Chapter 3

  Little Wing

  "I'm afraid not, Your Highness. Student records are confidential. The academy cannot disclose them."

  The administrative clerk refused Princess Nora's request firmly.

  "..."

  She had to abandon her efforts to dig into Dan Burn’s background. But now, at least she knew one thing: Dan Burn and Zeedee Lamp weren’t living in the academy dorms.

  No wonder they managed to avoid the students staking out the halls...

  That line—Excuse me, I’m busy—had been a message, loud and clear. And she knew, deep down, that she hadn’t shown Dan the respect he deserved. He knew it, too. Which gave him every right to act like that toward her. He was telling her, in no uncertain terms, that his time was more valuable than offering it to someone who had never even seen him.

  It felt like she’d failed a critical life test... How foolish...

  That was how the princess saw it.

  Dan... Who are you really?

  Nora was one of the few who had seen that flash of red lightning—but with no proof, she couldn’t make a case.

  Two more weeks passed… Dan didn’t speak to her again except about Professor McClaff’s assignments.

  He returned to being Dan: that quiet, withdrawn guy who never mingled with anyone. And Nora didn’t have the courage to speak up first either—not when it might make things worse.

  “I’ve finished my part,” Dan said, setting his pen down and handing over his completed assignment to Princess Nora.

  Then he got up to leave...

  But this time, Nora watched every step he took.

  She saw him return a book to the Sheffield Library—that thesis. The very same one she’d seen him copying notes from under the tree a week ago.

  After he left,

  Nora rose and went to the librarian.

  “Excuse me.”

  “Yes, Your Highness, how may I assist you?”

  “Could I see the book that boy just returned?”

  “Of course.”

  After logging the return, the librarian brought over the thesis.

  Crystal Mana Extraction and Refinement Techniques — A Research Paper by Professor Killian M.

  “This is really the one?”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  “…Strange. Why would he be reading something like this?”

  An academy knight-scholar, digging so deeply into crystal mana?

  Princess Nora flipped through the book.

  She never would have guessed Dan had knowledge of this subject. But the wear on the pages was clear—he had studied it seriously. She couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was just a personal hobby?

  Yet—

  A leaf fluttered out from between the pages.

  “…?”

  She caught it.

  Inspected it.

  “This leaf… it’s from…”

  From a strain of grass that only grew in the forest behind the academy?

  .

  .

  .

  Nightfall.

  Crickets sang across the vast woods.

  The air tonight was colder than expected.

  “Freya, did you finish sealing the roof?”

  “Do I have to, Your Highness?”

  “Of course! What if it rains?”

  The “Happy Home” project had now reached the roofing phase.

  Six weeks had passed since they’d begun classes. The tent had been replaced with a cabin, the roof built from sawed timber bound together with rope and installed with the help of both Fury’s and Freya’s true forms.

  “All that’s left is the door.”

  “Let’s do it tomorrow.”

  Dan crossed off the checklist pinned to the tree outside the house with a pencil.

  “All done for the day. Comfy and cozy~ Yay.”

  “Done? You didn’t seal the damn roof!”

  “Oh come on, it’s not gonna rain tomorrow. Geez.”

  “Fine, whatever.”

  “I’m tired. Don’t I deserve a reward or something, Your Highness?”

  “What kind of reward?”

  “Mwah-mwah.”

  “I’m not even going to ask what that is... but if it’s what I think it is, go run that by my wife.”

  “Ughhh.”

  “But we’ve still got a little time before Professor Foden calls on me. Maybe we can sneak off for a walk in town together.”

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  “Wait—really?! Just the two of us?!”

  “You could stand to wear something nice for once, couldn’t you?”

  “Your Hiiiiighness!!! I love you the mostest! Love love love love!!!”

  “Alright, tone it down.”

  “Can I get the mwah-mwah then?”

  “No!”

  “Fine... I’ll settle for now.”

  “Don’t get clever with me. You sent my notebook back to our spies in Diabo, right?”

  “You mean the one where you copied the crystal mana refining methods?”

  “No need to say copied, thanks.”

  “It’s been delivered. All safe.”

  “Ever since you started that dumb rumor, I’ve been trusting you less, Freya.”

  “What’s the harm? I was protecting you from the girls!”

  “I can protect myself, thank you!”

  “Oh relax, it’s in the past. Let it go.”

