[Third-person POV: general]
[A few minutes ago]
In the interior of a large yet run-down building, a girl around the age of sixteen was hurryingly moving through the corridors.
Her long grayish hair, which she tied in a ponytail, was running down her waist. She panted lightly as she moved through the corridor.
She had an old-looking bag hanging on her back that had a few of its chains loose.
She had a heart-shaped face with long gray eyelashes and deep gray eyes that were as beautiful as diamonds. Paired with her pale white, smooth skin, she looked nothing short of angelic.
She took a turn until she arrived at the kitchen, where she found a woman in her fifties who was standing behind the counter making breakfast for everyone.
"I am ready, aunt Tina; let me help you," she said before moving behind the woman.
"Woh!" the woman exclaimed as she looked at the girl. "You look really beautiful in the academy uniform, Emily."
Emily was wearing a girl's academic uniform, which was a black skirt just about her knees, thick black high socks, a white shirt, and a black balzer with a red lining at the edge.
"That's what is bothering me," Emily grumbled as she looked at her uniform. "I don't want to become a target for the nobles."
"Don't worry about them," Tina said as she waved her hand. "You are going to be fine; no noble will come harassing you in the most prestigious academy in the kingdom."
"I hope so," Emily mumbled as she started arranging the lunch for the children in the orphanage.
"I can do this much. Go meet your mother," Tina said as she pushed her towards the door.
"Are you sure? Let me hel–", Emily said, but was quickly interrupted.
"You will be late if you waste your time like this," Tina scolded, moving back to her work. "Besides, all the children are sleeping right now, so I have enough time to prepare for all this."
"Fine." With a sigh, Emily moved away from the kitchen and started to head towards another corridor, which was around the corner of the building.
Soon, she reached another room. With one firm knock, she unlocked the doorknob before entering.
Inside the room, a mature woman in her early thirties with grayish hair was sitting on the bed, both hands gently placed on her thighs.
Her gaze was fixed outside the open window, where a few children were running and playing with each other.
"They woke up early just to play more." With a smile on her face, Emily's mother, Sofie, turned her face towards her daughter as she spoke.
"They always do that," Emily replied as she moved towards her mother's side, taking a seat on the bed.
"You look beautiful, my daughter," Sofie said, twisting her torso as she placed both her hands on Emily's shoulders and hugged her sideways.
"Hmm, how are you feeling, mother?" Emily said as she placed her hand over her mother's hand.
"Just trying to be alive until I see my two or three grandchildren," she replied with a chuckle as she loosened her grip on her.
"Then you shall be immortal," Emily replied, earning her a light smack on the head from her mother.
"Don't do anything stupid in the academy," Sofie said as she gently patted her head.
"I won't; why do you even think I will do anything stupid?" Emily grumbled, but she still let her mother pat her.
"I know, Emily, you don't like nobles," Sofie replied softly, retracting her hands. "But please don't do anything that will eventually harm you."
"I hate them because they deserve it," she replied, closing her eyes and trying her best not to get angry. "And you should hate them too, after what they did to you."
"Nothing good will come out of hating anyone, and I don't hate them," her mother replied.
Her eyes turned dull as she remembered the sad past. "Eventually, it was a noble who saved us from our misery."
"He never said he was a noble," Emily rebuked.
"And neither did he deny it," her mother replied, gently patting her hair. "So please be mindful about what you say when you talk to them."
"...Why, Mom,why...? They tortured you, ruined your life, killed your parents, and you are still saying you don't hate them."
"Those who did that are dead now."
"Not all of them!" Emily shouted as she stood up.
"No! Don't be stupid, Emily; I only resent them because they took away your childhood, and I don't want you to walk down the..... wrong path, so ...please.... don't... get...your.. life.. in danger..." Sofie's voice broke at the end as she tried her best not to cry.
"I will be going now." With trembling lips and teary eyes, she got out of the room, moving towards the entrance of the building.
With heavy steps, Emily moved through the corridor; however, her gaze got attracted towards the children who were playing on the ground.
"Why did you not come back?" Emily mumbled as she remembered her childhood and the retreating figure of someone.
"Hah!" exhaling deeply, she rubbed her teary eyes as she started to move again, arriving at the front door of the building.
"Hey, Emily!" As she started to go towards the main road to find a carriage towards the academy, a voice called out to her from the back.
"Aunt?" Emily looked back, only to find her aunt running towards her.
"What's gotten into you? You were leaving without your bag and tiffin," she replied, handing the bag to her.
"Thank you, aunt," Emily replied with a small smile as she took the bag.
"Ohh!, Look what we got here!" They both looked in the direction as they heard an unpleasant voice.
There stood three muscular men who had scars on their faces and knives in their hands.
"Isn't she beautiful?" another one of the three thugs said as he looked at Emily with lustful eyes.
"Wouldn't the boss be happy if we gave her to him?" one of them said as he started to move forward.
"Stay back, Emily!" Tina said as she moved forward in front of Emily, blocking her.
"Who are you?" Tina asked.
"A new boss has taken over the gang in this area, and we were here to collect some charity," the guy in front replied with a nasty grin, "but it looks like we got something even better."
"Don't you see her uniform? You think you can survive after messing with the academy?" Tina threatened them, but her words didn't faze them.
"Who is going to tell them?" he replied with a grin, pointing his finger towards them. "One is going to die, while the other is going to live her life in the basement."
"Emily, run!"
"Move away, you old hag!" the most muscular thug shouted as he slapped Tina out of the way and reached out his hand to grab Emily's waist.
"STOP!"
Emily tried to help Tina get up, but another voice, this time full of youthful energy, interrupted the thug.
They all looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a young man with crimson hair running towards them and a girl with dark maroon hair running just behind him.
But what caught their attention was the uniform they were wearing—the same uniform that Emily was wearing.
"Don't worry, I will take care of them," the boy said as soon as he arrived, blocking Tina and Emily as he flashed a bright smile towards Emily, while the maroon-haired girl helped Tina.
"Are you also a first-year student?" Emily asked the maroon-haired girl as Tina stood up on her feet.
"Given that you also have a red strip on the blazer, we both are," she replied with a light smile.
"Don't worry, he will be fine," the maroon-haired girl said, seeing concern in Tina's face for the boy. "Let's move back to give him more space."
They moved back towards the building, standing in front of the building gate.
"Fuck, it looks like we need to kill more of them!" the muscular thug shouted as all three of them started to surround the boy.
"You should have just run away; now you will die because of your foolishness."
One of the thugs said this as they all took out knives. The tension between the three thugs' faces was palpable.
They don't know about this boy's strength, nor are they going to underestimate the students from the academy, and looking at the confident face of the boy, they were even more tensed.
"You should worry about yourself," the boy replied with a smirk, and he didn't even bother to take out any weapons, ready to fight barehanded.
But just as they were about to fight, an arrow landed in the middle of them, and none of them even caught a glimpse of it.
For a second, the time around them stood still until a bright white light flashed in front of the thugs and the boy, and with that, everything within a radius of twenty meters evaporated into nothingness.