The rest of the afternoon passes normally. First, I go get the arrows and flasks, then I practice my flash spell and meditation in the academy gardens, along with some channeling exercises with the water and air elements.

As soon as the dining hall opens, I'm already there, since we want to go to bed early to get up well before dawn.

I don't eat dinner alone, as Ronan and Vincent show up shortly after. The truth is, we don't talk much. There's a certain tension between Vincent and me. I know I have to clarify things with him, but not in front of everyone in the dining hall. Besides, inviting him to the dungeon tomorrow also serves to separate him from that grabby blonde and make it clear that I'm not excluding him. I trust the second part of the message has reached him.

The first part… almost better if it hasn't.

As we're finishing eating, the two redheads arrive. They're like a whirlwind that sweeps everything away, tension included.

Darius, who takes a lot of liberties for not being his childhood friend like Alistair, greets the prince with a slap on the shoulder.

"I already heard, that's awesome!"

Alistair sits across from his friend, rests his elbows on the table, props his head up with his arms, and flashes a wide grin.

"You're a better leader. See? I always told you."

"It's not good to speak ill of the Crown Prince," Vincent replies, a bit uncomfortable.

"But we're not speaking ill, we're just laughing," Darius retorts as he takes a seat and no longer makes any effort to suppress his booming laughter.

"They couldn't even handle the golem and the lich," Alistair comments, joining his guffaws.

"You're drawing attention," Vincent tells them, looking around.

Well, these days, with all the quests going on, the dining hall is way emptier than usual. But yes, the students who are having dinner are looking at us. Some discreetly, others openly.

Sol is there, at the other end, with her two shadows. They seem to be criticizing us and looking at Vincent with disapproval, as if they don't approve of the rowdy behavior at his table.

Well, if she wants to put a stick up the prince's ass to make him as prim as she always is, she should start by removing the influence of these two. In the otome game, there was only Alistair, but here we also have Darius, and the two of them just egg each other on.

"Can someone fill me in?" I ask, looking at Darius.

However, before he can answer, Vincent does.

"It's about the desert dungeon. My brother and his party had to retreat to avoid more losses."

"Did he go there just with his usual party?"

"Soldiers accompanied them to help them clear it."

I don't remember that dungeon having a cap on party size, and if not, before blocking the exit, the other party just goes in, and that's it. They meet inside.

"Alright."

"He's keeping the best part quiet, Bianca," Darius tells me. "That elite boss from the scorpion room wasn't even there. They had to retreat when the lich and the golem teamed up."

Oh, I see.

"And the boss wasn't there? How do they know if they didn't defeat the other two?"

"They thoroughly checked the scorpion room. Besides, after they left, another group, from the army, was sent in and cleared the dungeon. That elite boss that Ronan's bear and your pup took down must have been a one-time spawn."

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Like I said, the guy takes too many liberties—he bends down to pick up the pup, who's at his real size by my chair, lifts him to eye level, and stares at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, leave my pup alone! We already said that him getting assistance and the chest was pure luck! My little baby could have been killed!" I dramatize.

As if to reinforce my words, he growls at Darius, baring his teeth. The redhead lowers him to the ground, releases him, and shows his hands in a sign of peace. I can see from his expression that he was joking.

Okay, but for a moment, I got defensive, I won't deny it.

"He's got teeth," Darius says, "maybe he even bit it."

"The thing is," Alistair interjects, not quite finished with the brother topic yet, "they couldn't handle those two bosses, and we did."

Since they've stopped laughing so loudly, the other students are starting to ignore us, and Vincent relaxes a bit. I can see his shoulders and posture loosen up.

I don't know if there's some kind of sibling rivalry, or rather, since the other is the crown prince, Vincent is obliged to show him respect.

"Well, you guys did a great job. Though, the golem part, I think we have to thank Bianca for that."

