Friday morning arrived.
Sunlight streamed diagonally through the window, spilling into the classroom of Magic Department Class A. It was a wonderfully cozy, peaceful moment.
I was staring out the window. The maple leaves were a few shades greener than they had been last week, and several sparrows were hopping and chirping among the branches as if they were holding some sort of sparrow convention.
Speaking of which—
It had been almost five days since that incident—nearly a week, if you rounded up.
A week.
Seven days.
One hundred and sixty-eight hours.
Over ten thousand minutes.
I originally thought this matter would be like a stone thrown into a pond, sending out ripples that would keep spreading for at least a month before the rumors finally died down.
As it turned out, I had overthought it.
Gossip really does come and go in a flash.
Especially in a noble academy.
After all, new gossip was born here every single day—the son of some count face-planting in the corridor, the daughter of some marquis receiving thirty-seven love letters, or the young master of some viscount setting the teacher's beard on fire during magic class.
Compared to those... a villainous daughter getting involved with a commoner girl didn't seem all that unusual, did it?
Most importantly, I already had a terrible reputation.
The legend of the Royal Capital's worst young lady, the little lion of the Aldheim family.
Well, for the first time, I silently gave my character setting a thumbs-up. After all, nothing a villainous daughter did was considered strange.
Bullying someone? Normal. Humiliating someone? Normal.
A commoner girl? Oh, that must just be a new way of bullying her, nothing to make a fuss about.
In short, the winds of trend in a noble academy always shifted incredibly fast.
As long as I kept wrapping myself tightly in my cold, arrogant shell and maintained my usual disregard for the commoner girl beside me, the onlookers who loved digging up gossip would lose interest and disperse within a few days, turning their attention to the next fresh topic of conversation.
The situation was developing exactly as expected.
Except, of course, for the air between me and my desk partner, which had become subtle and stiff.
While the instructor on the podium turned around, my peripheral vision drifted uncontrollably to the right.
Liliana sat upright at her desk, her fingers loosely gripping a quill.
For this entire week, she hadn't approached me once of her own accord, but the way she balanced between strict politeness and complete awkwardness was exceptionally bizarre.
For example, our interactions had been reduced to this:
“Excuse me.”
“...Um.”
“Miss Loris, you dropped your parchment... Here.”
“Understood.”
It wasn't necessarily worse, but whenever we happened to cross paths, she would hang her head extremely low and scurry past me in a hurry.
At this, a loud warning bell rang in my mind.
The person sitting next to me was the genuine heroine, while I was merely a villainous daughter destined to exit the stage. Sigh, I silently berated myself for wavering and forced myself to pretend to study diligently.
However,
our gazes collided in midair without any warning.
My breath caught for half a second.
The fair-skinned girl hurriedly buried her head even lower, frantically flipping through her textbook with a loud rustle.
I silently pressed a hand to my forehead. This seemingly peaceful week had been entirely filled with this kind of overwhelming awkwardness.
Classes, breaks, eating, sleeping.
We learned some new things in magic class—the application of elemental affinity, optimizing the stability of magic circuits, and several practical variations of basic spells.
Professor Elena's lectures were as dry as ever, but the content was indeed very solid, so I took quite a few notes.
I performed average in physical education (even the Magic Department had basic physical and self-defense training), making sure not to reveal that I had been practicing swordsmanship for two years. After all, it was normal for a duke's daughter to know a few moves, but if I suddenly displayed a foundation in Silver Moon Style swordsmanship, it would be highly suspicious.
As for the student council...
I went to the office on Wednesday and picked up a stack of documents, spending half the day reviewing them at home.
Club approval processes, event planning templates, disciplinary patrol rosters...
Just looking at them gave me a massive headache.
But what needed to be read had to be read, and what needed to be done had to be done.
After all, with the title of Assistant Vice President hanging over my head, I couldn't actually do nothing.
Fortunately, no official student council activities had been scheduled yet, so I didn't have to face the hellish scenario of sitting at the same table with Liliana and Waldenburg for the time being.
Honestly, living like this wasn't too bad.
—Until a few hours later, when a certain mindless male lead sought me out, causing my wonderful weekend plans to be canceled.
Of course, at this moment, I still had no idea that Waldenburg would come to challenge me to a duel.
'What should I do for the weekend...'
...
And so, Saturday arrived.
The sky was completely clear.
Sunlight poured down from the azure sky, washing over the entire Royal Capital until it gleamed almost blindingly. The maple leaves rustled in the gentle breeze, showing their bright undersides as if celebrating something happy.
But I wasn't.
Not happy at all.
What weekend? Dammit.
With a throbbing headache, I stood at the entrance of the indoor training ground, looking up at the gray-white stone building. I took a deep breath, exhaled, took another deep breath, and exhaled again.
This place was specifically designed for students to hold private practice matches.
Since both the Magic and Swordsmanship Departments required sparring, such facilities were built. Unlike the sandy training grounds, this place was smaller and quieter.
More importantly, it was away from prying eyes.
“Miss Loris, you have been standing at the entrance for almost a minute.”
Shirune's voice came from behind me.
“...I am basking in the sunlight,” I sighed.
But I wasn't basking in the sun; I just wanted to complain.
Shirune didn't expose my lie further. She simply leaned against a pillar by the door with her arms crossed, her long silver hair fluttering in the wind, reflecting a cold luster under the sunlight.
Her ears twitched slightly, and her tail peeked out from beneath her skirt, lightly brushing against the ground.
“If you need anything, just call my name,” she said.
“That student from the Swordsmanship Department should already be inside,” she added.
I took another deep breath and cleared the cluttered thoughts from my mind.
Okay, today's duel was nothing but a farce in the end.
