Chapter 37

Vicky stood in front of me, dressed up as she usually was. She was beautiful, and if we had gotten off on the right foot we might have become friends, but it was too late for that now.

I tried to pass by her to go to the locker, but Vicky stepped in front of me again.

“Early graduation requirements, I heard you looked into it.”

“So?”

“Why did you think of graduating early? If you leave this school, you’re nothing.”

She wasn’t wrong. What little status I had, I had only in the small space of the Academy.

But what about it?

I twisted my mouth and laughed, an expression I learned from the emperor. “You’ve never seen me as your equal, have you, Vicky? Don’t you get tired of thinking lowly of others? If that’s the case anyway, wouldn’t it be better for me to graduate early?”

“This is…!”

“If I can do it, you can too.”

Considering the enormous amount of work and the difficulty of the assignment in the first place, Vicky must have already been too busy to deal with anything else. It wasn’t that I was looking down on them, but those aristocrats who are too fond of other people’s help are bound to have limitations. Looking at her tantrum, I suddenly remembered that she was close to the empress dowager.

If I didn’t graduate early after teasing you that much, I wouldn’t have any face to show. I quickly went back and thought of a mountain of early graduation assignments and sighed for the fiftieth time.

In order to become a secretary, I had no choice but to graduate at once. By principle, there was only one chance to graduate early, and I had no more free time. The time was approaching for my predecessor, the incumbent secretary, to step down soon.

Besides going to and from the academy, I devoted all my spare time to graduation tasks. I spent all my time buried between books and assignments, split between sleeping time and eating time. Fortunately, access to the general area of the imperial palace library was granted, and data collection for the project was facilitated.

It took me three days to finish just one assignment, the one from one of the most easy-going professors of magic biology. And when I completed another task, it was three days later again when I checked the date. Of course, those two projects were written meticulously enough to pass even if the sky collapsed. There was time, but I was afraid of the speed with which it went by.

During the weekend, I didn’t leave the room except during mealtime, fully immersed in my work. If Luana hadn’t come to see me in between my hectic schedule, I would have completely forgotten to eat.

After the weekend, four of the eight assignments were completed and taken to the academy for submission.

The instructors accepted the assignment in a consistent manner. At first, they were skeptical, then amazed when they flipped through the pages. And when they saw my anxious expression, they reassured me, “The Emperor is known to be a fair judge of character, giving his favor to only the talented… And you are clearly his favorite, as you come to school in the imperial carriage itself. I don’t know if I’m being too harsh, but it’s not easy to graduate from the Academy, I’m sure you understand this, Miss Celestia.”

Even if I was selected by the emperor, I was just their student, and I didn’t know why they were treating me with such caution.

Or did it mean so much to come in the emperor’s carriage?

I felt burdened and spent my time until I left school.

I wished I could talk to Xenon, but he was nowhere to be seen. When I asked another instructor, he only said he went on a long business trip.

Was it just another way of saying he ran away? Or did he disappear because of the Emperor? I was just about to get into the carriage, lost in thought when the driver gave me a letter.

“What is this?”

“The message arrived while you were in the academy. It’s a letter that doesn’t have much magic in it, so you can open it with confidence.”

“Oh, yes…”

‘Serek’ was written on the space for the sender’s name. I could recognize his bad handwriting instantly.

I dropped the letter due to my surprise, and I hesitated to pick it up again, wondering about what was written inside.

The reason why I didn’t read it and throw it away or burn it was because of some anxiety that some information might have been exchanged between Serek and the empress. Really, that cockroach stuck to my life so persistently.

He was so stubborn when we met again, but I didn’t think he’d ever contact me after that. I tried to be calm and ripped open the envelope.

[If you have time today, I want to meet with you and Samidion.]

‘Where does this bastard get the courage to write down my brother’s name? I’m sure I warned you not to do that the last time we met.’

I cursed silently, but I couldn’t tear the letter apart right away.

