Chapter 97:
The specially recruited students who entered Full Bloom every year were selected from among commoners, not nobles. It was a system that had been established to provide opportunities to commoners with talent.
And there was another unique rule to Full Bloom’s special recruitment system: the sponsorship system.
The sponsorship system required marquis families and above in the capital to take turns selecting a specially recruited student to enroll in Full Bloom each year.
The chosen family would then carefully select the child with the most outstanding talent and potential from among the commoners in their territory.
Any kind of talent was acceptable. Magical ability, knightly ability, scholarly ability, political ability. Even culinary skills were fine, as long as they were exceptional.
The sponsoring family had a duty to provide financial and educational support to the child they had selected until graduation, to help them adapt to life in the capital.
It was a way to promote noblesse oblige and further enhance the authority of the capital nobles.
Since the specially recruited students were chosen from their sponsors’ territories, most of them ended up working for their sponsoring families after graduation. Some became maids, some were appointed to important positions, and some even started their own businesses.
But no one had ever brought down their sponsoring family and married the next emperor, like Soran Halo.
Soran Halo wasn’t even from the Lopetrefer territory, she was from the Wastelands, where monsters roamed freely, but Duke Lopetrefer had personally recruited her as a specially recruited student after searching for her in the underworld.
And the Lopetrefer family had initially planned to appoint Halo to one of the most important positions in the family.
For example, as Michaela Lopetrefer’s assistant.
The fact that they had considered appointing a commoner from the Wastelands as the assistant to Michaela, the first successful product of the Lopetrefer family, meant that Soran Halo’s potential was immense.
“Ahem, ahem, then you should get along with your sponsoring family. But Lady Enzhe is a bit shy, so it’s best not to get too close to her.”
It was Sue who smiled with satisfaction at Ains’s tireless advice.
‘But it’ll happen anyway.’
That was the nature of protagonists. There was nothing she could do about it.
Fritz was quiet all day. On the first day, both boys and girls had flattered him, thrilled to be in the same class as the son of the Fritz grand duke family. But all they received in return were indifferent glances and perfunctory responses.
Only the former Golden Lion Class students, like Ains, who knew his personality, hadn’t bothered to pay attention to him. Fritz might even prefer to be with his old classmates.
***
Enzhe was in the Red Snake Class. It wasn’t surprising, considering the Red Snake was the symbolic beast of the Lopetrefer grand duke family. But the owner of the symbolic beast didn’t seem to care about such things. She was in a bad mood, simply because she was in a different class from her fiancé.
“Why did Grand Duke Antique create this system…? Why are you in the same class as Shina…?”
Enzhe couldn’t even get angry, unable to blame Antique Fritz for creating the system. She just crumpled Sue’s sleeve, who had come to see her.
“Lady Enzhe, don’t worry too much. Master Fritz seems to miss you too. So…”
Sue trailed off, trying to appease her, as she saw a familiar figure enter the classroom.
‘That’s… the girl I saw this morning.’
It was the girl she had run into in front of the dormitory. The girl with the soft, wavy light purple hair disappeared into the crowd before she could notice Sue.
‘She’s my classmate.’
She didn’t remember seeing her in the sixth-year building. She must have been a transfer student.
“…Sue, are you listening to me?”
“Ah, yes, yes! Of course!”
Sue had been reminiscing about the moment she had seen the girl, her appearance as delicate as a fairy, bathed in the morning sunlight, but she quickly snapped back to reality at her master’s whining.
***
A few days later, Sue was summoned to the Vava marquis residence by Melaine.
‘I have something for you. I would like you to come to our mansion.’
Melaine had come to the Golden Lion Class to invite her, but Sue couldn’t think of anything she had to receive from her. When she asked what it was, Melaine wouldn’t tell her.
She could have just given it to her at the academy, but she seemed to be against that, frowning and firmly rejecting Sue’s suggestion.
In the end, it was decided that Sue would go to the Vava marquis residence. It wasn’t a big deal, so she didn’t mind.
“Lady Meli is waiting in the parlor.”
Sue got out of the carriage, adjusted her thin cotton dress, and followed the maid’s instructions.
