The next few days were a living hell for Matin. The hours he spent in the lecture halls and study rooms blurred together as he desperately tried to study while dealing with his mother's actions. Despite his efforts, mistakes became more and more frequent in his work. Slight mistakes would lead to larger errors, like a cursed row of dominoes. He tried anything he could to calm his racing mind, but nothing ever seemed to work.
He hadn't seen either Dean or Sophia since the meeting with the emperor. Whenever he left a room, either his mother or a house guard was waiting to escort him to his next place of study. He could still study with his other friends, but even they had to remain cautious of Marianne. As a result, he had taken to keeping his distance as much as possible. He couldn't drag them into his own problems.
One evening, while pouring over a tome detailing the economic practices of the outer provinces, Matin noticed his mother looking at him with concern. To his surprise, she looked almost as bad as he did, as if she hadn't slept in days. Her lips were drawn thin and cracked, while big dark bags rested below her tired eyes.
"Not long now, dear. The final mock exams are tomorrow, and after that, it is only another week until the final exams. Then, this will all be over. I know you can do it," she told him in a tired voice.
Matin smiled. She was putting in so much effort for his sake. He had to make sure that her trust in him wasn't wasted.
Sometimes, his exhaustion would become too much, and he'd lose consciousness. His dreams would show him memories of the past. Memories he'd rather forget. One such time was that of the entrance exams, which he had taken three years ago to gain entry into Mount Moore Academy in the first place.
*
"The school will be closed until further notice. You may take your exams in your homes. A teacher will drop them off. And please remember to stay inside and lock your doors at night," the headmaster had said on the night before his own death.
"A plague, really?" Dean hissed as they walked back to their rooms. "I haven't seen one sick person in the last several weeks. The students just up and disappear. There's definition something more going on here. We need to look into this."
Matin turned to his friend as fear gripped his heart.
"Y-you shouldn't."
"Why not?"
"Because…because you might end up dead too. I'm sure that's why some of t-teachers were tageted!"
He was only fifteen at the time, and the fear of losing his best friend had almost brought him to tears.
Dean placed his hands on Matin's shoulders.
"Come on, Matin, have I ever let you down before? You'll see. Gart, Longlocks and I will find the culprit in no time. Then, you can get back to your studies in peace. That's what you want, isn't it?"
Those eyes, so full of confidence. They hadn't changed at all in the many years since they had first met in that back alley. They had always given Matin the courage to do what he couldn't do alone.
As such, Matin had simply nodded. Dean went off to plan his investigation and discover the truth behind the mysterious deaths and disappearances.
Dean managed to return alive. Gart and Longlocks hadn't been so lucky.
As Matin knelt in the servants' room he had hidden away in, he cried and cried. If he failed the next exam, he wouldn't get into Mount Moore. All his friends would leave him behind, and he would never be able to carry on his father's legacy and make his mother proud. There was no escape. This was something he couldn't run from.
The door to the servants' room opened, and his mother stepped inside. Without wasting a single moment, she ran towards her son and embraced him.
"Oh Matin, dear, this is where you were!" she sobbed. "It's all right dear, it's all right. None of this is your fault. Just take a deep breath and relax. I know you will pass. It's already set in stone, so relax. Everything will be alright."
As she stroked his hair, Matin did begin to relax. His breathing slowed and his tears stopped.
Marianne had been right. The incident involving missing or dead students and teachers was never mentioned again, nor was it solved, and Matin's life continued as normal. Ever since then, however, his mother had paid extremely close attention to his academic achievements, never allowing him to fail and intervening whenever problems occurred. Matin's life became one that was scrutinized to the most extreme degree.
*
Matin awoke sometime later and rubbed his eyes. Before him lay a stack of books he had been studying.
"The entrance exams…" he whispered.
His memory from that time was incredibly hazy. All he knew for sure was that he had given in to the pressure and had almost lost his chance of going to the academy. That was how it always was with him. He worked hard and studied more than anyone else. He put his all into whatever he was doing only to panic when the end was in sight.
He took a moment to ponder the strange dream. A plague? The headmaster and students dying? He was sure nothing so terrible had happened. Nightmares had a tendency to take memories and twist them into something much worse. That was probably what was going on here, and so he tried to push it from his mind.
"Hey Matin, are you doing ok?" came a soft voice from behind.
He looked over his shoulder to find Nicolas and Rosetta looking down at him. He immediately scanned the room, looking for his mother. She was nowhere to be seen, and so he allowed himself to relax slightly.
"She left a short while ago for a meeting with the other teachers. No need to panic," Nicolas said.
