Chapter 186: ¹⁸⁶: intruiging

Chapter 186: 1??: intruiging

"Well done, Miss Moonvel! You’ve done an excellent job!"

The moment I stepped in front of our teacher, who was holding my assignment in her hands, she greeted me with a huge smile. Her eyes shone with genuine admiration as she looked at me over the top of the papers.

"We were genuinely impressed and, I must admit, a little shocked, when we saw how you managed to decode every single layer of this problem. You didn’t only solve it’s problems you understood the reasoning behind every part of it!"

"Thank you, ma’am!" I replied, accepting the assignment from her. We were supposed to get our papers back temporarily so we could look through our results, and I immediately glanced at the neatly marked pages in my hands. "It’s all because you teach us so well."

"Oh, don’t be modest now!" she said, waving away my compliment with an amused smile. "You’ve made all your teachers proud, Miss Moonvel."

She extended her hand, and I shook it respectfully, returning her smile before turning to greet our other teacher and the principal. Both congratulated me warmly, and I thanked them one after another, trying not to let their praise make me feel too self-conscious.

It wasn’t every day that I received this much attention from the Academy’s staff. Usually during the classes, I preferred to keep my head down, finish my work, and avoid drawing unnecessary attention to myself. Yet here I was, standing before several of the Academy’s most important figures while they looked at me as though I had accomplished something extraordinary.

"You never cease to amaze me, Miss Moonvel."

Gamma Derek’s voice reached me just as I was about to extend my hand for a handshake with him.

I turned towards him with a polite smile, but a strange feeling began to stir inside me as I took in his enthusiastic expression. He appeared genuinely pleased, his eyes fixed on me with the same approving warmth the other teachers had shown.

Still, something about him made me uneasy. I couldn’t quite explain it. Gamma Derek had been nothing but kind and respectful towards me both the times we met till now. He hadn’t given me any obvious reason to distrust him, nor had he done anything that I could point to and say was suspicious.

And yet, there was this persistent little voice inside my head telling me to be careful around him.

Perhaps I was simply being paranoid. After everything I had experienced, it wouldn’t have been surprising if I had started seeing danger where there was none.

Besides, this wasn’t just anyone standing in front of me. Gamma Derek held an important position in the Starlight Empire, and it would be foolish of me to form an opinion about him based on nothing more than an inexplicable feeling.

I wasn’t going to accuse someone of having questionable intentions without a single shred of evidence.

Nevertheless, when I finally extended my hand towards him, a faint chill crept up my spine.

His fingers closed around mine and for a second, my smile stiffened, and I had to remind myself not to let my discomfort show. I couldn’t very well stand there looking suspicious of a man who was simply congratulating me on my academic performance.

So, I pushed the strange sensation aside and returned his warm smile, just as politely as I had done with everyone else.

"What is your first name again, Miss Moonvel?" he asked making me blink in confusion.

He was still holding my hand, his expression as pleasant as ever, as though the question were nothing more than a passing curiosity.

"Athena," I replied after a brief pause.

I couldn’t help wondering why he was asking. Surely, he already knew my name. He was the one who had personally overseen the changes to our academic schedule, and with all the attention he had been paying to the students’ results, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume he had looked through our records.

"It’s Athena Moonvel," I added, just in case he needed the full name.

"Athena Moonvel..." Gamma Derek repeated slowly as he released my hand, drawing it back before resting his fingers against his chin. His gaze drifted away from me for a moment, and he appeared to be contemplating something, his brows drawing together ever so slightly.

Then, he looked at me again. "You have a very special name, Miss Moonvel."

I couldn’t tell whether he was simply making conversation or whether there was something more behind his words.

His smile remained in place, warm and perfectly composed. Nothing about his expression suggested that he had said anything unusual.

And yet, this time, I thought I caught something strange in his eyes. A brief, almost imperceptible glint. It was there for barely a second before disappearing, leaving me wondering whether I had actually seen it at all.

