But to save Iandwain. The Duke of Gerwer had confessed to killing his son when Riche was 15 years old.

Not seeing Pythons for the next 8 years was too long.

“Let me check on Pythons in between. Kidnappers usually let you know if the hostage is alive or dead.”

“… Does that come with another condition?”

“I’ll do it.”

“Good. Letiom. Then enroll in the Royal Academy of Hwangrip. I will let you see Pythons then. No more compromises.”

Hickenka said so and disappeared that day.

When he possessed Philip again later, he asked to see Pythons earlier for Blake’s purification, but

Hickenka repeatedly refused, and after Philip was released, he hid altogether.

He couldn’t use Star Detection, so even if Hickenka possessed someone, there was no way to find him.

Losing Pythons put Riche in a tight spot last year.

“Riche, keep your shoulders back. You are Ludwik. That will be your shield.”

Around that time, Blake increasingly advised Riche about the future.

Riche understood why. Blake’s burden of Om had reached its limit.

It was a bit faster than the 2 years Pythons had mentioned.

When he thought he couldn’t delay any longer, Riche risked his life to purify Blake.

A task with no chance of survival.

It was successful because of the piece of the star that Pythons had taken from the library.

“Look at this! It seems to have recovery ability! Isn’t there any healing ability? If it’s a midlevel power, it should have two characteristics.”

Pythons’ words that the star fragment would have other abilities besides recovery.

Riche believed him and conducted various experiments with the star fragment, discovering it had another ability.

Healing ability. It had been too weak to find initially.

Riche relied solely on that ability to dive into the gamble of Blake’s purification.

Though faced with death, he was fortunate not to die.

“Miss Riche, please stop Jed[Dash].”

“Philip, hang in there.”

“Did you hear our lady? Hang in there, Philip.”

“Anna…?”

“Stay strong.”

“You guys are really too much. There’s no one on my side here…….”

The reason to make Philip a servant at the Academy was that the promised day was approaching.

He didn’t know when Hickenka might possess Philip’s body.

‘Tomorrow is the Academy entrance.’

The reunion was not far off.

I’ll save you. Pythons.

With a determined mind, Riche packed his bags.

(This is a time separator.)

Rocksha Royal Academy.

Secondyear classroom.

“Wow. Did you hear?”

The large lecture hall was filled with about 80 students gathered for a combined lesson.

It was never quiet, but today, the classroom was unusually bustling.

Because of the freshman entrance ceremony that would have started in the auditorium by now.

“There’s a younger sibling of Derkedeon senior among the freshmen.”

“That commoner?”

“Can we call her a commoner? She’s still a princess. The Ludwik family is scary, you know.”
“Don’t worry. Derkedyon senior won’t care at all. Rather, she’ll hate it.”

“How do you know that?”

“Listen. I happened to see another senior asking Derkedyon senior about her younger sibling in the hallway a few days ago.”

A student scrunched up his brow and imitated Deon.

“She asked with a frown, ‘Why are you asking that?'”

“I mean, I would too. How would I see a commoner, with whom I have no blood ties, suddenly coming into my house as my sibling?”

The male student sitting across from him ran his arm up his skin as if he had chills. Then, he suddenly remembered something and spoke.

“My father said that, that commoner is a complete waste of life. Since the gifted have shorter lifespans, someday that commoner will become the head of the Ludwig family[].”

“Hey, hey.”

Then, the female student sitting next to him lightly tapped the male student’s arm.

The female student gave a sidelong glance, signaling with her eyes. There was a boy sitting alone by the window, saying nothing.

The sunlight coming through the window made his blond hair sparkle. A beautiful profile was seen, staring out of the window.

“Ian Dwayne is here.”

“Oh.”

That’s right. He’s so quiet that sometimes you forget he’s there.

His striking appearance paled in comparison to his presence.

The students lowered their voices, watching his cues.

“But is Ian Dwayne also a gifted one? I’ve never seen him use his ability.”

“He’s a gifted one. A peer of mine said that he manifested as Gerwer’s gifted one. I saw him at the hunt with my father not too long ago. Do you know? They say you can’t lie in front of Gerwer.”

“Really? He believed exactly what he was told about the different test range last time? …Could Ian Dwayne have a twin brother? Maybe the gifted one is at home[].”

“Be quiet. The lesson is starting.”

The students’ conversation stopped abruptly with the arrival of the professor through the front door.

In the quiet classroom, the professor called each student’s name for attendance.

“Ziegbert Serdiya.”

“…….”

“Ziegbert?”

Then, a student’s name with no response was called.

The professor scanned the spacious classroom with his meticulous, violet eyes through his glasses.

Ziegbert, who always sat in the back leaning on his desk, was not seen.

“Where did he go?”

At the professor’s question, the students glanced at each other.

“Class president?”

The sophomore class president stammered as he spoke.

“He went to… meet a friend.”

“So he skipped class?”

Why did it feel like he was being scolded for something Ziegbert had done?

The class president recalled Ziegbert’s inscrutable face and looked distressed.

“I warned you that you shouldn’t miss my class even once.”

“But that’s……”

“Tell that to Ziegbert.”

The professor scribbled a letter next to Ziegbert’s name in the attendance book with a red pen.

“Don’t even think about a grade higher than a B.”

Indeed. That witch with purple eyes didn’t spare even the nobility’s gifted ones.

Ziegbert. You’ve really overstepped this time.

The students swallowed their breath in the chilled air.