Chapter 6

The stone staircase spiraled downward into the earth.

With every step Alina took, the air grew colder and thicker. The smell of ozone and clean magic faded, replaced by the heavy stench of rotting alchemy ingredients, rust, and unwashed bodies.

In the shadows near the ceiling, tiny red eyes blinked. Shadow sprites. The Order's invisible spy network. Alina felt their gaze on her skin, but she didn't look up.

Back in the high tower, Gallagher sat behind his desk, his fingers drumming a rapid, chaotic beat on the wood.

"Eleonora," he barked. "Initiate a level-one background check on the Padilla family. I want to know exactly what Silvercrest has been hiding."

Eleonora nodded sharply and left the room.

Meanwhile, the rumor mill of Aethelgard was already spinning out of control.

In the alchemy labs on the third floor, an apprentice dropped a vial of sulfur. "Did you hear? The new girl broke Julian's record!"

The lie spread faster than fire. It made sense to them. It protected their egos. A noble cheating was far more believable than a supposed failure outperforming their greatest prodigies.

Alina reached the bottom of the stairs. She walked down a damp, dimly lit corridor.

Two men in rough grey tunics were leaning against the wall, smoking foul-smelling pipes.

"Look at the princess," the taller one sneered as Alina walked by. "Think her fancy artifact is gonna save her when Tegan gets ahold of her?"

"Tegan's gonna eat her alive," the other laughed.

Alina kept her eyes forward. The insults washed over her like water over a stone. In her past life, she had been called a traitor, a whore, a demon. These petty jabs were nothing.

Besides, the rumors were the perfect cover. Let them think she was a cheating, powerless noble. It gave her the ultimate camouflage.

She stopped walking for a fraction of a second. She flexed her fingers.

The massive pool of mana she had absorbed in the Gauntlet sat heavy and stable in her core. It felt like a loaded gun tucked into her waistband.

She pushed open the rusted iron gate at the end of the hall. The hinges screamed.

The Menial Ward courtyard was a massive, muddy pit. Dozens of people in grey rags were scrubbing massive, blood-stained beast organs in wooden tubs or sorting piles of rotting herbs.

The moment the gate screeched, all movement stopped.

Every head turned to look at Alina. Her clean black clothes and straight posture made her stick out like a sore thumb. The air instantly grew thick with hostility.

A massive, thick-necked man carrying a bucket of filthy scrub water sneered. He purposefully swung the bucket hard, sending a wave of black, muddy water splashing directly toward Alina's boots.

Alina didn't jump back.

She shifted her weight to her toes and glided backward exactly half an inch. The movement was so smooth it defied gravity.

The muddy water splashed against the stone, missing the tip of her boot by a millimeter.

The thick-necked man blinked, confused. He opened his mouth to yell at her.

"Get back to work! If the liver vats aren't clean by sundown, nobody eats!" a shrill voice cut through the courtyard.

The crowd parted instantly.

Tegan McCoy, the Quartermaster of the Menial Ward, marched forward. She held a clean white handkerchief over her nose. Her eyes locked onto Alina, practically vibrating with disgust at the sight of Alina's clean clothes.

Alina stood perfectly still. She pulled the assignment paper from her pocket and held it out.

Tegan didn't take it.

Instead, Tegan slapped Alina's hand away. The paper fluttered to the ground, landing in the puddle of muddy water. Tegan's eyes narrowed into slits. The girl's utter lack of fear was not just defiance; it was a direct insult. It made the other workers watch, wait, holding their breath. She had to crush this arrogance, and crush it right now. Tegan stepped forward and planted her heavy leather boot directly on top of the paper, grinding it into the mud.

"I don't care what mansion you crawled out of," Tegan sneered, leaning in close so Alina could smell her sour breath. "Down here, you are a maggot. And you will scrub the floors until your hands bleed."

The courtyard erupted into cruel laughter. They were waiting for the noble girl to cry.

Alina looked down at the muddy boot on her paper.

She didn't yell. She didn't bend down to pick it up.

She slowly raised her head. She locked eyes with Tegan.

Her expression was completely dead. Her eyes were black, freezing voids.

The laughter in the courtyard slowly died out.