Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry Vol 1

Prologue
The Beginning of the End

Leticiel was a princess.

She lived in a turbulent time when multiple kingdoms fought each other in bloody battles for control over the continent. Countless nations were founded in frequent wars, the same number being destroyed in the process. The grassless land, which had been stained red with the blood of too much war, was a barren wasteland that spoke of the terrible events that had taken place there. In that desolate world, whether they were young or old, everyone had to fight with weapons in hand to survive.

Leticiel was the princess of a remote country. True peace did not exist in that era, but, at least in her country, which was located far from the center of the continent where the conflicts were the most intense, things were relatively peaceful.

Although quarrels with neighboring countries were never ending and battles were a common occurrence, the situation wasn’t so desperate that all of the citizens had to be drafted into war. Leticiel lived a peaceful life surrounded by a warm family and her loving soulmate, protecting and caring for her beloved citizens. In a world too cruel to hope for peace, the simple happiness she had in her daily life was more than enough.

But today, it all came to an end.

The kingdom was invaded by one of its large neighboring countries. Its people were massacred, its cities set on fire, and countless people lost their lives. Those with power fought back with all their might, but their efforts paled in comparison to the might of their neighboring country’s invasion. Bit by bit, the kingdom was swallowed by the opposing force, turning the land into hell.

The royal castle had remained unconquered until the very end, when it was surrendered by a secret informant. The neighboring country had taken it over just moments earlier.

An immense amount of blood coated the throne room. Deep marks from sword strikes had been carved into the walls, bodies still hanging from some of the swords. It was obvious with one glance that a brutal battle had taken place there.

Leticiel glanced outside the windows and saw flickering flames roughly lick the window panes, dark smoke blotting out the overcast sky. It didn’t take long for her to realize that someone had set fire to the castle. She idly watched, seeming unconcerned as a man covered in blood approached her, a blood-stained sword in his hand.

When she looked down, she was faced by countless corpses. The king, the queen, and her beloved partner. All of them had been killed by the invading enemy forces. Right now she was the only living member of the royal family. When that man reached her, the kingdom itself would fall.

Leticiel could resist if she wanted to. She was so skilled in sorcery that she was referred to as the kingdom’s treasure.

But she didn’t. No matter how strong she was, the enemy had the advantage of numbers on their side. That was why her family hadn’t been able to escape their murders.

The capital had fallen, the royal castle had been overtaken, and the whole country was now full of her enemies, so what good would it do for her to fight alone?

Besides, Leticiel no longer cared about anything. This country was no longer the kingdom she knew. Its lush fields had been scorched, its beautiful townscapes ruthlessly destroyed.

Her citizens, whom she had loved and cherished, had turned into silent corpses. Her family, whom she had loved and received love from in return, as well as the partner she had pledged eternal love to, had all passed on, leaving her behind.

There wasn’t a single thing left for Leticiel to protect. All that remained was bottomless despair and hatred that threatened to incinerate her.

In that case, there was no point in living in such a devastating world.

Leticiel smiled quietly at the man standing before her, making him gasp. He probably hadn’t expected that reaction from her.

Grasping the sword the man held, Leticiel slowly placed it over her own heart. Rather than being killed by someone else, she wanted to end her life with her own hands.

The man was saying something, shouting anxiously. He frantically tried to pull the sword away, but Leticiel used her magic to immobilize him. She’d already made up her mind and wouldn’t let him ruin her resolve.

The neighboring country likely wanted to capture her alive, desperate to get their hands on her as her country’s greatest sorceress. That was why they had spared her until the very end, making examples of her family by using cunning methods to kill them one by one.

Several men came running from the entrance to the throne room, hoping to stop Leticiel from killing herself.

Leticiel chuckled. She was the princess of this country. In her heart, she carried with her the pride of being a member of the royal family. She would maintain that pride until the very end, refusing to be used by the people who had destroyed her beloved country. She would not grant the neighboring country’s wishes.

Thankfully, the throne room was long and narrow. The men were still coming for her, but they wouldn’t make it in time.

Leticiel lowered her head slightly. The men behind her couldn’t see her expression. Only the man whom she had immobilized saw the final expression of the country’s national treasure. He was still talking, but none of his words reached Leticiel’s ears.

Leticiel smiled quietly. She looked beautiful, noble, invigorated, and joyful, as if she had been freed from all shackles.

The blade of the sword dug into the flesh of her hands as she gripped it, spilling red droplets onto her smooth, white skin. She felt no pain, nor fear.

Even though she was about to die, her spirits were strangely high. Was it because she would soon be joining her loved ones? Or was it because she would be getting revenge on her loathsome neighbor?

She had fallen so far, but would she fall even further to Hell or rise to Heaven? Leticiel slowly closed her eyes and drew the sword closer.

The blood-stained sword pierced her heart with a nasty squelch. As she had expected, there was no pain, so she took the opportunity to guide it even deeper.

Moments later, she felt it pierce her back, completely passing through her. But by that time, she was already tumbling down the slope to death. Her body lurched as her bloody hands that had been holding the sword fell to the ground. The taste of iron spread in her mouth, overflowing and running down her chin, staining the carpet on the floor.

This was the end. There was no fear of death in her heart, only relief.

When the men who had come running arrived at the scene, they cut down the man who had been holding the sword used to pierce Leticiel, punishing him for her death.

But he’d been wrongfully accused, as Leticiel had taken her life of her own accord. The man couldn’t have stopped her even if he’d tried.

Leticiel’s life was steadily draining from her body, and her whole body was as cold as ice. Her vision was blurry from the extreme blood loss, and she was no longer able to move even a single finger.

Her consciousness rapidly faded away as she watched the enemy forces desperately try to heal her. Next time, I want to live a more leisurely and comfortable life, she thought dazedly, mind wandering idly right before her consciousness slipped into darkness.

Chapter 1
An Unfamiliar World

When she woke up, the first thing Leticiel saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. Glancing around, she saw that she was in an unfamiliar room, lying in an unfamiliar canopy bed.

Where on earth was she? Hadn’t she taken her own life after the enemy soldiers had invaded and taken everything from her? Leticiel was confused.

Sitting up shakily, she looked at her chest. The sword and wound in her memories were gone, leaving only a frilly, white nightgown and skin as smooth and flawless as porcelain.

She knew her memories weren’t mistaken. She could still clearly recall the feeling of her life spilling from her. There was no doubt that she had died. She was dead… at least, she was supposed to be.

The worst-case scenario crossed her mind. Did the neighboring country have sorcerers skilled enough to heal her despite the state she’d been in? Had they somehow kept her alive?

The thought instantly made her blood run cold. If her prediction was correct, then she had been saved by her hated enemies, the ones who had destroyed everything she held dear. Leticiel had given up her life so she wouldn’t follow in her loved ones’ footsteps, so that she wouldn’t give the enemy what they desired most. But in the end, she had played right into their hands.

The emotions that controlled her now were not sadness, despair, or hatred, but rather intense anger toward the enemy and even toward herself, for being unable to die.

Pushing aside the covers, Leticiel got out of bed. If she didn’t do something, she would be used as a tool by the neighboring country. Leticiel’s pride would not allow such a thing. Getting revenge would be an easy enough feat, but doing so would never bring back what was lost and would only leave her feeling empty.

She searched the room for a murder weapon, but obviously they hadn’t left her anything that could be used to commit suicide.

As she was gradually growing impatient, her eyes fell on a glass vial on top of a desk. Without a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed it and smashed it on the floor, the glass vial breaking into pieces with the impact. Not caring that it would hurt her hand, Leticiel grabbed the largest shard and pointed its sharp tip toward her neck.

“Is something the matter, Mi…” A young man in a black tailcoat rushed into the room at the sound of the shattered glass, entering just as Leticiel was about to bring the shard down on her throat. “Wh… What are you doing?!” he shouted, color draining from his face the instant he caught sight of her. He came running, and unlike the throne room, this room was small. The man reached her and grabbed her from behind before the shard could pierce her throat. “Please stop! Let go of that right now!” he cried.

“Unhand me! I won’t be yours to do with as you please! If you try to stop me, I’ll bite my tongue!”

“My lady, please don’t be hasty! Miss Drossell!”

Leticiel’s movements froze at his desperate cry. It wasn’t as though his pleas had gotten through to her, but the unfamiliar word he’d said had.

“Miss… Drossell?”

Who was he talking about? After all, she was Leticiel, the princess of a remote country.

The man took the shard of glass away from her while she was thinking, but Leticiel paid him no mind because when she had looked down, long hair of a beautiful, transparent silvery white color fluttered lightly in the corner of her eye. Leticiel had never seen hair that color before. After all, her own hair was a dark gold.

Looking up, she saw a small mirror that was propped up right next to where the glass vial had been. She hadn’t even noticed it earlier.

Reflected in the mirror was the face of a girl she had never seen before. She had translucent and shiny silver hair, pale skin as smooth as porcelain, and long, narrow eyes that were two different colors, framed by long eyelashes. Overall, she was a beautiful girl with a dignified face. Leticiel couldn’t tell exactly how old she was, but though she seemed young, she looked mature, and her expressionless face gave off a slightly cold impression.

Who am I, and where am I now? Leticiel’s eyelids covered both her red left eye and blue right eye when she blinked. There was no doubt that she was the unfamiliar girl being reflected in the mirror.

The realization shocked her. Leticiel’s hair was dark gold and both of her eyes were lavender-colored. Her facial features were less mature than these, more on the cute side.

She should have died from being pierced by that sword. When she woke up and found no wounds, she assumed she had been captured by the enemy, but now she had become someone she didn’t even recognize.

I don’t understand. Is this a dream? Maids entered the room and guided the dazed Leticiel back to bed, treating her with a first-aid kit they pulled out of thin air.

Leticiel’s hands were covered in cuts from holding the shard of glass. She watched the maids busily disinfect and treat her wounds with a puzzled expression. “Can’t you just heal it with sorcery?” she asked.

“Sorcery? Are you referring to magic?” Her question was answered with a question in return. Once again, Leticiel didn’t recognize the words they were using. Was sorcery referred to as magic in this country?

“Besides, my lady, only a select few can use light attribute healing magic.”

“Huh…”

“Healing others with magic isn’t something that can be done easily.”

Leticiel had never heard such a thing. Back when she was a princess, most people who could use sorcery could use healing spells. It was a time when you would easily die if you couldn’t protect yourself.

After she finished treating Leticiel, the maid packed up the first aid kit and disappeared through another door in the room.

Leticiel looked at her bandaged hand. The maid had said that healing magic was rare, but Leticiel was certain that she had been able to use it. To confirm things for herself, Leticiel activated a healing spell.

When she called for it, the aether scattered in the air faithfully obeyed her will and gathered in her hands. A breeze caused by the flow of aether, a uniquely magical phenomena, made Leticiel’s silver hair flutter softly. Huh, so I can use it, she thought, feeling silly for having worried.

She flexed her hand, but the pain she had felt earlier had disappeared. She knew healing sorcery wasn’t as rare as the maid had made it out to be.

Just as she was thinking that, the maid from earlier came back and bowed respectfully. “My lady, please come this way so I can get you ready.” The maid led her into a dressing room, where several maids were waiting to help.

When she was a princess, Leticiel had taken care of all of her personal needs by herself. Back in those turbulent times, even the royal family couldn’t afford luxuries. If she had the money to hire servants or buy dresses, she would rather invest it in military equipment. Her country’s policies might have seemed battle-crazed, with top priority being given to the military at all times, but that had been necessary to keep them from being consumed by neighboring nations.

That was why her face involuntarily twitched when she saw the servants and the massive amount of dresses in the dressing room. To Leticiel, a princess in a time of war, it was an unbelievable sight. Is this country going to be okay if they’re splurging on luxuries on such a grand scale?

Leticiel left the dressing room with mixed feelings in a pretty cream-colored dress and elegant accessories. “It suits you, my lady,” said the man who had stopped her from killing herself from where he was standing by the door.

“I see. Thank you.” After a pause, Leticiel said, “Excuse me.”

The man seemed startled. “Yes? Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, I am. There’s no one else here, after all. Who are you? What are you to me?”

Leticiel had almost no understanding of her current situation. She had no idea who he was or where he came from, much less his name.

“Um… What is the matter, my lady?”

“Oh, you know,” Leticiel replied flippantly, “sometimes you just want to ask strange questions, right?”

“H-Hmm… I’m your personal butler. My name is Ruvik.” The man dutifully introduced himself despite looking as if he had no clue what was going on.

“Ruvik? Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, it completely slipped my mind.” Leticiel didn’t have a grasp of the situation either, but assumed it would be best for her to pretend to be “Drossell” for now.

Ruvik seemed surprised by Leticiel’s response, but since she didn’t think she had said anything strange, she ignored him and went to grab the doorknob. Though she was confused by her situation, her stomach was rumbling and she wanted to have breakfast in the dining room.

She gave Ruvik a questioning look when he reached out to stop her. “Your hands are injured,” he explained, “so please, allow me.”

Leticiel didn’t mind as she’d already healed her hands, but she obediently drew back, getting the feeling that she shouldn’t say anything unnecessarily.

She passed through the door that Ruvik opened for her, stumbling at the dazzling extravagance that awaited her. “Is something the matter, my lady?” Ruvik asked.

“I’m amazed that this country hasn’t gone to ruin yet from all of this wasteful luxury…”

“Pardon?” Ruvik replied, perplexed. “I’m not sure what you mean. The kingdom of Platina has been at peace for a long time, so...”

Leticiel’s eyes widened. How could peace exist in such a cruel, bloody era? Still, they’d been using many unfamiliar words, and she’d never heard of the kingdom of Platina. She mentally sifted through the list of country names she knew, but couldn’t recall it.

Well, it’s an everyday occurrence for new countries to pop up or be destroyed, after all. This country had likely been formed the same way. Leticiel decided not to worry about it. As she walked down the long corridor with Ruvik, an old maid came toward them carrying a basket of laundry. The old maid bowed deeply when she saw them, but she was clearly frowning.

Leticiel could guess from the woman’s gaze that she hated Leticiel—or rather, Drossell. Yet she ignored the woman, not paying any mind to the information.

Having experienced the despair of what felt like the end of the world and having taken her own life, Leticiel’s heart no longer had the capacity to care about the negative feelings directed at her by others. To put things positively, she was now able to view things philosophically. But from a negative standpoint, she no longer had any interest in what those around her thought. Leticiel’s former cheerful personality had disappeared, leaving her with an extremely dispassionate and cold attitude. She was amazed by how much people could change fundamentally after going through such an extreme experience, somehow feeling like it was someone else who had changed and not herself.

Leticiel walked gracefully down the hallway, but when there was no one else around her, she stopped abruptly. Ruvik, who was walking behind her and slightly off to the side, gave his mistress a puzzled look.

“Hey, Ruvik.”

“What is it, my lady?”

“Where is the dining room?”

“You were just wandering around?!” Ruvik’s hysterical voice echoed in the manor’s corridors in the early morning.

~~~~~

With Ruvik’s guidance, Leticiel finally arrived at the dining room. The manor seemed to be two stories tall, with the dining room on the first floor and Leticiel’s room being the farthest away on the second floor.

When she entered the dining room, the gazes of the four people already seated there, who were likely Drossell’s family, mercilessly pierced her. The man with silver hair and blue eyes sitting at the back of the dining room must’ve been her father. The woman with red hair and purple eyes on his left was her mother, and sitting across from her was Drossell’s older brother with his silver hair and purple eyes, and a girl about the same age as Leticiel sat next to him.

Naturally, she could be wrong since she’d only been guessing based on their apparent ages, but it was the sort of thing she would figure out eventually.

Leticiel’s seat was closest to the door. There were six seats at the table, but since she wasn’t sitting across from anyone, she was essentially sitting alone.

The seating arrangement placed her at the very bottom of the hierarchy, which would have been incredibly humiliating before, but now…

Oh, I’m close to the dining room entrance. That’s convenient.

Her thoughts had changed to become more flippant, as if commenting on how nice it was to have a store closeby. It no longer mattered to Leticiel whether her seat was at the head of the table or the bottom.

“Hmm? Diane, what happened to Salinya?” the man, Drossell’s father, asked her mother, who was apparently called Diane.

“It’s not like her to be so late,” Diane agreed. “Freid, do you know where she is?”

“No, not at all,” Freid, the silver-haired young man, replied before sighing and closing his eyes.

“Um, Mother, Sally said she was busy getting ready to leave and that she would eat breakfast in her own room.” The other girl sitting at the table raised her hand and spoke timidly. She had strawberry blond hair and large, round, lavender-colored eyes. Her cuteness made anyone who laid eyes on her want to protect her.

“Oh, that’s right. She’s departing for her fiancé’s estate today. Thank you for reminding me. That was a huge help.”

“Thank you, Mother. You’re welcome,” the girl replied shyly, happy to have been praised by her mother. With the sun streaming in through the windows, the scene that had played out in the dining room was a picture-perfect moment of a beautiful family.

Can I start eating? I’m hungry, Leticiel thought, completely uninterested in the peaceful family scene. To her, it didn’t make sense that you had to wait for the entire family to gather before you could start eating. Back when she was a princess, it had been normal for people to start eating when they arrived in the dining room. You could wait for others, but you didn’t have to.

Though not everyone had arrived, Drossell’s father’s comment seemed to have been the signal for breakfast to start. The four family members sitting at the head of the table chatted happily as they ate, the butlers behind them joining in from time to time. Only Leticiel ate silently.

She gazed intently at the breakfast spread in front of her. She assumed the mysterious crescent-shaped item was bread and obviously recognized the thickly sliced bacon, but didn’t know what the yellow thing next to them was.

In Leticiel’s mind, bread was something round, fluffy, and a little dry. It had been a rarity in her country. “Ruvik, what is this mysterious bread?” she asked.

“Mysterious…? It’s just a regular croissant.”

“I see. Then what is this soft yellow substance?”

“Y-Yellow substance…? Those are regular scrambled eggs.”

“Indeed. Ah, don’t worry. I just felt like asking.” Satisfied with the answers, Leticiel ended the conversation without a second thought for Ruvik, who was internally shaken after having been asked such common sense questions so coolly.

Ruvik’s mistress Drossell was usually a moody woman. She would get angry for no reason and hit the servants, yet wished for them to spoil her when she cried. Ruvik had been her personal butler for many years and knew her better than anyone.

Still, she was acting extremely strange today. One moment she suddenly tried to kill herself, the next she looked enlightened and started speaking and behaving completely differently than before. She’d gotten a little colder, almost as if she’d stopped caring about others.

Ruvik had no clue why she’d suddenly started acting strange. Had she gone mad from the cold treatment she received from those around her?

“Ruvik, where does this bacon come from?” his mistress asked.

“The lord prefers this flavor, so we order it from a merchant he favors in the south.”

“Hmph, it’s not clear enough. It tastes quite bland.”

“Huh? Uh… bland?” Ruvik stammered.

“Yes. When bacon has proper fat on it, it’s slightly transparent and quite delicious... apparently.”

“Apparently?”

“I’ve never had it myself.” In her days, you were lucky if you had meat at all. Even the royal family was lucky if they could have meat once every three days. Hoping for good quality bacon was beyond their wildest dreams. Remembering this, Leticiel took a large bite and filled her cheeks with the thick bacon she had sliced.

Quickly finishing her breakfast, Leticiel left the dining room before the others and retraced her steps to her bedroom, where she collapsed onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She’d been through so many unexpected events today. She’d been able to get through them just by going with the flow, but she should probably take the time to organize the information she had gathered.

First of all, she was the princess of a remote kingdom in a time of war but lost everything when a neighboring country invaded. Disillusioned by the world, she had committed suicide. But for some reason, she had been given a new life as a complete stranger named Drossell, who seemed to come from a high-ranking family.

Leticiel was a realist. She didn’t speak of or believe in baseless fantasies, but it seemed like she had no choice but to start believing.

It’s almost as if I’ve been reincarnated.

Reincarnation, the idea that souls of the dead could be reborn after obtaining a new vessel. The idea of such salvation had been highly welcomed in her desolate world, with new religions that promoted it springing up all over the place. Naturally, Leticiel didn’t believe in the idea, but it was the only potential explanation for her situation.

Drossell’s family consisted of her parents, one brother, one younger sister, and one more sister who could be younger or older. But it seemed as if none of them liked Drossell.

She didn’t know her father’s name or her other sister’s name. The only other person whose name she knew was Ruvik, her personal butler.

What’s more, the kingdom of Platina that Leticiel had found herself in seemed to be the epitome of peaceful. As a princess from a time of turmoil, she’d been astonished at the thought, wondering if it was some sort of joke, but from what she had seen of this manor, it seemed to be true.

To Leticiel, breakfast was a time when she would receive at least three reports of conflicts, and a taster was needed to ensure that there was no poison in her food. More than anything, this family had enough money that they could afford luxuries, so it was obvious that they weren’t pouring money into expensive military equipment. In conclusion, the country wasn’t at war, so they did not need to devote all of their attention and funds to the military.

Just how much time has passed since my previous life? This had to be a completely different era from the one Leticiel had lived in. She wouldn’t know exactly when the war had ended or how much time had passed until she could read some history books and find out.

As she was sitting up, planning to go to the manor’s library to do some research, someone knocked on her door. She answered and Ruvik entered. “What is it?” she asked politely.

“Miss Drossell, it’s almost time for you to go to the academy.”

Leticiel was shocked by the announcement. An academy? She could only assume it was a place of learning, but what exactly would she be studying? “The academy…?” she echoed.

“Huh? Yes… The academy.” Leticiel grew silent, and Ruvik asked, “Miss, are you sure you’re all right?”

“Why are you worried?”

With astonishing mental strength, Ruvik managed to swallow the words, “Because you’ve been acting strange since this morning,” before they could leave his tongue.

In the kingdom of Platina, the eldest sons and daughters of royalty and aristocrats were required to attend the academy when they turned sixteen. Drossell, who had turned sixteen this year, was no exception. She had attended the entrance ceremony at Lucrezia Academy about a month ago, so why did she look so puzzled while asking him questions about things every citizen should know? His stomach was starting to hurt from all the whiplash he’d endured that morning.

Oblivious to Ruvik’s internal anguish, Leticiel thought about what going to this “academy” would entail. Such a thing hadn’t existed in her time. Knowledge had been passed down orally from generation to generation, and there hadn’t been any need to go to others in order to learn certain things. Your grandparents would teach you about history if you asked them, and if you asked all the adults who were more experienced than you in sorcery, you could master it in no time. The same went for etiquette, reading, writing, arithmetic, and everything else.

In fact, in a time when enemy countries were vigilantly waiting for opportunities to weaken each other, building schools and gathering children—the future of the country—all in one place was like asking for their enemies to kill them.

Yet this country had an academy. Was information not passed down orally here? Although Leticiel thought it was inefficient to have a stranger teach her when she could simply ask her relatives, it seemed like she had to go to this “academy.”

“Well, whatever. All right, I’ll go to the academy.”

“Um… Please wait, miss!” Leticiel got off the bed and started to leave her room, but Ruvik stopped her.

“What is it now?”

“W-Well… You must wear your uniform at the academy, so please change into it.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Also, don’t you need your bag? I believe you need your textbooks and other things for class…”

“My bag?” Leticiel looked up at Ruvik, who was wearing a rather rude expression. An awkward silence fell between them until Leticiel finally averted her gaze and looked around the room. A high-quality leather shoulder bag sat on the shelf next to her desk. Yet another pointless luxury… but she assumed that was what Ruvik had meant when he referred to her bag.

“Where is my uniform?”

“Miss… you wore it yesterday.” Leticiel followed Ruvik’s gaze to a basket of neatly folded clothes next to the door to the dressing room. In it, she found a short black jacket that went down to her waist, a white shirt with a slit at the hem, and a checkered skirt. There were also brown lace-up boots next to the basket, which she assumed went with the outfit.

What are these black pant-like things for, then? There was a ribbon for the shirt and a badge for the jacket, but a piece of black fabric mixed in with the outfit caught her eye. Though they were shaped like pants, the fabric was too thin and they were far too small.

“Hmm, so this is the uniform.”

“Yes, that would be correct.”

Leticiel had no way of knowing why Ruvik looked so troubled, so she simply went into the dressing room to get changed. Setting aside the pant-like thing, as she wasn’t sure what it was used for, she put on the uniform as she had been instructed. Immediately returning to her room, she stared intently at her so-called “bag” and grabbed it before leaving her room as if she hadn’t had any setbacks at all.

“Errm, Ruvik…”

“Yes?”

“How do I get to the front door?”

“Miss! Honestly, what is going on with you?!” Leticiel tilted her head as Ruvik held his in despair. She felt like he had been yelling a lot this morning; perhaps it was something he enjoyed doing? Although it was a nice morning, Ruvik looked haggard as if he hadn’t slept for an entire week as he guided Leticiel to the front entrance.

When they stepped outside, three carriages were parked in front of the manor. In front of them, the girl who had been in the dining room chatted with another silver-haired woman.

“Ah! Good morning, Drossell,” the red-haired girl said, noticing Leticiel and greeting her with a smile as cute as a blossoming flower. She was most likely Drossell’s younger sister.

“It’s already getting late. Christa, I have to go. And you’d better hurry into your carriage or you’ll be late for school.”

“I know. Have a good day, Sally.” So this Sally woman was Drossell’s other sister. She seemed to be the oldest of the three.

Unlike her younger sister Christa, Salinya only glanced at Drossell expressionlessly, quickly looking away before climbing into her carriage. Watching the carriage drive off, Drossell noted that Salinya also seemed to dislike her, but she didn’t spare the realization much thought as it didn’t really matter to her.

“Take care,” Ruvik said, seeing the remaining girls off after Leticiel had climbed into her own carriage—rather, the one Christa hadn’t gotten into. Leticiel kept her eyes on him until the carriage left the manor grounds. Then she rested her elbow on the windowsill, chin in hand, and gazed out the window.

Outside, a bustling town spread before her, bathed in morning sunlight. Women came and went, doing their morning shopping, and stores along the street opened one after another. A man was setting up a stall near the sidewalk, and the town was quietly waking up in the morning light.

It was a beautiful city seemingly untouched by conflict, filled with peaceful faces of people who had never experienced war. The country truly did seem to be at peace.

Now that I think about it, didn’t I wish to live a leisurely and comfortable life right before I died? Leticiel didn’t know why she had been reincarnated, but she decided to interpret it as God having granted her wish.

Suddenly, the carriage rocked with a strong impact, the horses neighing as it came to a halt. Wondering what was wrong, Leticiel rushed outside and saw the driver crouched down by one of the wheels. “What’s wrong?” she asked him.

“Ah, my lady… Well, it appears that the carriage’s wheel is broken,” he answered, voice faltering. He must have thought that she would be angry because he looked terrified.

“Is that so? Let me see it.” Making the driver back away, Leticiel ran her hand across the wheel to see where it was broken. It seemed like the carriage had slipped in the muddy grooves between cobblestones, causing a crack in the exterior of the wooden wheel.

“Drossell? Is something the matter?” Christa’s carriage stopped beside Leticiel’s and she peeked out of the window, looking puzzled.

“There’s just a slight problem with the wheel,” Leticiel answered. “I’ll follow as soon as it’s repaired, so you can go on ahead.”

“Really? All right. I’ll wait for you at the academy then.” Christa’s gaze was somewhat worried as she looked at Leticiel, but she eventually gave a slight nod and told the driver to keep going. The sound of a whip echoed and the carriage carrying Christa set off once more with a rattle.

“U-Um,” the driver started, “I’ll run back to the manor and let them know—”

“There’s no need.” Leticiel stopped the driver from going back and held her right hand over the damaged wheel. Light collected in the palm of her hand in various shades. Green, golden, and silver light all mixed together and sank into the wheel, spreading like a ripple throughout the carriage and the horses pulling it. When the light disappeared, the wheel was as good as new.

“Huh? Uh…”

“It should be fine now. Please head for the academy,” Leticiel said, quickly climbing back into the carriage.

“Eh? Oh, uh, right. Will do.” The driver, left behind, glanced troubledly between the wheel and Leticiel’s shut door. But since he couldn’t make his young mistress late for school, he reluctantly returned to the driver’s seat. He swung his whip, and the carriage started to move but at a much faster clip than it had been going at before the wheel was broken.

That was only natural. When Leticiel had repaired the wheel, she had cast a structural reinforcement spell on the carriage and a stamina enhancement spell on the horses. That was why the sorcery she had used earlier was a mix of different colors.

The magically enhanced carriage sped down the main street, overtaking Christa’s carriage in no time and leaving them in the dust.

“What?! Uh…” The coachman driving Christa’s carriage looked on in shock, rubbing his eyes in disbelief as Leticiel’s carriage drove by at twice the speed of a normal carriage.

~~~~~

Eventually, the carriage left the cobblestone road and entered a vast area filled with gorgeous buildings. Judging from the elegant main gate, stately buildings, and beautiful gardens, Leticiel assumed that they had arrived at the academy.

Yet another waste of money… No, I should stop thinking about that, Leticiel told herself as the carriage came to a halt in front of the entrance to the main building.

A chandelier hung from the high ceilings in the entrance to Lucrezia Academy. Carpets lined the marble floors and several beautiful flags hung from the walls. Standing alone in the entrance, Leticiel murmured, “Well, I made it this far, but…”

Anyone who saw her expressionless face would think she was a cold, calm young lady, but Leticiel was actually at quite a loss. She didn’t have any of Drossell’s memories, so this was, in essence, her first time setting foot inside the academy. There was no way for her to know where she should attend her classes.

Glancing around, she caught sight of a group of adult men dressed differently from the students in one corner of the entry hall. Who could they be? she wondered. Curious, she observed them for a while and noticed that all the students who passed by would greet them. All the students here come from noble families, she realized, so those men must be very important to be greeted by them.

Thinking that they might be able to tell her where her classroom was, Leticiel immediately jogged over to the men.

“Hmm? You’re…”

“Good morning,” Leticiel greeted. “Would you be able to tell me where I should go?”

A brawny man with dark skin and short, blond hair at the center of the group turned to Leticiel as she approached, but frowned and gave her a dubious look upon hearing her question. “What? Your class is Primary Class 2, isn’t it? Just go there,” the man responded, exasperated.

Leticiel stared blankly at him, hoping he would say more. She wished she could admit that she didn’t know how to get there, but when it seemed like he wasn’t going to give her an answer, she looked around and found a map of the campus hanging on a wall.

From what she could gather, the school building was three stories tall and was built around a central courtyard. Leticiel blinked at the classrooms lining each of the floors, the likes of which she had never seen before.

“Don’t tell me you seriously don’t know where your classroom is. What a joke,” the man snapped in an irritated tone, having lost his patience after he saw the way Leticiel stared intently at the map.

“Yes, I genuinely do not know.” The man’s anger was exchanged for shock at Leticiel’s unashamed and nonchalant response.

“You’re in the same class as your sister, so why don’t you go with her?” the man suggested with an exasperated tone.

“Oh, that’s one way of doing things!” Leticiel clapped in realization, oblivious to what he was thinking.

“Ah! Drossell!” At that exact moment, Christa came running in the front entrance, looking flustered. Come to think of it, Leticiel’s carriage had passed hers on the road, so Christa had arrived later. “What in the world was going on with your carriage earlier? I’ve never seen a carriage go so fa–”

“Perfect timing, Christa. I’ve completely forgotten how to get to class, so would you go with me?” After giving the man who had given her advice a small bow, Leticiel started walking without waiting for confirmation from Christa.

