The air in the girls' dormitory was thick with an unspoken tension, a strange undercurrent that Christina couldn't ignore. As she walked through the common room, her sharp eyes caught the subtle shifts in behavior. Her friends, daughters of viscounts and counts, who once giggled and gossiped without care, now avoided each other's gazes. Even the baronesses' daughters, usually so lively, seemed to shrink into themselves, their faces flushed with something akin to guilt.
"What in the world is going on?" Christina muttered under her breath, her short dark hair bouncing as she tilted her head, scanning the room. The caretakers, too, looked unusually pale, their usual stern demeanor replaced by nervous glances and hurried steps. Something was off.
Determined to uncover the truth, Christina lingered near the staircase, pretending to adjust her shawl while eavesdropping on two caretakers whispering in the hallway.
