Two days later from the library incident, Queen Trithis finally arrived from whatever she had been doing before.

The five of them were called to the throne room where they first met. The Queen sat on her throne, a worn-out expression was obviously shown on her beautiful face. She straightened her position when they all finally came, as they bowed in respect.

"I am sure, all of you have been wondering where I was for the past four days," Queen Trithis said.

Kai and Luhan shared another knowing look, and Sumin noticed the Queen stared at them with interest. Queen Trithis must have read their minds about their distrustful feelings to the Queen, undoubtedly.

"I went to Kingdom Quaris, specifically The Great Council, to register each of you as a Magive," Queen Trithis finally announced.

"Register...?" Kai asked, probably to himself.

"Yes. Only Chanyeol has been registered as a Magive in The Great Council, which I am greatly confident is because of dear Kisoom. It was pure luck that I decided to check on it, because it is required for anyone born with special abilities to be registered as one," Queen Trithis said, clasping both her hands. "All of you are also lucky none of you haven't passed the twenty-five years old limit before you can't register as one anymore and therefore, become an illegal with a death sentence if caught."

Her words were followed with silence, with each of them in their own thoughts.

Sumin was thinking whether this meant they were watched by The Great Council, or not. If yes, this would only harm her privacy and that would mean she couldn't use her ability however she liked. But at the same time, she was quite grateful the Queen had registered her so her life wasn't at stake.

"I know you think this is bad for your lives, but do not worry. The Great Council won't really watch over your doings, it's just for safety measures," Queen Trithis assured, clearly after reading their thoughts.

"Why does it take a long time to only register?" Kai asked, wary as ever.

"Because of course it takes a long time when the four I needed to register are all already grown-ups and supposed to have graduated from high school!" The Queen said, almost as if she snapped at Kai. But Kai didn't flinch. "The four of you almost got that expiration so it was quite hard. Also, I needed to pay some amount of money, which would probably make all of you surprised if you heard it. It was because of how long you weren't registered so I needed to pay more. Luhan was the most expensive to register."

Sumin and the others immediately looked at Luhan, whom looked really uninterested that his name was mentioned.

Queen Trithis looked around, then finally spoke again. "Well, I can see you are a little skeptical, which is undoubtedly natural. I will meet all of you at the same room where we learned about Pandora. I expect all of you to come with your assignments immediately."

Just like that, the Queen stood up and walked out from the chamber.

Once they were all seated at the same seats like previously, Queen Trithis stood at the front and crossed her arms over her chest. Her worn-out expression was replaced with a stern one, which was shown from the way her eyes looked over them.

Those eyes looked the same as the first time Sumin met her, when the Queen stared at her and read her mind. For a moment, Sumin felt uncomfortable; feeling the Queen could possibly be reading their minds right now, at this moment.

"Chen, submit all the others' parchments to the front," Queen Trithis finally said.

Chen immediately obeyed, as he stood up from his seat. He went to Kai first to take his friend's parchment, then to Chanyeol, then to Luhan.

Lastly, he went to Sumin.

He took her parchment from her table, and Sumin looked at his lean fingers. His fingers had a few scars around, which made her curious once more. Did his electricity hurt himself? Or was it something else?

She looked up and met his eyes, which were as mesmerizing as always. It was annoying how she couldn't help herself but be honest to herself and didn't make an excuse. When he let out that small smirk, she quickly dropped her gaze back to the front.

Chen walked forward and put the rolled five parchments on the front desk. Queen Trithis nodded gratefuly at him before Chen walked back to his seat.

"Now, I'm opening a small discussion about the legend we all have heard and searched," Queen Trithis said. She sneaked a short glance at Sumin, before looking toward the rest as a whole.

"Do you think, having Hope released out to the world was a good idea?"

There was silence once again, and Sumin was starting to wonder about that. Pandora indeed sounded like she was calmed down and made it as if Hope was something good or great. But what if...?

"No."

Sumin looked toward to who said it, and to her surprise it came from Park Chanyeol, the last person she would think to disagree about that.

"Why?" Queen Trithis asked back.

"I think...Hope is the cruelest one between all of them," Chanyeol said, there weren't any traces of cheery nor smiles on his face. It was an odd look on his face, to see him all serious when he stared at the Queen.