Yesterday, Waldenburg had someone deliver a challenge letter written on official parchment stamped with his family crest—a sword wrapped in black thorns, the coat of arms of the Edmond family.
The handwriting on the letter was as neat as printed text, and the content was brief:
“Tomorrow afternoon, Training Building Room 7. Let's settle this.”
It seemed short and sweet, right?
But when I flipped it over, I could barely keep a straight face.
Because the stakes of the duel were actually that the winner got to be close friends with Liliana! The loser had to swear to Liliana that they would only ever be friends from then on!
That was basically the gist of it.
The phrasing in the challenge letter was much more restrained and official. I had no idea how resentful Waldenburg actually was about the whole situation, but I had an overwhelming urge to complain.
I just wanted to know if they had even asked for Liliana's opinion.
She would probably be even more flustered when the time came...
“Miss.”
Shirune's voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Liliana is here.”
She was actually coming? Did she agree to this? Whoa, didn't this put me in a dilemma no matter who won? That kid Waldenburg really was bold!
I followed Shirune's gaze—
On the stone path outside the training ground, a girl with light pink hair was jogging toward us.
She was wearing casual clothes—a light blue dress with a white short cardigan over it, and brown flat leather shoes on her feet. Slung over her shoulder was that canvas bag of hers, its opening bulging as if stuffed with various things.
Her face wore a complex expression that screamed, “Why am I here?” “What on earth is going on?” and “Can someone please explain this to me?”
She was completely flustered.
To say she was in a frantic rush was an understatement.
As she ran up to the entrance of the training ground, she stumbled, and the canvas bag slipped from her shoulder.
With a clatter, the contents spilled all over the ground—half a loaf of bread, a handkerchief, several copper coins, a few candies, and a teddy bear.
“Ah—”
Liliana hurriedly squatted down to pick up her things, her face turning red from her neck to the tips of her ears.
Noticing I was nearby, she immediately began muttering while picking things up, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I was in such a hurry... The letter said this morning... then I spent so much time looking for the way... and I got lost twice... and then...”
“That's enough.”
I squatted down and helped her pick up the candies, placing them back into her canvas bag.
Liliana's movements stiffened.
She looked up, her light brown eyes meeting mine for a split second before she quickly looked away, the blush on her face deepening.
“...Thank you.”
She was surprisingly polite.
But I suppose that was just a manifestation of the distance between us.
“Let's go inside,” I said calmly as I stood up. I didn't know what method Waldenburg had used to convince her to come, but since she was here, we might as well go in and see.
However, her very next sentence left me completely at a loss.
“Um...” Liliana stood up as well, clutching the canvas bag to her chest. “Miss Loris, could you tell me... what exactly is going on today?”
So he hadn't told her anything at all.
Then why did she even come?
“Did you receive a letter?” I confirmed first.
“Yes... Well, yesterday evening, someone slipped it under my dorm room door... It only had the time and place written on it, telling me that I absolutely had to come...”
Liliana's voice grew softer and softer, finally shrinking to a whisper. “And the signature... was Waldenburg's.”
“...” This guy really was a bit of a blockhead, wasn't he?
By the way, how on earth did he sneak into the first-year girls' dormitory? No, he probably had a servant do it...
“I see.” In any case, I pulled back my thoughts.
“Then... the reason you are here as well, Miss Loris... is because...”
“Because I am also one of the involved parties.”
Liliana's eyes widened.
Her lips parted, closed, and parted again. After several repetitions, she finally squeezed out, “...What do you mean, involved party?”
“You'll find out once you go inside.”
I didn't want to explain it out here. Mostly because I didn't even know how to explain it myself, and ultimately, it wasn't my place to do so anyway.
Waldenburg might not just be stoic on the surface; he was also a bit too intense.
Besides, the misunderstanding that “Liliana is mine” was already big enough. If I told her, “I was dragged into a duel because of you, and if I win, the prize is that I get to kiss you”—
I would probably suffer social death on the spot.
Fortunately, today was a private duel with no audience at all, just the few of us.
Liliana didn't ask any more questions. She simply pursed her lips and followed behind me with light footsteps.
We walked into the building and swiped our student cards.
Then, we pushed open the door to the reserved training ground.
Inside, a complex scent of sweat, rust, and residual magic rushed to greet us.
This was a standard indoor training ground, roughly the size of two basketball courts. The floor was covered with coarse sand, surrounded by gray stone walls, and several magic lamps hung on the walls, casting a soft white glow.
The ceiling was high—about three stories tall—which was plenty of space to cast high-altitude spells.
In the center of the training ground,
Waldenburg was already standing.
He wore the white uniform of the Swordsmanship Department, his cuffs tightened.
His short black hair was slightly disheveled by the training ground's simulated wind, and his dark gray eyes stared straight at me—no, at me and Liliana behind me.
His expression was as stoic as ever.
But I noticed his gaze lingered on Liliana for half a second before shifting away.
In that half-second, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
“You're here,” he said.
His voice was low, devoid of any fluctuation.
As if he were saying, “The weather is nice today.”
“Yes,” I responded.
“Are you ready?”
“No,” I said flatly.
“...?” Waldenburg was momentarily at a loss for words.
He slowly asked in return, “Then why did you come?”
—Why didn't you ask if I wanted to come when you shoved that letter under my dorm door?
I actually wanted to say that.
But that would be bickering, which didn't fit my character setting. So instead, I simply looked at him with a meaningful, arrogant expression and flipped the ends of my hair.
Waldenburg fell silent for three seconds, then nodded, as if saying, “Very well.”
The three of us stood in the training ground,
forming a subtle triangle.
Shirune stood quite far away as a guardian. Bringing her along was purely a precaution, though I felt the probability of needing her was extremely low.
I was on the left, Waldenburg was on the right.
And Liliana stood near the entrance.
Rate on N.U.
