A Butterfly Through the Mist - Chapter 9

A week later, in the two-person women’s dormitory at the Royal Academy of Arkansis:

“This is a nightmare.”

Judy lay on her side on the bed, her hazelnut-colored eyes unfocused.

“Tilia, could you pinch me? I need to wake up from this nightmare and return to reality, where the exams are over.”

“Get up before I really do pinch you.”

Sitting on the opposite bed, Tilia looked at Judy with a teasing smile.

“Come on, Judy. You need to get up and study.”

“No, this is a dream. It has to be a dream!”

When her denial failed, Judy pounded the bed in frustration and wailed.

“Does it make any sense to have a retake? And of all subjects, why does it have to be rhetoric?!”

Tilia understood Judy’s frustration all too well.

She let out a sigh and glanced at the notice lying on the desk. It was an official announcement stating that there had been evidence of leaked rhetoric exam questions, and as a result, a retest would be held.

“Gregory Myers, that little bastard.”

Judy’s eyes burned with anger. She had barely passed all her subjects and met the graduation requirements, only to face this retake.

“Of course, he’s involved. Every name on that list is part of Gregory’s group. So how did that slippery jerk get away with it?”

“That’s what I’m wondering too.”

Tilia’s brow furrowed as she studied the notice.

The morning after the last exam, a document had been urgently distributed, listing the names of the teaching assistants involved in leaking the questions and the fourth-year students who had received them. The consequences were the same for everyone on the list: expulsion.

“There’s no way Gregory wasn’t involved… How did he slip through?”

“Maybe they couldn’t find solid proof. Or maybe he backed out at the last minute?”

“Or… his father, the Earl of Myers, could’ve helped him.”

“Gasp!”

Judy covered her mouth, her eyes rolling dramatically. Tilia, on the other hand, looked unimpressed.

“The fact that he managed to bribe a teaching assistant to get the exam papers is already evidence that he’s connected to someone higher up. They expelled the scapegoats, but the main culprits stayed clean.”

“That makes sense.” Judy squinted her eyes and nodded in agreement. “It was always suspicious that Gregory Myers even passed the entrance exam to get into the academy. Oh my gosh! The Earl of Myers is best friends with the headmaster! This is serious!”

“Right?” Tilia shrugged as she got up from her bed. “But that’s Gregory’s problem. We have more pressing matters to deal with.”

“Like what?”

“Studying.”

Tilia smiled as she tapped on Judy’s desk. “We promised we’d graduate together, remember?”

At her words, Judy groaned in despair, grabbing her head. But after a moment, realizing she couldn’t avoid it, she slumped her shoulders and dragged herself out of bed. She trudged over to her desk and sat down, giving Tilia a look like a dying fish.

“Tilia, if I start dozing off… slap me awake…”

“I’ll make sure to slap you.”

“Thank you… You’re the only one I can rely on…”

Amused by her friend’s dramatic gratitude, Tilia laughed and sat at her own desk. But her expression dimmed slightly as she pulled out one of the books she had tucked away.

‘To be honest, I’m worried about rhetoric too.’

With a deep sigh, she opened her notebook, her hands feeling weak. She suddenly remembered the holy water Cecilia had given her, the one she had thrown away days earlier.

‘…Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown it away.’

Feeling desperate enough to grasp at straws, Tilia picked up her pen, which felt as heavy as lead.

***

With four hours left until the rhetoric retest, the lecture hall designated for the exam was buzzing with students. Unlike the original exam, which had been split between two classes, this retake had all the students in one room. But the crowded lecture hall wasn’t the only reason for the commotion.

“Did you study a lot, Amy?”

“I don’t know… I studied more than last time, but the questions will be different this time. Who knows how it’ll turn out?”

Many of the students who had narrowly failed the first exam were now studying with fierce determination, aware that this was their last chance. The widely circulated theory that studying in the exam room itself yielded better results had taken root at the academy, and naturally, both Tilia and Judy had embraced it.

“Tilia, how do you interpret this? No matter how much I look at it, I don’t get it.”

Seated next to her friend, Judy frowned as she pointed to a page in her textbook. Tilia, who had just raised her water bottle to take a drink, set it down and began analyzing the classical poem Judy was struggling with.

