Chapter 14

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a rumor saying that His Highness dislikes slavery. If you look at Roh’s predictions, he’ll talk to you. I was wondering why he suddenly changed his notes when our Emperor said he dislikes buying slaves. Handsome men really do have big hearts. Don’t you think so, too? After witnessing what he did, I definitely do have a crush on His Highness.”

Luana’s attitude was so funny that Celestia burst out into a laugh. She recalled the Queen of Goldina mentioning the inability to ease the rigid distinction of identity discrimination.

She didn’t know about the identity issue. But there was no doubt that he was a deep-minded Emperor.

She nodded.

“Well, I agree that he is handsome.”

“I know right? I’m so envious of you. You can meet him personally.”

“However, there is also a downside.”

“What is it?”

“I feel nervous around him.”

“As a matter of fact…all of us do, even when he only appears in the court.”

‘Appear?’

She had never heard of it.

“In the court?”

“Did you not know?”

“No, this is my first time hearing it.”

Luana didn’t know the details either. But according to her brief explanation, there seemed to be another problem on the border. So it seemed like he was in a hurry.

‘So that’s why he was rushing to lift my position.’

Even if so, it was an extreme job to take only one day off right after the banquet and leave all her duties all of a sudden.

‘If possible, I want him to share his schedule with me so that I can cure him before he goes far away from this palace. But why didn’t he even tell me about his necessities….?’

He didn’t even ask her to treat his wounds the last time she saw him.

At that thought, she was a little upset being a professional benefactor of him.

‘Seriously, that’s too much! You had the time to pry about Serek until the end but you didn’t have the time to talk about your problems!’

‘All right, you don’t have to say it.’

Celestia tried to suppress her sorrow and irritation.

‘I’ll treat you whenever you return with your back full of burns!’

Luana seemed to think she was worried about the Emperor when her face darkened. It urged her to pray for the only God of the Empire, of whom she knew nothing but his name.

However, Luana didn’t mention anything about the Empress Dowager, who had stayed late at the banquet hall until she returned. There were many maids who had seen her, but they were afraid to spread the word.

***

It took about a week for the academy’s admission process, and so, she went to see her younger brother. There was a simple entrance examination that she needed to appear for. She prepared her uniform as well. Somehow, the Emperor didn’t get any time to meet her for nearly a week, so she leisurely prepared for the test.

As time went on, the day of her exam came.

She visited the academy in order to take her test. Even though she was a commoner, the head of the academy was tolerant of her, who was unintentionally admitted to the academy.

As she looked up at him, who was guiding her about the academy and its curriculum, she wondered how much he was paid in order for her to get admitted. But she couldn’t ask him as she didn’t even have the courage to listen to it herself.

In Goldina, all the academic buildings were built with white bricks, whereas in the Western and Burg empires, they were usually constructed with brown bricks with long corridors. The institution, which was not very high, was divided into dozens of buildings. The structure of each building being organically connected to each other by a corridor was impressive.

The Academy’s curriculum had many several courses, which are largely divided into martial arts, magical, and bureaucratic training courses. Of course, she decided to take the bureaucratic course, but she was also interested in the magic-related course.

The head of the academy told her that she could also take other classes if she had time. He also said that it was great that she arrived at the opening of the fall semester. He also mentioned that he was prideful for her to attend the Imperial Academy, which was even visited by His Highness in person sometimes.

Anyway, she didn’t want the head of the academy to act all courteous towards her while she attended the academy. After all, she would just be a student.

Besides that, the short entrance test was disappointingly so easy that she wondered if she would even face any difficult tests during her course.

Of course, just because it was easy didn’t mean she did well on the test. She tried not to write down anything in history to the point where it was obvious that she would fail. There were also some problems related to other subjects that she didn’t know of yet.

Well, it was only natural for her to be clueless as it was related to the historical figures of the Burg Empire.

Thereafter, she suddenly remembered the day when she was helping Serek prepare for his test. He used to whine every time they studied. She just hoped the test he took was harder than this. She didn’t want to hate herself for how stupid she was.

The dormitory was also spacious. She thought it would be really easy to study if she stayed here, but she had no choice but to laugh awkwardly at the head of the academy, who was busy explaining the structure of the dormitory enthusiastically and offering it at a lower price.

