Beldia stared at the small letters in the book, her brows tightly furrowed. In her mind, she once again went over the plan: Go to the garden right at eleven o’clock before the exams for the day would start so she could surprise her when she was doing her preparations. Get a twig, enchant it in front of her, and hand it to her as a gift. Then, she just had to say the words she had memorized without stumbling over them.

She nodded to herself but went through the confession one more time just to make sure. "A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady. I hope that it can convey my most sincere thoughts to you. If you would like to, I would be very much delighted if you would do me the honor of going out with me."

Beldia heaved a sigh of relief when she made it to the end without trouble. Anyway, it was just three sentences. How much could go wrong? She nodded, trying to reassure herself that everything was fine. "Short is best. If I make too many words around it, I’d just be setting myself up for failure." After all, every word was like a stumbling block that she needed to get over. Better not put more where these few were enough. That would be difficult enough.

She sighed again, this time with a hint of nervousness, and then patted down her clothes. Was she wearing everything? Pants? Tunic? Armguards? Belt? Shoes? Seemed like it.

She brushed over the tunic some more, making sure it wasn’t wrinkled either. Her last exam had already been yesterday so there shouldn’t have been any accidents but you could never know.

Spellcasting wasn’t like potion-making. If things went wrong, you didn’t have to worry about your face but about wherever your hands had last been. Usually, that would be somewhere around your torso so tunics were always in danger. She had gone through more than a handful of embarrassing situations early on in her studies because of that. She didn’t want to add one more right in front of Jadvyga’s eyes right before their graduation ceremony.

Having made sure that there was nothing to worry about in that regard, Beldia tucked the book under her arm. This was a guide on confessions and other matters of love that she had bought after her less than stellar results in the past. She had worked through it bit by bit, doing all the exercises contained in it, some of them multiple times to make sure she had gotten it right. By now, she felt that there couldn’t be anything left for her to know.

She took a deep breath and then left her dorm room, walking down the corridor. Anyway, how difficult could it be to confess? Millions of people had done it before. She would be able to do it as well. Anyway, this was only her fiftieth attempt or something. How much worse than the last one could it be? No, today, she would pull it off as well. Jadvyga would feel like she had been hit by an enchantment when she was done.

Beldia sighed deeply. As if. She could be happy if she even managed to get to the confession part. She tried not to think of how wrong things had gone so far but it really was difficult when there were so many disasters to choose from.

She reached the staircase and slowly took the steps down to the first floor. Not making it to the place she had designated for her confession would be the first thing that might go wrong. She’d better make sure she didn’t stumble on the steps of her own dorm because she was too nervous, broke a leg, and didn’t make it in time before Jadvyga’s exam. That would really be too pitiful.

No, even if something went wrong, she at least wanted to make it to the garden. She might not be able to confess then but at least she could wish her good luck for the exam. That would be better than nothing.

While Beldia’s own dorm was in the western part of the Arcademy, the complex that housed the potion makers was in the northeast instead so Jadvyga should be there. Chances were that she would find her in the gardens.

She knew from reliable sources that Jadvyga had her final exam today and while nobody knew exactly what the contents would be beforehand, it should require the use of some plants. So either, she would go there to gather ingredients or to review her materials. Either way, Jadvyga should be in the garden.

Yes, this time around, she surely wouldn’t make the mistake of going to the wrong place like she had on her twenty-first attempt and missing the perfect opportunity she had found. No, that was the kind of rookie mistake she had long gotten past.

Beldia tried to reassure herself once again and then rushed out of the building. Stepping onto the cobblestone path outside, she didn’t dare to run, much too afraid that her boots would get caught somewhere between the stones and she would appear in the garden with a bloody nose. What chance would there be for a romantic atmosphere to develop then?

Instead, she speed-walked toward the northeast, garnering some looks from the other students walking by. Well, she couldn’t care less. In love and war, everything was fair. Looking ridiculous in public was the smallest of sacrifices to make for a successful confession.

After a couple of minutes, the northeastern complex finally came into view. Beldia’s heart started to race and she had to stop and take a few deep breaths to calm down again. She didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Jadvyga once again.

No, this time, nothing was allowed to go wrong. Stumbling over her words like on her very first try to the point where she had clearly only been incoherently mumbling, completely forgetting what she had wanted to say like on the eighth, or stumbling over her own feet when she tried to walk up to her like on attempt forty-three absolutely couldn’t happen again. This was the last chance before both of them would graduate from the Arcademy. There just was no margin for error anymore.