  “Yeah, and now the entire academy thinks we’re a couple!”

  “Just as planned.”

  “Freyaaaa… you little—!!”

  .

  .

  .

  Not far from the hut...

  Princess Nora Ophilis of the Snowhaven Empire was walking alone through the forest.

  Her pale hand trailed along the trees. Crickets chirped all around her. An ant crawled up her arm from the bark—she didn’t brush it off.

  Snowhaven was a northern kingdom blanketed in snow year-round.

  Its seasons consisted of cold, colder, and Frozen Death.

  The hottest summer day in recorded history was a mere 2°C.

  Yet this brutal cold was Snowhaven’s advantage in wartime.

  It was the only nation never touched by war.

  Even the Shadow Kingdom had tried invading multiple times, but the unforgiving weather made it nearly impossible to cross the mountains.

  A dry forest, warm air, birdsong, and insects—these were rare luxuries for Princess Nora.

  Her boot splashed into a stream.

  She knelt down and began sketching a map into her small notebook.

  In her left hand, the one holding the pencil, was the same grass blade from earlier.

  This was the place—the one patch of forest where this grass grew thick. Now she was sure… he must’ve been hiding out here to study.

  .

  .

  .

  ZzzZzz

  Dan and Zeedee had already gone to bed in their little hut. Dinner was done. Tomorrow, they’d wake at 5 to make it back in time for breakfast at the academy—and head into town later that night.

  Their breathing alternated softly in the dark... until—

  Growl~

  Zeedee’s stomach growled loudly.

  Her eyes snapped open.

  After working nonstop since the afternoon, her body needed more energy. That little grilled fish hadn’t cut it.

  She pushed the blanket off.

  Ugh… so hungry... so hungry...

  Too hungry to sleep, even. Her stomach kept growling.

  She glanced over at Dan… her prince slept peacefully.

  “….”

  Zeedee stared at him for a long moment through the darkness of the tent.

  “...Just for a bit… just for a little bit…”

  .

  .

  .

  Around the same time, Nora was circling back for one last survey of the forest.

  She’d been so obsessed with Dan that she hadn’t noticed it was already close to midnight.

  “That’s enough… I should go back.”

  The curfew was at 11 PM—if she left now, she might still make it.

  She turned around.

  Nora followed the sound of the stream, notebook in one hand, the other resting on her hip. Five or six floating orbs of white light surrounded her—magic illuminations acting like flashlights.

  Her boots rustled the grass—shff… shff… shff…—as she walked.

  Then suddenly—

  She heard something in the bushes. At first, she thought it was an animal—but no...

  It sounded wet. Slippery. And then—crunch, crunch—bones being chewed.

  With a flick of her wrist, the light orbs dimmed, cloaking her in shadow.

  What’s that sound?

  Crunch, crunch, gnaw… gnaw…

  The stream masked her footsteps. She slowly tucked her notebook away and crept closer, fingers brushing against a tree trunk. She peeked around...

  She saw a dark, rundown hut... and the remains of a campfire. In daylight, she might’ve spotted it from farther away. But since she’d been too focused on the grass and lost track of time... the hut blended in.

  Someone’s living out here?

  Wasn’t this area supposed to be off-limits?

  She crept toward the makeshift structure. The tools used were rudimentary—it was clearly self-built. She studied the roof and beams.

  Her movements were silent. The bone-crunching sounds continued. Whatever it was hadn’t noticed her.

  Pressed flat against the wall, she slowly made her way forward.

  She spotted a shadowy figure—large and black—hunched over something.

  Nora narrowed her eyes, but still couldn’t see clearly. Then—above her, on the roof—

  Two squirrels darted across, sending a loud crack through the planks.

  The shadow turned toward the sound.

  And Nora, directly beneath the roof, was caught.

  “!!!!”

  The shadow reacted.

  Nora snapped her fingers. Her orbs of light reignited instantly.

  She expected to find smugglers or criminals squatting on academy grounds. And she was ready to fight—after all, she’d trained for two years to protect herself.

  If anyone thought a princess had to be fragile, they didn’t know Snowhaven. Maybe that was true elsewhere. But in Snowhaven, ruled by warrior queens since ancient times, princesses were trained to hunt saber-toothed tigers solo before they hit adulthood.

  Twenty or thirty bandits? Not a problem for Princess Nora Ophilis.

