A week later, in the double girls' dormitory of the Royal Acansis Academy:
- It's a nightmare.
Judy was lying on her side on the bed, her hazel eyes unfocused.
- Tilia, can you pinch me? I need to wake up from this nightmare and return to reality, where the exams are already over.
- Get up before I really pinch you.
Sitting on the opposite bed, Tilia looked at Judy with a mocking smile.
- Come on, Judy. You need to get up and study.
- No, it's a dream. This must be a dream!
When her denial failed, Judy pounded the bed with her fists in frustration and began to cry.
- Is there any point in retaking it? And why, of all subjects, should it be rhetoric!?
Tilia understood Judy's disappointment very well.
She sighed and looked at the notice lying on the table. This was an official announcement that evidence of leaked rhetoric exam questions had been found and that a retake would be held as a result.
- Gregory Myers, that little bastard.
Judy's eyes burned with anger. She barely passed all the classes and met the requirements for graduation, and then she had to retake it.
- Of course he's involved. Every name on this list is part of Gregory's company. So how did this slimy idiot manage to get away with it?
- That's interesting to me too.
Tilia frowned as she studied the ad.
The morning after the final exam, a document was urgently circulated listing the names of the teaching assistants involved in the leaked questions and the fourth year students who received them. The consequences for everyone on the list were the same: expulsion.
- Gregory could not help but be involved... how did he escape?
- Maybe they couldn't find hard evidence. Or maybe he backed out at the last minute?
- Or... his father, Earl Myers, could help him.
Sigh.
Judy covered her mouth, her eyes rolling back dramatically. Tilia, on the other hand, didn't look surprised.
“The fact that he managed to bribe a teaching assistant to get exam questions is already proof that he is connected to someone higher up.” They eliminated the scapegoats, but the main culprits remained clear.
“That makes sense,” Judy narrowed her eyes and nodded in agreement, “It was always suspicious that Gregory Myers even took the entrance exam to get into the academy.” Oh God! Count Myers is the director's best friend! This is serious!
- Is it true? - Tilia shrugged, getting out of bed, - but that’s Gregory’s problem. We have more pressing matters to attend to.
- What for example?
- Studies.
Tilia smiled as she tapped Judy's desk.
- We promised that we would graduate from the academy together, remember?
Hearing her words, Judy groaned in despair, clutching her head. But after a moment, realizing that she could not avoid this, she slouched and crawled out of bed. She then trudged over to her desk and sat down, giving Tilia the look of a dying fish.
- Tilia, if I start to doze... wake me up with a slap...
- I will definitely slap you in the face.
- Thank you... you are the only one I can rely on...
Amused by her friend's dramatic gratitude, Tilia laughed and sat down at her desk. But her expression dimmed slightly as she took out one of the books she had already put away.
“To be honest, I’m worried about the rhetoric too.”
With a deep sigh, she opened her notebook, her hands feeling weak. She suddenly remembered the holy water Cecilia had given her, the one she had thrown away a few days ago.
“...Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown it away.”
Feeling so desperate that she was ready to clutch at straws, Tilia took the pen, which seemed to her as heavy as lead.
***
Four hours before the retake of rhetoric, the lecture hall reserved for the exam was crowded with students. Unlike the original exam, which was split between two classes, this retake had all students in the same room. But the crowded lecture hall was not the only reason for the commotion.
-Have you been studying a lot, Amy?
- I don’t know... I taught more than last time, but this time the questions will be different. Who knows how everything will go?
Many of the students who had nearly failed the first exam now studied with fierce determination, knowing that this was their last chance. The widely held theory that studying in an exam room yielded better results had taken root in the academy, and naturally both Tilia and Judy followed it.
- Tilia, how do you interpret this? No matter how much I look, I don't understand.
Sitting next to her friend, Judy frowned as she pointed to a page in her textbook. Tilia, who had just picked up a water bottle to drink, set it down and began analyzing the classic poem Judy had been struggling with.
- Let me think... ah, this part...
While she was calmly explaining how to distinguish between irony and paradox, someone walked past her desk. In a full lecture hall, filled with rustling pages and conversations, it was easy to change the water bottle without anyone noticing. Especially a nondescript one like Tilia's, which was a standard bottle issued at the academy.
