Noctis Evermore and The Master of Tarot

-Chapter Eleven- A Swindlers Vault

'Out of the way! She requires immediate attendance,' cried Madame Galena, the Matron of the school. She was dressed in a pale white apron and had hair that wilted from old age and stress. Madame Galena was known to have the most delicate touch. It was even rumoured that she can heal you immediately with a kiss. The only dilemma was that she was nearing her seventies so not many takers were up to debunk the myth.
'Quick! Get the stretcher and the emergency team right now. This poor girl must be cured right away.'
Madame Galena ran a discerning thumb across Edith's neck and pressed the veins on her lifeless arms.
'No pulse.'
She gently lifted Edith from the pool, wet robes dangling from her side and then carefully rested her on the stretcher. Noctis could only watch in distraught as the medical wizards hoisted her limp body away. His hands quivered in fear and regret. The duel he had just partaken in was a tragedy, not a victory.
Professor Cecelia descended from the viewing deck with threads, cushioning her fall into the flooded floor and dashed towards the scene. She had little to no care that her clothes were drenched with water.
'Madame Galena! Could you give me a diagnostic!' she gasped. Professor Cecelia's face contorted and her lips drooped with anxiety. She had been the one in charge of making sure no accidents would occur. However, everything had escalated too fast. The mere seconds it took for those black whips to lock onto Edith was unpreventable even with the swift threads that she had.
'Fourth-degree stunning. She won't be awake for a few weeks,' replied Madame Galena with a saddened expression. 'I'm more worried about that boy over here. How was it that he produced a non-verbal stunning charm to this degree? You haven't been teaching any dark magic here, correct?'
Their eyes averted to Noctis as if he was a monster that had yet to be charted in a book. Their gazes ran deep through his heart and once again, he failed to be ordinary. He couldn't even claim a worthy win like others, let alone prevent something horrible from happening. Perhaps, he truly was just born as an omen all along.
Noctis jolted as his ears twitched. A rippling noise that sounded as if it tore through a portal came from behind him. 'It's not dark magic,' said a voice above his head. Professor Clive cupped a hand on his moistened hair and gave it a firm rub. 'I know what the realms of the dark arts look like and what he just did is nothing close.'
He gave a cheery beam at Noctis and lifted him by the elbow from the frosty water.
'Don't look so down, Noctis. You've won,' he whispered gently as he dried Noctis with his wand.
'But I could have killed her with whatever that was!' retaliated Noctis.
'If you truly were about to kill her then...'
'You'd have to deal with me first.'
His starry eyes flickered with a sparkle of magenta and appeared to have expanded infinitely like a galaxy. The mysterious aura Noctis had felt from when he first saw Professor Clive engulfed him like a cloak of fear. Was he trembling? He couldn't really tell. The power from even his astral gaze was enough to put Noctis in a stupor of incomprehension.
'Stop scaring him, Clive!' snapped Professor Cecelia irritatedly. 'Haven't I already told you several times to not do that?'
Professor Clive shifted back to his mischievous and charming side, 'Back in the day, you used to praise these eyes, Cecelia. Why not make it work between us again, what do you say?' He gave a smug face and shrugged with a taunting gesture. Flaming red threads sprouted from all sorts of directions and bounded his body. His arms and legs were firmly locked into a pose, reminiscent of a jester.
Noctis felt as if he had been caught between something that he shouldn't have and remained awkwardly silent. He wanted to run away but his eyes averted towards Professor Cecelia whose face had been flushed with bright pink. He had never seen her embarrassed before.
'Sh-shut up,' she stuttered. 'You do know that we're both busy nowadays.'
The awkwardness was truly unbearable and Noctis felt the itch to shove his head in the water.
'Oh, Sage of Fortune! I pray upon thee to get me the hell out of here,' he repeated in his head.
After wriggling in the threads for a bit, Professor Clive apparated away, leaving the threads to freefall gently.
'Once again, he vanishes just like that. ARGH! He gets on my nerves,' uttered Professor Cecelia irritatedly. She vigorously scratched her hair in frustration as if she had experienced this countless times.
'You young ones need to set a good example for your pupils. It's better this way, Cecelia,' Madame Galena commented. 'I still remember when you two had walked through these doors for the first time. It's time to be the one to open the gate.'
'I know, Madame Galena. It's just... forget it.'