Sumin found it, rather attractive to see this new side of Chanyeol.

"I mean, if you look at it, if Zeus put in Hope between all these sins, then he might have considered Hope as one of the bad things. Maybe, even the worst one," Chanyeol said, his deep voice were getting deeper as he said the last sentence.

Queen Trithis lifted an eyebrow up in interest at his answer, cocking her head slightly to one side. "And why do you think it's the worst one?"

"Hope....isn't necessarily a good thing," Chanyeol said, "it can be a false wish. You wish for something good to be bestowed upon the mankind from all the sins, but it doesn't really specify if it means they will do that good thing. You're only hoping, but you don't really do it. A mere false wish."

As he uttered the last word, the room was silent.

At that moment, Sumin finally saw Chanyeol as a true Otrera.

Queen Trithis clapped her hands, ending the silence. She looked proud of Chanyeol's sudden change, a smile was adorned on her face. "Great thoughts, Park Chanyeol! I really appreciate it. It's a nice view to see a different opinion. Like an Otrera."

Chanyeol blushed slightly at the Queen's compliment, a small smile finally appeared on his lips.

"How about the rest?" Queen Trithis asked, looking over the others.

"I personally agree with Chanyeol's opinion. I also think Hope is not necessarily a good thing," Chen said, sending a smirk at Chanyeol whom had just turned around.

The look on Chen's eyes screamed respect on Chanyeol, which Sumin was sure Chanyeol also noticed.

"I don't like agreeing with him," Kai said slowly, ignoring Chanyeol's protest again, "but I can't help but agree with his words."

Sumin nodded, she also found herself agreeing to Chanyeol. "Me too."

Luhan didn't say anything, which made the rest stared at him. Feeling uncomfortable from all the burning stares, Luhan finally sighed. "Yes, I also agree."

"Fantastic! The five of you have the same opinion!" Queen Trithis cheerily said. "The lesson is dismissed early as I was notified Kisoom had wished for the five of your attendances right after this. You can meet her at the garden."

As the five of them arrived at the garden, they found Kisoom sitting on the bench with a cup of tea in her hand.

Kisoom's eyebrows rose in surprise at the sight of them coming over, but then she smiled widely. "The lesson is over already? That was quite fast, don't you think?"

Chanyeol immediately sat beside his grandmother, grinning broadly. "Yeah! I managed to impress the Queen, you know."

"That was just pure luck," Kai said.

"But you agreed with me!" Chanyeol said, smirking at Kai.

Kai couldn't find any more words to object, so he stayed silent.

"So, grandma," Chanyeol said, gaining his grandmother's attention, "you already registered me as a Magive? Why didn't I know about it? Why didn't you tell me?"

Kisoom put down the cup on the saucer beside her, then smiled gently down at her grandson. "I have registered you when you suddenly let out your ability when you were very young. It was a moment that I knew you were very special, my dear. The money was something I could hold, as you were so little at that time."

Chanyeol started to frown. "When did that happen?"

"You were very little, so it's not surprising if you forget," Kisoom answered calmly with a small smile.

Sumin watched the old woman took her cup and sipped her tea. Sumin knew that smile. That smile was very, very familiar to her that she knew what it meant. The smile that didn't reach to her eyes.

Kisoom lied.

Sumin knew that smile because she used to do it back at the orphanage. The caretakers also liked to use that expression whenever they were around her. It was one of the expressions Sumin would immediately detect in one single glance.

But why did she lie? What part did Kisoom hide from Chanyeol? What did she hold back from Chanyeol?

As expected, Chanyeol didn't realize and only smiled in assurance from his grandmother. 

Sumin glanced at Luhan, which he immediately glanced back at her, as if they were connected. From the way he looked at her, Sumin also knew he noticed the lie in Kisoom's eyes.

"Ah," Kisoom said, looking up to the rest who were awkwardly standing, "do you want some tea? I can ask Chanyeol to bring some tea to all of you."

None of them said anything, so Chanyeol took it as a 'yes' and walked into the Palace to inform about it.

As Kisoom sipped her tea, silence enveloped the place. Only sounds of birds chirping and the rustles of the leaves from the wind could be heard. As Kisoom gracefully put down her cup, she stared back at them with a gentle smile they were growing familiar with.

"I must thank all of you that you want to be friends