Just in time for the Duke’s teatime, it began to rain.

‘Romantic.’

The moment Rieta thought it, thunder and lightning began to strike.

‘…I guess it’s straying a bit from being romantic.’

In the end, though, teatime was very fun, especially when Darrell told academy horror stories.

It was nighttime by the time the story was finished.

Rieta and Noel wanted to grow well, so they quickly ran off to bed.

‘It’s been a very busy day.’

Rieta hugged a squirrel plush, remembering the day’s occurrences one by one. She was a little upset thinking about what had happened earlier, but now she felt better because she had a lot of fun spending time with the Duke, Darrell, and Noel.

Rieta recalled the story Darrell told her a while ago. (Of course, the Duke translated some of it.)

‘The Academy has exams three times a year. If you are at the top of all three tests, you will be selected as the best student, and you will be immortalized in the ‘Senior’s Room,’ with a portrait and all.’

Was there such a great man in existence? Since Rieta was curious, Darrell smiled and winked at his father.

‘That great man is here!’

Rieta clapped her hands, amazed, and Darrell’s story continued.

‘There was a male student who was at the top of two exams a few years ago.’

‘Wow.’

‘The boy studied hard with the aim of getting his portrait hung in the senior’s room. But.’

‘But?’

‘There was another student who had the same goal as him. He had taken second place every time….’

It was a bit of a pity.

Darrell also frowned slightly, a bit sorry for him.

‘Anyways, he wanted to be at the top of the class for the last exam, but he knew it wasn’t easy.’

‘How come?’

‘Because the first place student was really smart. He was such a genius that even the professors acknowledged him.’

By comparison, the second place student was just a little better than the other children. He was deeply frustrated in face of the senior’s shadow.

‘One day, his sorrow deepened. It was a night of rain and thunder.’

Darrell’s voice became somewhat gloomy.

Just as the window rattled, Noel, who was sitting next to Rieta, flinched.

‘I was studying alone in a classroom. But someone’s whispering voice…’

Crash! Just as he spoke, a bolt of lightning rained down.

Rieta, a bit spooked, hugged the friendly squirrel plush in a hurry. The doll’s softness against her face comforted her.

‘The story was really, really scary….’

When they all sat together and listened to the story, she thought it was just interesting and fun.

But when she was alone in the dark like this, she was overwhelmed with fear.

However, contrary to her intentions, she began to recall the story unconsciously.

‘If the top student is gone, you will be first place.’

The whispered idea sprouted and bloomed in his mind…

And eventually, he did the deed.

‘The following year, he achieved first marks in all three exams and finally earned a place in the ‘Senior’s Room’. And the day before the hanging of his portrait.’

He couldn’t sleep because of his excitement that he had finally achieved his goal.

He got up and decided to go to the senior’s room secretly, since he heard the portrait was usually hung up the night before the reveal.

‘When he got there, there was really a portrait of him. He was so happy that he ran and stroked his own face.’

However, his joy was fleeting.

He felt chills, as though there were countless gazes on him.

What was it? When he looked up in wonder…

All of the portraits turned into the faces of the senior he had killed, gazing at him with contempt.’

It must have been a terrible sight.

Even a room of portraits was scary to Rieta, but they were all of the same person.

On top of that, it was the face of the man he killed a year ago—!

Rieta shivered under the blanket.

She wanted to stop thinking about this!

‘Thinking about something good.. Something good…’

Rieta consciously tried to think of something pleasant.

For example, uh, um.

Clang! But the reverberating thunder only led her back to the story.

Again and again, she could only think of a scary wall full of the same portrait.