The door clicked shut behind her as Celeste limped into the dorm room, her leg stiff and aching from the earlier fall.
Pain still rippled through her bones, but it didn't matter anymore. No one had noticed. No one had cared.
She sat on the bed slowly, then drew a breath and summoned the Virgo constellation.
A gentle glow wrapped around her hands—soft, silver light pulsing like a heartbeat.
Healing light.
She pressed her palm to her bruised leg. The bone slowly realigned. Torn muscle and skin mended beneath her touch. The pain ebbed, replaced by a dull throb and then—nothing.
Her body was whole again.
But her heart? Still in pieces.
She lay back, staring at the ceiling, as muffled cheers echoed from outside the dorms.
"Auren Drakaris saved us all!"
"He took down a demon in a single blow!"
"He's amazing!"
The voices spun like blades, carving deeper with each whisper.
Celeste closed her eyes.
'Will there ever be a day… when people will love me? Not for my power. Not for my beauty. Not for being the heir of a noble house I never chose… but just for me?'
Silence answered.
A bitter one.
"No," she whispered to herself. "That day will never come."
A breeze fluttered the curtain.
"I should just disappear…"
Her thoughts dissolved into quiet.
But then the door burst open—loud, bright, and full of life.
"CELESTE!" shouted Lyra, her voice breathless with excitement. "You won't believe what the Headmaster just announced!"
Celeste blinked. "…What?"
"The Headmaster said he received a divine revelation from the celestial council," Lyra continued, pacing with dramatic flair. "The Demon Lord—the real one—is awakening. After five hundred years of dormancy!"
Celeste's blood chilled slightly.
"That's why the lower demons are starting to appear again. The veil between realms is thinning. This isn't a one-time event—this is the beginning of a war."
Lyra's voice trembled with both fear and awe. "He said we're all here not just to learn—but to prepare. We're the generation that will fight it."
Celeste sat still, staring at the blanket draped over her lap.
'So the Demon Lord is returning.'
A bitter thought crept through her mind like smoke.
'Maybe he'll kill me first. Maybe that's the only peace I'll ever get.'
"…Celeste?" Lyra was still talking—listing predictions, talking about magical reinforcement, new protocols, divine omens. But Celeste wasn't listening anymore.
She couldn't.
Her emotions—dark and heavy—had numbed her ears.
"I'm sleepy," Celeste interrupted, her voice flat. "I'll sleep now."
Lyra blinked. "O-Oh. Yeah, okay. You've had a long day too…"
Celeste laid back, turning her face away.
Lyra paused, sensing something, but didn't push.
She climbed into her own bed quietly. The lamp dimmed with a flick of her fingers.
The room was cast into soft darkness.
Two girls. Two beds. Two very different hearts.
One lay dreaming of shadows and stars.
The other?
Just hoping the night would be silent enough to hide the sound of her breaking.