"Claire, what are you doing here?" Nero asked the moment he sighted the fairy.
"To clarify a misunderstanding." She responded as she confidently made her way to Axel.
"A misunderstanding?" Link said with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yes." She nodded. "The light show from last night did indeed but it had nothing to do with the return of the divine fairy."
"I see," Nero said with a subtle nod. "Enlighten us then."
Link didn't particularly like where this was going but he had no choice but to slowly return to his seat alongside Nero.
He released Vesper from her confinement afterwards, and the young vampire couldn't be any happier as she cleaned off the dust on her body. Well, she was mostly happy because Claire was here now.
With everyone now settled down, Claire cleared her throat.
"As you all know, my student was gravely injured yesterday and almost died."
"Almost?" A vampire from Link's side of the seats interjected. "I thought he was confirmed dead."
"Yes, I also heard he was confirmed dead." Another vampire.
Already prepared for that reaction, Claire remained calm as she answered.
"That was a fake result from a medical staff who couldn't be bothered to do her job well." She responded articulately.
The vampires still had their suspicions, but they were more interested in what she was going to say next, so they remained silent.
"That fully golden light had nothing to do with Axel actually." She said.
"Oh, then where did it come from?" Link retorted.
"From this." She replied, presenting the golden orb.
Both the vampires and fairies were left scratching their heads wondering how that had anything to do with what happened last night.
"Most of you might not know about it, and that's because this is a long-lost relic created by the fairy goddess herself." She disclosed.
A series of gasps swept through the hall as the members of the board suddenly began to whisper among themselves.
"The fairy goddess created a relic?"
"I never heard about it."
"Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous. The main purpose of this orb is to amplify a fairy's healing abilities by at least fifty per cent."
Those words were mostly directed at Link, whose expression turned hostile the moment she mentioned a relic left by the fairy goddess.
The old vampire's response to her was a huff as he slowly got up on his feet.
"You've said a lot of things but you still haven't explained how the light show last night happened?"
"Open your eyes then," Claire smirked.
Vesper, who had been watching from the side, didn't particularly have any idea how their teacher was planning to get them out of this, but she surprisingly believed in her more than she would like to.
With the orb still in her hand, Claire suddenly began to infuse it with her light element.
The ball received a very bright golden glow at that moment, and soon afterwards, a stream of light shot out from the ball upward.
The members of the board, including Link, couldn't believe their eyes; it was the full golden colour just like last night, a higher level of the light element that was unique to the fairy goddess, the divine light.
Link was at a loss for words, and deep down, he felt really relieved.
"This is what happens whenever a fairy uses this golden orb. I was only trying to heal my student, I didn't expect it to cause this much trouble."
Seeing it with their own eyes, the board no longer had any grounds for argument and given Claire's explanation, there was no reason to doubt her.
Letting out a sigh, Link slowly sat back in his seat.
"I suppose it was really a misunderstanding." He said. "You can leave now." He gestured to them.
They were about to leave when a vampire interrupted.
"Hold on."
'What is it now?' Vesper grumbled inwardly as he turned to them.
The vampire's gaze fell on her at that moment, and without hesitation, he spoke, "What did you do with the body of the fairy you murdered last night?"
"Yes, I was going to bring that up but forgot." A fairy added.
"Does it matter what I did with his body?" Vesper retorted her usual domineering seemed to have suddenly found its way back to her.
Axel was finally out of danger now so she no longer had anything to worry about.
"You might be a princess but killing a fellow student is a serious offence that warrants serious punishment." The vampire snapped.
"Hypocrite." Vesper huffed. "I would listen to you if you had lectured that bastard for almost killing my friend. But you know what? I went to his room that night and found him getting ready to go to bed like nothing ever happened."
"Even though it is still not your place to punish your classmates." The vampire retorted. "Even His Majesty has no say in how we handle a case like this; you will have to accept your punishment, Your Highness."
"What if she didn't kill anybody?" A voice rang out from the back.
Everyone turned their attention to the area to see a tall and young vampire standing there.
He was wearing a long black coat, which was unbuttoned to reveal the black shirt he was wearing inside, which hugged his body, revealing his perfect abs.
That was Michael Nan, a vampire teacher at the Academy.
"Are you looking for him?"
He suddenly grabbed the person behind him by his arm to reveal the supposedly dead fairy.
He was standing normally so there was no way he was dead.
"He's alive?" The vampire, who seemed to have it out for Vesper, gasped.
Seeing his reaction, the princess couldn't help but smile.
________ ________
Vesper had indeed made her decision to end Ivan's life that night but what her dagger ended up piercing when she aimed for his chest ended up being someone's palm.
Michael had arrived in the nick of time to stop her.
He didn't even flinch at that dagger going through his hand.
With the same hand, he grabbed Vesper by her arm and pulled her forward just to send her staggering backward with his right palm.
"When you calm down later, you'll realize how huge a favour I just did for you, your highness."
She regained her composure soon afterwards, but when she looked ahead, neither Ivan nor Michael were there.
Thinking back at that, Vesper couldn't feel more grateful.