Hyora’s first thought after the words left was that her father was going to kill her. She was rarely impulsive, but now she had gone and botched things up. For all she knew, the boy would run to his father telling tales and the whole conspiracy would collapse around their ears, the people she knew and loved would be massacred, and it would be all her fault.

Myungsoo blinked. “What are you talking about? Is this some sort of joke? Or a game?”

Well, she had started it, so now it was too late to go back. “Where do your loyalties lie?” she pressed.

“To the king, of course.” Her fiancé spoke this reply as if it were the most obvious thing.

So her instincts had been right. “Then this matter is relevant to you. You see, a coalition of members on the king’s council have essentially taken control of the kingdom. We want to uproot them and have the men charged with treason.”

Myungsoo nodded. “I see. My father isn’t on the council, but he has been complaining about some of his acquaintances getting a bit too greedy and reckless. I will join.”

Just like that. It was that easy. Hyora could hardly believe her ears. “Why would you agree so readily? It is not a small matter. Besides, if you sided with the council, you would stand to gain something.”

“I want to catch the bad guys, of course,” he answered, smiling his cat-like smile.

“So you’re in it for the glory?”

Shaking his head, he said, “Not really. More like for the fun. And for the good of the kingdom, of course. But that’s a given.”

“Not everyone thinks that way. Not in these times.”

“Then be glad I am on your side.”

He didn’t even need to say so. Hyora had averted disaster, and she couldn’t feel more relieved.

***

After that first encounter, Hyora set up several meetings with her fiancé. Her mother was pleased that she was spending so much time with him, but little did the woman know that it was so Hyora could provide him with all the information and training he would need for his task in the conspiracy.

When she informed her father about their new ally, he was quite angry at first. “You could have jeopardized this entire operation!” But then, once he calmed down, he commended her for her work. “He is a good ally to have, given his father’s influence. I haven’t managed to get the old man to budge yet. He still refuses to get involved. That is how he has always been, stubborn and detached. I think that is why the king valued him so much. He could be expected not to meddle in the running of the kingdom.”

Stubborn and detached. Hyora couldn’t help but feel that these words described the man’s son perfectly as well.

“I guess his son isn’t quite so apathetic, then.”

“Apparently not, but that is a blessing for us.”

“That it is.”


***

Hyora’s return to the Royal Academy caused a bit of a stir since she had been gone for so long and had spent all of those months out of the kingdom in Hwasung. Many people pestered her for details about the food, fashion, and lifestyle over there. It got to the point that most of the teachers yelled at everyone for not paying attention.

Her etiquette teacher, on the hand, was quite interested in hearing about the customs of Hwasung, how they were similar to and different from the local culture. They exhausted two entire class periods discussing it. No one complained, however, since it meant they got to hear her tell all sorts of tales and they wouldn’t have to spend hours getting their bows and curtsies right—though they did spend a bit of time trying out some of the Hwasung greeting gestures.

***

It was one thing to know about the decree that had allowed non-noble students attend the Royal Academy, and it was another to actually see them going around. Thanks to her Father’s training, Hyora’s ears were sensitive to different accents, and she could differentiate between people’s origins just by listening to them speak. Even among the nobles, there were slight variations. However, it was even more pronounced with the non-nobles. She had been exposed to these sorts of accents because of the servants, but never had she been so surrounded by them.

It took her a while to grow accustomed to the commoners’ presence, but it wasn’t an issue to her. Despite the stereotype, Hyora was not an elitist snob. It was difficult to be, given the work she had been doing for the conspiracy. Everything depended on the common people. The nobles themselves had very little opportunity to go out and do the field work. That was left to people lower down on the hierarchy of command, and those people were the most valuable, carrying out the riskiest of the tasks.

***

The thing Hyora had probably missed the most about the Royal Academy was the magic lessons. In Hwasung, magic had not been looked down upon or feared, but it was not commonly practiced. At most, it was a form of entertainment for the court. Enjoyable as the bright and incredible displays were, Hyora knew there was much more to magic than showing off. It could be put to use doing productive and important things.

Before, she had been basically the top student of her class at magic, with Hoya as her close second, but now that she returned, Hyora discovered that someone else had claimed the number one spot, and it wasn’t Hoya. In fact, it wasn’t anyone she would have expected.

The new star student in magic was actually one of the commoner students. His name was Sungyeol, a tall fellow with wide eyes. Although his features seemed more suited to a brighter expression, his face wore a dark look, as if he were brooding about something. According to her friends, he had been a very cheerful and outgoing person at the beginning, but that was no longer the case.

Although she should have been a bit peeved that he had snatched away her title, Hyora couldn’t find it in her to feel animosity toward him. He seemed like a bit of a tragic figure. As she soon figured out, he had become ostracized from just about everyone. The other commoners avoided him since they thought he was so full of himself, excelling as he had in the Royal Academy. The nobles also stayed away from him as well, whether out of disdain for his simple origins or out of resentment that he, a mere commoner, was beating them at something.

To Hyora, these attitudes were rather narrow-minded and stupid. Both sides had lost a potential friend and ally, and all over what amounted to petty jealousy. Perhaps it was her Father’s influence, with all his talk about networks and connections, but she decided to approach Sungyeol.

During lunch one day, she kept her eyes peeled for Sungyeol’s tall figure, and sure enough, she managed to spot him quite easily. When he grabbed his tray and finished filling it, she fully expected him to sit down at the end of a table somewhere alone, but instead, he left the dining hall completely.

Hyora debated taking her tray with her, but in the end she simply shoved it at Hoya, who was sitting across from her, focusing on eating. Her twin gave her a questioningly look, but then he shrugged and accepted it without comment. She took off running after Sungyeol, not caring that it was improper or that people might be gawking at her wondering what she was off to.

She followed him as silently as possible. Sneaking around was hard to do in dresses, but she had mastered the art at Hwasung court. It required a combination of careful movement and a dampening spell that smoothed out all noises around her.

Her tailing eventually brought her to the building that housed the boys’ dormitory. She had been there on occasion to visit her brother, but not really very often.

Sungyeol lived on the third floor, so she had to wait for him to be completely out of sight before following after him. She figured out which floor he stopped on by casting a spell that allowed her to see the trail of his essence. It was the freshest path, and it glowed strongly because of the strength of his magic, so it wasn’t difficult to pick out among the other trails.

Finally, Hyora reached the door of his room, and she could hear the slight clink of eating utensils against porcelain coming from inside. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.