Cut off mid-sentence, Christa’s gaze flitted around in a panic, but she also bowed to the man before chasing after her sister. She seemed to have lost the right timing to ask questions, walking slightly ahead of Leticiel after having caught up but glancing back at her now and again. Leticiel ignored her, pretending not to notice. She didn’t want Christa to ask about the carriage because she couldn’t let information slip when she still didn’t have a firm grasp on her own situation.

“Um, this is our classroom,” Christa said, stopping in front of a room with a placard that said Primary Class 2. Christa stared at Leticiel with eyes that were both frightened and confused. An awkward silence fell between them as they stood in front of the classroom. It was similar to the silence that had fallen between Leticiel and Ruvik at the manor. Christa finally broke it by asking, “Drossell, what is—”

“I simply forgot. Don’t worry about it.”

“O-Okay.”

Forcefully pushing the idea that she had simply forgotten the classroom’s location, Leticiel placed her hand on the door and opened it without a moment’s hesitation.

Countless pairs of eyes all turned to the door, their gazes changing when they saw that it was Leticiel standing there.

“Hey, the ice demon is here,” someone whispered quietly.

“That appearance, and her icy expression… She’s so creepy.”

Some students looked away immediately, as if to avoid being noticed. Others’ eyes turned condescending and insulting, while some of them even glared at her like she was their enemy. It seemed as if she was referred to as an “ice demon” here.

Leticiel entered the room, accepting the various gazes with a cool expression. She had abandoned the notion of sadness, and though she took note of how many people were staring at her, their gazes didn’t affect her in the slightest. She had become emotionally numb.

“Good morning, everyone.” Unlike Leticiel, who was wondering what she should do next now that she had made it to the classroom, Christa greeted their classmates with a cute smile.

Come to think of it, why was Christa in the same class as her even though Christa was younger? Were they twins? Or had one of them been born late in the year and the other born early? Not that it mattered much to Leticiel.

“Hey, Drossell Noa Filiaregis.” Leticiel had been gazing blankly at Christa when she heard a displeased voice come from behind the other girl. Shifting her gaze, she saw a young man with mint-colored hair and fiery red eyes. He looked headstrong, and there was a clear hint of contempt in his gaze.

“Thank you.” For teaching me my full name, Leticiel added mentally. The young man gaped at the sudden words of thanks.

“Y-Your Royal Highness Rocheford!” Christa said, surprised by his sudden appearance.

Since she had used the title “Your Royal Highness,” this impudent-looking Rocheford fellow must be a prince of this country. In her mind, Leticiel elevated him from someone who looked like trouble to someone who would be trouble.

Suddenly, Leticiel noticed that there were a number of young men standing behind Rocheford as well. Since they were glaring at her too, they were probably the prince’s followers. Which meant they were all men of a fairly high status. Getting involved with them would only cause trouble, so she would do her best to avoid them…

“…ey. Hey! Are you listening?!” Rocheford’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts.

Leticiel’s brow furrowed a bit as she responded. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

“Wha…?! You’ve got a lot of nerve, acting that way toward your fiancé!”

Leticiel was deeply puzzled as to why Rocheford was still angry and trying to grab her even though she had properly apologized, but what he said kept looping through her mind. Fiancé. She definitely hadn’t misheard him.

“Your Highness, please stop!”

“Christa… Sorry. I lost my temper, but thanks to your beauty and kindness, my rage has been tempered.”

“Oh… Please don’t say that sort of thing, Prince Rocheford.”

“Christa…”

Right in front of her, Rocheford gazed at Drossell’s sister in admiration while Christa blushed, embarrassed. He clearly hated Drossel but had feelings for Christa, and Christa didn’t seem completely opposed.

My current fiancé is a man who openly cheats in front of me? Leticiel’s partner in her previous life had been a kind man who had only loved her. It seemed like in this life, she was struggling with both her familial and romantic relationships. Well, it doesn’t matter to me, so I’ll leave them to it.

Leticiel ignored Rocheford and Christa, who were still staring at each other, and looked for an empty seat, finding one in the last row. “Is this seat available?” she asked the brown-haired young lady sitting next to it.

“Y-Yes!” the girl squeaked, flinching and hunching in on herself. Leticiel thought her frightened reaction was a little strange, but she quickly lost interest.

She sat down and faced forward, but for some reason Rocheford and his followers were still glaring at her. Leticiel had graciously ignored him since it had seemed like he was in his own little world with Christa, so what on Earth could have possibly displeased him? It just didn’t make sense to Leticiel. But she soon stopped caring about that as well, averting her gaze from Rocheford and the others.

~~~~~

Not long after the bell rang, the teacher for their first class entered the classroom. Light shined off the top of the middle-aged man’s bald head, his girthy belly swaying as he stood in front of the podium. “Let’s begin our history class,” he announced.

So the first class would be history. It was perfect for Leticiel, who wished to know about the current timeline she was in. Ignoring the teacher’s explanations, she silently began to read through the textbook she had taken out. She didn’t notice the suspicious looks she was receiving from the girl beside her, who was amazed that she was reading so seriously even though “Drossell” had never so much as opened her history textbook in class before.

“Let’s see, please open to page six,” the teacher called. His voice and the sounds of pens skritching around her faded into the background as she focused on her textbook.

According to it, the kingdom of Platina was the third strongest country on the continent of Astoria. She was privately relieved that she was still on the same continent as her first life, at least. The kingdom’s history spanned over a thousand years, and they were currently allied with the Iris empire. In Leticiel’s time, the average lifespan for a country had been sixty to seventy years, so Platina was definitely a strong nation if it had been around for more than one hundred years. This world truly was one of peace.

Leticiel had likely lived in the time period when numerous nations had fought for dominance over the continent before the founding of Platina. That period of war was called the Astoria Continental War. It was also called the Millennium War because it was unclear when it had begun or how long it had lasted.

She suddenly felt something touch her shoulder. Looking up from her textbook, she looked at the girl sitting next to her who had tapped her.

“Miss Drossell, are you listening?” the teacher asked, textbook in one hand. From his current angle, the light was shining off the top of his head so brightly it was blinding… but perhaps it was best not to think of such things.

“I’m sorry. Could you repeat the question?”

“Hmph. Can you name the main powers in the Astoria Continental War?”

“Well, I suppose the Doranzaal Empire would be considered a great power, as it had the most power and land on the continent. And we cannot forget its neighbor, the kingdom of Sephiros, which was the other great power at the time. The Holy Walpurgis Empire was a country that controlled its neighbors through domestic politics. It was the only country that did not have an army, and its citizens were said to all be wicked. On the other hand, the republic of Hertochel and the kingdom of Fornande are countries that placed an emphasis on their militaries. The latter was also called the Overnight Country, as it was founded when a castle was built in one night.”

“Huh? O-Oh… That’s odd. She listed countries that aren’t even in the textbook,” the teacher muttered under his breath, the words not reaching the other students. Leticiel had simply stated the information she had gathered in her previous life. She had been alive during the Astoria Continental War, so she knew more about it than anyone else there.

She had only listed the countries that held real power in the center of the continent and hadn’t included those on the borders. Most of them had survived quite a while, but the kingdom of Fornande had been crushed by the two main powers within ten years of its founding, so it wasn’t surprising that it hadn’t made it into the history books.

Incidentally, Leticiel’s home country of Regenerose had been a fairly strong border country. At the very least, it was on par with its neighboring kingdom of Zelryde.

“E-Errm, well, I feel like that explanation was extremely detailed, but you do seem to have done your homework. Everyone, please turn to the next page. This time…” The teacher scratched his head quizzically but continued on with the lesson. Leticiel’s gaze dropped back on her textbook. There was too much she didn’t know about this era’s history and common knowledge. It seemed there was a lot she would need to research.

~~~~~

After a short break, her second lesson, which seemed to be about magic formulas, started. Standing in front of the class at the podium, the teacher reviewed the previous lesson and read aloud from the textbook. Glancing sideways at the girl sitting next to her, Leticiel got out the same textbook. She also took her notebook out just in case, but probably wouldn’t take any notes.

Leticiel knew of magic formulas, but referred to them as spell techniques. They were learned as introductory tools for those who were studying sorcery.

The power and scale of sorcery was determined by a person’s imagination and their ability to calculate and process information. However, beginners couldn’t activate spells on their own right off the bat. Magic formulas compensated for their lack of ability. After practicing sorcery while using a formula and getting used to the calculation process, they wouldn’t need the formula anymore. At that level, they would be able to use sorcery by just imagining the spell they wanted, so it was easier and more efficient to perform calculations on their own than by using a formula.

As her kingdom’s greatest sorceress in her previous life, Leticiel had no use for beginners’ magical formulas. To be honest, she could see this class being a waste of her time.

“…sell. Miss Drossel!” Leticiel was shaken out of her recollection of the past by the teacher calling her name. “You seem to have your head in the clouds. Do you plan on answering my question?”

The teacher was staring at her with an irritated expression. It took a moment for Leticiel to realize that she had been called on. “I’m sorry,” she responded. “I couldn’t hear your question. Could you please repeat it?”

“Y-Yes,” the teacher stuttered. “Could you please come to the chalkboard and rewrite this basic fire formula to make it a basic wind formula?”

Leticiel glanced at the formula on the chalkboard and her eyes widened in shock.

On it was a basic fire magic formula… or rather, something similar to a basic fire formula. It was clear that the formula was related to fire in some way, but the small details in it were completely unlike the basic formulas that Leticiel knew.

First of all, the scale of the formula had been expanded far too much. Basic formulas were the basis for all magic, so consumption should be kept to a minimum. But at its current scale, it placed an unnecessary burden on the user’s brain. Not only that, but there were too many unnecessary variables to control. A basic formula containing so many variables would cause a disaster when creating an advanced formula based on it later on. The variables would cancel each other out and the user wouldn’t get the desired effect.

It was the first time in Leticiel’s life (including her previous life) that she had seen such a wasteful formula with poor fuel efficiency and absolutely horrible conversion efficiency. After being faced with the worst formula she’d ever seen, Leticiel had surpassed shock and was genuinely worried.

Forget overwriting it with a basic wind formula—there was no way she could do proper sorcery with such an inefficient formula. What had happened to the level of sorcery—or rather, magic—in this world?

Seeing Drossell stare at the board in a daze, her teacher and classmates misunderstood, thinking that she was silent because she didn’t know the answer. Scornful laughter rang out here and there in the classroom, especially from Rocheford and his followers. The teacher looked at the students, then Drossell, and sighed.

“You don’t know how to, huh? In that case—”

Leticiel cut off the teacher by standing suddenly, kicking her chair away noisily. The classroom fell silent as Leticiel strode forward, the other students wondering what she was planning to do.

Snatching the chalk right out of the teacher’s hand, Leticiel began to write a new formula right next to the other one. Silence fell upon the classroom as the laughter instantly died down. Stunned by Drossell’s unexpected behavior, her classmates could only wait with bated breath to see what she was up to.

Leticiel was furious. If any of them had known about the spell techniques she had used in her previous life, they would likely feel the same way.

She hadn’t been called the kingdom’s best sorceress for nothing. She was a verified sorcery maniac. While prioritizing her citizens and family, she had run around battlefields and poured all her time and energy into researching spell techniques. She had succeeded in her goal of finding the ultimate way to activate sorcery with the least effort and burden necessary by cutting down magic formulas to the bare minimum. Before her death, Leticiel had discovered the limitations of magical formulas. She knew the most beautiful, efficient, and sustainable formulas.

From her point of view, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the nonsensical formula written in front of her was a blasphemy against sorcery.

She didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since her previous life, but what exactly had gone wrong for such shitty formulas and theories to become widespread? She wanted to grab the person who’d spread them by the neck and question them for at least an hour.

“Heh heh heh…” Eerie laughter echoed in the classroom. Several students shrieked at the dark aura the girl was emitting as she stood in front of the chalkboard, living up to her nickname of being an “ice demon.” Even the teacher took a step back, face pale. An invisible blizzard blew through the classroom, terrifying some of the students so much that they fainted.

Finally, Leticiel finished drawing her formula on the board. Her expression was the epitome of rapture as she gazed happily upon the perfect formula. As she put down her chalk, the blizzard that had been assailing the classroom vanished into thin air. On the board was a formula at least half as small as the one the teacher had written.

She had cut away everything that could be removed, eliminated unnecessary variables or replaced them with other variables, and filled in the empty space with functions to create a magical formula that Leticiel knew well. She gazed at it with enchanted eyes. Though she had lost interest in others, her passion for and obsession with sorcery had far from disappeared, instead growing stronger.

“This is a true basic fire formula,” she told the teacher, giving him a huge smile. “I’ve overwritten it with a basic wind formula as you asked, so please feel free to use it in class.”

Murmurs ran through the classroom, which had been filled with fear moments earlier. To think the ice demon could smile in this way. Not her usual mocking smile or the creepy sneer she’d used earlier, but a genuine smile.

The smile was gone in the blink of an eye, returning to Leticiel’s default emotionless face. After a bow to the teacher, who was still dazed, Leticiel returned to her seat.

When she sat down, the girl next to her timidly spoke up, stuttering, “U-U-U-U-Um, that was…” Her complexion seemed much worse than it had been when Leticiel had met her that morning, not pale but somewhat ashen.

“What’s wrong?” Leticiel asked her. “If you’re not feeling well, you should rest.”

“Th-That’s what I was going to say!” the girl yelped, voice cracking, even though Leticiel had just been concerned about her health. Plus, her yell had gotten the attention of their other classmates, who were now looking at Leticiel with a mixture of reproaching, frightened, and displeased looks.

“Um… Did I do something?” Leticiel asked.

“What? Don’t tell me you weren’t aware…”

“Um… Unaware… of what?”

“Even though you let loose such a huge blizzard…?”

“A blizzard?”

After that, the girl zealously explained what had happened in the classroom while she had been facing the chalkboard. According to her, a black aura had risen from Drossell’s back, she let out an eerie laugh, and for some reason, a blizzard had struck the classroom, making many people faint.

If what the young lady said was true, then Leticiel truly did seem to have caused some damage. She did feel the need to apologize, but before that, there was one thing she wanted to say. “Thank you. That’s great news.”

“There’s nothing great about it! What could possibly be good about what I just told you? It was a nightmare, I tell you. A nightmare!”

“I’m terribly sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. Truly.”

“Why are you apologizing so normally? Now I can’t complain anymore,” the girl murmured, tears in her eyes. Have I said something to offend her? Leticiel wondered.

The “great news” Leticiel had been referring to was the invisible blizzard that had struck the classroom.

Sorcery was an art that involved gathering aether from the air and transforming it into a phenomenon by using the caster as a medium. The phenomenon and its scale could be adjusted freely by the caster, but the more difficult the spell or the greater its scale, the more of a burden it placed on the caster.

The blizzard, which must have been a nightmare for her classmates, was likely formed by the aether in the classroom tuning in to Leticiel’s rage and going wild, directly projecting her raging passion. Normally, sorcery couldn’t be used until the caster intentionally manipulated it, so for her to have done it unconsciously meant that she had a great deal of strength when it came to manipulating phenomena.

Plus, even though she’d gotten the entire classroom involved, Leticiel wasn’t out of breath at all, which meant the blizzard hadn’t strained her body. This body might be incredibly suited to sorcery, she realized, the thought making her chuckle.

Even in her previous body, she hadn’t been able to subconsciously cause magical phenomena. But in this body, she could. With training, she could surely become a sorceress even greater than Leticiel had been.

The other students cast her suspicious looks, unaware of the door she had opened to a new stage within herself.

Suddenly, Leticiel locked eyes with Christa, who was sitting at the front of the room. She was a little pale, but she was glaring at Leticiel with sharp eyes, as if she were facing her parents’ enemy. Her cute expression from that morning had disappeared, replaced with a terrifying, almost demonic expression. No one else was paying attention to Christa, so they didn’t notice how her expression and gaze seemed to resemble those of a woman going mad with jealousy.

It seemed her little sister wasn’t the pure noble lady she made herself out to be. Though she had noticed that discrepancy, it didn’t change the fact that Leticiel had no interest in Christa. The other woman was still glaring at her, but Leticiel decided to ignore her.

So much has happened in the few hours that have passed since I was reincarnated, she thought. I’m exhausted. Not paying any mind to the noisy classroom, Leticiel laid her head on her desk. A new environment, a new society, and new common sense, all in a new world. Knowledge of this unfamiliar world was battering her like a waterfall. Even as strong as she was, Leticiel was still tired.

