Finally, after an hour of rest, Liam stepped out of his dorm room. He crept — or as quietly as the creaky door would allow — and made his way toward the cantina with practiced stealth.
He sighed. I need to learn invisibility magic, even stealth would do fine, He thought.
But alas, dinner was unavoidable — and so was Serena and the evening pretense.
The moment Liam stepped into the cantina, his shoulders sagged.
Dozens of eyes turned toward him. Conversations dropped into hushed murmurs, necks craned subtly — and not so subtly — toward his direction. A few students from higher years gave polite nods.
Lovely, he thought. Back to square one.
It was like reliving the day of his enrollment. Only this time, the attention wasn't merely due to his name.
This time, they were staring at the mind behind the comeback of the century.
"The Prince of Remontada," someone whispered.
Liam resisted the urge to turn and glare. Instead, he went to the far corner — his usual table — where Serena already waited.
She was seated like she owned the entire cantina. Elbows on the table, chin resting on her knuckles, eyes lit like a festival lantern. She saw him and grinned.
"Oh, finally," she said, waving him over. "I was about to send a search party."
He dropped into the seat across from her with the grace of a man surrendering to fate.
Before he could even glance at the menu, she leaned forward, voice hushed and eager.
"You have to tell me everything," she said.
Liam blinked. Deja vu hit him like a well-aimed spell. Didn't this just happen an hour ago?
He sighed through his nose and gave a tired smile.
"I think I should just print pamphlets at this point."
Serena clasped her hands together dramatically, eyes wide, lips pouting just enough to seem innocent — though Liam could see through the act.
"Please, please, senior Elaine isn't telling me anything. She just said 'Ask Liam'. Pretty please?"
That expression, Liam thought, was resigned. Can anyone in their right mind say no to that?
He gave her a long, suffering look, then raised a hand in surrender. "Can I eat first?"
Serena lit up, victory glittering in her eyes.
"I'm exhausted," Liam added, picking up the menu without meeting her gaze.
"Exhausted?" she blinked. "You've had the whole day to rest."
Liam didn't answer truthfully. Instead, he muttered, "Yeah, can't I be exhausted? I have every right to be tired. I'm not as strong as you are."
Serena huffed, slumping into her seat, puffing her cheeks like a sulking child. "Ugh… I guess that means no evening stroll either…"
She sighed, clearly disappointed. "Okay fine. But definitely tomorrow." She pointed at him sternly, half scolding, half sulking. "I'm holding you to that."
Liam gave her a tired nod, his eyes already wandering the menu.
Serena, in the meantime, stared at him curiously.
"What?" Liam asked, catching her staring.
"Nothing," Serena said quickly, turning away a little too fast. "Anyway — how did you pull it off?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Tsk. Again?"
"Sorry, sorry!" She raised both hands in surrender, flashing an innocent smile. "Tomorrow. I'll ask tomorrow."
Liam shook his head, sighing. "We'll get time after I eat. I made time only for the stroll."
"Really?" Her eyes lit up with hope, like a child told they'd get dessert after dinner.
"Only if," Liam emphasized, "you let me eat in peace first."
"Oh, absolutely. Why wouldn't I?" she said, voice a little too eager.
Then she stared again, this time less like a curious girl and more like someone trying to decipher a riddle in motion.
Liam gave her a sideways look. "Don't you have to order?"
"Uh—oh! Yes." She flinched as if woken from a trance, then hastily flagged down a passing waiter. "Sorry! Two orders please — um, one Carbonara, and… Liam?"
Liam gave his orde. As the waiter walked away, Serena leaned forward just slightly, hands cradling her chin.
She didn't speak. She just kept watching him, with that same thoughtful, unreadable look.
Liam ignored it — his eyes wandered off toward the window, where dusk was settling over Azmaaris.
Their meals arrived soon after. Liam ate quietly, ignoring the hushed conversations, the stolen glances, and the not-so-subtle pointing. The crowd was still reeling from what House Orlean had done, and Liam knew — no matter how far he slouched into his seat — the attention wasn't going anywhere.
Serena, to her credit, didn't push again. She smiled between bites, muttered a few irrelevant comments, and allowed him the one thing he'd asked for — peace.
When they finished, he glanced toward her.
"Miss Serena."
"Yeah?" She perked up.
"Call them all," Liam said. "Tell everyone from the team to meet in the Healing and Restoration Demo Room."
Serena blinked. "Now?"
"I'll only do this once," he said flatly, standing up and adjusting his coat.
Serena needed no further convincing. She practically leapt from her seat and sprinted out of the cantina without even pretending to act casual.
The Demo Room was quiet when he arrived. But that didn't last long.
One by one, they all gathered. Cassandra came first. James and Theo arrived next, half-laughing about some joke they didn't share aloud. Elaine looked slightly guilty as she entered, still recovering. Evaline walked in last, half-suspicious, half-curious.
William leaned against the wall silently, nodding once when Liam looked his way. Serena bounced on her heels, pleased with herself for assembling the crew.
The door closed. Eight members were inside. The same eight who pulled off the impossible.
They were all waiting for what Liam had to say.
Liam sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as the group bustled around, shifting chairs and dragging benches into a loose circle. The Demo Room of Healing and Restoration — usually a place of silence and recovery — now felt more like a war council room before a coronation feast.
