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Under the twilight, a Griffin soared into the sky and glided through Siria's sunset clouds.
"Wow—"
Roman pressed both palms against the Griffin's broad back, staring down at the miniature city below and the distant mountains and rivers, letting out a sound of pure amazement.
"Be careful. Don't fall off." Luo Wei pulled him closer.
Troy glanced back at them. "Should we fly higher?"
"No need. This height is just right."
Any higher and the clouds would swallow their sightlines. Any lower and people on the ground might spot them.
"Roman, are you ready?" Luo Wei asked.
"Mm, I'm ready!" Roman pulled a piece of parchment from his cloth bag and spread it across the Griffin's back.
The wind was brutal, snapping the parchment's corners up the moment it was laid down. Luo Wei drew her magic wand and recited a wind-restraining spell. The gust around the two of them died instantly.
The roar in their ears dropped to nothing. The whole world seemed to go quiet. There were only drifting white clouds and, in the far distance, layers upon layers of deep crimson light bleeding through the sky.
Roman fished a few pieces of charcoal from his pocket, sprawled across the parchment (bigger than half his body), and began sketching the academy far below, a palm-sized smudge against the city beneath them.
Luo Wei glanced down once. Her blood surged. The patterns suppressed somewhere deep in her subconscious pressed against their restraints, threatening to break free and surface. She looked away immediately, shifting her attention elsewhere.
Troy stood steady on the Griffin's shoulder, his black outer robe billowing high. The wind had blown his hat brim back behind him, exposing his short, shoulder-length hair , red as fire.
She'd known him this long and still had no idea what Troy actually looked like. That iron mask might as well have been welded to his face.
"Troy!" Luo Wei called out.
Troy turned his head, eyes asking the question.
"Do you wash your face?" Luo Wei asked.
"What?" He took two steps toward her. The wind was too loud; he hadn't caught it.
"I said," Luo Wei raised her voice, "you wear that mask every single day. Do you even wash your face?"
She had been genuinely curious about this for a long time.
Troy: "..."
"Or do you only wash the lower half?"
"..."
He didn't answer. Luo Wei's eyes went wide.
She never would have imagined it. Her dashing, highly capable guard didn't wash his face.
He doesn't wash his face.
How long had it been? Half a year? A year? Two years?
What does skin even look like after two years without washing? Built-up grease, dead skin, blackheads, pimples from everything trapped under the mask?
No wonder Troy refused to take it off. He'd even told her once that the face underneath was ugly. Of course it was , anyone's face would be ugly after years without washing.
And with the mask sitting on his face day after day, wasn't he getting tanned in two completely different shades? The moment he finally took it off, the lower half and the skin around his eyes would be dark, while everything the mask covered stayed pale and untouched...
Luo Wei let out a PFFT and lowered her head, shoulders shaking.
Troy: ...
What was his employer imagining now?
Sunset to full dark was only half an hour. Roman worked with focused urgency, sketching the map of Siria Magic Academy.
Before they'd left, Luo Wei had walked him through the method: start with the large structures , churches, castles , then move to the smaller buildings, and finally connect the roads between them. The patterns on the church roofs could be drawn with some detail. Plazas, gardens, lawns, and lakes needed only their rough shapes; no need to get precise about them.
It didn't matter much anyway. They were flying too high to make out architectural details on the ground.
After dark, a few scattered lights blinked to life across the city. Most of the streets dissolved into the night, and Siria Magic Academy faded with them, swallowed by the darkness below.
The Griffin carried all three back to the ground. Troy grabbed Roman by the collar, hopped down, set him on the grass, then turned and carefully helped Luo Wei down.
Roman straightened up indignantly , and found that he only reached Troy's thigh. He sank into an even worse mood.
Hmph. He was still young. He'd be taller than Troy one day.
He spent a moment consoling himself, then bounced forward and held the map up with both hands. "Miss! Miss! Here you go!"
Luo Wei took it, crouched down, and pinched his cheek. "Thank you, Roman. Come on — it's time for dinner."
She took his small hand and walked toward the garden. At the steps of the main building, they nearly walked into Hall and Rosie coming down from above.
"Miss Luo Wei." Hall bowed his head.
Rosie's unfocused eyes dropped to their joined hands. Her voice came out low and hoarse. "Miss..."
She wanted that too. She wanted to hold the Miss's hand.
Luo Wei didn't catch it. She was already talking to Hall.
"Thank you for all your time, Hall. Rosie takes up so much of your day — it's not affecting your studies, is it?"
"Not at all." Hall's smile was easy and bright. "Rosie is sharp. Teaching her is simple, and honestly, she gives me new ideas about magic pretty often."
"I'm glad. But if it ever becomes a burden, tell me. We're friends , you don't need to hold back."
"No burden whatsoever. I actually like teaching." Hall meant every word of it.
Because where else was he going to find a deal this good after leaving Starfall Residence?
Talk for an hour, get a full table of food. It beat Lola and Theodore absolutely killing themselves at the dessert shop.
They chatted a bit, then moved into the dining room and sat down to dinner together.
Getting invited to this dinner was no accident. Hall had been stretching every lesson out for weeks, calculating exactly how long to linger without being obvious about it.
Luo Wei had noticed. Hall's attachment to Starfall Residence's cooking ran deep. Bella had mentioned more than once that his appetite was a match for Troy's.
Two bottomless pits, really.
Hall had probably never eaten his fill before coming here. He'd likely never known food could actually taste good. That was the only explanation for how fixated he'd become on the meals here.
People in the Western Plains ate one proper meal a day: the midday meal. The evening meal wasn't considered a real meal , portions were small, and the Church actively preached light eating and nighttime fasting. Eating a full meal after dark was something a person was supposed to feel ashamed of.
Nobles usually took a light afternoon tea around four. Commoners gathered around the fire pit after dark and made do with whatever was left , yesterday's vegetable mush, hunks of broken black bread. Nobody cooked specifically for the evening.
There was no concept of cuisine in this era. Food existed to fill the stomach, nothing more.
It was closer to an obligation than a pleasure. Something you did twice a day, preceded by prayer and a long recited hymn.
When Luo Wei had studied abroad in Europe, she'd come across a saying: God sent the food, but the devil sent the cook.
That said everything about what eating was like in this age. Every meal was a small ordeal.
Maybe the capacity to cook well had always been there. But the Church had decided that enjoying food was a sin , a doorway through which desire crept in and corrupted the soul. With that shadow hanging over every kitchen, no cook was going to take any risks.
After dinner, Hall headed back to the academy first.
Luo Wei watched him go, then turned toward the stairs. "Rosie. Come up."
"Yes, Miss." Rosie's eyes brightened. She followed quickly.
They went into the second-floor study.
"Rosie, you've been at Starfall Residence for over two months now, haven't you?"
Luo Wei settled into the writing chair. Her dark eyes rested on the little girl's distant, unfocused gaze.
"Two months and twenty-seven days." Rosie's hands were clasped tightly in front of her. "Three more days and it will be three months."
"Almost three months." Luo Wei let out a breath. "Time moves fast. How long have you been studying dark magic?"
"Less than two months. Teacher Hall left Siria last month, so I went more than half a month without any lessons."
Luo Wei nodded. "How are you getting on with the dark spells? Have you learned everything Teacher Hall taught you?"
Rosie hesitated. "Teacher Hall says I recite the incantations well. But I haven't actually tried casting magic yet."
"Understood." Luo Wei pulled open a drawer and lifted out a slender branch of spirit wood. "Come here. This is the magic wand I made for you. Take it and try."
➤ Next: That Was My Old Classroom
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