The man with the gloomy expression on his face who made the switch quietly walked away, leaving the lecture hall without attracting attention.
- Therefore, when a question concerns the use of figurative language, it is best to match the general topic with the specific expressions used.
Having finished her explanation, Tilia reached for the water bottle she had set down earlier. She opened the lid and took a sip, letting the cool water flow into her mouth. It was refreshing at first as her dry throat soothed.
- Hm…?
But something was wrong. Tilia's head tilted slightly in confusion.
- What's wrong? - Noticing her reaction, Judy, who had her nose buried in her notebook, looked up, “Does the water taste strange?”
- Yes. It has some kind of... fishy taste.
- You brought it from the hostel, right? I have the same one,” Judy pouted and picked up her water bottle, “they were doing plumbing work for the new library, maybe that’s why.” Mine has a slightly metallic taste. I brought some flavored water, would you like some?
- Hmm... No, everything is fine. You can drink this.
- Just let me know if you change your mind. I have a lot.
- Thank you.
Tilia shrugged and closed the lid before turning her attention back to her studies.
Meanwhile, behind her, Cecilia, who was watching Tilia with her chin in her hand, raised an eyebrow. After observing Tilia for a moment, Cecilia looked around the room, her sharp blue eyes scanning the other students. Her gaze settled on one particular person - Gregory Myers.
Stretching his thick neck forward, Gregory watched Tilia, grinning smugly.
Cecilia's cold gaze lingered on his ugly face for a moment before turning her gaze back to Tilia and the water bottle she had just closed, and then to her own perfectly manicured nails.
Her nails were flawless, without a single hangnail.
Hm.
Admiring the bright red polish on her nails, Cecilia idly mused to herself.
“Maybe next time I’ll choose black instead of bright.”
***
Creak.
Tilia closed the tap, letting the cold water stop flowing, and shook her head. Drops of water fell from her chin, hitting the porcelain sink in soft, transparent splashes.
What's wrong with me?
She looked at the drops of water running down the sink before looking up at the mirror.
The woman who was looking at her had rosy cheeks and dark circles under her eyes. She looked unwell.
Something is wrong...
She didn't feel good at all. Sounds that usually didn't bother her seemed unbearably loud, and the smell of other people, which she had not previously noticed, now overwhelmed her sense of smell.
Unable to bear it any longer, Tilia ran to the toilet, where she now stood, looking in the mirror.
Am I overstressed because of the re-exam?
No. Looking into her glassy eyes, Tilia quickly shook her head.
It wasn't exhaustion that came from lack of sleep. Instead of feeling sluggish from accumulated fatigue, her entire body felt hypersensitive, as if every nerve was on edge.
If I'm not tired, does that mean I'm getting sick?
Her vision became blurred, as if she had a fever. Tilia blinked, trying to clear her head, but even in that brief moment, the world seemed to revolve around her.
“I need to do something against this.”
Feeling sweat accumulate on her neck, Tilia wiped her face and prepared to leave the restroom.
Or at least she tried to.
Until I saw Gregory Myers standing at the end of the corridor.
“What the...?”
Instinctively, Tilia took a step back, narrowing her eyes. Gregory Myers stood there, rubbing his thick lips and grinning in a way that made her skin crawl. He looked like he was waiting for something.
"Every time he smiles like that..."
Tilia leaned against the wall, trying to remember past encounters.
"Something bad always happens."
She quickly looked him over from head to toe, assessing his posture and facial expression with a sharp gaze.
What is this? What was he up to?
“It was clear that he came here to cause trouble, but what kind of trouble?”
Then, looking down, Tilia noticed something that made her stomach churn.
"Ugh".
She turned away in disgust.
Gregory's trousers bulged out so much that it was impossible not to notice.
"Disgusting pig."
Tilia felt an overwhelming urge to rub her eyes as she quickly turned away. She didn't want to know what was going on anymore. The best solution was to simply avoid this dirty spectacle.
"I need to get out of here."
But just as she was about to slip away, a realization struck her like lightning.
"Wait a minute..."
Something clicked in her head.