Chapter 279: Old and New Friends

Life in the Second-Year Oxen Class was a daily humiliation for Nicholas Nineid.

Ever since he begrudgingly transferred to this class, the other students have looked at him as if he were beneath them. Just sitting among them felt suffocating, and no seat in the class could ever feel freeing.

Yet, the fact still remained that he was a Nineid. A family that managed a few trade monopolies and had backing from a few major merchant guilds.

Ever since his first day in this dreadful class, he had quietly turned the classroom into his personal court. It hadn’t taken much. Just a quiet slip of a gold coin here, the promise of a letter of recommendation to a prominent merchant guild or noble house there.

To the desperate, lower-ranked nobles of Oxen Class, his family name still carried immense weight. Before long, he had built a small, eager circle of informants and lackeys.

He despised them, of course. The way they hovered near his desk, laughing too loudly at his subtle remarks and trying to speak to him as if they were equals, made his skin crawl. But they were useful tools.

Through them, Nicholas had kept constant tabs on Carine Sareid.

He knew more about her than she likely realized. Reports painted a clear, almost absurd picture of her routine. She was seen jogging through the academy grounds at dawn. She spent hours relentlessly sparring with her peers, including that commoner attendant she kept at her side. There were even rumors that she was cooking meals personally for her attendant.

Her recent schedule baffled him. It looked less like a schedule of a refined Ducal heir, and more like that of an obsessed martial artist seeking greater heights.

The Sareid name truly did bring obsession within its blood.

One of the students in his new circle, a second-year in the Oxen Class who had practically made himself Nicholas’s errand boy, approached and leaned over to him as he cleared his throat.

“Sir Nicholas,” the boy whispered. “I managed to gather more detail about Lady Carine.”

Nicholas didn’t look up from his desk, merely giving him a nod. “Speak, then.”

"Yesterday morning, Lady Carine was seen leaving her dorm early again," the student reported in a low voice. "But, unlike before, she wasn’t heading for a morning jog or heading towards the Servants' Quarters. She went straight to the main building looking for someone. From what I could gather, she was looking for two students... a foreign student named Myura, and Lady Ravilenna."

Nicholas’s hands twitched in place; his eyes widened.

Ravi?

It had been weeks since Ravilenna was sent down to the First-Year Bison Class. Why would Carine be hunting her down? They no longer shared classes, and Ravilenna's standing had plummeted. There should be no reason to meet her.

However, he did hear that Ravilenna had devoted herself to studies and training ever since that incident. So much so, he had even heard she made her way to the second phase of the tournament. Could she have proven herself a worthy opponent to Carine?

If that was true, then Carine’s search for her must be a need to have her as a sparring partner.

And if Carine was actively looking for her, then Ravilenna was his ticket.

A smirk appeared on Nicholas’s face.

Time to meet an old friend.

—

The hall in the main building was quiet by late afternoon. Most First-Years were taking advantage of the mandatory week-long break, and there were no longer any classes active at this time of day for the rest of the years either.

Yet, the sharp clatter of wood striking wood continued to echo down the hallway, all stemming from a single practice chamber.

Nicholas stood waiting near the wall, holding a clean towel and a glass of cold water. He kept his posture relaxed and his face soft, even as he quietly cursed the heat and the unbearable length of time he had been forced to stand there.

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Finally, the rhythm of striking blades ground to a halt.

Finally, the sound stopped. And not long after, the doors to the practice chamber opened with a low creak.

Ravilenna stepped out into the quiet hall, drenching her collar in sweat and carrying two wooden training sabers over her shoulder. Her uniform was rumpled from hours of relentless drills.

Her usual fan or fur-lined coat was nowhere to be seen. And her eyes carried a sense of determination he had never seen before.

Truly, it was as if he was seeing a stranger. But Nicholas knew she was still Ravi at heart.

With that conviction, he stepped forward.

The moment she caught sight of Nicholas, her eyes narrowed. She stopped in her tracks, her hand tightening around the grips of her wooden blades.

"You're pushing yourself quite hard, Ravi," Nicholas said. He held out the glass of water and the towel with a warm smile. "But you mustn’t push yourself too hard, lest you burn all your strength before the tournament."

Ravilenna didn't reach for either. Her glare only tightened into pure ice.

"Get out of my way, Nicholas," she snapped.

