Chapter 31: A Chilling Thought Upon Reflection

The next morning.

Because it wasn’t the sixth or seventh day of the Academy’s seven-day rotation schedule, Natiavida and Vivian woke up one after another as usual.

But the moment a half-asleep Vivian opened the bathroom door, she nearly screamed at the sight before her — a golden figure standing motionless inside, looking eerily like a ghost.

For a split second, Vivian thought an intruder had snuck into their dorm, or that one of the ghosts from last night’s story had appeared in daylight.

Her instincts as a top student in the Magic Department kicked in instantly — before she could even shout, a combat spell was already forming in her hand.

Only after she took a steadying breath did she realize that it wasn’t a ghost or a trespasser at all.

It was their new roommate — Sal.

“Sal, you’re up early.”

But the moment the words left her mouth, Vivian regretted saying them.

She noticed the dark circles under Sal’s golden eyes — the clear signs of sleep deprivation.

“Wait… you didn’t stay up all night, did you?”

Sal nodded silently.

“Then… don’t tell me it’s because of that spooky academy story we told you last night?”

Vivian’s voice trembled slightly as she asked.

She prayed silently that Sal wouldn’t nod again.

If she did, their “bonding bedtime story” from last night would officially be a complete disaster.

After all, Sal had seemed fine when they all went to bed — she couldn’t possibly have gotten scared after lying down, right? That’d be way too delayed a reaction.

Thankfully, Sal’s response let Vivian breathe again.

Sal shook her head softly, then turned her gaze back toward the mirror above the sink.

Reflected there was her delicate but exhausted face — pale, with dark shadows under her eyes.

“You haven’t even washed up yet?”

By then, Natiavida had finished dressing and noticed Vivian still hadn’t come out of the bathroom.

Curious, she opened the door — and the first thing she saw was Sal standing on a little stool, staring blankly into the mirror.

When Sal turned toward the sound of the door, Natiavida immediately saw the dark circles under her eyes.

“Sal! Don’t tell me you stayed up all night too?!”

It was the same question Vivian had asked, but Natiavida’s tone carried more concern than irritation.

When Sal nodded again, Natiavida’s expression softened into worry.

Just like Vivian, she assumed Sal had been frightened by the story they’d told her the night before.

But that wasn’t the case.

Sal wasn’t the type to lose sleep over ghost stories — not even as a dragon.

She had stayed awake all night, yes, but not because she was scared.

It was because she kept having the same dream — again and again.

And it didn’t frighten her.

It unsettled her.

Every time she woke up from that dream, she wasn’t panicked — she was curious.

Curious about the strange, vivid images that kept replaying in her mind.

“Natiavida. Vivian.”

Sal’s voice broke the silence, and both girls turned toward her.

The golden glow in her eyes held no trace of fear.

Only inquiry.

The kind of look one has when searching for a truth hidden behind shadows.

“I wanted to ask… last night you said that the half-dragon girl, Lucia — she really exists, right? She’s a real student here in Cantoria Academy’s Magic Department?”

Both of them nodded at once.

“Then…”

Sal closed her eyes briefly.

The bloody images from her dream flashed again — vivid, nauseating, unforgettable.

“That girl named Lucia… does she have long blue hair? And blue eyes too?”

“You’ve seen her?”

Vivian’s surprised question was enough to confirm Sal’s suspicion.

Sal nodded lightly, offering a simple excuse — that she’d glimpsed Lucia while waiting for the two of them with Raine yesterday.

The explanation seemed to satisfy them.

After quickly splashing some water on her face, Sal stepped down from the stool and left the bathroom.

She sat quietly on the sofa in the dorm’s common room, listening to the faint sounds of Natiavida and Vivian chatting inside.

Moments later, as she sat still, a bead of clear liquid slid down the side of her face.

It wasn’t water she’d forgotten to wipe off.

Nor was it a tear.

It was cold sweat.

…

Sal remembered something her dragon mother had once told her — that dragons share a unique kind of spiritual resonance.

This connection, her mother explained, happens between dragons who possess the same high-purity dragon bloodline.

The purer their blood, and the closer their distance, the stronger this resonance becomes — often appearing in dreams as shared visions or fragmented memories.

Though such visions were usually brief, every image Sal had seen carried an overwhelming amount of information.

(*Could it be… that Lucia is actually a dragon?

But then why… why are all the visions I see of her… her body torn apart?*)

That was as far as she dared to think.

Because the blue-haired woman in those dreams — she clearly had dragon horns and slitted eyes.

There was no denying it.

Lucia was one of her kind.

…

Later that morning, the Magic Department was as lively as ever.

Before the instructors arrived, students were free to grab breakfast in the cafeteria.

As usual, Natiavida walked with perfect poise in her neatly pressed uniform, while Vivian strolled beside her — wearing the same uniform but far more casually, as if dress codes were just a suggestion.

Normally, the other students would just greet them and go back to eating or chatting.

But today was different.

The reason was simple — the small golden-haired girl walking between them, holding onto one of their hands on each side.

Sal.

At Cantoria Academy, students who appeared on campus out of uniform were rare.

Only special staff, instructors… or new transfer students waiting to enroll were allowed.

And from Sal’s appearance alone, she looked far too young to even qualify for the academy’s entrance exams.

That left only one possibility.

She had gotten in through special connections.

And given how close she was walking with Natiavida — one of the most well-known noble students in the Empire — the gossip practically wrote itself.

In that moment, every head in the cafeteria turned.

Boys.

Girls.

Seniors.

Juniors.

Every pair of eyes drifted from Natiavida… to Sal.

Sal could feel the attention.

It made her skin crawl.

Back at the tavern, just a dozen staring eyes had been enough to make her anxious.

Now there were over a hundred.

All focused on her.

And once again, Sal realized something about herself.

She was still just a little bit socially anxious — dragon or not.