The members of the White Lotus dormitory began to celebrate. They hugged and laughed loudly. Three students ran to greet the princess, two girls and a boy. They chatted happily among themselves.

One of the girls said.

"After the ceremony, I'll give you all the information!" She simply nodded and followed them to sit down.

"Now it's Ezariel Filandry's turn!"

Ezariel didn't take long to choose, he went straight to the Black Rose. Unlike Annabell who was very careful when passing the knife, his palm was cut without even caring. Blood dripped on the stone and on the rose.

A blank mist took over the redhead's body. He didn't have many changes in his clothes, the golden details had disappeared, and he held a sword with a black blade. The Black Rose members began to shout excitedly. For Annabell, those screams were almost frightening.

The choosing ceremony passed like a flash. Annabell smiled at each person who decided the same dormitory as hers and made a point of greeting everyone. Throughout the process, she didn't stop being excited. She felt that year would be an incredible one.

"Well, I'm Diana, and she's Rosalia!" the blue-haired girl said, smiling. "Our room has a vacant bed, so if you want, you'll be very welcome! If you want to stay in your sister's room, it's okay too!"

" I think it's okay to share the room," the princess's voice was as gentle as a summer breeze.

"We just arrived like you! We are sisters... I think that's pretty obvious!" If it weren't for their different hair, Annabell wouldn't know which one was which.

Behind them, one of the boys who welcomed Annabell leaned over Diana's shoulder, startling her.

"I'm Gael! I'll tell you everything you need to know about the Academy and our Dormitory!" He sat down next to Diana, who was still recovering from the scare. "Let's start with the basics. The dormitory chief is Lucas, he's a pain. Believe it when people say we have a tyrant as the "owner" of the dormitory, it's true! So, just obey. Until the Academy's List decides to remove him."

"The List? I thought it only selected students." Annabell's voice had a bit of shock and confusion.

"That's a common mistake! The List is a way for the school to remain fair, it chooses the leaders, talks about the scores and everything else. It speaks based on facts, actions, and what it thinks is right. We're still trying to understand how Lucas took on this role and managed to stay in it. That guy is a complete nutcase!" Gael shook his head. "Well. The uniform isn't exactly mandatory, but it follows a color pattern, pastel tones and white! Sign-ups for teams and clubs start next week, and... welcome to the best dormitory in the entire Card Academy!"

The dark-haired boy was completely excited. He threw some confetti and started laughing. Annabell felt like she was in a very different environment than usual. That boy spoke a lot and extremely fast. It was a bit hard to keep up.

"We won't have to worry about long about a boring dormitory chief. Princess Annabell will soon take the post!" Rosalia spoke with a proud smile. "I give it 5 months!"

"The dormitory folks are talking about three months," Gael put his hand on his own chin. "I agree with them. If the princess were the eldest, we would be so lucky. When she gets married, I'll move to the small kingdom she will rule." Annabell widened her eyes and shook her head.

"I'm not all that, don't talk nonsense," Annabell stood up and looked around. Most people were talking and looking at her, and she felt a certain blush taking over her cheeks. It was the first time she had been among so many people. "Can we go out to explore the Castle?"

She suggested wanting to get out of the eyes of all those people.

"Sure, if we're lucky we'll find some people demonstrating the courses. If we're unlucky, we'll be bothered by the Black Rose," Gael snorted, frustrated. "At least that fiery head was the second one called, the first victory goes to us!"

"Celebrating too early is the first sign of your defeat," a female voice said with a teasing tone. "Princess, be careful not to die from lack of blood." The bald woman made a fake crying face.

Behind that group of people, Annabell saw the red hair walking away. Those people ran after him.

"Years pass, and they continue to be unbearable," Diana let out a long sigh. "Did someone from the Kingdom of Hearts joins our dormitory?"

"This year... no. Only people from smaller Kingdoms came. The usual," Gael shrugged without really caring about it. "People from the Kingdom of Hearts rarely come here, and even if they did, it wouldn't make a difference.

"We should accept everyone and promote unity," the four of them looked at each other after speaking in unison. That was the most heard phrase when being accepted into the Academy.

"Our father said that every day. Before I entered, he said that at least 50 times. I thought I was going to go completely crazy," Diana laughed, and Rosalia nodded in agreement.

The small group began to walk through the huge castle. Gael spoke enthusiastically about every detail. He knew the name of every painting hanging on those walls.

The corridors they had passed were those of the normal classrooms and the cafeteria.

"As I affectionately nicknamed it, this is the boring side of school. No fights, no discussions, we should act like old friends. All a bunch of nonsense," Gael pointed to the door at the end of the hallway.

"That's where the school starts to get fun."

Rosalia looked suspiciously at that door. When they got extremely close, it opened by itself. Rosalia and Diana took a step back in surprise.

The neutral colors on the 'boring' side of the school had been replaced by a huge chaos of colors. Various banners with the logos of the dormitories were scattered across the ceiling. "This is where things get fun. Competitions, fights, almost anything is allowed, as long as it fits within the 'healthy rivalry' of the principal," he shrugged. "That's the least important thing. As long as nothing serious happens, everything will be fine."

There was a diverse amount of students gathered there. Annabell looked inside the rooms curiously. People were doing all kinds of activities. She mentally noted the rooms she would return to in the near future. "This is the sword room, where the biggest excitement is found," Rosalia raised her hand excitedly.

"There are currently two legendary competitors, Dominick representing our dormitory and Eros representing the Black Rose. They rarely fight, but when they do, it's an exciting event!" Rosalia spoke with complete excitement. Gael looked surprised at the girl. "I did some research. Like, I went around asking people, right after choosing the dormitory."

"That's right and...," "Out of the 5 confrontations I've had with Eros, I've won 3. So the Lotus dormitory remains the champion and the owner of the room," Annabell heard a different voice, she looked up to see a not-so-unfamiliar face. "The last time I saw you, you were 15 and dreaming of coming to this school."

"And you were finishing packing your bags," the princess made a pouty face. "I'm glad to see you here, Anna. Your brother...?"

"He's waiting for you to come back!" Annabell's smile calmed the man down. Dominick sat next to them and greeted everyone. "We're childhood friends."

"Ah! Of course... but I wasn't going to talk about your beautiful record of victories," Gael made a face at Dominick. "The rooms have leaders. They can define the rules of the room and all the bureaucratic parts. Besides, the number of rooms under each dormitory's 'dominance' counts towards points at the end of the year. Currently, we are in first place. We hope to continue like this and increase the distance from the other dormitories."

"I knew we chose the right dormitory, and you wanted to go to the Joker," Diana elbowed her sister, who grumbled as she rubbed her own arm.

The previously messy room fell into complete silence, everyone found the lack of noise strange. "A fight for the position of owner of the sword room," the voice was powerful, and no one dared to say anything. On the first day of school, it was expected that hopeful freshmen would try their luck for their dormitories.

"And he loves being inconvenient," Annabell whispered when she saw the red-haired person.