The content of the test spanned from the basic history to general knowledge such as the names of the Kings of several nations. That portion was fairly easy. However, there was a section of ‘Moral Values’, which contained questions where we had to provide answers which the academy agreed upon. I was quite worried that Sirius might fail this part of the test, as his moral values were clearly very innocent, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn he had passed too.

“You lied in the ‘Moral Values’ section, didn’t you?” I asked, mockingly.

“I didn’t lie! I just gave the answers they wanted. That’s not lying.” Sirius answered while averting his eyes away from me. Our results came out as soon as we handed in our papers, and of course, most of the people passed. Actually, all of the nobility passed and only the commoners failed. It was expected though. What would a commoner know about politics and nobility’s moral values?

We left the room and noticed that the next batch was getting ready to enter the room. The failed commoners left the room along with us and their appearance clearly affected the commoners who were getting ready to enter.. Yet I noticed a girl, with black hair and black eyes, standing alone to the side with a confident demeanour. She was wearing shabby clothes and her eyes seemed to be assessing everyone around her. Her back was straight and her face expressionless, but her eyes were filled with fiery determination. In this area filled with either depressed or relaxed faces, her demeanour immediately attracted my attention.

“There is still some time for the next entrance trial. Should we just go there and wait?” Sirius’ question pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Hmm.. we should. It's not like we have anything to do here anyway.”

However, before we could walk away, I noticed several people coming towards us. By their looks, they were clearly of noble birth while some of them seemed to be from High Nobility. Their garbs were accentuated by the gold jewelleries they wore and their gait showed the confidence they had in themselves. Most of them had blonde hair, with some variation in colour density, while some had red hair. They came up to us, and with as much amiability as the children from High Nobility could muster, they greeted Sirius.

“It is an honour to meet the Heir of Frye.”

The girl at the front, with golden blonde hair, spoke pleasantly. She raised her hand for a handshake while smiling brightly.

“I am Hope, from the House Woodrow. Our house isn’t anywhere as accomplished as the House Frye but it is still considered High Nobility by the generous grace of His Majesty, The King.”

Pretty amazing, little girl. I wonder how many years she spent learning to talk like that.

Sirius took her hand and shook it lightly.

“I am Sirius. It's nice to meet you.” Sirius answered simply. The other people behind Hope Woodrow also introduced themselves one by one, but no one really seemed that important to me. They stuck to the girl with the status of High Nobility to feel more important. Even the ones I had previously assumed to be High Nobility just gave off that feeling due to the uselessly extravagant clothes they were wearing.

“We are also going to the last trial. Why don’t we go together?” Hope Woodrow asked.

“Sure. I don’t mind. Let’s go Mehr.” Sirius turned to me as he called me along. The eyes of the nobles changed as their gazes fell on me. The admiration they showed for Sirius had turned into envy as they looked at me.

“Of course, the commoner can tag along as well.” The girl, Hope, said with a smile.

“Mehr.” I said my name to no one in particular and started walking beside Sirius. For me, there wasn’t any reason to get angry or feel disrespected due to other people’s opinions, and even more so when those other people were mere children. I had lived most of my past life mulling over what people thought of me. Look where that got me.

While I was walking on the left side of Sirius, I noticed that Hope got on his right side and tried to make some small talk. Her questions ranged from ‘do you find the academy comfortable’ to ‘do you like anyone in particular’. The way she navigated herself through the sea of questions was really admirable. She really had a talent for speaking.

Well, her talent didn’t really work on Sirius though. The answers to most of the questions she asked were either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Unfortunately, the answer to the most important question, ‘do you like anyone in particular?’ returned a really tragic answer for her.

“Yes I do. I like Mehr.”

The answer made Hope stumble on her words, while Sirius just kept smiling. I knew he was just messing with her at this point. Not because he understood her intentions, but only because he felt fed up by the unceasing questions. So, as any friend would, I started adding fuel to the fire.

“Aw, I like you too Sirius.” I answered while looking at him lovingly. Bewilderment had taken home on Hope’s face as she struggled to look for some words to say. However, we had already reached the room where our last trial was supposed to take place.

It was a hall, not as big as the main training hall, but big enough to fit around 200 people easily. There was a massive Gate in the middle of the hall and the air around the Gate was distorted to form a solid curtain that showed the visions inside the Gate. In those visions, many children of our age were running around a forest while attacking each other. All of them seemed to be running towards a similar direction while trying to get away from each other.

“Wow…” A remark escaped my mouth unwittingly. I had never seen something like this ever before. It was the first time, since coming to this world, that I actually got to experience the difference. Watching scenes that seemed to be happening far away, was beyond my wildest imaginations.

“You’ve never seen an Escren before? How pathetic, commoner.” One of the people walking behind Hope spoke up.

“It is not surprising though. He is, after all, a commoner. Isn’t that right, Sirius?” Hope jumped on the comment that her friend made. She looked at Sirius, happily waiting to get a reply but her smile died down instantly. Sirius was also looking at the magical curtains, called Escren, with his mouth wide open.

“Amazing….” Words finally left Sirius’ mouth after a moment. I chuckled looking at this scene as I realised how different Sirius’ life was when compared to other noble children. I also chuckled while looking at Hope’s expression of helplessness.

The road of love, infatuation in this case, is a road full of hurdles. This little girl still has a lot to learn.