On the left side of the ward, Kail shifted slightly against his pillows, staring openly at the scene unfolding a few paces away. It was a bizarre sight. He was witnessing the full, unrestricted spectrum of a sister’s fury being unleashed on her brother.
As a commoner, Kail had always assumed noble families communicated in cold, calculated whispers. But there was nothing calculated about this—it was pure, unfiltered rage.
Kail swallowed hard, suddenly very glad he was just an anonymous spectator tucked away in the corner, safely out of the blast radius. He watched Vale flinch under the weight of her last words before she turned on her heel and slammed the door behind her.
As the heavy infirmary doors finally clicked shut, the oppressive tension in the room evaporated. Kail let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for a lifetime. Dropping the blanket from his face, he peered over at me, his features twisted into a grimace of pure, unadulterated dread.
"Ooh, dude..." he groaned, rubbing the back of his neck as he sat up. "Your sister is absolutely terrifying."
He gave a theatrical shudder, casting a wary glance back toward the door just to ensure the storm had truly passed. "I thought I was about to witness a murder in the bed next to me," he said.
The words stalled in Kail’s throat. He looked at my face and instantly recoiled, noticing the raw vulnerability bleeding through my expression, which was now held together by nothing but sheer will. My composure had just cracked; it looked like a shattered mirror, full of sharp, broken edges reflecting a deeply fractured soul.
Realizing he was stepping on an emotional landmine, Kail closed his mouth, cutting the conversation short. The lighthearted mood vanished, replaced by the heavy, fragile quiet of a room where something precious had just been broken.
A suffocating silence settled into the marrow of their bones. Lady Eriana’s usual poise shattered, and Kail looked as though he wanted to sink straight into the floorboards.
The fury they had just witnessed wasn’t ordinary anger—it was an execution. The psychological heat of her wrath had felt so dangerously real, so intensely personal, that it left a phantom sensation of burning flesh in its wake. Stricken by the same shared horror, they remained dead silent, too terrified to speak, too terrified to even move a muscle.
Lady Eriana carefully withdrew her hands as the glowing light of her healing magic faded, leaving the raw, wounded skin of his hand perfectly knit back together. Yet, as she looked at him, she knew her magic couldn’t touch his deepest injuries.
Mentally, Vale was a mosaic of broken pieces. Experience told her it was only a matter of time before he threw another tantrum, plunging the academy into chaos just like he always did. Having fulfilled her duty as a healer, she turned on her heel to leave.
"Thank you."
The words were spoken quietly, carried by a soft, genuine warmth that made Eriana freeze mid-step. She spun back around, her face twisting into an expression of pure, unadulterated shock. Sitting on the edge of the cot was a version of Vale Roderick she didn’t know existed.
He was smiling—a gentle, tired, sincere smile—but his eyes were bloodshot and brimming with unshed tears. In that single, heartbreaking moment, she understood everything. He hadn’t been hiding under the blanket out of cowardice or spite; he had been silently weeping through it all.
For a brief moment, Lady Eriana could only stare, her mind struggling to reconcile the gentle boy before her with the arrogant noble she had known for years. Slowly, the shock on her face softened into something complex—a mixture of pity and profound confusion. She gave a single, quiet nod, unable to find the words to speak, before turning and stepping out of the infirmary.
As the door clicked shut behind her, the heavy silence returned, leaving the fading scent of her healing magic and the echoes of an apology that changed everything.
***
I looked out the window as the world transitioned from morning to dawning night. High in the stratosphere, the *Aloha* blazed like a localized star—just like the sun in my previous world—its brilliant rays bleeding into the atmosphere to paint the approaching dawn in hues of breathtaking lavender. The hours had moved past without me noticing, the quiet of the infirmary offering a brief sanctuary.
Pushing the covers aside, I stood up. The physical trauma of my recent defeat had completely faded, replaced by a strange, newfound strength flowing through my veins. I glanced toward the other bed, but it was empty. Kail was already gone, likely headed to his dorm. Taking a deep breath of the cool air, I realized I couldn’t hide in this room forever. It was time to face the day.
The walk from the infirmary to the noble dorms was a short one, spanning barely sixty meters, but every step felt heavy. As I pushed open the grand entrance doors of the dormitory, the stifling atmosphere of noble privilege washed over me. Sitting behind a polished wooden desk was the receptionist, her sharp eyes framed by a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles.
She flicked her gaze up as the door clicked. The moment her eyes landed on me, a flicker of disdain crossed her features, and within a fraction of a second, she looked right back down at her ledger, completely dismissing my existence.
Without even bothering to look up again, her hand casually swept to the side, blindly tossing a brass key across the smooth counter toward me. It slid with a sharp, metallic clatter—a silent testament to exactly where I stood in the academy’s hierarchy.
Her careless throw sent the key bouncing off the edge of the desk, landing squarely on the floor. I didn’t make a scene. I didn’t demand an apology. I just crouched down, picked it up, and slipped it into my pocket.
"Thanks," I said, the calm tone surprising even myself.
I didn’t bother sticking around to watch her reaction. Turning away, I walked past the desk, headed straight for the elevator, and rode it up to room 38. The moment the lock clicked open and the heavy door shut behind me, the suffocating tension of the outside world evaporated.
"Finally," I breathed, looking around the empty space. "Just me and my room."
I threw myself onto the bed, the mattress absorbing my weight. Yet, as I stared up at the ceiling, the phantom chill of my sister’s wrathful warning refused to leave, echoing in the quiet corners of my mind.