Idly telling herself that she should write it all down and organize the information so she wouldn’t get confused later, her eyelids slowly slid closed.

~~~~~

How could Drossell, who supposedly had no magical power, do such a thing?

The girl next to Leticiel, Mirandalette Lulu Wald, glanced confusedly at Drossell as she slept with her face down on the desk, oblivious to the stares of her bewildered classmates.

To be honest, Mirandalette did not like Drossell and was afraid of her. Not only did Drossell have no magical power, but she had a temper and was hard to approach.

It had all started when she lost her temper at her sister on the day of the entrance ceremony. Rumors had spread through the academy quickly, making Drossell an anathema right from the start. That was why Mirandalette didn’t want anything to do with her either.

But… had Miss Drossell always been like this? Since she had feared the rumors and only observed Drossell from afar, Mirandalette wasn’t sure.

Her thoughts jumbling, she watched Drossell sleep soundly as the classroom buzzed with talk about how differently Drossell had been acting in both their History and Magic Formula lessons. Their murmurs continued unabated as Mirandalette pondered how different the character of the girl in the rumors was from the personality of the girl next to her.

The formulas teacher was frozen for a short while, staring at the formula on the chalkboard. But he suddenly came to his senses with a gasp and fumbled for the notebook in his pocket, quickly scribbling something on it. “Everyone, the rest of today’s lesson will be used as a self-study session!” he announced once he had finished writing, putting his notebook away and quickly leaving the classroom.

Chapter 2
Sorcery and Magic

Leticiel rubbed her eyes and raised her head as the bell rang amidst the still chaotic classroom. She must have been tired from having been reincarnated that morning, as she had been sleeping pretty deeply.

“U-Um, good morning, Miss Drossell,” the girl sitting next to her said as Leticiel stretched. She was a pretty girl with loosely braided brown hair and orange eyes. She had spoken to Leticiel a few times during class, but the realization that Leticiel had never asked for her name idly crossed her mind.

“May I ask you for your name?”

“Y-Yes! I’m Mirandalette Lulu Wald.” The girl flinched and hunched her shoulders at Leticiel’s question. It’s not like I’m going to eat you… Leticiel thought before catching sight of the clock on the wall.

“What is our next class?” she asked.

“Um, I think it’s a practical magic class at the training grounds.”

“I see.” Hearing the phrase “practical magic,” Leticiel immediately remembered the poorly made magic formula she’d seen in the previous class. If it was a class where they would be applying the skills they had learned to real life, they would likely be using that formula to practice. To Leticiel, it was a failure of a magic formula that was unbearable to look at, but the fact that it was being taught had to mean that it was common knowledge at the academy.

In fact, she was genuinely curious to see what effects such an artistically mistaken formula would have.

“If they’re at the training grounds, that means we need to move classrooms, right?” she confirmed.

“Huh? U-Um… Miss Drossell, do you plan on taking the practical lessons?”

“Of course. It’s a class, isn’t it?” Leticiel stood after putting her textbooks and other things away. Mirandalette’s round eyes widened even further. But if the students were there to take lessons, it was only natural for Leticiel, a student of the academy, to participate as well, was it not? “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Let’s go together.”

“Huh? Oh, sure!” Mirandalette chased after Leticiel as she left the classroom. Though, once she was in the hallway, Leticiel had no idea where the training grounds were or how to get there. She started to walk down the hallway, wondering how she should get there, when someone tugged on her clothes.

Turning around, she saw Mirandalette with an inexplicable expression on her face. Why did she look like that? “Miss Mirandalette, what was that for?”

“I just wanted to say… the magic training grounds aren’t that way.”

“I completely forgot.”

“S-So it seems.” Leticiel walked with Mirandalette down the corridor as they engaged in somewhat idle conversation. Mirandalette didn’t seem as scared of Leticiel as she had been earlier that morning. She would respond timidly when Leticiel spoke to her, and she had even started to smile. As for Leticiel, however, all of her friendliness had been left in her previous life.

Finally, the two left the main school building and arrived at one of the two buildings on either side of it. The building on the left was the magic training grounds, and the building on the right was the sword training grounds. When they entered, they saw that the other students from Primary Class 2 had already gathered there. Naturally, Christa and Rocheford were there as well.

When Christa spotted Leticiel, she offered up her usual sweet smile. Those who only knew this side of her would find it hard to believe she was the same girl who had looked like a jealous demon in their second class, even if they saw that side of her for themselves.

Rocheford, on the other hand, glanced sharply at Leticiel, then huffed and looked away from her. Leticiel stepped onto the floor of the training room, observing him indifferently and thinking to herself that he didn’t seem to be two-faced, unlike Christa.

After a while, the bell rang to signal the start of class, and the teacher came into the training grounds holding a large burlap sack. “Okay, let’s start today’s lesson,” he said, carelessly dropping the sack on the ground with a thud. A look of surprise washed over his face when he saw Leticiel mixed in with the other students. “Miss Drossell, will you be attending this class?”

“Oh, is it really that strange for me to attend?” she answered in response.

“I suppose not. If you want to join, I don’t mind.” Not knowing how to respond to Drossell’s unusual behavior, he turned his attention away from her and back to the other students. “Let’s see… Today, I’d like to measure everyone’s magical attributes. Miss Drossell, seeing as how you don’t have any magical power, please sit over there and watch.

Hearing this, Leticiel finally understood what the teacher and Mirandalette had meant. They had thought it was strange for her to attend this class because she couldn’t use magic. And since none of her other classmates were sitting and watching, it seemed like she was the only one without any magical power at all.

Following the teacher’s orders, Leticiel hung her head and made her way to a bench on the edge of the training grounds. Sitting there, she wrapped her arms around herself and began to tremble. Seeing this, the students and teacher thought that she was upset and humiliated about being the only one without magic. The teacher looked at her with eyes full of pity, while the students gazed at her with their usual scornful sneers. They were convinced that what had happened in class earlier had been a fluke. However, the truth was far different from what they believed.

“Heh heh… Heh heh heh… Ha ha ha ha ha!” Leticiel hugged herself, trembling as she tried her hardest to push down the laughter that was threatening to burst out. What was bubbling up inside her was not humiliation or sadness, but the sort of excitement and joy that made her want to laugh out loud and start dancing. “A ha ha! No wonder this body is so able to manipulate phenomena and act as a medium so well! Hee hee hee…”

The bench she was sitting at was far away from the rest of the class, so none of them could hear her murmurs.

Leticiel had been moved by the declaration that she had no magical power.

Sorcery could be activated semi-permanently as long as there was aether around, but it had one weakness: magical power.

Most humans were born with magical power. It didn’t have any particular effect on them, like giving them the ability to use special powers. It was simply a power that circulated throughout their body like blood, neither a poison nor a cure.

Sorcery involved absorbing aether into the caster, who acted as a medium, and transforming it into an event, but magical power impeded the absorption of aether, the source of sorcery’s power. The higher someone’s magical power level was, the higher the inhibition rate was. In her time, many people with high levels of magical power had relied solely on physical attacks, since they couldn’t use sorcery to fight.

If you were unable to use sorcery, you had little choice but to hone your other fighting techniques. On the other hand, those with absolutely no magical power, the so-called “magicless,” were extremely rare in Leticiel’s lifetime and were highly valued. If she had to guess how rare they were, she’d say they were one in a hundred thousand. Those who weren’t completely magicless but had extremely low magical energy were rare as well, with the probability being more like one in tens of thousands.

Every country wanted one such gifted person for themselves. For the more powerful nations, snatching up those who were magicless or close to it was one way of keeping other countries in check and gaining an even greater advantage.

That was only natural. Having no magic power meant that there was nothing to prevent them from utilizing sorcery, which meant they could use it more freely and easily than those with magical power. Leticiel’d had almost no magical power when she was a princess. That was why she had been able to rise up and become the nation’s strongest sorceress, the kingdom’s treasure.

And now she had been reborn into a body that seemed as if it existed solely for the purpose of using sorcery. Drossell’s abnormally high ability to manipulate phenomena, and her ability to absorb huge amounts of aether without it straining her body could both be explained away by her lack of magical power. Since there was no magical power to interfere with the flow of aether, she could absorb as much as she wanted. Therefore, she could use sorcery whenever she wanted.

In that condition, if she were to become mentally unstable, her body would likely construct spells according to the images in her mind because it was always on standby, ready for combat. So if a magicless were to let their sorcery go out of control, it would be incomplete and there would be nothing anyone could do until the magicless came to their senses or calmed. But she was getting ahead of herself.

“Ahhh, how fun.” Leaning back against the bench, Leticiel looked up with a loose smile on her face. She was extremely excited at the thought of being able to use sorcery freely from now on, but she looked back down and regained her composure, deciding to observe the class.

The teacher had said that he would be measuring the students’ magical attributes, but what in the world would he use those measurements for? To check their aptitude for sorcery? Or to determine their strengths and weaknesses amongst the attributes?

“All right, let’s begin measuring your magical attributes.” It seemed like the class had progressed quite a bit while Leticiel had been making faces. The teacher started calling out the students’ names one by one. The burlap sack he’d brought with him was filled with a large number of palm-sized crystals. Considering how many there were, they were probably consumable items.

Leticiel quietly watched as one boy took a crystal from the teacher, holding it in both hands. It glowed red for a few seconds before silently disappearing. Leticiel was too far away to see much, but judging by the boy’s happy expression, the crystal reflected some sort of result.

As Leticiel watched, each of the students was called one by one until they had all finished their measurements. She hadn’t paid attention to Christa and Rocheford’s results because she genuinely couldn’t care less.

“Well, the average magic power value is between 50 and 60, but I didn’t expect there to be five students with over 100 this year. This is promising for the future,” the teacher said, sounding pleased. Four students stood in front of the rest of the students, Christa and Rocheford amongst them—though Christa was the only woman in the group.

The teacher praised them, calling them geniuses, while the other students congratulated them with applause and gazes filled with frustration and jealousy.

“Huh?” Leticiel sat alone on the bench, mouth agape at the sight of her teacher’s happy attitude and her classmates’ envy. She wasn’t resentful the way some of them were—in fact, she wondered why they were jealous of people with such high magical power scores.

Magic had eight types of attributes in total: fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, light, darkness, and void. The first seven were elemental attributes, and anything that wasn’t classified in them—for example, body enhancement and spacial spells—was classified as having a void attribute. Because of that, the definition of the void attribute was the broadest of all the rest. The sorcery she had used earlier to repair the carriage had also been void magic.

What was more, each magical attribute had a magic value which, as its name would suggest, indicated the level of magical power for that attribute. For example, if you had high fire magical power levels, it would be difficult to wield fire attribute spells.

For sorcerers, it was the lower the better for such numbers, so why were they celebrating numbers over 100? It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if you had an attribute over 100, it would be impossible for you to use that type of sorcery. When the magical power was that high, the resistance would be too strong, repelling the aether.

Leticiel had to agree with their teacher’s words that they were rare. That much was certainly true. There were only a few people in the world with ridiculously high and ridiculously low levels of magical power, in the same way that geniuses and completely incompetent people were also rare.

“I’m really surprised. These two have fire, water, and wind attributes over 100,” her teacher continued. Leticiel cringed as she got the inexplicable feeling that she was viewing something unknown. She surpassed shock and entered a daze when the teacher finished with, “Not only that, but Miss Christa has a rare light attribute of over 300, and all of Prince Rocheford’s attributes are over 100! As you’re all aware, it’s difficult to use advanced magic if you have an average magical power of less than 100. Plus, you need at least 300 to use the highest grade of magic. I’ve never seen such rare, promising magicians before!”

Christa and Rocheford’s cases were certainly rare, but in the worst way. Having all attributes over 100 meant that they couldn’t use any sorcery attributes at all. Far from being aspiring magicians, it was more like they had been cursed by the god of sorcery. Even Leticiel had only seen one person who couldn’t use all of the attributes before.

Leticiel had lived in a world where everyone could use healing spells, which were light attribute spells. It had certainly been rare that people hadn’t been able to protect themselves. So to have such high light attribute magical power results…

Could “magic” and “sorcery” be two different things? That was the conclusion she had come to. The others’ reactions wouldn’t make sense any other way. If sorcery had been widespread in this country, they certainly wouldn’t be so happy. In fact, they might have despaired the end of their careers as sorcerers.

If her suspicions were correct, what sort of skills were used in the “magic” taught in this country? Those with low magical power were looked down on and those with high magical power were put on a pedestal. Just what was this “magic” that had the opposite mechanisms as sorcery?

“Let’s see, we have some time left in class, so let’s have you all try to use your magic.” The teacher’s drawl brought Leticiel back to the present, and she quickly fixed her gaze on the class. One of her bad habits was sitting alone and obsessing over things she didn’t understand. If she didn’t understand, then all she had to do was watch, as the students were about to perform this so-called “magic.”

The students were excited to hear that they’d be using it, the air around them cheerful. The teacher held a stack of papers, distributing one to each student. Leticiel, who’d been watching the whole thing, suddenly stood from the bench and said, “Sir.”

“Yes, Miss Drossell? What is the matter?”

“May I have one of those papers?”

“Huh? Well, why do you need a formula when you don’t have any magical power?”

As she’d thought, the paper held a spell for beginners—although in this country, they called it a “magic formula.”

“Oh? Are you trying to suppress your student’s curiosity? I’m free to do with it what I want, am I not?”

“You have a point,” the teacher admitted. “Here you go.”

Accepting a paper from him, Leticiel hurried back to the bench. Laying the paper flat, she traced the letters and shapes on it with her eyes. “Ah, it’s the formula I saw earlier,” she murmured to herself.

Written on the paper was a basic fire formula—naturally, the garbage one that had been on the board before she had corrected it. However, she was curious about the text underneath the formula. It said: “O flames that fill my body! Become a conflagration to reduce everything to ashes. Gather in my hands and pierce my enemy.”

What on earth was that embarrassing line for?

“Okay everyone, memorize this basic formula and chant the words below it to use your magic,” the teacher explained. So that awkward text was an incantation used to invoke the magic, huh?

The concept of incantations existed in sorcery as well. Since spells’ effects were affected by the image the caster held in their mind, those who struggled to visualize the spell could supplement their imagination by chanting.

Of course, they hadn’t used such long and embarrassing lines. Short and simple phrases like “Gather, flames,” were common, but incantations were unique to each caster and could differ slightly from person to person.

“Now,” the teacher started, “let’s try using magic. Who wants to go first?”

“I’ll go, sir!” Rocheford raised his hand. Seeing how he turned to Christa after the teacher acquiesced made it obvious that he wanted to show off for the girl he liked.

Holding the paper in one hand, he took his position. Holding his right hand out in front of him and glancing at the paper in his left, he loudly said, “O flames that fill my body! Become a conflagration to reduce everything to ashes. Gather in my hands and pierce my enemy!” As he finished chanting, a ball of fire appeared in his hand and flew straight toward the target in front of him, striking it right in the center with a bang.

Leticiel wanted to praise herself for not keeling over. Rocheford had mumbled through the incantation and had sounded absolutely ridiculous. Looking at the target, she was stunned to see that his weak attack had only charred the center a tiny bit. With sorcery, even a basic spell would have twice the explosive power.

“Phew…” Rocheford let out a breath.

“That was wonderful, Your Highness! You hit the center on your first try, and your power was outstanding!” Leticiel wondered what the teacher was thinking, praising a spell of that level.

Rocheford looked smug as he replied, “That was nothing.”

Though the lead-up to the shot had been flashy, its effects were subpar. Leticiel thought it had been weaker than weak, so what was there to praise about it? Perhaps he did deserve some praise for having the control to hit the center, at least.

However, the magical incantation had been even more embarrassing than she’d expected. Reading the text hadn’t been too bad, but hearing it spoken out loud had given her secondhand embarrassment that had made her want to faint.

My husband in my past life had a word for something like this. What was it? …Oh, right. Peter Pan syndrome.

Leticiel continued her analysis of “magic” while agonizing over the secondhand embarrassment.

It seemed that magic used the magical energy inside of people as fuel to cause phenomena and was different from sorcery, which used aether that was gathered outside of the person’s body. If you weren’t going to use aether, having a high amount of magical energy wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, they were probably happy because more magical energy meant having more fuel. But it was still shockingly inefficient to Leticiel. Magic used magical energy that was capped at a certain amount when you were born, and sorcery used aether that was infinitely abundant in the air. It was obvious which one was simpler to use.

Still, didn’t that formula use too much magical energy? If they were going to use the limited amount of energy they had within them, they should use simplified formulas to reduce energy expenditure. So why were the formulas in this country so complicated?

At this rate, they’d never be able to use highly powerful magic. How did they plan to fight with such weak magic?

“Okay, who’s up next?” the teacher asked.

“Me! I’ll go!”

“No, I’ll go first!” a male student argued.

“Hold on a second. Allow me to go first!” one of the girls said.

The students took turns, each loud recitation of the embarrassing incantation chipping away at Leticiel’s mental health. In her previous life, there were a few times when she and her husband had amused themselves by pretending to have Peter Pan syndrome. She suffered as she was forced to remember that dark part of her past. She was as expressionless as ever on the surface, but she couldn’t help but wish that the others would hurry up and finish.

How much time had passed? Finally, the practical magic lesson ended and her classmates stopped casting spells. She smiled wanly, looking far more gaunt than the others.

They’d still had time left after casting basic fire magic, so they had decided to try out some other attributes. Though the incantations for the other attributes were different, they were just as embarrassing. Leticiel’s brain had shut down halfway through.

Seeing the ice demon sitting alone in a corner of the training grounds with a refreshing smile on her face, Leticiel’s classmates quietly whispered amongst themselves that she must have finally gone mad.

Well, they weren’t wrong, in a way.

“U-Um, Miss Drossell, are you all right?” Mirandalette, the only one worried about Leticiel, asked as the rest of their classmates filed out of the training grounds.

Though her thoughts were still misaligned, Leticiel thought that she might be able to be friends with this young lady even though she hadn’t cared much for others since being reincarnated.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied. “But it’s strange. I haven’t used any magical energy, so why am I so tired?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Hey, Miss Mirandalette. Isn’t it embarrassing to have to chant such embarrassing lines to use magic?”

“You mean the incantations? Well, they are embarrassing… like, really embarrassing! But you can’t use magic without them, so you just have to grin and bear it, I suppose.”

“I see. I don’t really get why they’re so necessary, but you have my condolences.”

“Why are you making it sound like the incantations are a death sentence?” Mirandalette asked, staring at her. Leticiel slid her gaze away. Though her emotions didn’t show on her face, it seemed like they were easily revealed through her eyes.

“What is our next class?” she asked, changing the subject.

“The next class is—”

“Hey, you! The silver-haired lady!”

Just as Mirandalette opened her mouth to answer, someone interrupted her. Leticiel didn’t know who they were talking to, but it likely didn’t have anything to do with her.

“I’m talking to you! Please don’t ignore me, Miss Drossell!” Leticiel stopped when she heard her name, realizing that they had been calling for her.

Turning in the direction of the voice, she saw two men running toward her. One was small, plump, middle-aged, and had a shining head. He was the man who had taught history in her first period, and the other man was the magic formula teacher she had seen in the second period.

“Hello,” she greeted. “Is there something I can hel—”

“You! You’re Drossell Noa Filiaregis, right? Please come with us for a bit!” Breathing heavily, the plump teacher grasped Leticiel’s arm and set off running at full speed once more, not giving her a chance to argue. Mirandalette was left all alone in a shocked daze.

The students in the hallway were dumbfounded as they watched the ice demon be led past them by two teachers. They sneered at her once more, imagining that she would finally receive some sort of educational remediation.

Meanwhile, Leticiel had been forcibly dragged away by the teachers and made to run through the school building until they reached a certain door. The sign above the door said it was the “Main Conference Room.” Leticiel couldn’t help but think that if there was a main conference room, there must also be secondary conference rooms.

“Hah… Hah… We’re here!” the portly teacher announced.

“I can see that,” Leticiel replied. “I don’t see why there was a need to rush, though.”

“I was just… thinking that!,” the teacher panted. “How are you so unaffected, anyway?”

After a pause, Leticiel answered, “I suppose you could say I’m more experienced.”

“You think a sheltered, sixteen-year-old young lady is more experienced than a man in his thirties?!” the plump teacher exclaimed, clutching his head. Even the magic formula teacher looked conflicted after hearing Leticiel’s answer.

Leticiel had realized that she would run out of stamina while they were running, so she had secretly activated sorcery to enhance her body. That was why she wasn’t tired or out of breath despite having kept up with the teachers, who had been running at full speed.

In times of war, it hadn’t been strange for girls in their teens to be stronger than men in their forties, so she wasn’t sure why he was so surprised.

“By the way, are we not going to go inside? Mr., um… Piccari?”

“Who’s Mr. Piccari? I’m Baltrana! Bal-tra-na!” the plump, middle-aged teacher squawked angrily, nostrils flaring in displeasure. Apparently, she had offended him by blurting out the first word she had thought of as she hadn’t been able to remember his name.

The other teacher calmed Baltrana down while Leticiel was wondering how to react. Shoulders slumped dejectedly, Baltrana opened the door to the conference room and entered.

“May I ask for your name, as well?” Leticiel asked the magic formula teacher.

“Miss Drossell, do you not remember it?”

“I do not,” she answered honestly.

“I see. I’m Raven.”

“All right, Mr. Raven.” Passing through the door that Piccari—no, Baltrana—had left open, Leticiel entered the conference room. Many men and women were gathered there, both young and old. Could they all be teachers at the academy?

“You’re here,” a man sitting in the chair at the far end of the room commented quietly. He had short, sandy blond hair, vibrant navy blue eyes, and he was muscular with a tough-looking face. Everything about him screamed that he was athletic.

“Um, I suppose I can’t say, ‘Long time no see,’” Leticiel blurted without thinking. He was the man she’d asked for directions that morning in the lobby.

“Oh? Is that how you’re going to speak to me, the headmaster of Lucrezia Academy?”

“I didn’t realize you were the headmaster. I’m terribly sorry.”

“We met at the entrance ceremony, though. Are you saying you forgot?”

“Yes, it’s likely that I’ve forgotten all the things I’m not interested in,” Leticiel answered nonchalantly. Some of the teachers in the conference room were unable to hold back their laughter, but it wasn’t the type of derisive laughter that she had faced from her peers. In it was a sense of relief, or perhaps a sense of calmness akin to security. They all had heard the rumors that the ice demon Drossell Noa Filiaregis had been acting strange since that morning. Now that they could see her for themselves, it was obvious that she had certainly changed, but it seemed like the essence of her independent personality hadn’t changed much.

“Heh heh heh… Your demeanor has changed, but that free-spirited personality of yours hasn’t.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“I didn’t mean it as a compliment… But whatever. I’m Lucas Do Horacio. Remember that this time.”

“I’ll do my best,” Leticiel responded appropriately to the headmaster—Lucas—while all the teachers watched her calmly for some reason. She wasn’t particularly interested in Lucas or the other teachers, but she was curious as to why she had been called there.

“So, as for why I called you here…”

“Yes?”

“I heard that you rewrote a magic formula in class. Would you be able to rewrite this one?”

Lucas presented her with a complicated formula that was on a slightly larger scale than the previous one. But no matter how big the scale was, the basics and the methods of calculating the mathematical expressions were the same, so it wasn’t that different from the other complicated magical formula. Wielding the quill the headmaster had handed her, Leticiel made drastic cuts to the formula without hesitation. She quickly rewrote the formula, simplifying the mathematical formulas and erasing or combining the letters while the teachers struggled to keep up.

“This is…” Even Lucas was astonished by the formula Leticiel had rewritten in such little time. He gave the formula a thorough look before raising his gaze to meet Leticiel’s. “The formula I just showed you is the standard magic formula in this country,” he said. “What do you think of such formulas?”

“Huh?” Leticiel had been tense, unsure what Lucas would say to her, but his unexpected question had made her respond foolishly.

“You can be frank. This room is private.”

“Oh…” Leticiel blinked. She didn’t know why the headmaster and the teachers were asking her such a thing, but perhaps this was a good opportunity. The theories behind sorcery and magic were fundamentally different, but they used the same spells. If the teachers were giving her permission to speak, she might as well take advantage of it. Then she could dump all the responsibility on the academy.

A small smile formed on Leticiel’s lips. Shall I take this opportunity to correct their misconceptions?

Lucas and the other teachers waited patiently for Drossell’s reply. The formula that Drossel had written had much better magical energy consumption and conversion efficiency than the old basic formula, plus it had eased the burden on the caster’s mental processing capacity.

The magic formulas hadn’t been altered since the founding of the Platina Kingdom as they had achieved their greatest forms. But Drossell, the underachiever who had been abandoned by her family, cast aside by those around her, and shunned and hated by everyone else, had easily rewritten it. Where on earth had she acquired that sort of unknown knowledge? As teachers, they couldn’t help but wonder.

However, it wasn’t long before they regretted asking her.

“What do I think about them, you ask? Heh heh heh… There’s so much I have to say.”

A cold wind blew silently through the large conference room. An eerie chill crept up their backs, making every person in the room turn pale. None of them knew of the existence of sorcery, so no one realized that Leticiel was the cause of it.

Leticiel was upset. As usual, she was angry at the extremely inefficient magic formula, but this time she wasn’t exploding in anger the way she had in second period. She kept a tight rein on her emotions, cooling her anger to an appropriate level while converting some of her images into magic to keep those around her in check. She had no intention of allowing anyone to escape from the conference room.

“Are you listening? First of all, this country... well, perhaps it’s on a global scale, but I’ll speak on a country-by-country basis for now. This country’s magic formulas are barely functional. To start with, they aren’t aesthetically pleasing. Why are they so messily written, and why are there so many needless words and numbers? Making the spell look complicated doesn’t necessarily make it better. What’s most important is the formula’s contents and how many great pieces you can put together while smartly cutting things down to the bare minimum. Also, the conversion rates for magical power are absolutely horrible. I can’t help but wonder why no one has ever pointed out how fuel-inefficient it is. Why in the world is…”

Leticiel rambled on and on, using the conference room’s chalkboard to demonstrate when necessary and taking her time before wrapping up. “In other words, this country’s spell techniques... No, you call them magic spells. In any case, they are an affront to formulas. Do you understand? Well, I believe I’ve said everything I wanted to, but… Oh? Is something the matter, everyone?” Having gotten everything off of her chest, Leticiel glanced around the room looking refreshed. She saw many people who had fainted from the cold, lost focus, or collapsed on the desk, their souls leaving their bodies. Had her powers gone out of control and caused another magical phenomenon?

It really is hard to control the body of someone who doesn’t have any magical power…

Though it wasn’t quite unadulterated pandemonium, Leticiel felt out of place in the dire state she had left the conference room in. Lucas was the only teacher who still had his composure, as the rest had sunk like battleships.

The headmaster held his chin as he thought, then gave Leticiel an intrigued look before saying, “Would you like to join a research lab and study magic formulas? A club would be fine too.”

Leticiel’s eyes widened in confusion. Why had he suddenly changed the topic to bring up those things? Up until then, she had been thoroughly explaining what exactly magic formulas and spells were, but perhaps her message hadn’t gotten across to him. Was that why he was trying to force a change of subject?

Incidentally, she hadn’t mentioned sorcery to them. To be precise, she hadn’t had the time to bring it up. In her former life, Leticiel had devoted herself to researching magic formulas and had actually reached a limit to her knowledge, so she could go on and on about them all day as a formula fanatic. But she wasn’t adept enough to insert other topic points into her explanations.

“Um, were you listening to me?” she asked. “If not, I can explain it again…”

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Don’t start talking again. We’ve already listened plenty! This is my suggestion after hearing what you had to say!” Finally showing a hint of impatience, Lucas stopped Leticiel before she could start her lecture again from the top. Leticiel was disappointed that he wouldn’t let her talk, but obediently backed down. “I clearly understand the point you were making,” he told her, “but those are ideas and theories that we’ve never heard of. I can’t say that I completely understand them after just hearing about them once. That’s why we need to research and verify them.”

“I suppose that’s right,” Leticiel agreed slowly.

“As I’ve said before, I don’t understand your way of thinking. It’s not the sort of thing I’d be able to research alone, but I’m interested in what you have to say. That’s why I want to ask for your cooperation.”

“My cooperation?” In other words, Lucas was interested in what Leticiel was saying and wanted her to conduct more in-depth research.

Thinking back, she hadn’t been able to immerse herself in her past-life hobby of studying sorcery since she had awakened as Drossell. It sounded like an extremely sweet deal if the academy was willing to provide the facility and cover all expenses. But before replying, there were a few questions she needed to ask.

“May I ask you something?”

“What is it?” Lucas replied.

“What are those ‘lab’ and ‘club’ things you mentioned?”

Naturally, Leticiel understood the meanings of those words, but she didn’t know what they entailed here at Lucrezia Academy.

Lucas met Leticiel gaze in stunned silence, his mouth agape. She hadn’t expected to experience this sort of awkward silence three times on her first day. “Just to be clear,” Lucas started, “you really are a student here at Lucrezia Academy, right?”

“Yes, so it seems.”

“The research labs and clubs were explained during the orientation. Weren’t you listening?”

“I’m sure I was.”

“It’s only been a little over a week since those explanations. Honestly, why don’t you remember them?”

“Hmm… Probably because I wasn’t interested.”

“Why do you keep saying such vague things?”

Leticiel could only tilt her head quizzically, unable to say that she hadn’t actually experienced the orientation. Her silent expression seemed to say, “Do you have a problem with it?”

Lucas rubbed his temples. He was sick of questioning the girl, who gave off an aura of, “If pushing doesn’t work, try pulling.” Instead, he told her about the research laboratories and clubs at the academy.

The laboratories were research facilities held by each teacher in the academy that also acted as the teachers’ private areas. Each teacher had a specialized research goal and could usually be found in their labs when they weren’t teaching classes. It wasn’t uncommon for students to join a teacher’s lab in search of more advanced learning and knowledge, as the labs could cater to their interests and allowed them to learn more than they could from a textbook.

It just so happened that the theme of Lucas’s research lab was “Independent Research.” Leticiel thought it was a rather desultory theme, but apparently it encouraged students to always be curious and to study on their own.

On the other hand, clubs were formed by groups of students who had the same objectives. They were organizations where students worked hard together to achieve a common goal. Unlike laboratories, clubs were more like associations of like-minded people. Since all of the students here were aristocrats, they often attended salons, tea parties, and afternoon parties after classes ended, so there were few clubs at the moment.

“Anyway, you’ve been acting odd today. Did you eat something strange or hit your head?” Lucas asked.

“I forgot.”

“Huh? You… That’s a bit…”

“I forgot.”

“Uh, like I said—”

“I forgot.”

“That’s imposs—”

“I. For. Got. Do you understand now?”

“Yeah, I get it. You’re just being forgetful.”

Toward the end, Leticiel had interfered with the aether in the classroom a tiny bit and had caused a blizzard just around Lucas. When she pushed her point with a brilliant smile, Lucas immediately nodded. She’d already told him that she’d forgotten, so she didn’t want him asking questions that were too deep.

Should I just say I forgot whenever someone asks me something? She’d gotten through everything up until now by using that phrase, she just hadn’t realized it and was now making a conscious decision to continue doing so.

Responding to Lucas’s invitation, she said, “Headmaster, if I were to join your research laboratory, would you be able to provide the equipment I need and cover all research costs?”

“Yes, of course. That’s no problem. I’ll take care of the budget and facilities.”

“All right. If those are the conditions, it doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.”

“Really? Then I’ll make arrangements for the lab, so please wait a bit.”

“Thank you,” Leticiel said. Lucas nodded in acknowledgement. “Also, I’ll put the idea of a club on hold for now. I don’t have any friends I could invite to join me.”

“Okay. I’ll leave the club up to you. You can make one if you want. If you don’t want to, that’s fine too.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that.”

Just then, a bell rang outside the conference room. Leticiel looked at the entrance, then up at the clock as she wondered what it was for. “What?” she said out loud, surprised.

The clock on the wall read exactly 1:00 pm. Leticiel blinked several times as she searched her memory.

Lucrezia Academy’s first period began at 9:00 am. Classes were fifty minutes long with ten-minute breaks between them. There were three classes in the morning, the third one ending ten minutes before noon. Lunch was held from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, and 1:00 pm was the start of the fourth period.

The last class Leticiel had attended was third period, so it had ended at 11:50 am. Even excluding the time it took for her to be led to the main conference room and all the other things, Leticiel had been talking for about an hour straight.

Oh, my. I must have really been enjoying myself.

No one else knew what was so “fun” about that freezing cold atmosphere, but none of them could comment on her inner thoughts. “The fourth period has started,” she said out loud.

“Yeah. We’ll be late even if we leave now, so let’s just go to the cafeteria. I’m hungry.” With that, Lucas got up and briskly walked out of the main conference room, Leticiel hurrying after him.

Now that she thought about it, Leticiel hadn’t had lunch either. Her stomach rumbled plaintively as if noticing her hunger. Lucas, who was walking ahead of her, turned just enough to throw her an amused grin. “Oh? That was quite loud. Even the Ice Demon shows her human side at times, hmm?”

“Well, ice demons are human inside. It’s only natural that they get hungry too.”

Lucas snickered. “Good point.”

“What about yourself, Headmaster? You must be famished considering the amount of food you’d need to eat to maintain your brawny figure.”

“You’re… really not cute, you know.”

“If you’re looking for cuteness, look elsewhere. I left my amiability behind in my past life,” Leticiel replied flippantly.

“Are you being serious right now?” Lucas asked rhetorically, sounding a little perturbed.

During their neutral conversation, Leticiel had memorized the locations of and directions to various facilities in the academy building. Together with Lucas, she headed toward the cafeteria.

Meanwhile, in the main conference room…

“U-Urk… My head hurts. What is going on?”

“Whoa! I’m soaked with sweat. What was with that mysterious blizzard? Where did it come from?”

“Was it a supernatural phenomenon? After all, none of us used magic, right?”

“Do you think Miss Drossell was the one who caused it?”

“I did hear that she caused a mysterious event in the second period…”

“But she doesn’t have any magical power. Let’s think logically. It’s impossible for her to do such a thing, isn’t it?”

“Exactly.”

“Anyway, my legs are shaking…”

“Wait a second! This is no time for us to be sitting around and recovering! The fourth period has already started!”

“Whaaaaat?!” the teacher shrieked, their shouts echoing in the conference room.

The first day of Leticiel’s reincarnated life at school ended without a hitch.

After her last class, Leticiel quickly packed her things and joined the other students in leaving the classroom.

As she left the school’s entrance, which was dyed in the setting sun, she saw that many carriages were lined up outside. Among all of the carriages that had come to pick up the nobles, Duke Filiaregis’s carriage stood out with its family crest and shining exterior. Boarding the same carriage that she had ridden in that morning, she ignored Christa—who had gotten in with her—and went straight to her room, diving into bed the instant they returned to the manor.

Being thrown into a completely new world in which she couldn’t tell right from left after having died in her previous life was a lot more mentally exhausting than she’d imagined. Leticiel rolled over on her soft bed.

“Welcome back, my lady,” Ruvik said, having accompanied her to her room. After a pause, he gave her a worried look and added, “Are you all right?”

His lazy mistress replied, “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little tired.”

After responding to Ruvik, she reflected on her day.

She had learned a lot about this world in just one day, but the knowledge she’d gained was just the tip of the iceberg. There was still a mountain’s worth of things that Leticiel wanted to know, such as the state of affairs outside of the kingdom and the current political system.

“Hey, Ruvik. Is there a method to learn about the kingdom that’s faster than reading books?” she asked. Naturally, she could read to gain knowledge, but books didn’t always show how that knowledge was applied to society.

“Huh? Well, let’s see… How about reading the newspaper?”

“The newspaper?” Leticiel echoed, tilting her head at the unfamiliar word. Ruvik didn’t seem to think she didn’t know what he was talking about because he continued on in a nonchalant manner.

“Yes. Newspapers are a valuable source of information for us commoners, as they tell us about sales and incidents that have occurred. However, it seems that newspapers for nobles and commoners are quite different.”

“Oh, I’m not interested in newspapers for nobles. Do you read the newspaper, Ruvik?”

“Yes. To be honest, checking the day’s events in the paper that’s delivered to me each morning is one of my simple pleasures,” he responded, scratching his head in embarrassment and laughing. It seemed commoners still lacked entertainment the way they had a thousand years ago.

“Is that so? Could you bring me one of those newspaper things when you come tomorrow? I’m extremely interested in them.”

“Errm, all right. I’ll bring mine, if you’re all right with that.”

After that, Ruvik continued to listen to Leticiel and give her advice. “Also,” he said, continuing their conversation, “you could try going into town and asking the people there directly. I live and work here at the manor, so I’m not much help…”

Ruvik was the first person she had met after reincarnating, but since she didn’t have Drossell’s memories, Leticiel couldn’t say that she trusted him completely. However, seeing how seriously he listened and considered her worries as if they were his own, part of her thought that he could be a person worth trusting.

“I see… But it’s too late to go into town now.” The sky in the west was already a much deeper crimson than it had been when Leticiel had returned home. It would be nighttime soon, and she wasn’t so foolish as to venture into town at a time like that.

“Ruvik, do you know anyone who’s familiar with what goes on in town?” she asked.

“Well, I have a friend who lives in town and commutes to work here. He probably hasn’t left for home yet.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. Where can we find your friend?”

“Wait, my lady. You want to go now?”

“Why not? If your friend hasn’t gone home yet, he’s probably still in the manor, right?” Having made her decision, Leticiel immediately dragged Ruvik out of her room.

According to Ruvik, his friend was the head gardener for the manor. At this time of the day, he would likely be doing a final check on the plants.

“There he is, my lady,” Ruvik said when they entered the garden. Looking in the direction Ruvik was pointing, Leticiel saw a sturdily built man in casual clothing crouching in front of a flower bed with his back to them. “Claud!”

Hearing Ruvik’s call, the man named Claud put down his pruning shears and turned around. He raised his hand in greeting when he saw Ruvik, but quickly lowered it and seemed taken aback when he saw Leticiel standing behind him. “O-Oh, Miss Drossell. What are you doing out here?” he asked.

“Claud, Miss Drossell is interested in hearing what’s been going on in town lately. I thought you’d be able to tell her,” Ruvik explained.

“H-Huh? Me?” Claud gawked in astonishment, not having expected the duke’s daughter to ask him such a thing.

“Yes. I wish I could have gone into town myself, but it’s getting late, so…”

“I see. So that’s why. Well, I can only tell you about how my life has been in town.”

“That’s more than plenty,” Leticiel reassured him.

Leticiel chatted with Ruvik and Claud in the garden, dyed orange by the setting sun. Neither of the men looked down on her. They politely answered her questions no matter how silly they were, and they never made fun of her, simply indulging in her curiosity.

Though she didn’t know left from right in this world, she felt at peace in the manor for the first time thanks to the two men who didn’t treat her the way the other servants and her family members did.

Chapter 3
An Encounter at
the Academy

She did not, unfortunately, wake up to find that the whole thing had been a dream. Instead, Leticiel awoke to face her second morning as Drossell.

As was natural, her maids attended to her as she got ready for the day. They remained expressionless throughout their work, but when she looked closer, Leticiel could see a hint of displeasure in their gazes.

Since she could get ready by herself, Leticiel told Ruvik that she wouldn’t need the maids anymore starting tomorrow. He seemed a little surprised but smiled and acknowledged her request.

Her breakfast was brought to her room. She had thought about going to the dining room to eat, but she wanted time to think about yesterday’s events by herself and made the sudden decision to eat in her room.

Stuffing a croissant in her mouth, she opened a history book that had been sitting on her bedside table and began to read. Ruvik had picked the book out from the manor’s library yesterday for her. He’d also brought her books on world geography and the continent’s economy. Since she didn’t have to waste time going down to the dining room, she had more free time that morning. As a result, Leticiel completely lost track of time, so engrossed in her reading that Ruvik had to force her into a carriage heading for the academy.

Those who had seen the butler dragging the young lady by her hand as she refused to look up from her book must have thought that they made for an odd pair. The servants they passed and even the duke and duchess had stared at them in surprise.

Oblivious to her family’s reactions, Leticiel’s eyes ran over the atlas as she attempted to assimilate her past life with the knowledge she had gained of her current life. Naturally, since more than a thousand years had passed, she didn’t recognize a single country name on the map. But the names of geographical features had stayed the same, so she used those to hammer a basic summary of the current continental situation into her mind.

Creaaak. The sound of the carriage door opening made her snap out of it. Looking up from the map, she saw that the driver had just opened the door and was looking at her expectantly.

Once she was out of the carriage, Leticiel opened her atlas once more and went back to reading. You might think that walking while preoccupied was dangerous, but that was why she had sorcery.

Leticiel activated a spell that allowed her to sense her surroundings so that she could walk while reading without bumping into anything or falling. Not only that, but it was a non-attribute spell that was invisible to others, so it was unlikely that anyone would be able to tell that she had cast it.

Still, one book isn’t nearly enough. That atlas was the only book Leticiel had brought with her. Since she was a bookworm who read quickly, she had finished it in no time. I could always read my textbooks, but… If she went to her classes, her concentration would be broken every time she was called upon, just like yesterday, and that was far from what she wanted.

While wondering what to do, she looked at the map that was in the academy’s lobby and two words in one of the corners caught her eye. “What is that room?” she said aloud.

The map said it was the Great Library. From the name, she could assume that it was a place where books were kept. The castle in her previous life had rooms for storing documents and books, so she assumed it was something similar.

It was located in the annex next to the main building she was currently in. Knowing that she wouldn’t pay attention to her classes even if she went to them, Leticiel decided to give in to her curiosity and visit the so-called Great Library. Committing the map to memory, she headed for it by following the path she had memorized. Thankfully it was a straight path with no turns needed, so she arrived at the library’s doors without getting lost.

The Great Library was shrouded in silence. It was the size of two classrooms and was two stories high with an open atrium in the center. The first floor had tables and chairs for reading, including some near the windows, but the rest of the space was filled with bookshelves that reached the ceiling.

There hadn’t been many books in the world back when Leticiel was alive. In times of turmoil, it had been common sense not to write down knowledge in case the books were to fall into your enemies’ hands and be used against you. But there was also the fact that paper had been a valuable commodity. Plus, memory could be boosted somewhat with the use of sorcery, so people in the past were generally highly intelligent and didn’t have much need for books. The few books that did exist were owned by royalty or a handful of the most wealthy families. Leticiel had adored reading since she was little and still loved to read.

The impressive sight of the Great Library left her dumbfounded. She had come with memories of the book collections from her previous life, but this place was on a completely different scale. The archive in her previous life was a broom cupboard compared to this library.

She glanced around excitedly like a child in a candy shop while taking in the unfamiliar scent that was unique to old books. She hadn’t yet visited the library in her family’s manor, but she wondered if it was like this.

A long, tall counter stood next to the entrance, a small old man with a cute, snow-white beard dozing off on the other side of it. “Good morning,” Leticiel said, calling out to the sleeping man. “May I ask you something?” She wanted to find books to read, but it would take too long to search by herself, so it was best to ask a professional.

“Hngh?” The old man jerked awake at Leticiel’s call, blinking eyes that were mostly hidden by his fluffy white hair. “Oh! It’s not often that I get visitors. How can I help you?”

Leticiel had been prepared for him to shun her the way the others had, but he surprised her by laughing cheerfully. Well, it was good that he was friendly. Apparently, his name was David.

“There’s something I’d like to ask you, David. I’d like to read some books on world geography, but where can I find them?”

“Ohoho, world geography, you say? Please wait a moment.” David’s laugh made his beard sway. Taking out a large book from underneath the counter, he laid it on the tabletop and began flipping through it at an amazing speed. The book, which was at least four inches thick, was likely a list of all of the books in the Great Library. It was a dizzying amount of information, but as expected of the Great Library’s (presumed) librarian, he certainly knew his way around the pages. “Hmm, look on the bookshelf behind the stairs on the first floor and you’ll find an assortment of books in that genre!”

In less than a minute, Leticiel had gotten the answer she’d been looking for. She couldn’t help but applaud him for the speedy search. Thanking David, she walked toward the bookshelf he’d mentioned.

She had chosen the topic of world geography because she had just been reading an atlas. At the moment, Leticiel’s mind was completely preoccupied with geography. It would be most efficient to ride the wave of her interest’s momentum and continue studying it.

Before she even reached the books she was searching for, Leticiel’s eyes sparkled with the first new discovery she’d found in a while.

In her time, the books had all been written, copied, and distributed by hand. Yet every single book in the Great Library was written in a similar font.

I can’t believe the techniques for making copies have advanced so much! Did they create a spell just for this?

Selecting three books from the bookshelf that seemed easy to read, Leticiel carried them to the reading corner and sat down. Then she took the atlas she brought from home out of her bag and cast a memory enhancement spell on herself.

Now she was ready. Giving her cheeks a light but invigorating slap, she opened the first book and began to read at an incredible speed, using every ounce of her concentration.

The sound of the bell ringing in the Great Library snapped her out of her trance. Having just finished the third book, she closed it and looked up at the clock. Judging by the time, that bell had signaled the end of the second period. Once again, she had read for not just one hour but two.

“Hmm? Miss Drossell, are you leaving already?”

“Yes, but I’ll come again.”

“Ohoho, feel free to visit any time!” The shaky white furball of a librarian saw Leticiel off as she left the Great Library. She considered attending third period but knew she wouldn’t be welcomed in the classroom.

That being said, there wasn’t anywhere else she wanted to go, so Leticiel decided to explore the academy to get a better understanding of its layout. Currently, she only knew the locations of the cafeteria, the magic training grounds, and the Great Library. Having such little knowledge was sure to inconvenience her during her time at the academy, so she wanted to confirm where various facilities were located.

To start with, Leticiel looked around the annex. It was only later that she’d learn that each teacher had their own private room in the annex where they prepped for their lessons, graded the students, and handled paperwork. Since it was time for lessons, no one was there at the moment.

Leticiel retraced her steps back to the Great Library. Right at the corner where the annex and main building met, she suddenly stopped. A large clock tower stood right in the corner where they touched. The wall at the foot of the clock tower had a square hole as tall as a person on it. It seemed like the door had been left open, but she could hear a strange noise coming from inside. Wondering what it was, Leticiel peeked into the entrance.

The room she saw was cram-packed with lumps of metal and objects she had never seen before and couldn’t even fathom what they could possibly be used for. The lights were on, and the windows’ curtains were open, but the room still seemed dim as it was dominated by gray and black colors that gave it an oppressive impression.

Leticiel’s eyes were drawn to the white papers scattered oddly on the gray floor. The papers had intricate numbers and letters written on them, and they appeared to be still in progress. On the other side of the sea of scattered papers, she saw the back of a young man covered in black soot who was fiddling with an object. His jet-black hair blended in with the dark surroundings, but his white hands stood out like the papers.

“Hmm?” The young man froze for a moment and turned around, as if sensing her presence. His deep purple left eye and dark green right eye caught sight of Leticiel. “Huh? Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t think anyone was here!” His eyes widened in shock for a moment before he hurriedly wiped his face with the towel on his lap.

However, Leticiel didn’t care that he was dirty. Actually, she hadn’t even noticed, because she recognized the boy’s face the instant their eyes met. His deep bi-colored eyes, glistening, beautiful hair, and handsome features were so brilliant that they took her breath away.

The boy in front of her was supposed to be a stranger, but she was sure she recognized a hint of someone else in his face.

“Nao…” Leticiel rasped, voice trailing off. It was the name of the love of her life, her beloved partner who had lost his life protecting her. The boy in front of her was so strikingly similar to Leticiel’s husband that an image of him flashed in her mind’s eye.

She was instantly reminded of his final moments. He was unable to use sorcery and had used his own body to protect Leticiel from an arrow fired by an enemy soldier, losing his life when the poisoned arrow pierced him.

Leticiel felt a sharp pain in her temple and clutched her forehead when Nao’s blood-stained face overlapped with the face of the man in front of her for just an instant.

Memories of Nao came flooding into her mind. Memories of when they first met, when they had played together in town, when they had confessed their feelings to each other, when they had gotten married, when they first made love, when they were both scolded by the king for being reckless, and the last smile he’d shown her in his final moments.

All of the memories were beautiful like bubbles, but when she reached out to touch them, they immediately disappeared.

“U-Um, is something wrong? Is there something on my face?” the boy asked, confused as to why Leticiel was staring at him, completely lost for words. But Leticiel was unable to answer his question. “Uh… A-Are you all right? Um, would you like to use this?” Panicking, the young man suddenly started to rummage in his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief and offering it to Leticiel for some reason.

“Um, your cheeks are…” he mumbled, struggling to get the words out when Leticiel looked at the handkerchief and tilted her head questioningly. She wondered what was wrong with her cheek, not realizing that it was wet until she reached up to touch it.

Was I… crying? She was shocked for a mere second. Seeing the worried look the young man was giving her, Leticiel wiped her tears away with her fingers.

“N-No, it’s nothing. I just had something in my eye,” she quickly lied to brush off his concern. She was worried that he might think it was strange, but he seemed to accept her explanation.

“Ah, sorry,” he apologized. “This room is dusty since I’m still working on it.”

“It’s fine. I’m sorry for worrying you.” Now that she had regained some of her composure, Leticiel saw that, while the young male bore many similarities to Nao, there were also many differences. He didn’t have a mole on the corner of his left eye, and he didn’t have monolids. Little by little, Leticiel started to distinguish Nao from the boy in front of her as two separate people.

Still, she felt slightly uneasy about how close they were and casually took a step back, putting some distance between the two of them as she asked, “By the way, who might you be?”

The boy looked confused for a moment, but he soon realized that he hadn’t yet introduced himself. “Oh! Sorry. I never told you my name. I’m Zeke Violiss. And you are…?”

“Drossell. Drossell Noa Filiaregis.”

Zeke’s eyes widened comically as he was obviously caught by surprise. “So you’re Miss Drossell!”

“You know of me?”

“The rumors about you at the academy are well-known, so I’ve heard your name before. But what brings you here?” Zeke seemed genuinely puzzled. Well, it was only natural to be surprised seeing the daughter of a duke in a place like this.

“I just came back from the Great Library,” Leticiel answered. “But I could ask the same of you. What are you doing here instead of attending classes?”

“Oh, I was just tinkering with some of the machines here in the machine room. Usually I spend most of my time in the research lab, but I felt like messing around with the machines for the first time in a while.”

It seemed like Zeke didn’t attend his classes at all. “And do you like these… machines, you called them?”

“Yes. They move due to set mechanisms, so I enjoy unraveling those structures to find out how they work.” Zeke’s eyes sparkled like a child’s as he spoke, reminding Leticiel of herself when she spoke about sorcery.

I thought earlier that they don’t look similar, but I really do feel like he’s similar to Nao somehow. Even his smile reminded her of Nao’s.

Nao had been as big of a research buff as Leticiel had been, but while she was a sorcery fanatic, he had been a politics maniac.

The sight of Zeke chatting happily overlapped with her memories of Nao buried in documents and gleefully writing with his quill. Leticiel chuckled without thinking.

“What is this machine?” she asked. “What does it do?”

“That one? It’s a machine for letterpress printing. It’s needed to print books and newspapers.”

“Letterpress printing?” Leticiel echoed, staring at the strange wooden object while trying to parse the meaning of the unfamiliar words that had come out of Zeke’s mouth.

The image of the Great Library she had just been in flashed through her mind. When she had seen the huge number of books there, she had assumed that copying spells had improved, but…

“Could it be that all the books in the Great Library are…?”

“Huh? Yeah, they were printed using letterpress printing. A lot of them were printed here within the academy, but most of the books in the library were ordered from areas all over the country or from overseas.”

“Is that so? Well then, how does this machine print the text?”

“Well, first you line up the letter stamps on this board to form sentences,” Zeke started.

For a moment, Leticiel wasn’t sure how to react to the strange object in front of her. But her inquisitive mind as a researcher quickly took over and she began to take an interest in the machine, asking Zeke many questions about it.

Zeke’s surprise surpassed hers. He was genuinely interested in her after seeing her eyes sparkle with curiosity while learning about a machine that most noble ladies would hardly glance at. Zeke hadn’t attended a single class since he had enrolled, so although he had heard the name Drossell before, he was completely ignorant of the malicious rumors surrounding her. Therefore, his first impression of “Drossell” was actually of Leticiel in Drossell’s body.

“Oh, is it already lunchtime?” Leticiel asked.

“That was fast. Time sure flew by.” Zeke and Leticiel gave each other small smiles.

“I’m going to the cafeteria. What will you do for lunch, Zeke?”

“Well… I need to clean up here first, so you can go on ahead.”

Leticiel offered to help him, but he refused, saying that there wasn’t enough work to require a helping hand. Saying her goodbyes, Leticiel left the machine room.

After walking down the corridor for a while, Leticiel realized that she hadn’t learned the locations of anything but the machine room. Oh well. Maybe next time. It wasn’t like the academy was going to grow feet and run away, so she could always explore again in the afternoon or on another day. Easily making up her mind, Leticiel set off for the cafeteria.

