Episode 81
Caroline continued,
“And Elonia, you’re aiming to be a Sword Mage, aren’t you? You have the potential to surpass Chelon Heilan. But with your current lack of ambition and drive, you’ll never reach her level.”
Elonia, momentarily startled by the mention of becoming Empress, glared at Caroline.
‘…This old woman, she’s sharp.’
She already knew that.
As Caroline had said, she might be able to reach her past peak performance, but surpassing it was a different matter.
Chelon Heilan had reached the Archmage realm but hadn’t become a Sword Master.
The world believed that if she had lived longer, she would have conquered the Sword Master realm as well, becoming a true calamity. But Elonia knew better.
Even with more time, Chelon wouldn’t have become a Sword Master.
But swordsmanship wasn’t Caroline’s area of expertise.
“I’m confident in my magic.”
“But not in your swordsmanship?”
“…Well, that’s not something you can help me with, Professor.”
“If you skip a grade, you’ll not only have access to higher-level magic courses but also advanced swordsmanship classes. Are you still not interested?”
“…”
Elonia turned away, avoiding her gaze.
Caroline, her face etched with disappointment, said,
“So you’re content with making ripples in a puddle, instead of riding the waves of the ocean.”
“…!”
Elonia’s pride was stung by her words, and she turned back to face her.
It was true that she was beyond the level of the other freshmen.
‘But I’m not falling for your provocation.’
She didn’t dislike the idea of skipping a grade.
She might have accepted the offer if she were still friendless.
But she had friends now.
Skipping a grade would mean graduating early, but it would also mean a heavier workload and less time for her friends.
And becoming Empress would only distance her from them further.
Despite the overwhelming homework and the various incidents, Elonia was enjoying her academy life.
‘…And if I graduate early, I’ll have to leave Olivia and Simon.’
She knew how the Heilan hostages were treated at the academy. She couldn’t abandon them.
Caroline, as if anticipating her refusal, continued,
“So you’re going to refuse. Then what is your dream, Elonia? Aspiring emperors usually have grand ambitions, dreams of leaving their mark on history.”
Leaving her mark on history.
Elonia’s grip tightened on her teacup.
She had already left her mark, albeit a negative one, as Chelon.
She remembered the fairy tale Sarah had read to her when she was a baby.
‘Even Sarah remembered Chelon as a villain.’
Her past life had been a failure.
She had only caused pain and suffering.
So was her purpose in this life simply to become a wise and benevolent ruler, like Artius in his early years, and leave a positive mark on history?
She immediately rejected that idea.
‘Even if I leave a positive mark on history, does that mean I’ve lived a successful life?’
She wasn’t going to deny her past actions.
But just like Chelon’s life hadn’t been accurately portrayed in the history books, people only recorded what they saw.
A good person could become evil, and an evil person could become good, all in an instant.
What even was a successful life?
It definitely wasn’t just about being remembered positively in the history books.
“Elonia?”
“…Ah.”
Elonia, startled by Caroline’s voice, snapped out of her daze.
She shook her head, then replied, her gaze lowered,
“…I don’t know yet. But I don’t think I have any grand ambitions.”
“Such a pessimistic answer.”
Caroline’s words annoyed her, but they were accurate.
Her mind was a mess, and she didn’t want to continue this conversation.
“If you really want me to skip a grade, then reduce the homework load. Then I’ll consider it.”
“That’s not possible. Grading your assignments is my only joy in life at this age.”
“Then I’ll have to decline your offer.”
“Well, well…”
Caroline chuckled, shaking her head, but she seemed amused.
She leaned back comfortably on the sofa, raising her hands in surrender.
“I admit defeat for today, Elonia. But don’t give up hope. I’m quite persistent.”
“Reducing the homework is the only way you’ll convince me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Caroline, her voice filled with confidence, rummaged through her robe pocket and filled Elonia’s small hands with candies.
“I look forward to your answer.”
“I don’t accept bribes.”
“Bribes? Can’t a teacher give her granddaughter, I mean, student, some candy?”
Elonia couldn’t understand her.
What was so funny?
‘What a strange old woman.’
But she didn’t dislike her.
Her eccentricity made her more approachable than the other professors.
Elonia, leaving the office, was lost in thought.
‘Me, with my lack of dreams and ambitions, becoming the Empress, leaving my mark on history…’
When she had learned about “The Prince” as a child, she had been planning to leave this world, so she hadn’t considered it a possibility.
But now, she had no intention of leaving.
Which meant she would eventually become the Empress.
She didn’t even know if she wanted to be the Empress, so how could she possibly be worthy of the throne?
And more importantly,
‘Even if I wanted to be the Empress, do I even deserve it, after trying to destroy Ravanta?’
Her immediate answer was no.
Killing enemy soldiers during wartime was expected.
Their families were prepared for their deaths.
But did that give her the right to simply ignore the consequences, to step over a mountain of corpses and claim the throne?
It felt like she had been assigned an impossible task.
After her meeting with Caroline, Elonia was constantly lost in thought.
She couldn’t imagine herself as the Empress.
In her past life, she had been a mere pawn, unworthy of even dreaming of the throne.
So she hadn’t considered it a possibility in this life either.
“Haah…”
Elonia sighed, then suddenly realized,
‘Wait, why am I even worrying about this now? I’m only nine.’
