Episode 66
Elonia had thought she had resolved the issue with Dianne, but it seemed like she had been mistaken.
Dianne subtly started avoiding her after that day.
“Elonia, sorry! I’m having lunch with my Theology Department friends today.”
“Oh, you’ve gotten close to them?”
“We actually have a lot in common. Enjoy your lunch!”
Dianne disappeared without another word.
Elonia felt a pang of loneliness.
‘Well, I can’t rely on Dianne forever.’
Dianne didn’t have to have lunch with her every single day.
Elonia ignored the possibility that Dianne was deliberately distancing herself, a possibility she desperately wanted to deny.
She decided to grab a sandwich at the cafe and prepare for her next class while eating.
But after walking a few steps, she changed her mind.
‘The weather’s nice. Maybe I should study outside.’
Right, it would be a good change of pace.
Elonia bought a sandwich and a pudding from the cafe and settled down on a relatively empty bench.
She finished her sandwich, her gaze glued to her textbook as she ate her pudding.
But her mind wasn’t focused on the words.
‘…Why can’t I concentrate? I need to focus.’
The material wasn’t difficult, even for a Caroline class.
She rubbed her eyes, trying to concentrate, but then another distraction appeared.
A large shadow loomed over her.
“My, my, what is the esteemed princess of Ravanta doing in such a humble place? And crying, no less.”
“…Princess Olivia?”
Olivia sneered, looking down at her.
Their eyes often met during their Academic Department class.
But this was the first time Olivia had approached her and provoked her since their first encounter.
Elonia, embarrassed that she was alone, without her friend, retorted,
“I wasn’t crying.”
“You just rubbed your eyes.”
“Does the princess think everyone who rubs their eyes is crying?”
“Your eyes are red. It would be strange if you weren’t crying.”
“…!”
Elonia quickly touched her eyes.
When someone asked if you were crying, especially when you were feeling emotional, it was easy to tear up, even if you weren’t actually sad.
That was exactly what was happening now.
Elonia met Olivia’s gaze, her chin held high.
“Go away, Princess.”
“You’re in my way, Your Highness.”
“That’s ridiculous—”
“Sister!”
Just then, Simon and Lucius appeared.
Lucius, frowning at Elonia’s red eyes, spoke to Olivia in a cold voice,
“I told you not to cause trouble.”
“I didn’t make her cry.”
“Sister…!”
“Your Highness.”
Olivia, momentarily flustered by their contrasting reactions, snorted and raised her hands in surrender.
“Fine, fine, let’s go.”
She turned and walked away.
Simon, looking troubled, bowed to Elonia and hurried after Olivia.
But for some reason, Lucius didn’t leave.
Elonia finally spoke,
“Aren’t you going?”
Lucius remained silent, then bowed to her.
“I apologize on behalf of Princess Olivia if she offended you with her words.”
When they first met, Lucius had been polite but cold and distant. But this time, there was a hint of genuine remorse in his tone.
He also seemed to be looking at her with pity.
Elonia, annoyed, glared at him and dismissed him.
“…It wasn’t because of Princess Olivia. Just go.”
“…”
“I said go.”
Lucius hesitated, as if frozen in place, then finally left.
Elonia, alone once again, slammed her book shut.
She tilted her head back and muttered,
“Ugh… This sucks.”
Why was she feeling so down?
It couldn’t be just because of Dianne. Dianne had her own life, it would be strange to expect her to spend every moment with Elonia.
She was used to being alone.
Being treated like a stranger by Olivia and Simon, being subjected to Lucius’s cold gaze – those were things she had to endure as the Ravanta princess.
But,
“This is so annoying.”
This unfamiliar feeling of unease gnawed at her.
What had gone wrong?
She had been happy every day before coming to the academy. Now, there wasn’t a single day where she felt genuinely happy.
“Ugh!”
A boy screamed, and Elonia’s rapier gleamed under the sunlight.
She had effortlessly defeated a boy twice her size in her basic swordsmanship sparring class.
Elonia, her breathing even, straightened her posture, while the boy lay on the ground, exhausted.
An eerie silence fell upon the training grounds.
She had already defeated over ten students.
The fear of accidentally injuring the princess with a real sword had been replaced by a reluctance to spar with her at all.
“Professor, I sprained my ankle…”
“I-I’m feeling dehydrated…”
“I have a sore throat.”
“…Go rest.”
Professor Gunnar, the instructor for the basic sparring class and the head of the Swordsmanship Department, didn’t even bother questioning the relevance of a sore throat to swordsmanship.
‘What’s going on?’
He had initially been unhappy about being assigned to this class, a class with students from other departments.
It was understandable.
He had been assigned to this class specifically to prevent the princess from getting injured during sparring.
While everyone was supposedly equal under the pursuit of knowledge, Elonia was the sole heir to the throne, so this level of special treatment was understandable. But Gunnar still found it annoying.
‘…I heard she was learning swordsmanship from Lady Asta, but I assumed it was just for self-defense. This is unexpected.’
Elonia hadn’t stood out during their first class.
But today was different.
How many students had she already defeated?
She was truly Artius’s daughter.
‘She was hiding her true skills.’
