Way of the Knights

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"Greetings. My name is Alice Endrun, a demoted student of the Genius Class, pleased to meet all of you."action

With the truth exposed, Alice once again introduced herself to Raven and his team.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Paul interjected with a serious voice, "What happened? Why were you demoted?"

Alice wasn't too surprised when Paul asked his questions, anyone would really be curious as to what transpired for her to be demoted. What she didn't know is that Paul is looking at her case in a different perspective.

At the end of the day, Paul is still Headmaster Ian's son. Whether he likes it or not, he will be engaged with scenarios about the current management in the institute, and since he won't be able tl escape it, might as well prepare himself for the future right?

"I guess it's fine to tell you, consider it as atonement for my lies." Alice murmured softly, she cleared her throat and started telling her story.

"Just like what was revealed earlier. I was a part of the Genius Class, and I stayed in there for almost a year." She paused briefly before continuing, "And you probably know the fact that if one manages to stay in that class for a year, then they will be bestowed with nobility. Well, my background isn't necessarily that impressive, so I too was pitching for that title, just so I could provide a little more comfort for my family."

"I was hopeful about my future, maybe a little too much for anyone's liking, and that's one of the reason's why my fall was too painful."

"You see, the title of a 'Genius' does many things to an individual and to those around them. Pride, confidence, even arrogance. Those will slowly poison you. Of course, you will try to remain humble and all but the people around you will make sure that you won't."

The team noticed that Alice was already clutching the hem of her clothes at this point.

"There's always that special treatment. In missions, they will always rely on you and make you the leader. In the streets, it's impossible not to see those gazes of admiration, envy and jealousy on their faces. Many people will try to do anything just to get on your good side, they will send you gifts, tell you promises and will hide behind a mask of friendliness just to get your trusts, only to use you and stab you behind the back once you are no longer useful."

"I'm not gonna lie." Alice smile wryly and said, "I too became one of those people, and I'm not proud of it." Her voice became a bit shaky, the guilt that had been gnawing at her heart was making it hard for her to be calm.

After another brief period of silence, Alice then continued telling her story.

"It was during my second Biannual Examinations. We are headed to the Black Iron Prison. A place where the most heinous criminals are kept and locked away, never to see the sunlight once again. Our task is to become a judge as to whether a prisoner is guilty or not, and we have to judge at least 5 people."

As she revealed the contents of the examination, she saw their expressions to change. She sighed helplessly and continued.

"Funny right? Whether they live or die, depends on our hands, do take note that I just turned 18 at that point. Aside from inflicting injuries to someone, the thought of killing them never crossed my mind. I understand the intentions of the institute, and trust me I never blamed them. But the next event that took place made me lose my faith to it."

"My relationship with my former classmates was good. We've trained and hanged out together, I even had a sworn sister in there and I felt that we were inseparable…or so I thought. It turns out that she purposefully befriended me to hide her evil intentions." Alice was gnashing her teeth in anger as she remembered the face of her former 'sworn sister'.

"The reason of her betrayal? Jealousy. What is she being jealous of when she clearly is prettier, richer and more talented that I am? Oh, nothing special really. It's because of a man. She asked people to frame some of my family members into a heinous crime, resulting for them to be sent into the Black Iron Prison. And to make things even worst, they were included into the people whom we're supposed to judge! To top it all off, this bitch managed to convince the director to let 'ME', judge whether they are guilty or not! How funny was that!? I was because of a man! A man! How hilarious!" Alice laughed coldly.

"Let's see, stressed out about the examination that would determine whether I'll get the title or not? Check. Suddenly finding out that my clan members were being accused of a crime that they never did, and It was me who'll judge them whether they were guilty or not? Check. Completely clueless about my sworn sister's betrayal? Check. Also clueless that the reason why she did this was because of some guy whom I've never paid attention to? Check!!! Care to imagine how I was feeling during that moment?"

Alice, turning slightly hysterical, asked the people in front of her. Tears were running down her face and her hands were clutching her head fiercely, afraid that in any second now, she will turn completely crazy.

To Raven and the rest, they could only stare at her helplessly and felt pity. Who would've guessed that she was carrying this much hate in her heart? It took Alice a good amount of time before she calmed down, smiling helplessly, she still went on and finished her story.

"I fought so hard to prove their innocence. I personally carried investigations, but all of the evidences lead towards them, it came to the point that even I believed that they were the true culprits. But the fact that they were my family can't change, and the reason why I'm training so hard was because of them. In the end, I deemed them innocent. Obviously, I failed test and my clan members were imprisoned anyway, my own clan hated me for not being able to save them and I was demoted from the genius class. I became a laughingstock to many, and to top this all of, my 'sworn sister' then revealed that she was the one behind this all and also revealed the reason why she did this."

"I can't do anything pass that point. I tried, but all was meaningless. My family, the very reason why I pushed myself time and time again, hated me now. I was stripped off of my title as a 'Genius' and was placed as a regular Inner Branch Student. The only reason why I haven't killed myself yet, is because of hate. If there's any chance for me to at least become a nuisance to that bitch, then I will live to become one, even if it kills me."

With eyes full of hate and vengeance, she ended telling them her story. Heaving deep breaths to calm herself down, she leaned back to her seat and wiped away the tears on her eyes.

"Do you understand why I acted that way now? I'm actually trying to avoid as much contact towards anyone who has connections with the Genius Class but lo and behold, the Director himself asked me to do it."

Silence permeated inside the room. Raven and the rest knew that anything they say won't make the situation better, but they also feel that she deserves to at least be heard or get justice from all of the suffering she experienced.

Hearing her story though, made one point clear for them. The Genius Class isn't as fun and exciting as many thought it was. They knew this fact, but to actually hear someone reveal the darkness behind it, is a different experience altogether.

At first, Paul thought that he might be able to help her, but at the end of her story, he realized that there's nothing he could do, any this left a bad taste in his mouth. He started wondering if his Old Man knew about the things that's happening here while he's stuck at that tower of his.

Luna also thought about using her background to give her proper justice. But she too realized that she have her hands tied as well for this situation. Too much time had passed, and by now there's no way to justify anything, in fact it would even raise a huge commotion if the princess suddenly brought up an old case. People might start to think too much about the situation and might even accuse her of abusing her influence and power, which is something that she absolutely have to avoid happening.

As for Raven, well there's not even a need to mention anything.. His father might have a brilliant influence but it's impossible, even for Luis, to investigate that now since there's more current cases that he's needs to pay attention to instead of bringing up something that happened a long time ago.