"Hello there, lad! Mind if we pass through?" The man held an enthusiastic voice despite their current disadvantaged position and somehow an unnatural deeper voice.

"This is a prohibited area! Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter. Show us your identification cards and we may let you through."

"Hehe." He scratched his head with an awkward laugh. "I forgot my identification card inside."

Upon hearing this, what seems to be the leader of the men stepped forward with a glare. "Don't give me that crap. Clearly, you're not from here. Turn around this carriage now and leave before we'll force you out."

"Believe me, lads. We're from here." A smirk snuck on his lips under the hood's shadow. He raised his two hands up in surrender, showing them he meant no harm.

"Leave at once!"

There was a moment of silence and chill rising tension. His shoulders visibly shook and at this moment, Adeleine assumed that he snapped. Her face held bewilderment due to it what the opposite of her expectations when thick, loud laughter echoed as he threw his head back, the hood shadowing his face fell, revealing his identity.

It was hard to say that the tension was relieved with his hearty laugh since it went heavier. It is what Adeleine noticed when various reaction in the arm-guards' faces contained somewhere between shocked, wary, and confusion.

His action was completely out of place that made the guards conclude that he was out of his mind. Well, that was what Adeleine had in mind again. She too, would think him as crazy when he laughed at the position he's in.

"Crazy man, turn around and no harm will be done!" the other did not falter his stance despite the confusion, moreover, this what made him all the more guarded.

"This can't be helped." He swallowed an amused smile creeping up his lips. "Do you not recognize the man standing in front of you?"

This statement had them puzzled as they look at one another in search for answers. The man in front remained unfazed and signaled the men to stand in guard.

At the order, the crazy man chuckled.

"Imbeciles," he sneered as he looks at them with a spark in his eyes. A gleam that made Adeleine shudder, a cold wisp of air brush her cheeks and she wiped her clammy hands on her smeared clothes. "You dare to mock the oath of allegiance under in Astrea's name."

The mere mention of the oath was enough to bring some of the guards down to their feet as they made some sense in the situation.

"Headmaster Verkel." They chanted with their right fists on their left chest with vigor.

Faces of confusion was swept away, replaced by the look of realization and others soon followed, chanting the same name. This time, Adeleine was the one in confusion, as if she wasn't already a while ago. She was confused as heck since the start.

"Headmaster Verkel."

The man in the cloak hummed as his bright orange orbs scoured the heads of the guards, who was once standing now with their faces down. It landed on a specific figure after. It was the person who tried to turn them away—the leader. His hands were held into a fist and was slightly trembling on his side as a sweat trickled down his forehead, trying his hard not to show any signs of anxiety but clearly failing. This made the headmaster laugh inwardly. He can recognize that the guard was the newly assigned head of the gate-guards, since he was the one who made him so, but these fellows don't know the face who they pledge an oath to. Maybe he should change the policies once again. Ah, what a bother, he thought.

But before that, maybe he could mess with them a bit. He was curious on what type of person this newly-appointed head was.

"You, there," he called out.

The people raised their heads, in the thought that they were being called. But later realized that the headmaster's gaze was pointed to their leader instead in their relief except for the leader himself, who swallowed and met the man's eye uncomfortably.

"Step forward."

The man did what he was told and took a step in front with his chin held high and his spine straight.

"Draw your sword."

This draw anticipation on the onlookers, curious yet their hearts beating wildly of how things will turn out. Their eyes followed his movement as he bares the sharp blade before them. They had anticipated the worst thing to come was that red liquid will spew the soil they were currently standing on but hoped in astrea's name that things won't end up badly as they thought.

"What punishment shall I give?" the headmaster looked up in thought with a smirk plastered on his lips. The guards glanced at each other in trepidation.

"Ah," he beamed, "why don't you punish yourself instead?"

"Pardon, sir?" the man looked up to him with knitted brows in confusion.

"Punish yourself." He gave him a smile.

"But sir," he trailed off softly like treading on thin ice, "what kind of punishment..."

He snorted and waved his hand dismissively. "Well, why don't you think yourself."

His response made the head-guard paled. He was certain that he has been told to take his life even without any direct verbal order. But if that is what the man, he pledged the oath to, says; then he will abide.

"Yes, sir," he solemnly said. He knelt down and held his sword up to his neck without any second thoughts.

The headmaster hummed in apprehension as he watched the man proceed to do what he was told, but it made him frown that he wasn't putting up much of a fight, although he didn't show his discontent outwardly.

"Stop." He raised his hand, unsatisfied. "Raise your head."

The guard followed the headmaster's every order so far, but how far was the limit, was his question.

"You see this cage here." He jerked his thumb at the girl.

All attention now was focused to Adeleine, who shifted uncomfortably under the numerous eyes watching. Her heart thudded and her brows twitched as she waited the next lines of the crazy man, which she assumed, up to no good.

"Execute her."

Adeleine's eyes shot wide open as her jaw hang in disbelief. The crowd erupted into gasps and murmurs, pointing out the girl's black hair, now that she was addressed to the crowd.