She was a Magic Department student, so she probably didn’t want to cause trouble in the Swordsmanship Department.
But what had gotten into her today?
“Professor.”
“Ah, Elonia.”
“It seems like I don’t have any more sparring partners.”
Gunnar looked around the training grounds.
Apart from the students already paired up and sparring, everyone else was hiding, feigning injuries, avoiding her gaze.
Gunnar sighed.
“Then I shall be your opponent.”
“You, Professor?”
Elonia was surprised.
Professor Gunnar, befitting his position as department head, was a Sword Master.
And he was offering to spar with a nine-year-old freshman?
‘What a treat.’
She might lack strength due to her age, but she had ten years of experience wielding a sword in actual combat.
Sparring with children was boring and required her to hold back.
Elonia eagerly adjusted her grip on her sword.
Her lavender eyes, usually gentle, gleamed with a predatory intensity.
“Thank you, Professor.”
“…That’s a good look in your eyes.”
Professor Gunnar drew his sword.
The students, their swords forgotten, watched intently as the head of the Swordsmanship Department and the top freshman of the Magic Department, the Imperial Princess, faced off.
The result…
“And thus, the principle behind this magic is—”
Elonia, having finished her morning swordsmanship class, was now attending Professor Caroline’s “Ancient Magic” lecture, a class for upperclassmen.
But she couldn’t focus.
‘Professor Gunnar was holding back.’
Elonia had wanted a real challenge.
The most effective way to build strength was to clash swords with someone much stronger than her.
But Gunnar hadn’t been using his full strength.
‘Just you wait. I’ll make you show your true skills next time.’
Sparring without a challenge was boring and pointless.
Just as Elonia was doodling in her notebook,
“Elonia!”
“Y-yes?”
Startled by Caroline’s sudden call, Elonia quickly looked up.
Caroline, her expression unusually stern, tapped her staff on the blackboard.
“You were daydreaming because you already know this, right? Then solve the problem on the board using the theory I just explained.”
‘Oh, no.’
The problem on the board was simple, but she couldn’t remember what theory Caroline had been explaining.
Elonia quickly glanced at her textbook.
And then she remembered.
‘Ah, right. Archmage Neris’s method of organization.’
She stood up and walked towards the blackboard.
She felt the weight of the students’ gazes.
Most of the upperclassmen were interested in Elonia, the freshman who had aced the entrance exam and entered as the top student.
But some of them resented her for taking an upperclassman course.
They were secretly hoping she would fail to solve the problem.
And they had good reason to think so. The problem Caroline had written on the board, unlike her usual scribbles, was clearly designed to be challenging, beyond the capabilities of anyone in the classroom.
Elonia picked up a piece of chalk.
‘She’s not going to solve it.’
‘Professor Caroline wouldn’t go easy on her, even if she’s the princess.’
Just as everyone was thinking the same thing, Elonia climbed the ladder next to the blackboard and started writing the solution at the top.
“…!”
She wrote smoothly, without a single hesitation.
A freshman solving a problem that even seventh-years couldn’t solve!
And her understanding was flawless.
The only one with an unchanged expression in the entire classroom was Professor Caroline.
Just as Elonia was about to reach the solution, her hand paused.
The students sighed in relief.
‘That’s what I thought.’
‘There’s no way a freshman could solve that.’
But a flicker of disappointment crossed Caroline’s face.
‘I had high hopes for her after she aced the entrance exam.’
She looked at Elonia, who was lost in thought, her heart sinking.
But it was okay.
She hadn’t given up completely.
With this level of understanding, she could definitely reach the Archmage realm with seven years of rigorous training.
“Elonia, you can go back to your—”
Caroline gestured for her to return to her seat.
But just then,
Elonia started writing again.
She hadn’t even heard Caroline’s words, her mind busy cursing the professor.
‘That scammer… This problem can’t be solved with just Neris’s method.’
If Caroline were her personal tutor, she would have yelled at her.
Half of the problem could be solved using the theories Caroline had taught them so far.
But reaching the correct solution was impossible using any of those theories.
Elonia solved the last part using her own method.
It was a flawless solution.
“How…?”
“That’s impossible…”
The students murmured amongst themselves.
The latter half of the solution clearly deviated from Neris’s method.
But somehow, it made sense.
Elonia set down the chalk with a click and dusted her hands.
She placed one hand on her hip and said to Caroline, her voice laced with arrogance,
“You played a little trick on us with this problem, Professor.”
Caroline, ignoring her jab, stared at the blackboard, her gaze intense.
She almost looked mesmerized.
Elonia finally looked around the classroom.
The students were staring at her, their faces a mixture of shock and awe.
‘…Oh.’
It was harder for a genius to blend in than to stand out.
Elonia knew she was a genius.
She had reached the Archmage realm and almost reached the Sword Master realm without any proper training. It would be an insult to deny her own talent.
But she had gone too far this time.
“…Well, I’ll be going now.”
That was why learning was important.
Without proper education, she didn’t know her own limits.
Elonia was about to return to her seat before Caroline could react.
But Caroline grabbed her shoulder.
“Excellent work, Elonia!”
‘Damn it.’
Elonia cursed inwardly.