Chapter 7
After returning the handkerchief to Marquis Valenti, Emily ran back to the dormitory, closed the door, and leaned against it.
The sound of her pounding heart still echoed in her ears. Emily raised her trembling hands to cover her face. Her palms touched her heated cheeks. Having encountered the famously handsome Marquis Valenti several times, and so closely at that, it felt like her heart couldn’t take it.
“I can’t get a hold of myself…”
Emily rubbed her face and moved to sit on the bed.
In truth, Emily had prided herself on being quite immune to beauty, having been surrounded by beautiful people since childhood. Her mother, the Viscountess Adesio, in particular, had swept through high society in her youth with her beauty. With her mother’s brilliant red hair and bright green eyes, along with uncles and aunts who were all stunning, Emily always felt like a straw hat among sparkling jewels, having inherited her father’s ordinary looks.
However, Emily was loved by all her relatives, both paternal and maternal. Thanks to that overflowing love, Emily was able to grow up without an appearance complex, and she was a case of someone who had early on grasped that outward beauty wasn’t everything.
But today, Emily reversed her thinking. She had been a frog in a well, the world was vast, and there were many beautiful people.
When Marquis Valenti stood right next to her, looking down at the handkerchief and then slowly raising his gaze to meet hers, the moment their eyes met—his transparent eyes slightly moist—Emily thought that beauty could indeed be everything.
Knock knock
As Emily was trying to calm her still rapidly beating heart, suddenly there was a knock at the door. Since neither Kira nor she ever knocked when entering the room, a puzzled Emily got up from the bed, smoothed her clothes, and approached the door.
“Yes, who is it?”
As Emily approached the door and asked who it was, a polite voice responded.
“Hello? I’m here to deliver items sent by the Second Prince.”
“Oh, yes. Just a moment!”
Startled, Emily hurriedly opened the door to find three servants lined up, each holding a box.
“Excuse me, but may we come in for a moment?”
“Oh, yes. Please come in.”
After bowing to her, the servants entered one by one, set down their boxes, and then returned to the door. They bowed deeply once more before closing the door and disappearing.
“Ah, these must be the party dresses that the Second Prince said he would send to Miss Kira.”
Admiring the neatly stacked boxes in the room, Emily was walking back to the bed when suddenly her desk glowed for a moment, and a letter dropped out of thin air.
“Oh? A letter for me?”
Wondering if it might be from home, as it had been a while since she’d received a letter, Emily examined it to find it was sent from the academy’s administrative office. Opening the envelope revealed a permit for taking Life Magic classes. At the bottom of the permit was Professor Liam Calroph’s scrawled signature.
“So I can start classes right away tomorrow? I wonder if it’ll be alright without textbooks yet…”
Thinking she’d have to buy long gloves for the party and Life Magic textbooks this weekend, Emily carefully folded the permit and put it away.
“Oh my, what is all this?”
As Emily was organizing her desk, suddenly the door opened and Kira’s voice, full of amazement, rang out. When Emily turned her head at the sound, she saw Miss Kira staring at the boxes on the floor with a slightly open mouth and a surprised expression.
“Oh, Miss Kira. You’re back?”
“Yes, Emily. My classes ended a bit late today. But these boxes…”
“They’re all for you, Miss Kira. I was told they were sent by the Second Prince. Come here, let’s open them together!”
“Ah… so this is…”
Emily got up from her seat and approached the boxes neatly stacked next to Kira’s bed. Kira, who had been standing with a dazed expression, walked over and placed the book she was holding on the desk. Then, at Emily’s urging, she opened a box and took out a dress.
“Wow…”
The dress was, in a word, dazzling.
White silk with gold lace embroidered from the waistline to the chest. Overall, it was sprinkled with pearl powder that sparkled subtly when moved. With minimal exposed areas and a small ribbon tied at the waist, it exuded a cute yet elegant atmosphere suitable for Kira’s age.
And the other boxes contained elegant gloves, a sparkling tiara, and various accessories.
“…It’s incredible.”
As Emily exclaimed in admiration, Kira, seemingly at a loss for words, could only nod. The two girls were completely overwhelmed by the parade of expensive dresses and jewels they had never seen before in their lives.
Emily and Kira, engrossed in examining the clothes and accessories, spent a long time enjoying themselves, trying on the tiara and earrings, before finally tidying up the clothes and boxes late into the night. When the boxes were closed and the dazzling items disappeared, the room seemed to grow a little darker.
Lying in bed after finishing her preparations, Emily felt her heart flutter a little. The afterimage of the brilliant accessories she had seen for the first time danced before her eyes, making it difficult to fall asleep.
She glanced at the bed to her left while lying down. The darkened room was dim, and she couldn’t see Miss Kira’s face. Blinking at the shadowy outline, Emily pondered.