~~~~~

After lunch, Leticiel and the rest of her classmates in Primary Class 2 went to a museum for their first afternoon class, which happened to be Art. Since they couldn’t take their bags to the museum with them, Leticiel left hers in the classroom over the lunch break. Lucrezia Academy had a vast campus with sword-training halls and other facilities in addition to the main building and annex. The museum was one such facility and, true to its name, was a museum and art gallery all in one.

“Okay everyone, today you’ll be choosing a work in the museum to sketch. There’s no time limit, but please be back at the entrance ten minutes before class ends!” The art teacher looked like a regular man, but his gestures and way of speaking were extremely feminine.

Having received their instructions, Leticiel’s classmates scattered in different directions, some of them with eyes sparkling with excitement and others mumbling that the assignment was annoying.

As soon as they dispersed, Rocheford made a beeline for the weapons section. Apparently, he loved weapons and everything related to them.

What? You thought Leticiel wasn’t interested in him? Well, she wasn’t, but he was speaking so loudly to Christa that she could hear him whether she liked it or not.

“Oh well.” Not having a destination in mind, Mirandalette and Leticiel wandered around the building together.

Leticiel let out a cry of astonishment when she stepped into an exhibition booth and saw a huge bone specimen, the fossil on display right in the center of the booth.

“Those bones come from creatures called dinosaurs that lived a million years ago. They inhabited the entirety of the Astoria continent back then. This specific dinosaur was discovered in the mountains on the outskirts of the royal capital, and it comes from the species…” The curator in charge of the zoological specimens corner was giving a lengthy explanation of the fossil to the students that had gathered there.

Leticiel, who had been listening seriously at first, suddenly started to feel curious and asked, “Hey, Miss Mirandalette.”

“Hmm? What is it?” the girl standing next to her answered.

“About that creature called a dinosaur…”

“Y-Yes?”

“Isn’t it basically a lizard?”

“What?!” Mirandalette shrieked at Leticiel’s nonchalant question. Quickly covering her mouth, she bowed to those around them. In a quieter voice, she said, “No, no. They’re completely different. Lizards are much smaller. Like, small enough to fit on the palm of your hand.”

“Oh, I see…” Leticiel trailed off, not really understanding even with Mirandalette’s explanation.

Humans hadn’t been the only ones fighting for survival on the Astoria continent a thousand years ago. It had also been a survival of the fittest for the animals, who had their prey stolen from them by humans as food, many of their habitats destroyed by humans in war.

That was why animals back then had generally been large and had the ability to protect themselves. In her mind, animals as large as this fossil had normally roamed the lands in her time, so even after hearing the explanation about “dinosaurs,” she couldn’t help but think of them as a type of lizard.

In the end, her doubts were left unresolved, and the other students began to shuffle away as a group while Leticiel was still unsettled by the strange viewpoint.

Following the flow of the crowd, she suddenly heard a loud, “Whoa!” from beside her. Turning to see what it was, she saw Rocheford brandishing what looked like a shield. Surprisingly enough, Christa wasn’t by his side for once. Instead, a pale-looking female curator nervously watched him. “Y-Your Highness, please don’t swing that around. If you were to hit it against something—”

“This much is fine, isn’t it? I’m this country’s crown prince, you know. Do you have a problem with me touching it?” Rocheford argued. The shield must have been heavy because his center of gravity shook with every swing. The curator was desperately trying to stop him, but anyone who looked could see how foolish he seemed.

“What is he doing?” Leticiel asked Mirandalette.

“His Highness does this all the time,” the other girl explained. “He loves all kinds of weapons. When new ones are added to the museum, he’s not satisfied until he can get his hands on them like that…”

“Hmph.” Showing her disinterest, Leticiel glanced at Rocheford, who looked pleased by the shield in his hand and wasted no time in moving on.

As she turned a corner while following the gaggle of students, Leticiel noticed a particularly extravagant archway at the end of a hallway. Noticing that she had stopped, Mirandalette said, “Miss Drossell? Everyone else is going this way.”

“Go on ahead. I’ve found something that interests me.” Letting her curiosity lead the way, Leticiel aimed for the archway. Beyond it was a small, perfectly hexagonal room. There weren’t many displays, but there was a large painting in a golden frame on the back wall of the room, velvet curtains hanging on either side of it.

There were three figures in the painting. One was an ethereal woman dressed in a pure white ceremonial robe with a bejeweled golden staff in one hand. One of the other figures was a man clutching his neck with both hands, face twisted in pain, and the last was a figure in all black with devil-like horns and a tail.

“Oh, are you interested in Saint Lucrezia?” a young curator asked, approaching Leticiel as she gazed at the painting. He was likely in charge of that room.

“No, I just thought it was a lovely painting,” Leticiel answered after a beat.

“I see. This painting depicts Saint Lucrezia exorcizing a demon. She was said to have the miraculous power to exorcize evil. Even demons could not stand up to it and ended up submitting to her.”

“Huh.”

“The staff that Saint Lucrezia once used to exorcize demons is also on display in this museum as a holy relic.”

As their name would suggest, holy relics were objects that were said to have belonged to saints. They were greatly treasured as objects of faith in the kingdom of Platina, many of them being housed in that very museum. However, according to the curator, all of the relics on display were replicas.

“Is that so?” Leticiel responded absentmindedly to the curator’s explanation, nodding along at times, but she continued to stare up at the painting of Saint Lucrezia.

“Um, is something the matter?” the young man asked.

“No, it’s nothing. May I take a look around?”

“Yes, of course.”

Leticiel left the room with the painting and entered the booth next to it. It seemed to be a place for displaying relics, various ancient tools lined up in glass cases.

One of them made Leticiel gasp. It was a plain pitcher with no designs on it, but it was painted a blue clearer than the sky on a sunny day. It just looked like a beautiful pitcher at first glance, but she would never forget the coat of arms that had been lightly carved into the rim.

“Are you curious about that one?” the curator asked, peering at the pitcher after having followed Leticiel into the booth.

“Isn’t this pitcher from the kingdom of Regenerose?”

“You’re quite well informed! That’s right. This pitcher is made of Celeste glass, which was a special product made in the kingdom of Regenerose, which existed on the frontier a thousand years ago. It is famous for being the most beautiful porcelain in the world, and even now it has many fans. Unfortunately, the manufacturing method for Celeste glass was lost with the fall of the Regenerose kingdom.”

The coat of arms carved into the pitcher’s edge was an arranged version of the national coat of arms for Leticiel’s homeland, the kingdom of Regenerose. Celeste glass was a type of porcelain that Nao had created for trade purposes. The king, impressed by its beauty, had bestowed the coat of arms upon it.

“You seem to be very knowledgeable. Have you studied it?” Leticiel asked.

“Yes, that’s right! I’m majoring in archaeology from a thousand years ago, so I’m happy to meet someone who shares my interests! There are other bowls and vases made of Celeste glass here. They’re generally recognizable by their color, which is reminiscent of a blue sky. Some of them have faded a bit, but many, like this pitcher, have retained their color.”

The curator talked at length about the relics from the Astoria Continental War displayed on the floor. He had a wide range of knowledge, not only about the relics of the kingdom of Regenerose, but also about the countries that were in the center of the continent at the time. Leticiel listened with great interest.

Museums are certainly interesting. Being a curator seems like a fun job. Happy that there was someone else who knew what the world had been like a thousand years ago in any capacity at all, Leticiel glanced at the name tag on the young man’s chest. In small letters, it read, “Gilm, Holy Relic Floor Manager.”

Leticiel left the museum alone a while after the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson. Her classmates had returned to the classroom after finishing their drawings, but Leticiel had been so interested in the museum that she had received the teacher’s permission to stay after class. Looking around outside, she realized that she had stayed through not just the fifth period but the sixth as well.

“I must have completely missed the sixth period,” she said to herself. In fact, so much time had passed since the end of classes that there were only a few students about. Since she had left her bag and other belongings in the classroom, Leticiel returned to the main building to retrieve them.

“You understand your position, don’t you?” Hearing some girls’ voices coming from within, Leticiel paused just outside the door to the Primary Class 2 classroom. Peering in through a gap in the door, she saw Mirandalette surrounded by three other girls.

“Don’t you think it’s rude for a poor student such as yourself to leave the classroom before me, an honors student?”

“Honestly, the magicless daughters of low-ranking nobles have no common sense.”

Though they were ridiculing her, Mirandalette said nothing in her own defense, just silently listening.

Leticiel thought for a moment about what she should do, but since she had to enter to get her bag, she put her hand on the door and threw it open without a moment’s hesitation.

“M-Miss Drossell!” The sudden loud noise made the ladies in the classroom flinch and whip around to face her, openly frowning when they saw who was at the door.

“Oh, if it isn’t the magicless Miss Drossell. You must have plenty of free time if you’re still here at this hour.”

“Yes, it’s wonderful to be able to use my time after school as I like. I’m very satisfied with my current lifestyle,” Leticiel replied. The young lady’s comment had probably been a sarcastic snub at Leticiel not being able to attend tea parties due to her lack of magic, but Leticiel had simply replied that she honestly appreciated having the free time. “Besides, a person’s worth isn’t dependent on whether or not they have magical power. Or is magical power really that important to you all?”

“Of course it is. In this country, the higher a noble’s rank, the higher their magical power tends to be.”

There was a tendency that higher-ranking nobles had higher amounts of magical power in this country. Therefore, magical power levels had become something of a status marker amongst the nobility. Many nobles, like these young women, advocated magical power supremacy.

“I see. So, since you all possess higher magical power than me, as I have none, you must be able to write a better magical formula than the one I rewrote.” Leticiel smiled fakely, speaking as if she were impressed. “What’s wrong?” she asked when none of them responded. “Isn’t nobles’ superiority determined by the amount of magical power they have? Then, as the holders of high magical power levels, you should be better at writing formulas than me, as I have none.”

The young ladies’ faces stiffened at Leticiel’s jab, but she continued as if she hadn’t noticed.

“I’m incompetent, so I can’t wait to see the wonderful magic formulas you all will write.”

“P-Please don’t talk about such boring things! It’s unpleasant!” The girl who seemed to be their leader huffed, maintaining her arrogant attitude, but there was a clear vein of agitation and impatience in her eyes.

Leticiel had said everything knowing that it was an impossible request for them. The girls glared at her and Mirandalette with spite-filled gazes before leaving the classroom in a hurry.

“Miss Mirandalette, why didn’t you try to defend yourself?” No matter how she looked at it, what the girls had said to Mirandalette was unforgivable. Leticiel couldn’t understand why Mirandalette had simply accepted the verbal abuse.

Mirandalette smiled sadly with a knowing look in her eyes. “It’s true that I don’t have much magical power, so there’s no point in arguing.”

“Miss Mirandalette, may I see the results for your magical power test?”

“Huh? Sure, but…” Although she hesitated a bit, Mirandalette nodded to Leticiel’s request. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she opened her bag. “Let’s see, the test results… Oh, here they are!”

Searching around in her bag, she found what she was looking for and handed the small paper to Leticiel. It seemed like the teacher had handwritten the results shown on the crystal before passing the papers to the students.

“It’s all crumpled up,” Leticiel commented.

“Well, my results weren’t very good, so…”

Unfolding the paper, which had been crumpled into a ball like trash, Leticiel looked at the numbers written on it.

Fire: 22

Water: 25

Wind: 20

Earth: 23

Lightning: 28

Light: 17

Darkness: 21

Void: 10

Leticiel froze while staring at the numbers. This meant… that Mirandalette had an incredible talent for sorcery.

Leticiel had her magical power levels measured back when she was a princess, and all of her attributes had been in the low 10s. In other words, Mirandalette, whose attributes averaged out to around 20 each, had a promising future as a sorceress.

“Miss Mira, these are excellent numbers,” Leticiel said, using a nickname for the girl.

“Huh?” Mirandalette’s eyes widened, surprised by Leticiel’s casual comment.

“Is something the matter?”

“N-No… I just wasn’t expecting you to call me by a nickname.”

Leticiel didn’t realize she’d said it until Mirandalette pointed it out. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine! In fact, I’m happy because not many people call me by my nickname.” Leticiel had been worried that she’d offended Mirandalette, but the other girl looked pleased. “Um, what’s so excellent about my magical power values? I thought having such low numbers meant that I don’t have a knack for magic.”

“No, having high magical power isn’t always a good thing,” Leticiel explained. “People with high amounts of magical power can’t use sorcery.”

A thousand years ago, those with high magical power had either stayed at home doing chores and other menial labor or were skilled in physical attacks. In fact, a majority of the mercenaries at the time were such people.

“Um, sorcery? What sort of power is that?” Mirandalette’s question prompted Leticiel to thoroughly explain the concept of sorcery. It was an extremely long-winded explanation.

“…And that sums up the basic fundamentals of sorcery.”

“Huh. I never even knew it existed!” After hearing the entire explanation, Mirandalette’s expression had changed from one of skepticism to a bright smile full of high hopes.

Even in her past life, Leticiel had a tendency to ramble uncontrollably when it came to the topic of sorcery. Her vassals had smiled wryly and chided her for going on and on. That was why she was both impressed and pleased that Mirandalette had listened intently to what she had to say without being bothered by the length of her explanation. In this way, Leticiel locked on to Mirandalette as a kindred soul in the art of sorcery.

“It sounds almost too good to be true! I can only use weak magic, but will I still be able to use it?”

“Yes. So there’s no need to belittle yourself for having low magical power. In fact, those who can only cast weak magic can use stronger sorcery. Miss Mira, you should be proud of your lack of magical talent.”

“Okay!” Leticiel’s compliment could have easily been mistaken for derision, but since she looked serious while saying it, Mirandalette looked happy and seemed motivated.

After that, the girls visited the magic practice grounds to actually practice sorcery.

“Let’s start by practicing how to gather aether. Try summoning the aether that’s scattered in the air into your palm.”

“Hngh… Aether… Aether, aether, aether, aether…”

“Y-You don’t have to whisper like that.” Leticiel could understand how it might be hard for Mirandalette to imagine gathering a substance that was completely unknown to her, but the way she had been muttering was a little creepy.

After a moment, Mirandalette said, “Oh! My palm is starting to feel warm!”

“It seems like you were able to gather some. Next, visualize the basic fire formula in your mind.”

“The basic fire formula? Um… the one the teacher taught us, or the one that you rewrote?”

“The one that you learned before is fine. It’s better to use the one that you’re used to, right?”

Following Leticiel’s instructions, Mirandalette closed her eyes and groaned slightly as her expression tensed. With magic, you could get by with using a vague formula as long as you chanted and were in the right mindset, but sorcery was all about the formula.

Nothing happened at first, but eventually, the air above Mirandalette’s palm began to sway before an orange fireball popped into existence. It was only slightly larger than a fist, which was to be expected since she was using an absolutely horrible magic formula.

“Now try it again, this time imagining the formula I rewrote.”

“Oh, please wait! I’ll need to get my class notes for that.” Saying this, Mirandalette started rummaging in her bag once more. All sorts of things came out—textbooks, a pencil case, a small pouch, a notebook…

A sudden thought occurred to Leticiel. Picking up the notepad, she looked inside and saw that it was completely blank. Holding her hand over it, she cast transcription sorcery, which allowed her to carve an image of what was in her mind onto a specific item as letters and shapes. Its only drawback was that it could only transcribe the image that was in the caster’s mind, not others’, but that wasn’t an issue at the moment.

Once the transcription was finished, Leticiel flipped through the notebook. The first few pages were neatly inscribed with eight basic magic formulas that Leticiel had rewritten.

“Miss Mira, you don’t need to search for your notes. I’ve transcribed the correct spell techniques onto these pages.”

“Wait, when did you do that?! Did you use sorcery? Also, what is the difference between magic formulas and spell techniques?”

“Well, the god-awful formula we learned at the academy is a magic formula, and this one is a spell technique. You can use spell techniques to cast magic too. You should try it some time. It’s much easier.”

“Really? Then I’ll use spell techniques from now on!” Mirandalette cheered like a kid when she saw that using a spell technique with sorcery produced a spell twice as large as her previous attempt.

Leticiel’s intensive sorcery lesson continued at the practice space at the far end of the magic training grounds. Mirandalette had gotten quite used to using sorcery by the time an hour had passed.

While resting on a bench, she suddenly gave Leticiel a serious look and asked, “By the way, it’s easier to cast sorcery when you have lower magical power levels, right?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean you have an extremely strong affinity for sorcery since you don’t have any magical power at all?”

“That’s correct. Having no magical power is the best possible condition for a sorceress.”

“Could you please cast a spell? I want to see what your sorcery looks like, Miss Drossell!”

Leticiel hesitated for a moment, but finally gave in when Mirandalette stared at her with sparkling eyes. She moved to a booth at the back of the training space which had the flimsy wooden target she had seen in class. It was charred in places, as Mirandalette had been using it to practice her magic.

Thinking back, the only sorcery she had used since waking up in Drossell’s body had been a healing spell yesterday morning, the location and memory enhancement spells she had used that morning, plus the transcription spell she’d used earlier. She was excited to use offensive magic for the first time in a while.

Hmm, the target doesn’t seem very durable, so a scaled-down version of the basic fire spell should suffice.

A fireball approximately half a foot wide appeared in the palm of her raised hand. Normally it would be twice as big, but its power had been halved since she had scaled down the size of the spell. Shaping it to be long and thin, she fired the fireball like a bullet while being careful not to give it too much speed, afraid that it would pass right through the target if she let it go too fast.

The fire bullet was sucked into the target at a speed that was neither fast nor slow, similar to the speed of common magic. It left a wavering afterimage in the air.

BOOOOOOOM!

The target shattered, exploding in a blast. It was a flashier explosion than she had expected, as she had calculated that the fire bullet would have been extinguished by that point.

Except, after shattering the target, it continued to fly toward the wall behind it without losing speed or power. A hint of impatience flashed in Leticiel’s gaze.

What? That target couldn’t even withstand low-level sorcery?

KA-BOOOOOOOM!

Leticiel hurriedly attempted to change the fire bullet’s trajectory, but she was unable to completely kill its speed and it hit one of the walls surrounding the magic practice area. A tremendous boom echoed as the ground shook. A cloud of dust covered the wall the bullet had hit, but there was no doubt that it had been blown away by the explosion. The land around the explosion had been slightly gouged out, making the entire area look desolate.

Leticiel wasn’t shocked by the horrible aftermath. Rather, she had been left speechless by how fragile the target and wall were.

In the past, targets for sorcery had been made of wood as well, but they’d always had structural reinforcement spells cast on them, so it was normal for them not to budge even when hit by basic spells.

So why had that target been so hopelessly brittle? She had even halved the spell’s power and it had still been blown to pieces. What’s more, it had done absolutely nothing to hinder the bullet’s speed and power. Leticiel had surpassed shock and been left completely speechless.

She couldn’t help but wonder why people of this era were satisfied with such a fragile target. How could they train if they had to constantly replace the targets? Once again, Leticiel failed to realize that what she assumed was common sense was not true for the world around her.

“May I ask you something?”

“Yes?” she replied.

“Was that your full power?”

“Not at all. I held back quite a bit before letting it go. But it’s been a while, so perhaps I’ve lost my touch.”

“Th-That was you… holding back?” Mirandalette glanced between Leticiel and the destroyed wall, an incredulous look on her face.

“Don’t worry, you’ll easily be able to do the same with a little practice.”

“I’m honestly afraid that I’ll be able to…”

“Why? You can always fix the things you break.”

“Well… That’s not really the issue…” Just learning that there was an unknown power that didn’t require magical power and was many times more powerful than magic even when suppressed made Mirandalette want to scream and keel over. Being able to fix what you broke wasn’t the point. She was starting to worry about her future, afraid that she’d become inhuman if she were to master this power.

For now, I suppose we need to do something about this. Beside a petrified Mirandalette, Leticiel faced the wall she had destroyed and used her sorcery to quickly repair it. Mirandalette’s expression became even stonier when she saw this, but Leticiel, who had her back to the girl, didn’t notice.

“Miss Drossell?”

Suddenly, a beautiful and familiar tenor voice echoed in the booth. Having thought that there wasn’t anyone else in the area, Leticiel took her time turning around.

Sure enough, Zeke was standing there with his handsome face flushed in astonishment. How long had he been there?

“What is going on?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t have magical power. So how did you…?”

Leticiel blinked several times. Though she was expressionless, deep down, she wondered what she should do now that she had been seen.

“Miss Drossell, what was that power?”

“Um…”

“I won’t tell anyone else. So could you please tell me the truth?” Leticiel blinked her red left eye and blue right eye as his green right eye and purple left eye fixated on her. She stewed over whether or not to tell Zeke, but when she thought about it, she had just taught Mirandalette all about sorcery. Teaching one more person couldn’t hurt.

After her explanation, Zeke said, “That’s an extremely interesting story… or rather, power.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. But it would be best not to make it public knowledge,” Zeke said, his hand on his chin.

“Why is that?” Leticiel asked, tilting her head.

“Because that power is extremely peculiar. Think about it. If it were known that there is a power that surpasses magic in this world, which thrives on magic… and especially if it doesn’t require magical power, which the nobles consider so important, then commoners could obtain power which surpasses that of the nobles’.”

“That’s…” Zeke’s comment prompted her to think about the state of sorcery in the present world for the first time. “You have a point. If commoners don’t have high magical power levels, then it would be easy for them to learn sorcery.”

“Exactly. Plus, commoners have almost no knowledge about magic. Magic isn’t used in our everyday lives. It’s mostly just a way for nobles to show off. Since they don’t have any preconceived notions about magic, I’m sure those skills would spread quickly if they were taught.”

“Right…”

“If that were to happen, the hierarchy of nobles ruling over the commoners would collapse. If such a power were to become common knowledge, the country would probably—”

“Hey, if it isn’t Zeke!” Lucas came running, his voice echoing in the training ground. Before Zeke could respond, he continued, “Oh, so that blast was all your doing, huh? This is why I’m always telling you to tone it down!”

“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be more careful next time.”

Lucas put his hand on his forehead and looked up at the sky before fixing Zeke with a gaze that seemed to suggest he had more to say. Then he cast a subtle glance toward Leticiel and Mirandalette.

Leticiel wasn’t sure why he was staring at Zeke like that, but she took advantage of the fact that he hadn’t seen her use sorcery and pulled the wool over his eyes using the storytelling skills she’d gained in her past life.

The story she spun was that she had been accompanying Mirandalette in her after-school practice when Zeke happened to pass by. The three of them began practicing magic together when Zeke’s magical power went out of control, leading to the explosion. She had included Zeke because the headmaster seemed to think that the commotion was all his fault. Zeke smiled wryly when she used his name without permission, but she would apologize later and hoped he would forgive her this time.

Her explanation easily fooled—err, convinced—Lucas. He agreed to pretend that the fuss had never happened.

“That was surprising. I thought you would tell the headmaster the truth.” Zeke’s smile was conflicted as he and the girls watched Lucas leave the training grounds.

Leticiel quickly averted her gaze at the sight of that gentle smile. “I’m fine with others thinking that Drossell Noa Filiaregis is a magicless incompetent,” she replied.

“You didn’t want me to know either, did you?”

“No, I don’t regret telling you because you taught me about people’s stance toward sorcery. More importantly, I’m sorry that I blamed it on you.”

“I don’t mind. Saying that I did it was the simplest way to get through that.” Leticiel couldn’t help but sigh in relief that Zeke wasn’t angry. Zeke continued, “By the way, what are you doing here, Miss Drossell?”

“Me? I was teaching my friend sorcery.”

“H-Hello! I’m Mirandalette Lulu Wald!” Mirandalette piped up.

“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. I’m Zeke Viollis.”

Leticiel quietly watched as the two exchanged introductions. She had kept her sorcery a secret from the headmaster to prevent rumors about her spreading at the academy.

She didn’t want to stand out or get unnecessarily involved with others. At the academy, she was known as a mediocre student and an incompetent ice demon. She didn’t want to spread information about herself unnecessarily and draw others’ attention.

The headmaster had explicitly told the teachers not to discuss what had occurred in the main conference room. However, she couldn’t expect students to do the same. If they got wind of even the tiniest bit of information, it would spread in no time.

Besides, she had already caused enough trouble for one day. Fortunately, no students seemed to have noticed, but she didn’t want to stand out if possible.

Leticiel didn’t have any lofty ideals like the wish to prove herself superior. She was indifferent to those around her. She would rather live a quiet life than give people the chance to find faults in her.

Plus, sorcery was a skill that did not exist in this time period. It would be extremely troublesome if word of it were to reach this country’s higher-ups. She wouldn’t be able to live freely the way she was now. And if she wasn’t careful, she might be imprisoned for the rest of her life for them to conduct research on. Leticiel had no intention of living a life in which she was used by others.

“Both of you, please don’t say a word about sorcery to others,” Leticiel warned, slightly lowering the temperature of the air surrounding them to drive home her point.

Zeke and Mirandalette immediately stood up straight and vowed, “We won’t!”

“Then let’s go home.”

“All right! Miss Drossell, thank you for today.”

“It was my pleasure. But Miss Mira, you must keep it a secret from your family, okay?”

“I know!” Mirandalette nodded eagerly and left in a good mood, looking as if she might start skipping at any moment.

Leticiel saw her off and started to leave as well before realizing that Zeke hadn’t moved one bit. Turning around, she asked, “Aren’t you going home, Zeke?”

“I live in the dorms, so I’m just going right behind the academy,” he joked.

Leticiel shrugged, her face as expressionless as ever. “Would you like me to teach you sorcery at a later date?” she asked.

“You’re willing to teach me?”

“Yes. I’m already teaching Mirandalette, after all. There’s no problem as long as you promise not to tell anyone about it.”

“Of course. Thank you! I’m looking forward to it.” Zeke instantly lit up with a beaming, genuinely happy smile that was so different from the faint, wry smile he’d pasted on before.

His youthful smile was so beautiful that it made Leticiel’s train of thought freeze for a moment. She learned a lesson as her brain rebooted. You can’t underestimate the destructive power of a good-looking man’s smile.

When she focused once more, Zeke’s brilliant smile had faded and he was giving her a worried look. “By the way,” he started, “the carriage that was supposed to take you home has probably already left.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I can simply teleport home.”

“Using sorcery?”

“Yes. It’s limited to places I’ve been to before, but I can reduce travel time and distance to nothing at all.”

“That’s an extremely interesting power.” Zeke smiled often. Ah, I see. So it’s just social etiquette. Leticiel’s facial muscles were too stiff to pull something like that off.

“Well, I’d better get going, Miss Drossell.”

“Yes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Right.” After one last refreshing smile, Zeke jauntily strode out of the magic training grounds. Once he was out of sight, Leticiel activated her teleportation spell.

Teleportation was a type of sorcery that worked by synchronizing the aether in the place you were at with the aether of the place where you wanted to go to create a warp gate. Since you needed to have an image of the place you were heading in your mind, it only worked for places you had been to before.

The scenery around Leticiel distorted. When it settled, she was back in her own room. All right. Now that I’ve used sorcery a few times, I can feel myself getting back into the swing of things.

Casually glancing around the room, Leticiel’s eyes met with a man in a tailcoat standing in front of the table.

“Huh? Miss… Drossell?” Ruvik stammered, surprised by his mistress’s sudden appearance.

Drossell usually went home with Christa, but she had failed to return home today. Since she had been acting strange that morning, Ruvik had been unable to relax and paced around the manor, frequently checking his mistress’s room. Yet she had appeared like a ghost in the few moments he had his back turned. She had no magical power and should be unable to perform magic, not that Ruvik knew of any spells that could enable such a mysterious feat.

Ruvik gaped, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish’s as he struggled to make sense of his confused thoughts. He swallowed any comments he had been about to make when his mistress said, “Ruvik, you saw nothing. I was already in this room when you entered. Right?”

He gulped at the power in her gaze, which was telling him to pretend not to have seen anything and to keep it a secret. He was captivated by her dignified, noble, and ephemeral beauty. “As you wish, Miss Drossell,” he replied.

Leticiel watched with hidden relief as Ruvik bowed deeply. Now that she thought about it, he was her personal butler. It wasn’t strange for him to be in her room.

“I assume there must be a reason and I won’t force you to tell me, but could you at least tell me how you got back?”

Leticiel hesitated. Zeke had literally just told her how unique sorcery was in this era and that she shouldn’t reveal too much.

A long silence fell on the room. After much inner turmoil, Leticiel decided to reveal the truth to Ruvik. He had supported her ever since she had reincarnated in this world and she trusted him somewhat. “All right,” she agreed. “It’s not like I would have been able to hide it forever anyway.”

After making sure that no one else was around, Leticiel gave Ruvik a brief explanation of how she had gotten home and the effects of her powers. However, when explaining sorcery, she only said that it was “a mysterious power similar to magic.”

“I see. So that’s how…” Ruvik was deep in thought, a troubled expression on his face after hearing her explanation. “But you don’t have any magical power… right?” he asked.

“That’s…”

“I’m a commoner, so I don’t have the knowledge of someone in the noble class, but is that power something you learned at the academy?”

“Huh?” Leticiel’s eyes widened in response to Ruvik’s timid question before she remembered Zeke’s comment that commoners had almost no knowledge about magic. “Yes, you could say that,” she lied without thinking. She had told Zeke and Mirandalette about sorcery, but they were her friends at school and they hadn’t known each other that long.

On the other hand, Ruvik was different. He had served Drossell for many years. Was it okay for her to show herself as Leticiel? Or would she ruin their current relationship if he learned that she wasn’t Drossell? She might lose an ally in the duke’s home, which was full of enemies.

In the end, she was unable to tell Ruvik about sorcery or her past life. “Please don’t tell anyone about this,” she requested. “Not even my family.”

“I understand. I promise not to.”

“Thank you, Ruvik.” Ruvik may be her personal butler, but he was still employed by the duke. Leticiel didn’t want to ask him to go against his employer by keeping her secret, but he still promised not to tell anyone.

It seemed that not all of Drossell’s relationships with the people around her had been completely hopeless. Leticiel chuckled. To Ruvik, she said, “By the way, I’d like to have dinner.”

“Yes, my lady. Let’s head to the dining room, then.”

Leticiel followed him out of her room. Some of the servants they passed looked as if they were wondering when she had gotten home, but she maintained an impenetrably expressionless face.

As they were walking down the corridor on the first floor, Leticiel heard voices coming from outside and turned to look toward the garden.

The five members of the duke’s family were sitting out in the garden at night, surrounding Christa and laughing at something she had said. The manor’s garden was truly wonderful in the daytime, the sun shining on the flowers’ gorgeous colors. But in the quiet moonlight, it looked mystical and was tinted silver, like a snowy landscape.

Noticing Leticiel’s pause, Ruvik asked, “My lady, is everything all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. The garden looks so magical that I couldn’t help but stare.”

“I see… Wait. That’s what you were looking at?”

“What else is there to see?”

Ruvik’s stomach started to ache at her casual question. “Errm… Everyone else is outside.”

“Yes, I can see. What about them?”

“Are you not going to join them?”

“No. Why would I?”

Without hedging, Ruvik bluntly “reminded” his mistress that she used to always join her family when she saw them enjoying themselves in the past. She always clung to them even when they treated her coldly, telling them to look at her and not just her younger sister. She also used to constantly whisper sweet nothings to her fiancé, the crown prince. She would pitch a fit whenever Christa got too close to him, becoming verbally and physically abusive or crying.

When he’d finished talking, Leticiel thought, Drossell, what a foolish girl you are. It seemed Drossell had wanted to be loved by her family and fiancé, but her efforts had never been rewarded as they only saw her as a nuisance. Their opinion of her was highly unlikely to change.

“Hmm, I understand. In other words, I’ve wasted a great deal of precious time in my life up until now.”

“P-Pardon?”

“What a waste. From now on, please deliver all of my meals to my room. I’ll be able to spend my time more meaningfully if I don’t have to squander it by going to the dining room.”

“Huh? Uh, yes, my lady.”

“Now, let’s go, Ruvik. I can’t wait to eat.”

“Uh, okay…?”

Leticiel looked away from the duke’s family as if they were no more interesting to her than a pebble on the side of the road. She’d already stopped caring about them, her mind full of thoughts of dinner.

Ruvik followed her, clutching his brow, as he got a premonition that he would be completely at this woman’s mercy from now on.

Side Story
Memories of Days
Long Past

She first met him in the royal castle’s courtyard.

She’d been about to practice her swordsmanship there when he suddenly fell from the sky.

He’d fallen right on top of her. Panicking, she had quickly used levitation to keep him from crashing into her and the ground as well, consequently.

He was a young man who looked slightly older than her. She was amazed by his black hair and black eyes, which were rare in the world at that time. He was dressed in an outfit that was all black, the clothing designed in a way she had never seen before. His appearance was so unusual that she couldn’t help but ask him, “Hey, where are you from?”

He tilted his head in response, giving her a puzzled look that turned tearful when he looked around in a panic, the blood draining from his face.

“@#$%#%&…” The gibberish that came out of his mouth was the strangest language she had ever heard. The fact that he had fallen out of the sky was surprising enough, but she didn’t know how to react after learning that he was a foreigner as well.

At the very least, she couldn’t leave him there. Though it was unlikely, there was always the chance that he was a spy from an enemy nation.

“Let’s go see my father,” she said. “He needs to know about this.” The young man still seemed confused, but he went with her when she gently took his hand and started to guide him.

He looked sad, like he might burst into tears at any moment, but he allowed the girl to pull him along, not shaking off her hand.

~~~~~

“Hey, are you free today?”

More than a year had passed since the boy had fallen from the sky.

It was a sunny day, the sun bathing them in gentle rays. When she came to the courtyard, he was sitting under his usual tree, reading.

“Huh? I’m free, but… Why do you ask?” After a year of studying, his language skills had improved to the point that he could communicate well with the people of this world.

“I’m going to visit the castle town!”

“The castle town?” he echoed.

“Yeah! Do you want to come with me?”

“Can I?”

“Of course! That’s why I invited you.”

“Oh… Sure. I’d like to see it, so please take me with you.” Closing the book he’d been reading, the young man stood up. Saying that he’d get changed first, he entered the castle. She waited in the courtyard until he finally returned. Then they headed to the castle town through a secret passage in the royal castle.

Both of them were excited to be visiting the castle town for the first time. The town, which was bright despite the deep-rooted scars of war, taught them many things they wouldn’t have learned if they had stayed in the castle. They lost track of time, playing together in a town filled with simple happiness in a world that was too cruel to hope for peace.

When he was running in front of her, a handkerchief fell out of the boy’s pocket. It was one that she had given to him.

He seemed to realize that he had dropped something, coming to a halt and running back. Happy that he was taking good care of the gift she’d given him, she reached out to pick it up.

Their hands reached for the fallen handkerchief at the same time, brushing against each other. It was amusing how they both froze, staring at each other in surprise. Still in sync, they pulled back their hands and glanced away from each other.

“S-Sorry.”

“I-It’s fine.”

Both of them faced away, unable to look each other in the eye. They had both realized that they were in love.

~~~~~

Five years had passed since he had fallen into this world.

At the age of 20, he was no longer a boy and had grown into a fine young man. The king had always had a soft spot for him and had been asking for the young man’s opinion on politics. The policies he proposed and the tools, weapons, and armor he made were all revolutionary, things that the girl and her people would never have thought of.

The kingdom’s economy improved with the help of his advice, its power and military force rising to unprecedented levels. People said that they would be able to overtake neighboring countries if things continued at the same rate.

Then, in spring of that year, he married her.

The king had given the young man his blessing since he was revered as a hero by the people for saving the kingdom with his mysterious knowledge and tools. Many people watched as the “great sage who saved the nation” married their “national treasure.”

The entire nation celebrated that day, the modest banquet continuing into the night.

They sat close in a dim room lit only by lamps, listening to the distant, incessant sounds of their citizens partying.

“I still can’t believe that someone like me who appeared out of nowhere was able to marry a princess.”

“Yes. I assumed I’d get married to a nobleman too.” She smiled softly as he squinted, reminiscing on the past five years.

The girl he loved had become even more beautiful, so captivating that she could turn heads.

The boy she loved had become a dignified young man. Though they used to be the same height, he had grown taller than her and was more manly.

“I didn’t know right from left when I came to this world, but you were always there for me. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with you,” he said. She gazed fondly at his profile. “But you’re a princess, and I’m just a freeloader. You definitely deserve better than me. That’s why I planned to shove my feelings down and take them to my grave, but…” He gently embraced her and she leaned against his chest, allowing him to pull her closer. “Thank you for choosing me. I love you.”

“Yes, I love you too. Don’t ever let go.” Under the weight of his passionate gaze, she wrapped both arms around his neck. Both of them leaned in and they shared a toe-tingling kiss. The night passed by quietly as they spent it together.

~~~~~

“Why…?”

He smiled weakly in the circle of her arms. He wheezed with every breath, red streams pouring from his lips. An arrow dripping with red and purple liquid had lodged itself deep in his chest.

Even though she wasn’t injured, her entire body hurt. It was more of an emotional pain than a physical one.

“People like me who have high magical power… can’t do anything.” The sands of life flowed from his body with every word he spoke. She continued to cast healing spells and spells to counterattack the poison despite knowing that it was too late.

Sorcery was not omnipotent. There was no miraculous spell that could treat the fast-acting poison or heal his fatal wounds.

“Why did you shield me? I could have done something!”

“Please, don’t cry…”

His hand trembled as he reached out to gently stroke her cheek, as if he were handling something fragile. Though the blood continued to drain from his face, he smiled up until his last moments.

Though she didn’t want to miss even a moment, tears flowed endlessly from her eyes, falling like pearls from a broken necklace and blurring the image of his face.

“I’ll be… waiting for you. You’re my… only… love…” With those final words, his bloody hand slid to the carpet, a physical representation of his life ending.

Her screams and wails echoed in the blood-stained throne room.

~~~~~

The girl woke up in a room dimly lit by faint moonlight.

Even though it was just a dream, even though it was something she had already lost, the dim coldness and beauty of the room only solidified her sense of loneliness.

To hide the two drops running down her cheeks, the girl turned over and pressed her face into the pillow.

Chapter 4
At the Former 7th
Research Building

When Leticiel woke up, she felt something strange on her cheek and reached up to touch it. The cool liquid reflected the morning sun pouring into the room, shining ever so slightly. It took Leticiel a while to realize that they were her tears.

I feel like I had a really sad dream.

She couldn’t remember the details no matter how hard she tried. Wiping the tears away with the sleeve of her nightgown, she got out of bed and got ready for the day. As usual, she ate breakfast in her room, told Ruvik what time she would be home, and teleported to school.

A week had already passed since she had reincarnated into this world.

Upon arriving at the academy, Leticiel dropped by the Great Library, which she had been frequenting whenever she had the free time ever since she had discovered it. As she leisurely weaved her way through the bookshelves, wondering what she should read today, she suddenly spotted a familiar figure by the window.

Zeke was sitting at a desk placed between two bookshelves, engrossed in a book that he held in one hand. The gentle sunlight streaming in through the window made his jet-black hair and slightly downcast green and purple eyes shine.

With his intellectual aura, he looked right at home in the Great Library, which was overflowing with books. Just the sight of him reading was so picturesque that Leticiel felt like he could get paid just to sit there.

I’d better not bother him. Leticiel tried to sneak away without making any noise, but she just happened to step on a creaky floorboard. The sound broke Zeke’s focus and he looked up from his book, meeting Leticiel’s eyes.

“Good morning, Zeke,” she greeted. “I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I just happened to be at a good stopping point.” Zeke shook his head at Leticiel’s apology, giving her his usual bright smile.

“How long have you been here?”

“Since earlier this morning. I needed some materials.”

“Haven’t classes already started?” Leticiel questioned.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You really don’t go to class, huh?”

“I don’t believe you have much room to talk, Miss Drossell,” he said with a wry smile.

“You may have a point.” She could hardly comment on others not attending classes when she wasn’t either. “What were you reading?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Oh, this? It’s a book on astronomy. I like this author. When I heard a new book by them had arrived, I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“Astronomy? That sounds like quite a difficult book.” Drawing closer to Zeke’s desk, Leticiel picked up the book that was on top of his stack. It seemed to be about the stars that could be seen throughout the year in the kingdom of Platina. Opening the book, she skimmed through its pages. With her memory enhancement spell, just doing that was enough to put the gist of its content into her mind.

“Huh… So this is what the stars look like in the south.”

“Yes, many well-known stars can be seen from the south. Have you seen this one as part of a constellation before?”

“Oh, I saw this red star from my window yesterday.”

“That one has only been visible on nights of the full moon for the past thirteen years. It seems to have appeared in the sky before, but not much is known about it.”

After skimming through the first book, Leticiel picked up the second. Zeke gave her explanations on the pages as she looked through them.

People had stargazed a thousand years ago, but she was intrigued as it hadn’t been an organized science back then. “May I read these books with you?” she asked, holding up the three books she had skimmed through.

“Oh, are you interested in astronomy as well, Miss Drossell?”

“Yes. I’m curious, and it seems like an interesting subject. It’s exciting when you find a subject you know nothing about.”

“Go right ahead, then. I didn’t realize you were an avid reader.”

“Of course, I love to read. Books teach me whatever it is I want to know, and more than anything, they’re so much fun.” Saying this, Leticiel smiled quietly. This time, it was a clear smile that blossomed like a flower.

Zeke smiled in return. Neither of them realized that his was somewhat different from his usual, pasted-on smile.

~~~~~

The sound of the bell echoed in the quiet Great Library. Thinking that first period had ended, Leticiel looked up from her book to check the wall on the clock.

“Huh?” In a repeat of what had happened in the main conference room, the clock’s hands were pointing to ten minutes before noon. It was the bell for the end of the third period. The morning classes had all ended without her even realizing it.

That’s odd. I thought I came to the Great Library at nine o’clock… Eyes widening slightly, Leticiel looked at the desk.

There were more than ten books scattered there. Not three, but ten. She had no memory of going to get them, yet there they were. Just how absorbed in reading had she been?

“Judging by your expression, more time has passed than you expected.” Zeke, who was sitting across the table from her, chuckled.

“Yes, it’s later than I thought it’d be. I came here during first period, but…”

“I’m amazed by your ability to focus. Not many people can lose track of time and read for three hours straight.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Leticiel replied quickly, cleaning up the books she had spread out on the table.

“Since it’s lunchtime now, let’s head to the cafeteria,” Zeke suggested.

“All right. But I need to put these books back before that.”

“I’ll help. Where do they go?”

“Um, on the bookshelf behind the stairs on the first floor.”

“Got it.”

With Zeke’s help, the books were put away in no time and Leticiel said goodbye to David before heading to the cafeteria with Zeke.

The cafeteria was already teeming with students when they arrived. Lucrezia Academy’s dining hall was twice as large as the Great Library, but three grades’ worth of students, teachers, and staff members was a considerable number of people, so it was always crowded at lunch time.

“As usual, there are so many people here.”

“Yes, just looking at the crowd makes me sick.”

“Because of old grudges?” Zeke asked.

“Those are irrelevant. I simply don’t like crowded places.”

“I see.”

While chatting with Zeke, Leticiel glanced around the cafeteria, looking for empty seats. It wasn’t an easy feat, considering the number of people inside. After carefully searching with sharp eyes, she caught sight of an empty table that could seat four people by a window. “Zeke, let’s go over there,” she said. “It’s the only place that’s open.”

“Yes, so it see—”

“Ahhh!” A familiar voice sounded from behind them as Zeke was agreeing with her. Could it be…?

“Oh, Miss Mira.”

Leticiel’s friend, Mirandalette, came running toward them. Her brown hair was up in a ponytail today. Though she was smiling, there was a hint of surprise or maybe exasperation in her eyes.

“Good morning, Miss Mira. You look extremely cute today.”

“That doesn’t sound like a compliment when it comes from you, Miss Drossell… but thank you. Good morning, Zeke.”

“Hello, Miss Mirandalette.”

“Anyway, Miss Drossell! Where on Earth were you this morning?” Having gotten her polite, ladylike greetings out of the way, Mirandalette fixed Leticiel with a sharp gaze.

“Hmm… I was in the Great Library, as usual.”

“As usual? Miss Drossell, are you not aware that you have classes?”

“It depends on the subject. In any case, let’s go to our seats before they’re taken.” Interrupting Mirandalette, who was staring at her, Leticiel crossed the cafeteria and headed for her seat. The students sitting on either side of her path waited for her to pass, their gazes filled with negative emotions. They still seemed to dislike her, but Leticiel didn’t care.

Fortunately, she managed to secure the table before anyone else could take it. Looking around in relief, she spotted Christa, Rocheford, and a few other people sitting at a six-person table diagonally across from her seat. Christa seemed surprised to see her, and Rocheford glared, as usual. Leticiel gave them a nod before turning her back on them.

“Um, aren’t you close with His Highness and the others?”

“Oh, I don’t think much of them. We’re complete strangers.”

“Is it okay to say that when you’re the prince’s fiancée?”

“Well, we’re not interested in each other. It can’t be helped.”

“O-Oh.”

After that, the three students chose their meals in the cafeteria line and began eating once they had returned to their seats. Leticiel told Mirandalette about the books she had read in the library, and Mirandalette told her what they had learned in class. Zeke joined halfway through, and the three chatted leisurely.

“They changed today’s dessert menu. It was supposed to be caramel pudding,” Zeke murmured while looking at the menu.

Leticiel tilted her head. “Caramel pudding?” she echoed.

“What? You’ve never heard of caramel pudding, Miss Drossell?” Surprisingly enough, Mirandalette was the one who snapped at her question. “You definitely need to try it. I’m sure you’ve had it at least once before, though! Caramel pudding is somewhat hard to make, so it’s not often that a low-ranking noble like me gets to eat it, but it’s really delicious! The soft, sweet custard mixed with the bittersweet caramel sauce is absolutely exquisite!”

“I see…” Though her face was a little strained as she listened to Mirandalette explain, eyes sparkling, Leticiel was genuinely interested to see if this “caramel pudding” thing was as delicious as Mirandalette made it out to be.

After Zeke finished his meal and stood up to get some tea, Mirandalette asked something that made Leticiel pause while eating. “By the way, I’ve been wondering this for a while, but is Zeke a commoner?”

“Is he?” she asked in return.

“Well, he doesn’t have a middle name, right?”

Apparently, in this era, only royalty and those in the noble class were allowed to have middle names. In Leticiel’s time, commoners hadn’t had surnames, so only the royalty and nobles did. Now that commoners had surnames as well, it seemed like they used middle names to distinguish commoners from nobility.

“Isn’t this academy just for nobles, though?” she asked.

Mirandalette leaned in and whispered, “Sometimes commoners who have noble blood but are unable to enter the noble family due to certain circumstances enroll in the academy.”

“Ah…”

“They’re usually shunned by other nobles. I’ve heard that they find the academy uncomfortable.”

Zeke’s name was Zeke Violiss. According to the customs of the time, he was a commoner with a scandalous bloodline.

He had said that he never attended a single class. Perhaps it was because he was looked down upon by those around him, just like Leticiel.

“Oh? What’s with the awkward atmosphere?” The man in question said as he returned to the girls sitting in an uncomfortable silence. He had a cup of steaming coffee in one hand and a tray with two cups of tea on it. “I didn’t know what you two liked, so I thought tea would be a safe bet.”

“That’s fine, thank you.” Leticiel did her best to school her facial features as she looked up at him. Zeke gave her a small smile in response, as usual.

Leticiel took a sip of the tea he had brought. She preferred to drink it straight.

On the other hand, Mirandalette was dropping sugar cubes into hers. …Hmm? Hold on, Mirandalette. Just how many are you going to put in there?

Zeke took a sip of his coffee, his expression turning blank when he heard a male student say, “Of course! I’ll give you anything you want!” Following his gaze, Mirandalette, who was sitting next to Leticiel, turned around and let out an unladylike, “Geh!”

Wondering what was going on, Leticiel also turned around and saw the lovey-dovey couple sitting diagonally behind her. They weren’t even trying to hide the flirtatious atmosphere around them or their infatuated giggles.

“Wooow, he’s flirting with his fiancée’s sister right in the open even though he knows his fiancée is nearby.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. His Highness has feelings for my sister, not me. Plus, I’m the most hated student at the academy, right? Everyone must think that I deserve this.”

“I can’t believe you’re able to be so calm about this, Miss Drossell.”

“I’m not interested in His Highness or other people’s opinions, after all.” Mirandalette and Zeke looked at each other in disbelief as Leticiel returned to her meal only seconds later.

That’s right. The current Drossell didn’t care about her fiancé’s infidelity or the derision of those around her. If she were to be asked why, she would surely say this: “Because it doesn’t matter.”

Mirandalette shook her head in exasperation.

Watching her, Zeke smiled wryly.

Leticiel, who had never eaten pasta before, struggled to twist her pasta around her fork. The rest of their lunch break passed peacefully.

~~~~~

“Well, it’s almost time to go,” Zeke said, looking up at the clock in the cafeteria. The other students in the cafeteria had already started to get up and return to their classrooms.

“Yes. Miss Mira, what are the afternoon classes?”

“We have two consecutive periods of practical magic studies.”

“Oh. Well, I hardly need to attend those.”

Mirandalette looked dejected by Leticiel’s response, her face clearly saying, “You’re going to skip again?”

“I’m not skipping,” Leticiel informed her. “I’m just making better use of my time.”

“Skipping is skipping, no matter how you phrase it. Hah… Fine. Then please make the most of your time.”

“I will. Let’s meet up later.”

“Okay! I’ll be waiting for you at our usual place.” With a promise to meet up after school, Mirandalette and Leticiel parted ways in front of the cafeteria.

After seeing the other girl off, Leticiel crossed her arms. Now that she had decided not to attend classes, what should she do until the end of school? Should she return to the Great Library and continue reading? “What should I do?” she said out loud.

“If you’ve got free time, why don’t you go to the research lab?” Zeke suggested. As expected, he also seemed to be planning to skip the afternoon classes.

Apparently, before Leticiel had arrived at the Great Library that morning, Lucas the headmaster had given Zeke orders to guide Leticiel to the research lab. To be fair, a lot had happened that week and she hadn’t been able to visit Lucas’s lab—the one she now belonged to. It would be her research base from now on, so she should check it out.

“Now that I think of it, I haven’t been there yet.”

“Do you need me to show you the way?”

“That would be nice, yes.”

“All right. Then let’s go together.”

Falling into step with Zeke, Leticiel headed to the annex where the lab was. Because classes were about to start, there were no students in the corridors and they only passed the occasional teacher who was on their way to the classrooms.

All of the teachers they passed returned their greetings with smiles. It seemed like, unlike the students, the teachers did not shun Drossell.

“The teachers are acting friendlier than I had expected,” she commented.

“Hmm, I feel like they were on par with the students until a little while back. Did you do something, Miss Drossell?”

Leticiel thought back over the past week. All she had done during that time was attend classes, rewrite a magic formula, get called out by the teachers, given the teachers a piece of her mind, attended classes again, and hung out with her friends after school. “I don’t think I did anything of note,” she said.

“Really? Then something did happen.”

“Huh? Why are you reacting the same way Miss Mira does?”

“Well, in any case, it’s good that the teachers’ impression of you has improved.”

While they were talking, Leticiel and Zeke exited from the entrance on the side of the main building and arrived at the back of the building. There was a large lake behind the main building, and on the other side of the lake there were several buildings with similar exteriors lined up at evenly spaced intervals.

Though they had stopped chatting, the silence between them wasn’t awkward. Rather, they maintained a comfortable, calming distance.

Zeke entered the building on the far right and went up the stairs. The two-story brick building didn’t seem to be that big, but it was deserted and had very few items inside. Most of the rooms seemed empty, the aged walls and floors covered in dust.

“It’s pretty bleak, isn’t it?” Leticiel commented.

“Yes. This is the former seventh research building. It was used as a research facility up until six months ago. As the number of researchers increased, a new research building was built and everyone moved there, so it’s no longer in use.”

Leticiel looked out a hallway window and saw a brand new three-story building peeking through the trees. It was likely the new Seventh research building.

“Sorry this was the only place available,” Zeke apologized. “The headmaster tried to get you a better room, but all of the research buildings are full…”

“Oh, I don’t mind. I’m fine as long as I can do my research.” All she needed was a desk, chair, and bookshelf, so Leticiel didn’t care if she was in a new or old building. In fact, she might be more comfortable here if she was the only one using it.

Walking all the way down the corridor on the second floor, Zeke came to a stop in front of a door. “This is it,” he said, opening the door and inviting Leticiel inside.

The room was much larger than she had been expecting. A massive desk sat at the back of the room, an expensive-looking coffee table and sofa sitting in front of it. A large, empty bookshelf and a cupboard filled with pots lined the walls, along with paintings and two doors that seemed to lead to other rooms.

“It’s bigger than I imagined,” she commented.

“Yes, it was originally the headmaster’s lab, so it’s probably the largest room in the old seventh research building.”

“Didn’t he move his lab to the new building? It seems like there’s still a lot of furniture in here…”

“The headmaster’s lab was the last to go, and he only just moved out a few days ago, so I guess the preparations for the move weren’t finished yet.”

“I see.” In other words, it was decided that Leticiel would join Lucas’s laboratory during the time when they were moving into the new seventh building. But since there were no vacant rooms, he decided to let her use this room instead and had left the furniture instead of removing it. She glanced restlessly around the room. “Will this place always be mine to use?”

“I’m not sure. It seems like unused research buildings are often converted into other facilities. I heard that the dorm I live in used to be the old fourth research building, so this one might be converted into a dorm as well.” Zeke gave her a troubled smile. There didn’t seem to be any plans to repurpose the building at the moment, so there was no problem with her using it as she liked.

“Do you have a room in the new lab too, Zeke?”

“No, the seventh research building is for people who are specializing in magic-related research. I’m researching science and mathematics, so my lab is in the sixth research building.” Apparently, the research buildings behind the main building were decided according to the research fields of the teachers and researchers.

“Let me explain the facilities,” Zeke said. “First of all, this lab has three rooms. The one at the back is for actual research, and the other two can be used however you like. Some people use them as storage areas or libraries, while others bring in beds to make sleeping quarters.”

Leticiel managed to choke down the words, “What? I want sleeping quarters too!” before they could leave her lips. It really is a quiet and peaceful place, perfect for research.

She glanced out the window and saw the vast lake that sparkled as it reflected the sun’s light. Beyond it was the academy’s main building and the stately clock tower, all surrounded by a lush forest.

Having lived in a time of war, Leticiel had never seen such beautiful nature. From here, she could look out over the museum in the forest, the magic training grounds, and the sword training grounds. It was a fairly nice location. Maybe I’ll take a leisurely stroll through the forest some time, she told herself.

“Does that mean that room will be my research room?” she asked, pointing to the door that was furthest from the entrance. It also happened to be the one with the most sunlight.

“That’s right. It was used as storage before, but it seems like they’ve cleaned it up a bit. You can use whatever room you like.”

“I see… Thank you.”

“Also, the headmaster says you shouldn’t hesitate to let him know if there’s anything you need.”

“All right.” Unable to wait any longer, Drossell hurried toward the door. She was usually so calm and expressionless that seeing her fidget like a girl her age was so funny Zeke burst out laughing, earning him a glare from the girl.

Though she couldn’t understand why Zeke didn’t stop laughing even when she glared at him, Leticiel suppressed her excitement and opened the door at the back.

Because she was a serious sorcery fanatic, she believed this research room would become her new home. In fact, she’d rather live here than in her own room in Duke Filiaregis’s home. She truly was a lost cause.

