Chap 7-First Day at the Academy 2

 

Arietta was sweating profusely.

She had only been briefly swayed, but…

Wasn’t this dangerous?

That sister of hers, Ailia, was someone who cared a great deal about her pride.

More than anything, she was a woman with a high ambition for the throne.

Feeling inferior because she was a woman and thus ranked lower than the princes, she was a woman who tried her best to secure her own power.

That man from just now was probably a knight she had recruited.

Would Ailia let this go?

She might tell that knight to quietly kill her and Ciel from behind, promising to back him up.

Arietta, feeling a chill run down her spine, glared at Ciel.

“What were you thinking? Do you know who Ailia is? Even if Schperen can’t say anything, she might do something behind our backs!”

How noisy.

Ciel gave Arietta, who was being a nuisance beside her, a chilling smile.

If so, that was exactly what she wanted.

“That is what I desire.”

“You desire it?”

“Because then I can deal with it justly.”

“You provoked her on purpose?”

“Well, I hate troublesome things. Frankly, just talking with your mouth seems weak, doesn’t it?”

If provocation was needed, so be it.

She would provoke as needed.

After forcing them to touch her, she would deal with them one by one.

“That’s because you don’t know her. Sigh.”

“Princess Arietta, think about it. You don’t want to ascend the throne, do you?”

“So?”

Arietta’s goal was ‘survival’.

It was a truly pathetic and miserable goal for a royal, but what could she do when the imperial family was structured this way?

However, the Bathory before her didn’t laugh at Arietta in the slightest.

She simply continued to speak earnestly, as if coaxing her.

“But that Ailia or whatever her name is, is showing infinite murderous intent towards her younger sister, who has no interest in the throne, isn’t she?”

“I suppose so?”

Even though she was swearing so naturally, this Bathory woman created an atmosphere that made people listen to her.

Her words, as if coaxing, were like a mother’s voice.

“I have no position to fall from. My maternal family, the Franz Family, has collapsed, and the Emperor is watching the fire from across the river. The way he treats his own children is something he wouldn’t even do to a pet he picked up.”

Putting aside the Emperor’s insult for now, wasn’t half of the maternal family’s troubles because of you?

Arietta held back those words that were rising to her throat.

In any case, now that things had come to this, she would have to use this Bathory girl as a meat shield.

“I think this is truly unfair. Then the other party should be the same.”

“The other party too?”

“There’s a saying, ‘dragging someone down with you’. In other words, ‘I’m not going to die alone’. Looking at the situation now, you have nothing to lose anyway, do you?”

Ciel scanned the students as she walked down the hallway.

Most of them were from wealthy families.

Wealthy families were nobles, and most nobles tried to benefit their families by aligning themselves well in this succession race.

Usually, when royals entered the academy, there would be those who would cling to them or flatter them.

But not Arietta.

She was being ignored as if she were invisible. Most of the nobles already considered her a discarded piece.

That’s how they were treating her now.

If they were generous, they would glance at her once and then click their tongues.

That meant there was nowhere lower for her to fall.

“Then what happens later? The person who will be the successor.”

“Successor? Why would there be a successor?”

Ciel countered with a question.

Why would there be a successor when they were being pushed down like this?

What would remain after that would only be a dirty fight, tearing at each other’s hair.

“You don’t mean…”

“I had to drop everything I had. Don’t you think it’s unfair to be the only one getting held back?”

Ciel thought that Princess Arietta was too innocent.

Even the hero party wasn’t this bad.

At the very least, she had to drag the opponent down to a level similar to Arietta’s.

If the opponent tried to kill her, shouldn’t she start over from zero?

Moreover, Arietta had nothing to lose, so she should be even more reckless.

That’s how someone with nothing to lose defeats the strong by dragging them down.

If it seemed like she couldn’t win in a battle, she should at least tear off the enemy’s arm.

Besides, she was fighting in a way that ‘didn’t involve holding a sword’.

Even if she was doing all sorts of dirty deeds behind the scenes, Ciel judged that the difficulty was lower.

Especially since she was a royal.

If she used the fact that she was a royal well, the opponent would desperately try to kill her if she provoked them outwardly.

Then Ciel could step in.

The difficulty was easier than when she was with the hero party.

Although it was a disguise, she had a noble title, so she wouldn’t be ignored.

Her master had given her a truly good gift for the first time in a while.

“Even if it’s unfair and dirty, if there’s no chance of winning, you can just drag them down dirtily.”

“Haa. Now that it’s come to this, we have to do it properly.”

“Don’t worry. It’s enough. More than that, I’m a little concerned that you don’t have any friends. Have you never come to the academy, Princess?”

“No.”

Ugh. This was the problem.

The person she had to protect was a socially maladjusted person with no social skills.

It wasn’t that there weren’t candidates to make friends with.

There would be commoners who were discriminated against by the nobles.

Even though Schperen advocated for equality, there was clearly invisible discrimination.

‘If it were me, I would make commoners my friends and make them fight with the nobles.’

Tsk, it was a shame, but there was nothing she could do.

What could a woman who knew nothing, who was only cooped up in a greenhouse, and whose goal was ‘survival’ do?

No, were the siblings who drove their younger sister into this situation bad in the first place?

“You should have come and made at least commoners your friends. If it’s been a few days already, the kids these days would already be gathering factions.”

“Well, I didn’t want to come. No, why are you picking on me so much, Lady Bathory? Do you have any friends?”

“The Franz Family was also my friend.”

“Not those kinds of friends.”

Ciel shrugged lightly.

What a picky woman.

This was why women were so annoying.

There were plenty of friends. When she was in the hero party, she had built up a diverse network.

