Capítulo 657: Chapter 657 – Taming the Fifth Year: Reckoning – 2

“That’s…” Magnus began, his voice faltering.

“Fair?” Selphira turned toward him with an expression that was all teeth and no warmth, like a beast showing its fangs. “Do you really want to talk to me about fairness? You, who have been trying to steal your niece’s inheritance while her father is missing? Please…”

The words dripped with contempt.

Magnus’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click. His jaw clenched so tight the muscles jumped beneath his skin. Beside him, Dorian had gone perfectly still, like prey hoping the predator would lose interest if he didn’t move.

“But there’s more,” Selphira continued, pacing around the table again. “Because clearly I can’t trust you to behave without supervision. So I’m going to assign you a… let’s call it an ‘observer’. Someone who will ensure everything is ‘proper’. Who will report directly to me and the castle any additional irregularities.”

Her fingers trailed along the back of one of the chairs as she moved.

“A spy?” Aldric said, his voice tight. Strained, since she was behind him. “You’re going to put a spy to watch us?”

“‘Monitor’ sounds better,” Selphira smiled. “And yes. Exactly that.”

The implications settled like a wet, heavy blanket. Suffocating. Every lesson would be watched. Every interaction scrutinized. Every word weighed, measured and reported.

No privacy. No room to maneuver. No way to operate in the shadows anymore.

Baelthon leaned back in his chair. His fingers resumed their steady drumming on the armrest, the rhythm slightly faster now. A tell, though he probably didn’t realize it. “Interesting. And I suppose this ‘monitor’ will be someone of your complete trust. Someone who will report exactly what you want to hear.”

“Someone,” Selphira corrected, her voice taking on a edge of steel, “who will report the truth. Something that clearly none of you are capable of doing consistently.”

She stopped her pacing, positioning herself where she could see all their faces at once. Reading their reactions. Cataloging their fears.

“And if we refuse?” Daphina asked, her voice trembling a bit. “If we decide this is… too much?”

Selphira stopped. Turned… And looked at her directly.

The weight of that gaze was huge.

Ancient.

Pitiless…

“Does anyone want to find out?”

The question felt like a drawn blade.

Absolute silence.

No one moved. No one even dared to breathe.

Because they all knew. All understood clearly what refusing would mean.

Acting now, making any move against this, against her… would most likely destroy their reputations even more than simply enduring the fines and supervision and in the end it would be the same but more expensive.

“Good,” she said after a moment that felt too long. “I’m glad to see we’re all being reasonable here.”

The word “reasonable” sounded like mockery in her mouth.

“This is extortion,” Morgain murmured, the words escaping before she could stop them. A moment of weakness, of letting her facade crack.

“No,” Selphira corrected her gently, but the gentleness was somehow worse than anger would have been. “These are consequences. Something you’re clearly unfamiliar with, but that you’re about to learn intimately.”

She pulled out more documents from her robes. Thicker ones. Official ones. “These are debt contracts. You’ll sign them now. Binding agreements for the fines, with payment schedules and interest rates should you fail to meet the deadlines.”

“Interest?” Baelthon’s voice cracked slightly. His composure was fracturing, pieces falling away to reveal the desperate man beneath. “You’re charging us interest?”

“Of course.” Selphira’s smile widened. “Did you think you could take your sweet time to pay? Corrupt business deserves appropriate rates.”

She placed the contracts on the table, sliding one toward each guilty party.

“Sign.”

It wasn’t a request.

♢♢♢♢

After collecting signatures on the debt contracts, Selphira gathered the papers with satisfaction. The documents disappeared back into her robes, secured and sealed. Evidence of their corruption and her victory.

“Excellent,” Selphira moved toward the door, her steps light now. Almost cheerful. “Then you’re dismissed. Return to your positions. The ‘monitor’ will report to you tomorrow. I suggest you use that time to… reflect on your life choices.”

The door closed behind her with a soft click.

Inside the room, no one spoke for almost a full minute.

Finally, Aldric exhaled slowly. The sound broke the spell, released the tension just enough for movement to become possible again. “Well. That could have gone worse.”