The room only had a small white desk, two bookshelves, and a cupboard along the wall, so it was fairly empty. But that was no problem, as it meant that she could customize it however she liked.

“What a lovely room!”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes. It’ll be worth renovating. I have a lot of hopes and aspirations for this empty space”

After a pause, Zeke said, “You really are unique, Miss Drossell.” For some reason, he was dumbfounded. Had she said something strange?

You could redesign the layout and put as many things as you wanted in empty rooms. Didn’t that thought excite him?

“In that case, I’ll devote my afternoon to researching magic formulas here. Zeke, would I be able to find a large amount of paper somewhere?”

“Errm, I believe that box is filled with blank paper.”

“Great. Then I’m going to head to the Great Library for a bit.”

“Okay…?”

Leticiel flew out of the lab as soon as she was done talking. Her time was limited, so she had every reason to hurry.

She needed to go to the Great Library to collect books on modern magic formulas. A week ago, after she’d given her lecture to the teachers, Lucas had asked her to research everything there was to know about magic (and sorcery) formulas. She was thinking of starting by reworking all of the existing formulas in this country from the ground up. If they couldn’t believe a concept that didn’t exist in their time, then she would just have to rewrite the formulas using that concept and show them how inferior their modern formulas were. To do so, she started gathering books on formulas and writing a list of all of the main magical formulas in the Platina kingdom.

As usual, she asked the exemplary librarian David to search the Great Library’s collection and returned to her lab with a large stack of books in her arms.

“Welcome back,” Zeke greeted. “Wow… That stack is almost tall enough to hit the door frame.”

“It’s not, though. It just barely fits.”

“I don’t think that’s the problem… Even with your sorcery, isn’t that stack a bit much?” Saying this, he trotted over and took half of the books from her. He seemed to have noticed the trick behind her superhuman strength, said trick being a physical enhancement spell she had cast on herself to transport the books.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to hole myself up in my research room,” Leticiel said as she set her pile of books next to the desk in the back research room. Zeke placed the stack he was carrying next to it.

“All right. I’ll head back to my own research room, then. See you tomorrow.”

“Yes, see you later.” Leticiel waved goodbye to Zeke as he left before entering her research room. Closing the door behind her, she secured it with a spell.

She hated being interrupted during her research more than anything. Even in her past life, she had always locked the entrance so no one could barge in on her.

Having gotten her space ready, Leticiel placed a large stack of paper next to the books she had gathered, opened a book, selected a magic formula, and began to copy it onto the paper using sorcery. She even cast a body enhancement spell on her arms which would allow her to maintain her strength and stamina for a long period of time.

She only extracted the basic magic formulas from the books. Extracting and transcribing only specific information from a book you’d never read was a highly advanced technique, but it was no problem for the Regenerose’s national treasure.

Magic was roughly separated into five ranks. From bottom to top, the spells were ranked as basic, low-level, mid-level, high-level, and infinity-level. Basic spells were basic formulas and simple spells that could be made by adding simple variables to them.

Even for Leticiel, rewriting all the magic formulas by the time school ended for the day was an impossible feat. So for the time being, she set her sights on the lowest level of basic spells, fired up with the ambition to improve them all.

~~~~~

Leticiel threw down her quill just as a bell rang, though she didn’t know if it was for the start or end of a class.

It wasn’t that she had given up. Rather, she had finished rewriting all of the basic spells into magical formulas that she was familiar with.

“Let’s see… I wonder if the headmaster and other teachers are around somewhere.”

After cleaning up the books she had borrowed from the Great Library, Leticiel gathered the stack of papers with her rewritten formulas and left the research room.

She wanted to have Lucas or Zeke test the rewritten formulas. Since “Drossell” didn’t have magical power, she wouldn’t have been able to test them herself.

“Oh?” Stepping outside, Leticiel caught sight of Raven, the magic formula teacher she’d had for her second period class on her first day. “Mr. Raven?”

“Hello, Miss Drossell. I see you found your way to the research lab without any issues.”

“Yes. What brings you here?”

“I’m interested in your research and wanted to see what you were up to.”

Hearing this, Leticiel’s eyes sparkled. She looked up at the clock and saw that the bell that had just rung was the one for fifth period. There was still an hour left until school ended.

“Mr. Raven.”

“Yes?”

“As someone who teaches magic formulas, wouldn’t you like to contribute to their evolution?”

After a pause, Raven replied with, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve begun my research to systemize the general theory of magic formulas that I mentioned before.” Raven didn’t respond, so she continued, “I was thinking of asking the headmaster for help, but I believe that as someone who teaches magic formulas, you would be more likely to understand the wonders of my research results.”

“Am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this…?”

“I don’t have a bad feeling at all. I simply want you to test my modified spells.”

“All of those? …Wait a moment, Miss Drossell. I never said I would—”

“Come along, Mr. Raven. There isn’t much time, so let’s hurry and go to the magic training grounds.”

“I don’t have enough magical power to cast all of these! It’s impossible! At least get one more person to help… And please don’t drag me against my willllll!”

After this, Leticiel used Raven as a test subject whenever the occasion arose, but that’s a story for another time.

One way or another, they got through testing all of the improved spells, and Leticiel returned to her research room with Raven, who was exhausted from using too much magic.

Lucas was waiting for them when they arrived. He said that he had come to check up on Leticiel and that he had wanted to come sooner but couldn’t get away from work. After a quick explanation of what they had been doing, Lucas sighed and said, “I see. So that’s why Raven is stretched out over there.” He looked at Raven, who was lying on the sofa like a corpse, too exhausted to move. “Well, I’m glad that you’re getting by just fine.”

After that, Leticiel gave him a brief report on the results of her research. Once she was done, Lucas folded his arms and gave a satisfied nod. “What are you going to do after this?” he asked. “Will you continue your research?”

“No, I have plans with a friend after school, so I’ll continue tomorrow.”

“All right. Don’t push yourself too hard.” Those words were refreshing, coming from the athletic man. Leticiel left the lab, Lucas sending her off with a bright smile.

She passed many students as she cut through the main building on the way to the magic training grounds. It seemed like nobles were extremely busy people these days, as they were all talking about their plans, talk of lessons, evening parties, and soirées on everyone’s lips.

Apparently, a party would be held at some noble’s house today. All the young women and men she passed were talking about it.

Hooray for being an outcast. Drossell was extremely shunned by her family. Leticiel assumed that since she didn’t take lessons, she likely didn’t attend parties or galas, either. Leticiel was glad to have all of her time after school free to do as she pleased.

“Oh, Miss Drossell!” When she arrived at the magic training grounds, she saw that Mirandalette had been practicing on her own while waiting for Leticiel to arrive. She was always eager to practice, but today, her eyes seemed to shine even brighter.

“Miss Mira, you seem even more motivated than usual today.”

“I am! I don’t have any tea parties or evening parties today, so I can focus on practicing without worrying about the time!”

“Really? Other students were talking about a ball.”

“It’s probably just for high-ranking nobles. Not many tea parties or galas are exclusively for the upper class, but I’m actually grateful that I wasn’t invited because I don’t like dealing with those people.” Saying this, Mirandalette held up both fists in a powerful victory pose, a beaming smile on her lips.

~~~~~

The Filiaregis manor was uncharacteristically raucous when Leticiel returned later that day.

“Ruvik, is there something going on today?” she asked, glancing through the doorway of her room at the servants who were bustling back and forth down the corridor. Ruvik had been helping them up until a moment ago, when he had returned to serve her.

“Yes. A soirée will be held in the manor today, so all of the servants are making preparations for it.”

“I see…”

According to Ruvik, tonight’s ball was being hosted by Christa and Rocheford, and it was to be a lavish gathering of aristocrats with only the highest-ranking nobles invited. But back in her day, “soirée” had been nothing more than a word in the dictionary, so she didn’t know what the ball would entail despite hearing Ruvik’s explanation.

“Will you be attending, my lady?”

“No. It’s too much trouble.” For someone like Leticiel who didn’t enjoy interacting with others, a party full of strangers was nothing but a hassle.

The polite thing would be for Leticiel to attend the party as a relative of the host, but there was no way for her to know that was common sense as she’d never been to a party before.

Ruvik put his hand to his chin and thought for a while before mumbling, “But the chefs are busy preparing food for the soirée. Since the duke and duchess will also be eating at the party, it will probably take some time for them to prepare a separate meal for you tonight…”

“Oh, there will be food?”

“Yes. It will mostly be light snacks, but there will also be desserts and champagne.”

“Desserts…” An image of Mirandalette talking about sweets with a big smile flashed through Leticiel’s mind. Now that she thought about it, Mirandalette was particularly passionate about something called “caramel pudding.” Leticiel had wondered if it was really that delicious when she had been listening to her.

“Ruvik, will they be serving… caramel pudding… at tonight’s party?”

“Huh? U-Uh… I believe so. If you’re interested, would you like to go and try it?”

“Perhaps. I’m starting to get hungry, so I’ll get something to eat at the party.”

“Um, please wait. Are you going in your uniform?”

Apparently, it wasn’t proper to attend a soirée in one’s school uniform. Leticiel thought her outfit didn’t matter as she was only going to eat, but Ruvik looked desperate as he attempted to stop her, so she went into her dressing room to change into a more appropriate dress before heading to the banquet hall where the soirée was being held.

Nobles in glittering dresses and accessories chatted away. The light from the chandelier reflected in the hall, filling it with a dazzling glow, but Leticiel only had eyes for the table of food on one side of the hall.

Huh? What is this food? It’s white… What did they use to make it? The one over there is colorful, so perhaps it’s made of vegetables. This one, too…

Leticiel’s eyes lit up at the spread of food she’d never seen before. Glancing back and forth across the table, she picked up a plate and silently began to eat. The nobles around her gave her surprised and puzzled looks. That was only natural. As a member of the host’s family, she should have been given a seat of honor, yet she was eating among the guests.

“That’s why I made that decision. I refuse to be looked down upon. There were other times, as well. For example, two years ago—”

“Dear Rocheford, there’s no need to tell all of your stories at once. Here, use this to quench your thirst.”

“Oh! Thanks, Christa! You really are nice.”

Leticiel could hear Rocheford and Christa’s voices coming from the other side of the hall, but since she only had eyes for the food, she ignored their conversation like it was background noise, mind completely focused on enjoying the unknown foods.

“By the way, Miss Christa. Isn’t your elder sister, Lady Salinya, getting married soon?”

“Yes, that’s right. Freid has been busy getting things ready for the wedding.” Christa’s happy voice went in one of Leticiel’s ears and out the other as she stuffed her cheeks with the caramel pudding she had been searching for.

She’d been skeptical when listening to Mirandalette’s description of the dessert, but after trying it for herself, she’d realized that the other girl wasn’t lying. The moment it entered her mouth, the pudding melted and mixed with the sauce, creating a uniquely bitter yet sweet flavor.

“Drossell?” Someone called her name as she was enjoying her delicious pudding. Finishing the last bite, she looked up and saw Christa coming toward her with a few other young ladies, a surprised look on her face as if she were shocked to see her sister. “Why are you here, Drossell?”

“The duke’s family—I mean, you’re hosting it, right? Is there a problem with me attending?”

“N-No, that’s not it…” Though she’d answered Christa’s question with a question of her own, the younger girl had nothing to say in response to Leticiel’s logical argument. An awkward silence fell between the two.

“Um, Drossell, it seems you were eating something…”

“It was caramel pudding.”

“Huh? Pudding?” Leticiel had only answered because Christa had asked, but the girl’s eyes had widened again. What on Earth could she be surprised about this time? “Drossell, I thought you didn’t like sweets?”

“I was in the mood for it today. Sometimes you just get the urge to eat something sweet, right?”

“I-I see…” Christa looked confused at Leticiel’s reply and fell silent, as if deep in thought.

“Hey, Drossell! Christa was kind enough to talk to you, so what do you think you’re doing?!” Just then, a rough voice reached Leticiel’s ears. Frowning slightly, Leticiel turned to find Rocheford glaring at her with a sharp look in his eyes.

“What do you want?” Leticiel replied, obviously displeased.

Still glaring, Rocheford asked, “What have you been doing there, standing around and watching in silence?”

“For your information, I simply attended the ball to get some food.”

“Wha…?!”

Leticiel’s complete lack of diffidence made Rocheford’s shoulders tremble finely. Soirées were a place for nobles to socialize and exchange information, so it was normal for ladies to barely eat at all so they wouldn’t smudge their makeup, but there was no way for Leticiel to have known that.

“How can you call yourself a member of the duke’s family when you have no idea how shameless you’re being?! How did someone as tactless as you brazenly worm your way into this soirée?!” Rocheford snorted arrogantly, but Leticiel thought he was the one being ridiculous.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, what’s so odd about me, a member of the duke’s family, attending a soirée hosted by one of my family members?”

Rocheford had been shouting so loudly that all of the surrounding nobles had turned to see what was going on. When their eyes landed on Leticiel, they widened in surprise.

“Hey, is that… Miss Drossell?”

“Huh? Drossell as in… the Drossell? I’ve been going to soirées for years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen her at one.”

Whispers began to spread, but Leticiel continued to speak without paying them any mind.

“Your Highness, during times of war, there were no splendid manors or extravagant meals like these. There were only life-or-death battles and the strength you needed to defend yourself. However, in those times, it was commonly believed that people should be respected as individuals, regardless of their gender or birthrights.”

That was common sense to Leticiel, but in this kingdom with such a rigid aristocratic society, it didn’t seem to be a common thought process. Those listening gave whispers of approval, seeming impressed by an idea they had never encountered before.

“Though I do bear the title of being Your Highness’s fiancée, I am a person named Drossell Noa Filiaregis first and foremost. So many people have gathered at my home today for this party. Wouldn’t it be better for you to behave respectfully to set an example for the others?”

It would have been so much easier if she could tell him, ‘I’m not your tool, so don’t order me around.’ But she could hardly say that to a prince. Plus, there were many other nobles present, so she had to keep calm and cool while expressing her opinion to him.

“Tch!” Rocheford had no rebuttal. He looked around, searching for something to say in response, but no words left his mouth. Before they knew it, the party guests had begun whispering amongst themselves, glancing between Leticiel and the others.

Noticing this, Leticiel decided that it was time for her to leave. She had already eaten all the food she wanted, and she’d rather not be the center of attention. “Well then, I’ll be taking my leave,” she announced, swiftly moving to leave the hall. “Please enjoy yourselves, everyone.” She was followed by whispers and gazes, but she ignored them all.

“Miss Drossell is as clever as the rumors suggest.”

“I’d never seen her at a social gathering before, so I had no idea either. With her elegant demeanor and manner of speaking, it’s no wonder she was chosen to be His Highness’s fiancée.”

“It’s true that her appearance has changed a bit, but I was impressed by how confidently she admonished His Highness.”

The noise in the hall didn’t die down for a while even after Drossell left. While everyone was gossiping about her, Rocheford was mumbling curses for his fiancée.

Beside him, Christa was completely expressionless as she stared in the direction her twin sister had left in, eyes as cold as ice.

Side Story
A Girl’s Past and Future

In the duke’s family, there was a young lady who was said to be an unwanted child.

Despite being born as the daughter of a duke into one of the greatest noble families in the kingdom, she had no magical power, had strange heterochromia, and didn’t look like either of her parents despite having inherited their silver hair. Therefore, she was shunned from the moment of her birth.

Her family treated her like she was invisible, the servants laughed at her from the shadows, and those in high society criticized her behind her back. Over time, she started to yearn for the love of others. Wanting to be praised and recognized, she picked up her studies, dancing, and etiquette lessons with astonishing speed.

But that only caused her to be even more ostracized at home. As the reactions of those around her became worse and worse, she became increasingly desperate, her mental health waning.

Then, she was ordered by the king to be betrothed to the first prince.

It was a purely political engagement. At the time, the first prince, who was considered to be a talented young man who would eventually inherit the throne, needed to find a fiancée who was suitable enough to be the queen.

The young lady stood out amongst all of the many other marriage candidates. No one could match her looks, wits, or manners. That was all she needed to be chosen as the first prince’s fiancée.

Still, she was ecstatic. For the first time, her efforts had been recognized.

The young lady loved her fiancé deeply. She treasured the obviously obligatory letters and gifts that he sent her and devoted herself to the prince, who never once smiled at her. The only thing that kept her heart from breaking was the baseless hope that, even if it wasn’t possible now, he would someday fall in love with her.

Then, one day, she saw it.

Her twin sister and fiancé were gazing at each other in a beautiful garden filled with fragrant flowers. Her fiancé’s gaze was locked onto her sister, whose cheeks were blushing with embarrassment. The young lady’s vision wavered when she noticed the heat in his gaze.

And just like that, the young lady’s world completely shattered.

~~~~~

The duke’s unwanted daughter spewed insults whenever she opened her mouth and immediately lost her temper, lashing out at those around her the instant something upset her.

The others had no qualms about oppressing her. She couldn’t fight back because she was a failure, unworthy in her family’s eyes, and because she had no magical power.

They shunned and despised her because they secretly knew that she was more talented and beautiful than any of them. They felt a twisted sense of superiority when they crushed her pride. In this kingdom, those without magical power were all “unwanted.” No one ever thought to assume otherwise.

Yet the young lady in front of them now was crouching in front of a flower bed in the corner of the garden, cutting flowers.

The girl who had always ordered the servants around to do every little thing was now holding the scissors herself. The girl who had always approached them indiscriminately whenever she saw them didn’t even notice they were there. It was shocking.

Over the past month, the duke’s unwanted daughter had changed to become a young lady they didn’t know.

She no longer had tantrums, she had stopped interacting with others, and she no longer sought the love she had craved so much. They only saw her once or twice a day. But they had no desire to see her, nor did they intend to.

But without their knowledge, the young lady they hadn’t hesitated to oppress had suddenly changed. This filled them with immense disgust and fear, feeling as if they were looking at an unfamiliar monster as they gazed at the silver-haired girl day after day.

~~~~~

The young lady Ruvik served was extremely volatile and quick to anger, but she hadn’t always been that way. Up until two years ago, she had been a quiet, polite, and well-educated young lady. She and Ruvik had been so close that they joked around with each other.

But on the night of the young lady’s birthday party two years ago, she changed and became someone completely different. She would shout at her family and lose her temper if things didn’t go her way. There was no trace of the gentle woman she’d once been.

Why had she changed so much? What had caused it? Ruvik continuously asked himself those questions while fearing his mistress’s wrath.

“Ruvik?” A bell-like voice snapped Ruvik out of his thoughts. He was in the garden of Duke Filiaregis’s manor with his mistress, who had come to choose flowers to decorate her room with.

They were bathed in the warm sunlight and the flowers in the garden swayed in the breeze. The peaceful scenery slowly soothed the gloomy feelings that had been building up inside of him.

“What’s wrong?” his mistress asked. “Don’t stand over there, come closer. All of the flowers look so nice.” She beckoned him to come closer to the flower bed, her silver hair fluttering in the wind. Gripping the pruning shears Claud had given her in one hand, she smiled faintly.

Ruvik hadn’t seen her smile like that for two years. It seemed like her heart, which had been closed during that time, was beginning to open once more.

Her smile overlapped with his memory of her expression from two years ago. The young lady had changed on that day, and he had thought he’d never be able to spend such a peaceful time with her again.

His relationship with the young lady had fallen apart after she started lashing out at anyone and everyone. He always had to gauge what kind of mood she was in, choosing his words carefully to avoid incurring her wrath, yet he still had to endure her illogical anger.

Yet a miracle had occurred and the young lady had returned to her former, kind-hearted self.

He’d begun to realize it about a month ago. That was when her tantrums had stopped. In fact, she showed less emotion than before.

She had also started actively studying more, to the point where every day she got lost in reading books that she hadn’t even attempted to touch for the past two years. She’d started acting strangely as well, but at the same time, her attitude toward Ruvik had clearly improved.

Just like he had been two years ago, Ruvik was confused by the young lady’s sudden change. But as he watched over her, he realized that her unconventional actions weren’t something she was doing on purpose. This intelligent yet somewhat absentminded young lady was the same as the young lady who lived in his memories. He didn’t know what had caused her to change, but he noted many differences in her, such as her knowledge of skills he’d never even heard of.

Still, the young lady had returned to normal. Looking at her now, Ruvik was able to believe that wholeheartedly.

“Yes. I’ll be right there, my lady,” he replied. With a gentle smile of his own, Ruvik stepped toward his mistress, Drossell.

~~~~~

“Hello there, Lucas. It’s been a while.”

“So it has.”

In a stately room decorated with dignified furniture, two men sat in armchairs. One of the men was tough-looking and had blond hair and blue eyes. Sitting across from him was a gentleman with short, honey-blond hair and crimson eyes.

“This doesn’t seem like a formal visit. Has something happened?” the gentleman asked.

“Yes, I have something to report. There are still many uncertainties at the moment, so please keep it a secret for the time being.”

The man’s crimson eyes narrowed in curiosity, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. “Oh? All right. What is it?”

“First, take a look at these.” The tough-looking man placed a pile of papers on the round table between them.

The crimson-eyed man picked up the top paper with a puzzled look on his face that quickly turned to one of shock as he read what was written on it. “Lucas, how did you get these?”

“From a student at the academy. All of these were written by a certain student enrolled there.”

“Hmm…” The crimson-eyed man’s face grew grim as he picked up the other papers, looking through them. However, Lucas didn’t miss the sparkle that was growing brighter in his eyes. “Lucas, this will revolutionize the world of magic in our country,” the man declared.

“I know. That’s why I brought them to show you.”

“A large reduction in magical power consumption, an unusually high conversion efficiency rate, reduced strain on the caster… why is this magic formula so ridiculously efficient when it’s just a basic formula?”

“The person who researched it calls this a ‘spell technique.’”

“I see. That’s clever. It’s true that this can hardly be called a magic formula. Though it bears some resemblance to them, this is a completely different system.”

After looking through all of the papers, the crimson-eyed man took a sip of his wine, his eyes narrowing in glee. How interesting. He hadn’t felt this amused in a long time.

“Heh heh… I wonder what kind of genius wrote these. I’d love to meet them sometime.” Holding his chin, the crimson-eyed man grinned mischievously, like a child plotting to cause trouble.

Seeing this, Lucas rubbed his brow and sighed deeply. “I’ll introduce the two of you soon enough, so please don’t get carried away, Your Majesty.”

~~~~~

“Achoo!” The silver-haired girl, who was humming while surrounded by colorful flowers, suddenly sneezed. It was a clear day in early summer, so it was hard to imagine that she had caught a chill. Sniffling, she said out loud, “Ahhh, is someone talking about me?”

“Perhaps you’re simply chilly?” The manor’s gardener suggested as she sniffled again. The light sound of someone’s footsteps crunching on the ground could be heard from behind them along with the snipping of their sheers.

“My lady.”

“Hmm? What is it, Ruvik?”

“I’ve come to let you know that Eric is leaving.” Eric was a merchant the duke’s family often purchased from. Today, he had come to deliver a dress that her twin sister had bought.

“He’s leaving already? Has he already left the manor?”

“No, he’s probably still in the entrance hall.”

“I’ll be right there!” The silver-haired girl put down the shears she had been holding and hurriedly stood. “What do you think he’ll talk about today?” she asked.

“I have no clue.”

“Really? Hee hee. I’m looking forward to it. I wonder what he’ll talk about. Maybe the fluctuations in trade tariffs with the Iris Empire? Or the state of Platina’s financial market?”

“No other young noblewoman would care to ask about either of those topics…”

The young lady narrowed her red left eye and blue right eye at her butler’s plausible remark. With a calm yet happy expression, she smiled and said, “That’s fine. I’m not like most noble ladies, and the duke—I mean, Father—won’t say anything.”

“My lady, have you perhaps forgotten your own father’s name?” When Drossell didn’t respond, he said, “I’m not trying to be mean. But please remember the names of your family members, at the very least.”

“But I don’t like to waste time and effort on things I’m not interested in…”

“Errm… For argument’s sake, even if that was okay… No, it’s not okay. You’ll be inconvenienced if you don’t at least remember their first names.”

“You think so? I know all the names of the heads of noble families in this country. I’ve simply forgotten them at the moment, but I’m sure I’d remember if someone were to mention them.”

“That’s not the issue…” Stressed by the silver-haired girl’s expression, which seemed to say that she didn’t see anything wrong, the butler put one hand on the wall and held his stomach with the other.

“Ruvik, don’t die. I’ll get you some stomach medicine later.”

“Sorry…”

“Excuse me, my lady.”

“Oh, Claud. What is it?”

“The duke and the others are staring at you…”

Hearing this, the young lady turned around and saw her family staring at her from a distance. Various emotions swirled in their gazes: anger, hatred, jealousy, and confusion. She locked eyes with them for just a moment.

“I don’t care. Let’s leave them be,” the young lady replied nonchalantly, having already lost interest. Pressing a hand against his forehead, the gardener looked up to the sky in defeat.

Chapter 5
The Cogs Have Started Turning

“Hah! Hup!” The wooden sword cut through the air as she swung it down. While all the other students were in third period, Leticiel was practicing her swings in comfortable pants.

At the sword training grounds, Leticiel practiced the martial arts her father had drilled into her in her previous life. She had been there since the start of first period.

Leticiel was a genius when it came to sorcery, but she couldn’t win in a fight unless she could handle hand-to-hand combat as well. That was why she willingly practiced at the training grounds and went on long runs.

Since she was in the body of a sheltered young lady, she had gotten out of breath after just a few practice swings at first. Now that she had started to build muscle, she was able to train for a longer time.

It had been about a month since she had started living as Drossell. She had been enjoying every fulfilling day since then.

At home, she avoided contact with others as much as possible, mostly limiting herself to the kitchen, the library, and the garden. The only person allowed in her room was her personal butler, Ruvik. She had deliberately adjusted her schedule so as not to meet with her family. She didn’t know how they were doing, but they were probably doing the same things as usual.

At the academy, she spent her mornings buried in books in the Great Library or practicing her swordsmanship in the training hall. In the afternoon, she holed herself up in her research lab to immerse herself in her research. Then, after classes had ended, she taught sorcery to Zeke and Mirandalette at the magic training hall. After a month of practice, they were both starting to blossom as sorcerers, just as Leticiel had expected.

Mirandalette didn’t stand out in any particular attributes, but she was reliably adept in all of them. On the other hand, Zeke was skilled at using magic and sorcery for different purposes and was particularly skilled in casting void spells.

Her research into magic formulas was also proceeding smoothly, and she was almost finished rewriting all of the basic spells. It seemed like most magic spells were basic or low-level spells, which was why it had taken her so long. She’d also been developing new spells alongside her revisions of the old ones.

Although she reported all of her research findings to the headmaster, Lucas, her work was still treated as top secret and only Lucas, Zeke, Mirandalette, Raven, and Mr. Baltrana (Mr. Piccari), who had sneakily joined the group, knew about it.

Over the past month, Leticiel had completely stopped attending classes. Since she read everything she could get her hands on in the Great Library and spent her days off in the manor’s library at home, the academy’s classes were too easy for her, like child’s play.

Yes, she had finally come to the same conclusion as Zeke.

Because of this, she rarely saw her classmates and was no longer subject to the widespread slander she had once received. It was certainly an improvement.

She was afraid that her teachers would be angry about her skipping, but on the contrary, she had many teachers coming to visit her in her research lab, bringing small gifts or snacks with them.

Could it be? Was it safe to assume that they… liked her?

“Is third period almost over?” Gripping her wooden sword with both hands, she stretched as much as she possibly could. There was no clock in the training hall, but since she couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the other side of the wall, she supposed that class was still in session.

While the magic training grounds were outdoors, the sword training ground was indoors. Similar to the magic training grounds, it was divided into a number of booths. During third period, a class was held in the booth next to hers.

Leticiel put the wooden sword she had been using back where it was, changed her clothes in the changing area at one end of the booth, and hurried off to the cafeteria.

Though she no longer attended class, she always made sure to eat lunch with her friends. After all, it would be lonely to eat all alone when she had friends she could eat with instead.

She arrived at the cafeteria before the end of the third period. Since class was still in session, there weren’t any other students around.

A handsome boy with black hair was gazing absentmindedly out of the window, basking in the soft sunlight at a six-person table in a sunny spot, not paying any mind to his surroundings. Zeke, a fellow skipper like Leticiel, always reserved a good spot for their group.

“Hello, Zeke,” she greeted.

“Huh? Miss Drossell? You’re early today.” Zeke blinked in surprise when Leticiel entered his sight. She supposed that was only natural. For most days over the past month, she had been so engrossed in her work that she had lost track of time, and he had come looking for her so they could go to the cafeteria together. “It’s not like you to come to the cafeteria before the bell rings,” he commented.

“I just happened to lose my focus early today. Those days do exist.” Sitting down across from him, they began to chat in the empty cafeteria.

According to Zeke, he had devoted himself to studying mathematical formulas in his research lab this morning. He’d been planning to go to the machine room, but a last-minute inspection had caused him to change his plans.

Just as Leticiel was about to doze off in the warm sunshine, the bell rang and the last member of their friend group came rushing into the cafeteria.

“Good morning, Miss Drossell!”

“Good morning, Miss Mira. You seem to be at 100% energy capacity, as usual.”

“Huh?”

