Dongmin left Nakdu Court early with a whistle of his griffin, excusing himself politely for some business he has to attend to before their flight tomorrow morning - but not without asking the two if they wanted a ride so he can drop them off at Anjo Hotel, in which Yuri insisted that they can walk, and he should go ahead and attend to his business.

Yena watches as the griffin flies off majestically, its huge wings blowing gusts that make their hair and clothes sway as if they’re in the presence of a helicopter. The image of Dongmin mounting the grandiose beast with his hat and adept form groping the reins just makes him appear leagues apart from Yena, who stands there downtrodden from defeat, clutching the bottle of potion Dongmin gave her to fully recuperate.

For most of the trip back, Yuri does the talking, waving the merchants who attempt to get them to spend ecus on their wares off with grace, which was probably taught in some etiquette class. Yuri keeps her hold on Yena’s lifeless arm, dragging her along. Yena just watches her with some forced few-worded responses and her best attempt to mask her usual demeanor. In reality, Yuri’s lips are only moving in her eyes, the words falling on deaf ears as Yena’s thoughts mostly lie somewhere else.

At a distance, Yena sees the blue baby dragon parked near the hotel, eyes closed as it awaits its master, Nako. The little mage knight is leaving by tonight with Geonhak in tow to help her with her quest of finding the missing Miyawaki Clan. She also told them that she’d be dropping by briefly to the Academy to ask for an extension for her leave of absence for the quest. 

“Hey.” Yuri waves a hand in front of Yena’s face, snapping her off from her trance from observing Nako’s familiar.

“Huh? What?”

“You know, I’ll tell you this now but it isn’t a shame to lose to someone like Dongmin,” Yuri points out, looking at her with a rare comforting gaze. “He’s the Captain of the Griffin Knights in Hwalgeori. It’s even great that you managed to last that long against him.”

“Hm. Is that so.” Yena bobs her head, words too few even for her. To be perfectly honest, she isn’t really in a talking mood at the moment. It’s surprising, considering how much she likes chatting people up for hours on end.  

To her surprise, she finds her face between Yuri’s palms. Her master is staring intensely at her, the hazel eyes hiding behind her glasses squinted at Yena’s. “What’s with that face?”

“What face?” Yena mumbles, feigning confusion. To be fair, she had been trying her best to reply to Yuri despite just wanting to roll herself in a blanket like a burrito and sleep for who knows how long.

“Usually you would make excuses on why you lost. This is the part where you say ‘I wasn’t in the condition to fight!’ or something along those lines.”

Yena swallows the lump in , jaws clenching. Parting her lips, she says, “I was in the condition to fight. I had Hansol with me.” Yena’s voice is just a little louder than a whisper. This isn’t something she can bluff off like it’s nothing. She lost fair and square right in front of Yuri.

Yuri’s gaze bores right through hers, unwavering. “He was using a weapon paired with magic and years of experience. That outcome is inevitable.”

“Right. He can do anything. From swordsmanship to magic,” Yena says with a pained smile. She can’t help but believe that with someone like Dongmin around, she really isn’t of any use. He can protect Yuri, retrieve the letter, her back to the Academy along with Yujin, who excels in Earth magic. There’s no place for her, and she didn’t like feeling that she’s forcing herself in where she didn’t belong.

Yuri lets go of her face, her gaze unreadable as if trying to decipher Yena’s face, looking for any clue of what she really wants to say. It feels like the world has stopped, the people passing in front and behind them disappearing like a blur. Yena isn’t usually like this - she’s usually colored with confidence and excitement. Right now, it seems like one touch can send Yena breaking into smaller pieces.

“Honestly? I finally thought I excelled at something. It’s embarrassing,” Yena says, smiling, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I shouldn’t even be wasting my time dilly-dallying here. I should head back to the Academy and assist Sakura and Chaewon in the kitchen. Then after work hours, Sakura will take me to Professor Kwon and Professor Lee and they'll help me break the contract and finally send me home.”

Each word that comes out of is forced as if she’s trying to convince herself. She can feel her heart sink seeing Yuri’s face slowly contort into a pained expression.

“Hey,” Yuri starts weakly, inching away from Yena. “Are you that desperate to break off the contract with me?”

“I just… don’t belong here. I’ve overstayed my welcome,” Yena says, forcing her usual smile. However, it fails to reach her eyes. “I think at this point, I have already been held back a semester from college. It’s stupid, what am I doing?”

Yuri takes a step back, an apprehensive look on her face. She shakes her head, her hurt expression turning stoic in a split second. “Just… you can leave if you want.” She pauses, looking at her as if trying to hold back her emotions from spilling out. “You won’t be the first one anyway.”

With those words, Yuri walks past Yena, disappearing into the throng of people entering the hotel. Yena looks at the noon sky, the clouds just floating by as the day goes on. They’ll part one way or another, Yena knew that from the start. However, the urge to run after Yuri and take everything back is pulsing strongly through her veins, willing her legs to move.

No. She can’t. There's nothing much left to say.

★彡

The sky outside the windows of the hotel is already dark when Yena finished packing her stuff from her room. She already talked to Nako to take her along and drop her in the academy. She was a bit confused but seeing as it’s not really a problem to bring one more person along (her dragon can carry around five, maybe even more), she readily accepts and tells her to meet them outside the Hotel at around seven.

