And when he felt the sudden patting, Raghnall opened his eyes in surprise. Then, when he saw her concerned eyes, he smiled slightly at Inna in grat.i.tude. And after a few more pats, he finally found the strength to continue on. He grabbed her hand that patted his head gently and he held on to it tightly as he continued his story.

"These frightening people... They were those kinds who hated lily cla.s.s students. They felt that it was up to them to… 'weed' out the school from 'undeserving' people. Because, for them, only the strongest should get to the academy for 'geniuses.' And if they kept such 'weaklings,' then the academy's reputation for only having the best of the best students would be tarnished. And the value behind the t.i.tle of being an Eldora student wouldn't be as prestigious anymore."

Inna noticed Raghnall's grip on her hand tighten as he continued to speak.

"But I can never understand why they would think that. The academy had its own standard of geniuses. Like Aril, there are people with hidden talents. And there are people with abilities that cannot be measured by things like tests and numbers. That was the reason for cla.s.s change battles and removal exams in the first place. Magic is never about the amount of power you had in you. It was about how you can use that power to your advantage. Even if you were a veteran mage, what would it do in a fight if the spells you learned were only household spells like dusting your pillows and fixing the roof of your house? That is why Magic was never about the power levels but the spells you know and how you use them. For example, a starter mage with only a speed-enhancing spell can use that spell again and again, to dodge attacks and deal attacks slowly but surely."

"But those idiots only see the ranks as the only basis for strength. Hence, they had that kind of twisted belief. And to add to it all, some of the professors even support such sick ideology."

Inna winced slightly when Raghnall's grip turned painful. When he noticed her flinch, he immediately let go and apologized. Inna shook her head, showing him that she didn't mind as she urged him to continue.

"So, when those people knew of Aril's great progress, they felt enraged. They didn't believe it at first. Since after Aril was sent to the Lily cla.s.s, in just a month he suddenly had great progress in his homework and in-field spell casting and sparring sessions. And they felt threatened because they hated the idea of sharing cla.s.ses with someone that was previously from the lily cla.s.s."

"And so, they began hara.s.sing Aril…"

"At first, it started with trivial things like ordering their 'friends' to verbally abuse him. Aril was pretty strong-willed so a little trash-talking wasn't much of a big deal to him. And these 'friends' probably figured out that verbal hara.s.sment wasn't that effective so they resorted to a more blatant form of bullying. They began to take his things, break his writing quills, and throw his books in the trash. But Aril must've been indifferent to such blatant bullying that it resulted to them taking a much more drastic approach."

Raghnall sucked in a breath as he began to tell her the part he dreaded the most.

"The dates of the removal exams were nearing in and those demons must've started panicking. Seeing that their earlier techniques weren't effective, they decided to just drop all pretenses and started to hara.s.s him publicly themselves. They b.u.mp his shoulders, hit the back of his head, kick his s.h.i.+n, and throw stones at him whenever they happen to see him or pa.s.s by him. They did so much awful things to him that I couldn't believe I wasn't able to notice the bruises that covered nearly all of Aril's body nor the weariness in his eyes despite him laughing as we talked."

"I can't believe I was so stupid!"

Raghnall spat out in a sudden burst of anger as he slammed his fist on the chair. It made a loud cracking noise but he ignored it.

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"I… I didn't even question why he winced every time he laughed or why h-he always groaned in pain in the middle of the night! I… I d-didn't think much of it back then because h-he acted just like his usual cheerful self. I… I never had the faintest clue that he was s-suffering at all! My idiotic self just kept thinking that everything was fine and okay even though there obviously was something wrong! If only I noticed sooner… If only I didn't b-brush it off… I… I t-tell you… it's m-my f-fau--"

"Raghnall! Stop! You're bleeding!"

Inna screamed out as she grabbed his hand that was clenched tightly into a fist. The chair had multiple cracks around it but the hint of blood in the middle made Inna alarmed. She hastily pulled his hand towards her as she inspected it and just as she thought, the skin of his knuckles was peeling off as blood started to drip.

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, there's no point in hurting yourself! Quick! Cast a healing spell!"

Hearing her panicked voice, Raghnall finally snapped out of his trance as he stared at his knuckles in surprise. He didn't even feel the pain. He was far too focused on his story to even realize that he was already hurting himself.

After casting a quick healing spell, he stared at his hands with a sad and tired gaze.

"Sorry, I… I got too caught up. You must've been surprised, huh. Sorry… sorry…"

Raghnall's voice was only a mere whisper as he apologized to Inna. And she didn't know why but the sight of Raghnall to her right now was just heartbreaking. He didn't look like the confident, smug, arrogant, and charming Raghnall that always seemed to have everything figured out. Someone who always had control over every situation.

Instead, he looked like a lost little boy, still grieving over someone he loved dearly.