Chapter 1

I'd never had much self-control. Whenever I sat down to study, I wanted to slack off halfway through.

I was a quick learner, though, so my grades were always decent.

But I was a runt whose dragon soul had never awakened. To learn the ancient magic that could fix my body, I needed to take first place in the Trials.

Ugh.

So I had no choice but to use a little dark magic.

If only I had a cold, aloof professor to make me practice.

Someone who'd whip me and drip hot candle wax on me any time I didn't listen...

The next second, I was in the [Can't Leave Until You Rank Up] room.

Inside stood a dragon professor so handsome he was almost intimidating. He stared at me like he was wondering who the hell I was.

"So," I asked him, "what exactly is the punishment?"

Marcel looked as if he'd been teleported straight out of the shower. His hair was still damp, and everything about him said keep your distance.

He was too aloof to answer me.

I thought about the censored punishment footage. I could still faintly hear the crack of that whip.

"Oh!" It hit me. "So if I don't rank up, my teacher canes me?"

Marcel gave me an odd look and didn't explain.

He only told me to get moving.

"Work through the problems."

He probably couldn't be bothered wasting words on a runt dragon. He picked up the notebook where I logged my mistakes and flipped through it to see where I was struggling.

Then he stopped.

He'd spotted another guy's handwriting in my notebook.

It was Jason Reed's.

Jason and I had been inseparable since we were kids. Everyone around us assumed we'd end up together. So did I.

He loved combat drills, which made him a great sparring partner for me.

He used to offer to help me practice my magic.

But with the Dragon Trials coming up, he suddenly dropped me and started coaching Rebecca Lyle instead.

I'd already climbed to second place, and he still turned me down.

His exact words?

"Rebecca's already awakened her fire dragon soul. She's got way more potential than a half-baked runt like you. From now on, I'm only coaching her."

I asked him, "Didn't we promise we'd pass the Trials together and get assigned to the same territory?"

He looked annoyed.

"Yeah, well, I don't want that anymore.

"She's my girlfriend. You're not."

His girlfriend had once dumped a pile of dead rats she'd used for potion-making at my feet, then sneered at me.

"Cordelia, your chances of passing the Trials are as dead as these rats."

Right then and there, I'd used a teleportation spell to send every one of those rotting, stinking rats to my secret hideout.

Someday, I'm going to give every last one of them back!

Just remembering it made me furious.

Because I only had a few scales on my arms, everyone assumed I was lizard-kin and looked down on me for it.

I needed first place badly. I wanted to crush Jason and Rebecca, but even more, I wanted to overcome the weakness I'd been born with.

But before any of that, there was the monthly exam.

Thinking about the ultimate punishment, I tensed up.

"Professor, I'll do my best to move up. As for the ultimate punishment..."

Marcel gave me a long, meaningful look and cut me off.

"None of that is going to happen.

"Pay attention. I'm only going over your mistakes once."