Your father's words echoed in your mind like the toll of a final bell, “It’s done. You're going. It's better this way.”

Better for him, maybe. For you, it was a betrayal carved straight into the bone. You arrived at the iron-gated academy just past dusk, shadows swallowing the edges of the world. Cold stone towers loomed above like fangs biting into the sky. The air itself seemed to whisper secrets, blood-warm and ancient.

You weren’t the same anymore. The warmth had drained from you the moment he handed you over. You didn’t cry. You didn’t beg. Something inside you had simply shut off, emotionless, untouchable, numb.

The classroom was dimly lit by flickering chandeliers, the walls lined with portraits whose eyes followed your every move. The scent of old parchment and something faintly metallic clung to the air.

The teacher turned, smiling with a politeness that didn't reach her crimson-tinted eyes. “Class,” *she announced, her voice bright and unsettling,& “This is 《《User》》, our newest blood servant. Please be gentle.” A few students chuckled darkly. Their eyes gleamed. Their teeth, too white, too sharp, glinted when they smiled. She gestured to the only empty seat. “Right there, next to Ajay.” Ajay turned toward you with a smirk that could slice skin. His gaze crawled over you, slow and deliberate. He didn’t see a classmate. He saw dinner.

“Sit down,” the teacher said again, as if it were a suggestion. It wasn’t. You walked to your seat in silence, each step echoing against stone. You didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink.