“Alright, is everyone ready to go?” I said, looking around the classroom.

All my students were obviously extremely stressed as they made sure they hadn’t forgotten anything. Still, I had no choice but to pressure them slightly; we had to leave before Alexandra or the other professors noticed us.

I trusted Ava not to tell anyone what was happening, but even then, the hardest part of leaving the academy for the Snowy Mountains was doing so without being spotted.

Honestly, it seemed impossible.

But hey, I would give it a shot. It’s not like I had another choice, like waiting for the Emperor to say “yes” or “no.” I wasn’t at his mercy, and I never would be.

“We are…” they finally responded.

However, there wasn’t much energy in their response. They clearly weren’t as excited as when they went to Atlantis.

“Still, before we leave for the Snowy Mountains, I have to introduce you all to some people you might have seen over the past few days but had no idea who they were.”

After saying that, Ariella, Nymira, and Lirael walked through the door. They had been patiently waiting for me to call them in.

Over the past few days, they had followed me pretty much everywhere, and I hadn’t let any of the students talk to them even once. I had even changed Ariella’s appearance so Isolde wouldn’t recognize her until Ariella was ready to speak with her.

Nevertheless, they all walked in with bright smiles. Ariella still had her disguise on, but Nymira and Lirael weren’t disguised at all. I knew of their beauty, but I didn’t expect the students to be so affected by their appearance.

Even the proud Jackson was blushing like crazy.

Actually, the only person in the class who didn’t seem interested in any of them was Art. But, well, that wasn’t a surprise, considering who he was.

“Why are they so pretty…?” one of the male students muttered.

“I know, right? Look at them—they’re almost perfect. Well, apart from the shortest one.”

The shortest one was Ariella, but the only reason they said that was because of the disguise I had cast on her, making her look average in every sense of the term.

“These two right here are Nymira and Lirael. They’ll be my assistant teachers for this year, and most likely for the next few ones. As for this person right here… she is Ariella, and she is…”

I snapped my fingers, removing her disguise, and instantly, murmurs filled the class.

“Ariella? Is that really you?” Isolde spoke up right away. “E-Everyone told me you had died… what happened to you?”

Everyone looked back at Isolde, confused about what was going on. Still, I didn’t want everyone hearing about this—it was a private matter that should be discussed privately, not in front of the entire class.

“Ariella is a new student in the class, and I expect all of you to treat her well and with the same respect as anyone else. She’s gone through a lot, and if I hear of anyone doing anything mean to her, they’ll have to deal with me.”

I looked at everyone in the class, releasing 1% of my energy, which instantly calmed them down. They knew I was serious—I had never joked about these things, and I wasn’t about to start.

“They’ll be accompanying us to the Snowy Mountains, and I suggest you all take the time to learn more about them on the way.” After saying that, I stood up from my desk and clapped my hands. “With that said, I think it’s time for us to leave! It’ll be quite a long trip, after all.”

We left the Apex Class after those words, and everyone followed me. There weren’t any problems leaving the building, but right as we stepped outside, I felt a gaze from my right.

It seemed someone had been waiting for us to leave. I had no idea who it was, but it wasn’t Ava—I could feel that. It was someone else, someone who didn’t have good intentions.

However, it also wasn’t Oliver. It was someone I had never seen before in my life, or at least someone I had never paid attention to before.

He stepped out of the shadows and said, “Where are you going like this?”

The man looked quite average, and I didn’t feel any threat from him. But I could tell he was probably one of the teachers linked to Derek. He had to be.

I sighed as I looked at him. “None of your business. Now, move out of the way.”

“I won’t move until you tell me where you’re going. Also, I’m just warning you—Alexandra already knows about this little trip with your students.”

I smirked. Did he really think that would scare me? The director knew where I was going… big deal!

“Is that it? Alexandra knows?”

Behind me, my students started whispering among themselves, clearly confused by the situation.

“What’s happening? Who is this professor?”

“I don’t know… What’s this about? Does the Royal Academy not know about all of this?”

I turned around. “Silence. I don’t want to hear anyone speaking.”

The teacher before me continued to smile.

“Alexandra will be here any minute. When she is, all of this will fall apart, and you’ll get punished again.”

I sighed again. “Look, I warned you. Either move out of the way, or I’ll make you move.”

He spat on the ground. “Make me. I know you can do it. We all saw what happened to Derek when he opposed you.”

The students once more started whispering as they all knew about what had happened to him at the Emperor’s Banquet. He had died under my hands. However, no one knew the full story; even now, everyone ignored it, thinking that the Emperor had been lenient on me.

“Do you think what that professor is saying is true?” Someone muttered behind me.

“Who knows…what really happened? We couldn’t even see anything back then.”

I heard my students but I just ignored them as I walked forward, cracking my knuckles.

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