Matin couldn't hold back a sigh of relief. Anyone who was caught speaking to him during study time was usually harshly punished.
"Dean's been worried about you. We all have." Rosetta said, though her words sounded somewhat forced.
"Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine, really. Exams are difficult for everyone, right?" Matin said with his most practiced smile.
He needed to show them that he was fine. If they grew worried and tried to help him, they'd only suffer his mother's wrath.
Both Rosetta and Nicolas looked at him blankly.
"When you fell asleep this time, you hit your head on the desk so hard you made Rose here jump," Nicolas said.
Matin laughed as he rubbed the slightly sensitive spot on his forehead. It was funny how he hadn't noticed the dull ache until Nicolas had brought it up.
"You don't look so great yourself. Have you been sleeping well?" Matin asked, hoping to keep the topic away from his own problems.
He had noticed Nicolas growing considerably paler over the last few weeks, and he was now evidently finding it hard to stand. Matin could only assume he was going through his own little version of hell at the moment. He was Oscar's illegitimate son after all. Matin was sure that his own problems paled in comparison to Nicolas'.
"I'm fine. You know how it is when winter comes. Bloody cold," Nicolas said, waving his hand as if it were only some minor issue.
"Maria warned you to stay in bed, but you didn't listen." Rosetta spat.
"Of course I didn't listen. The final exams are next week. It's not like I got a choice here, Rose," Nicolas countered.
Nicolas' words reminded Matin of a question he had wanted to ask them.
"Has Oscar said anything to you about the exams?"
Oscar had arrived recently on business, and Matin wondered if he had spoken to Nicolas about the exams.
Nicolas looked at Matin in surprise for a moment before shaking his head.
"That man doesn't give a damn if I fail or pass," he replied bitterly. "I haven't even seen him, let alone spoken to him."
"I see," Matin said with a sad smile. "Good for you."
Matin clamped his mouth shut. He hadn't meant to say that last part. He hadn't even thought about saying it, and yet the words had leaked out sounding bitter. Thankfully, Nicolas didn't say anything and just gave him a confused look.
Matin turned to look at Rosetta. She looked down at her toes, understanding she was being asked the same kind of question.
"Nobody expects anything from me. I'm only here because it's expected of me," she said.
There was a misery in her voice that Matin could not understand. Shouldn't both of them be elated that they had nobody breathing down their necks? Not having any expectations sounded like heaven on earth to him. He felt a vile rush of jealousy as he continued to smile at his friends.
"Well, I still hope you do well, Rose. It doesn't matter who your family is. You can make anything happen for them if you pass," he told her in an encouraging tone.
"If I pass." She said with a self deprecating smile.
"You've always been hovering around the failing grade." Nicolas said, giving her a side-eye. "You'd have no problem passing if you spent more time studying and less time sleeping in your room."
Rosetta withered under Nicolas' cold eyes, and she didn't say a thing to defend herself.
Nicolas sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Sorry, that was uncalled for. Looks like the pressure's been getting to me too. I know my father doesn't expect much, but I'd bet my meager allowance that he'd be on my back in an instant if I fail. He's that kind of person. One who only notices you when you do something wrong."
Nicolas had been doing surprisingly well of late. Dean had joked that it was all thanks to his budding relationship with Maria, but Nicolas had taken the joke badly. Addi had ended up on damage control after that.
"You might end up beating me if you keep it up." Matin whispered to no one in particular.
Matin wondered if Nicolas' sickly appearance was because of over-study like him. If it wasn't, if it was an unrelated illness, then it was possible that Nicolas would have long since overtaken him too, were it not for his condition.
Nicolas looked at him and narrowed his eyes.
"Is that a problem?" He asked.
Matin bit his lip as he remembered the conversation he had with his mother in the archive room.
"Nick, don't try to score higher than me on the mock exam. You'll end up hurt if you do. You too, Rose." he blurted.
He knew what he said sounded awful the moment it left his mouth. He had meant to warn them against his mother's plots, but they didn't know what she was planning, so his words probably ended up sounding like some sort of greedy demand.
"Is that a threat?"
"Me? scoring more than you?"
Nicolas' voice sounded defensive while Rosetta scoffed at Matin's words. Both his friends looked at him with hostility.
"Sorry," he said with his usual smile. "I'm talking nonsense, sorry."
That said, he got up and hurried towards the exit of the lecture hall. There was someone else he had to warn. Nicolas and Rosetta would probably be alright, but the same couldn't be said for Sophia. With his mother preoccupied with a meeting, this was likely the last chance he would get.
He could no longer trust himself to score higher than Sophia. If things continued as they were, then she would get hurt. He had to say something to her, anything. The problem was that he had no idea what he could possibly say to her.
