turned awkward. It felt uncomfortable being driven like a traitor out of the impregnable walls which she felt Corvan building higher by the minute.

"Were you the one who told the others about my birthday?" she asked him softly, not expecting he would answer.

There was a short huff which came from the young lord.

"What are you, a horse?" She glared at him. "You keep on huffing like you got flies on your nose, at least say yes! If you keep on doing that, I'll end up calling you huff horse at the end of the day! New nickname for you, what do you say?"

His emerald green eyes gravitated down to her azure ones. "Yes."

"So you approve, alright."

"No."

"What?"

"I meant that yes for your first question, and no, I do not approve."

Valeriana sighed. "So that was your plan?"

"It wasn't," he responded. "I had no idea that would happen at all. The plan was—" he stopped shortly.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Good gods." Valeriana decided that there was no use talking to the young lord at the moment since she was on the verge of bursting. She let the folds of her dress part for her legs as she walked forward to sit across Keelan on the table he occupied.

Although the eleventh-ranker was surrounded by girls, none of them had the initiative to take the seat. When she did, the scorching knives they threw her way were sharper than any sword she wielded.

"Hey, Val!" Keelan enthusiastically greeted, causing the girls' faces to turn sour at the affection coating his voice. "Weren't you talking to Lady Seraphina and the others just now?"

"I was, but Corvan pissed me off."

The casualness and the crudeness of her tone caused the girls to look at her in disgust. She lifted her eyes and challenged the bevy to open their mouths. However, seeing as they did not want to lose face in front of Keelan, they kept quiet. They gave their brightest smiles and bid him farewell, though he was hardly listening.

Keelan pushed a full plate in front of her along with a fork as an offering. His table was full of food that it was inconceivable. It didn't seem as though it was only for himself. Thankfully, he wasn't very covetous—very—and openly presented Valeriana with a portion.

She took the fork and stabbed into what looked like a chicken fillet soaked in barbeque-like sauce. It tasted like chicken, so it should be chicken. She picked a couple of greens and straw beans and stuffed her mouth ceaselessly.

Soon enough, she finished the whole plate. The food was good and she only felt half full, so she reached for the other plate on the side of the table and started digging through.

"This is the first time I saw you eat that much," Keelan commented with a smile.

"Didn't you hear Corvan insult me every night? I eat like a pig?"

"If you're a pig, then what am I?"

Valeriana nearly choked but she managed to push it down just fine. She remembered thinking the same way back in Larkovia with the meatballs, but she didn't expect Keelan to be quite aware of it as well.

"Probably a pit," she told him. "So the appetite runs in the family, huh?"

"Not everyone has it," he said.

"Ooh."

She didn't know how long they sat there talking casually, but then a brief announcement about the so-called 'presentation' reverberated. The large curtains that covered one entire wall parted and revealed a stage, catching Valeriana completely aback. She didn't even know there was a stage until it was revealed. Furthermore, she thought that behind those gigantic red curtains was a simple wall. Turned out she was wrong.

She and Keelan looked to the direction of the stage simultaneously. The rest of the audience mirrored the action, curious.

"What is this presentation?"

"It's one of the cultural trademarks of Valemnia," Keelan answered. "But it originated from my continent. It's like a masked dance interpretation of various historical events and stories. We call it Celha Laruaos in Valemuier or simply enmasque."

"You know," she said and flicked her forefinger from a fist. "I've seen too many movies to think masked dances are safe."

"What do you mean?"

"47 Ronin! Don't you get it? This is when people's attentions are diverted and the crazy crap comes afterwards!"

"You're reading too much into it. The entirety of the castle is protected by a barrier. Any trace of demonic energy will be detected immediately without fail. We have taken a lot of countermeasure for demons over the past few hundreds of years to avoid any slip-ups."

"I don't feel good about it still, though."

Keelan stood, fixed his suit, and approached the stage. "How about we watch and keep an eye out for anything suspicious, Val? I feel tense all of a sudden because of what you just said."

"Alright, alright! At least you're here with me. We also have really talented people around us right now." Knowing there were knights in the room made it feel a little bit safer, but she wanted to keep her guard up just in case.

"Besides, even if the barriers fail, there's still you."

"Don't give me too much credit. I turn sucky when I'm under pressure," she told him.

"Alright, I won't." They walked nearer the stage and stopped beside their squad.