"Juniper..." The shock of it all,bined with the terrifying prospect of prison, sent Farrell''s mind reeling. "I''m your distant uncle, for crying out loud, and you called the cops on me!"


    Just then, the police officers arrived and swiftly subdued him.


    "Ynda! Ynda!" Farrell screamed in her direction, his voice filled with fear. "Tell your mother toe save me, do you hear me?"


    If he hadn''t been trying to stick up for her, he never would have provoked Juniper in the first ce.


    "Ynda?"


    The students were still processing the revtion that their instructor was a monster, but now they turned their collective gaze on Ynda. So Farrell and Ynda really did know each other. No wonder he treated her differently.


    "I..." Faced with all the sudden attention, Ynda looked flustered and mumbled, "I don''t know him."


    Didn''t know him? It was obvious they did. She was clearly trying to distance herself now that he was in trouble.


    "Ugh. Ynda is so fake."


    The students'' expressions turned to ones of disgust.


    ...


    From an office building overlooking the scene, Ebony Fox had witnessed the entire event, including Farrell''s deliberate sabotage of the rope. She had considered intervening but stopped when she saw the look of absolute certainty on the young girl''s face. It was then she understood. A girl with skills like that couldn''t possibly be the type to let others bully her.


    And sure enough, what followed was a delightful surprise.


    "Heh." A faint, crispugh escaped Ebony Fox''s throat as she stared down at the training grounds.


    The sound was so unexpected that the subordinate organizing files beside her jumped.


    Did he hear that right? Was Ebony Fox actuallyughing?


    He cautiously craned his neck for a peek, and his eyes widened. It was true. She was smiling. The cold,


    stunningly beautiful woman wa


    actually smiling. It transformed her face adding a touch of warmth and softness he had never seen before She was radiant!


    "Damn," he thought. "With a face like that, she could have been a movie star. Why on earth did she be an instructor?"


    "What are you looking at?" Ebony turned, her expression instantly reverting to its usual icy aloofness.


    "Nothing." Her frosty gaze sent a


    shiver down his spine, snapping him back to reality. He must have been imagining things. The idea of Ebony Pox being gentle was more


    ridiculous than the sun rising in the west.


    ...


    The training camp was over, and Era University held its customary closing assembly.


    "I heard the chief instructor for the camp was a woman, and she''s supposed to be super cool."


    "A woman? Nice!"


    "Yeah! They said she was specially brought in from abroad, and she used to be in the special forces!"


    "A female special forces officer as a chief instructor... That alone is enough to earn my respect!"


    "Is she here yet? I don''t see her!"


    A woman? Juniper knew the


    instructor was from the Huntsman Institute but hadn''t known her gender. A female special forces instructor was a rarity at the


    ver


    Institute, and Juniper''s curiosity was qued. She closed the game on her phone and looked toward the stage.


    Unfortunately, due to the chief instructor''s special status and ast-minute assignment, she wasn''t able to attend the assembly.


    Instead, a school administrator took the stage. The sixty-year-old man proceeded to read from a script for a full thirty minutes, eliciting a collective groan from the audience.


    Juniper rolled her eyes and went back to her game.


    Finally, two hourster, the assembly concluded. Juniper was happily heading back


    to her dorm when her academic advisor stopped her.