“Hey, young miss. Are you sure about this?” Hansol asks as Yena slings her rucksack on her shoulder.

“Sure about what? Look, we get to ride Nako’s baby dragon, isn’t it sick?” Yena says, trying to sound upbeat as usual. She waves at Nako and Geonhak who are standing by the entrance of the hotel, a light blue dragon hovering mid-air.

“What if something happens to the little mistress?”

“Nothing will happen,” Yena says. There is no sign of doubt in her voice, however, a tinge of bitterness lingers in the tone. “The Viscount and Yujin can take care of her.”

“Who can take care of who?” Another voice joins their conversation, a hand clutching her shoulder. Yena looks over her shoulder and sees Yujin looming over her, an eyebrow quirked. “And why do you have your bag with you?”

Yena smiles sheepishly as if being caught in the middle of a crime. “I’m dropping out of this quest. You know what they say, right? Sometimes less is more. Just make sure Yuri gets the letter and is back in one piece alright?”

“I mean… duh, that’s a given,” Yujin says, looking at her weirdly. “I came looking for you since I came across Yuri consuming food like crazy in the hotel buffet. I found it weird, but she won’t talk. All I heard her say was stupid Yena or something.”

Yena frowns. “She’s doing what?”

“I think there’s alcohol mixed in it too.”

Alcohol. Yena personally does not know Yuri's tolerance for alcohol, but if she outright did not give a sensical answer to Yujin… then that speaks for itself enough. Yena quickly turns to Nako and Geonhak by the entrance, throwing them an ‘X’ sign with her arms to signal them to go on ahead without her before briskly walking towards the dining area with Yujin.

★彡

The grand dining hall is filled with a huge diversity of people - which is to be expected on a port where people of all nationalities use to traverse to different places. There’s a long table filled with all kinds of food, the aroma wafting into the air in a delicious mix like a harmonic orchestrated scent. On the far end of the massive dining hall is a bar manned with several bartenders, eerily looking too similar to each other.

“Quintuplets?” Yena asks Yujin, looking pointedly at the bar.

Yujin shakes her head. “Probably not. Those are clones. See that ring he’s wearing?”

The man ghosts his finger above his ring, dissipating the clones, leaving him alone in no longer than a second, when no more customers approach. “Wow. This world just keeps getting weirder.”

She wants to ask more about the cloning ring, but seeing that they have more pressing matters to attend to, Yena holds her tongue.

Yujin shrugs, still looking around. “Even I’m a bit surprised how fast the researchers are in making new magical equipment. Next thing I know immortality might become a thing.”

“That’s a one-way street to overpopulation, you know?”

“Eh. The country leaders will deal with it somehow.”

The delicious smell takes Yena out from the strange magic science discussion, watering a bit, making her swallow as if in reflex. She would have raided the place and taken plates upon plates of delicious unknown other world food - she actually planned to do just that yesterday with Yuri and Yujin. However, Geonhak just had to attack her before they could join the evening buffet. Damn you Geonhak. 

And in the morning, she only had a quick on-the-go breakfast with Dongmin since he told her to not eat anything heavy. Which she’s thankful for since if she did, she might have thrown all that up after the sparring session. Shaking her head, Yena tries to focus on the problem at hand - finding Yuri.

“Where was she seated again?”

Yujin looks around the room. It’s easy for her, she can see over the crowd quite easily with her height in which Yena can just scoff in jealousy. “This dining hall is too huge, I’m checking on it. Where was she again…” she turns her neck to look through the throngs of people going to and fro the buffet table. Yujin gasps and taps Yena by the shoulder repeatedly. “I see her!”

Yena looks in the direction where Yujin is pointing. The familiar figure of Yuri sits alone on a table - except she looks like a mess, her hair strewn all over with half-eaten desserts all over the table. On the middle of her table is a tall bottle of half-empty wine, and in her hand is a goblet, sipping away. Droplets of wine are on the table cloth, leaving light pink spots visible even from a few meters away.

“Yuri!” Yena wastes no time in walking over her table, nimbly walking through the gaps between the people in the dining area. Thankfully, she is small enough not to brush and bump against people too much - if she did she may be escorted off the dining hall for rowdy behavior.

They soon reach Yuri’s table. Upon closer inspection, the mage’s face is beet red from intoxication. Yuri looks up to Yena, a hiccup escaping through her lips.

“Oh, it’s the traitor~!” she says with a wide smile on her face. “Oi, Yena Choi. Who do you think you are just waltzing in here, huh?!”

Yujin grimaces at the sight of the wildly drunk girl. “Yo. Never let her touch alcohol. Ever.”

“Noted.” Yena sighs, grabbing Yuri by the wrist. “You’re wasted. Let’s get you back to your room,” she says. However, she quickly regrets it - Yuri’s room is Dongmin’s room too, isn’t it. “I mean my room. Let’s go.”

“I don’t wanna go to your room, you damn traitor!”

“To Yujin’s room then.”

“Eh? Why mine?” Yujin says with a whine in her voice, a frown on her face.