“Worse?” Morgain looked at him with incredulity blazing in her eyes. Her careful mask had shattered completely now, revealing raw emotion beneath. “How the hell could it have been worse? We’re going to be fined until…”

“She could have declared war to try destroying us completely,” Aldric interrupted, his voice tired. Drained. He felt decades older than he had an hour ago. “Instead, she’s giving us fines and supervision.”

“Only because she can’t afford an internal war now,” Baelthon murmured, his fingers still drumming on the table. That constant rhythm, faster now. Nervous energy finding outlet. “With the beast attacks increasing, with the situation on the external frontiers and underground… trying to completely destroy us would destabilize the city’s defense too much.”

He leaned back, and slowly, a smile began forming on his face. Growing. Spreading.

It was the smile of a man who’d just found a loophole. Who’d spotted an opportunity in disaster.

“Which means we can continue with the main plan.”

Dorian leaned forward, eagerness replacing some of his earlier fear. “When will we do it?”

“Patience,” Baelthon responded, raising a hand in a calming gesture. “If we can keep all our cards, that’s better. And having a spy doesn’t change anything fundamental. We can still observe how they perform during the semester. There are many ways to… work around supervision too…”

His smile widened, confidence returning.

“At the end of the year, if it looks like they’re going to succeed, we simply make the final move. Save it until then.”

“Are you sure she’ll accept it?” Daphina asked, her voice barely a whisper. Afraid to speak the plan aloud even in this private space.

“I’m certain,” Baelthon said with a small smile that carried absolute conviction. “And the boy won’t be able to do anything no matter how strong he is. Though…” he paused, considering, “perhaps we should listen to Aldric and before he grows too much, try to win his favor instead…”

The suggestion hung in the air. A pivot. A different approach to the same goal.

Aldric heard this in silence, his expression impenetrable.

But inside his mind, something else was occurring.

Something shifting. Changing. Fundamental beliefs cracking under pressure.

Selphira was right. He had failed with Ren. Spectacularly. The boy hadn’t just passed all the exams with perfection. He’d done it in a way that made clear Aldric had never had the control he thought he possessed.

Never even close.

And now, listening to Baelthon talk as always about continuing the schemes, about still trying to bring Ren to their side…

Do I really want to keep going down this path?

The question surprised him. Shocked him, even.

Because the answer, honestly, was that he wasn’t sure anymore.

♢♢♢♢

Outside the meeting room, Selphira walked down the hallway. Her expression was neutral again, the mask of authority firmly in place.

Her assistant appeared from the shadows where she’d been waiting patiently. A woman with sharp eyes and sharper instincts.

“How did it go?” the woman asked quietly.

“As expected,” Selphira responded, her voice thoughtful. “They accepted the terms too easily.”

“Too easily?”

The assistant’s tone sharpened. She knew Selphira well enough to recognize when something bothered her.

“It didn’t upset them as much as it should have,” Selphira admitted, and the admission clearly annoyed her. A frown creased her forehead, aging her features. “Ren, Luna, and Liora are doing too well in their exams. The schemes to sabotage them through tutors failed. So the question is: how do they think they’ll achieve it now?”

“You believe they have a way?”

“Mmm,” Selphira nodded slowly, her eyes distant. “Which means we only have to discover what method they might use to get what they want. If they accepted this so easily, it’s because they know that obtaining the enormous territory and a larger part of the second castle chamber would make the fines look like pocket change…”

That’s what this was really about.

Not education.

Not students…

But power, territory and control.

It always came back to that.

“And you’re going to allow it?” The assistant’s voice carried carefully neutral curiosity. “Wouldn’t it be better to attack them directly?”

Selphira smiled, and this time there was genuine amusement in the gesture.

“Of course I’m going to allow it. We can’t have internal battles right now…” She paused, considering. “But Liora and Ren don’t worry me too much. Especially Ren.”

She stopped, turning to look out a window toward the academy grounds below. Students moved like ants between buildings. Small… Seeming insignificant from this height.

But one of those ants was anything but insignificant.

“You believe the boy can’t be sabotaged?”

“It’s a battle of information,” Selphira nodded again, her reflection in the glass showing satisfaction. “And they don’t know anything about him. At least they’ve never looked inside him like I have. And whatever they do, they won’t be able to handle that beast. They won’t even discover it before it’s too late.”

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