After Esme finally cried herself out, Enid helped her tidy up again.

  She teased her with a joke about how “pretty girls who cry too much get kidnapped by dragons,” which actually made Esme laugh, and before long they were both ready.

  That afternoon, Enid and Esme arrived on time at the location listed on the invitation.

  Since it was just a small gathering on campus, there was no strict dress code. Esme stayed in her academy uniform, a white shirt with the Nature Faculty crest, a dark jacket, a black skirt, and tights.

  Enid dressed much like she always did, a white long sleeve lace blouse, fitted black trousers, a black belt with a gold clasp, and her Nature Faculty professor’s robe over it all.

  She chose that look on purpose. It gave her a sharper, more serious edge, the kind that made troublemakers think twice.

  When they stepped inside, several noble young ladies were already there, chatting in small groups.

  The moment they noticed Enid and Esme, everyone rose and offered proper curtsies.

  Esme returned the gesture shakily. Enid, as Esme’s partner, answered with a formal gentleman’s bow instead of a curtsy.

  Standing beside Esme, tall and poised, Enid looked almost like a knight posted at her side. More than a few girls felt their hearts skip at the sight.

  Once everyone had arrived, they took their seats, and the tea gathering officially began.

  At first, it went exactly the way Enid expected. Everyone sat around a table meant for about ten people, speaking softly with those they already knew. They sipped tea now and then, or picked something from the tall tower of pastries and sweets.

  Because it was Esme’s first time at an event like this, she was understandably nervous. Enid stayed beside her the whole time, smiling politely when the other girls spoke to her, and when Esme looked like she was about to crack, Enid would reach under the table and squeeze her hand, steady and warm.

  Enid handled the small talk with the girls nearby with ease. At first only a few came over, but as the gathering went on, more and more drifted in to speak with her.

  While she kept up with the constant introductions, Enid thought, I figured they were here for me, but this is a lot. And honestly, it doesn’t feel hostile.

  In the middle of all that, Enid got so busy she forgot she was supposed to help carry the conversation for Esme.

  But Esme did not fold up the way she had feared she would.

  Her words were a little stiff, and she still clung to Enid’s hand, but she managed basic conversation with strangers, real conversation, with noble girls she had never met before.

  Enid could see it, Esme had stepped out of the shadows, at least a little.

  Esme, on the other hand, had one simple thought in her head.

  Mom is right here. I’m okay.

  The only thing she did not let go of was Enid’s hand, because that was where her courage came from.

  It was only near the end that Enid realized she had gotten the whole thing wrong.

  This was not a typical “noble girls’ tea party” at all.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  This was a study meetup wrapped in pretty china and polite smiles.

  Girls from different faculties and different houses shared information like it was the most natural thing in the world, which classes were worth taking, which professors were good, which lectures to avoid. They traded notes, swapped recommended books from the academy library, and some of them even checked each other’s homework.

  Was this really the kind of tea gathering Enid had imagined, sweet on the surface with hidden knives underneath?

  The only sharpness here was their competitive drive when it came to grades. It nearly made Enid blurt out, “So you’re all top students, huh?”

  And when she set aside the side goal of meeting Esme, the core reason for inviting Esme became obvious.

  They wanted advice on nature magic classes.

  Enid took a sip of floral tea and thought, Eleanor would probably regret skipping this.

  But it also made sense. These gatherings were selective. The hostess, a marquis’s daughter, along with the older, well connected girls who basically ran the circle, only invited students they considered worth knowing, the ones who could actually help each other academically.

  In a way, it was almost a kind of information monopoly.

  Still, Enid could not find any malice in them. If anything, they were a little too eager, both toward Esme and toward Enid.

  As the mood warmed and everyone grew more relaxed, several of the girls admitted it outright.

  They admired “Professor Innis” as a role model, and they genuinely wanted to get to know her, purely for academic exchange.

  Even though none of the girls there were from the Nature Faculty, they still went out of their way for the knowledge they cared about. They even pulled strings to invite Esme first, just so they could use Esme as the bridge to invite Professor Innis.

  It was pretty obvious these young women, the kind who poured most of their energy into studying, had gotten the idea from a guardian or maybe a professor.

  Little by little, Esme started to relax in a social setting that carried no malice toward her, and she began to find her footing in conversation.

  At first, the other girls kept a careful distance because of Esme’s status, nobody wanted to seem too familiar with a duke’s daughter.

  But once Esme showed what she actually knew about nature magic, the atmosphere shifted, and you could feel the walls coming down.

  By the end, they were completely won over by Esme’s knowledge and her sweetness. A few of the bolder ones even took the chance to pinch her cheek, then grinned like they’d just seen the cutest thing in the world when Esme froze up in flustered embarrassment.

  No matter how you sliced it, Enid found the whole “tea party” genuinely fun. It was nothing like what she had pictured.

  If anything, it said a lot about the academic culture at Stahill Academy. Sure, the girls still had that noble habit of forming tight circles, but a slightly exclusive study group was not exactly rare, either.

  They were students here. On campus, pedigree and money mattered a lot less than grades and credits.

  And study groups existed for a reason, they made learning faster and easier.

  Enid could already imagine there were plenty of groups like this around the academy. Still, as the first circle to reach out to Esme, these girls might actually help soften Esme’s fear of people.

  The gathering ran long. They celebrated Esme officially joining their study exchange circle and told her that from now on, she was one of them.

  Esme thanked them and said she thought next time she could come on her own.

  Enid agreed, and she promised she would set aside a few audit spots in her class for them.

  Right before they broke up, the girls asked if Esme could try inviting Eleanor next time. Esme said she would do her best, and the whole group ended the afternoon in high spirits.

  On the walk back, Enid could tell Esme was in a noticeably good mood. She had spent the morning getting closer to Professor Innis, and in the afternoon she had met a group of genuinely kind upperclassmen.

  It almost felt like, as long as she stayed near Professor Innis, things would keep getting better on their own.

  To Esme, ever since the moment she met Professor Innis, the endless darkness around her had started to crack, and thin strands of hopeful light were finally slipping through.

  Enid walked Esme to the dorm gates, crouched down for a goodbye hug, then decided to take a short walk to help herself digest.

  The pastries had been great, and she had eaten a little too much.

  She hoped the girls would not start thinking of her as someone with a bottomless appetite, especially since they had been so deep in academic talk they barely noticed how enthusiastically she had been snacking.

  While Enid wandered across the open fields near the academy, enjoying the clean moonlight and the cool night breeze, a magical letter fluttered into view again.

  It was from Antonio, her senior apprentice and her boss.

  The note read, “I want to introduce you to a student, the ward of a friend. The student and I are in your office right now, waiting for you.”

  So much for her evening stroll. Looks like she had to head back.

  When your boss calls, you answer, and Enid had always had a soft spot for her students.

  Besides, she was curious who this “friend’s ward” was.

  What if it was someone tied to her past?