The table was silent.

"I refused to participate," Zacard continued. "Rayon called me soft. Said I was a disgrace to my family name. We had a rather public falling out."

"Was that when you started questioning everything?" Damion said.

"Yes." Zacard nodded. "I started paying attention to the commoner students around the campus. And I realized something that should have been obvious from the beginning."

"What?" Lucas asked.

"That competence has nothing to do with bloodline," Zacard said.

"I saw commoner students who worked twice as hard as any noble, who had more skill and dedication than most of my supposedly 'superior' peers. I saw people like Damion, who I'd assumed was common-born and attacked because of it, demonstrate abilities that put most nobles to shame."

He looked at Damion. "When I found out you were actually adopted by the Castille family, I felt... relieved. Because it meant I could justify your skill without challenging my worldview. But that relief lasted about five seconds before I realized how pathetic that thinking was."

"So you changed," Lucas said.

"I'm trying to," Zacard corrected. "Seventeen years of indoctrination doesn't disappear overnight. I still catch myself thinking things I know are wrong. Still have to consciously fight against reactions I was taught from childhood. But yes, I'm trying."

"Is that why you helped me during the battle royale?" Lucas asked. "Against Carl and his group?"

"Partly," Zacard admitted. "But also because were friends and they were attacking three-on-one with pre-planned coordination."

Marie cleared her throat. "For what it's worth, Zacard has been genuinely trying to change. I've seen it. Damion has seen it. He's not perfect, but he's making an effort."

"More than most nobles would," Raymond said. "Most people would just double down on what they were taught rather than admit they were wrong."

"Okay," Lucas said.

"Okay?" Zacard said.

"I believe you. About trying to change." Lucas took another bite of food. "But I'm going to hold you to that. No backsliding."

. "Fair enough." Zacard said with a smile.

"So what are we going to do about Rayon and his society?" Celeste said.

"Do?" Lucas asked.

"They're targeting you now," Celeste said. "They sent Carl and his cronies after you in the battle royale. They sent Clarissa. You can't just ignore them."

"I don't plan to ignore them," Lucas replied. "But I'm not going to go looking for a fight either. I've got enough problems without adding a feud with a duke's son to the list."

"Wise," Marie said. "Rayon is dangerous. Not just because of his connections, but because he's genuinely powerful. He's in S-class for a reason."

"How powerful are we talking?" Damion asked.

"High-Stage Copper, possibly touching Iron rank," Lydia said. "And he's already chosen his elemental affinity. Light magic."

"Light magic? The so-called 'holy' element? That's ironic given his personality." Lucas said.

"Light magic isn't inherently good any more than dark magic is inherently evil," Marie explained. "It's just energy. Rayon uses it very effectively though. His attacks are fast, precise, and devastating."

"Great," Lucas muttered. "So I've got a powerful, well-connected noble supremacist with light magic targeting me because I talked to the princess once. This just keeps getting better."

"It's not just that you talked to her," Raymond said. "It's that you, someone with commoner blood, dared to be in her presence as an equal."

"Because I'm not beneath her," Lucas said flatly. "She's a person, same as me."

"And that attitude is exactly what they hate," Zacard said. "To people like Rayon, there's a natural order. Nobles above, commoners below. Anyone who challenges that order is a threat."

"Well then," Lucas said, "I guess I'm a threat."

"That's the spirit! Besides, you're not alone. Rayon might have his little society, but you've got us." Damion said.

"Exactly," Celeste added with a cruel smile. "Anyone who wants to hurt you will have to go through me first."

"Thanks, Celeste. But I'd prefer to handle this without any of us getting hurt."

"That might not be an option," Marie said. "Rayon doesn't give up once he's decided someone is a target. He'll keep escalating until either you're driven out of the academy or..."

"Or what?"

"Or someone gets seriously hurt," she finished. "That's how it always goes with him. He pushes and pushes until something breaks."

"Then I'll just have to make sure I'm not the one who breaks, don't I?" Lucas said.

"Speaking of this," Lydia said, turning to Zacard, "isn't Princess Leyla your fiancée?"

"Oh right," Raymond said, as if he'd just remembered. "I forgot about that. The princess is engaged to the heir of House Tosin. That's you, isn't it?"

"Yes. Princess Leyla Noclies and I are engaged. It was arranged by King Darius III and my father, Duke Tosin, when we were children."

"Do you two actually know each other?" Celeste asked.

"Barely." Zacard said. "We've met perhaps a dozen times at formal events. We've never had a real conversation. The engagement is entirely political because it ties the Tosin family more closely to the royal line and gives my father additional influence at court."

"That sounds..." Raymond started.

"Perfectly normal for noble families," Marie said. "Most of us are betrothed to people we barely know. It's just how things work at the higher levels of society."

This makes me remember. Isn't she supposed to be getting engaged to some dickwad in Jazhad. That's the whole reason I was talking to Princess Leyla in the first place.

"That's depressing," Damion said.

"That's reality," Zacard said. "Though I will say, the princess seems like a decent person from what little I know of her. She's intelligent, politically astute, and apparently brave enough to nearly die fighting the Legion during their attack on the city."

It seems other than me, no one else has a hint of the princess's true personality. She deserves a god-damned Oscar. Let me give it a test.

"About that," Lucas said. "When Clarissa said she was 'sending me a message' about talking to the princess... do you think Rayon is acting on behalf of the royal family, or is this his own initiative?"

Zacard thought about it. "Probably his own initiative, using the engagement as justification. The princess has never indicated that she shares the Pureblooded Society's views, and King Darius certainly doesn't. But Rayon might be trying to curry favor with more conservative factions by 'protecting' the princess's reputation from being tarnished by association with a half-blood."

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