What the hell was he up to? Was it related to the Empress? No matter how hard I thought about it, I was suspicious of the plan to suddenly meet. There seemed to be a good reason. Serek was one of the few people who knew my abilities. If possible, I wanted to keep his mouth shut so that he wouldn’t spill any of my secrets.

In the end, I was inclined to meet him because I knew that I would not be shaken at all even if I saw him. I was glad I didn’t kill him. I could swear that no matter what that bastard would do in the future, I wouldn’t be afraid.

One thing that bothered me was that I could not tell His Majesty the Emperor in advance. It was almost the first time that I was going to something without telling him first because I was avoiding sudden appointments, as well as all the after-school activities and minor appointments.

As always, the emperor went at a breakneck pace, so the days he stayed in the capital were dotted between frequent business trips, concentrating on mergers and dealings with monsters.

I imagined his voice telling me to stay where he could see me.

Awkwardly and unconvincingly, I muttered to myself, “Sure.” Even to my own ears, it sounded like I didn’t mean it. I decided to go to the meeting anyway.

The emperor was too busy to take note of everything I was doing. We just had to get back to the palace safely.

“Well, Vinius.”

Vinius stared out the window, wary, and then turned to me. “Tell me.”

“Can you reply back to this letter?”

“Yes.”

“If so, please wait a moment.”

I flipped the letter over and sealed it by carelessly scribbling the reply on the envelope of the letter Serek had sent me. I told him to meet me near a fountain in the central square. I thought it would be better if there were more people.

“Please send this back, and we’re going to the central square.”

“Yes.”

I was going to take a look at some assignments in the park in the main square before the appointment. Central Park, where not only academy students but also citizens of the capital used to walk or sit and read, was famous for its very beautiful sculptures.

But when I got to the main square, I knew I had to overhaul my plans.

Even though I had parked the carriage far away and walked, I received so much attention because Vinius, wearing a cloak with the imperial coat of arms engraved on it, was standing next to me. To make it even worse, he looked like he would shoot anything that moved wrong on sight, probably because he was nervous that the crowd was larger than usual.

“Vinius, can’t you relax a little bit?”

“You’re travelling on foot in an area surrounded by people and tall buildings from which people could easily take a shot at you? It is difficult to relax, miss.”

He was right, honestly.

I quickly gave up my plan of flipping through my books in the warm sun and went into a nearby pub overlooking the square. If Serek appeared, I would know, and the pub during the day was less crowded, so he and I could attract less attention.

When Vinius entered the space, his mind seemed to be more relaxed.

I sat by the window and fumbled through the fifth assignment book. I really didn’t know why they made all the early graduation requirements so difficult; it was almost like they got pleasure from seeing us suffer. It was true that one could assume that we needed to learn everything before graduating, but putting all the miscellaneous topics in one subject was really gruesome.

I heard that each early graduation applicant got a different examination topic, and each time it was something confusing, like, ‘Describe the method of detoxification of the twin pigs with wings that swallowed strawberry poison and the method of detoxification of humans who cooked and ate the same pig. Sort out the recipes and the origins and characteristics of the ingredients by item.’

How did they come up with such a bizarre topic sentence?

It was interesting in its own way as I pored over a biology book depicting the intestines of winged twin pigs. Despite everything, it seemed that my topic was suitable for my aptitude.

I lost track of time because I was reading, but then I suddenly felt chills in my spine, so I raised my head. What the hell? I felt an unusual flow of mana.

I didn’t have any magical powers. However, I was confident that I was superior to others in detecting magic or in detecting and analyzing its color, smell, shape, and texture. I stuck my head out of the window and looked around repeatedly. They weren’t trying to use attack magic against someone, me or anyone else, were they? The good old days of thinking I was safe due to my lack of status were gone. I could be threatened by anyone at any time, not because of me exactly, but because of the person I served.

When I looked around suddenly, Vinius also changed his attitude and looked out the window. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I can feel a magic spell somewhere.”

Vinius wasn’t surprised by what I said. Several times better than me in his ability to observe the surroundings, he pointed at one side of the square. “I think it’s because of that person.”