The human chef poured a light greenish, greasy soup into Alana's bowl and a rock, hard bread on the tray. Alana turned around to find an empty place to sit in the lunchroom.

This food they received twice a day could be hardly termed as edible. It was similar to poisoning someone. Rumours had it that the Dragonesians forced the human chef (whom they had abducted, followed by several other chefs), to deliberately provide the trainees with rotten soup and bread, in order to evaluate their immunity power. It was only obvious that some individuals fell frequently sick and some passed away while a few like Alana, who were used to the food, managed to keep their immunity power strong.

Alana acknowledged the presence of the white-blonde haired girl and a grey-black haired boy, who came to sit in front of the girl. It would be a lie to say they were friends. They were not even acquaintances. However, the little conversation that Alana got to have, was with the two.

"What happened to your back?" Lena Marcuse, the girl with white-blonde hair, questioned Alana, while pointing at her dorsum.

"Nothing much, just the usual that happens if I make a mistake or go against something," the monotonous answer of Alana resulted in Lena nodding her head subtly.

They were all very aware of the repercussions that the trainees incurred, due to violation of the Dragonesian Law, or any mistake that they could commit during training, whether be minor or major.

Whip lashes.

The more severe the mistake, the more terrible was the torture. One mistake resulted in fifty whiplashes. Ten mistakes that ensued in five hundred whip lashes. The Dragonesian Officers never stopped. They had fun in catching at least one trainee, on whom they could run their torture and receive pleasure, during every training session.

And as for Alana, since she was a special trainee, one mistake meant whiplashes for one hour. Fortunately, the girl was always successful in making minor errors which were not noticeable, resulting in a minor punishment; for example standing outside in the bitter winter night till morning. But today, it was different. She had dared to go against the head of the Dragonesian Military Guards.

But what Alana had anticipated to receive appeared to be much lesser than her presumption. At least twenty buckets of ice-cold water were dumped upon her, followed by the two-hundred whip lashes, without allowing her to dry herself.

Alana had probably conjectured to be stabbed out of nowhere.

"What did you do to receive the punishment?" this time, the grey-black haired boy, Lucian Haroise inquired, while drinking his soup.

"Something decent, but in their eyes something notorious," Alana snorted at her own humourless joke, accompanied by the other two.

"I was wondering if both of you have heard about the condition of the former Dragonesian Crown Prince Eluscan?" Lena asked, after a moment of silence or two.

As if on impulse, Alana clenched the steel spoon in her hand, anger rushing through her veins at the name. The name belonged to that bastard Drgonesian, who had killed off her mother, twelve years ago. Nevertheless, Alana did not let go of her composure and listened to Lena's further words.

"No, what about him?" Lucian raised his eyebrows in question.

"Instead of improving, it appears that his condition is deteriorating with each passing day. I have heard that his father, the Dragonesian King, barely displays any effort for the betterment of his son's health, and has essentially handed him over to the Dragonesian physicians and some human doctors."

"What is the cause of his paralysis? It is certainly very odd that his health has not shown even a slight bit of improvement over the past twelve years," Lucian remarked.

Lena could only shrug, "Who knows? But I have heard from some trainees of Room A90, twelve years ago, Prince Eluscan was heavily injured by someone. No one knows to this day who that person was."

Lucian gasped in surprise, "Either the person was physically stronger or a super genius to take down someone as powerful as Prince Eluscan."

The smug smirk went unnoticed by the two engaged in conversation. Alana was happy. She was more than jubilant and wanted to celebrate this moment, after hearing such spectacular news. Alana did not know that the poison, with which she had coated her dagger back then, was so effective. Eluscan would have died if he had not been given the elixir. However, hearing about Eluscan's bad health was enough to make the girl's day.

Alana rose from the table after finishing her lunch, but halted her steps when she heard a few sneers behind her.

"We are receiving nothing but trashy treatment while that Alana bitch gets to live her life in comfort."

It was true that Alana was treated differently, and with more respect. And she often wondered why, but never received the proper answer. She got to have her own bedroom with a personal attached washroom. Although small, residing in that room was better than living in the dirty dormitories with other trainees. Alana even had the permission to roam around the palace and castle, except for the restricted areas, after her training sessions were over. But a Dragonesian Guard always accompanied her in such cases. At times, she was granted special leaves when she could either spend her time leisurely by relaxing or go outside to have a walk, but within the premises of the Dragonesians.

"I bet she sleeps around with the higher officials to receive special treatments," another boy scoffed, while eyeing Alana up and down, "What does she even have in her body to attract those Dragonesians?"

"You don't know women," another male voice snickered, "They have the power in their womanhood. Do you think seducing a man, whether a human or Dragonesian, is hard for them?"

Alana decided to walk away from the scene. She was habituated to these constant rumours and pathetic excuses made up about her to justify the fact of her receiving better treatment. And thus, arguing with these nonsensical boys would have been merely a waste of time.

"I bet Alana's mother was a slut like her."