Melaine’s private parlor was on the third floor of the annex. As she reached the parlor, the maid guarding the door stopped her.
“There’s already a guest inside.”
The maid smiled awkwardly and knocked on the parlor door.
“Miss, Lady Sue is here.”
The door opened before she could even wait for a response. Sue was surprised by the quick reaction.
“S-Sue, you’re here early.”
She had only arrived ten minutes earlier than scheduled.
But Melaine blinked rapidly, her face filled with surprise, as if she hadn’t expected her at all.
What? Didn’t she receive a report?
“…Ah.”
And then, Sue saw what Melaine was trying so desperately to hide, through the gap in the hurriedly closing door. She looked like a child trying to hide a precious treasure.
“…Did you see?”
Melaine’s voice trembled as she leaned against the door, her arms outstretched.
Had she seen something she wasn’t supposed to?
Sue, feeling a pang of guilt, just nodded stiffly.
It was Acrea. Woo Acrea.
The sight of him sitting on the sofa in the Vava mansion’s parlor, holding a teacup with an emotionless expression, was unforgettable.
His platinum blonde eyes, devoid of any emotion, were clearly looking at her.
“I’m sorry, I interrupted you.”
Sue said insincerely, trying to break the stiff atmosphere.
“No, I invited you. Let’s go to my room.”
Melaine shook her head and gently pushed Sue’s back. But Melaine’s gentle push was a strong force for Sue. Her legs moved involuntarily on the red carpet.
“What was it that you said you wanted to give me?”
“Oh, it’s in my room. Let’s go.”
Sue had no choice but to follow her insistent urging.
Melaine’s room was in the main building. Sue didn’t question why she had brought her all the way to the annex, just following her obediently.
“You seem to be close to Master Acrea these days, Lady Melaine.”
Sue asked, pretending to be clueless, as Acrea’s emotionless face kept flashing through her mind. Melaine smiled gently, as if reading her thoughts.
“Sue, it’s not like that with him.”
“Really?”
“Yes… Not right now, but you’ll find out soon. My sister told me not to tell anyone. So please keep what you saw today a secret, okay?”
Melaine winked playfully.
If it wasn’t ‘like that’ with him, then it was ‘like that’ with someone else?
Sue didn’t dare to ask any further questions.
But the ‘that’ Melaine was referring to and the ‘that’ Sue was thinking of were definitely the same thing. The possibilities were limited.
For example, an arranged marriage between families.
If it wasn’t Woo Acrea, then the most likely scenario was that the Vava family had arranged a marriage between Melaine and someone from the Acrea branch family.
‘To think Melaine is getting married.’
Melaine always talked about her sister, so Sue had assumed she would never get married. And it was even more surprising because she knew Melaine’s fate in the novel.
‘I should tell Ten to prepare a bouquet.’
***
Melaine’s room was entirely white, as if covered in snow. The bed, the table, the curtains, the walls – everything was painted white, making it look like a hospital room.
Melaine immediately retrieved something from the bottom drawer of her desk.
“This is what I wanted to give you.”
“This… is…”
Sue’s face slowly hardened as she took the object with both hands. It had been a while since she had last seen it, but she recognized it.
“It’s a music box.”
“Music box?”
Melaine replied in a disinterested tone.
“It was a music box, huh? Anyway, Raines Noel left it behind. I was going to throw it away, thinking it was trash, but I just left it there.”
Melaine quickly brushed her hands off, as if she didn’t even want to touch the music box.
As Sue had said, it was a music box. A shell-shaped music box, a familiar shape.
“I didn’t want to give it to Raines Noel myself, and I didn’t want to send a servant either. Sue, will you give it to him?”
The music box she had given to the boy who suited the blue sea, on a summer day.
Sue stared at the cheap craft, back in her possession, barely listening to Melaine’s words. Then, she slowly nodded.
“Yes, I’ll give it to him once his probation is over.”
That was all Melaine had wanted to give her. Sue had wondered if she would be offered tea, but Melaine was clearly preoccupied with Acrea, who was waiting in the parlor.
Sue tactfully declined the tea, feeling like an unwelcome guest, even though she had been invited.