Normally, when children are born into the Pendrave family, they have a chance of receiving the unique ability called "Golden Blood," which grants the power to strengthen their subordinates. Usually, only one child per generation inherits this ability — in the previous generation, it was King Alaric Pendrave IV. But Elowyn, the first daughter, was different from any other Pendrave.
She was born with two unique abilities: "Golden Blood" and "Sight of Essences." Undoubtedly, a true prodigy, even though her potential for evolving her circles was lower than her father's.
The Sight of Essences ability allowed her to see the essence of a person's soul through colors and to detect lies, nervousness — nothing could hide from her eyes. But even with this ability, it was still a nuisance for her. Her eyes were always overwhelmed with colors, especially when darker tones mixed with the red of anger or the blue of sadness.
She could tell if someone was good, evil, or in between — though this was difficult, as people usually leaned toward one side. She had only ever seen her father, who had a gray color. But Elowyn was different from him.
When she was a child, looking in the mirror at five years old, she saw a dense, dark shadow surrounding her body. From the moment she was born, she understood what it meant.
That color meant only one thing — she was destined for evil. Yet, she didn't feel afraid.
The blonde-haired girl touched the mirror, her eyes admiring that dark energy. She loved it.
The scene shifts to her at ten years old. Several other children of the same age, dirty and poor-looking, likely peasants, were fighting over two bronze coins. Male or female, it didn't matter — this used to entertain her, but now it had become boring. The only reason she hadn't gone further was because her father always tried to control her darkness. But Elowyn knew his efforts were in vain.
"How boring."
Watching the children fight, she just wanted to become queen already so she could do as she pleased. As she stood to leave, she saw a pink-haired girl arriving and stopping the fight.
"This is wrong. You shouldn't be doing this."
Seeing that massive light coming from the girl, Elowyn's eyes burned — and that irritated her. But then she had a feeling... and smiled.
'Found a new toy.'
She raised five fingers to the children.
"Five bronze coins for each of you if you beat her up."
The children hesitated only for a moment. Then, looking at the terrified pink-haired girl, they attacked. From that day forward, Elowyn tormented that girl daily, even threatening that if she told her family, Elowyn's guards would kill them all.
Days passed, then weeks, and eventually two months. Elowyn watched the girl's light fade. She thought the girl might take her own life. But then the girl's father found out and immediately took her out of the city, knowing he couldn't act against the royal family. When they left, the pink-haired girl cried tears of pure relief, thanking her father, who smiled apologetically for not realizing sooner.
After that, Elowyn found others with white light — though her father's orders kept her from bothering them too much. Still, she made sure to crush their dreams, showing them the vast difference in potential between her and them. She also met others like herself, but don't be fooled into thinking she liked them — quite the opposite. Their dark auras made them a threat, so she manipulated and controlled them. And she had already marked some with darker auras than hers to be executed in the future — just in case.
As she grew, her number of subordinates increased. She believed herself a prodigy — and she was. But when she entered Astrong Academy, she was furious to be ranked 15th in Class S. It was humiliating. Still, she calmed herself. She believed she would surpass them all in time. So, instead of targeting those ranked above her, she went to Class A and crushed everyone. She chose a boy named Lan to control the class and stifle the students' growth without the teachers knowing, molding Class A to her liking.
Everything was going well. She even gathered some other classmates from Class S who had potential — three of them with lower ranks than hers. With that, she was about to challenge the rankings again, until she heard that Lan had been defeated by someone from Class C.
She immediately wanted to restore her control over Class A, but she was preparing to challenge Rank 14. She decided to put it off, defeat him, recruit him — which she did — and now today, she was going to Class A. Seeing two students there, she cornered them.
"You two haven't forgotten what I did to your class before, right? I came to see the new students to have them swear loyalty to me. So, where are they?"
The orc and the elf were nervous and trembling.
"They're not here right now, miss. I believe they've already gone to their dorms. Perhaps it's best to return tomorrow?"
The elf looked at the orc, knowing she was lying. Enrico was the only one missing. Elowyn noticed the elf's glance — but she didn't need to. The surrounding pale aura shattered slightly, signaling a lie. She immediately ordered the others to strike the two.
"I don't like being lied to."
Just as she was about to order them to hit harder, someone appeared in front of them — someone whose white light reminded her of the pink-haired girl. Her eyes began to burn again. Two others with light auras arrived, one being slightly more corrupted — Serenya.
"...Could you tell me, Princess Elowyn Pendrave?"
She wiped her eyes. It had been a while since she saw someone with that light — and it irritated her.
"You must be the new ones… I came to talk about what you're expected to do in Class A. So, tell me — which of you is Rank 31?"
Serenya made a face as she replied.
"He's not here. He had to deal with some family issues."
Elowyn looked at her, disliking her tone — but decided to let it pass.
"And when was that?"
"If you're asking when he'll return, it's in three days. So you'll have to wait."
It was Kai who answered, now standing and staring at the boy who had kicked him, who only smirked. Elowyn scratched her eyes again, that light bothering her.
"Well then... I suppose I'll start with you."