That night, Elisse sat by the dormitory window, the moon casting soft light on her open book—but she wasn't reading.
She couldn't.
Her mind replayed the duel again and again. The cheers. Evelyne's graceful stance. The look in Caelum's eyes when she beat him.
Why does everyone suddenly notice her?
It wasn't jealousy, was it?
Elisse hugged her knees.
She remembered the first day at the academy, how Evelyne stepped between her and the bullies. How she offered her hand when no one else had.
"Elisse," Evelyne had said that day, "you don't have to follow anyone. You can walk beside me."
And she had.
But walking beside Evelyne meant walking in someone else's shadow. A large, complicated shadow.
Elisse reached for the necklace Evelyne gifted her—a small star-shaped charm.
Her fingers tightened around it.
"I won't fall behind," she whispered. "I'll protect you too, Evelyne. Not just stand behind you."
She stood and went to her desk.
There, she opened a sealed envelope—a recommendation letter for the special strategy and support division.
She signed her name.
The next morning, she turned it in.
While the academy buzzed with gossip and shifting loyalties, Elisse quietly stepped onto a new path.
A path that would one day change everything.
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