The cloaked man watched the girl bow in her waist to him, his golden eyes narrowing.
"Raise! When I'm like this, treat me like an Academy teacher!" he ordered.
The girl straightened up and instead just bowed her head slightly.
The bow was smaller than when she bowed towards the night guards in thanks.
"Greetings, teachers. May I ask why I have been summoned to the Academy of Magic?" she asked with a polite smile.
The cloaked man was satisfied with the change in the way the girl treated him.
"You will find out shortly. Now let us move to a more private area," he motioned towards the carriage behind him.
The three people, the female teacher, the cloaked man, and the girl moved to the carriage.
What surprised the girl was that disregarding his identity, the man didn't get on the carriage first, instead extending his hand palm out to assist the teacher while she got on.
But, naturally, the girl didn't get such assistance.
The man hopped into the carriage right after the teacher, waiting for the girl to get in on her own.
Of course, the girl had expected such attitude towards herself.
And the fact that the man was acting towards the female teacher differently could only mean that she was somehow special.
But the girl couldn't yet guess who the woman was.
When writing her book, except the special cases like the cloaked man, she didn't describe the appearance of people.
So she didn't know who looked like what.
The woman could as well be the female lead of the book and she wouldn't realize.
But such an extreme was impossible, because the female lead wasn't a teacher in the Academy of Magic.
Of course, it was only impossible if it was taken that the female lead didn't put on the attire of a teacher because the cloaked man asked her to.
If that was the case, the teacher could be the female lead.
The girl decided not to think about it any more.
Eventually, she would find out who the woman was.
So, she just calmly sat down in the carriage, opposite the cloaked man and the female teacher.
Seeing her seated, the cloaked man raised his hand and knocked into the wall of the carriage three times.
The coachman understood that command and the carriage started moving.
"We can talk here," the man started, finally taking off the cloak to reveal the red robe beneath it.
It was sewn with golden threads the same color as his eyes.
The girl briefly glanced at the robe.
She knew what it would look like, having designed it, but seeing it in person was completely different than writing about it or sketching it to come up with the design.
And she had to admit (in her mind), she did a good job designing it, and the seamstresses sewing it.
The man continued speaking:
"Is it true that those with the Power of Death and Extinction carry no name? Or are you just a nameless case because you were born in poverty?"
The girl moved her gaze away from the robe to look at the man's face for a moment.
But she made sure not to look him directly in the eyes.
That would be the same as challenging him.
With her gaze down, she explained slowly.
"If I have to be honest, I'm not sure about the others. But with me, quite a few times, I came up with a name for myself. Even others tried to name me. But the names were always forgotten right after being spoken. A woman I knew tried to write the name down, but it ended up being an unrecognizable scribble. Even I don't remember the names."
Deliberately, the girl made it seem like she didn't know how it was with the names of the others with the same power as her.
Because if she said that everyone like her had it like that, the man would most probably assume she had met and interacted with others with the Power of Death and Extinction, and would demand to know where they were.
But the girl knew of no such person.
Well, she did know one from the book's plot, but she didn't know his whereabouts.
Only that he possessed the power.
So, she had nothing like that to tell the man.
So she had to make sure her words didn't sound like she knew others with the Power of Death and Extinction.
In fact, she was actually sure that the man knew the answer to his question, but he asked it just so he could deduce from her answer whether she had ever met another wielder of the Power of Death and Extinction.
But, just why was someone of his power, why were the Academy of Magic and the Emperor suddenly so interested in the Power of Death and Extinction?
Just like it was written in the letter she had received, they could just drive anyone with the power out of the Empire.
They had been doing it for the past decades.
So why the sudden change?
The time period the girl was in was just before the start of the book she wrote, so she didn't have knowledge about all that was happening in the Empire and the Academy of Magic.
So, she would have to see for herself what was going on.
But considering the time, what was going on at the moment could be the event that would set the main characters into motion.
Because while writing the book, the girl deliberately didn't write too much into detail about the event because things were already quite complicated even without explaining the event.
The rest of the carriage ride, nobody spoke.
Maybe it was because the man was trying to intimidate the girl to watch her reaction.