And a few more days later, it was finally the first day of class at the academy.

At dawn, she went out to the backyard of the Imperial City after diligently packing up her bag and dressing up in her uniform. There stood a chauffeur and a servant beside a carriage, trying to look as normal as possible.

They said that they would try to make her journey as comfortable as they could while she pleaded them to be at ease. The carriage was not an ordinary one, but a beautifully decorated carriage that seemed as if it would only belong to an aristocrat or a royal member.

She quickly got on the carriage while the chauffeur got on his seat.

It was so noticeable. Honestly, the only reason she could think of as to why the Emperor decided to make it look like this was because of the incident with the Empress Dowager. However, she couldn’t refuse his offer to learn at the academy for she was worried about what might happen if she didn’t.

‘But this…this is too much.’

Contrary to its exterior, the interior of the carriage was unnecessarily glistening with gold. Even the velvet sofa was embellished with colorful decorations. Although she preferred riding the simple carriage she used to ride, she had no choice but to feel content with this one.

The carriage rattled as it began to move slowly.

She smiled to herself when she heard the rolling sound of the wheel made with an expensive and elaborate steel shaft as she was aware she could have never heard such a sound in the back alley.

As she thought of it, she realized she hadn’t done anything ordinary since she came to this palace.

She got off the carriage a little away from the front gate of the Academy. Still, the chauffeur escorted her to the main gate as it was his job. She entered the front door with the utmost effort to pretend she was alone.

Inside the campus, there was a swarm of students who were dressed just like her. She was already feeling excited about seeing her future friends and classmates who would study with her.

She went on to read the large notice, where the others were gathering at, happily.

1: Sword Art Training Course

1-A

1-B

1-C

1-D

…….

2: Magical Training Course

2-A

2-B

2-C

…….

3: Bureaucratic Training Course

3-A

3-B

3-C

3-D

…….

‘Hmm…the classes are divided by grades A to F. It’s good to have customized levels for each class, but isn’t it too early? Will that be okay if someone gets nil?’

Next to the class were the identification numbers of each student. Her number was beside the level of 3-B.

If A was the best and F was the worst, then her grades weren’t so bad.

Without a second thought, she rushed to look for her class.

Each class was composed of a group of ten people. She arrived pretty early, but there was already a boy sitting by his desk. Seeing that he was wearing glasses, she thought he must have spent his childhood close to books.

The boy with curly hair and a gentle face shifted his eyes at her. When she noticed his brown eyes, which were like her brother’s, she thought she could try to get close to him.

“Hello! My name is Celestia.”

“Ah, yeah. I’m Auckra.”

“I registered for the fall semester, and this is my first day at the academy.”

“…..Ah, I see. Just as I thought, it was a new name.”

‘Huh?’

“What are you talking about?”

Auckra rolled his eyes and whispered.

“The students here don’t want to talk to me.”

“Why?”

“Don’t worry…..you’ll also become like them.”

“What do you mean?”

“You won first place in Class B, didn’t you? There are many…great aristocrats in this class, and those who are above me will not be left alone.”

‘What? That’s so childish.’

“I don’t care about that. What if I keep talking to you?”

“……Be careful. You wouldn’t want to talk to me either.”

Celestia sighed. He looked so pitiful. Somehow, she felt sorry for him, who looked like her brother.

“Do you face this kind of situation in all your semesters?”

“No, I’m fine…..but you’d better just stay quiet, too. Please.”

‘What wrongdoing have you done that you’re asking me to leave you alone?’

She was going to say something, but as the front door opened, Auckra quickly took his eyes off Celestia and began to clean up his desk.

‘Just what kind of nonsense is happening in this sacred tower of ivory?’

‘But what am I supposed to do?!’

It was ridiculous that she did so well on the test that she left a big scratch on the hearts of aristocrats. How did her grades come up so high when she didn’t even know the history of this Empire? How would she be able to make friends now?!

At that time, she noticed a familiar girl entering through the door. The blonde girl looked pretty in her uniform. It was the woman whom she saw dancing with the Emperor at the banquet.

The girl sat on the front desk while the servant, who followed her, put her necessities down on her desk and backed away.

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