She was still a child. She shouldn’t be thinking about such things.
But the thought of Artius came to mind.
He had lost his family at a young age and had become Emperor before even reaching adulthood.
He must have made up his mind to become Emperor around this age.
‘People can die unexpectedly, so it’s normal for royalty to start thinking about these things at this age.’
But she was different.
She was still unsure if she was even worthy of the throne.
People admired and adored her because they didn’t know her past. If they knew about her past life as Chelon, she would be executed, not crowned Empress.
‘…And unlike Dad, I don’t have a goal, a purpose for becoming Empress.’
There were no wars in this era.
Thanks to Artius’s hard work, Ravanta was more prosperous and powerful than ever before, even surpassing its past glory.
It was already perfect. There was nothing for her to do.
‘The only thing I want is to improve the treatment of the Heilan hostages, especially Olivia and Simon.’
She wanted to abolish the hostage system, but that was a pipe dream.
There would be too much opposition.
After all, Heilan was responsible for the Continental War, and her desire to abolish the hostage system stemmed from her past life as Chelon, not her current life as Elonia.
And no one knew how Heilan would react if the hostages were released.
‘This is frustrating.’
It was more difficult than dealing with the insane Artius.
Elonia blamed Caroline.
Why had she brought up the topic of skipping a grade, forcing her to think about her future?
Elonia, fuming, headed towards the Academic Department library.
She wanted to clear her mind by working on her assignments, but the world wouldn’t leave her alone.
“Hey, what are you doing? You look suspicious.”
“N-no, it’s a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? I’ve been watching you. You were following the princess, weren’t you?”
Elonia, hearing her name, turned around.
A group of Ravanta boys were surrounding someone, their voices filled with accusation.
And the person cowering in the center was Simon.
‘Simon? He was following me?’
Elonia’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t noticed, lost in her thoughts.
She quietly approached them, hiding behind a pillar, and eavesdropped on their conversation.
“Like father, like son. How can an entire family be so foolish?”
“Don’t you know what happened to King Vermon and Prince Dolce? They messed with the princess and got executed. How dare a Heilan hostage follow her around?”
Simon’s face paled at their words.
Elonia’s heart sank.
If Simon had been following her, it was wrong.
But that didn’t give them the right to insult and humiliate him.
This was why she couldn’t leave the academy before her siblings.
It pained her to see her innocent siblings treated like this because of her and her brothers’ actions.
She didn’t want to cause any more trouble, but she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.
“Excuse me.”
“Y-Your Highness?”
The Ravanta students, startled by her sudden appearance, bowed their heads.
Elonia ignored them and approached Simon.
“I dropped my handkerchief around here earlier. Have you seen it?”
“Ah…! I-it’s here…”
Simon, after a moment of confusion, understood her meaning and frantically pulled out his handkerchief.
Elonia, instead of taking it, leaned closer and whispered,
“Were you following me?”
“I-I…”
Simon hesitated, his gaze darting around.
So he had been following her.
She didn’t know why, and if it had been anyone else, she would have been furious. But Simon was her brother.
He might be a stranger now, but he would always be her little brother, and she was partly responsible for his current predicament.
Elonia suppressed her worry and guilt, her voice flat and emotionless.
“Don’t do that again.”
“…!”
Simon, surprised by her leniency, blinked, his eyes wide.
Elonia stepped back, taking the handkerchief from him, and smiled.
“You found it. Thank you, Prince Simon.”
Then, she addressed the Ravanta boys,
“Thank you for looking out for me, but Prince Simon was just trying to return my handkerchief. He didn’t mean any harm, so let him go.”
“N-no problem, Your Highness. We were just doing our duty as citizens of Ravanta.”
The boys, embarrassed and slightly flustered by the princess’s unexpected kindness, blushed.
Elonia, leaving them, thought,
‘…This hostage system is terrible.’
It wasn’t the children’s fault.
They were simply imitating the adults’ behavior.
And she understood their hatred. They had lost family members to Heilan, to Chelon.
But she didn’t want them to grow up believing that the Heilan hostages deserved to be treated like this.
‘I’m not saying we should forget about hatred. But innocent children shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of treatment.’
The war hadn’t been caused by children. It had been caused by the adults’ greed and ambition.
The quickest solution was to abolish the hostage system and send the children back to Heilan.
But humans were greedy creatures, and Felix’s ambition had only grown stronger.
He might be biding his time now, but who knew what he would do if the hostages were released?
The only way to completely eradicate his ambition was to unify the continent, which meant another war.
‘No, that’s not an option. No more wars.’
Elonia shook her head.
It was always the weak and innocent who suffered the most during wartime.
She might not have the right to say that, considering her past actions as the War Demon, but that was precisely why she had to say it.
Ricardo, who knew her true identity, might tell her to forget about it, that Chelon was dead and she had already atoned for her sins, but Elonia couldn’t forget.
Death wasn’t the end.
As long as she remembered her past actions, she had to face them and take responsibility.
She wanted to protect the weak and innocent in this life.
Perhaps that was why she had been reincarnated with her memories.
Elonia stopped walking and looked up at the clear blue sky.
‘This is difficult.’
It was easier to destroy than to create, easier to kill than to save.
Elonia felt like she would never find the answer.