Clarifying my sched: It's still one chapter every other week (twice a month). I'm just changing to Mondays, sorry for the confusion.

I really cannot afford to update for free once a week due to lack of content, and I'm also writing other books (CASeries). If you want to read ahead, up to Chapter 63, you can pledge to mylovelywriter.com or my Patreon page (patreon.com/mylovelywriter).

I had to change out of my costume in order to not be seen by others. I haphazardly threw on my rough clothes and hastened out of the changing room. Maun waited for me outside and anxiously tailed after me as I sought Mistress Kora's aide.

He was waiting in the camps mingling merrily with the others. When he saw our panicked faces, he clambered to rise to his feet and went over in worry.

"What's wrong?"

I let out a heavy breath, which fogged. Frost lightly materialized over my lips and my skin became flushed blue. Mistress Kora's face turned grave and he pulled us back into his and Maun's tent, pulling over a wooden box filled with his medical tools.

"Come this way, quickly."

I sank on the floor as I waited for the treatment.

Mistress Kora, meanwhile, retrieved a bottle of a familiar concoction and lightly anointed me with it, rubbing small dots over my forehead, my chest, as well as over my wrists. The warmth forced the frost to recede and for the coldness to depart from my body.

I sighed in relief as the torrential waters that I could feel was on the verge of breaking finally calmed down and retreated.

As I rested, I looked back on my actions. Though I tried not to raise suspicions, there will surely be many. After all, in the heat of the moment, I could not guarantee that my act was flawless. Black Flame should not be stupid to take my words at face-value...but here I was hoping I was only overthinking things.

"Rest for now," Mistress Kora said. "Things should be alright."

That night, the atmosphere around the bonfire outside our tents was solemn. Erenol had finally woken up and was depressed, pushing the food around her plate as she swam in her aura of gloom. I knew my means of comfort would not mean much right now, so I along with everyone else decided that the best way to appease the girl would be to give her the thing she loved the most.

"Eren," I began. "I asked Mistress Veronika a while ago. She bought some candied strawberries for you and a basket of fresh strawberries too."

"I also made the milkshake Evy made last time," Mistress Kora said, handing her a cup filled with the beverage.

Maun was...roasting...strawberries?

Speechless, I watched as the fruit began melting over the fire. "What are you..."

"I'm cooking them to see if they'll taste good," Maun signed to me.

Erenol did not reply but accepted everything with a pout, eyes leaking tears. She pushed aside the plate of half-eaten dinner and delved straight into her desserts. The candied strawberries disappeared into her mouth. The resounding crush and snap of the crumbling caramel coating rang fiercely in the quiet night.

She sobbed through her full mouth, pushing down her mouthful of dessert with the milkshake before shoving in some more.

At some point, she started choking. We all sighed helplessly. I could only pat her back to help her.

"God, you're such an idiot," I blurted. I wanted to be patient with this fool, but seeing her nearly choking herself to death made me want to smack her up the head. "You clearly have only a limited space in your mouth! Don't stuff it like a turkey on Thanks—" I stopped. Right. Thanksgiving didn't exist here. That was an Earth tradition. If I let my tongue slip, while they might not ask anything, they would certainly be marked with some doubt.

Erenol, as expected, only continued sobbing.

"At least don't cry, eat, and gasp at the same time. Do you want to die?"

She swallowed the food in her mouth and resumed eating. However, following my scolding, she finally slowed down into nibbles rather than chomps.

"Don't think too much of it..." I said. "This just brings us back to the plan we had from the very beginning."

She looked at me this time, eyes red and swollen. "Whacchu mwean?" she mumbled, bits and pieces of half-chewed fruits spilling out of her lips.

"Damn, don't talk when—disgusting." I sighed. "I'm talking about Dragoon Academy."

They were all silent.

"Dragoon Academy is state-run," Mistress Veronika said with a grave tone. "If your identities are discovered, it'll be troublesome. It's one of the reasons why we didn't want you to continue...The Temple is a more trustworthy choice for your education. They are not easily swayed by the political climate and are very protective of their disciples."

"No...Evy is right," Erenol said. "Education and training is not the only thing I'm gunning for. Remember what Sir Laksa said before?"

"If you become a Paladin..." I trailed off.

"I won't have to marry anyone," she said. "And I can at least be strong enough to defend myself...not like back then, when I can't even protect mum. So even if they find out who I am, I still have control over my own life!"

I looked at both Mistress Kora and Mistress Veronika, who were exchanging glances with one another. Erenol followed my line of sight and also gazed at the two, her eyes pleading.

"Will it not be possible?" she asked.

"It's possible..." Veronika said. "But there are many complications to this so it will take a while to arrange to make it safe enough for you to go. We'll have to make compromises...and you might have to disguise yourself."

"Disguise myself?" Erenol repeated.

"Change your gender," mistress told her.

Erenol's jaw dropped.

"If there's one thing I realized during my time, it's going to be less troublesome if you come in as a boy rather than be honest about your sex outright. People may think it's novel and upright if you enter as a girl, but you will be targeted a lot. It will make your life ten times harder. It'll be better if you play it low-key...not to mention your identity as princess of Venerya," Mistress Veronika told her. "If you're found out, we'll also be tracked, and there's no telling what those people will do when they find us. It'll be much safer like this."

