She forced her back to be straight as she slowly smiled. Surprisingly, her smile was devoid of all the suffering she was enduring. She was able to completely hide the pain she felt as she tried to move her body that seemed to ignore her brain's instructions. And, with great effort, she drew closer to Galen.

When she was a meter away from him, Inna decided speak.

"Dear friend, it seems that this Empress' health is not well. It would be best for me to take my leave and rest. Though, I do feel terribly sorry for leaving in the middle of the celebration."

Galen tried to hide the glee in his eyes as he spoke with a worried tone.

"Dear Empress! That is just truly catastrophic! For our Empress to be feeling unwell, it must be due to all the racket of the festivities. Do you wish for my n.o.ble brother to give you some a.s.sistance?"

Inna wanted to sneer when she detected the eagerness in his voice. But knowing that Professor Gnarly was still watching, she decided against it and simply smiled at Galen instead.

"No need for such an arrangement. This Empress isn't that unwell to need a.s.sistance of two other hands. Besides, I am sure your n.o.ble brother have some much more important matters to attend to. After all, to bring down a lion, one would need more than two hands. But to bring down something stronger, one would have to resort to hidden arms."

Galen mentally furrowed his brows when he heard her last phrase but he didn't let his confusion show on his face. Despite not understanding what she meant, he shrugged off whatever meaning was implied on her words as he simply laughed lightly. And when Inna saw his reaction, she knew he didn't understand how she mocked him.

So, she couldn't help but sigh.

Ever since before, the 'high cla.s.s' students kept telling her she was dumb.

But to think that that 'high cla.s.s' guy can't even understand what she meant….

Meanwhile, Professor Gnarly had his eyes narrowed as he was able to fully understand what Inna implied.

She was basically telling everyone how Galen and Herad were working together to bring her down. But seeing that they couldn't due to someone 'stronger,' they decided to bring down that stronger person, which was Drona, instead by using 'hidden techniques' or in other words, cheating.

Yet despite knowing that fact, Professor Gnarly refused to end the test. That's because he was actually curious on how far that wounded idiot was willing to go.

He never had lily cla.s.s students try to take the exam. And that's due to either of the two reasons.

One, they would be too weak to enter the multiple barriers he made.

Or two, since lily cla.s.s students focus on getting stronger and usually dream of transferring to the low tier cla.s.ses once they were deemed acceptable in strength, they wouldn't find his subject worth their time. After all, there wouldn't be any physical nor magical lectures.

His subject may seem like an easy one to pa.s.s, but in truth, his subject is the nearest replica of what it would be like to partic.i.p.ate in the real world. That's why all students when they reach the high cla.s.ses will have to take his cla.s.s.

And just like in the test now, there will be no mercy nor will there be someone to always help them when they're out there in the real world.

In fact, being able to keep calm and make sound decisions are what made people have the ability to survive in the real world. Hence, this test teaches them exactly how that will be through the guise of a simply feast. After all, even the meals in Anemoly are a battlefield in order to curry favor which might even save their lives one day.

That's why Professor Gnarly couldn't help but be actually impressed at how she was able to endure all of it and how she was able to prevent her actions from going out of her role despite the heavy curses that befell upon her.

To think she was such a strong willed person.

Too bad that, together with that strong will, is an impulsive behavior that's utterly disappointing.

Meanwhile, feeling the force on her body getting stronger, Inna decided to act quickly by addressing everyone around her.

"Dear friends, this Empress will now retire back to her mansion."

With that, she quickly yet gracefully walked away from the table, signaling her forfeit of the right to continue to partic.i.p.ate in the exam.

Watching her wobbling figure, Raghnall sat at the edge of his seat, worried for her. When she first fell, he wanted so badly to go to her and heal her but Professor Gnarly pinned him back with a warning glare. So, he simply sat back down, his nerves on high end as he looked over at Inna's limp body back then.

The whole time, he was thinking that if only he could go back in time just to withdraw all the nonsense he fed her with. He never imagined for it to end up like this. Last time he took the test, the other students were simply preoccupied with not making any mistakes. He didn't think that it would turn out into an all out battle in Inna's exam.

He screwed this up. Just because he wanted to know more about her, he ended putting her in danger. His selfishness ended up hurting someone again.

Actually, he just wanted to see Professor Gnarly's reaction when Inna starts acting weird. That old man is good at making hilarious faces when mad. But now, he felt nothing but regret and guilt as he saw her trembling figure walking.

Then suddenly, as his worried eyes followed Inna's every step, everything felt as though it was moving at a snail's speed.

He saw Inna's body suddenly stiffening before he found her slowly falling to the ground.

Without even noticing the look of anger on Professor Gnarly's face or even thinking of the punishment that he'll get for intervening, he dashed out of the bleachers just in time to catch Inna before she hit the ground.