“Let me see… Ah, this part…”

As she calmly explained how to distinguish between irony and paradox, someone passed by her desk. In the crowded lecture hall, filled with the sound of rustling pages and conversations, it wasn’t difficult for a water bottle to be switched with another without anyone noticing—especially one as nondescript as Tilia’s, which was the standard issue provided by the academy.

The man with the shadowy expression who had made the switch walked away quietly, leaving the lecture hall without drawing attention.

“So, when a question asks about the use of figurative language, it’s best to compare the overall theme with the specific expressions being used.”

Having finished her explanation, Tilia reached for the water bottle she had set down earlier. She opened the cap and took a sip, letting the cool water flow into her mouth. It felt refreshing at first, as her parched throat was soothed.

Hmm…?

But something was off. Tilia’s head tilted slightly in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing her reaction, Judy, who had her nose buried in her notebook, looked up. “Does the water taste weird?”

“Yeah. It has kind of a… fishy taste.”

“You brought it from the dorm, right? Mine’s the same.” Judy pouted and held up her own water bottle. “They’ve been doing plumbing work for the new library, so maybe that’s why. Mine tastes a bit metallic. I brought some flavored water, want some?”

“Hmm… No, it’s okay. This is drinkable.”

“Just let me know if you change your mind. I have plenty.”

“Thanks.”

Tilia shrugged and closed the cap before refocusing on her studies.

Meanwhile, behind her, Cecilia, who had been watching Tilia with her chin resting on one hand, raised an eyebrow. After observing Tilia for a moment, Cecilia glanced around the room, her sharp blue eyes scanning the other students. Her gaze settled on one particular individual—Gregory Myers.

With his thick neck craned forward, Gregory was watching Tilia, grinning smugly.

Cecilia’s cold gaze lingered on his ugly face for a moment before shifting back to Tilia and the water bottle she had just closed, then down to her own perfectly manicured nails.

Her nails were flawless, without a single hangnail.

‘Hmm.’

Admiring the vibrant red polish on her nails, Cecilia thought idly to herself.

‘Maybe next time I’ll go for black instead of a bright color.’

***

Squeak.

Tilia turned off the faucet, letting the cold water stop flowing as she shook her head. Droplets of water fell from her chin, hitting the porcelain sink with soft, clear splashes.

What’s wrong with me?

She stared at the droplets of water sliding down the sink before raising her eyes to the mirror.

The woman looking back at her had flushed cheeks and dark circles under her eyes. She looked unwell.

Something’s wrong…

She wasn’t feeling well at all. Sounds that usually wouldn’t have bothered her felt unbearably loud, and the scent of other people, which she had never noticed before, now overwhelmed her senses.

Unable to bear it any longer, Tilia had fled to the restroom, where she now stood, staring into the mirror.

Did I push myself too hard because of the retest?

No. As she stared into her own glazed eyes, Tilia quickly shook her head.

This wasn’t the exhaustion that came from lack of sleep. Instead of feeling sluggish from accumulated fatigue, her entire body felt hypersensitive, like every nerve was on edge.

If I’m not tired, am I coming down with something?

Her vision blurred as if she had a fever. Tilia blinked, trying to clear her head, but even in that brief moment, the world seemed to spin around her.

‘I need to take something for this.’

Conscious of the sweat collecting on the back of her neck, Tilia wiped her face dry and prepared to leave the restroom.

Or, at least, she tried to.

Until she saw Gregory Myers standing at the end of the hallway.

‘What the…?’

Instinctively, Tilia took a step back, her eyes narrowing. Gregory Myers stood there, rubbing his thick lips and grinning in a way that made her skin crawl. He looked like he was waiting for something.

‘Every time he smiles like that…’

Tilia leaned against the wall, trying to recall past encounters.

‘Something bad always happens.’

She quickly scanned him from head to toe, her sharp eyes assessing his posture and expression.

What is it? What is he up to?

‘It was clear he was here to start trouble, but what kind?’

Then, as her eyes drifted down, Tilia spotted something that made her stomach churn.

‘Ugh.’

She turned her head away in disgust.

Gregory’s pants were bulging in a way that was impossible to miss.

‘Disgusting pig.’

Tilia felt an overwhelming urge to scrub her eyes clean as she hurriedly turned her back. She no longer wanted to know what was going on. The best course of action was to simply avoid that filthy sight.

‘I need to get away from here.’

But just as she was about to slip away, a sudden realization hit her like a bolt of lightning.

‘Wait a minute…’

Something clicked in her mind.