It took the better part of an hour for him to find Sophia. Having been banished from the lecture halls, she was now studying in the general reading area on the ground floor of the library, set aside for guests who were not officially studying at the academy. Along with her usual old black robes and glasses, she was now wearing a plain woolen cap. Her usual braid was nowhere to be seen. Had she cut it for some reason?
As he approached, she looked up at him with tired red eyes, wet with tears. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened for a moment before immediately looking away. Matin stood there silently for a moment, unable to find the right words.
"Sophia, I-"
He had no idea what to say next. Her appearance and the way she was acting were also putting him off-balance.
"Does my lord need something?" She asked in a cold, polite voice.
"There's s-something I need to warn you-"
To his surprise, when he spoke, she flinched as if he had shouted. There was fear in her eyes, and it broke his heart to see it. She was also doing her best to put some distance between them.
Would you like the study together?
The words he wanted to say died long before they ever reached his tongue. Sighing, he took a seat next to her.
"How are your studies going?" He asked.
It was a hollow question, simply meant to fill the silence. He knew it, and so did she.
"They're going well," she said stiffly.
"That's good," he replied.
Another silence fell between them. He knew that if he weren't a noble, she would have run away from him already. Social standings dictated she remained where she was until he was finished with her. It made him sick to his stomach.
"Sophia listen, when this is all over, I'll talk to mother. I'll make sure your family is well taken care of. You won't have to lift a finger, so please withdraw from the exams. Please."
There, he had said it. It had come out like a messy torrent, but he had said it. Slowly, she put down the book she had been reading and looked over at him. There were tears in her eyes.
"W-withdraw? Matin, w-what are you saying? Are you so afraid of being second in this one arbitrary test? You said we could study together as partners, and now you want to bribe me away?" She shouted.
"I did, and we will. It's just that now you're in danger. Look, there are plans in motion that go beyond both of us. If you don't drop out now, you and your family will suffer for it."
Tears were now streaming down her cheeks.
"So you're going to threaten me too, Matin? I told you about my family's situation, my dream and how I have no choice but to see this through." She said, voice trembling. "I've worked so hard, every day for three years. We've done so well working together. Even after all that, you'd tell me to abandon them?"
Her words came out as a bitter torrent, and Matin found his tongue frozen to the roof of his mouth. He knew why she worked so hard, how she had gotten this far. It was a far better reason than his own.
"I thought you cared, but you're just like your cruel mother. Just another noble concerned with appearances." She spat as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
"Sophia, w-what happened?" he asked.
She looked terrible. Not only that, but he had never seen her behave this way. Normally, she would be able to pick up on his true intentions even when he himself was unaware of them. Now, however, she completely misunderstood him and took his words in the worst possible way.
"You should know, extortion and threats are part of a noble's way of life, aren't they?"
Slowly, she reached her hand up and pulled off her hat. Tufts of hair remained in sparse patches, but much of it had been pulled out, leaving sore red welts on her scalp.
Upon seeing such an awful sight, Matin's legs went weak and his throat seized up, making it hard to breathe.
"Didn't you promise that you would change things, Matin? Why do nobles like you keep hurting us? When will it s-stop?"
She looked at him with cold eyes.
"I won't give up the exams. Even if your mother decides to kill me. I'll prove that anybody, even a poor peasant like myself, can outsmart the best of you. So just watch, I'll show you all." She yelled, her voice breaking entirely as she finished her rant.
She bolted to her feet and left the study hall, leaving Matin alone. He could hear his heart beating in his chest, and he was still having trouble breathing.
Who had done such a thing to her? Surely his mother hadn't pulled her hair out. Her beautiful hair was gone. She looked at him with hated. What had he done? He had done something wrong. He must have. Was he the one at fault? Did he pull out her hair? He must have. Why would she look at him like that if he hadn't? He only wanted what was best for her. Why couldn't she see that?
Matin was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the change in his surroundings. The study hall darkened, and jagged red cracks appeared on the walls. The room was twisting into a scene from hell itself. Blood began to trickle through the red cracks in the wall, and from the distance he could hear something that sounded like a baby wailing. His imagination. It was just his imagination, nothing else. He shook his head, and the darkness retreated along with the bleeding red cracks.
Desperate, he ran from the study hall and all the way back to his room in the dorms. It had been three days since he had last rested in his bed. He couldn't remember much of what happened after. The exams were coming, and he needed to rest. That was all that mattered.
The mock exams were held the next day, and the results posted soon after.
Matin's name sat in second place behind that of Sophia's.
Matin smiled.
Good for her.