Professor Cecelia remained silent for a minute and then clicked her fingers as if she remembered something important. She averted her attention to Noctis and offered a gaping hand, 'your wand, Noctis.'
'My wand?' he replied with a frown.
'Yes, your wand. We'll be confiscating it for a week to decipher what happened before. Now if you may.'
Noctis handed over his wand without any fuss but was sad to part with it. He hated to admit it at first but it wasn't the wand that caused it, it was him. That numbing sensation like his consciousness had been transmitted to another realm, and then the black whips branching from his wand. All of it derived from him.
The hour hand was approaching the one on the grand clock and the duelling grounds had been cleared of any spectators. The dome no longer had its ecstatic energy from before but the roaring excitement of the crowds still echoed in his head. He was alone but something felt far more serene than usual. Noctis let the sunlight from the ceiling trickle onto his skin as his boots remained in the water. He needed to collect his items but it was so comfortable that he wished to stay there forever.
Noctis retrieved his cloak, floating on the surface and noticed that it was tattered with holes. Even more battle scars to remind him of the duel. He trod further through the resistance of the water currents and pocketed both of Edith's wands.
One of her wands looked extravagant and the other had a rather plain design.
'I should return them to her. It's the least I can do,' he muttered to himself.
After collecting the remnants of the battle, he left the building with a trail of damp footsteps. The doors swung open and he almost had to shield himself from the sunlight he hadn't seen for hours.
'Noct! You won!' squealed Delphine with exhilaration. She lunged forward with embracing arms but Noctis dodged in the knick of time.
'Don't come near me!' he said irritatedly. 'I don't know what I am anymore. You could get hurt.'
He pressed his teeth into his lip, trying his best not to cry. His heart was at its tipping point, urging for someone to lean on but he knew he was dangerous. He must avoid people at all costs for their own safety, being alone was how it was meant to be the whole time.
Delphine didn't need a second to think. She moved as fast as the gusts of winds and hugged Noctis with a firm clutch, not allowing him to wriggle free.
'It's alright, Noctis. I don't care what you are or what people think you are.' She tightened her embracing squeeze and continued, 'I've been here from the very start and I'll be here to the end. You won't hurt me, Noctis and I know it.'
Noctis wanted to weep his worries but he noticed something beyond the foliage. His friends were hiding behind a bush like pesky gnomes, unaware of their obvious exposure. Law's hair protruded from the top and Pedro's books had toppled through the shrubs.
'I can see you, idiots,' Noctis stammered.
They fumbled around in the bushes and then collapsed on top of each other with twigs embedded in their hair. It was a silly but comforting sight. Noctis chuckled with a dry and itchy throat, curing him of his temptation to sob.
'Look, Noctis. We'll always be here for you as well,' said Law as he plucked twigs and leaves off of his shirt.
'Here for me? Well maybe next time not in a bush,' replied Noctis sarcastically. Noctis stooped over and brushed off the remaining twigs in Law's sandy hair and couldn't help but feel his soul rejuvenate. Just minor and forgettable moments like these, were enough to satisfy his school life at Hogwarts. There was no need for duels.
'So these people are all of your friends. I remember Law, you two might be?'
'I'm Agnes Werner. It is a pleasure to meet you!' announced Agnes with a valiant bow.
'And I'm Pedro Hughes, you're Noctis' sister correct?' added Pedro. He adjusted his spectacles, straightening them to appear smarter.
'Indeed, I am. I think we're all here for the same reason. Oh! How about we make a Support-Noctis pact, between us!' commented Delphine with enthusiasm. 'You know you want it, Noct.'
'Wait, that's going a little too far,' snapped Noctis but he was too late. The four of them had already gone off babbling away and he was cast to the side without a say.
'You're getting support, whether you like it or not,' Delphine declared with pouted cheeks.
'Yeah, what she said!' added the other three in unison. Law had his arms crossed and seemed to have adopted the Evermore pout, imitating it to perfection.
'Thank you...' he mumbled to himself with a slight grin.
-
Two weeks had passed since his duel and time continued to move ever so slowly again. Classes ran. Smoke ascended from the brewery's chimneys. Law continued his expeditions. Most importantly, Halloween was soon to come. Nothing extraordinary had happened yet and it was exactly as Noctis had wanted. If there is no change, then it is the absolute state of perfection.
