Maggie struggled for a reply. She withdrew her arm and sat straight as she swallowed repeatedly. Her fingers curled into fists over her joggers. "I dont--I'm sorry..."

Reiju bit her lip. She didn't like seeing her friend submerged in sadness but after thorough thinking, an honest confrontation was the best move. She certainly didn't prefer Dion's way.

"Let me rephrase that, Maggie. I only meant to ask what your relationship with Irina is... I didn't..." Reiju let out a sigh. "I won't judge."

"Well--"

"Alright. Everyone come down and get a knife. Then, form four columns!" Professor Clive yelled as he clapped his hands.

"Let's talk later." Reiju stood up and tapped Maggie's shoulder. She went for the last column while her friend trailed after her with a heavy expression.

"We will do a mock battle!" Clive happily announced while Rohan rolled his eyes next to him.

"I thought that wasn't a thing!" A student whined.

Professor Clive chuckled. "That rule only applies to me. Now, column one pairs up with column four."

Complaints filled the air as students scrambled to follow the teacher's orders. Reiju didn't mind fighting. She enjoyed it but she quickly changed her mind as Irina took the space in front of her.

Blue eyes glowered at her with loathing.

Clive spat out instructions. "Everything goes except for eye-gouging."

As Professor Clive signaled to start, the ice princess went for her throat.

Reiju evaded and sliced her wrist, forcing her arm to the side. She frowned as Irina ignored the pain and went for the kill again.

"You're that jealous?" Reiju smirked and deflected her attack.

"Shut up!" Irina screamed in frustration before yanking a butterfly knife from the waistband of her pants. She rotated the handles to reveal a steel blade.

"Hey!" Reiju muttered. They were on the corner that it was hard to see where the professors were.

Irina smirked and rushed forward. The blade cut Reiju's arm, going upwards to wound her face.

Reiju groaned and kicked Irina's stomach, making the girl stagger backward. Anger ignited in Reiju's veins as her cheek ached. She looked down to see blood dripping on her shirt. "Fuck."

Irina attacked again, going for her face but Reiju had finished playing. She let go of her knife and caught Irina's wrist with both hands

Little by little, Reiju twisted Irina's wrist until the blade pointed at the other girl's neck. The knife inched forward, touching Irina's pulse point until a red line appeared. Reiju grinned wickedly.

"Miss Tenjin! Miss Petrova!" Clive shouted in alarm.

Irina's face immediately morphed into a weeping mask. Fat tears rolled down her pale cheeks as she shook. "Professor! Help me!"

Reiju glared at her in disgust before shoving her to the floor. She rubbed at her face, smearing the blood on her cheek.

Professor Clive went to check on Irina while Professor Shah drank the situation with a blank gaze. "What happened?"

"She attacked me! I was defending myself!" Irina rushed to explain as she shook in fake fear.

Reiju met Rohan's eyes. She didn't need to speak the words for him to understand what transpired.

"Why is Miss Tenjin bleeding then?" Professor Shah asked. His words were mired with an unveiled threat that Irina's fear became genuine. "Miss Petrova?"

Before Irina could reply, the gym's doors burst open. The headmaster strode in with a confident gait as murmurs swirled in the air. It was rare for Leroux to roam the academy much less, interfering with a professor's class.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked, inserting his hands on his trousers.

"Just a small accident, sir." Professor Clive said as he helped Irina to stand.

"Small?" Leroux arched an eyebrow, eyeing the blood on Reiju's shirt. "But a student is injured."

"It was her!" Irina shrieked, pointing an incriminating finger at Reiju. "She used a real knife!"

Reiju moved to smack some sense into the blonde but Professor Shah blocked her path. Damn it!

"Well, I don't care either way. It's obvious who's fault this is." The headmaster turned to Professor Clive. "Why do you even have a class like this when knives are turning obsolete?"

"What?" Professor Shah exclaimed, eyeing the headmaster with defiance. "Aren't you the one who approved the syllabus?"

Leroux narrowed his eyes at the man before him. "And?"

Rohan clicked his tongue, stepping forward until they stood toe to toe. His muscles rippled with restrained rage. "Why don't we take a walk, Headmaster?"

Reiju gaped at the crackling tension between them. If she remembered correctly, the professor and the headmaster had a good relationship. Where did this animosity come from?

"Aren't you forgetting your place, Professor?" Leroux shot back as he emphasized the last word.

"Rohan..." Clive gripped the man's shoulder, pulling him back. He faced the headmaster and lowered his head, silver hair swinging behind his sculpted back. "This is all my fault, sir. I should've watched the kids better."

Reiju bit her lip. This was all Irina's fault but Professor Clive was taking the blame. Not to mention, that the headmaster was obviously being biased towards Clive's background with the military.

Her chest squeezed at how unfair the situation was.

There must be something she could do.

Oh. Right.

She almost forgot whose daughter she was.

Reiju walked past Professor Shah and straight to where the headmaster was. She eyed Leroux. "It's my fault, sir. I used a real knife because Irina pissed me off."

The headmaster crossed his arms. His jaw ticked in displeasure. "Are you telling the truth, Miss Tenjin?"

"Yes, sir. I tried to slice her neck off. The evidence is there," she said, letting the lies flow from her lips.

Irina stared at Reiju with an unreadable gaze as her wounded neck was exposed.

"See that?" Reiju shrugged in nonchalance.

Leroux pressed his lips tight. "Very well. What do you have to say for yourself then?"

Alarm colored Clive's eyes. "Wait--"

"I deeply apologize, Headmaster." Reiju bowed to a 45° angle that shocked gasps echoed in the air. "I will accept any punishment."

"That's enough, Miss Tenjin." He sighed. "Since no one was seriously injured, I will let this slide. I hope this won't happen again."

Reiju straightened herself as Leroux trudged to the exit. Of course, he couldn't punish her after that sincere apology. She was the princess of the Tenjin clan and she had shown deference to a mere scholar.

She hoped her father or her brother wouldn't hear of this though.

"Reiju! You didn't have to do that!" Clive mumbled, rubbing a hand over his weary face. "But thank you anyway."

"It's fine. What's done is done," she muttered, her gaze locked with Shah's amber eyes. "I didn't want you to get into trouble. I mean, both of you."

"You shouldn't have--" Rohan shook his head. He looked at Reiju with rare tenderness. "Are you okay?"

He raised a hand to her cheek and froze halfway as he remembered who and where he was. He dropped his hand with a heavy sigh. "Let Lena look at that."