"How did she get inside? I thought the borders were strict."

"It is. Maybe, she was sent here as a spy."

"Hah! Do they think we were that stupid?"

There were series of questions and opinions being thrown here and there regarding on who the girl might be and what is her business in Adhelis; surely up to no good, they thought.

Adeleine, with shock and dread, sprang up from her seat. The metal chains tied to her hands clink loudly at her sudden motion, adding to her discomfort at the restriction of her movement. She shook her head vigorously as her legs trembled, fear shaking up her entire body and her breath hitched to her throat like a ball painfully stuck inside.

She was staring at her death with wide eyes, silently hoping that when the next she opens them, she would be greeted by the worn dark oak planks of the ceiling back at her home. Sadly, that wasn't the case no matter how many times she kept her eyes blinking, this nightmare was engulfing her bit by bit and it's making her lose her mind.

'Child, what in this forsaken land is happening? Can't you get yourself out?' Hearing no replies, Moon knew something was up. 'Pulepe! Thou shall giveth me answers!'

"Shut up, Moon. For once, just shut up for a minute. I'm trying to understand what's happening too. And right now, you're not damn helping!" She hissed at her. Right now, what she needs is to focus. She can here Moon's raging protests so she closed her eyes and shut her down, building a wall around her mind.

Unwavering caramel brown eyes stared down at her, a noble air for a man in a silver knight armor. He confronted her with a stoned look while she was busy trying to keep her marbles together. She looked up and met his mirroring the same intensity but with great resentment.

Of course, what does she expect. She was nothing more than a pest, a black-haired woman—an enemy to Adhelis. It had always been this way.

"You or her?" Headmaster Verkel asked like it was an offer rather than a threat. The side of his lips turned up as the man made no sound and the two knights with him opened the carriage for the approaching head-guard.

Who in the right mind would chose over their life for a mere letherian to live? The thought of made the headmaster smile with his right assumptions.

The girl turned her gaze towards his figure with a fire burning in its depths. He was the cause of how things turned out like this. She mentally cursed him with pure hatred. Yes, she thought. It was none other than the bastard's fault.

She locked eyes with the headmaster and her gaze hardened, forgetting the man behind who was after her life but aware that with every second counts is her falling to her impending execution. With gritted teeth, she clenched her fists and mustered up to gather her voice to what she was about to say. Her voice slightly trembled, but that didn't discourage her from what she was doing, rather, she even raised her voice to show her will. Showing him that she's not going to let herself rot.

"I will help you with anything!" It may sound like a desperate cry, but Adeleine's willing to bargain with the monster. "I'll tell you information!" —even though she doesn't know anything.

That's what they want right? Information is valuable. Hence, she cannot be disposed so easily like this.

Everyone stood still. It goes the same for the headmaster, but compared to the others' reaction, it's quite faint. He had his fingers under his chin and his smile gone, assessing the situation carefully, however, it was replaced by another smile as soon as they were able to notice it.

The slight downturn of his lips was caught by Adeleine despite being it so fast. She hoped that he bit what she offered, it was a risky move, since she hasn't really any important information nor she is a spy. But if he does, she'll find a way to escape before they'll know she's bluffing.

"Oh?" The tone of his voice held mockery that made her gulped the knot in her throat; it was deep, unlike the unnatural forced voice he had a while ago, and daunting. He, then, guffawed. "What's this? Are you that desperate?"

She hates to admit it. It was hard to swallow her pride, but her fear of death is stronger and she doesn't want to risk it. She can't believe she would have to resort to licking his shoes.

"Did you think we're some fools?" His lips formed into a sadistic smile accompanied by a cold glint in his bright orbs as he scoffed. "We have no space for traitors here."

Her legs buckled and she collapsed on her knees. They didn't believe her lies. What happens now? Will she be executed? She reached up to her arm, rubbing them, trying to give herself comfort. Maybe, maybe she's just dreaming...

She pinched herself. No, she wasn't.

Moon...she's right. She suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Her fingers lightly brushed against the scar on her skin subconsciously. She can't fathom what sort of things they'll do to her. She can't even finish that one book filled with torture devices used throughout history, let alone get pass fifth page.

She's weak against pain.

Adeleine hung her head low, eyes gazing far, wide in pure shock and fear. Her head tangled in haywire as her fingers gripped her hair out of desperation and disbelief.

"Stop fooling around and open up the gates," he ordered. People started to move, all of his previous commands were dropped and the head-guard look up to only be patted on the shoulders by the headmaster. "Keep up the good work."

He turned to the carriage where Adeleine was kneeling on the cold metal floor like a broken doll, dead eyes staring off into the distance, silent and unmoving. It seems she knows what awaits her. Even if she managed to escape demise here, she surely won't be once they pass this gate.

With the flick of the reigns, the carriage once again lurched forward, passing the large gates and pass the towering wall as the letherian girl awaits her fate.