Having guessed that, she remained calm, crossing her legs lazily.
Since he wanted to see her composure, she would show him.
The ride was only about fifteen minutes before the carriage entered the Imperial Palace and stopped in front of the entrance.
The man was the first one to get off, helping the female teacher with an extended hand.
Then, the girl hopped off on her own.
When all three of them were off the carriage, the man turned towards the entrance.
Servants were lined up with bowed heads, and in front of the entrance stood a man with a guard on each side.
The man led the teacher and the girl to the man by the entrance.
Once they were just a few steps away from the entrance, the man there bowed down in his waist.
"Your Majesty, welcome back."
When the man in red robe, the Emperor, motioned for him to raise, the man bowed his head to the teacher.
"Archmage, we are greatly pleased with your visit."
The girl was completely ignored by everyone.
But she didn't mind it.
She had been expecting it to some extent.
As the Emperor led her and the female teacher into the palace, the girl looked over at the woman.
She could have thought that she would be the Archmage.
That was the only woman in the Empire whom the Emperor was so respectful towards.
Even the Empress didn't get such special treatment.
The Emperor led the girl and the Archmage into the drawing room.
He sat down first.
The Archmage sat opposite him and the girl remained standing in the middle of the room.
"You probably want to know why you have been called to the Capital when you weren't doing anything wrong in your hometown," the Emperor started.
He didn't wait for the girl to respond and continued.
"As you already know, those like you aren't looked on favorably on my land. It has been like that for centuries."
The Emperor started babbling on about how the wielders of Power of Death and Extinction were impure and such, expecting the girl to get angry at him.
But she remained silent, and calmly listened.
Seeing that the girl wasn't reacting, the Emperor let the Archmage continue.
The woman rose from her seat and walked over to the girl, stepping behind her.
"You should be happy our Emperor is magnanimous. Someone like you could have been killed the moment you have been discovered."
She walked around the girl, placing one of her hands on the girl's shoulders, dragging her fingers across her collarbone as she circled her.
"Especially after it has been discovered that the Varil Kingdom has been gathering filth like you to form an army and rise against us."
The girl finally understood what was going on, but she didn't let it be seen on her expression.
She just remained calm as the woman continued circling her.
As time went on, the woman kept saying harsher and harsher things, basically insulting the girl and calling her a demon spawn.
To the girl, her intentions were clear.
The Archmage, along with the Emperor, wanted to make her snap and attack.
Then, they could proceed with the plan.
The plan that caused the initial meeting of the two protagonists in the book the girl wrote.
But the girl remained silent, only speaking when an answer was demanded.
And those answers were very mild.
She had been the one to create the Emperor and the Archmage.
She had also been the one to create the wielders of the Power of Death and Extinction.
She knew which of the insults were true, which rumors, and which complete lies.
So, the words of the Archmage didn't affect her the least bit.
After some time, the Archmage had nothing more to say, so the Emperor had to speak again.
"As the Archmage had already said, a vile thing like you that could turn against us any moment could be killed off, but I see you are an innocent soul with no bad intentions. Thus, you will be allowed to study in the Academy of Magic. When you finish your studies, you will proceed to work for the Empire."
The girl could see in the Emperor's eyes that wasn't what he wanted.
But since she didn't snap, he had to follow through with the contents of the letter that had been sent to her.
And that had explicitly stated that she would become a student of the Academy.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" the girl once again bowed down in her waist.
"I could never be more thankful. I will for the rest of my life do my utmost best to serve the country."
The Emperor dismissed the girl and the Archmage took her with her to the Academy of Magic.
There would be the follow‑up procedures to accept the girl.
In reality, because of the plan, there was no place in the Academy of Magic for the girl, so it had to be arranged.
But, to keep up the decorum, everyone involved was trying to make it seem that everything was beforehand prepared.
The girl, watching it, was just smiling in her mind, admiring the hypocrisy of the world she had created.
Honestly, she wasn't worried that the plot of the book wouldn't start, that the protagonists wouldn't meet.
Since the Emperor failed with her, he would just find another wielder of the Power of Death and Extinction to provoke into snapping.