Noctis creaked open the hospital wing doors, awakening the injured from their slumber. There were bedridden clients, present for all sorts of reasons. A Gryffindor fifth year who had broken an arm from quidditch snuggled back to sleep. His neighbour was a Hufflepuff with inflamed bulges on his face, most likely from a toxic bite. Noctis couldn't help but notice the gloomy atmosphere and felt guilty to be in fine condition. He had arrived, not because he was injured or hurt. Instead, Noctis came for the sole purpose of redemption.
'Oh Young Evermore, you're here again?' said the Matron delightfully. Guests were always welcomed as Madame Galena believed happiness is the greatest medicine. With a swish of her wand, she hastily packed away her set of medical tools and potions.
'It's the least I can do,' replied Noctis. He rested a bouquet of snowy chrysanthemum on Edith's beside and polished her two wands. He had an endless supply of flowers from Delphine who urged him to visit every week.
'She doesn't get many visitors. Just having you here is great, Noctis,' said the Matron with a pitiful tone.
Noctis stared down at Edith's unresponsive face which glistened with the warmth of the sunset, 'does she... not have many friends?'
It may have been a personal question but he couldn't help but feel remorse. In response, Madame Galena only shook her head with disappointment.
As he pondered deeply, Noctis realized something. The duel was more than just a mere battle of two sorcerers. It was a way of understanding Edith and her unmistakable loneliness. To be born into a noble family adorned by multitudes would mean sacrificing your humanity. No one ever saw her for who she truly was. Her presence was a mere title.
'That's why you've been fighting so hard. I changed my mind about you, Edith. You're more respectable than I ever was. You've won.'
He gave a polite bow to the Matron and dismissed himself from the gloomy room. The evening was rather peaceful as he spent his remaining hours till dark in his studies until he snuggled into his bedsheets.
-
Noctis embraced his pillow that felt ever so soft after intense studies and let his eyes rest. As he began to fall into a dream, he felt his bedsheets peel from his body, exposing his hands to the chilly air. Although disgruntled, Noctis was not taken aback that it was Law who had disrupted his sleep.
'THIS IS BAD! REAL BAD! We have detention in three days and I still haven't found any evidence,' gasped Law with hands clasped on his cheeks. 'That grimy troll of a caretaker scheduled our detention during Halloween so our screams blend in.'
Noctis grunted in displeasure, crossing his arms irritatedly. He pulled his fresh bedsheets over his head and muffled into his pillow.
'If we get a punishment, then we deserve it,' he snapped back. 'I don't see the issue here.'
Law wriggled into his slippers, ready to investigate the detention chamber during the night again. For the past few weeks, his determination has waned and it became an obligation instead.
'The issue is Caretaker Carpe. You saw what they did to Leo right? He can't even write anymore!'
Noctis snuggled into his bedsheets pretending to doze off into the curious world of dreams, 'You're wasting your energy.'
-
Time ticked away and Law had been taking longer than usual. Hour overtime. As Noctis gazed through the starry distance, his ears grew fond of the ticks from the clock and the drip of the ceiling leakage. Something was off and it seemed that Linx noticed it too.
'Law again, making me feel all anxious. Should I really break rule for him?' whispered Noctis. He ran a discerning hand down Linx's furry spine and rested his head against a pillow. Linx gave an approving nod.
-
Noctis tucked into his slippers and pulled his navy nightcap tightly on his head. He creaked open the door ever so slightly, feeling sweat run down his spine as Pedro mumbled to himself whilst sleeping. As he crept through the hallways, he cuddled onto Linx who was leering around attentively.
As Noctis reached the Slytherin patrolling corridors near the hospital wing, Linx meowed and leapt away from his grasp. To his fortune, the kitten's paws were padded with fur and did not disturb the hospital occupants.
'Linx! Come back!' Noctis whispered frantically. The furry black animal only became more of an unrecognizable blur as it darted off.
As Noctis watched his pet abandon him, he felt a chilly grip on his shoulder and a cold breath that ran on his nape.
'Ohoh~ seems like we got a rule-breaker,' whispered a mischievous voice. The tone shared the resemblance to a snake and had a slight lisp, ending with a 'hissing' noise.
Noctis swung his body around instinctively and felt his jaw drop. It was the notorious Slytherin prefect, Amanda Grimald. She was well known for her black roots of hair which seeped into a snowy white at the tips and her talent in bribery. Despite her deceitful demeanour, she was also known as the 5th rank duelist for the seniors league; a powerful and tricky opponent. Noctis reached for his wand, only to realise it had been taken away by Professor Cecelia. He gulped knowing that there was no good ending awaiting for him.
