They kept walking. The corridor opened up into one of the academy's wider hallways, the kind that connected the main buildings to each other. Tall windows lined one side, letting in thick slabs of warm light that fell across the stone floor in golden rectangles.General Rita fell into step beside Asta without making it obvious. Just kind of drifted over, like it was an accident of positioning rather than something deliberate. Jabber was a few paces ahead now, his sisters pulling him into some kind of quiet argument about something Asta couldn't quite hear.The silence between Rita and Asta lasted about ten seconds."So." Rita said, her voice easy. Relaxed. Like they were old friends picking up a conversation they'd left off somewhere. "You want to know about your mum."It wasn't really a question.Asta turned to look at her. "Yeah." He said. "I do. You said you guys were squadmates?"Rita nodded, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. "Squadmates. For two years. Spent

General Rita looked at all of them,at the four young people laughing and talking about her old friend, at her son walking among them with something approaching ease on his face and her expression settled into something quiet. Content.She'd missed this, maybe. This feeling. Being around people who made the world feel a little lighter just by existing in it.The dorms came into view ahead of them.A long building of warm sandstone and dark wood, tucked against the edge of the academy grounds where old trees cast long shadows across the pathways. The afternoon light caught the upper windows and turned them gold.Jabber's pace slowed as they approached. Something in his posture changed,his shoulders pulled in slightly, the ease from the conversation draining away. Asta noticed it immediately. The way Jabber always did when they got close to their room. Like the dorm was a place where real life started again, and everything outside it was just... delayed.They stopped in front of a door o

The implication hung in the air between them.Jabber's brow furrowed. Then his eyes widened slightly as the pieces clicked into place."The letters." His voice came out barely above a whisper. "The ones I got. From you and dad."Rita nodded once. Slow."I wrote those letters, Jabber. Every single one. But by the time they reached you..." She swallowed. "His second wife would get to them first. Open them. Read them."Her hands curled into fists in her lap."And then she'd rewrite them. Change what I'd said. Put in things I never wrote. Things about your father. About me leaving. About…" Rita's voice caught, just for a second, before she forced it back under control. "About you being a burden. About how we were better off without you."The words hit the air and stayed there.Jabber didn't move. Didn't breathe. Just sat completely, utterly still, like someone had pressed pause on him.Then his hands moved.They curled into fists. Slowly. Deliberately. The knuckles went white as the

General Rita sat completely still on the edge of the bunk bed.Her hands were still pressed against her mouth. Her eyes were fixed on some point on the floor between her boots,not really seeing it, just staring while her brain tried to catch up to what Jabber had just told her.Her lips moved behind her hands. The words came out so quiet they were barely sound at all.‘The Emperor Dragon has awakened.’She muttered to herself,her gaze still locked on the floor.Her eyes were wide. Not blinking. Just... wide as she processes inside her thoughts.‘But his vessel looks okay.’The second sentence came out even quieter than the first. Confused. Like she was trying to reconcile two pieces of information that shouldn't fit together but somehow did.Jabber watched her. His brow creased as he took in the way she'd gone completely rigid, the way her breathing had gone shallow and quick. He'd seen his mother angry before. Seen her focused. Seen her in full general mode, barking orders and expect

Somewhere behind them. All four of them,Asta, Jabber, Flora, and Mira,turned around at the same time.He stood at the end of the corridor, hands clasped behind his back, that same unreadable expression on his face that he always wore. Like he knew something they didn't and was mildly amused by the fact that they hadn't figured it out yet."Oh, good." He said again, moving toward them with slow, measured steps. "You're all still here."There was something in the way he said it that made Asta's stomach drop slightly. Not quite dread. More like... resignation. The feeling you got when a teacher said "I need to talk to you after class" and you weren't entirely sure what you'd done wrong but you knew it was probably something.Kael walked right past the four of them without slowing down. Didn't even glance at them. Just kept moving down the corridor toward where General Rita was still holding both her daughters by their collars.She'd stopped with the shoe, at least. Both girls were stan