"How can I be...like a boy?" she asked. "I don't know how to act like one!"

"You don't need to act," I said. "You were not very feminine to begin with. Although, yeah, occasionally you may be."

She glared at me.

"It's not a problem!" Mistress Kora exclaimed. "Are you forgetting me? I'm the master of both sides of the coin! You cannot look for an expert better than me!"

I jutted out my bottom lip thoughtfully as I nodded. Mistress Kora made a lot of sense. He was the gender-bending god. He controlled both sides of the same coin fluidly, whichever side he was feeling for the day. I do admit we had the perfect lineup to execute this ridiculous plan. The chances of us succeeding were actually very high. It was much better than leaving things as they were.

"Losing that fight may have really happened for a reason," Mistress Veronika said.

"Are you not disappointed with me?" Erenol asked, tears gathering once more in her eyes.

"Disappointed?" Veronika tilted her head. "Where? You did your very best. If I'm disappointed by this setback, then I do not deserve to be called your mistress. Did we not say to rely on us? We will help solve whatever problems you happen upon in the future. I'm not asking you to not mistakes. Make the necessary mistakes to learn, but don't be foolish. That's all."

Erenol pouted but earnestly nodded as she continued eating.

"By the way, what happened in the arena? There were just some light flashes and then you suddenly lost consciousness? How was that possible?" I asked.

Maun's head bobbed up and down curiously. It seemed he also wanted to know.

"Each time he flashed those lights, I felt...overstimulated somehow," Erenol explained. "And when the big one came, I was blinded completely. I lost everything for a few seconds—sight, hearing, feeling. When I woke up, I was already being treated."

"It might've been a form of hypnosis," Mistress Veronika said. "But it's tricky to do. However, you kids are unguarded and open so you don't think to put up protection against this kind of attack."

"Is that a valid move?" I wondered, prodding the firewood with a stick and watching the embers drift skyward. "Well...the monks didn't go after it. They must've known what it was."

"So long as there's no lasting physical damage, it's not a big issue. Those flashing lights that Defiant Soul utilized against Eren overstimulated her senses and caused her brain to shut down to prevent overload. It's similar to knocking someone out by targeting certain key-points in the body," Mistress Veronika explained. "It's not harmful in the long-run, so it was a perfectly legal move."

"How do we guard against those things?" Maun signed.

"How do we guard against those things?" I translated.

Mistress Veronika eyed the both of us carefully. Her gaze was concentrated on the signs that Maun made with his hands. "It's tricky and much harder to do than just simple blocking with a fist. The best way to do it is to close one's senses for a certain duration to allow recovery. But the timing must be right," she answered after a brief pause.

"Close the eyes?" I asked.

"The mode of overstimulation is through light, so yes."

"Defiant Soul probably didn't want to use that move so early," Kora remarked. He chewed on a piece of lamb, prodding the avocado pieces around his plate with the meat. "It was a most likely a trump card of some sort that allowed him some chance to survive."

"And it worked," Mistress Veronika said. "He managed to squeeze into the top five."

"It would've been the last squeeze for me too! Kind of!" Erenol exclaimed. "But no! I got kicked out of the competition instead!"

"Don't let it dwell on you too much. I lost my fight today too," I said.

"Oh yeah, what happened?"

"I almost called on my element out of desperation. Black Flame was just...yeah, he was very good," I said. "I guess I was like on this cliff and I subconsciously began fighting like a cornered rat. I must have been overwhelmed."

"We'll need a way to keep this down further. Our current treatment is effective, but it's quite unreliable in situations like this. We need to find you something to counteract your element with," Mistress Kora said.

Maun pushed something before me.

It was a block of carving that he'd been working in the past few days. It was in the shape of a lion, but it did not look at all that fierce. On the contrary, it had that catlike laziness—like it was basking under the sun.

I did not want to admit it, but I could feel he was trying to somehow portray my personality through this. It was true, indeed, that I was a very lazy person. This carving perfectly mirrored my mood ninety-nine percent of the time.

"What is this?" I asked, taking it into my hands reluctantly.

The soonest I touched the object, I felt a familiar warmth.

"This is...this has your power in it?" I looked up to meet the silver-violet eyes, surprised.

He nodded.

"Ooh. That's right! That's such a good idea. I think we've all forgotten how Maun's element is actually life!" Mistress Kora said, fist hammering his palm. "Now that I think about it....Maun, your gift actually makes you very suitable for healing other than counteracting Evy's gift," he whispered the last bit, afraid someone would overhear. "How about you learn some medicine from yours truly?"

Maun's face brightened and he nodded enthusiastically. On the other hand, I sent a smile Maun's way. He had on a very adorable cheeriness—the kind who was very happy to have been of help.

I decided I would sew a pouch later and hang this one around my neck. Whenever I had to calm my element down, I would make use of this wooden carving.

"Thank you so much, Maun," I told him.

He smiled brightly.