episode_0103

“Hello, Miss Mary.”

“Hello.”

In response to the greeting coming towards her, the woman, Mary, also smiled softly, giving a greeting that did not go against the etiquette of nobles in any way.

After a brief greeting and chat, the women parted ways.

The women quietly watched Mary’s back as she left, gently waving her sparkling light blonde hair reflecting the warm sunlight.

“I think Miss Mary is a very bright person. What should I say… Should I say that I am someone who does not feel a single wrinkle?”

“Sure. You are always soft and gentle.”

Mary Bluenoa’s position within the Academy is quite… No, it was quite unusual.

Just being a noble is a background that doesn’t stand out much at the academy.

Her family, Viscount Bluenoa, is actually not a very great family.

Of course, her appearance was noticeable even within the academy where all kinds of young ladies gathered, but her appearance was not the only reason she was famous.

The reason why the name Mary Bluenoa began to become known within the academy was because men began to flock around her.

Starting with Alexis de Wolfron, the prince of the Kingdom of Wolfron, Cedric Allenhart, the disciple of the Sword Saint, and the disciple of the Tower Lord of the Cold Frost Tower, the magic genius Chris Pale, who is mentioned as a candidate for the next Magic Tower Lord at a young age, and one of the top players on the continent. Wilhelm Eisenberg, the youngest grandson of the master of ‘The Golden Hand’, is receiving great expectations.

Because they began to show interest in Mary Bluenoa, even outwardly and blatantly.

Each and every one of them is a person who attracts attention beyond the Academy and across the continent, and when not one but many of them showed interest in one woman at the same time, it was impossible not to attract attention.

When this fact was first revealed, the attention Mary Bluenoir received was half curiosity and half envy.

From the moment they entered the academy, they received a lot of attention from the academy and the women within it.

Just looking at their backgrounds, they were characters with everything from their appearance to their abilities, and seemed like something out of a story.

Considering that the women who gather at the academy aim to show off their abilities, reputation, and connections, and at the same time, there are many who are looking for their future spouses, it was natural that there were people who were secretly targeting them, and it was natural for them to be interested. It was natural for resentment and jealousy to be directed at Mary Blue Noah, who received both.

The way an angular stone falls in love.

Perhaps the stone had the power to protect itself from the chisel, but the law of the world was that a stone without any power had no choice but to be helplessly hit by the chisel.

Those who did not like Mary began to manipulate her.

Of course, it was clear that something big would happen the moment it was revealed, but there were plenty of ways to handle things without it being revealed to the outside.

Nobles are basically a group of people who must engage in social behavior.

This was especially true in the case of a powerless family like Viscount Bluenoa, and Mary was attending various social gatherings to avoid harm to the family and to contribute even a little to the family.

For those who had contact with her in that way, it wasn’t that difficult to harm her.

In fact, the words were harsh, but if you look at the reality, it was closer to bullying.

Not inviting Mary to meetings or talking about things that only she doesn’t know.

It may seem trivial and not a big deal, but in an aristocratic society that cares about prestige, it was quite a scary thing.

If a woman from an ordinary family were to be in the same situation as her, her complexion would turn pale.

However, despite such jealousy and contempt, Mary Bluenoa did not despair.

Even though everyone thought of her as a thorn in her side, even when she was the only one unable to participate in meetings, and even when she suffered bullying typical of nobles, she didn’t care. Just laughed.

There were people who spoke and acted quite directly, as if her attitude went against her will, but Mary never forgot to smile and showed a gentle attitude even to those people.

Rather, he smiled, talked to me, and greeted me.

At first, everyone thought it was just a make-up, an act to avoid showing emotions, and that they were probably crying or gnashing their teeth on the inside.

Since I can’t reveal it, I’m just pretending not to know.

But they soon realized.

That it’s not acting.

That she truly hates no one.

After learning that fact, the bullying towards her decreased.

Because I realized that it had no meaning.

In the first place, the bullying towards Mary was led by a few people simply because they did not like her, and not everyone had the same opinion.

There were definitely people who didn’t view her negatively. However, I just couldn’t go against the flow.

However, once that flow was disrupted, the mainstream changed in an instant.

In this way, Mary Bluenoa became a special person within the academy.

It attracts attention from many people, but no one touches it.

However, there was an incident that dimmed her smile, which had not faded even in the midst of such bullying.

That is, the murder of the prince caused by her childhood friend Wade Heblon.

Because the incident was so serious, the academy was turned upside down, and in the process, Mary, who was very close to the criminal, Wade, also came into the spotlight.

And under the influence of that incident, Mary’s face became clouded for a while.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for her to return to her usual state, but the news that soon came made the smile disappear from her face without a trace.

Because of the news that Wade Heblon has passed away.

Since the news came, Mary has changed.

The smile that never disappeared no matter what happened disappeared, and only a blank expression took its place.

Everyone who knew her and thought well of her was worried about her.

Because I knew that she was a pure person, I could guess that the shock she received was immeasurable.

But apart from those worries, there was nothing they could do.

All I could do was watch and hope that she would regain her strength.

Fortunately, amidst so many worried looks, Mary regained her smile.

There were still some parts where it was difficult to say that it was completely the same as usual, but it was definitely improved compared to before.

Seeing that, people felt reassured.

I thought she had regained some of her energy.

I thought it wouldn’t be long before she regained her previous appearance.

***

“Hello, Miss Mary.”

“Hello.”

Mary smiled reflexively as she saw a familiar face greeting her.

It was originally a natural smile.

However, the smile now was not as natural as then.

I didn’t force it, but if you ask me, it could be said to be closer to a smile that the body and face remember and create.

From that moment on, she has always smiled like this.

Because smiling as naturally as before didn’t work out the way I wanted it to in my current state.

After chatting for a while with the women who had greeted her since then, Mary parted ways with them to attend the next lecture.

“Your achievements have really improved noticeably, Miss Bluenoa.”

Practice time for magic lectures like any other time.

She once again received praise from the professor.

As it was a place where all kinds of talented people gathered, the professors’ expectations were high, and it was rare for a woman like Mary, who had no special background, to be praised by professors, but recently, Mary was being praised almost every time.

This may be because she has recently been focusing more on her studies, especially magic.

It wasn’t that he had been particularly negligent before, but now he was showing such enthusiasm that he could even feel the heat.

She was quite talented in magic from the beginning.

With the added enthusiasm, it was natural for his skills to improve day by day.

However, despite the professor’s praise, Mary was not very excited.

I just silently expressed my gratitude and concentrated on my magic again.

After the magic lecture ended, she headed to another classroom.

However, no matter which class she took or which professor she interacted with, she showed remarkable achievement.

As if I were someone else.

As time passed, all the lectures ended, and the place where she headed was not the dormitory or the library, but an old club building that few people went to.

As she walked into the ‘History Research Club’ room with familiar steps, what she saw was an empty room with no one around.

“… … .”

After slowly looking around at the scene, she sat down on a chair in the club room.

Then I started looking through the club room again.

But no matter how many times I looked again, there was no one there.

To begin with, Mary was not a member of the Historical Research Club and rarely showed her face.

It was after Wade was caught up in the incident that she began to show her face at the historical research group.

Since then, she would gather here to talk or share information with other women who cared about Wade.

However, now no one except her shows their face here anymore.

Mary knew very well what the reason was.

Since the news of Wade’s death came, they have stopped coming here.

“… Wade.”

Looking at that bleak scene, Mary carefully called out the name she missed.

But of course there was no answer, and her weak voice just lingered forlornly in the quiet room.