Today, Class 1-A was rather noisy.
The chattering of the students echoed throughout the white-walled auditorium.
It wasn’t just because of the recent events at the academy sparking heated discussions, but also because the upcoming transfer student had everyone buzzing with anticipation.
“Is the transfer student pretty?”
“Which dorm will the transfer student live in?”
Questions like these kept emerging one after another.
Before long, the class bell rang, signaling the end of the big break.
This lesson was Introductory Magic Theory, a compulsory course for first-years.
Returning to their seats, the students took out their textbooks and quills, quietly waiting for the teacher to arrive.
After a moment, a crack suddenly appeared out of thin air on the front podium.
The students were very familiar with this crack, having seen it once during the opening ceremony.
The crack abruptly widened, and a high-heeled shoe stepped out from within…
Albert emerged from the crack, adjusting her golden-rimmed glasses as she faced the students below.
“Quiet.”
With a sharp command, the whispering students immediately closed their mouths.
Only after the class had settled completely did Albert begin to speak.
“Today, a new student will be joining this class.”
Her words had barely fallen when the classroom erupted into a ruckus once more.
The students whispered excitedly among themselves, revisiting the questions they had discussed earlier.
Clap, clap.
Albert sighed and clapped twice, demanding the noisy class to quiet down again.
“Come on out.”
She called into the crack.
A fair-skinned leg soon appeared.
The students stared intently at the figure stepping out of the crack, and once she was fully visible, the previously quiet classroom exploded into cheers again…
“Such a beautiful sister!”
“Sit by me, sit by me!!”
“Want to have a magic duel tonight, sister?”
…
The girls, overwhelmed by desire, stared at Aurora with burning eyes, as if they wanted to burn away the white dress she wore with their scorching gazes.
“Um, I…”
Aurora hadn’t expected such an enthusiastic reaction from the students.
She had intended to answer their questions one by one, but faced with the flood of inquiries rushing at her like a tide, she didn’t know how to respond.
Thud.
Just as the class descended into chaos, Albert suddenly stomped her foot hard beside Aurora.
A blue magic circle blossomed instantly beneath her foot, then disappeared moments later.
At that moment, the students’ voices in the classroom were stifled along with the fleeting glow of the magic circle…
“Mmm…”
Their mouths seemed sewn shut, unable to open, only able to emit simple humming sounds.
The noisy chatter finally vanished, and Albert pressed a hand to her forehead, slightly pained as she said,
“Can you wait until after the self-introductions to make a ruckus?”
With that, she looked at Aurora, signaling that the next words should come from her.
Aurora cleared her throat nervously and began,
“My name is Aurora Eve. This may be sudden, but from today I will officially join this class. Please take care of me.”
With that, she bowed politely to the students below.
Though the students looked very excited, the magic still sealed their mouths, so they couldn’t shout out loud.
Some mischievous students conjured magic wands and drew four large characters in the air—Sister, wanna hang out?
Albert clenched her fists and punched the air, instantly dispersing those words.
“If you keep misusing magic, I’ll throw you out!”
She pointed to an empty seat by the window and said to Aurora,
“You can sit there.”
“Okay.”
After replying, Aurora stepped down from the podium and headed toward that spot.
Her attire made her stand out awkwardly among the other students.
Most of them wore black witch robes, some even special-colored ones, and at the very least, they all had the broad witch hats symbolizing their identity.
But Aurora wore only a white dress, one that Lola had specially bought for her.
She sat quietly in her seat, softly greeting the nearby classmates.
Clap, clap.
Aurora looked up at the podium and saw Albert leaning on it with both hands, as if she still had something to say.
“You all probably already know there’s a new student joining the class, but…”
Albert paused and then glanced at Aurora before continuing,
“The ‘new student’ we’ve been talking about doesn’t actually mean Aurora.”
Aurora had enrolled at the last minute, with her application processed urgently, but rumors about a ‘new student’ had been circulating in the class for weeks.
So those rumors must have referred to someone else.
Albert picked up a piece of chalk and wrote a name on the blackboard — Edelon Leonora.
“Leonora…”
Aurora whispered the name softly, feeling as if she’d heard it somewhere before…
“Come in.” Albert looked toward the door and said calmly.
Click.
The classroom door opened, and a black-haired girl walked in.
The excited mood in the classroom immediately froze when the students saw this girl…
She bore numerous wounds, small and large, with clear knife scars on her pale cheeks.
Her right eye was wrapped in gauze, and both wrists were bound with white bandages, faintly stained with fresh blood.
She wore a jet-black witch robe embedded with some crystals.
On her wide witch hat stood a black feather, fastened at the base by a red gem.
The color of the gem matched the crimson pupils beneath the wide brim of the hat, but her eyes were dim, like rubies in the night, not shining brightly in daylight.
It seemed as if blackness was seeping endlessly from within the gem…
“My name is Leonora Edelon, daughter of Duke Edelon.”
She finished speaking without bowing or waiting for Albert to say anything.
She stepped down from the podium, prepared to find a random seat.
Her gaze swept across Class 1 once, then suddenly stopped on Aurora.
Clatter.
The parcel she was carrying slipped from her hand, scattering the books inside across the floor.
Aurora felt uneasy under her stare; the girl seemed to know her, and Aurora felt familiar with her, but she couldn’t recall her name.
Seeing that lingering like this wouldn’t do, Leonora offered an awkward smile and softly said,
“Y-you… hello?”
“Leonora, what are you standing there for?”
Albert seemed to notice something strange too and approached Leonora.
Just as she reached out to shake the girl awake, the black figure suddenly dashed forward.
“Aurora!”
Leonora threw herself into Aurora’s arms, her eyes darker than ever.
The wounds on her wrists seemed to tear from the sudden force, and the white bandages soaked deeper with blood…