Melissa was a little taken aback by such a quick change, but still replied with a slight blush:
"And you thought I didn't know anything! I have friends, by the way..." Melissa realised that she had made a slight mistake in her expression, not because of the comparison between her and the guy, but because of the number, so she quietly corrected herself, "...friend".
"Why is she only one! I thought girls from noble families just grow up and become bargaining chips for power and connections to other noble families." Daniel was genuinely surprised by this fact and said it without any euphemisms.
"You..." Melissa again could not find a way to respond to his rash words with the same fervour as before, "You shouldn't talk about others like that, because such criticism at the Academy could backfire on you in the future, because many of our peers from noble families will be there, and not everyone there will be able to tolerate your barbs at them." Melissa said this, but Daniel's face showed nothing but anticipation for her explanation of her past.
"Eh... let's forget it for now... "the girl decided that it would be better to tell him about herself instead of teaching him how to communicate with others, after all it would be much easier now, "I was born into an Aqua family, my father is the head of the family, so it should have been like you said, but..." Melissa thought of a better way to explain it, "my body is special and I've been able to learn to control the element of water more easily since birth, that's why the Council of Elders of our family took an interest in me. I had spent my whole life trying to understand why I was being kept in the family mansion, but the answer came too suddenly. One of our family's soldiers was discussing my mother with another, and that's when I found out that my mother was a concubine originally from the Desolate Empire. I don't quite understand why this is important, but now I've started to notice the difference in my skin colour from the rest of the family more often. Melissa explained the question.
"So you don't know why you were kept away from other people!" Daniel could only wonder.
"How should I know! I'm only twelve years old, and my father and mother have never said anything sensible to me, except to complain that I should be more relaxed. I even asked Uncle Clantis about it once, but he couldn't tell me anything, although I could see in his eyes that he was hiding a lot about it. So all I had to do was learn what I was taught and read fiction books to keep myself occupied. That's my life..." Melissa calmly told about her confusing past, waiting for a reaction from Daniel.
"Yeah... I don't even know how to feel about it..." Daniel replied, just like Melissa had a while before, because he didn't really know what to say, "I've read about the Desolate Empire, but I can't even begin to guess. They're the only ones who basically use fire as their element. I really wanted to look into it as soon as I found it, as fire was a symbol for many of the tragedies I've heard about, but the Desolate Empire itself has relatively good relations with the Oasis Empire and the Gaia Empire, so I couldn't connect them to these attacks until now".
Then they both fell silent in thought. Melissa almost involuntarily felt some bitterness in her memories, and Daniel kept trying to figure out what he was missing in his thoughts about the fire mages, but his brain still couldn't help unravelling the mystery. But Melissa stepped back from her memories a little and decided to ask the one question she had always been reluctant to ask, not wanting to hear a negative answer.
"Do you think they're... alive?" Melissa faltered a little at the end of the question, clenching her palms together in preparation for the worst.
"I don't know..." Daniel replied very calmly, looking thoughtfully into the distance, "I've been thinking about this for a very long time, so I've thought too much about the worst outcome. I really don't want this situation to happen, but if they are dead, I don't even know who to turn to except Duke Eldsem," the boy sank into his thoughts, which had made him despondent before, but now he tried to think more rationally, trying not to use his emotions, after all it was just the two of them here and he should think about what to do if the situation didn't change.