Mo Yue lowered her head, cheeks against the ground. Collins could only see the top of her sister's head. Mo Yue was clearly trying to suppress something, but her emotions overwhelmed her control. Collins occasionally noticed the twitching of Mo Yue's cheeks and faint sobbing sounds escaping from her nose and mouth.

Collins knew that Mo Yue was crying, but she was trying to hold back. This stubbornness made Collins sigh and shake her head.

"Well, you..."

Upon hearing Collins' voice, Mo Yue visibly trembled.

"I, I just got sand in my eyes..."

Do you believe that yourself?

Collins felt helpless. Her sister was too stubborn, even finding excuses for crying.

Aphex walked over, handing a warm beverage to Collins. He then pointed to a corner after Mo Yue and wisely gave the siblings enough space and time.

Collins handed the drink to Mo Yue, who took it. Perhaps the warmth of the liquid and its pleasant taste could indeed soothe one's heart. Mo Yue's quiet sobbing stopped, but her shiny red eyes remained moist, as if a few more tears could fall at any moment.

However, when those soft, watery eyes met Collins', she realized that her appearance in her sister's eyes contained some degree of rejection.

Mo Yue did not want to sit with Collins, which was evident in her gaze. It made Collins feel the urge to leave.

"Aren't you going to ask anything?"

"If you don't say, I won't ask."

"Why?"

"There are some things in this world that even remembering them brings pain, let alone talking to others about them."

"Especially to someone you don't like."

Mo Yue turned her head away.

"Thank you... for earlier..."

"Hmm, no need for thanks. If you can give me a little bit of the respect I deserve as your elder brother in the future when you need me, that's enough."

"I can't..."

"Why? How have I offended you? You look at me as if you've seen a ghost."

Mo Yue remained silent.

Collins sighed and rubbed her temples.

After a long while, Mo Yue's lips squirmed as she spoke the first sentence to Collins.

"Actually, in junior high, I had a boyfriend."

Collins acknowledged with an "oh." Before junior high, Collins and Mo Yue didn't know each other, so Collins had no way of knowing what happened during that time.

"Later on, I found out that the boyfriend I was dating was also dating many other girls from school. It was an understatement to say he was two-timing."

"And one of the girls he was seeing happened to be the woman who accused me of cheating during the test."

Things between women are truly... complicated.

"According to your words, the one who did something wrong was that man, so why did that woman have a grudge against you? It's not like that man blamed you for seducing her boyfriend, right?"

"No, that woman knew that her boyfriend was seeing many other girls and wasn't even angry about that. She just found out about it before anyone else and was the first to break up with her boyfriend. Then that boyfriend claimed he had wanted to break up with her long ago. I don't know how much better that makes her."

Mo Yue clenched her teeth and trembled with anger.

"At that time, it would have been fine if it stopped there, but that man, in order to protect his own image, insulted Aiya in front of almost everyone. He tried to belittle her abilities by praising me, saying Aiya was petty and loose, not worthy of being human, while I was the complete opposite."

"Unfortunately, that guy had a good reputation and many people believed him. And because I never came out to explain, ever since that time, Aiya stood against me."

Collins reached out to touch Mo Yue's head, but Mo Yue felt it and turned to glare at Collins' hand. Collins retracted her hand, answering with some helplessness, "If it wasn't your fault, then it was an innocent disaster. But it's okay, once you enter Hawk Academy, your boring classmates won't come looking for you everywhere.""Well, we probably won't see them again in the future," Collins said.

The two fell into silence for a while.

"Alright," Collins got up.

"It's getting late, let's go home early."

"Wait," Mo Yue grabbed Collins' sleeve, causing him to turn around.

"Brother, do you think...”

It was rare for Mo Yue to call him brother.

"I... do I have talent for learning magic?" Mo Yue asked.

"Well, I would say you have some," Collins replied.

"...Some?" Mo Yue questioned.

"Yes, first-tier magic cannot be used by those without talent. You do have the talent for magic, but it seems that your teachers haven't done a good job in helping you develop your potential."