Silver Vanrouge

"The Third Superintendant secretly looks into schools that have any series of suspicious events. That being said, this position requires great trust between the Director of Education and the person as well as great risks if any of the suspicious events could rope them into the matter. Seriously, Director... As a child, what if she gets hurt?!"

"Eh? We'll just not send her on risky operations until she can operate on her own." The director voiced bluntly.

Peony could hear her own voice, "Actually, it won't be any problem for me. Aside from being skilled with disguise, I can defend myself and cast magic. Didn't I submit a historical record of my lineage that I wrote? You told me to do so. So, the reason you wanted me to take physical tests was to prepare for this, right?"

"... That's right... After this, I want to make you our new Third Superintendant." He explained, "However, no matter how powerful you are, you are till a child right now. With how powerful you are too, it would be safer to assign another powerful magician to mentor you."

"Then, I'll have to ask the old coot and old general about it before I go doing that. Moreover, playing around with my abilities is too dangerous. Even if I want to have a magic teacher, I've already decided to wait and see. Right now is too early and my body is not in the safest state to experiment at great lengths. I shall wait until my body is stable enough before attempting magic any further. On other note, if you wish to grant me position in the Board of Education, it must be done so that I would not utilize my influence into the working of the Board of Education."

There was a sigh, "Fine. Then, I shall grant you the position of Third Superintendant. Besides, the position naturally includes hiding the identity of the Third Superintendant."

"What?!"

Peony!

"Hey…"

"Hey! Wake up!"

Tired, she struggled to open her eyes.

"Hey!"

A familiar voice echoed in her ears as the light barely shone rays over them nearly blinding her. As she sat up and noticed the flow of spiritual energy around her, she knew that she was back in her dream realm but she knew that she was no longer on the peaks that she dubbed Heartslabyul peak for simiplicity. The air was humid and cold. She thought for a while and came to a conclusion that she was very likely on the peaks of the Savannahclaw peak or the Scarabia peak. However, the air of Scarabia peak can't have been this humid. So... This was Savannahclaw's peak. She opened her eyes and was surprised that it was neither Savannahclaw's peak nor Scarabia's. Instead she found herself face to face a familiar yet annoying face.

"Silver Vanrouge." She grumbled with an ingrained disdain.

Wearing his dorm uniform, Silver was surprised, "You... Know me?"

Annoyed by his image, Peony huffed as her mind quickly began to conjure up her stories. However, she was still very confused as she turned to him, "I have my connections. More importantly, I'm surprised you can travel through the soul realm now."

"Soul Realm?" Silver looked to her in confusion.

She gestured to the world and responded with a huff of dismay again, "When a soul becomes powerful, it would create a world in a sense. The stronger the soul becomes, the more corporeal the world becomes. After they become a stronger magician, they are capable of projecting the realm into the outside world. That is what a soul realm is. However, it is rare for others to be capable of entering those realm. However, I seem to recall that you should be related to dream, not soul..."

"How-... Nevermind. You should rest for a bit." Silver shook his head and suddenly carried her to a nearby tree without her consent! She wanted to scold him angrily but he disappeared as soon as he had reappeared. He was gone for a while and giving her a chance to recover her senses being surprised to have confronted Silver before returning with nothing and opened his mouth, "Sorry, I can't seem to find any food."

"It's all right. I never really expected food in this environment." She responded with a frown, "To be honest, I had thought you had gone to scout the place."

"I did scout earlier when I was looking for food." Silver responded.

Peony huffed, "Then, you're looking in the wrong places. Come..."

"May I ask for your name?"

"... Ash."

She recalled the time she desperately needed her own personal money and decided to utilized her skills after carefully examining the cultures, laws and acts of charity in this world before devising a plan where she could utilize her craft and medical skills under a false name. During that time, the Board of Education caught her attention when she chatted with her tutor. However, she didn't expect that her little arts and crafts would gain THAT much attention by the fairies and her tutors. Hence she decided to make her first series of gifts to her family and the queen of Briar Valley, their benefactor. Amongst those gift was a contract for all of her new types of crafts to first go through with Queen Malenficia before being released into the public on the terms that she has her alias initials marked over them.

She got up slowly and made her way through the trees carefully before noticing Silver had reached out to offer her a hand. Peony hesitated before she sighed and took the arm awkwardly. Regardless, Silver said nothing and helped her walk through the forest calmly. It wasn't long before they arrived before an old dead oak tree. Peony reached out and examined the trunk carefully before bringing Silver over, "Come."

They noticed the strange yellow fungi growing out of the oak tree as he asked her curiously, "What is this?"

"This is called chicken of the woods. When eaten, it will give others stomach aches, but, when cooked well, it has the texture and taste similar to that of chicken." Peony pointed out, "However, beware not to pick one that has gills on the bottom because those are Jack O' Lantern mushrooms. They are identical to this fungi, but it is poisonous. The easiest way to tell them apart, check under their hood. If there are gills, then you got the wrong mushroom."

As she scopes the areas and continue to unveil the true nature of their surroundings, Silver looked to her in awe of her knowledge as he turned to her, "You know a lot about plants."

Peony hesitated in deep thoughts before responding, "Hm. Well, it's best to say that I study them as another part of a living. After all, my life depends on it."

"Really? Then... When that mist appeared..."

"Mist?"

Silver nodded, "When I found you, I saw a mist of four women. They referred to each other as sisters and seemed to get along very well. But, then something strange happened and the atmosphere broke."

Peony paused in shock as she thought to herself in disbelief. Could it be that the soul realm projected her dream earlier? She didn't think that being thrown into a dream would be projected into the soul realm! Could the others have seen it as well? So much for keeping her past hidden! However, it sounded like Silver didn't understand a lot from the information given to him...

Was what she thought.

"Have you ever heard of the Empress of plant faes?"

Peony looked to him in bewilderment. She never recalled ever sharing the name with others, so how did he know of that term? Since Silver was staring at her inquisitively, she knew that he had already noticed her change in facial emotions and frowned, "Yes, but you could start by not staring so hard at my face. Those who deals with a lot of schemes would think that you're intending to harm them if you stare so hard. It would lead to misunderstandings and... it would make other less than willing to speak of it."

Surprised, Silver nodded in silence before letting her continue as she took a seat on a large rock. She thought for a bit before continuing carefully, "It is a very long story. So, I'll entrust you with the truth. However, in exchange, you would have to tell me how you know of the name. Depending on your answer, I will tell you of her with how detailed you will answer."

"I see." Silver frowned, "I was ordered by my father to search of the matter. How he came to know of it is still unclear to me."

Peony thought for a bit before nodding her head, "Fine. Since you've shared your story, I'll say mine. Let me start from the beginning."

With that, Peony began to retell the story of her past life. With each words, it surprised Silver beyond belief. This time, she did not hide the fact that the situation took place in another world. The only thing she did leave out was that the empress was her from a past life. It was only after saying what she wanted to say did she continued with a frown, "After that, she left through the portal and returned to her own world. Seeing how she later gained power and fame, I suppose she must have found another way to utilize magic and started the first dark fae lineage in history."

"That's..."