Nicholas didn't flinch. He set the glass down on a nearby window ledge, lowering his hands in a gentle, placating gesture. "Now, now. Is that any way to speak to an old friend? I know things have been difficult since our... reassignment. I’m as frustrated at that Director’s hasty decisions as you are, trust me.”

"I said," Ravilenna took a sharp step forward, raising the tip of one wooden blade until it pointed directly at his chest, "get out of my way."

Nicholas took a small, measured step back to maintain a safe distance, but his charming smile remained firmly in place.

"I know you're angry, Ravi. But I have some news you might be willing to hear," he said, lowering his voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "Lady Carine was looking for you yesterday. Would you happen to know why?"

Ravilenna didn’t respond, nor did her blade lower.

Must I lay everything out?

Truly, this academy is hopeless.

“Thing is, Lady Carine has been pushing herself as well, much like you do. And I’m sure she has heard that you have reached the second phase of the tournament too,” Nicholas explained. “In other words, she is interested in sparring with you. And I know how much you despise her and that commoner stray she drags behind her. You want to wipe that arrogant look off her face just as much as I do.”

He offered his open hand, palm up, in a gesture of partnership.

"We can still fix this, Ravi. The main tournament is a public stage. I have a plan to expose them both, all to prove to the entire academy that her retainer is nothing more than a fraud using underhanded methods, and that she is enabling him. Help me execute it, and we can reclaim our places in Honors together."

For a moment, the hallway fell completely silent.

Nicholas held his breath, watching her closely, waiting for the familiar flicker of desperation or the sharp nod of compliance he was so accustomed to seeing.

Ravilenna looked at his extended hand. Then, she looked up into his eyes. A low chuckle escaped her throat as she pulled back her blade.

"You really haven't learned a single thing, have you?" she whispered.

Nicholas's smile wavered. "Ravi?"

She stepped forward, leaning in close enough that he could see the burning anger in her eyes.

"I don't care about your stupid plans. I don't care about Carine, and I certainly don't care about you."

Shoving past his shoulder forcefully, Ravilenna struck his arm with the wooden hilt as she passed. She didn't even bother looking back as she delivered her final words:

"Go die in a ditch."

Nicholas stood frozen in the quiet hallway.

His extended hand remained suspended in mid-air for several agonizing seconds before his fingers slowly curled into a tight, trembling fist.

Die in a ditch?

—

The door to Nicholas’s dorm room slammed shut with a loud, echoing crack.

"Lord Nicholas," Nina, his maid, said, stepping forward from near the washbasin. "I have prepared your—"

Nicholas shoved past her and grabbed a brass pitcher off the side table and hurled it across the room. It dented violently against the wall, splashing water across the floor and walls.

"How dare she?!" he roared, sweeping a stack of books off his desk in a single swipe. "How dare a mere daughter of a Viscount speak to me like that?!"

He kicked a heavy wooden chair, crashing it onto his bed, his chest heaving as he dragged a hand through his hair.

"Die in a ditch? Me?!" He let out a harsh, bitter laugh, staring up at the ceiling. "How dare she look at me like I’m filth?!"

Nina stood motionless near the spilled water, her head bowed in practiced silence.

Nicholas raised a glass from his desk to smash it against the door, but his arm froze in mid-air.

Slowly, the wild rage in his eyes softened. He stared at the glass in his hand as the pieces of everything he had learned over the past days began to connect.

Carine was currently consumed by the desire to fight and sharpen herself, blind to anything outside of it, be it politics or networking.

Ravilenna was one of Carine’s interests, an opponent she was willing to spar with to improve herself.

Then lastly, the fact that he could garner many desperate pawns just waiting for someone of his standing to pull their strings.

A dark, slow smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

He slowly put the raised glass down onto the side table. He smoothed down his cuffs and collars and adjusted his uniform.

"Clean this up, Nina," he commanded smoothly, his voice returning to a calm tone. "I'm heading out."

"Y-Yes, Lord Nicholas," Nina bowed immediately.

As Nicholas stepped out into the quiet corridor, his mind settled into focus.

The only reason she had bested him before was because she had been there in person to protect that commoner, not allowing the narrative to settle. But this time, blind to everything outside her training, she wouldn't even know a trap was being set until her world crumbled around her.

Carine would wander straight into his trap, and she wouldn't even be there in time to save him, or herself.

A low chuckle escaped him as he wandered outside his dorm.

Time to meet some new friends.

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