'Ya' know. If you're gonna break a rule, do it properly. Here, take these. Invisibeans, pinched from Professor Plum,' snarled Amanda. 'They last for 5 minutes but your outline is still visible.'
Amanda held out a palm with blue beans that radiated an ominous light and beckoned Noctis to take them. Noctis could sense the deceitful agenda and her true intentions.
'I would rather not. I know you're going to charge me coins. Furthermore, I know you're also going to charge me to leave without trouble.'
Amanda irritably shoved her beans into her inner pocket and grunted. Her temper had been overwhelmed as she clutched onto his collar with aggression.
'Aren't you a knowledgeable brat? Since you've got on my nerves, I'll let only you go on one condition' said Amanda, bitterly. ' Caretaker Carpe has a hidden storage somewhere. Since you're so smart why not find it and tell me?'
Noctis knew there wasn't a second option, as he nodded his head diligently. His instincts suggested it was better off than being pathetic rather than becoming the next target for the Slytherins. Only the Gryffindors dared to do so. Amanda loosened her clutch by the collar, allowing Noctis to adjust his collar which had been crumpled.
As the disgruntled prefect slid back into the shadows, a surge of relief but also ecstasy struck his body. Something perfect had come to mind. A plan had begun to come into fruition as he paced towards the detention chamber.
'The proof was within the castle the entire time. It's only a matter of finding it and then exposing that filthy Carpe,' he whispered to himself. 'Perhaps, Law was on to something this whole time.'
-
Noctis tapped on the detention chamber's wooden door and retreated to a corridor corner. As he peered his head from the stony and rigid crevice, his eyes peeled on the door in case of any activity.
No response had returned. Noctis confirmed that was no presence of both caretaker and his "trade clients." After infiltrating the musky room, Noctis threaded the door with a bundle of thread from Professor Cecelia to ensure he is not caught by surprise.
'Law?' whispered Noctis aimlessly. No response had been returned and the silence crept along his spine eerily. There was only a brief window of time to solve the mystery of his missing friend and the hidden storage.
'How peculiar. I'll need to think harder,' Noctis uttered as he ran a discerning finger across the paintings.
His gaze fell upon the row of canvases and his grey eyes immediately flickered with satisfaction. Noctis noticed that the paintings had changed completely. Above the shackles where children hung, were five paintings that each depicted a part of a knight's armour: A helmet, chest piece, sword, right and left boot.
He was quick to notice the bold italic writing, engraved on the rusted armour pieces within the frames.
-
"I, the helmet, do not belong to the beginning or the end. However, I am inseparable from the left boot."
"I, the * boot, will always be between the chest piece and the helmet."
"I, the sword, do not belong to the beginning or the end. "
-
Without a second to pass, Noctis began to rearrange the paintings from their hinges as he mumbled to himself.
'One of the words has been etched off so there's got to be at least 3 combinations now... found it! Chest piece, left boot, helmet, sword then right boot,' he muttered silently.
Noctis shifted the paintings into their respective order as he clutched his sleeves anxiously. To be incorrect or clueless was another peculiar fear that always haunted his doubtful thoughts. The honour of being a Ravenclaw only heightened his anxiety.
His eyes peeled on the paintings of armour which began to lose their rustic grime and glistened with a metallic sheen. Noctis stood in a trance, baffled by the simplicity of the so-called "mystery." The puzzle had been solved in mere seconds with ease but he wondered what would come next. A secret entrance? A vault? Or perhaps a cabinet behind the paintings?
The room began to subtly rumble by his feet and created the sound of shifting stone. It was time for the reveal. His eyes focused on the paintings in preparation for them to swing open, but he was instead met with a dilemma. The stone floor below him had split apart to unveil an endless pit that engulfed unwelcome guests.
He felt his weight swoop down from the absence of a floor as his reflexes surged through his body. With a tenacious grip, Noctis clutched the ledge as his body weight pulled him down. His fingers began to sweat with every ounce of energy that he wasted.
In an attempt to hurl his body back onto the floor, he used the remaining power he could muster to create a burst of movement. It was hopeless for his untrained and frail body. Eventually, his might succumbed to the strenuous work as he lost touch with the ledge.