She squared her shoulders, tightened her grasp around the book under her arm as if the guide could somehow give her support, and then marched into the complex, ready to change the world.

The potion makers’ place was just as confusing as any other part of the Arcademy thanks to the fact that it had been built over time with new compounds being added every century. Sometimes, the elders of the Arcademy would even warp space a bit to make room for a new building. By then, good luck finding the one that had originally stood there because it might very well have turned up on the other side of the whole complex.

It didn’t help either that Beldia had never taken any classes in potion-making herself so she usually didn’t come here. Well, other than to try and get a glimpse at Jadvyga, of course. Anyway, she wasn’t all that familiar with this place. But thankfully, she had prepared well! After all, she couldn’t afford to get lost again.

She stopped after arriving at the first path that crossed her way and opened the book on the last page. A folded parchment was lying in there, faint lines of ink visible that had been drawn on the other side. She took it out and opened the map she had painstakingly created over the last few weeks.

Let’s see … She was right at the entrance of the whole complex. That left about thirty buildings in front of her. The garden where she suspected Jadvyga to be was even further to the northeast, almost at the edge of the complex. If she went straight past the next three buildings and then made a sharp turn to the right, she would be on the right path.

Beldia closed the book again but kept it in her hand, certain that she would have to consult the map again soon enough. Even if she managed to get to the point she had just looked at without trouble, things would get complicated after that. For now though, she knew how to walk.

She looked around and spotted the first building, hurriedly walking past it. The next two were more difficult. The second building was set back by several meters so you could easily overlook it. It didn’t help that this complex had quite a lot of greenery that made it difficult to actually see what was in front of you. Here, two large trees framed the path to the building, hiding it from view when you came up. They had been shedding leaves like crazy in the last few days, obscuring the path and almost making her miss it.

She heaved a sigh of relief when she spotted it at the last second and then once again speed-walked past the next building, before taking a sharp turn to the right. Now, how far had she been supposed to go?

She hurriedly opened the book again, staring at the map, feeling that things really weren’t off to a good start if she couldn’t even make her way over easily. But then, this was precisely why she had made the map, wasn’t it?

Yes, there was no reason to worry. Making use of her experience from those fifty botched-up attempts, she had anticipated everything that could go wrong and made plans to counter it. How could there be anything standing in her way of confessing to Jadvyga?

Feeling reassured, Beldia counted the buildings coming up to five and nodded to herself. Right, five buildings. Just five buildings. She could do this! She definitely wouldn’t end up at the wrong place again. She continued to walk ahead, a little slower this time, so that she wouldn’t accidentally miss one.

This time, there weren’t any almost-accidents. The buildings here were all at the same distance from the road so she didn’t need to worry.

Having passed all five of them, Beldia found herself at a crossroad that ended in a small square in front of the house when going straight ahead and should lead back to the entrance of the complex toward her right. So, she could only turn to the left.

Beldia turned in the direction but stepped to the side of the path to consult her map again. Even if she was sure, she’d still rather check just to make double sure. From here on, the paths were more difficult to navigate. She remembered that there had been some twists and turns that had really made things difficult the last time she tried to come here. So it was better to be safe than sorry.

In the end, Beldia just kept the map in her hands, following the path she had marked down while constantly looking up and down to compare what was in front of her and what was on her map. Finally, she found herself at the foot of a hill. Looking up, she could see the building she had wanted to reach on top of it, the majestic structure seeming to look out over the potion makers’ complex.

This garden was one of the older parts of the Arcademy. Despite its age, the building had been well-maintained. The huge stone blocks at its base seemed untouched by time, not the slightest indentation visible at the edges.

If you didn’t contrast the building to the ones surrounding it that had been built in a completely different style, you wouldn’t be able to notice just how old it was. The only thing that really gave its age away were the steps that had slightly dented thanks to the hundreds of thousands of feet that had walked up and down over the centuries. Apparently, nobody had bothered to straighten these out again.

Beldia folded the map up and stuffed it back into her guidebook, instead opening the page that held the paper slip with her plan again. So far, everything had gone well. She had managed to reach the building and was even in time. In just a minute or two, she would make another attempt at confessing her feelings to Jadvyga. She had to make sure that she kept every little detail in mind.

Anyway, there wasn’t much left: She just need to go in and find Jadvyga, then she couldn’t forget about the spell before she said her confession. Without, it wouldn’t work.

Beldia nodded to herself, closed the book again, and tucked it back under her arm before she rushed up the stairs, taking two steps at once.