"Don't take credit away from yourself," I tell him, "you were the leader. Besides, wasn't your brother running the dungeon with good gear and party mates? Did they underestimate the dungeon's level, believing that if first-year students had cleared it, it couldn't be that big a deal?"

"Possibly. In fact, the second group was made up of higher-level soldiers, and both the palace's Royal Healer and Archmage helped them."

Darius laughs again, drawing Alistair into it. I smile. They're right, did they really have to call in the kingdom's heavy hitters? After all, Mary managed quite well, and so did I with channeling.

"Well, the Royal Healer and the Archmage were overkill. Their help wasn't necessary, but my brother exaggerated the level of those two bosses so much, plus they suffered losses in their group, that both my parents and the army decided not to risk underestimating the dungeon again."

"May I ask what light affinity the Royal Healer has?"

"Medium."

"Mary is very special, isn't she?"

"Yes. Just as high affinities for the four elements aren't that rare, a high affinity for light is usually held by two or three people in each generation, and although the Royal Healer was born with high affinity and was sent to the sanctuary as a child to protect him, he ended up losing some affinity before he was twenty."

Among the two first-year classes, there are five of us: Mary, Ronan, Theodore, Carina, and me. Though my high spirit affinity is something very few know.

There are four of them—four!—and among those four, one light and one darkness. Without a doubt, they could be the Saint and the Demon King in any other video game.

I shiver as I briefly remember those black-blue lines under Ronan's eyes.

Well, good thing I'm here to lead him down the right path and to derail all the otome routes. Including the one where the prince doesn't marry me.

I smile.

"What are you thinking about?" Darius asks me. "You got very quiet and smiled. I think you want to do all three bosses in that dungeon again."

"Of course! That's not even a question."

"You're one of mine," he says, and this time I'm the one who gets an approving nudge from the redhead.

He's so rough!

"Well," Vincent tells us, "they've recalculated the dungeon's difficulty. Without the elite chest and without a supposed elite boss, the secret zone is veteran level. They're opening it again. That means I can ask for permission."

"Awesome!" Alistair says as he high-fives Darius.

"And then you'll let me ride a bear or a scorpion," the latter tells Ronan.

Ronan has been very quiet, eating his meal while listening to us.

"Yes, I promised you that. Consider it done."

Darius grins from ear to ear.

For a moment, I imagine him trampling mummies on the back of the giant scorpion. And Alistair throwing oil jars and making them explode in flames. Theodore unleashing his mega water jet. And Ronan calling his dead.

Oh my gosh.

I think I'm starting to feel sorry for the poor dungeon bosses.

We get up very early. We're meeting at the academy's portal room door at five in the morning. That's when they open access to the public. It's not like the portal station in the capital, where there's always some employee monitoring and allowing its use.

When I arrive, both Vincent and Ronan are already there. I don't notice any tension between them, and that makes me suspicious. I hope Ronan hasn't run his mouth and told the prince something about my interest in him or about how he himself isn't any competition.

I prefer to talk about those things myself, in person.

And precisely because I'm imagining the embarrassment I'll go through if I have to confess my feelings to clear up the misunderstanding, I feel my cheeks burning. Vincent stares at me intently. I manage a smile that comes out shyer than I intended, greet them both, and we enter the portal room.

We maintain relative silence during our trip to the dungeon. This portal thing is such a luxury—it gets us there in just under twenty minutes from when I left my room.

I sigh.

On Earth, between trains, buses, waiting times at the airport... depending on where you were going, you could be stuck for over a day. Nothing like this.

We arrive at the cave entrance and, since I still notice the prince being somewhat distant with me, I ask Ronan if he can wait inside with Bob, Tom, and Joe. You know, give us a moment alone.

Vincent tenses up when he hears this but doesn't say anything.

When we're left alone, I suddenly feel very nervous. I don't want to screw up. Not again. And I have to admit that saying or doing something I don't mean to is unfortunately something I'm way too good at.

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