Noctis plummeted down into the abyss and desperately attempted to break his fall by clinging on to the walls. As his fingers slid on the side of the pit, the high speeds scraped his skin as he cried in agony. His neatly swept hair had become nothing more than a flowing mess from the wind resistance of the fall.
'I need to break the fall!' Noctis gasped. 'I beseech thee O almighty sages, give me a wand!'
To his peril, even the sages had abandoned his inevitable death. The tunnel pit had ended and a dimly lit room revealed itself, layered with gold and jewellery as well as shelves of potions. There was no time to be stunned by extravagant treasure. Noctis took a final gulp as the view of the floor became more evident and his death became more apparent.
'Wingardium Leviosa!' shouted a voice. It was Law.
Noctis felt his body movement come to a halt with his eyes sunken into fear. He remained suspended above the piles of gold as Law carefully lowered his body.
'You almost...'
'Died. I know' panted Noctis.
His heart thumped strenuously and his eyes remained dilated from the fear of death. They remained speechless and could only stare at each other in bafflement as they stood on the towering pile of coins.
-
The room beneath the detention chamber reeked of the potions that Carpe fancied and the air was unpleasantly frigid. Law held his palms to a torch as he breathed puffs of condensed air in the cold and damp room. From the rats that ran across the shelves and the tarnished sets of knights armour, it seemed to be far from welcoming.
'This isn't good at all, Noctis. We're both stuck down here and we'll end up rotting away if we don't find a way out,' uttered Law who a slid down the sea of coins. 'This was a fate even I could not foresee.'
Noctis trudged through the rustling gold, disposing any bits that had made its way into his boots.
'If there's a way in, there's a way out. Err speaking of which, how'd you get in here without dying?' asked Noctis.
Law trembled with fear as if a horrible memory had been triggered. His golden hair stood on its ends as his misty green eyes darted around anxiously.
'Well... while I was trying to solve the puzzle, I got caught by that son of a troll, Carpe. Without a second thought, he threw me into here through the second entrance,' gasped Law as he pointed to the stairs. 'I still remember the fury in his eyes when he told me to rot in here. I think he really meant it.'
'Don't be foolish, there's no way he would go as far as to commit murder for the sake of hiding his crimes,' snapped Noctis. There was a lingering feeling of doubt in his statement. It wouldn't be far fetched to believe that Carpe had imprisoned students until starvation, especially if they have uncovered his secret.
Death was not a cheerful topic to discuss during such dilemmas. Instead, Noctis paced around the room investigating the narrow crevices between shelves of potions, pixie-ridden chests and cabinets. To his dismay, it was nothing more than a gloomy room filled with a man's greed and addiction to elixir.
The storage room appeared to be unkempt with jewels, gold and strange concoctions ladened across the floor. Among the lustrous sheen of the gold that reflected the candle light, towered a peculiar henge. It was a stony pillar of hardened rock that had etchings of ancient writings and drawings.
Noctis ran a discerning finger across the patch of radiant light that shone on it's engravings.
'Maybe Professor Fidelis could read this. He's probably just as a ancient as this writing,' cackled Law.
Noctis remained absorbed in the mysterious aura of the pillar that stood strong despite looking withered. In a room plagued with enough extravagant gold to support a sorcerer for a lifetime, something about the stone was far more intriguing to his curious soul.
As Law prodded at a pile of coins, something beneath the ocean of gold began to rustle aggressively. Metallic pellets and gems began to hurl in all sorts of directions, as the entity swam through effortlessly.
'Law what did you do!' snapped Noctis irritatedly.
'I don't know!'
Noctis instinctively reached for his wand to only find it was gone. Instead, he stretched his palm out hoping for the best to happen as he stood in an air-tight stance. Bursting through the speckles of gold was a girl no older than the their age. Her hogwarts robes with a Ravenclaw crest emblazoned on it, appeared tarnished and tattered. She had wavy hair that floated weightlessly in the air as she tucked her face into her sleeves. Law remained baffled as a constant flux of tears flowed through her eye sockets uncontrollably.
'No way! Visitors? I'm sorry! I can't stop crying, I really can't!' she squeaked in a croaky voice. 'Ah where are my manners? I'm Miserabella. However, I've long forgotten my surname especially since I've been down her for around one. No, two. Actually five. Wait, no. I think three centuries.'
