"Lady Feuerlon?"

Faustina blinked, turning to her side. One of the examiners had just approached her.

"Are you alright?"

Faustina blinked, "y-yes?"

Faustina's eyes darted to the mirror. Her glamour was back now; her ash-grey hair and Magierstadt uniform were visible in the mirror.

"You look pale,"

"I-I'm quite alright . . . just . . . nervous," Faustina answered.

The girl smiled at her. "Oh. I see. Uhm, I'm Chast.i.ty by the way. I'm the daughter of Viscount Beverly."

Faustina tilted her head. "Nice to meet you," it was quite an odd introduction. Usually, n.o.bles would introduce themselves into a graceful manner. But then again, they were in a dungeon. Manners would not matter. (Or would it?)

"Faustina Feuerlon," Faustine exclaimed as she let out a smile.

Chast.i.ty blinked, and then she blushed. "I'm sorry, I—" she then bowed to Faustina.

"No, no, no it's okay," Faustina exclaimed.

It was traditional to have a person of a lower standing bow to a higher ranking n.o.ble lower than that of an introductory bow. It was regarded as a sign of respect and the differences in terms or ranks. Hierarchy is regarded in the society like gold. It was a rule to do that; barons, the lowest of the n.o.bles, are the ones who had suffered that rule the most. They were just a step away from being commoners, after all.

Faustina was now a member of the dukedom's household. She was a 'Feuerlon' and everybody seemed to have known this by just looking at her. Sheila was right. One look at her and people would have the idea of who she was.

She doesn't understand the mechanism of how it worked, but it was bizarre to have everyone around her deceived. Faustina felt guilty, but she coerced herself into believing she was doing this for the greater good—and that greater good is to serve both her personal interests and the king's orders.

No. She was doing this to catch Jonathan, the forsaken warlock. She was doing this to retrieve her master's body.

"Lady Faustina?"

Faustina snapped back to reality.

"U-uhm, what was that?"

"I—I was asking if you're mad at me? I-I introduced myself so rudely!"

"No, no, I'm not mad!" Faustina exclaimed. "It's alright—"

"Uhm, so I was thinking if you want to come over to our manor sometime? You know, my father wants to propose some trading plans with the duke, but he won't even meet him—"

"You ladies over there!" Says one of the examinees, "we're moving forward! Don't be left behind!"

"O-oh, we're coming!"

**

As it turns out, they found a way to get out of the house of mirrors by chanting a spell. The group was led by Anakin and the girl named Claire as they shattered the mirrors. Faustina and the others were asked to put on a barrier so that they wouldn't be harmed by the gla.s.s shards.

Chast.i.ty Beverly was still talking to Faustina regarding the ports in Feuer. She was (as clear as day) trying to negotiate with Faustina because the Duke obviously didn't take an interest in Viscount Beverly's plans.

Faustina was aware of why though. The tradings in the port were flouris.h.i.+ng and the proposal was simply ridiculous. The Beverly House would earn all of the revenue whilst the Feuerlon won't even earn much considering they wanted to manage the business and only give 10% to the Feuerlons whilst having the fis.h.i.+ng rights to the port freely.

"Ugh, she has no shame," says one of the examinees, whispering to themselves. "She's trying to leech off the youngest Feuerlon daughter."

"How shameless. We're partaking the exam and she's already trying to propose some plans regarding the rejected port idea?"

"Hehe. Could you all blame her? She was born to have no manners. I heard their family is close to revoking the Viscount t.i.tle!"

"What? I heard they have revoked the t.i.tle and became Barons?"

"Heeh, that explains why she's shameless now. Her breeding has quite gone awry. She's practically begging to be saved by now,"

In every possible way, n.o.bles would like to tear each other down—well, most of the time, anyway. But sometimes they would combine forces just to ridicule that of lower standing just to boost their ego.

Lovellia Moscow, Faustina's past etiquette teacher, already warned her about these kind of people. Faustina had seen an example of them—Lilliane Disfiegro.

And now these people.

"This is odd," says Claire. "In fact . . . too easy."

The murmuring stopped as all attention s.h.i.+fted to Claire. They had now reached into another path. The chambers weren't upside-down anymore.

"Are we outside?"

They were back into the castle walls, but this time there was a different ambiance. They were in another room—

"Who's that?"

"I don't know, but it's like the voice of a child?"

"Moderator Yusha . . . you mean you're Yushalem Olvorg? The professor that specializes in magical Beast Taming?" Claire exclaimed.

"So, the instruction-giving isn't completed yet?"

"Well it was too easy and vague, so I guess it isn't. . ."

"Mock level?!"

"You gotta be kidding me . . ."

"Well, it was too easy," says Claire. "So I figured Magierstadt works better than that."

New instructions? Everything was now confusing. If the rules were now like this, doesn't it invalidate the first instructions given by Professor Yoan?

"Test of courage my a.s.s," Anakin mumbled.

Faustina waited apprehensively as she listened.

Faustina blinked as a small magical circle appeared in front of her. She looked around and noticed every student got the same thing.

Appearing before Faustina as her fingertips touched the circle was a hologram of what seemed like a map.

"Th-then it's a game of chance . . . ?"