Alana paused. With gritted teeth, she turned around to the three boys sitting nearby. Alana strode towards them, exasperation rushing through her, before demanding, "I dare you to repeat those foul words."

"Look who's here," the boy who had said those idioms, stood up, a sarcastic sneer leaving his mouth, "If it isn't the Alana Thornheart herself. What an honour."

At this point, the focus of all the trainees present in the room was directed towards them. Alana, the fearless trainee who received special training, and three arrogant boys.

"What did you fucking say about my mother?" each and every word was delivered in a stoic manner.

As if mocking Alana, the boys laughed. Then the one who was the owner of those vulgar phrases, leaned forward, "I said, that your mother opened her legs wide for anyone and everyone—"

Before the boy could finish his statement, he was introduced to a harsh punch.

For a brief moment, everything blurred around him and he could discern a certain beep running through his brain. Voices vibrated as he felt four arms helping him settle down. When he regained his stable consciousness, he found a warm fluid flowing down through his nostrils. It was blood. And Alana had just broken his nose, with no hesitancy. Absolutely.

"You whoring cunt!" Nevertheless, the broken nose of the boy was not enough to make him stop spouting slurs. He had major anger issues, and he expressed them with great passion.

And then began the fight.

Alana dodged the fist of the boy in one swift motion and kicked him right in his groin with her knee, leading him to let out a pain-wrenching scream and collapsing on the ground.

"Speaking of womanhood," Alana could not help but curve her lips in a sinister smile, "Women can show their true womanhood to people like you, and by no means am I talking about your slutty remarks. I am talking about the strength that you guys think we do not hold."

The boy, who was wriggling in pain on the ground, ordered his friend (more specifically goon), to take control of Alana. Although the other male denied at first, one sharp glare was enough to keep him moving. But again, due to his sheer fear of facing the same fate as of his friend, his punch staggered and within no time, Alana had propelled him to the ground.

At least her special training came to some advantage.

When everyone had thought that the dramatic action scene had been over, the third boy, who was watching everything unfold in silence all this time, did the unforgivable. No trainee was allowed to kill or even attempt to kill someone, within the Dragonesian Castle and Palace premises. The boy tried to cut off Alana's wrist with a steel blade.

Alana was able to move her wrist away from the blade, but it did ultimately cause a minor cut to her arm. It was possible because of her quick reflexes. The girl had no time to wince in pain, and thus, she punched him hard before wrapping her handkerchief around the cut, to prevent the wound from granting permission to excessive bleeding. She would have had applied an antiseptic cream or liquid to avoid infection, but the situation did not allow her to do so. When Alana finished treating herself, she found whispers and murmurs circling her.

"What if she appears to be a Dragonesian as well?"

"Do you think she has been receiving special training so that she can kill us all later?"

"What if we are just lab guinea pigs and these Dragonesians want to experiment on us by using Alana as their strength?"

"She gave me the creeps ever since I saw her beating up a substitute Officer mercilessly, that day. I have even heard that she goes berserk for blood."

"Why is she even here among us? Alana is nothing but a threat."

"Enough! Back to your dorms, all of you!" a loud booming voice, which came out of the personal Dragonesian mentor of Alana was enough to send the crowd of trainees, as well as, human chefs, out of the lunchroom.

Whereas the three boys who were still on the ground, struggling in pain, were dragged by some other guards. Alana was aware of their destination. Two of them, the one who spoke rubbish about Alana's mother and the boy who feared the girl, would either be sold off, or tortured till they begged for death themselves, only because they had lost against a single person. As for the other boy, who had attempted to kill Alana, and thus had gone against the protocols, will be experiencing a slow and gut-wrenching death.

When only Alana and her mentor were present in the room, he burst out in aggravation and flipped over a lunch table single-handedly.

Alana did not flinch.

"You have been a trainee for twelve years. Twelve fucking years, Alana Thornheart! Do you understand what that means?" he shouted right at Alana, who did not dare to lose eye contact.

Not today. Not anymore. Alana did not answer.

"Answer me bitch!" when he shouted for the second time, Alana did answer. But not the one he had expected.

"Listen here, asshole. I know what that means," Alana crossed her arms, as she leaned against the nearest wall, "You lot expect me to not behave immaturely. However, you might be missing the fact that they were the ones who provoked me first. You ought to understand that I am not your puppet—"

A slap.

Alana fell down on the floor, clutching her left cheek due to the hard slap given by none other than her Dragonesian mentor. Blood dripped from the corner of Alana's cracked lips while, due to the sharp edges of the ring-stones, throbbing bruises and scratches appeared not long after, on her skin.

"Dare to speak against me a second time, and you will find your head hanging as a dish for our hungry Dragonesians." With that being said, the sound of the loud boots faded away, indicating his departure.

Alana sat there on the ground, in the empty lunchroom, still and without any movement. She had not let go of her cheek, because she was ashamed to be treated in such a way. She was ashamed to allow herself to be treated in such a way.

A single drop of blood trickled down her wounded cheek.

No teardrops, just blood.