When everyone had settled, Liam remained standing at the front, one hand resting on the tall desk.
"Before we begin," he said, voice even, "let me make one thing absolutely clear — and I'm telling you this truthfully — the so-called plan everyone's whispering about wasn't my plan."
He waited for a reaction.
"It wasn't a scheme I'd been writing in my sleep for months. There were no masterminds, no precise prophecies. There were just sequences. And circumstances. One led to another, which led to another — and we… happened to be the ones who ended up on the winning side of that river."
A long silence followed. No one looked convinced — except Elaine.
"Sister Elaine," Liam turned to her with a faint smile, "you know I speak the truth."
Elaine gave a small nod. "Yes. I do."
But that wasn't enough for the rest.
Theo was the first to break the silence. "I apologize, Liam," he said sincerely. "More so to Cassie. I should've believed you from the beginning."
Cassandra didn't even glance at him. Her gaze was locked on Liam, eyes narrowing. "So you're asking me to believe," she said slowly, "that we just won the most brutal mock duel in Institute history — 397 to 0 — with Rion betraying you halfway through, and you still pulled that off?"
Liam opened his mouth, but she held up a hand and continued, pacing slightly.
"He knew what we planned. He had access. You're telling me we backstabbed a backstabber by accident? Liam, no one comes back from a 296-point deficit — and keeps the enemy at zero."
"Calm down, sister," Liam said, still patient. "I'm here, aren't I? Ready to answer everything? Let's make it an exciting evening — just us, no crowd. Let's sit down."
He pulled a chair toward the desk, and the others followed suit.
"But before we begin," Liam added, looking around the room, "thank you. All of you. Especially for one thing."
They blinked.
"For making my sister," he glanced at Cassandra, "rank in the top ten."
Cassandra blushed and rolled her eyes. But the others cheered — loud and proud.
James clapped his hands. "Technically, we're not yet in the top ten. We're in the Elite Eleven."
"Yeah," Serena laughed. "We only need to not get wiped out to stay above eleventh."
William crossed his arms, grinning. "Nu uh. Why think small? I say we aim top three. Or better — win this."
Another round of cheers, hoots, and table thumps followed.
Liam raised his hands, smiling faintly. "Alright, alright. Celebrate later. There's still a lot to — "
"I have the new battlefield scroll," Cassandra interrupted, tapping her satchel.
Liam looked mildly alarmed. "Can we not start another war in this room? Please. Let's talk first."
"Fine," she said, sliding into her seat, arms folded. "But I will ask questions."
"Good," Liam nodded. "Ask away. All of you. I'll answer, then we'll discuss where we go from here."
As everyone settled in a circle, Theo and Evaline shoved a few unused chairs to the side. They left one large desk in the middle, littered with parchment, quills, a few unopened healing kits, and now — the battlefield scroll Cassandra had casually tossed beside her.
"I'll order food," Evaline said, standing again.
"No need, sister. I just ate," Liam waved her off.
At the same time, Serena chirped, "Sure!"
Liam narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you also just eat?"
"So what?" Serena snapped, already pulling a slip from her sleeve with the canteen menu scrawled on it.
"Fine, fine…" Liam sighed. "Order whatever. Just — please let me speak before dessert shows up."
In all seriousness now, Cassandra leaned forward, arms folded on the desk. "Tell me one thing clearly, Liam. When did you plan it?"
Liam tapped the side of his temple gently. "Well, like I said earlier… but fine. I'll answer it in line with your question."
He let his hand drop, then looked up at everyone.
"I knew for a fact we were losing," he said plainly. "Meteor — the big spell I had pinned our comeback on — was never going to work."
"What?" Evaline's voice cracked from the side.
"Wait, wait —" Cassandra began.
"Hold on, sister," Liam raised a hand calmly. "I'm getting to the sequence of events I mentioned. Let me explain."
Everyone fell silent again.
"After we lost the away match," Liam said, "we finally had the data. We got to know who our opponent was — what they were capable of, how many were in their camp, what formations they ran, what kinds of defensive backups they used. All that etcetera etcetera."
He leaned back slightly, voice steady.
"Our plan — the one you all believed in — might've worked against most of the mid-ranked teams from the first half. But House Zervas? The team that topped the first phase?" He glanced at them. "That alone should've told you that our strategy would not work. Not as it was. If we had charged forward with the original outline…"
He shook his head. "We probably would've lost in the first phase of the home match. I'm absolutely certain. Even after the result we ended up with."
A weighted pause filled the room, and now — even the clinking cutlery and rustling parchment fell silent.
Liam glanced toward Cassandra, then the others. "After the away game, when I saw you down, I didn't have the heart to tell you that I thought we were going to lose it all."
His voice softened.
"I just hoped we could finish the home match with dignity and accept the result. I was not worried about the bet — you know that, right? I knew it wasn't really about the bet for you."
Cassandra looked away, just slightly.
"It's your final year," Liam said gently. "I know you wanted a win. Something to take with you. Something that said you led us."
He took a breath, glancing around.
"And if you're still asking when I started planning… well — it sort of began when I first talked to Sister Elaine."
He smiled faintly at Elaine, who blinked, then nodded slowly.
"That very first day after our defeat."