Moonveil Academy: Trapped With The Five Kings

Elara:

Esmeray was quiet for a few moments after I finished speaking, carefully pulling another weed free from the soil before placing it into the basket beside him. It almost made me wonder whether he had heard me at all.

Then, without looking up from the herbs, he finally spoke. ”I’m a little confused.” His voice was as calm as before. ”What exactly does Professor Fenrith have to do with you ending up here?”

I thought about it for just a moment before I told him about my argument with Professor Fenrith a few days ago. I told him how I questioned the academy’s rules after watching students bully others without consequences, about storming out of his office before our special lesson even began, and finally... about how Professor Fenrith had refused to continue the special classes ever since.

I frowned as I snipped another dried rose stem. ”Honestly,” I muttered, unable to hide my annoyance, ”it’s almost like he’s throwing a tantrum because I told him the truth.”

Saying it aloud still felt ridiculous. We were talking about a professor, not a child. Yet that was exactly how it looked from my perspective. Instead of talking things through with me, he had simply stopped teaching me altogether.

When I looked toward Esmeray again, I noticed something had changed in his expression. It wasn’t surprise. It wasn’t confusion either. It looked more like... understanding. As though he’d finally figured out a puzzle that had been missing one last piece.

He remained silent for another moment before setting down the small gardening shovel in his hand. ”You should apologize to him.” I stared at him. ”Excuse me?” He met my gaze steadily. ”You should make the first move.” I immediately shook my head. ”Maybe I was the one who argued first,” I admitted, ”but I didn’t say anything wrong.” Those words came out firmer than I intended because I truly believed them. Everything I had said to Professor Fenrith had come from what I believed was right. I hadn’t insulted him for no reason. I had questioned a system that allowed stronger students to toy with weaker ones.

Esmeray finally turned to face me completely, brushing a bit of dirt from his gloves before speaking again. ”Moonveil Academy gives students a great deal of freedom.”

I nodded almost immediately. ”Exactly.” The response escaped me before I even thought about it. For the briefest moment, I caught the corners of his lips twitching upward. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was close enough that I noticed it. Somehow, seeing that tiny reaction almost made me smile too.

He continued before I could dwell on it. ”Students are allowed to challenge one another. They are allowed to use their magic, to compete, argue, and settle many things on their own.” He paused. ”But...” His voice became a little more serious. ”There are still a handful of rules every student must obey.”

He held my gaze. ”Even me.” Then he added, ”Even Reign.” A second later he included, ”All of us.”

I stayed quiet.

”And one of those rules is that students never insult a professor.” He revealed calmly.

I almost scoffed aloud. What a wonderfully convenient rule. Professors could stand there watching privileged supernatural students make the lives of human students miserable, yet the moment a student challenged their authority, suddenly respect became sacred. The hypocrisy of it all was almost laughable.

I wanted to say exactly that. The words reached the tip of my tongue... and stopped there. Somehow, arguing with Esmeray didn’t seem right. Not because I thought he would become angry, but because unlike everyone else I’d met so far, he wasn’t trying to force his opinion onto me. He was simply explaining how things worked. Whether I agreed with those rules or not didn’t change the fact that they existed.

Instead, Esmeray asked another question. ”Those special classes...” He picked up another herb pot while speaking. ”Were they meant to teach you about your sealed powers?” He looked toward me briefly. ”Your family, Starfall, and everything you have missed during the past twenty years?”

I shrugged helplessly. ”I honestly don’t know. I never got the chance to find out what they were actually about.” After a second of thought, I added, ”But... if I had to guess...” I looked at him. ”...then yes. That’s probably what they were for.”

His next question caught me completely off guard.

”Have you realized...” he asked quietly, ”...that those special classes are probably more important than every other class you are attending right now?”

I opened my mouth to answer immediately. Then... I stopped. Because the more I thought about it, the more his words made sense.

My regular classes would teach me combat, history, politics, runes, and magic alongside every other student. But Professor Fenrith’s lessons, those weren’t ordinary classes. Those were where I could learn about Starfall, my biological parents, House Argentis, the Regents, the Reapers, magic, and everything I had missed while growing up in the human world.

And if I truly wanted to carry out the decision I’d made for my future, if I truly wanted to become strong enough to avenge both my families... then those private lessons weren’t optional. They were the foundation of everything.

A long sigh escaped me as the realization settled inside my chest. ”I really messed this up, didn’t I?”

Esmeray noticed the change in my expression immediately. This time he actually smiled, softly enough that it almost disappeared before I could fully see it. Without saying anything else, he returned to trimming one of the herb beds, giving me the time to think instead of rushing me toward an answer.

Only after several quiet moments did he finally speak again while gently loosening the soil around a young lavender plant. ”Now that you understand where you went wrong, it’s time for you to make the first move.”

The greenhouse fell silent once more, leaving me alone with my thoughts... and the uncomfortable realization that, for perhaps the first time since arriving at Moonveil Academy, someone had managed to change my mind without arguing with me at all.

”Where can I find him right now?” I asked once I decides to follow his suggestion.

Esmeray continued working on lavenders as he answered, ”It’s Friday late afternoon, so he might have already left the academy by now for whatever project he’s been working on recently. You won’t be able to talk to him before Monday morning.”

I nodded slowly, realizing that I had wasted four sessions of those private classes.