"You look more and more like him."
Elisabeth's words kept spinning around in his head for a long time.
He had an idea who she meant. But was he sure…?
No.
'Look like him… me?'
That face belonged to someone else. So did that body.
'Impossible.'
It made no sense.
Kaen looked down at his paper. The questions were still waiting.
He picked up his pen again.
One question, then the next. He answered them on instinct. The other half of his brain was elsewhere.
The third test.
'This isn't the time.'
He pushed his thoughts aside and picked up the pace.
Around him, the room was struggling. A boy was chewing on his pen so hard that ink was dripping from it. A girl was staring at her paper as if she were staring at an endless ocean, not knowing where to begin. The exam was moving forward.
Kaen, for his part, moved forward steadily. He answered each question smoothly. It wasn't genius; it was just a world he had discovered through books and all-nighters.
Somewhere to his left, a chair scraped across the floor.
Kaen looked up.
Before anyone else, Azriel had stood up. She held her exam paper in one hand, unhurried. She crossed the aisle, placed her paper on the proctor's desk, and turned around.
The first. Far ahead of everyone else.
Whispers rippled through the room. Heads turned. No one had ever seen an exam paper handed in so quickly.
"Hey, do you think she holds the record for the fastest paper turned in?" whispered a student.
"No way. There's gotta be some idiot who turned in a blank sheet in a minute," another replied.
"Silence."
The proctor's voice filled the room.
For a second, Azriel's gaze met Kaen's.
She didn't say a word to him. Not a sign, not a smile. Just that red, calm gaze, resting on him for a second. Then she looked away, walked through the door, and disappeared into the hallway.
Kaen watched her until she was out of sight.
'She's calm. Too calm.'
She didn't know. She couldn't know. And yet she moved forward toward what lay ahead as if nothing awaited her, unshakeable, while he did know.
He knew what was coming. He just didn't know how to stop it.
'She dominates us all. And yet, she is the one who will die first.'
He lowered his eyes. There were three questions left. He wrote them down.
A bell rang.
The sound echoed through the room, deep and final. Everywhere, students set down their pens. Some sighed. Others let their heads fall onto their desks in resignation. Still others did both at the same time. Hundreds of test-takers, one exam, a fate already decided.
"Put down your pens. The exam is over. Remain seated until your papers are collected."
Kaen put down his. His fingers were stiff.
The proctors walked through the rows, collecting the papers. When one of them took his, Kaen didn't watch it go. It didn't matter. Passing the written exam had never been an end in itself, just the beginning of the third test.
Then they were released, row by row.
Outside, the air was cool. The morning rain had stopped, leaving the cobblestones glistening and the sky gray. The candidates filed out in groups, some laughing too loudly, others silent, their faces pale.
"I messed everything up."
Solvane caught up with him in a few steps, arms crossed, chin down.
"I'm sure of it. The question on the treaties—I made up half the dates. And physics—don't even get me started on physics."
"You know that if you passed, the others might take it badly."
Solvane stopped short, frowning.
"But you don't even know what I wrote."
"No. But I know you always say that."
She opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. She wanted to pout—it was obvious. But she couldn't manage it. After three seconds, a small smile escaped her.
"…It was still awful."
"I know."
"You seem rather grim. Even for you."
The voice came from behind them. Kaen didn't need to turn around.
"Lucien."
"In the flesh." The prince joined them, hands behind his back, perfectly at ease, as if he'd just come back from a walk and not an exam. "You look unusually gloomy for someone who didn't even break a sweat."
'Didn't break a sweat, huh. If I hadn't broken a sweat, I wouldn't have taken so long to finish that simple exam.'
"I'm always gloomy."
"That's true." Lucien smiled. "It's part of your charm."
Solvane snorted. Kaen shot her a look, and she immediately tried to look serious again—unsuccessfully.
Lucien, for his part, didn't take his eyes off Kaen. The smile was there, light, as usual. But the look beneath it wasn't quite smiling.
'Always observing. But what exactly does he want?'
Kaen hesitated.
'I'll have to talk to him. One-on-one.'
Kaen looked away first.
Solvane was talking—about the exam, about her seatmate who had been crying silently for the last half-hour, about what she would eat when she got home. Her voice was light. Carefree.
Kaen was only half-listening.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling again, already on to something else. Just like Azriel. Just like everyone else.
'She doesn't know. And that's how it has to stay.'
A crowd had gathered in front of the main building. The candidates huddled at the foot of a large stone platform, their shoulders tense.
And already, rumors were spreading.
"I heard the third trial takes place in a forest."
"My brother took it last year. He never talks about it."
"They say people have died there in some years."
Kaen slowed his pace. The words washed over him, but one of them stuck.
People have died.
A figure stepped onto the platform. Golden hair, an immaculate gown. Kaen recognized her—the first princess, Alice Morningstar.
Silence fell, row by row, until the entire court held its breath.
Alice let the silence settle. Then she spoke, and her voice carried to the back of the crowd.
"Candidates. You have passed two trials. Strength. Knowledge."
A pause.
"There is one left."
"Tomorrow, at dawn, the results of the written exam will be posted on the doors of the great hall. Those whose names appear on the list will report to the same arena where the individual combat matches were held. For the third and final trial."
The crowd erupted in murmurs. Alice waited for them to die down.
"To the rest of you, I wish you a safe journey home."
A chilling silence fell.
'I'll pass. So will they.'
Kaen glanced at Solvane. She had frozen, her face pale.
'But maybe not her.'
And for the first time since that morning, he felt something like relief.
"And to those who will go through, know this. Not all of you will return."
This time, no one murmured.
Beside him, Solvane had stopped smiling. Her arms had tightened around herself.
"Kaen…" Her voice was small. "What did she just say?"
He didn't answer.
He wasn't looking at the stage. He was searching the crowd for white hair and red eyes.
He found her. Standing apart, motionless, her face lifted toward Alice. Calm. As calm as ever.
'Tomorrow.'
He had only one night left.