Leticiel giggled at the way Mirandalette’s eyes widened in bewilderment.

~~~~~

The rest of Leticiel’s day passed uneventfully. As the sun began to set in the west, she found herself in her usual booth with her friends.

“You don’t need a spell technique for basic sorcery anymore, right? Then let’s try it with this water formula.”

“Okay! Um… So if this is like that…”

“My head hurts…”

“Zeke! You’re getting caught up in Miss Mira’s sorcery imagery. Close your eyes and let your mind go blank. Get that image of water out of your head right now!”

At the magic training grounds, Leticiel was watching over her friends as they practiced their sorcery. Though most of her attention was on Zeke.

Leticiel and Mirandalette practiced every day, but Zeke would only sometimes come to their practice when he felt like it.

Since Mirandalette had low magical power in all of the attributes, she was able to practice comfortably, without any restrictions. But Zeke’s magical power was so strong in five attributes that he was under various constraints. This was particularly true when he trained with Mirandalette and he was drawn to the imagery of her sorcery. Like just now when he had been trying to use a void spell, an image of a water spell would flash in his mind, and the aether’s rebound would make him feel sick.

“I keep telling you to practice separately if it’s too much,” Leticiel huffed.

“No, I have to be able to get over it if I want to use sorcery in this age of magic.” Zeke was breathing heavily as he sat on a bench, but he was smiling. Even so, it pained her to see him like this, so she didn’t want him to push himself.

Sitting next to Zeke, Leticiel cast a healing spell on him. He certainly had a point, but had he noticed that working so hard would be pointless if he ended up destroying his own body?

Zeke’s magical power scores had looked something like this:

Fire: 550

Water: 550

Wind: 550

Earth: 550

Lightning: 550

Light: 0

Darkness: 0

Void: 0

When she had first seen his results, she had been so surprised that she had done a double take. The average magical power score was around 50 to 60, with anything over 100 being considered “high.” She’d never seen someone with ten times the average amount of magical power and with such a large gap between attributes. With such a large difference in magical power values, it was only natural that he would struggle to balance sorcery and magic.

“That’s true,” Leticiel replied, “but it’s no reason for you to be reckless. You’ve made yourself sick enough times that you fully understand how your five major magic attributes are in conflict with your sorcery, right?” Zeke was silent. “As I’ve said many times, there’s an extreme difference in your attributes. Even if you don’t try to use sorcery spells from the five major elements, you have to be extremely careful when handling aether. I understand your wish to use both magic and sorcery. But it will all be pointless if something were to happen to you.”

Zeke still didn’t respond to her lecture, so Leticiel continued, “Fortunately, sorcery and magic work differently, so you won’t have to worry about the aether’s rebound effects once you establish a calculation process. In other words, there’s no need to rush things. Do you understand?”

“…Sorry.”

Zeke was vaguely similar to the way Leticiel had been in her previous life. He refused to show his weaknesses to others and slowly wore himself out trying to solve everything by himself. In Leticiel’s case, Nao had been the one who had reprimanded and taken care of her. Now that she was doing the same for Zeke, she felt like she understood Nao’s feelings a little better.

Zeke was at a loss for words in the face of Leticiel’s scolding. He glanced around awkwardly, his shoulders slumped apologetically. It was obvious from his reaction that he wasn’t used to being scolded. It was a little cute, the way he sort of looked like a sad puppy.

“No one said you have to hurry to polish your skills. You have plenty of time, so don’t rush and just go at your own pace. I’ll be here for you as much as you’d like.”

“Thank you.” Leticiel smiled when he gave in, opening his eyes and giving her a defeated smile.

Leticiel continued to cast healing spells on him. He closed his eyes again, looking calmer than before.

“Miss Drossell, how is Zeke doing?” Mirandalette asked.

“He seems fine. He’s stable now and doesn’t have a fever like last time.”

“Really? That’s a relief!” Mirandalette sighed in relief at the news.

Just then, Zeke, who had been leaning against the back of the bench, sat up and said, “Can I go for a walk around the training grounds? I want to cool my head.”

“Yes, of course. We’ll take a break and go with you.” Leticiel readily agreed to his request, knowing what his constitution was like and not wanting him to push himself too hard to start training again right away.

The three students left the magic training grounds together. The magic training grounds were located behind the main building on the left-hand side. Behind them was a vast forest owned by the academy. The forest held greenhouses and animal breeding facilities for the teachers and researchers who conducted biology research, but students were generally not allowed to enter it.

“Huh. I didn’t know the campus had a place like this.”

“Yeah. It’s especially pretty in the afternoons when the weather is nice because you can see a beautiful sunset.”

“That’s wonderful! I’d love to see it with the two of you one day!”

The group chatted about trivial matters as they walked along the border between the forest and the wall surrounding the magic training grounds.

Since she had been focused on protecting her citizens as their princess a thousand years ago, Leticiel hadn’t had many chances to enjoy ordinary conversations with people her age before. That was why the time she spent with her friends was so novel and refreshing.

“Hey, what are you doing over there?!” The smile fell from Leticiel’s face as she, Mirandalette, and Zeke rounded the back of the magic training grounds and a voice called out to them. Turning with a blank expression, she saw the first prince, Rocheford, glaring at her along with his followers.

Nothing had happened between them for the past month. They didn’t meet at the academy or at each other’s homes, nor did they send each other letters.

Despite not having seen her fiancé for that long, the gaze she laid on him was cold. Leticiel had mentally labeled Rocheford as a “troublesome and unimportant” person. “What can I help you with, Your Highness?” she asked.

“Hmph! What, indeed. You truly are the disgrace of the duke’s family, seducing another man when you already have a fiancé!”

Leticiel didn’t respond. Apparently, he thought that Leticiel and Zeke were currently on a date.

She couldn’t help but give him a pitying look. How could he possibly mistake their current situation for a date when there were no romantic elements at all and Mirandalette was with them, to boot? Just how idiotic was he? Plus, she didn’t want to hear that from this shitty man, who had been flirting with his fiancée’s sister wherever they went over the past month.

“Y-Your Highness, someone else was with Miss Drossell and the guy—”

“Quiet! You dare to correct me?” One of Rocheford’s followers, a boy with glasses, tried to point out Mirandalette’s existence, but Rocheford was too self-absorbed to listen to him. The timid-looking follower gave Leticiel a scared look, bowing slightly so Rocheford wouldn’t notice.

Leticiel’s expression stayed blank as she watched him, but she was a little impressed. It seemed not everyone who followed the foolish prince was a fool themselves.

“Hmph! Plus, you’re associating with a slacker and a low-ranking noble lady! As the first prince’s fiancée, you should be ashamed of yourself!”

Realizing that he was referring to her, Mirandalette grabbed the hem of her uniform, which had a black line unlike Leticiel’s gold line to match her status, and twisted it in her grip.

Something inside of Leticiel snapped.

She didn’t care what he said about her, but he had insulted her friends. Hey, can I beat this guy up? I can give him a good beating, right? Wouldn’t it be better for the rest of the world and other people if I did?

Rocheford laughed arrogantly, completely oblivious to Leticiel’s cold anger. His eyes held the same scorn she had seen in them before.

“With all due respect,” Leticiel started simply, the gaze she fixed on Rocheford filled with exasperation, “how could you call me the first prince’s fiancée? Can you put your hand on your heart and swear that I am?”

“Wha…?” Rocheford stared in surprise at the blank look on Leticiel’s face. He didn’t seem to have expected her to stand up to him. “You…! Have you forgotten that you still belong to the duke’s family? You may be a failure, but that doesn’t change your bloodline. Associating with low-ranking nobles will only further lower your already poor reputation!”

“Is that so? But, Your Highness, kingdoms are supported by their citizens and the many lower-ranking nobles. It would be foolish for a member of the royal family to decide not to interact with others due to their status or inferiority.”

That was a principle Leticiel had followed in her previous life. The royal family existed to rule the country, but they only existed because of the many citizens and nobles beneath them.

That shouldn’t be any different in this world. The few upper-class nobles that existed could live leisurely lives thanks to others.

“Y-You…! Don’t get a big head!” Not liking Leticiel’s reply, Rocheford glared angrily and tried to grab her, his other hand clenched into a fist.

It was easy to avoid his attempted punch, which was thrown straight at her without any finesse. Leticiel dodged the attack without so much as a glance in his direction, casting a spell on the ground as she passed to trip him with a vine of grass.

“Argh!” Completely unable to avoid the unexpected attack from below, Rocheford’s foot was caught in the vine, and he crashed face-first into the ground. Leticiel stepped closer, staring closely at the man whose face and clothes were now covered in dirt. “Wh… Wh-Wh-Wh-What?! Do you really think you can get away with doing this to me?!” Rocheford still seemed to be caught up in the idea that she was “incompetent” as he regained some of his confidence, even as she drew closer, one deliberate step at a time.

However, he lost even that meaningless, tiny amount of confidence when Leticiel created five spears of ice around him. “Uwaaargh?!” Letting out a strange shout, Rocheford frantically tried to crawl away.

Not that Leticiel would let him. She released a perfectly aimed spear from her hand, grazing his clothes and pinning him to the ground. “Don’t move,” she warned him. “I’m trying to avoid your face, but you might get hurt if you move.”

“Eeeeek!”

Arriving in front of Rocheford, who was unable to escape even if he tried, Leticiel bent down to meet his gaze. His anxiety reached its limit as she narrowed her heterochromatic eyes at him with a cold expression. He had certainly cast aside his pride as a prince.

“Your Highness, I don’t want to waste my time by engaging in unproductive conversations with you, so let me say just one thing.”

“U-U-Unproductive?”

“Please stop whining over every little thing. I’m simply stating facts. Returning to the subject, you said that I seduced a man despite having a fiancé. In that case, Your Highness, why do you always have a woman beside you despite having a fiancée?”

Rocheford’s shoulders stiffened at Leticiel’s emotionless question. He should have thought about the woman he was in love with before attacking Drossell and Zeke. Unable to respond to Leticiel’s logical argument, Rocheford could only look at her with lifeless eyes. He knew that he couldn’t argue, but he still felt the need to stick up for himself. “Sh-She’s…”

“Oh, you don’t have to say everything. She’s just a ‘close friend,’ right?” Rocheford was silent. “You have a close friend of the opposite sex, so why am I not allowed to have one? Do you plan on interfering with my friendships, Your Highness?”

“N-No, I…”

“Didn’t your follower already try to tell you that we weren’t alone? Why aren’t you more observant of your surroundings? You would have seen her if you’d looked closely, right? Or is your eyesight that poor?”

“Th-That’s…”

“Plus, you’re too close with my younger sister for me to believe that you’re just friends. How dare you accuse me while putting yourself on a pedestal.”

“Eek!”

The first smile Leticiel ever showed her fiancé was an icy cold one. She could hear Rocheford’s teeth chattering as the temperature around him suddenly plummeted.

This time, her powers hadn’t gone out of control; she was deliberately creating a blizzard. Since she’d been practicing for two months, she was able to control the events that occurred when she used her sorcery.

“I-I-I w-won’t forget this!” Rocheford was stumbling over his words, but he still seemed to have some pride left within him. When Leticiel released the spell, he was freed and immediately rolled away as if his rear end were on fire.

“Are you two all right?” Leticiel asked Mirandalette and Zeke, who looked awkward.

“Y-Yes,” Mirandalette replied. “U-Um, Miss Drossell…”

“Were you bothered by what His Highness said?”

“…Yes,” the other girl admitted.

At Lucrezia Academy, the uniforms worn by the sons and daughters of dukes, marquises, and some counts—in other words, the highest ranking nobles—were slightly different from those worn by other students. Colored stripes on the bottom of their shirt, cuffs, skirt hems, and the sides of the men’s trousers indicated their status, with high-ranking nobles wearing gold stripes and the others wearing black stripes.

“You don’t have to worry about what he said,” Leticiel told her. “I want to be friends with you both because I like you. Your social status doesn’t matter.”

Zeke and Mirandalette gave her wide-eyed looks as she plainly stated what was, in her opinion, common sense.

“I think that’s enough for today. Neither of you are in the mood to keep practicing, are you?” Leticiel suggested, guessing how they were feeling.

“Yeah…” With that, they said their goodbyes and dispersed.

After using teleportation to return home, Leticiel headed into the bathroom attached to her room to freshen up. However, when she returned to her room after her bath, she heard something outside of her room.

“Huh?”

Bang, thump.

She listened carefully, thinking that it sounded like someone had fallen, crashing into the wall near her room.

Wondering who it could be, Leticiel quietly drew closer to her door, pressing her ear against it to hear what was going on outside.

“How many times does this make?”

“I-I’m terribly sorry! Please forgive me, Your Grace!”

Leticiel could hear two women talking. Carefully opening her door so it wouldn’t make a sound, Leticiel peeked through the gap to see what was going on.

A little further down the corridor, she saw a maid lowering her head to the duchess. The duchess was wearing her usual heavy makeup and an extravagant dress, her mouth hidden behind a fan.

On the other hand, the maid was trembling so much that she looked pitiful. She had likely made some sort of mistake, but the amount of terror in her expression was abnormal.

“It seems like you want to be fired. Well, it’d be better to replace you with someone more competent, I suppose,” the duchess sneered.

“N-No! I beg of you, Your Grace! Anything but that!” All the blood drained from the maid’s face. She must have a reason not to want to be fired.

Leticiel wasn’t particularly interested in their dispute and considered ignoring them. But the thought of being unable to rest while they were causing a fuss near her room made her change her mind and she quickly intervened.

Opening her door, she greeted her mother in her usual expressionless manner. “Good evening, Lady Diane. I didn’t realize duchesses have so much free time that they can spend it idling away in places like this.”

Diane couldn’t hide her surprise at Leticiel’s appearance. With wide eyes, she asked, “Why are you here? What did you just call me…?”

Had she forgotten that she was right by Drossell’s room? Knowing the duke’s family, it was entirely possible. Ignoring Diane’s second question, Leticiel turned to the maid and said, “What is your name?”

Though she was surprised that the duke’s daughter had suddenly spoken to her, the maid dutifully answered, “I-It’s Nicole.”

“Right, Nicole. Why is Lady Diane scolding you?”

“Uh…”

“Oh, you don’t need to mind her. I’m the one you’re talking with right now.”

Nicole’s face twisted exaggeratedly as Drossell casually told her to ignore her mistress. The glare Diane was throwing her way sharpened, but Leticiel née Drossell was too uncaring to notice. Even as she thought, I’m definitely worried…, Nicole was wise enough not to speak her thoughts aloud. Instead, she said, “N-No, it was nothing.”

“Is that so? It sounded to me like she was saying that you’re useless unless you can clean properly.”

Nicole swallowed the words, “How did you know that?” before they could leave her lips.

To be honest, Leticiel had mostly guessed based on the cleaning supplies that were next to Nicole, but her guess seemed to have been spot on.

“I wondered what sort of incident must have occurred to have the mistress of this manor angry… But what a silly reason. Besides, this area doesn’t look dirty to me. Excuse me, Lady Diane, but could you specifically explain what is dirty?” Diane refused to answer, so Leticiel continued with a blank expression. “Could it be… that you’re finding faults with the servants? Though I find it hard to believe that you, the ‘flower of high society,’ would do something so uncouth.”

Unable to refute Leticiel’s argument, Diane gave her a nasty glare over the top of her fan. Leticiel remained aloof, unfazed by the duchess’s malice and much calmer than Nicole, who was nervous while watching the women from the sidelines.

Finally, Diane said, “You…”

“Yes?”

“What did… you call me?”

Leticiel had wondered what she was planning to say, but that was it? It was an extremely abrupt change of topic.

Apparently, Diane couldn’t believe that Drossell had called her by her name. Hmm… Is that really what bothered her? Leticiel could only tilt her head, not understanding why the other woman was so shocked. Wouldn’t it be more absurd for the daughter she hated to call her “Mother”? Besides, Leticiel didn’t feel like Diane was her mother, so she’d chosen a manner of address that felt more appropriate to her.

“I called you ‘Lady Diane.’ Why do you ask?” It’s common sense, her nonchalant tone seemed to suggest.

The hand that was holding Diane’s fan trembled. She glared at Drossell before quickly walking away with thumping stomps that were much heavier than the graceful ones you’d expect from a lady. She seemed quite angry.

What…? Leticiel was stumped. Diane was obviously upset about something, but Leticiel had no clue what it could be.

Well, they didn’t see each other often, so it didn’t really matter to her.

“U-Um, thank you very much,” Nicole said, bowing once Diane was out of sight. Leticiel quietly shook her head, stopping her. She hadn’t left her room with the intent to help Nicole, even if that was what had happened in the end. She didn’t deserve the other girl’s thanks.

“I just did what I wanted to do. You don’t need to bow to me.”

“Still… you saved me, Miss Drossell. I’m truly grateful,” Nicole replied, shaking her head. Then she went on to explain that Diane often scolded her for all sorts of things, but the other servants and members of the duke’s family only laughed at her in amusement or watched from afar. Leticiel was the first person to have come to her rescue.

“I didn’t do much… but you’re welcome, I suppose. Good luck with the rest of your work.”

“Yes!” Nicole smiled happily at Drossell’s parting words. She had only recently started working at the duke’s manor and was still not used to performing her tasks, plus she didn’t get along well with her coworkers. Her employers verbally abused her, saying she was useless, and the senior servants mocked her for being incompetent.

Leticiel would likely never know how grateful Nicole was for her actions and words.

“By the way, Miss Drossell,” the maid started. “You called the duchess Lady Diane earlier…”

“Yes, I did. I didn’t get her name wrong, did I?”

“No, you didn’t. But… shouldn’t you call her ‘Mother’?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll be sure to call her ‘Mother’ when others are watching.”

“Errm, that’s not the issue I was referring to…” Nicole, who had made the remark without thinking, was perfectly right to think that way.

~~~~~

Leticiel woke up to faint sunlight streaming into her room.

Ahhh, I fell asleep without getting changed. Looking down, she saw that she was still in the clothes she wore around the manor.

As per her usual routine, she had started reading after taking a bath last night, but she must have fallen asleep at some point.

When she got up, her clothes were unsurprisingly wrinkled. Sighing, she cast a spell to smooth them out.

Now that she thought about it, unlike sorcery, magic wasn’t used much in everyday life. Do the servants do everything by hand? She wondered.

Just as she had gotten most of the wrinkles out, there was a knock on her door. Considering the time, it was likely Ruvik. Assuming it would be him, she thoughtlessly called out, “Come in.”

“E-Excuse me.” It wasn’t Ruvik at the door. Leticiel froze as she was in the middle of getting out of bed, surprised by the unexpected guest.

“Nicole?” In her room was the maid she had helped last night.

Nicole wasn’t Drossell’s personal maid. She had only learned about the girl yesterday and had no idea why she was here now.

Thankfully, Nicole explained everything. Apparently, Diane had reported yesterday’s events to the duke, and he had assigned the incompetent maid to his incompetent daughter as if to lump the unagreeables together and hide them away. Perhaps the duke and duchess meant it to be a form of harassment, essentially telling Nicole to look after their incompetent daughter since she wasn’t able to do anything else right. “And so,” she concluded, “I’ve been appointed as your personal maid, Miss Drossell.”

“I see…” Leticiel said, to show that she had been paying attention. To be honest, she didn’t need a maid, but she wasn’t particularly against the thought of having one, either. If the duke and duchess had given her one, she wouldn’t refuse. Besides, unlike the other maids, Nicole didn’t dislike Drossell, so it wouldn’t be too bad to be under her care. “In that case, I’ll have you start today, Nicole.”

“Okay!”

After they exchanged a few more words, Leticiel began to get ready for the day. Though she now had a personal maid, Leticiel’s routine didn’t change much. She changed into her uniform in the dressing room and made herself look presentable. The only difference was that Nicole chose her clothes and did her hair for her.

“Miss, aren’t you going to wear the stockings that go with the uniform?” Nicole asked, holding up a pair of black pants. They were the strangely tiny pants Leticiel had discovered on her first day in her reincarnated life. At Leticiel’s questioning look, Nicole said, “These. They’re technically part of the uniform…”

Now that she thought about it, Mirandalette’s legs were always covered in something like black pants. So they were called “stockings,” huh?

“No, I won’t wear them. They’re too much trouble,” Leticiel responded, shaking her head after touching the stockings. They were clearly smaller than her legs. Though they were stretchy, it seemed like it’d be a pain to put them on. She recalled seeing some students with stockings and others without, so they didn’t seem to be mandatory.

“All right!” Nicole replied, not pushing the matter. So she had been correct in assuming that they were not necessary.

“By the way, Nicole, are there any reasons why you don’t want to be fired?” Leticiel asked as she sat in front of the vanity table in her dressing room, Nicole combing through her silvery white hair.

“Um, are you referring to yesterday’s conversation?” Nicole placed the comb on the vanity table, a sad smile reflecting on her face in the mirror. “Actually, my mother is sick. My father died when I was young, so I started working in the royal capital when I was twenty. I was hired here after doing a variety of jobs. Right now we’re both living off of my income, so if I were to be fired, I wouldn’t be able to pay for my mother’s living or medical expenses.”

“I’m sorry for asking such a rude question,” Leticiel apologized.

“No, no! It’s not your fault, miss! No one’s ever asked about my situation before, so I’m actually happy that you asked.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I’ve avoided being fired for now, since I’m now your attendant. I’m honestly so grateful. And… done!”

Nicole finished doing Leticiel’s hair while she was talking. That was fast, Leticiel thought, until she glanced at her reflection in the mirror and found herself staring at unparalleled beauty that was both mature yet cute in an age-appropriate way.

Even compared to the rest of her family, Drossell had been a beautiful girl even before Leticiel reincarnated into her body. Now, a light layer of makeup further accentuated her natural beauty. Her pin-straight, shiny hair was braided in a half up style and adorned with a simple ribbon.

“Your hair and skin are so nice, Miss Drossell!” Nicole gushed. “I got a little carried away!”

“O-Oh… Thank you,” Leticiel stuttered, even as she thought that she didn’t look half bad.

Leticiel hadn’t cared about fashion when living in a time of war. She didn’t have the time or means to dress up and make herself pretty. Even after becoming Drossell, she was too lazy to wear nice clothes or makeup, and she always left her hair down instead of styling it.

“Hair and makeup… Girls have to work hard in many ways,” Leticiel murmured, impressed.

“Errm, you’re a girl as well, Miss Drossell,” Nicole smiled wryly.

“Nicole, you have an excellent fashion sense.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. But I have worked at a barber shop before.”

“So that’s how you gained these skills… You really are talented.”

“Th-Thank you,” Nicole replied bashfully, happy to have been acknowledged by someone in the duke’s family for the first time
ever.

Ruvik arrived with a breakfast cart a little while later, while Leticiel and Nicole were chatting about trivial matters. His eyes widened slightly when he saw how different she looked, but he was quick to smile and say, “You look nice, my lady.”

After that, things were the same as usual. Leticiel read while eating breakfast and grabbed her bag before heading to school when it was time to go. After telling Ruvik what time she would be home, she cast a teleportation spell.

Lucrezia Academy was abuzz all day that day. Murmurs of admiration and astonishment filled the entry hall as the students arrived.

The subject of their gazes was a singular female student. In a stark contrast to the day before, the Ice Demon had her long, straight hair that fell down to her waist styled cutely. Her beauty was so overwhelming that all the students in the hall, both male and female, were entranced by her. Not even her light makeup, simple hairstyle, or simple commoner clothes could detract from her elegance or beauty. In fact, they made her look even more divine.

“Let’s see… Where should I go today?” The center of their attention paid no mind to the gazes of the students around her, murmuring casually to herself.

She could feel the weight of their gazes, but they weren’t particularly harmful or helpful, so she ignored them. That was how she felt about such things at the moment.

“Hmm… I went to the sword training hall yesterday morning, so perhaps I’ll go to the Great Library today.” The sight of her long eyelashes slightly lowered as she pondered was so beautiful that it drew sighs from students of both genders, who were frozen in awe.

Leticiel could see their reactions from the corner of her eye, but she didn’t want to get involved and had no interest in them, so she pretended to be a stranger.

Using her innate talent to ignore others, Leticiel began weaving her way through the students, who seemed to be frozen in place.

~~~~~

“Dammit! She’s embarrassing me!” Rocheford spat in disgust, stomping around the lake behind the main building. He was supposed to be in class, but he’d been extremely irritated since his humiliation at school the other day and wasn’t calm enough to attend. “If it weren’t for Drossell, I could have gotten engaged to Christa. Why is someone like her my fiancée?!” he shouted while kicking a pebble. The pebble flew with great force into the lake, creating ripples on the water’s surface.

Rocheford and Drossell’s engagement had been a direct order from the king. On that day three years ago, the king had summoned Rocheford and announced the matter without any preamble. “I decree that you shall be engaged to Drossell, the daughter of Duke Filiaregis.”

Drossell’s reputation hadn’t been that bad back then. It was known that her family treated her coldly behind closed doors, and though some nobles praised her high level of education, most of them mocked her for her lack of magical power.

It was true that Drossell had outstanding abilities. However, Rocheford had always felt that she was unfit to join the royal family simply considering her lack of magical power.

That wasn’t the only reason, though. Rocheford had had a horrible impression of Drossell ever since he visited the duke’s manor for their matchmaking. At the matchmaking meeting, she’d barely spoken and was expressionless. She was so beautiful that she looked like a creepy doll.

In the Platina kingdom, there were five ducal houses known as the Five Great Dukes, which meant there were plenty of other ducal daughters to choose from if the prince was looking for a fiancée. Yet the king had assigned him a girl without magical power.

That was why that one sentence from the king had made Rocheford realize that his father didn’t expect anything from him.

“They’re all making fun of me!”

He was told that one of the reasons Drossell was chosen was because she had red eyes.

Red eyes were extremely rare in Platina. It was said that those with red eyes would have a drastic change in their life path by the time they reached the age of 13. It was roughly divided into two paths; one that would bring misfortune to the world and one that would bring salvation to the world.

The king had chosen Drossell over an ordinary young lady in the hopes that she would change his son. However, Rocheford didn’t believe in unfounded legends. To him, it was just an excuse his father had used.

If his father didn’t have any expectations for him, then there was no need for Rocheford to live up to his standards. From then on, Rocheford began to do as he pleased more than ever before. He continued to date Drossel out of obligation, but her attitude did not change even after they became engaged, and their relationship cooled.

That was why Rocheford’s affections had shifted to Christa. He had inevitably seen her every time he made his obligatory visits to the duke’s manor. He’d been interested in Christa ever since his arranged marriage meeting with Drossell, so it was only natural that the two grew closer.

Drossell’s personality changed drastically right around that time. She would yell, throw items, and become violent over the smallest of matters. But once she calmed down, she would cling to him and whisper in a creepily coy voice.

Rocheford had always disliked Drossell, but her actions made him distance himself from her even more, focusing instead on his affair with Christa.

“I’m the first prince, you know!”

Drossell had never once defied Rocheford, before or after her drastic personality change. And yet, she had used magic to rebel against him and even…

“Wait a minute,” he suddenly thought, feeling like something was off. “She doesn’t have any magical power.”

Drossell had definitely used magic back then, even though it rationally should have been impossible for her. “Plus, she’s been acting strange for the past month. Almost like she’s a completely different person…”

Once he noticed one discrepancy, various doubts rose to meet it.

Drossell had stopped throwing tantrums lately. At the same time, she’d stopped attending the lessons she’d participated in before, and now she didn’t even spare Rocheford and Christa a glance despite how much she used to cling to them.

It almost seemed as if she had reverted to her original personality, but that wasn’t it. Before, she had always been worried about the reactions of those around her. Now, she didn’t show any signs of caring at all. In fact, she seemed to have forgotten that she was the daughter of a duke.

After much consideration, Rocheford arrived at a singular conclusion. “I get it. She’s a witch!”

Her sudden change of personality, her lack of awareness as a noble lady, and the fact that she had used magic when she shouldn’t have been able to… None of it could be explained by common logic. Plus, it was Drossell’s fault that he, Platina’s first prince, was so miserable. He was convinced that she was a curse who brought misfortune to those who came in contact with her.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a sword in the museum that was used to kill witches,” he mused. Since he loved weapons, he was familiar with the weapons and armor in the museum. He knew how strong Drossell was from the incident the other day and planned to use the power of a witch-killing sword, which was said to have been blessed by a saint, to defeat her.

Having made his decision, Rocheford immediately headed to the museum. He had to defeat the witch as soon as possible.

“Hey, you there! Get me the holy witch-killing sword kept here in this museum!” he demanded, catching a curator in the entrance hall.

“Huh? Uh, p-please allow me to ask the director first…”

“There’s no need for that! Get it out right now!” Forced to follow the prince’s orders, the curator led the first prince to the storage room.

“Here is the holy witch-killing sword,” the curator said timidly, holding up the sword.

Rocheford snatched the rapier-like long sword right out of his hands. “Hey, I’ll have the saint’s blessing as long as I have this sword in hand, right?” he asked.

“W-Well, if you want protection, you’ll need this spell…”

“Hurry up and show it to me!” Rocheford quickly skimmed through the small scroll he took from the curator. The corners of his mouth raised into a fearless smile. “Hmph! All I need is this sword and this spell!”

Rocheford had no doubt that he could get revenge on Drossell for insulting him.

Chapter 6
The Sorceress and the Strange Monster

Two days after her confrontation with Rocheford, Leticiel teleported to school as usual and went straight to the Great Library.

Zeke wasn’t there that day. Since he had his own research lab, he was probably doing research there.

“Oho, you came again today?”

“Yes, to continue reading the book I was reading yesterday.”

“In that case, why don’t you take a look through this book, as well? I’m sure it’ll be helpful.”

“Really? In that case, I’ll gladly take a look.”

After chatting a bit with David about books, Leticiel collected the books she needed from the bookshelves and delved into the world of reading.

The book she was currently reading was an illustrated guide to the creatures currently living on the Astoria continent. It was far more interesting than she had expected and, before she knew it, there was a veritable mountain of all kinds of illustrated guides on her reading desk.

When Zeke was around, he always dragged her out of the world of books when it was time for lunch, but she was alone that day. Naturally, she didn’t look up from her book until lunchtime had already started.

“Oh, whoops. It’s already this late.”

The old Leticiel wouldn’t have cared about the passing of time, but now, she had friends waiting for her. After putting away all the books she’d carried to her desk, she left the Great Library. She’d keep Miss Mira and Zeke waiting if she didn’t hurry.

The cafeteria was on the other side of the front garden from the annex, where the Great Library was. As Leticiel was walking down the corridor that led to the cafeteria, she suddenly spotted Christa coming down the stairs further down the hallway.

Christa also noticed Leticiel, smiling cutely while saying, “Oh? If it isn’t Drossell.”

Leticiel had to wonder how long it had been since she’d been face-to-face with Christa, since she didn’t interact with anyone but her personal servants at home and her friends at the academy.

“What are you doing here?” Leticiel asked her.

“The teacher asked me to prepare something for class. I just finished. What about you, Drossell? Where do you go when you’re not attending class?”

“I was reading in the Great Library the whole time.”

Christa gave an uninterested hum in response. “Ah… Is that why you’re late to the cafeteria?”

“Yes, that would be why. What about it?”

“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking that it’s been two years since you last read. You only read simple, easy-to-understand books.” Leticiel and Christa locked gazes in the empty hallway, filled only with the echoes of students’ voices buzzing through the walls of the cafeteria. “By the way,” Christa continued, “do you remember what happened at the soirée a while back?” Christa was smiling and she sounded calm, but it was impossible to tell what she was thinking from her expression alone.

“Yes, I remember,” Leticiel replied. “What of it?”

“Why did you attend the party that night, Drossell?”

“Oh, I just felt like going. Was there a problem?”

“That’s not what I meant! It’s just, you…!”

You were banned from social gatherings, is what Christa was going to say. But when she noticed the puzzled look on her twin sister’s face, she swallowed her words.

It was strange that Drossell didn’t know about something that had personally happened to her. Christa had been losing patience with the way her twin sister had been acting completely different at both their home and the academy lately.

Leticiel kept her guard up, unable to read Christa’s intentions and unsure why she was so irritated with Leticiel. Unaware of the other girl’s thoughts, Christa changed the subject. “Drossell, didn’t you argue with Rocheford at the soirée? Don’t you think it’s impolite to express your opinion to His Highness in such a public setting?”

“Huh?” Leticiel didn’t regret putting the prince in his place one bit. In fact, she had done the utmost to compromise since he was a prince. How could that be considered rude? “I don’t think I did anything wrong,” she told Christa. “The way he spoke to me in front of everyone would make them question his right to be part of the royal family, even if I am his fiancée. If he’s a prince, he should behave like one. Isn’t that the standard?”

“But he’s a wonderful person who has good points too. You just don’t know about them.”

Hearing that, Leticiel secretly wondered what made Rocheford so wonderful. Thinking back on everything she had seen and heard of him, he had always been verbally abusive, had cheated on her with her sister, made fun of people with lower statuses, and waved a shield around in a museum. None of that had left her with a good impression of him.

“I see,” she murmured after a pause. “You’re with him because you think he’s wonderful.”

Christa gave her a puzzled look. “Yes, I am.”

Honestly, Leticiel couldn’t view Rocheford in a positive light no matter how hard she tried, but Christa was with him because she genuinely thought he was a good person. In her previous life, her parents had told her many times not to judge people based on one aspect of them, so Rocheford surely had a side of himself that he only showed to Christa.

“Hmph. Well, you’ve spent more time with him than I have, so I suppose you’ve seen sides to him that I haven’t.” Those words were Leticiel’s honest opinion. She had simply analyzed the situation objectively based on teachings she had received in her previous life.

“What?” Christa’s tone changed. Leticiel didn’t know what to make of that, but the other girl went silent. Her loose bangs hid her expression and her hands were clenched into fists so tightly that her nails looked like they might draw blood.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me…” Without paying much attention to Christa’s demeanor, Leticiel said her goodbyes and entered the cafeteria. As she searched for Zeke and Mirandalette in the crowded hall, she didn’t notice Christa watching her leave with a dark gaze.