  But she had never imagined, in her nineteen years of life, that she would come face to face with a monster—

  Jellyfish head. Tentacled limbs. Devouring a deer carcass with guts spilling out and its body torn in half.

  Screams.

  Screams from both sides, shrill with panic.

  And Nora—who had never seen a Diabo in her life—collapsed on the spot, unconscious.

  .

  .

  .

  Dan Burn shot out of the hut, fully awake.

  Never forget: Fury was a trained soldier. Even the faintest sound could wake him—let alone a scream like that.

  “What!? What’s going on?!”

  “F-f-fo-Your Highness! We’re in trouble!”

  “Why did you change back?!”

  “Uh... I...”

  Dan turned to the side of the hut—

  And saw Princess Nora Ophilis collapsed on the ground.

  He looked back.

  Behind Freya was the deer corpse—mangled by jellyfish poison tentacles.

  No further questions needed. Dan understood exactly what had happened.

  The jellyfish demon tossed the carcass aside, leapt into the shadows of the forest—

  —and Zeedee stumbled out of the brush, looking pale as death.

  “FREYA!!!”

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness! I was hungry!!”

  Zeedee dropped to her knees, bowing so low her forehead hit the dirt. Hunger was to blame.

  If she hadn’t sneaked off to hunt a deer, Nora wouldn’t have heard the noise—and never found the hut.

  “Dammit!!!”

  Dan knelt beside Nora and lifted her from the ground.

  Her pale skin in his arms… so soft. Warm. Her lips so close. Her hair silky, fragrant...

  “Did she die? Is she dead? No no no...”

  He placed a finger beneath her nose.

  Still breathing—warm air.

  If it had been a regular student or civilian, he wouldn’t have worried. But a princess fainting in shock—

  Only one word for that.

  Screwed.

  He sighed, long and deep.

  Then turned sharply to Zeedee, his expression deadly serious.

  “What the hell do we do now?”

  Zeedee scratched at her head so hard her hair came out in clumps.

  Dan gently laid Nora’s body against the wall, stepped back, and clutched his forehead, overwhelmed.

  He could yell at Zeedee later. First—they had to deal with the mess in front of them.

  “How the hell did the princess get here?!”

  “I don’t know! But she came from behind the house! I was in the front eating the deer—if she’d come that way, I would’ve seen her!”

  “From the back...?”

  Dan walked around to the rear, flashlight in hand.

  There—footprints. Nora’s boots.

  That confirmed she’d crossed the stream and entered the area herself.

  No signs of guards or servants.

  She’d come alone.

  “Shit...”

  He ran back to the scene, hand raised in mid-thought.

  “She saw your true form, right?”

  “Yes, Your Highness. She saw me.”

  “Did she see you transform?”

  “No. Just... the other form.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “On my life.”

  “......”

  Dan began piecing the plan together.

  “Okay... maybe we can still fix this…”

  He paced in a tight circle.

  “She saw the real you and fainted from shock… we don’t know how she got here, but she came alone. So—we return her.”

  “But what if the guards see us?! We’ll be thrown in jail!”

  “No, we won’t.”

  “???”

  “We’re just two good students who were out on a walk and found the princess unconscious. That’s all. We carry her back. The guards ask questions. We say we found her and brought her back. End of story. No other details. We might get held till morning, sure—but when she wakes up, her statement will support us. After that, whatever she says is out of our hands. And there’s no other witness. She might even convince herself she hallucinated.”

  “!”

  “And who knows? The palace might reward us. The academy too! We’re scholarship students, after all.”

  “Ohhh... Your Highness! Your thinking is... simply brilliant!!!”

  “Obviously. And I’ll deal with you later.”

  “…So that’s it. I understand now.”

  Wide-eyed. Rigid.

  Dan and Zeedee had no idea...

  Nora Ophilis hadn’t been unconscious for long—just a handful of seconds. And when she came to, she didn’t move.

  Because her body, trained by Snowhaven’s finest warriors, had been implanted with a fighter’s instinct.

  She played dead.

  And heard everything.

  Dan’s plan? It wasn’t bad. It would’ve worked on another student. Another kingdom’s princess.

  But his bad luck... was that he’d tried it on Nora Ophilis.

  And before he knew it—

  Half of Dan Burn’s face was suddenly encased in black ice, burning through his skin.

  “AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!”

  “YOUR HIGHNESS!!!”