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Only a few hours remained before they would begin their plan; however, rather than resting, Eleanor could be seen seated near the window, looking out of the mansion.

This mansion was close to the Obsidian Citadel and there are several secret passages to reach the Academy from here.

Eleanor\'s eyes never wavered from where it was as she responded, "Despite having everything under control, a part of my mind always remains directed at the \'what ifs.\'"

Tia couldn\'t help but ask, "Isn\'t it concerning? Thinking something bad will happen can affect your decision-making during the event."

Eleanor slowly shook her head, "Having a second thought allows me to make a backup plan, in case everything goes against what we planned."

Tia was impressed, "That\'s the reason why you always escaped safely despite having the situation favoring your opponent."

Eleanor shrugged, "I was lucky on several occasions as well." Heaving a sigh, the girl added, "The major concern of Duchess Bellarine is out of the way. She left for a faraway land two days ago, and even if she gets the information regarding the attack, she won\'t be able to reach the Academy in time."

A few days ago, the Emperor was attacked when he was making a tour around Eldoria; as such, all the strong warriors, including Bennet and Bellarine, were immediately told to reach the Emperor as soon as they could.

Naturally, Eleanor was behind this attack to keep the two monsters out of the Academy or their presence would have hindered their mission.

Bennet, who was originally supposed to be security in charge, wouldn\'t be present there as well.

"The minions within the Academy are also prepared to backstab," Eleanor added. "Everything is under control… but I fear that if we fail this time, we won\'t get another chance like this again."

The minions she just mentioned would surely get caught after this mission, and after that, Marcus would surely go through a thorough background checkup of every student by himself. And in that scenario, it would become impossible to plant more minions among the students.

Then there was a chance of Ethan getting into danger because of this…although the blame wouldn\'t land on her or the apostles, considering Ethan\'s personality, he would jump in to save people immediately. Hence, there was a huge risk to his life.

Tia rested her hand on Eleanor\'s shoulder before assuring her, "When everything is over, Lord Ethan will be sharing the table with us…and then, we can finally start our preparation for the war."

Eleanor seethed, "The war…."

This time, it would be do or die. Either they end up eradicating the God of Death or die trying. There is no middle path this time, and losing Ethan was never one of those options.

This time, Eleanor wouldn\'t let anything go awry.

—--------**---------

The day of the competition arrived.

The people from the Emberclad Empire along with the students of the central academy of that continent, arrived last night.

The accommodation of those people was done in the same dormitories where the students who enrolled were initially accommodated before they were given their permanent room in the academy.

The competition goes on for two days; the first consists of multiple-choice questions. On the second day, subjective-type questions are asked.

The atmosphere around the Obsidian Citadel was quite charming. The entrance of the academy was decorated with flowers. A choir was arranged to welcome the guests.

Richard was not involved in the welcoming ceremony since currently, he was in the waiting area with the other contestants.

The contest would begin in an hour and until then, the participants were given some time to relax.

Surprisingly, inside the room, the familiar face of the Council President was also visible.

She waved her hand at Richard when he entered the waiting area, drawing several others\' attention towards Richard.

One of the members of Richard\'s fan club was also there, who clasped her hands together and looked at Richard with a bright smile.

Richard walked towards the President before asking, "I didn\'t know you were participating, President." His previous interaction with the lady occurred back then when he visited the council office to submit his name.

Ruby smiled, "I might not look like it, but I am quite smart, you know." She winked near the end of her words.

Richard raised his brows, "Are you in the main team?"

She shook her head, "Nope~I wanted to be, but my vice-president turned out better in magic mechanisms than me. So I had to back off."

Richard\'s eyes traveled towards the bespectacled teenager who huffed and turned away while reading a book.

\'Can\'t take a compliment I assume…\'

"What about you, Richard? Are you prepared?" Hearing her words, he nodded,

"More or less. Well, I don\'t need to be prepared since I know Rose can handle everything."

Ruby\'s eyes traveled towards the pinkhead who was silently sitting in a corner, pretending to be reading a book but the girl looked dazed at the moment.

"I heard Amelia didn\'t come today?" Ruby changed the topic, "Is she unwell?"

Richard affirmed, "Yes…she mistakenly ate red meat last night, and couldn\'t sleep because of a stomach ache. In the morning I gave her some meds and told her to relax."

Looking at the President, he asked, "It didn\'t affect the security much, right?" Amelia was on the disciplinary committee, so naturally, she had a duty to patrol around the campus during the event.

However, "It\'s okay, there are many others to fill in. And given Amelia is in her first year, I would have most probably asked her to take it easy."

Ruby wasn\'t completely honest, but to not make Richard feel bad, she lied a little.

Suddenly, the doors of the waiting room were flung open, and from the other side, a very thin man entered.

"Students, gather around," Max commanded, and slowly, every participant began to make their way toward the front.

However, all of them suddenly paused when they heard a thud from the corner of the hall.

With a frown, Max looked at the pink-haired student who had fallen to the ground and was completely unmoving.

"Rose?!" He exclaimed as he made his way toward the student. The others also grew worried and followed him.

Picking up the girl, he flipped her and was shocked to see her face turned flushed red.

"My god…she has severe fever…and her breathing is shallow as well." Max assessed her condition and from what he could sense, this was no mere result of stress and anxiety.

\'She is infected by something…her ether flow is quite disturbed….\' He couldn\'t discern the cause behind her condition, but he knew that whatever Rose was suffering from could not be healed here.

"I am taking her to the infirmary, wait here." Max picked the girl and hurriedly made his way out of the room.

The others began to whisper the possible reason behind her fall. Some said she was just stressed out and some said she must have eaten something funny last night.

Ruby has a frown on her face as she glances at Richard…only to be surprised to see him indifferently looking at the door.

"Richard?"

"Ah, yeah?" He asked, his previous nonchalance disappearing.

Ruby unsurely asked, "Are you okay?" She didn\'t know why but his indifference towards this unfortunate situation made Rose shiver.

Richard heaved a sigh, "Yeah, I am fine…just a little worried since I think I might be the reason why Rose fainted."

Ruby grew worried, "What do you mean?"

"I mean…because of me, she had to study more hours so she could help me get to that mark where I can be a proper substitute. And because of all that overwork…" he ended the sentence with a heavy sigh.

Rose slowly brought her hand on his shoulder, before consoling him, "It\'s not your fault…in the first place, I don\'t believe that her current condition is anything related to stress."

For some reason, Rose\'s condition suggested that…she was drugged. However, as Ruby was concerned about her condition, she couldn\'t go and check on Rose as of now.

Soon, Max returned to the waiting room and informed the unfortunate news, "Rose is unwell, and it\'s highly unlikely she will be waking up today."

The news earned a few gasps and many of them were shocked. Rose\'s presence among the five allowed them to be rest assured that the points from civilization and history are in their pocket.

However, their ace is no longer in the condition to participate.

Max turned his attention toward Richard before informing the obvious, "As her substitute, Richard, you will be participating in the contest now."

—--------**----------

A/N:- Thanks for reading.