37. The Written Exam

Thoughts of the kiss wouldn't leave Arthur's mind. Even lying in his bed, he couldn't stop replaying that moment over and over. He remembered her face, her flushed cheeks, the slight hesitation in her movements before she quickly stepped forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. It had happened so fast that his mind didn't process it right away.

He ran his fingers over the spot where her lips had touched his skin.

Was it just an impulse? Or did it mean something more?

He wanted to understand, but too many questions swirled in his head, preventing him from reaching any clear conclusion. Anya had run off without saying a word—so she must have been embarrassed too. But then, what was he supposed to do? Pretend nothing happened? Or try to talk to her about it?

These thoughts only made his head pound harder. He tossed and turned in bed, but sleep wouldn't come.

By the time he finally drifted into a light doze, dawn was already breaking outside.

The next day started as usual—or at least, it seemed to on the surface.

But the moment Arthur saw Anya in the lecture hall, he realized that everything had changed.

She was sitting in her usual spot, but she looked tense. Normally, when he arrived, she would at least glance at him or smile. Today, though, she pretended to be completely absorbed in her book and didn't even look up when he sat beside her.

Arthur felt a twinge of unease. He wanted to say something casual, just to break the awkwardness—"Good morning," or "Did you sleep well?"—but the words caught in his throat.

Alright. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal?

He pretended not to notice anything, pulled out his textbook, and tried to focus.

But when he glanced slightly in her direction, he noticed her hands trembling as she turned a page.

Throughout the lecture, he kept feeling her presence next to him. Usually, it was comforting—something he was used to—but today, an invisible wall loomed between them.

During one of the classes, the professor suddenly called on Anya.

"Anya, explain the process of essence purification in alchemy."

She flinched and hurriedly stood up. But as she rose from her chair, her eyes met Arthur's for just a second.

Her cheeks instantly flushed, and she quickly turned away, pretending to focus on reaching the front.

Halfway to the professor, she nearly dropped her quill.

Arthur bit his lip to keep from smiling.

"So… um…" Anya began, flipping her book to the right page, though her voice wavered slightly.

She spoke a bit faster than usual, as if eager to finish quickly.

When she returned to her seat, she lowered her head and buried herself in her book again, avoiding Arthur's gaze.

Arthur sighed.

Why did everything have to get so complicated?

After classes, the tension only grew.

When the lessons ended, the students started gathering their things. Arthur lingered on purpose, hoping Anya would say something—anything.

But she stayed silent.

She shoved her books into her bag without looking at him and quickly headed toward the door.

Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but it was too late.

Anya had already disappeared through the doorway.

He just sat there, watching her go, without moving an inch.

Only one thought echoed in his mind: "Now what?"

---

Time passed quickly.

Several weeks went by in a blur of lectures, practical lessons, and homework. The tension between Arthur and Anya still lingered, but gradually they started talking again, though not as freely as before. At least now they could exchange a few words without blushing or avoiding eye contact.

And then came the day of the written exams.

All the students gathered in the large hall. Rows of desks were spaced out so no one could peek at anyone else's work. The walls, decorated with glowing symbols, suppressed any attempts to use magic, and ghostly blue eyes floated above their heads—enchantments meant to ensure honesty during the test.

Arthur took his seat, took a deep breath, and grabbed his quill, ready for the first question.

The initial tasks seemed too easy.

"Describe three methods to stabilize an unstable potion and list the ingredients that can extend its shelf life."

"Which of these magical arrays contains a critical error? Explain the potential consequences of its use."

He wrote down the answers quickly, barely needing to think. They had covered all of this in class. Judging by how confidently the other students scribbled away, most of them didn't find it too challenging either.

But then the questions got trickier.

"You are given a fragment of a magical diagram. Determine its purpose and identify the missing runes."

Arthur frowned. Now this was interesting.

A list of runes lay in front of him, but something was clearly missing from the sequence. He scanned the symbols, trying to spot a pattern. This spell… it was meant to enhance vision, but without a key component at the end, it would simply create a flash of light right in front of the caster's eyes.

He thought hard, running through possible solutions.

The "Vision" rune? No, too obvious. The "Absorption" rune? Maybe…

Arthur bit his lip, deep in thought.

Beside him, Anya was also hard at work. He noticed her occasionally raising her eyebrows as she read through the questions. She seemed to be struggling with some of the trickier ones too.

Finally, Arthur found the answer.

He carefully filled in the missing runes, double-checked his work, and moved on to the next question.

"There is a structural flaw in the given array. Find it and explain why using this array could be dangerous."

Now it was getting serious.

Arthur studied the diagram closely. At first glance, it seemed perfectly logical—but then he spotted something odd: one of the runes was out of place.

If someone used this array as it was, the energy flow would be misdirected, leading to a burst of power instead of a steady stream. Best case? The array would just break. Worst case? An explosion.

He remembered how the professor had once explained that such traps were often added to test students' attentiveness.

Arthur quickly corrected the diagram, wrote down his reasoning, and leaned back in his chair to review everything.

Scanning through his notes, he felt confident that he hadn't missed anything important.

The hall was filled with a tense silence—some students had finished and were staring at the ceiling, while others frantically scribbled down their final answers.

Anya, sitting beside him, set her quill down and let out a relieved sigh. She glanced at Arthur for a moment, but when their eyes met, she quickly looked away.

A few minutes later, the professor's voice rang out:

"Time's up. Put down your quills and set aside your papers."

The hall filled with sighs of relief and the sound of chairs scraping the floor.

Arthur stretched, trying to ease the stiffness in his fingers. The exam hadn't been as hard as he'd expected, but he was glad it was finally over.

***

The next morning, students crowded around a large magical screen where the exam results were displayed. The colorful symbols shimmered and shifted, responding to each student's focus—just by thinking of their name, the system would highlight their results.

Arthur and Anya stepped closer, trying to find their scores among the hundreds of names.

"Well? Do you see them?" Anya asked nervously, leaning in.

Arthur scanned the list until familiar names caught his eye.

"Oh, there! We passed!" He grinned, leaning forward.

"Show me!" Anya leaned in, quickly spotting her name.

Anya: 92 points.

Arthur: 95 points.

"Wow!" she gasped, her eyes wide with excitement. "You scored even higher than me!"

"You did great too," Arthur smiled.

Anya stared at the numbers for a few moments, as if not believing them. Then, without thinking, she threw her arms around Arthur in a spontaneous hug.

"We did it!" she exclaimed, barely containing her joy.

Arthur froze. Her warm arms wrapped around him, her fiery curls—smelling of herbs and pastries—tickled his neck. His heart started racing.

But within moments, Anya realized what she had done and quickly pulled away, her face turning bright red.

"Oh… um… sorry… I just… well…" She fumbled for words, staring at the ground.

"It's fine," Arthur replied quickly, trying to hide his own embarrassment. "You're right—we did great."

Anya nodded, but now she found it hard to meet his gaze.

Around them, other students were chatting excitedly about their results. Most had passed, though a few less fortunate ones—who had skipped classes all semester—barely made the cut.

"So… should we celebrate?" Anya asked, trying to break the awkwardness.

"Why not?" Arthur finally relaxed. "How about some pastries?"

She laughed.

"Yeah! I know just the place…"