[Vanessa’s POV]

Vanessa awoke with a sharp gasp, the sound torn from her throat before she even realized she was breathing. Her body jolted upright in bed, slick with sweat under the thin infirmary sheets, and her hands flew instinctively to her chest as if to stop her heart from hammering its way out of her ribs.

'Anna—!!'

She somehow couldn’t breathe, as though something invisible had sunk its claws into her lungs and was squeezing, tighter, tighter—

Her lips parted, trying to call out, but her voice caught in her throat. Only a ragged wheeze came out. Her vision blurred with tears she hadn’t known were falling. Vanessa clawed her fingers at the bedsheets. Her arms trembled violently. And all she could feel was the echo of the guillotine’s blade… the warmth of blood… and the weight of her mother’s hair brushing against her fingers—

“—Hey, hey, shhh, you’re safe now,” a gentle voice murmured, and a hand, firm but careful, settled on her shoulder. Vanessa flinched violently. Her eyes darted toward the figure—white robes, and an academy badge stitched slightly above her chest.

A nurse.

Still, it took several seconds before her eyes could even focus on the face.

“You’re in the infirmary, Scholar Violet. Deep breaths. In… and out.” The nurse demonstrated, calm and practised, guiding her own breath with her patient's. “That’s it. Just like that.”

Vanessa tried. She didn’t manage it gracefully, but eventually the vice around her lungs loosened its grip. The shaking didn’t stop entirely, but the worst of it passed like a wave receding into the ocean. And when her body finally gave in, she sagged back into the mattress.

“…Where…?” Her voice came out hoarse, raw from both sleep and screaming.

“You collapsed during physical class—Magic Combat.” The nurse’s tone was gentle, but not condescending. “You took a nasty blow. Mana shock, most likely. Nothing permanent, but you’ve been unconscious for nearly eighteen hours. You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”

Vanessa blinked slowly. Her mind struggled to keep up, still sluggish from sleep or from whatever darkness had clung to her dreams.

‘So, I was sent here…’

She let her gaze wander, trying to anchor herself to the present, to this body. Pale curtains drawn over wide windows. A faint antiseptic smell clung to the sheets and the air. Several empty beds lined in orderly rows across the polished floor, separated by brass railings. Cabinets full of glass tinctures, and enchantment lamps glowing softly in muted hues.

She stared up at the ceiling, and only then realized her face was still wet.

The nurse handed her a handkerchief.

“You’re safe,” she said again, gently, before moving away to prepare a mild restorative draught.

But safety was a funny word, wasn’t it?

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Vanessa turned her head to the side.

‘The same nightmare. Again…’

‘It had been years already, but it always returned in the same way.’

She sighed and closed her eyes with her arms and allowed herself to cry a bit more.

Every time, no matter how old she grew or how much time passed, it never lost its sharpness. If anything, the dream cut deeper now that she had words to describe the things she’d once only felt.

‘…Why? Why can’t I just forget it?’

Then, the nurse returned to her bedside, holding a small vial of gently swirling silver-blue liquid. “Just a restorative. It’ll help stabilize your core and let your nerves settle,” the woman said kindly, offering it with both hands.

Vanessa took it without protest. The taste was faintly metallic, like diluted magic dust, but it left a cool sensation spreading through her chest.

“You should rest now,” the nurse added. “If you need anything, there’s a bell beside your bed.” And then, with the soft sound of retreating steps, she was gone. The door eased shut behind her, muffling the outside world in one gentle click.

Silence returned, deeper now in the room. Vanessa lay back and stared at the ceiling for a long time, her arms curled lightly around her stomach. Her head still throbbed, but it was a dull ache now.

‘I came here to grow stronger. To understand what happened back then. Why were my family executed? What treason did we commit…?’ The thought flickered across her mind. Even now, she couldn’t say the words aloud.

She wanted to know what they had done.

No—what they had been accused of doing.

The Crown had called them traitors. And she had no proof, no answers for it. But she also knew that if she wasn’t careful… if she spoke too freely, revealed too much too early—

Then this place, too, could become her grave.

She pressed her palm against her brow and let her thoughts scatter.

‘No. Not now…’

Her body was too weak, her mind too tired. She would think more clearly after resting.

Just as her eyes were starting to fall shut again, she heard it.

A voice—calm, level, and close.

“…So she regained consciousness not long ago?”

Vanessa’s lashes fluttered open.

The voice wasn’t unfamiliar, though she couldn’t yet place it.

“Yes, but she already went to sleep now,” came the nurse’s reply from just outside the door. “She woke in a panic, but it passed. She’s stable now. She has no internal damage. So, she only needs rest.”

“Also… she showed signs of a panic episode upon waking,” the nurse continued. “But nothing unusual for someone who’s endured mana shock after a strike to the core. Scholar Violet is lucky it wasn’t worse.”

Violet.

That was the name she used here. The mask she wore in plain sight.

Vanessa shifted slowly, carefully turning her head toward the door. Through the slim crack where the wood met the wall, she could just barely glimpse the figures outside. And then—her heart skipped a beat.

It was him.

The dark-haired boy from her class. The one who had stood between her and Julian in the cafeteria.

Ruvian Castelor.

‘W-why is he here…?’ (+150PP)

Her fingers instinctively moved to her face, as if to wipe away what traces of weakness remained.

‘M-my face… do I still look…?’

‘Ah, no. This is bad!’ She winced.

Her cheeks were flushed; no doubt that her face was still stained from tears. Her hair was damp, her eyes sore.

‘Why… why now, of all times? W-why did he come? Whyyyy!!?’

She would rather lie there and pretend to be dead than let people see her sorry state. Her thoughts spiraled. She turned her face toward the pillow in quiet panic, trying to hide, as if it could somehow undo the moment already unfolding.

Vanessa kept her breathing steady. Inhale. Exhale. She forced her eyes to remain closed, her limbs relaxed, pretending to be asleep.

‘Why had he come? Out of duty? Curiosity? Pity?’

Her thoughts tangled. She wished she dared to ask. But not now, absolutely not. Doing that would make her look uncool!

The walk came closer.

“Scholar Violet just took her medicine, though. Let her rest. She needs space.”

‘W-what should I do?... No, I can’t let him know that I'm not sleeping. Don't get caught!’

Suddenly, she heard him sigh.

‘Why is he sighing?'

'Ah, I must have looked terrible….’

Vanessa wished she had just died here instead. But Ruvian's voice brought her back to life.

“...At least, nothing bad happened to her.” He muttered it softly and quietly as if to himself, but Vanessa heard it very clearly. (+200PP)

‘....'

'WHATTT?’

PP= 6850

ME= 340