~~~~~

A vast forest spread across the grounds of Lucrezia Academy. The area close to the school was bright and peaceful, but the trees grew denser the deeper you went, making it dim even during the daytime.

Rocheford staggered through the trees, clutching his chest. In his other hand he held the holy witch-killing sword he had taken from the museum, its blade exposed. The silver blade would have looked divine in the sunlight, but now it absorbed its dim surroundings, giving off only a dull shine.

“Why…? How… did it come to this?!” Rocheford strongly bit his own lips as he muttered incoherently.

This was all that witch Drossell’s fault. He was the first prince of the kingdom, and she was just a figurehead fiancée who had been chosen for him by the king. If she hadn’t turned against him—hadn’t humiliated him—he wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

Resentment toward Drossell festered in his heart as he dragged his feet, almost as if he were fleeing from something.

“Dammit! Hurry… hurry…”

Rocheford continued to frantically make his way through the woods, urging his legs to hurry even as they grew heavier and heavier. He had no idea where he was or where he was going. He simply kept moving to flee from the hideous thing that was chasing him from behind.

The pain in his chest, which had been aching at regular intervals, suddenly grew sharp as if he’d been stabbed by a sword. The pain was so intense that he froze, collapsing to the ground with a voiceless scream.

Not yet. I can’t stop here. Those were Rocheford’s last thoughts before he lost consciousness.

A black shadow even darker than the shadows of the trees fell over his unconscious body. No one was around to notice that the holy witch-killing sword he held in his hand emitted a mysterious glow for just a second.

~~~~~

The incident occurred without warning, cutting into her everyday life.

As always, Leticiel was engrossed in her afternoon research when she heard a roar, a sound that one wouldn’t normally hear at the academy.

“What’s going on?” Quickly putting down her pen, Leticiel opened the window of her research lab to look outside. She could see dust rising from the forest around the museum, which also happened to be close to her research lab.

Realizing that something must have happened, Leticiel immediately put her hands on the window frame and jumped out the open window without hesitation.

It was much faster than having to leave her room and go down the stairs. Using a wind spell to soften the impact of her fall, Leticiel floated to the ground before running in the direction of the dust.

As she entered the forest, she could hear the faint sounds of explosions and blasting wind. The sounds got closer as she hurried ahead, accompanied by men’s screams as she carefully searched for the direction they were coming from.

“Hey! Use magic to stop it! Anyone who’s free should be lending a hand!”

“Be careful! Don’t cause unnecessary damage! Hey, how is treatment for the injured coming along?”

Leticiel arrived at a small open space deep in the forest. Peeking out from between the trees, she saw Lucas and other teachers gathered there. All of them looked uneasy as they unleashed magic on the creature rampaging in front of them.

It was an enormous monster that resembled a saber-toothed tiger shrouded in an ominous, dark aura. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the monster was twice the size of Lucas, who was built large to begin with. It flashed its long, sharp fangs, and there was no white in its eyes, only deep red irises.

Lucas and the others fired off spells to hold the monster back, but it ignored their weak attacks and continued to rampage.

When she looked even closer, Leticiel saw someone lying at the monster’s feet. It was Rocheford, lying face down on the ground and clutching what appeared to be a sword. The monster continued to rampage above him, showing no signs of moving.

A makeshift treatment area had been set up in one corner of the battlefield for the injured. Several teachers were being treated there, and one male student in a school uniform was lying down. Thinking that the boy looked familiar, Leticiel realized that he was one of Rocheford’s followers, the boy who had been with him the other day.

Knowing that her sudden appearance on the battlefield might confuse the teachers, Leticiel decided to go to the treatment area and ask about the situation there. “Excuse me, may I ask what’s going on here?” she said.

“Huh? M-Miss Drossell? Why are you here? It’s dangerous, so p-please leave imme—”

“No, then there would be no point in my having come here. Can you please tell me what happened here and what that monster is?”

The teacher who was treating the injured was surprised to see Leticiel and tried to convince her to leave, but Leticiel shook her head. She had come to be of assistance, so she couldn’t abandon the teachers and run away without doing anything to help. The teacher was reluctant at first, but he eventually gave in and explained things to Leticiel after she pleaded strongly multiple times.

“We don’t know any details, but someone from the museum contacted us saying that they’d heard strange sounds coming from the forest. When the headmaster searched the area, he found His Highness unconscious…”

The teacher went on to say that the monster had suddenly appeared when the teachers had tried to help Rocheford. They’d been thrust into battle without understanding anything. “We’re trying to save His Highness because we can’t allow anything to happen to him, but the monster won’t leave his side.”

“I see…”

Leticiel glanced back toward the battlefield after hearing the teacher’s explanation. Perhaps it was because they didn’t want to hurt the prince at the monster’s feet or simply because the monster was much stronger than them, but the spells they were casting didn’t seem to have any effect on the monster.

The teachers had an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers, but their magical power was being wasted on spells that had no visible effects. One by one, they were beginning to lose their strength.

“I’ll fight, so please look after the wounded,” Leticiel said.

“Huh? Hey! Miss Drossel!” Leticiel jumped into the battle, ignoring the teacher’s voice at her back. The teachers’ eyes widened when they noticed the silver-haired girl’s appearance.

Careful not to get any of the teachers caught in her spell, Leticiel created a small whirlwind in her hand. Stretching it vertically, she transformed it into a giant spear-like shape. Raising her hand above her hand, she swung it straight down toward the monster. As if it had been linked to her arm, the spear of wind roared as it flew toward the monster. It struck the monster just as the creature turned to respond to the sharp sound of the spear cutting through the air.

The monster roared as the spear pierced its left eye, writhing and letting out a horrendous cry that sounded like metal scraping against metal. It continued to shriek even after the wind spear dispersed, searching for the person who had taken its eyesight.

Leticiel, who was already formulating her next spell, reflected in its other eye. Seeming to single her out from that alone, the monster ignored the teachers it had been fighting before and came charging toward her. Its eyes were dyed crimson, target set firmly on Leticiel.

She used a teleportation spell to avoid the sharp claws that swung down on her. Teleportation wasn’t just a shortcut for traveling, it could also be used as an emergency evasion tactic in battle. Normally, it required a great deal of concentration, but Leticiel was skilled enough to perform it without thinking.

The monster let out a frustrated cry and immediately pursued Leticiel. Though it hadn’t moved from Rocheford before, it didn’t seem to care about him at all now. The teachers tried to take advantage of the opportunity to get Rocheford out of there, but the monster’s rampage had gotten so much worse that they couldn’t get closer even if they tried.

Leticiel had no choice but to fight the monster right then and there. Even if she tried to lead the monster away, the forest had a museum that stored important items and documents. If she tried to leave the forest, she might put the other students in danger.

For starters, she needed to stop the monster’s movements to save Rocheford. Having decided that, Leticiel cast a spell on the ground, borrowing the power of the trees. In response to Leticiel’s spell technique, the surrounding trees rustled in unison, even though there was no wind. The sound of the leaves rustling gradually grew louder until it engulfed the entire forest and made the air tremble.

The monster seemed unable to withstand the whirlwind of trees and leaves that attacked it from all sides. It tried to break the trees at first, but it became unable to move after a mere minute.

“Sir, please get His Highness while you can,” Leticiel said to a nearby teacher after confirming that the monster was trapped in a cage formed by the trees. The teacher had been staring in astonishment at the cage of branches but came to his senses and ran toward Rocheford, followed by several other teachers. Leticiel assumed they would be able to get the prince to safety.

Just as they reached Rocheford, the monster roared once more, its scream ringing out from inside the cage of branches. The sound was more grating and eerie than anything else they had heard before. The unpleasant cry echoed throughout the forest, making the ground quake.

“Wh-What?”

“L-L-Let’s just hurry and get His Highness somewhere safe!”

The teachers, who had been covering their ears, straightened up and tried to lift Rocheford. But in the next moment, they saw red flowers bloom on their own bodies. The teachers collapsed on the spot, unable to comprehend the sight of the red droplets spurting from their bodies.

Rocheford was on his feet, silently clutching a silver sword that was dripping with a vibrant vermillion liquid.

Leticiel clenched her fists, immediately realizing what had happened. She should have noticed that something was off. The monster had been moving as if to protect Rocheford. There was no guarantee that something hadn’t already happened to him.

“You…” The boy murmured quietly, slowly approaching Leticiel with the blood-stained sword. “Because… Because of you, I…!”

The moment Rocheford caught sight of Leticiel, he attacked her with unconcealed hostility, as if he hadn’t just been unconscious.

“I’m the first prince! You’re just the unwanted daughter of a duke, so how dare you oppose me?!”

A wall of light blocked the blade he swung, clashing with a high-pitched sound. Through the translucent barrier, Leticiel could see dim flames of hatred burning in Rocheford’s eyes.

“If you didn’t exist, I could have been with Christa!” Though his eyes were clearly unfocused, Rocheford continued to spew his resentment toward Leticiel. Leticiel’s barrier flashed and he was sent flying backward by her counterattack. But Rocheford rose immediately after falling and charged at her once more, as if he couldn’t feel any pain.

“Die! Die! There won’t be anyone to get in my way if you just disappear!”

Compared to the warriors who had attacked Leticiel in her previous life, Rocheford’s attacks were so slow that a mosquito could land on his sword, but his attacks were much more forceful than she had expected. Since his movements were monotonous and he charged at her without any feints, Leticiel used the flow of his power against him to send him flying.

“What’s going on?” A boy’s desperate cry echoed across the battlefield at the same time that Leticiel tossed Rocheford away. Turning toward the voice, she saw Zeke. He must have run over in a hurry, because he was out of breath and his hair was sticking to his forehead with sweat.

“Zeke, please treat the teachers!” she called immediately after spotting him. The other teachers were treating the ones who had been slashed by Rocheford, but they didn’t seem to be making much progress, either because the wounds were too deep or because their healing magic was too weak.

Zeke had zero light attribute magical power, which gave him great aptitude for healing sorcery. Leticiel had already taught him healing spell techniques and knew he was the only one she could ask to treat the others.

The boy was shocked for a moment, but quickly understood what he had to do and replied, “Got it!” when he saw the teachers desperately casting healing spells not far away. Once he had joined them in treating the wounded, Leticiel squared off against Rocheford once more.

The monster was still locked inside the cage, but she could hear the sound of trees being torn apart from inside of it. It was only a matter of time before the monster freed itself.

“Die, die, die! Die, Drossell!”

“Quiet. Please calm down.” Swallowing the words, “Just who do you think I’m fighting to save?” Leticiel dispersed her offensive magic spells and cast physical strengthening spells on herself instead.

Rocheford thrust his sword right at her, but Leticiel grabbed his arm and spun him in the air before he could comprehend what was happening. After slamming him to the ground, Leticiel gave him a swift chop to the neck, rendering him unconscious. That was enough to put him out of commission.

However, before she had time to catch her breath, the monster roared deafeningly as the cage that had been holding it in broke into pieces. Splintered trees thundered as they pierced the ground, sinking into it.

Freed from the shackles of the cage, the monster leapt at Leticiel with an infuriated roar and even greater rage in its eyes, having lost sight of everything else around them. All it could see was the hateful silver-haired human who had stolen its eyesight and taken its freedom. The monster howled as it went berserk, seeking revenge on the human.

This is… not good. Leticiel’s brow furrowed as she skillfully dodged the monster’s attacks. Though it was a good thing that the monster’s attention was solely on her, it was dangerous that it had stopped paying attention to its surroundings. There were students and teachers who had gotten injured fighting the monster before Leticiel had arrived who hadn’t been able to evacuate yet. I have to get the others out of here quickly.

Just as she was thinking this, the situation she had feared occurred.

Zeke was still treating the teachers who had been gravely wounded by Rocheford. They hadn’t returned to their original triage area, but had instead moved a little further away from the battlefield. However, it wasn’t a safe zone.

The monster jumped back to put some distance between itself and Leticiel and get ready to charge again, but it landed right beside them.

Unable to help them since she was the monster’s target, Leticiel called the name of the person she trusted the most in the situation as she watched the monster’s angry claws swing down upon the group. “Zeke!”

The boy’s reply was drowned out by a thunderous sound. Leticiel wasn’t sure whether or not her voice had reached him.

However, Zeke had instinctively sensed the danger and cast a spell at the approaching claws without thinking.

A pale gray light, different from the color of a light attribute, exploded. The monster’s claws were struck by the light, crumbling like a sand castle under its great force.

For the first time, the monster’s shrieks exuded fear. It screamed at the blast of Zeke’s sorcery, despite having been able to withstand all of the magic thrown at it before.

A void counterspell…? Zeke had used a spell technique Leticiel had taught him during their after-school practices. Realizing that the monster might be weak against void spells, Leticiel created a void cannonball in her palm and hurled it at the monster.

The monster writhed on the spot, shrieking in pain. Since it was just a magic bullet, it hadn’t had as much of an effect as Zeke’s void counterspell, but the monster was clearly suffering.

I guess I’ll try to fight using void spells. Now that that was decided, wrapping things up quickly would be best. Though Leticiel’s usual battle style focused on evasion, she changed gears and aggressively started casting offensive spells. She’d already asked Zeke and the others to take Rocheford and retreat further into the forest. They would be safe as long as Leticiel didn’t follow them.

“Now… Let’s settle this.” As if her words were a cue, the monster kicked the ground with a roar that was a mixture of pain, anger, and fear.

Accurately reading the monster’s movements, Leticiel dodged back and to the right, firing off a number of spells she had prepared as the monster just barely missed her.

Left, right, up, down. Spells of various attributes, strengthened by the void attribute, hit the monster’s body. Agonized screams roared through the forest with each hit, shaking the air. Like a flowing river, spells flew freely from Leticiel’s hands without pause. Blades of wind roared as she ran, lightning erupted when she waved her arms, and when she kicked the earth, the ground itself warped to her will.

Leticiel’s figure as she ran across the battlefield with Mother Nature on her side was as beautiful as if she were dancing, and so fierce that those who watched her were unable to look away.

“It’s time to end this!” The monster knelt on the ground, unable to withstand Leticiel’s onslaught. She wasn’t about to miss the opening its broken limbs had given her.

Leticiel unleashed a new spell upon the monster, which had stopped moving. It was a complex spell with both light and void sorcery.

The aether around her swirled in response to Leticiel’s magic technique. Void magic was invisible to the naked eye, but it could activate and strengthen the aether used in other attributes.

Strengthened by the void aether, a sword of light more dazzling than ever before appeared at Leticiel’s fingertips. It was as hot as the sun, spilling light particles like desert sand and scattering shimmeringly hot air over its surroundings.

The monster roared, though Leticiel didn’t know if it was a threat or a plea. Its red eyes trembled, reflecting the pure white sword that pierced the forest’s darkness. Leticiel swung her arm down toward the monster.

Her arm sunk into the monster’s body along with the blade of the sword of light, which seemed to pierce even the heavens. Drilling through flesh and shattering bones, the sword quite literally cut the monster in two with a single stroke.

An otherworldly, high-pitched sound echoed beneath the overcast sky. Illuminated by the rays of the sun that began to show through the gaps in the clouds, the monster’s body melted, leaving behind only its final screams.

The monster disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed, but the remains of carnage that spread out before their eyes spoke volumes of what had happened there. No one could move or speak for a while after the monster disappeared from the forest. They could only stare at the back of the “incompetent” duke’s daughter, absorbing the shock of the battle that unfolded before their very eyes.

~~~~~

“Let’s see… Where should I start?” Lucas muttered tiredly, leaning on elbow on the desk and holding his brow. He was in his office in the annex, along with Leticiel and Zeke.

“Why don’t you start by asking what it is you’d like to know?”

“That’s what I mean! There’s too much I want to ask about!” Leticiel was acting nonchalant despite being the cause of the entire situation. Her overly dignified attitude only made Lucas’s headache worse.

After the monster incident in the forest, Lucas had called Zeke and Leticiel to his office after giving orders to the other teachers to clean up the aftermath.

“For starters, can you tell me what kind of power you were using?”

“Yes. It’s a power called sorcery that doesn’t seem to be used in this day and age.”

“I see… I must have bad luck this year.” Lucas had his head in his hands, but that was only natural. Just as Leticiel had said, sorcery did not exist in the Platina Kingdom.

How on Earth could she have acquired a skill that didn’t even exist? Leticiel had been ripping holes in his logic in just the one month she’d been there.

“So, do you have any idea why His Highness was like that?” Lucas asked, hoping that she would have noticed something about the monster incident if she had knowledge that exceeded his own understanding of the world.

“No, I don’t know what that monster was,” Leticiel replied, lowering her red and blue eyes and shaking her head quietly. “Zeke gave me a hint on how to defeat it, but I don’t know anything about it.” Her usually expressionless face was flickering with complex emotions like frustration and annoyance, so it seemed like she truly didn’t know.

“I see… But you were able to suppress a monster of that caliber with magic,” he said to the girl, aiming for a casual chat that would still set the record straight.

“No, like I said, it’s not magic. It’s sorcery. They are similar, I suppose. But unlike with magic, the lower magical power you have, the better. To go into specifics, the formulas are—”

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait. I’ve heard all the important stuff, so there’s no need to say anything else!” Lucas hurriedly called a halt to the speech Drossell had been gearing up to give, his attempt apparently flipping a switch in her.

Drossell wasn’t happy to be interrupted, but he couldn’t let her talk for hours again. He wouldn’t be able to bear a repeat of the conference room tragedy. Instead, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about sorcery before?”

“Because you didn’t ask.”

“I see. I was a fool to ask. Or wait, was I a fool not to have asked?” Drossell’s reply had Lucas slumping down on his desk in defeat. This was no use. She completely had the upper hand. Sorcery, a skill that would completely shake the magical world, and modifications that challenged everything they thought they knew about magic formulas.

Lucas had been Lucrezia Academy’s headmaster for over a decade and he had never seen such a ridiculous and frightening student.

What was even more terrifying was that she hadn’t even been there for half a year yet. Lucas was a fine old man, not a baby, but he honestly wanted to cry. I’ve been getting plenty of sleep lately, so why do I get headaches every day?

“For now, please don’t mention sorcery to anyone else,” he warned her.

“Yes, I don’t have any intention of spreading it around, so you can be sure of that.”

“Yeah… I won’t get my hopes up.”

Drossell tilted her head with doll-like beauty as she watched Lucas press against his temples. Why does she look so puzzled? Whose fault does she think this is?

Though he complained to himself, Lucas’s sense of responsibility as the academy’s headmaster and his natural kindness meant that he couldn’t take his frustrations out on Drossell.

His hardships as the genius’s caretaker had only just begun.

~~~~~

Lucas’s questioning lasted several hours. Leticiel and Zeke looked weary when they finally left his office.

“Miss Drossell… Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Are you tired, Zeke?”

“I was just sitting there listening, so I’m fine.”

Apparently, the news of the monster commotion had already reached the rest of the students.

Naturally, they hadn’t been told what had actually occurred in the forest, but since there had been such a commotion, the academy had been closed for the rest of the day. Many carriages had already been arriving to pick up the nobles when Leticiel and the others had been heading toward the headmaster’s office earlier.

“Ah! Miss Drossell! Zeke!” Just as Leticiel had been thinking that she should head home as well, a familiar brown-haired girl came running up to her.

“Oh? Miss Mira.” Leticiel felt déjà vu seeing the way Mirandalette’s shoulders rose up and down with her pants, her hair stuck to her forehead. Still, she was surprised to see the other girl. “Why are you here? I thought you’d already gone home.”

“Don’t be silly! I was waiting because I was worried about you two!” Mirandalette replied without a moment of hesitation.

Leticiel was taken aback by the girl’s response. That meant Mirandalette had been more worried about Leticiel than her own evacuation. “Oh…” she said. “I’m sorry for worrying you, Miss Mirandalette.”

“Sorry, Miss Mira. And thank you.” Zeke added. He and Leticiel looked at each other, giving each other small, troubled smiles.

These were the friends she had made in this world. Leticiel hadn’t been interested in others since being reincarnated, but in this moment, she realized once again just how peaceful and calm the time she spent with them was.

Final Chapter
A Midnight Gathering

A white porcelain teacup fell to the floor, shattering with a faint clang. A young man watched in a daze as smooth, flaxen hair passed in front of his eyes as if in slow motion.

How had things come to this? The young man wandered through the sea of his thoughts, searching for an answer that didn’t exist. His hand stretched out but was met by dark gray pillars with padlocks on them.

“This is… fine.” On the other side of the bars, the woman leaned back in her chair and smiled gently. She had not lost her dignity even in her final moments. “This is the… only way.”

A streak of crimson fell from the corner of her mouth. The red droplets were so poisonously vibrant that they seemed evil on her skin, which was so pale it looked almost translucent.

“Please promise me… that you’ll create a peaceful world… and a good country.”

“Yes, I swear. I’ll definitely bring peace to this country.” The young man’s vow, which was made with a bleeding heart, made the girl’s indigo eyes crinkle with delight. With a faint smile, she quietly let go of the light.

“Josephina. To me, you truly were…”

The only witnesses to the two tears trickling down the young man’s cheeks were the insects swarming around the bonfire in the dungeon.

~~~~~

Oswald Draco Alesta Platina, the current king of the Platina Kingdom, opened his eyes in a room lit only by candlelight when a knock sounded on his door. The crimson color of his eyes darkened even more when lit by the candles’ flickering flames.

“Josephina…” Pressing a hand against his forehead, he realized that he was covered in a cold sweat. Apparently, he’d been dreaming about the past. Picking up a wine glass from his table, he quenched his thirst.

Knock, knock.

The sudden knock echoed in the room and Oswald turned his attention to the door. “Come in,” he called.

The door opened silently and a boy with bluish-gray hair entered. He was wearing all black as if in an attempt to not stand out, and there was confusion in his gaze behind his glasses.

“Excuse me for coming so late, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, it’s you, Tuvalu. I don’t mind.” Relieved to see the boy Oswald had made the first prince’s attendant, he invited the boy into his room.

Tuvalu slowly and silently approached the king, handing him a stack of papers. With a single glance, Oswald realized that it was a report on the commotion that had occurred at Lucrezia Academy earlier that day.

He had heard there was a commotion but didn’t know any of the details. But when the servants who had returned from the academy carried the first prince into his bedroom with terrified looks on their faces, he’d had his suspicions that his incompetent and foolish son had gone and done something ridiculous again.

Taking the report, he skimmed through the first page.

“…What in the world?” Oswald finished reading the report before throwing it on the table and massaging his brow.

It hadn’t been long since he had received Lucas’s report on the magical formulas. The situation had completely defied his expectations, already going off the rails. He hadn’t expected things to progress so far in such a short time.

“As it says, this is a report on the commotion caused at the academy by the first prince and his fiancée,” Tuvalu announced.

“I can tell that just by looking at it. The contents of the report are the real issue.” Oswald glared at the stack of papers on the table, taking his anger out on it even though the report itself was innocent.

Oswald had been curious about who had been able to accomplish the magic formulas when Lucas had shown them to him a month ago, but Lucas was reluctant to give him a name. So Oswald had set out to find their identity for himself, and he had finally found it.

“No one knows what caused the incident, but a holy witch-killing relic was found at the scene.”

“The holy witch-killing sword? Don’t tell me he took another relic out.”

“W-Well… We questioned the museum’s curator, and it seems to be a regular occurrence,” Tuvalu struggled to answer.

“That boy…” Oswald gave an exasperated sigh and put a hand to his brow. Picking up the report again, his eyes landed on a sentence in the last paragraph. “Still, is what’s written here true?”

“Yes. Miss Drossell is the one who defeated the mysterious monster. I saw with my own eyes how she easily subdued the monster with overwhelming power even though she shouldn’t have any magical power at all.”

Naturally, he couldn’t ignore the monster’s presence, but Oswald was much more interested in Drossell.

Drossell Noa Filiaregis was the first prince’s fiancée and had improved upon the magic formulas. Plus, it was highly likely that she possessed the power Oswald and his people had been seeking for many long years.

Up until a month ago, she hadn’t been anything more than his son’s fiancée. He had already given up on the first prince, so he didn’t pay Drossell any extra attention.

“Hey, Tuvalu. Do you think that girl has a grudge against me?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve been observing her for the past month, and it seems to me like she is not concerned with anything that doesn’t personally interest her. She didn’t show any special interest in the first prince, so I don’t think she would feel any differently for you, Your Majesty.”

“I see.” But that wasn’t the issue now. Drossell’s power and potential were immeasurable. If her powers were real, then, as her king, he couldn’t afford to recklessly put her in a position of opposition. “I must meet with her, or I won’t know for sure,” he decided.

“Then I’ll go as a messenger to the duke’s house first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, please do.”

After bowing to Oswald, Tuvalu quietly left the room. Once he was gone, Oswald gazed at the view of the night sky from his window in silence. Then, without taking his eyes off of the scenery outside, he murmured, “If you’re here, you should come out.”

His words fell quietly in the moonlit room. Finally, an old man appeared in a corner of the dimly lit room. He was short, not even reaching Oswald’s waist, and his white beard stood out in the darkness.

“My apologies. It was hard to find the right time to leave with Tuvalu around.”

Only Oswald and the old man knew of the secret passage leading to this room.

“What do you think about this incident, David?” the king asked the old man.

“In what way?”

“Which direction will this incident make our country sway in?”

“It’s hard for me to say, but don’t you already know the answer for yourself, Your Majesty? That’s why you appointed that girl to be the first prince’s fiancée.”

David was right. Oswald slowly closed his crimson eyes before asking, “Do you think that girl will lend her strength to our country?”

“I’m sure it will depend on your response to her, Your Majesty. She may look difficult, but she’s actually a simple child. She doesn’t hold back with those she views as her enemies, but her care and consideration are endless for those she accepts.”

“I see…” Oswald opened his eyes and glanced at David. “Did you know that this would happen from the beginning?”

“You overestimate me, Your Majesty. I’m just a human. It’s impossible for me to know everything the future holds in store.”

“So you only know part of it?” Oswald’s eyes met David’s. His face was hidden by the white beard and Oswald couldn’t get a read on his emotions or what he was thinking. “You were the one who suggested that Miss Drossell be a marriage candidate for the next heir to the throne three years ago. You knew about her value from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“Ohoho, who’s to say?” David joked, making Oswald sigh.

David didn’t like to talk about himself. They had known each other for about thirty years, but all Oswald knew about the other man was that he had been serving the kings of this country for generations. Also, that he was no ordinary human.

“I still can’t read you.”

“Ohoho, I’ll take that as a compliment,” David laughed freely, his beard shaking with the movement. “Well, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Yeah.” David turned on his heel and Oswald returned to looking out the window.

Behind him, David suddenly said, “Your Majesty, would you believe me know if I told you that the second daughter of Duke Filiaregis, who has brought spell techniques and sorcery to this world, holds the key to the fate of it?” Leaving the nostalgic prophecy behind, David melted into the darkness the same way he had come.

“Yeah, I believe you,” Oswald murmured without turning around. There was no one in the room to hear him.

Oswald hadn’t believed the prophecy the first time he had heard it. Now, he realized that David’s words were true.

“I wonder if my wish will finally be granted.”

In the empty room, Oswald took the last sip of wine left in his glass and smiled.

His smile, seen only by the full moon, was somehow joyous, lonely, and self-deprecating all at once.

Afterword

Thank you for picking up Her Royal Highness Seems To Be Angry! If the published version was your introduction to the series, then hello! It’s nice to meet you. I’m Kou Yatsuhashi. If you read along on Shousetsuka ni Narou, then thank you! Whether you have purchased it or are just browsing, that’s fine! I’m happy that anyone would pick up my book and read it.

This series started out with the standard setting of a cookie-cutter super-strong character reincarnated in a magic school + romance. I posted it on the web without paying much thought to the worldview or character settings. I never thought that it would be published as a book, which is a dream come true. While writing the manuscript for the book version, I had to tell my past self so many times to write more carefully from the beginning rather than just jumping in without thinking things through. The fact that my work was published as a book and I had the opportunity to be seen by so many people is all thanks to the encouragement from all the readers who have supported me since the online version. I am truly grateful.

This work is based on a story that was originally posted on Shousetsuka ni Narou under the delicious-sounding pen name “Yatsuhashi.” While getting it ready to be published, I made bold and significant additions and revisions to the storyline, chapters, character settings, etc., while retaining elements of the web version in order to make it even more enjoyable for readers. I’m a little nervous about how people who are reading this work from the web version will feel about the story and world in this book version, but I’ve included romance and a lot of high fantasy elements, such as adventures and a worldview of magic and sorcery.

This is my first published work, so there are still many areas in which I have a lot to learn, but as the author, I would be extremely happy if you enjoyed this series’s worldview.

I’ve always been familiar with novels as a reader, but it wasn’t until I actually tried writing one for myself that I realized how difficult it is to shape a story with your own hands, not only in terms of story structure but also character portrayal and writing style, all things that are essential skills for writers. However, by taking the time to carefully consider the story-making process in this series, I was able to truly appreciate the depth and fascination of the world of novels. Writing really is fun.

Thank you very much to Y., my editor who worked hard to publish this book; Mito Nagishiro, who drew the beautiful illustrations; and everyone who was involved in the publication of this book.

Finally, I would like to once again thank all the readers for purchasing this book.

I hope to see you all again in the next volume.

Kou Yatsuhashi

Widget HTML #1

Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry Vol 1

Table of Contents

Prologue
The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1
An Unfamiliar World

Chapter 2
Sorcery and Magic

Chapter 3
An Encounter at
the Academy

Side Story
Memories of Days
Long Past

Chapter 4
At the Former 7th
Research Building

Side Story
A Girl’s Past and Future

Chapter 5
The Cogs Have Started Turning

Chapter 6
The Sorceress and the Strange Monster

Final Chapter
A Midnight Gathering

Afterword

Widget HTML #1

Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry Vol 1

Table of Contents

PrologueThe Beginning of the End

Chapter 1An Unfamiliar World

Chapter 2Sorcery and Magic

Chapter 3An Encounter at the Academy

Side StoryMemories of Days Long Past

Chapter 4At the Former 7th Research Building

Side StoryA Girl’s Past and Future

Chapter 5The Cogs Have Started Turning

Chapter 6The Sorceress and the Strange Monster

Final ChapterA Midnight Gathering

Afterword

Prologue
The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1
An Unfamiliar World

Chapter 2
Sorcery and Magic

Chapter 3
An Encounter at
the Academy

Side Story
Memories of Days
Long Past

Chapter 4
At the Former 7th
Research Building

Side Story
A Girl’s Past and Future

Chapter 5
The Cogs Have Started Turning

Chapter 6
The Sorceress and the Strange Monster

Final Chapter
A Midnight Gathering