"Athena Moonvel..." He repeated my name slowly, as though he were trying to commit it to memory. "Moonvel?" His eyebrows lifted slightly. "Where are you from to have a surname like that?"

He asked the question with such casual curiosity that anyone watching us might have assumed he was merely making conversation with a student whose performance had impressed him.

But I didn’t feel the slightest bit casual. My heart seemed to leap straight into my throat, and the longer he focused on my name, the more difficult it became to maintain my composure.

Why was he so interested in my surname?Was it possible that he knew something about me?

The thought sent a fresh wave of uneasiness through me. I knew it was unlikely. The Starlight Empire was a considerable distance from my pack, and there was no reason for anyone here to connect my name to my true identity. As far as I knew, nothing about my arrival at the Academy should have raised such suspicions.

And yet, knowing that didn’t stop my imagination from running wild. My mouth suddenly felt dry, as though I hadn’t had a sip of water in days. I forced myself to swallow, hoping he wouldn’t notice the slight tension in my throat.

"I come from a small pack on the outskirts of our Empire," I explained quickly. "There are quite a few people who share my surname back home, sir."

I made sure to keep my tone as natural as possible, delivering the answer without leaving an awkward pause that might give him the impression I was struggling to explain myself.

"Oh!" Gamma Derek tilted his head, a small crease forming between his eyebrows as he considered my answer.

"You come from such a faraway place, and yet you managed to solve an assignment designed by our top teachers so impeccably?" His expression brightened, and he gave a small, appreciative shake of his head. "Impressive! Quite impressive!"

"Thank you, sir!" I replied, offering him another polite smile. "It’s all because we have such excellent teachers."

As I spoke, I glanced briefly towards the teachers standing beside us, hoping to redirect the conversation away from myself. Unfortunately, Gamma Derek didn’t seem interested in letting the subject go.

His gaze remained fixed on me, carrying that same peculiar interest he had displayed ever since asking for my first name. It was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, particularly when I couldn’t understand what had caught his attention in the first place.

"No, Miss Moonvel or may I say, Athena... Moonvel?" He shook his head with a faint smile, glancing towards the other teachers as though inviting them to share in his amusement before returning his attention to me.

"Other students have the very same teachers as you do, don’t they? And yet, none of them managed to decode the hidden problems concerning the Kingdom of Garis the way you did."

He paused briefly, allowing his words to settle before continuing. "A talent like yours is innate, Miss Moonvel. It’s something you’re born with, not something that can simply be taught. And certainly not something a person can develop in just a few months."

His praise should have made me feel proud.

Under different circumstances, it probably would have.

Instead, I found myself standing a little straighter beneath the weight of his attention, my fingers tightening around the assignment I was holding. I couldn’t determine whether I was simply being overly cautious or whether there was genuinely something unusual about the way he spoke to me.

Perhaps he really was impressed by my work. Perhaps he was simply one of those people who took a particular interest in students who demonstrated exceptional abilities.

There was nothing wrong with either possibility. So why couldn’t I shake this feeling?

"I’m quite intrigued by you." Gamma Derek’s smile widened as he looked at me. The slight crease between his eyebrows finally disappeared, leaving his face looking relaxed and almost cheerful.

"I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Miss Moonvel. I hope you’ll continue to perform just as well in the future and perhaps even surpass what you’ve accomplished today."

My fingers tightened around the edge of my papers. Keeping an eye on me? or some reason, the words didn’t sound nearly as reassuring as he probably intended them to.

"You will, won’t you?" he added, giving an encouraging nod.

Before I could properly process his question, he placed a hand on my shoulder, the gesture resembling the sort of friendly pat a teacher might give a promising student.

My body stiffened ever so slightly at the unexpected contact, but I forced myself to remain still. I couldn’t very well react as though he’d done something wrong when all he’d offered was a seemingly harmless gesture of encouragement.

"I will, sir. Thank you!" I returned his smile, making sure my voice sounded appropriately grateful while just a moment later, he withdrew his hand.