‘I wonder if Miss Kira is dating the Second Prince?’
Suddenly, a question she had always been curious about but never dared to ask came to mind. Miss Kira, always smiling kindly, was as difficult to read as Prince Lucas.
Kira was intelligent enough to be selected as a scholarship student among so many commoners. She rarely forgot anything she read once, and her mana reserves were considerable. And her beautiful appearance was such that no one could imagine at first glance that she was a commoner.
Because of this, when standing side by side with Prince Lucas, the two looked truly picture-perfect.
At that moment, Emily suddenly recalled Miss Astina’s face. On the day of the entrance ceremony, Emily could see numerous emotions pouring from Miss Astina’s profile as she stared at the prince with trembling eyes, shocked.
Unintentionally standing right next to her, Emily could see her expression in detail, and she felt a poignant emotion that made even Emily’s heart ache.
And she also recalled the face of Prince Lucas, who didn’t look at Miss Astina like that until the end.
“…”
Emily blinked, momentarily struck by a strange thought. No, she hadn’t seen anything. Hoping not to get entangled in a love triangle, Emily pulled the blanket up to her shoulders and closed her eyes.
* * *
“Oh, Miss Kira, good morning. Did you go for your morning run?”
“Yes, Emily. But you’re heading out early today?”
Emily, who had woken up earlier than usual and was about to leave the room in her uniform, ran into Kira returning from her morning run.
“Yes, I can start taking Life Magic classes from today. I received the permit yesterday.”
“I see! It’s great that the permission came through so quickly.”
“It is. But having the first period is tough, having to wake up earlier than usual. Well then, Miss Kira, I’ll see you later in Magic and Theology class.”
“Yes, see you later.”
Yawning slightly as she greeted Kira and left the room, Emily headed towards the main building, rotating her stiff shoulders. As she left the dormitory, she could see Swordsmanship Department students running around the training ground in the distance.
Unconsciously recalling Marquis Valenti, Emily found herself squinting and scrutinizing them, looking for someone with a similar build to the Marquis, before catching herself with a start.
Emily shook her head vigorously to clear her mind and hurried into the main building.
The afterimage of a beautiful person truly lingers for a long time.
*Creeeeak*
As she entered the third-floor classroom, it was a bit sparse. There was still time until class started, so it seemed not all students had arrived yet. Emily sat down in a middle seat by the window and was organizing her writing materials when she suddenly felt a piercing gaze. She looked up and her eyes met directly with Miss Sophia, who was sitting diagonally across in the next row.
“Uh…”
“Eek.”
Sophia, who had been staring blankly at her until their eyes met, inhaled sharply with a pale face. Emily gave her a perplexed look, at which Sophia, not knowing what to do, slightly raised her hand in greeting.
“Ah, he-hello, Emily.”
Honestly, Emily didn’t expect her to greet her, so she awkwardly raised her hand in return.
“Yes… hello, Miss Sophia.”
And then they were silent for a moment. Feeling awkward about the situation, Emily averted her gaze and unnecessarily opened a new notebook to arrange it neatly.
“Um, is this your first time taking this class? I don’t think I’ve seen you in previous classes…”
So when Sophia spoke to her again, Emily was genuinely surprised. As Emily turned her head with wide eyes to look at her, Sophia shyly avoided her gaze, hesitated for a moment, and then glanced at her again.
Emily looked at Sophia dubiously, wondering why she was acting like this.
“Yes… I registered for the class yesterday.”
“Ah, I see. Then, you probably don’t have the textbook yet?”
“No… I haven’t bought it yet.”
Emily responded adequately to Sophia, who kept continuing the conversation. Sophia seemed to gain more confidence as she spoke, averting her gaze less, and suddenly she tidied up her desk, stood up, and approached Emily.
“I see. Um… then maybe… would you like to sit together? I’d like to show you the book…”
“Huh? Oh… sure, go ahead.”
“Thank you so much, Emily.”
‘…Somehow it feels like the person asking and the person allowing are reversed, or am I imagining things?’
As Emily cleared away the bag on the seat next to her with a subtle expression, Sophia sat down in the adjacent seat, her cheeks flushing red as if truly delighted.
Just as she sat down, the classroom’s front door opened and Calroph entered. The students who had been chattering noisily moved in unison at the teacher’s appearance and sat down in their seats.
“Today we have a new student joining this lecture, so take note. Emily Adesio.”
“Yes, professor.”
As Calroph, who had tapped the podium to quell the noise, called out Emily’s name, she hurriedly responded and raised her hand. Calroph turned his head towards where Emily was sitting, raised one eyebrow slightly at Sophia next to her, and then looked back at Emily.
“You’re behind the other students in progress, so work hard.”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s begin the class. Everyone, open to page 32.”