Of course, she had met many people who were the same age as her.

“Hmm. It’s not that I didn’t have any.”

“You didn’t have any?”

“They’re relationships that I can no longer meet.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

She had stolen the Holy Sword and ran away, so she could no longer see them, and if she did see them again, it would be a miracle if they didn’t try to stab her.

Unlike Ciel’s inner thoughts, Arietta felt guilty when she saw Ciel’s trembling eyes, thinking that her friend had died.

She had asked Bathory, whom she had met for the first time today, about her dead friend. Judging from her expression, it wasn’t a relationship that had ended well.

“Um, I think you’re misunderstanding something. Never mind. Let’s start practicing making friends. Then.”

“Shouldn’t we go to class before that?”

“Ah, that’s right. Is this our classroom?”

“Yes, if you’re in Class A, Lady Bathory, this is the right classroom.”

Ciel stared intently at the door of the classroom for a moment and swallowed.

A pure white door with gold decorations.

If she took this, she could sell it for quite a bit.

Her hands were itching, but she tried her best to resist.

“The smell of capitalist oil pigs is thick in here.”

“Lady Bathory, don’t tell me you’re one of them?”

“Huh?”

“Those anti-imperialists.”

Ah, anti-imperialists.

Ciel had heard of them.

They were a group mainly composed of the poor and commoners who wanted to overthrow the current imperial system and status.

In short, they were a group of people who were jealous of the possessions of the haves (nobles, merchants, etc.) and used a ridiculous cause to try to take them away.

At least, that’s how Ciel saw them.

She was also one of those poor people. To be exact, she came from a gutter filled with only beggars, but Ciel had never really thought that way.

Well, she was from a kingdom.

No, it wasn’t that there weren’t people like that in the kingdom either. In the end, all places where people lived were the same.

From Ciel’s perspective, who only saw nobles as beings to swindle, those anti-imperialists just seemed like people full of inferiority complex who envied the possessions of the haves.

If they were upset, they should think about swindling like her. Seeing them pretending to have a cause was so hypocritical that it was disgusting.

What else could they be but crazy people who were aiming for the division of the country at a time when the war with the Demon King was imminent?

She was furious when she thought about the customers she had lost because of them.

“No. I feel good just looking at those nobles. I could only make a living because those nobles continued to exist.”

Ciel smiled softly as she looked at the noble young masters and ladies in the classroom who were indulging in luxury and pleasure.

“What exactly did you do for a living? You’ve been suspicious from the start.”

“That’s a trade secret.”

Ciel put her finger to her lips and winked.

She couldn’t blab like a girl when she was trying to start over.

Ah, she was a girl now.

She ended up attending the academy, something she never thought she would do.

To be honest, her impression was…

‘It was fun.’

No, I really want to say that it was honestly fun.

It was much more nutritious and refreshing than doing things with the hero party that made her feel like she was eating dozens or hundreds of sweet potatoes.

“Hazel, raise your head a little. A little more. Yes, that’s very good. It seems you’ve learned something from your family.”

“Student Ruhakan, what’s with your gait? Are you dizzy or something? Properly, clearly! With strength! Hold your head high!”

“The most important thing for ladies is elegance. Ladies must be careful in every action.”

Look at that. She wondered how nobles took classes, but they were learning things like that.

A man with a voice close to a woman’s, something like a voice that hadn’t gone through puberty, was correcting the nobles’ every action.

That was all necessary in noble society.

It was pitiful.

When people were dying in the battle with the Demon King, the nobles were learning things like that to show off to each other and go to battle in noble society.

She wasn’t laughing at them.

She was just thinking that there were such peaceful places.

Even talented commoners were aiming to acquire the elegance to ‘look good to nobles’ in this class.

“Now, then, ah. Is the princess Princess Arietta?”

“Yes.”

“But I’m seeing you for the first time.”

The professor’s eyes turned to her now.

It wasn’t just the professor. The students who knew about the princess but didn’t know anything about her were showing interest in her.

“I am Ciel von Adelaide Bathory.”

She still couldn’t get used to this name.

What kind of name was so long?

“Was there such a student? Please wait a moment. Hmm. Ah, you were here. How could I not have known this?”

“Right?”

It seemed that her master had manipulated everything in advance.

As expected of the woman called the Shadow Queen.

She was a woman who would overturn any concept, whether it was identity disguise or anything else, in order to steal.

There was a reason why she was called the queen of the underworld.

“Good. Lady Bathory. No, Miss Bathory. If you’re a Bathory, I know you’re a baronet, but did you learn noble etiquette separately?”

“I learned a little due to family circumstances.”

Her master had taught her very harshly.

In order to infiltrate a noble family and take what you could, identity disguise was essential.

So she learned noble behavior every day while being beaten.

‘If you do it, it will be done.’

That was what her master always said, and she had to roll around while practicing ‘if you do it, it will be done’.

She turned her eyes away from her reminiscence.

“A little isn’t enough. Then how about the princess?”

“Me too, a little.”

The professor ran in front of them and got angry at their reactions.

“This is terrible! Royals must be models for nobles and commoners. Today, I, Andre Lee, the professor in charge of etiquette, will guide you directly!”

Andre Lee.

His name was somehow far from being a man.

Princess Arietta was directly guided by Andre Lee.

The other students, with their postures already corrected one by one, were diligently repeating the same posture like hamsters turning a wheel, lost in their own profound atmosphere.

“Princess, straighten your back more. No, no, that’s not it. A princess is, by nature, the number one identity of a woman. It is not right for such a body to be bent over!”

And Arietta was criticized as diligently as the other students.