From the edge of his eye, Noctis glanced at Law who held his wand tightly at the levitating girl.
'Err nice to meet you, Miserabella. My name is Noctis and this is Law,' he replied calmly. 'May I ask why you are down here?'
The entity began to float upside down, blushing as tears began to fluctuate. Perhaps, it was a personal question.
'I'm quite delighted. You're the first person I've met to not nickname me, miserable,' she whispered in a gentle voice. 'Well, if I can remember correctly. The room above me was the storage room where people kept on hiding my necklace. For years, I have wondered what have I done to deserve such treatment.'
'Are you a ghost?' whimpered Law, lowering his wand sympathetically. 'Were you put down here as punishment? Will we end up in here forever?'
Miserabella shook her head vigorously as she fluttered her hands nervously. 'No way! I won't let it happen. I would never even curse the situation I am in on my sworn enemies. Never ever.'
Hollow yet emotional tears began to roll from her cheek as her eyes averted to the pillar.
'It was all because of that! It tempted me. Fooled me. Led me amuck,' cried Miserabella as she lifted a finger to the protruding slab of stone. 'It's voice summoned me to the depths of the storage room where it promised me freedom of my enemies. Lies. Days had passed. Months followed and eventually years grew into centuries. I passed away without satiating my resolve and I was bounded to this room, forgotten to those who once knew me. Hence, I am neither ghost nor human anymore.'
Law brushed off tears that blurred his vision and tugged onto his sleeping cap.
'I'm sorry for disturbing you, Miserabella. One day, after we escape this musky room, we promise to free you,' declared Law.
Irritadely, Noctis flicked Law's head with his fingers.
'Don't make promises we can't keep, Law! The current problem we face is escaping this room,' insisted Noctis. 'We will try within our very best efforts to help you Miserabella, however this is a 300 year old case. I do not see how we will be able to approach this.'
Miserabella had a disheartened expression across her face yet she mustered a forceful smile.
'I...understand. Honestly, just you're acknowledgement of my existence is enough,' she sniffled. 'Oh! I almost forgot to tell you one last thing.'
Noctis raised a curious eyebrow, hoping to gather more intel. He locked his gaze into Miserebella's hollow eyes that encapsulated the sorrow and loneliness of her soul. She no longer cried tears and instead had a stern expression with clenched teeth of fear.
'The voices...they are resonating once more through these castles. Promise me this at the very least. When or if you possibly find the source of the voice.. DO NOT follow the man with the cape,' uttered Miserabella in a stern voice. 'History mustn't repeat itself. Children mustn't die once more.'
Noctis clenched his fists with boiling rage as memories began to intoxicate his mind. The roaring flames of the manor. His mother's lifeless and glassy eyes. The everlasting vision of the caped figure, and the sinister grin that stretched across their face beneath the hood. It had all been seared into his heart, screaming for him to seek vengeance.
'I'm afraid that is a promise I absolutely can not keep. If it so happens to be a cape figure I know, he will be slain by my two hands,' uttered Noctis.
From the bottom of his heart, he knew it unwavering ambition that can not be touched. His vendetta that had been boiling beneath his veins for the past four years had reached it's breaking point. Noctis glared at the stony pillar with a determined frown, declaring it as a mystery to be solved.
'Law, I will soon tell you the truth about the "Evermore Tragedy." What they tell you on the daily prophet isn't exactly as it seems,' declared Noctis with a stern expression. 'I'll tell you once we get out of here.'
-
As Noctis stood in a trance, recalling the events of the night of the relentless flames, the rumbling of stone slabs echoed through the cave. It's source emanated from the door atop of the towering spiral staircase. Perhaps, another unwelcome guest had ended up in the hands of Caretaker Carpe.
Law readied his wand with a tight grip as the heavy door scraped along the cobble ground.
'Who's there?' bellowed Law.
'How rude!' barked a voice back. 'I have come to your aid yet no sign of gratitude is offered.'
Noctis and Law were lost for words and remained petrified with their soles planted in the floor. Their saviour was the very last person that they would have expected it to be.
Standing atop of the staircase was a haughty girl with crossed arms and a proud grin displayed across her face. Her emerald earrings flowed as brilliantly as the elegant curls on her hair and flickered with a green speckle. Her face was unmistakable as it had become renowned among the campus from her feats in duelling. It was none other than the fourth daughter of the Earl bloodline, Edith.