Episode 70
“At least it’s the weekend tomorrow.”
“That’s true.”
Elonia met Dianne after class, and they headed towards Garden Fleur together.
“Elonia, how’s that class?”
“Huh?”
“‘Fundamentals of Magic’ and ‘Ancient Magic.’ Are they okay?”
Ah, those.
Elonia, remembering the assignment bombs she had just received, frowned.
“The lectures are fine, but the homework is killing me. She keeps giving us so much work.”
“More than ‘What is Magic’?”
“Yes, it’s not even comparable. She just assigned us a ten-page report based on two books.”
“Wow… That’s harsh. Why did you even take upperclassmen classes?”
Dianne’s face paled, as if she was about to vomit at the thought.
Elonia chuckled wryly.
“I thought they would be interesting. Anyway, I guess I’m not going home this weekend either.”
“You really want to go home?”
“Yes, I haven’t seen my family in a while. What about you, Dianne?”
“I…”
Dianne trailed off.
They had reached Garden Fleur and stopped abruptly, their gazes fixed on two figures near the entrance.
The two siblings, sensing their stares, turned around.
‘Olivia and Simon.’
She had seen Olivia in their Academic Department class two days ago, but this was her first time encountering Simon in a week.
Fortunately, the bruise on his cheek had faded.
“…Hmph.”
Olivia, frowning at Elonia, turned and walked away, her footsteps brisk and angry.
Simon, flustered by his sister’s rudeness, apologized to Elonia with a bow, then hurried after Olivia.
As soon as they were out of sight, Dianne spoke, her voice laced with annoyance.
“Seriously, how rude.”
“Just ignore them. I’m hungry.”
Dianne, although she looked like she had a lot to say, held her tongue and entered Garden Fleur.
And as expected, hundreds of gazes turned towards Elonia the moment she stepped inside.
‘Ugh, this is getting annoying.’
Even a fool would realize that those stares weren’t filled with good intentions.
But she was too tired to deal with them now, especially after a long day of classes.
‘Let’s just eat.’
Elonia and Dianne ordered their meals and sat down.
Their food arrived as they chatted, and they both eagerly picked up their forks.
But their timing was terrible.
Just as she was about to take a bite of her warm, freshly cooked meal, Elonia overheard a conversation.
“Do you think that rumor is true…?”
“No way.”
“Gasp, she’s looking at us.”
“Quick, look away!”
The students who had made eye contact with her quickly averted their gazes, pretending to continue their meal.
Dianne, seemingly oblivious, had already started eating.
Elonia thought about the whispers she had just heard.
‘…Rumor?’
Was that why they had been staring at her?
But what rumor could there possibly be?
She had been a model student since her first day at the academy.
‘And Llewellyn and Alberich haven’t said anything.’
She had lunch with them this week, and they had acted normally.
They didn’t seem to be deliberately avoiding the topic. They genuinely didn’t know anything.
Elonia was used to bad rumors.
And she knew how to ignore them.
But it was different at the academy.
First, she had two brothers who would go ballistic if they heard anyone badmouthing her. And then there was her father, who was unpredictable.
‘Dianne has a lot of friends, she must know something.’
Dianne had friends in other departments, so she would have heard all sorts of gossip.
Elonia, wanting to get ahead of the situation before those noisy boys found out, asked casually,
“Dianne, I have a question.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“…Have you heard any rumors about me lately?”
“…!”
Dianne flinched at her question.
“You know.”
She answered with a troubled silence.
Elonia knew what that meant.
“What kind of rumor is it?”
“Well…”
“Is it that bad?”
“Elonia, it’s not true, so it’ll die down soon. Don’t worry too much.”
Dianne tried to reassure her, but Elonia felt a strange unease.
She had thought she was used to bad rumors, but for some reason, the possibility that they might be true made her feel suffocated.
She quickly realized why.
‘What did I even do?’
The rumors that had circulated about her when she was Chelon had been understandable.
Some of them had been completely unfounded, but she had done things that deserved fear and scorn.
But she hadn’t done anything wrong as the Ravanta princess.
She felt frustrated, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask any further.
Elonia tried to act nonchalant and focus on her meal.
But the meat, which had looked so delicious just moments ago, suddenly seemed dry and unappetizing.
She lost her appetite.
Elonia, barely touching her food, got up from her seat.
Dianne, noticing her mood, quickly followed suit.
“Are you going back to the dormitory? Let’s go together.”
“Sorry, I want to be alone for a while.”
“O-oh, okay. Sorry, I was being insensitive…”
Dianne fidgeted, and Elonia felt a pang of guilt.
It wasn’t Dianne’s fault.
But Elonia wasn’t in the mood to be considerate.
She wanted to be alone, somewhere quiet and peaceful.
Elonia returned to her dormitory.
Just as she was about to open the door, she noticed a note tucked into the doorframe.
“…?”
[I have something to tell you about the rumor. Please come to the back of the Magic Department dormitory as soon as you see this.
L.A]
The note was signed with initials instead of a name.
‘L.A? Who is this?’
And they had something to tell her about the rumor?
Were they involved in the rumor somehow?
The only person she could think of who might be connected to the rumor was Dianne, but her initials weren’t L.A.
She had wanted to be alone, but this person seemed to know something about the rumor, so Elonia, clutching the note, headed towards the back of the dormitory.
