Chapter 60 Blood and Squeals

Chapter 60 Blood and Squeals
Just as she whispered that, a loud, familiar, piercing voice rang out her name.

"Ravelyn!"

Turning, she sighted Nina sprinting toward her alongside her massive beast mount. Both of them were so completely covered in thick, dark gore that Ravelyn almost gagged on the spot.

Nina, without thinking, pounced on Ravelyn. She squealed at the top of her lungs, locking her arms around her friend's neck. "Yay! We both made it to the Third Wing!"

Ravelyn smiled stiffly as she awkwardly returned the frantic hug. She was genuinely happy that Nina had advanced along with her, but she could barely stand the suffocating, acidic stench of the Vorath blood dripping from Nina’s uniform. It was coating her own clothes by association.

"Nina," Ravelyn muttered, trying to gently peel the girl off her. "Great job, seriously. But you smell like a walking cemetery."

Breaking from the hug, Ravelyn wiped a stray smudge of black blood off her shoulder. She looked around the open field, only to notice that the previous murmurs had completely died down. The courtyard had gone unnaturally quiet.

All eyes were now pinned entirely on her and Nina. The elite students, the lower-wing onlookers, and even the passing proctors were staring at them with wide, tense expressions.

Frowning, Ravelyn glanced back at her friend. "What is happening? Why is everyone staring at us like we just grew second heads?"

Nina blinked, her enthusiastic smile faltering slightly into a look of genuine surprise. "Oh. You didn't hear?"

Ravelyn raised a brow, her fingers rhythmically stroking Malphas’s small, deceptive form as he purred against her ankle. "Hear what?"

Nina glanced around the silent courtyard, inching closer until the overwhelming stench of Vorath blood nearly made Ravelyn step back. Dropping her voice to a tense whisper, Nina said, "Kaelie woke up. And mysteriously, she got her abilities back. She’s already asking for another duel with you."

Ravelyn froze. Her hand stopped moving on Malphas’s fur. How did Kaelie recover her abilities so quickly? Hadn't Lucius and Elder Vane explicitly said that her core was completely shattered beyond repair? A broken core was supposed to be a permanent death sentence for a mage's power.

Nina gummed her lips together, nodding grimly. "I know exactly what you’re thinking, and honestly, that was my first thought too. It makes zero sense."

Nina paused, swallowing hard as she glanced over her shoulder again. "But anyways, that isn't even the main issue right now. Rumors have been spreading like wildfire through the sectors. People are saying you're having a scandalous affair with both Lucius and Kieran. And because of that... she had to come back to the academy."

Ravelyn folded her arms, her jaw tightening as the biting wind caught her hair, dancing it violently across her face. "Nina, stop beating around the bush and go straight to the point. Who is she?"

Nina tilted her head toward the far side of the courtyard where a massive group of high-born Dark Bearers had gathered. The crowd of elite demons was dense, but the one person standing dead center stood out like a drop of fresh blood on snow. She had a sharp, vibrant crimson bob that perfectly framed a stunningly beautiful, aristocratic face, and eyes of pure, deep midnight black.

Ravelyn followed Nina’s train of sight, her mismatched eyes locking directly onto the strange demon girl. Even from across the distance, the girl's aura was thick, suffocating, and dripping with high-born underworld nobility.

"That's Nyra," Nina explained, her voice dropping into a fearful, breathless register. "Kieran’s supposed fiancée."

Hearing that, Ravelyn froze. She subconsciously whispered the term under her breath. "Fiancée."

Although she shouldn’t have any reason to feel bitter about the revelation—especially not after discovering the massive web of lies Kieran had spun around her—every nerve in her body suddenly felt entirely uncomfortable with that information. A sharp, annoying twist tightened in her chest, and she hated herself for it.

Trying to rein down the sudden spike of irritation she didn't want to classify, she forced her features into a bored mask. She shrugged carelessly. "Well. Good for them."

Glancing down at Malphas, who was already tracking the thick demonic pressure radiating from the crimson-haired girl, Ravelyn nudged him with her boot. "Let’s get to the main grounds. I need a shower and a new uniform before the Third Wing orientation starts."

Nina said, “Oh… okay.” She skipped alongside Ravelyn, though her shadow lynx prowled close behind them, its low ears twitching as it picked up on the residual tremor of Ravelyn’s spike in irritation.

Ravelyn kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, her jaw clenched so tightly it ached. She didn't want to think about why the word fiancée tasted like absolute poison on her tongue. She didn't want to think about Kieran at all. But every time her boot struck the stone walkway, the sharp twist in her chest only seemed to tighten, a frustrating reminder that she wasn’t nearly as indifferent as she forced herself to look.

Soon, they got to the Main Grounds where every other student had gathered to wait.

The sprawling central courtyard was a chaotic sea of uniforms, murmurs, and thick, suffocating tension. The air practically hummed with the nervous energy of hundreds of students who had barely survived the recent trials. Standing on the periphery, Ravelyn immediately felt the heavy, suffocating atmosphere press down on her.

But it wasn't just the ambient noise that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It was the sudden, deliberate shift in the space around her.

The crowd ahead began to part, a wave of sudden silence rippling through the student body. Walking straight through the clearing was the crimson-haired girl—Nyra—her posture regal, arrogant, and entirely at home. And right beside her, his expression unreadable but his dark aura cutting through the courtyard like a blade, was Kieran.

The moment Kieran’s dark eyes swept across the crowd and locked onto Ravelyn, the air between them seemed to completely freeze. Ravelyn didn’t blink, forcing her bored, careless mask to stay perfectly intact even as her pulse hammered against her ribs. Nyra noticed the stare immediately, her lips curling into a slow, deliberate smile as she pointedly wrapped her hand around Kieran’s forearm, anchoring herself to him in front of the entire assembly.

Ravelyn felt a familiar, volatile heat ignite deep within her core—a dangerous spark of her hidden sun lineage reacting to her sheer, unadulterated annoyance.

Before that heat could break through her skin, a tall, rigid figure stepped directly into her line of sight, cutting off her view of Kieran.

Lucius stood before her, his silver-blonde hair catching the dimming light, his pristine posture an absolute shield against the demonic pressure suffocating the yard. His bright, piercing eyes scanned her face, immediately noting the faint, golden tension tightening around her eyes and the way her hands were balled into fists.

Without a word, Lucius stepped closer, his shadow completely blocking Kieran from her view. He didn't say anything about the crimson-haired girl, nor did he ask about the rumor already spreading through the ranks. He simply stood there, an unyielding, protective wall of celestial light, his presence a silent declaration that she wasn't facing the predatory gazes of the academy alone.

From behind Lucius’s shoulder, the thick, crushing weight of Kieran’s shadow magic suddenly expanded, rolling across the stone floor like an angry tide, silently demanding that the angel step away from her.

Right then, the heavy iron bells of the high orientation auditorium began to ring, their deep, ominous chimes echoing across the mountains. The grand doors of the Third Wing building groaned open, and a proctor’s voice boomed over the courtyard, commanding all advanced students to take their assigned seats inside immediately.

Ravelyn stood frozen for a fraction of a second, caught in the invisible, high-stakes tug-of-war between the freezing, possessive dark pull of the demon behind her and the intense, protective warmth of the angel directly in front of her. Her skin pricked with unresolved friction, her core spinning dangerously out of control as she realized she was walking straight into a den of wolves.

Nudging Malphas forward with a sharp, tense breath, she prepared to enter the auditorium.