As Lyra made her way into the 1-A Class, made up of the twenty best students that enrolled into the Royal Academy that year, she felt excitement surge freely through her chest. Many dreams had kept her awake that night -- it all started with 'what if I get seated right next to Dzer?' In fact, there were five horizontal rows and four vertical ones, desks being shared by two people.

From that innocent question came a lot of fantasies -- them conquering the class's approval, them receiving prizes together and telling mutual "i love you's". That was her vision of love at that time, she wanted somebody who'd be right next to her, live with her and feel the same way she felt. She couldn't process anything else.

The same applied for the boy that was already seated in the place nearest to the teacher's desk: the Crown Prince of the Aerbach family. Dzer was in an extreme bad mood during his first day at school, which was honestly obvious. He was still in a better mood every day and he had no reason to express his anger towards Lyra explicitly.

But there was someone who was already sitting next to the Crown Prince, contrasting his blonde hair with a darker, paler countenance. That person was the #4 ranked person on the Royal Academy entrance test, Ashao Liyan. Behind them there was another person, sitting alone, Herien Arnai. That was the group of friends that the Prince always had. The only two people missing were his younger brother and Ashao's younger sister, both of whom still had one year before enrolling in the Academy.

As Lyra saw the rest of the class there were still many spots missing, yet her primary goal was to take the seat next to Ashao Liyan. That was where she immediately headed as she saw that Dzer's adjacent seat had already been taken. 

But as the young noble girl reached the spot in the second line of the class, the face of her special somebody wasn't happy. 'Uh?' Thought to herself Lyra as she saw Dzer's face turn fairly strained and torn. In a few seconds it seemed as that contrast had been solved and only an expression full of rejection was shown in the eyes of the beautiful boy.

"Sorry, that spot is taken." Dzer simply told the girl in front of him. The person sitting there, Herien Arnai, with his dark blue hair and light brown eyes, hadn't even talked to confirm the fact. All the group knew Dzer was in control -- nobody would dare say anything.

But she couldn't understand. "Oh, by who, if I may ask?" She asked, not understanding the hidden message. Nobody else would've asked that, because they'd understood. And the Crown Prince didn't realize the fact she hadn't, so he immediately thought it was some kind of disrespect.

"By my friend. I don't believe you should know." He said, so Lyra once again asked, a confused look in his face: "Why?"

"Stop. If I don't want to say it, I don't think I should. Go elsewhere."

That didn't make Lyra sigh -- she figured she'd be too inferior for him, so she couldn't understand his ways, but saw no real malicious intent in his actions or words.

But as she looked around for another spot and moved away from the place where Herien was sitting, Lyra saw someone she had never seen take the seat that should've been hers.

'I guess they were waiting for him... who's that?' She asked herself, to no avail because she didn't know the red-haired person sitting there. 

Still, she assumed there was no mistake in what they had done -- after all, a person had arrived -- and went to see if there were any other seats nearby. But sadly, there weren't.

The only remaining spots were at the back of the class, which intimidated Lyra. 'I remember mother telling me that the kids that never want to learn anything sit there... I hope the professors won't have any wrong thoughts about me.' That was all the young noble girl really cared about, I'd be bad if she was thought to be some sort of delinquent... she'd have to work harder but she didn't mind.

The fact that in such a prestigious class no one would really be a pushover wasn't a thought Lyra had.

Anyway, the seat left for the #2 Ranked Enroller in the Academy was the one the furthest from the teacher's desk at the right corner of the class, with someone already being seated on it.

She didn't really mind -- she had no intention of talking to that person and getting to know them, anyway -- and went to sit there. All she had seen so far was the dark hair of the male classmate next to her at the very corner of the room, whose face was fixed on the desk below him a he was writing something on his notebook.

For a single second, Lyra's attention was put on that person. 'I guess this is another victim of the prejudice that people have for people sitting in the back rows?' She thought to herself. 'This person seems to care a lot about studying.' Quickly she concluded her thoughts, not even glancing once in curiosity at what he was actually writing.

Since that person hadn't greeted her, as fitting for a noble Lyra decided to just introduce herself, so that she couldn't be blamed for bad manners in the future. 'But I'm afraid that'll create a conversation... as I thought, it's bothersome.'

"Greetings. My name is Lyra Sandcastle, from the--" the noble had started saying to her classmate while not maintaining eye contact, but she was stopped in her tracks by just a few words muttered without eye contact either.

"I already know who you are. Impressive test." Said the other voice, then stopped talking completely, leaving Lyra astounded.

As a person who had been brought up with perfect manners, Lyra had never experienced anything of that sort. Nobody in her noble family would dare cut off anyone, commoner or noble. That was considered behavior unfit for a noble and would've led to embarassment. So, Lyra kept her calm and immediately assessed that she wasn't talking to a noble, rather to a commoner.