The white academy buildings were bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun.
She walked for a while, reaching a secluded area behind the dormitory, and spotted a figure standing with their back to the sun.
The wind ruffled his cape slightly.
‘A Theology Department student? No way.’
L.A from the Theology Department.
Only one person came to mind.
“Lucius.”
“Your Highness.”
Lucius bowed his head as soon as he saw her.
Elonia noticed that his expression was troubled.
She had a feeling she knew what the rumor was about.
It seemed to be connected to him.
“Did you send this note?”
“…Yes. I apologize. It’s all my fault.”
Lucius bowed deeply, but that wasn’t what Elonia wanted.
“Don’t apologize. I didn’t want your apology. I don’t even know what the rumor is about.”
“…You haven’t heard?”
“No, I haven’t. What is it?”
Lucius hesitated.
He was reluctant to repeat such a rumor in front of the princess.
Elonia, frustrated that no one would tell her anything despite her being the subject of the rumor, urged him on.
Lucius finally spoke, his voice heavy,
“…It’s a… scandalous rumor about Princess Olivia fighting with you over a boy.”
“…And that boy is you?”
Elonia hadn’t even spoken to any boys at the academy, let alone interacted with them.
The only male student she had had any meaningful conversation with was Lucius.
And as if to confirm her suspicions, Lucius nodded, his face grim.
“It seems someone witnessed me stopping you that day and Princess Olivia slapping Simon. And they spread a malicious rumor.”
“That’s ridiculous! Simon was the one who got slapped! Why are you—”
“You already know. The academy is a miniature society.”
“…”
“The hidden truth doesn’t matter. What matters is how much damage it can inflict.”
“But even so…”
“It’s my fault for stopping you and creating an opportunity for this rumor to spread. I was careless.”
Elonia couldn’t understand.
‘…It’s been a while since I’ve encountered such blatant malice. I don’t know how to deal with this.’
Her heart sank.
She had been able to brush off such rumors in the past, but this time was different.
She felt her blood run cold, her hands and feet trembling.
She worried that the rumor might have reached her brothers.
But they had acted normally, and the upperclassmen in the Magic Department hadn’t looked at her with those judging eyes.
‘So the rumor hasn’t spread among the upperclassmen…’
That was a small relief.
Elonia clenched her trembling fists, forcing herself to calm down, then asked, her voice as steady as she could manage,
“Do you have any idea who spread the rumor?”
She was somewhat isolated at the academy, so she had no way of knowing who was friendly or hostile towards her.
Lucius replied calmly,
“I don’t know for sure. But the most likely culprit is Princess Olivia.”
“W-wait! Olivia is also a victim of the rumor. She was ostracized during our Academic Department class!”
“She’s the only one who has shown hostility towards you.”
“But still…!”
Olivia wouldn’t do such a thing.
She was the type to confront people directly, not resort to such underhanded tactics.
‘But is that really true?’
It had been nine years since Elonia last saw Olivia.
Nine years was a long time.
Elonia had changed in those nine years. There was no reason why Olivia couldn’t have changed as well.
Images of Olivia’s hostile glares flashed through her mind.
“Regardless, this is Heilan’s responsibility. Please ignore Princess Olivia’s actions, Your Highness. You wouldn’t want to worry the Asta young masters, so we’ll handle it internally. Do you have anyone you trust here at the academy?”
“…Yes, one person.”
“Then we’ll start by explaining the situation to her. We’ll say that I forced you to stop and that you were unfairly dragged into this internal Heilan conflict. That’s why I asked to meet you.”
“Are you crazy? You’re also victims! How can you sacrifice yourselves to protect me?”
“Once again, I sincerely apologize… I’ll take my leave now.”
Lucius, ignoring her protests, turned and left without giving her a chance to stop him.
He stopped after putting some distance between them.
“…?”
Elonia frowned, confused, and Lucius, after a long hesitation, finally spoke,
“And this is not your fault, Your Highness. Please don’t blame yourself.”
Elonia’s eyes widened.
He was worried about her?
They hadn’t parted on good terms, but Lucius was still the same kind and considerate boy.
Elonia, proud of him, smiled faintly.
Lucius’s face flushed slightly.
He quickly turned away and left, so she couldn’t see his expression clearly.
‘…Did I make him angry by smiling?’
But who would get angry at someone for smiling?
Lucius might have a bad personality, but he wasn’t that unreasonable.
‘Ah, no, he might be angry because I’m the Ravanta princess.’
But he wouldn’t be angry at her for smiling when he had come to see her out of concern.
The sunset was unusually red.
It must be because of the sunset.
It was so red that it even cast a reddish hue on Lucius’s silver hair and pale skin.
‘Anyway, it’s not my fault, as Lucius said. And it’s definitely not his fault. And Olivia… she wouldn’t do such a thing.’
She couldn’t claim to know everything about Olivia.
But she was her sister.
Her sister who had endured hardships with her.
Olivia would never resort to such cowardly tactics.
Elonia decided to go to Dianne and clear up the misunderstanding.
‘I’ll tell Dianne everything.’
Dianne would help her explain that the rumor was false.
She was friends with almost everyone, so the rumor would die down quickly.
That way, she could resolve the situation before it reached the Asta brothers, Artius, and Sarah.
She didn’t want to worry them.
Elonia clenched her fists and headed towards Dianne’s room.