"Hey, wake up, my son. I am not done yet!" The man was brutally beating up a seven-year-old boy with an evil grin. His blue eyes were closed, praying for this to end. He only had his bones left inside his body. It had been an hour since the gorgeous white snowflakes fell to the earth. No one wonders if this boy will ever have these inclement pours on his skin.

After deciding there was no sense in working on the poor boy, the man finally decided to stop. He threw the metal rod and kneeled on his lap.

"Is that how you want me to raise you, son?" The heartless father looked cold. "Why the hell did you think that it would be a great idea to bring that Jewish girl inside this room? You know the consequence, son?"

That boy would puke blood if he opened his mouth. "B-But father, she was an orphan, too. You said to bring help to those who are like me."

"Listen, son, she was not like you. She may look like you, but she is a devil." The father tried to smile while looking into his blue eyes. "Better wake up within five minutes. You have somewhere to go after breakfast."

The blue-eyed, black-haired boy did wake up five minutes before, but he took the rod flat on the ground. He grinned, gritted his teeth, and thrashed hard on his father's back. The father moaned and fell to the ground immediately, making the boy panic. He cried loudly in front of his father but didn't apologise a bit to him. The father took the rod from his son. Instead, he also didn't respond to anything and stated,

"Hey son, I am not angry. I just wanted to see you broken. I wanted you to be stone-cold in front of everything you will deal with in the future. When they let us stay in Vielist, it will be your turn to give them what they want."

After that, the father raised his rod and slammed it into his little boy's face. The hit was solid enough to make him senseless right now.

*****

The crowd was captivated when the young man strutted into the assembly. The scar on his face may be small, but it was well visible. The school started after two days' holiday for Wolf's birthday. The young man took the lead in the assembly.

"Guys, as an alumni of this and now a lieutenant, I'd like to thank Mr. Frank for giving me a chance to give a speech to this aspirant."

"He's Jakob Seigart, right?" Sophie asked Eldric from behind.

"Hmmm"

"He used to be in the top tier since his school days. There is a high chance he will be Wolf's successor."

"You definitely did good research about him." Eldric continued. "He is the brand of this school. Mr. Frank always had a special eye on him."

"Mr. Frank has appointed me for a missing case. Someone has stolen a confidential paper from this school. Few of our soldiers have witnessed that they chased down someone in this school uniform. We have successfully caught the person behind this." Jakob's pitch was making Eldric uncomfortable. Jakob didn't glance at Eldric all this time, but he figured he had the suspect. He remembered that time when the squinting, black-eyed young man assured him that no one saw him.

"They even had the robin. His name is Theodore Goudier." After Jakob ended this statement, the whole assembly was shocked. Students started gossiping with each other, making a little noise.

"Isn't he the former student of our school who left at the beginning of the war?" Sophie became way more curious.

Eldric couldn't reply to this. He also recalled the name. It was Theo who saved him from the bullets. He constantly looked into Jakob's blue eyes, making sure he didn't care about him this time. He swallowed his dreadful drops of saliva. Eldric didn't think he had heard anything from Sophie.

"Eldric! "Are you listening?" Sophie patted Eldric. Eldric turned back at her for once. He still couldn't respond to her.

"And we have strong, convincing rumours that there are Jews in this school. It may be a friend of yours." Jakob stunned the assembly. The whole school, including Mr. Frank and Mr. Berger, revolted at Jakob. Everyone in the class would look at each other's faces, but they didn't call their dear friends traitors. Few of them held their friends tight, ensuring them he didn't feel anything about it.

"Please student. Please be strong and hold on to yourself. Don't let your dignity fall into their hands. If you find any information, please inform us!" Jakob gave a rictus smile at the student and soon left the scene. Eldric didn't remove his eyes from Jakob for a second. He was the one who left for the class while everyone was busy having some vital moments with their friend. Sophie tried to catch him, but Evart stopped her immediately. Sascha also noticed Eldric's strange departure.

Mr. Berger took the first period. He was the physics teacher and took a music class. He was the only black man in the school. probably the only black-skinned person in this city. Standing tall with black curly hair and brown eyes, I have always been seen in fitting clothes. What was even more strange about him was that he would always appear with globes in his hands, even if it was summertime.

Mr. Berger never gave a petulant eye to Eldric when he napped in his classroom. Eldric hadn't gone to sleep that day; rather, he viewed the blackboard. He was taking note of every trigonometrical detail Mr. Berger was lecturing on. His sudden attention to the class made Evart a little uncomfortable.