Inside the drawing room, which was enormous, brightly decorated, and filled with a lively energy. Sofas were arranged in a neat circle around a glass table that sat perfectly in the center, while gleaming white crystalline marble covered the floor. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and lamps stood at the corners of each wall. The walls and ceiling were covered in beautiful murals painted over a white background, making the whole space feel almost dreamlike.
On the largest sofa sat Eva Evernight, her legs crossed and her back pressed against the cushions. Her hands rested tightly on her thighs, fingers digging in as though she was holding herself together. Silver hair tumbled messily down her back, some stray strands falling across her face, which looked pale and exhausted—as if she hadn't slept in days or bothered to take care of herself. She wore plain pink pajamas with oversized pockets, the comfortable fabric doing little to hide how worn out she felt.
Eva stared at the screen with unblinking eyes, her gaze fixed on the corner where her fiancé, Alex Drakethorne, was shown sleeping on the ground with his back against the wall. She had been watching him ever since the final battle royale exam began, refusing to attend a single class since then. Part of it was because she didn't want to miss anything that might happen to Alex, but the other half was thanks to her privilege as a student council member, which let her skip classes if she wanted. Of course, there was a rule: she was supposed to submit a formal notice to the student council leader, but she hadn't done that yet. She planned to send it once the final exam ended, which would be tomorrow.
Eva squeezed her thighs tightly with her hands, the tension in her body nearly painful.
"Wake up," Eva mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper. She was so worried for him—she could tell Alex hadn't earned a single point yet, and somehow, by luck or stubbornness, he had survived nearly four days without being killed by others or eliminated by the shrinking zone.
Eva's gaze drifted to the other small screens clustered around Alex's screen. She watched as some examinees ran frantically from the shrinking zone, while others fought desperately for survival. Her fiancé, meanwhile, was still just sleeping. Eva couldn't help but silently thank the gods that Alex was still in the game—whether by luck or sheer chance, the shrinking zone hadn't caught him yet. It almost seemed like the zone was shrinking toward his place, leaving him untouched.
Eva clenched her teeth, unable to stop herself from remembering how Alex had been beaten by that elf, Lucian Vaelorian—the highest-level examinee of the year. Lucian was a level forty-five monster, and he had toyed with Alex, punching him, dragging him, even tossing him high into the air as if he weighed nothing.
Lucian had humiliated Alex so easily that Eva could almost feel his pain herself. Alex had cried from the beating, her fiancé utterly defeated and beaten for no real reason. In a way, it would have been kinder if Lucian had just finished him off—at least then Alex's pride might have been spared a little. But no, Lucian didn't kill him. Instead, he toyed with Alex until the very end, finally letting him go by releasing him into the river when Lara came to save Alex, but it was too late.
A sharp pain in her thighs snapped Eva back to reality. When she looked down at her crossed legs, she saw blood staining her pajamas. She'd dug her nails so hard into her skin that she'd broken the skin, all because of the anger boiling up inside her due to Lucian.
Before she could do anything about the blood on her pajamas, a knock sounded at the door. She barely had time to think about changing her clothes before the door swung open and in walked Bella Veilcaster, the eldest daughter of Cassian Veilcaster and heir to the Veilcaster grand ducal house.
"Why aren't you attending classes? You know missing class—" Bella stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening as she noticed the murky red stain spreading across Eva's pajamas at her thighs.
Bella rushed over, panic in her eyes as she knelt beside Eva, her white eyes full of worry that Eva couldn't ignore. "What happened to you?" Bella cried, her hands quickly checking Eva's thighs. Without hesitation, she drew out a healing potion from her dimensional space and pressed it into Eva's hands.
"Drink it," Bella ordered, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Eva nodded, still bleary-eyed, knowing Bella only wanted to help. She drank the potion right away, and the wounds on her thighs—little crescents left by her own nails—began to heal almost instantly. The bleeding stopped, leaving her feeling a bit lighter.
"Thank you," Eva mumbled, sinking back onto the sofa. Bella, however, did not look pleased.
Eva glanced at Bella in confusion, unable to figure out what was bothering her friend. "Why the worried face?" she asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Have you seen yourself lately?" Bella shot back instead of answering. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, her long black hair cascading down to her waist. She wore her school uniform—a crisp white coat with orange lapels, two silver stars pinned to her broad shoulders, a white skirt that reached just above her knees, and black shoes with neat socks.
Eva shook her head. She hadn't looked at herself in the mirror for days, and she knew she probably looked awful—she hadn't even washed her face. Judging from Bella's expression, she must have looked even worse than she imagined.
"Bella, could you sit down? You're blocking the screen," Eva said, trying both to change the subject and because Bella really was blocking her view. She was desperate to keep watching Alex, worried that the zone might close in on him at any moment.
"Huh?" Bella turned around, puzzled, then seemed to understand what was going on with Eva. She sat down beside her, and Eva felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment—she'd been caught watching her fiancé so intently. Bella's amused look made it clear she had figured out the real reason behind Eva's messy appearance.
Eva wanted to crawl under the sofa and disappear to hide her embarrassment. She had never openly told anyone about her close relationship with Alex; only her mother and Alex's parents seemed to know, judging by the way they reacted whenever she mentioned him. Eva wasn't naive—she knew they realized how close she and Alex were, and she knew Alex liked her back. They genuinely enjoyed each other's company. It had all started when they were five, meeting often, their friendship slowly deepening into something more—best friends, maybe even something else. But outside their families, no one really knew. Everyone else just thought she was with Alex because of the engagement agreement.
Now, out of the corner of her eye, Eva could see that Bella was more than a little amused to see this side of her—a side she rarely showed to anyone. Bella probably always thought Eva's relationship with Alex was just a political arrangement, nothing more. But now Bella seemed to realize there was something real between them.
"So, do you actually love him or what?" Bella asked, not turning to face Eva. The question landed right in the spot Eva didn't want to talk about.
Eva's heart seemed to freeze. She didn't know what to say, or if she should admit to Bella how close she and Alex really were. The truth was, even Eva wasn't sure about the answer. She knew she liked Alex, but love—that was something she hadn't figured out yet.
She and Alex had a strong bond, built over years of visits to his house and long talks about their lives, and she would share things about the outside world, which Alex listened to with jealousy.
But love? It was a totally different thing, and Eva had never really thought about it before.
So, she didn't know what to say. Yes, she liked him—she could admit that much. But love? She wasn't even sure what that meant, or if she felt it for Alex.
"No, I don't love him," Eva said quietly.
"Hmm. I see," Bella murmured.
***
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