"A commoner in the first twenty? That's an impressive achievement too." She simply said.

"Thank you. My name is Gabriel, by the way." Naturally the boy answered, both looking down rather than looking at their conversation partner.

And then they stopped talking; Lyra for lack of care in anything that didn't involve herself or Dzer, Gabriel for his timid nature. 

'It's so unfortunate I couldn't sit there.' She thought, thinking of the perfect position behind the Crown Prince that had been denied to her. But as she was thinking of such matters, the professor of their first hour of school in the Academy entered the room. 

A dignified attire was his most important characteristic; carefully trimmed beard and moustache along with brown hair, brown eyes that showed warmth and a short stature, along with a muscular body. 

As he entered the room and sat down, the people previously talking all went quiet on the spot.

"Hello, Class 1-A. My name is Zachary Neratur and I'll be your history teacher for this year up until the fifth one. Hmm, I see a lot of new faces, I have a good memory and I don't think any of you ever had a brother here? Interesting..." He muttered as he glanced from left to right and from right to left continuously.

"Don't get too attached to your seats, I think you know you'll be moved to a different place if needed." He explained again, to which Lyra couldn't contain a smile. Seeing that by a margin, the professor had an interested look on his face. 

"Aren't those the #1 and #2 ranked students, sitting together? The joy of our class." He said, smiling positively. At the same time, he failed to notice the look of displeasure that Dzer sent his way -- no attention for the Crown Prince? 

But Professor Neratur didn't care too much -- he had learned to deal with nobles and commoners alike because of his experience at the Academy, yet rarely could he see reactions so different from what he expected.

"Professor, aren't you forgetting this is the class of Crown Prince Aerbach?" Simply asked the boy sitting next to Dzer, despite the fact the prince didn't really desire any attention at that moment, still sulking. So, all he received was a glare from the Crown Prince and a seemingly confused expression from the professor.

"Oh really? I usually just get information about the first two ranked people." He said smiling still. "Of course, I'm ironic. I know he's here, I've seen him before." Then he pointed at the now slightly blushing blonde-haired beautiful boy.

But the damage was done.

The fact that the entire class was gazing at him with different emotions he couldn't quite decipher, not muttering anything but being subtle in their judgements, it all led Dzer's opinion of the two people that had surpassed him, especially Lyra, to worsen exponentially.

"My greetings, Mr. Neratur." He just muttered with a low tone of voice, to which the professor nodded.  

Then Zachary Neratur kept talking to his class. "As I was saying, I'm your history teacher. As for what regards the matter of the studies you'll take, we're going to start with the establishment of the Empire of Lalaria and reach the present day in five years. Of course, these are all subjects you probably have solid knowledge about, but we'll go even deeper and explain the intricacies of economy and politics as well. Be ready, this is not an easy class. None are here." Those were the perentory words that Neratur gave to his students, which he had said countless times in his experience.

"The first important matter I'll speak about is why we start at such a focal point, the creation of the Lalaria Empire. How many of you have studied this event in particular?" He asked and received a positive answer from every single student out of the twenty.

"And how many of you have studied what comes before?" He asked. But no hands were put up this time.

"I speak my mind sincerely, so let's see why that's the case. The reasons are mostly three.

The first one, there is a very low amount of testimonials in the entire world of what came before the foundation of the Lalaria Empire.

The second one, it'd be hard to talk about independent cities and small countries created beforehand because of their huge quantity.

The third one, I can't sweeten it enough for some of your dreams to fall down, is because all history you've studied is for a moral reason. You've studied the res gestae, ahem, the works of great Emperors and Counselors alike to help you find the right path to virtue. Yet, as you grow up, the ultimate goal of history changes. 

The Royal Academy has no business giving moral lessons of any particular kind, that's why it's stayed neutral up to its core so far. We are studying history -- and all other subjects -- for the love of knowledge and learning. Or, that's how I like to see it."

Out of these incredibly meaningful words coming from one of the most decorated professors in the history of the school came out a very interesting lesson about the civilizations that came before the Lalarian Empire.

Yet Dzer tried his best to listen, but he couldn't soothe his own anger; as such, right as the first break came around, he pointed at all of his friends to immediately leave the classroom, not allowing Lyra to talk to them.

As the person in question took her eyes off the desk and saw that everyone but her had left the classroom, she realized they hadn't waited. 

'Why?' She asked herself. 'Am I not powerful enough in their eyes?' That was the only conclusion that she could come to.

Meanwhile, the only other remaining person in the classroom next to her was starting to take his leave, but before doing so he pointed at his desk mate and simply said:

"You don't get it, do you?"