Chapter 45: Harness Part 2

After finishing her duties in the system, Blaze, the mother of Stella, returned to the royal palace within her territory and immediately called for her subordinates.

“Come here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I want to send a gift to my daughter’s roommate at the academy.”

Blaze, the Duchess, was not exactly wealthy compared to other nobles.

She couldn’t grow high-value crops, nor was her location ideal for promoting commerce.

Of course, “compared to other nobles” meant that she wasn’t starving or lacking firewood.

But this land had one unique specialty.

Thanks to this, a ruler of the world was once born here.

“What would you like to send?”

“Jineun.”

The metal also known as Mithril.

If both sides are pure, Jineun is traded at a 1:20 ratio to gold by volume, with Jineun being the more expensive one.

“…How much do you wish to send?”

A subordinate asked in a lowered voice.

‘How much, you say? Right, how much should I send?’

She had helped raise the next ruler, so she could be considered a benefactor of the royal family.

As for the amount that would be appropriate…

The queen raised a single finger.

“Send this much.”

“Is it… ten grams?”

“No. I mean the volume of this finger. Don’t say it’s too much, if it were up to me, I would send double this.”

***

A volume equal to the size of a woman’s finger.

If it were pure gold, it would weigh around 400 grams, which would be worth about 60 million Korean Won, if we apply modern-day gold prices.

Though gold prices have risen in modern times due to industrial demand, even in this world, that amount of pure gold would still be considered a huge fortune.

Moreover, the queen was offering Jineun, which is worth 20 times more than gold.

Even the long-time servants of the queen stuttered in surprise.

It was a large and extravagant gift.

At the same time, a craftsman traveling the world to create Ellie’s wand had a target amount that was roughly double what the queen had just given.

Talented people are envied.

Not everyone envies the talented, but when there are many people, there will always be some who do.

So, it was only natural that some people in the academy would feel envious of the girls who ranked 2nd to 5th in the first midterm exams.

But feeling jealousy and acting on it are two different things.

Most people recognize that the feelings that rise in their hearts are ugly and suppress them.

Even if they don’t, they hold back out of fear of consequences.

It was already widely known throughout the academy, not just in the first year, that Ellie was no easy opponent.

‘Would anyone be foolish enough to start trouble with her just because they were in a bad mood? Only someone with poor intelligence or an impulse-control problem would do that.’

Unfortunately, in an academy with so many students, there was one such person.

“Isn’t that girl’s attitude getting too high and mighty lately?”

The girl at the center of this was Mira Ravenhood, the second daughter of one of the three Duchy families in the Empire.

Her older sister was the heir to the Duchy, but she herself was still of high status.

“Yeah. But what will you do about it?”

Mira’s male friend responded, and Mira gave a smirk.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? We need to put her in her place. Just because she did well on one test, she’s getting all arrogant… it’s so annoying.”

“Then what are you going to do to Ellie?”

“…Hmph, I don’t even need to target her.”

Despite how famous Ellie’s actions were, the other students didn’t stop Mira.

They mocked her but wouldn’t interfere.

Honestly, they didn’t really have any strong sense of camaraderie.

If something looked fun and harmless, they’d join in; if it looked like trouble, they’d drop it.

That was about it.

***

Just then, one of Ellie’s group members, the girl who seemed the weakest—Isabel Shuker—was walking alone across the grass in front of them.

“Hey, you there.”

“Hmm?”

Isabel stopped, tilting her head when Mira called out to her.

“What’s up?”

“You ranked second in the recent exam, didn’t you?”

Indeed, Isabel not only appeared to be the easiest target but also held the second-highest spot on the bulletin board.

If they could step on her, it would surely feel good.

“Yeah? Oh, you noticed?”

“Pfft, don’t get too cocky.”

Mira sneered.

“Just because you got lucky on one exam—”

“What does ‘cocky’ mean?”

“…?”

In this world, there was no word for ‘bullying,’ but the idea of ‘bullying’ still required setting a certain atmosphere.

To do that, they needed to verbally corner her, piling insult upon insult, manipulating her emotions, and creating a scary atmosphere.

“…What I mean is, don’t get all high and mighty.”

Isabel’s pure and innocent question caused Mira to lose her composure and fumble.

“Okay, okay! Got it!”

“Uh…”

This wasn’t what Mira had expected.

‘Could it be that she was doing this on purpose? The real experts pretend to be clueless, right? Or maybe… she just really didn’t know?’

“Well, I’m going now! I’m supposed to meet up with my friends.”

“Hey, hey, wait—”

“Sorry! If you need something, tell me next time! Bye-bye!”

And with that, Isabel left without a care.

The students watching behind Mira started whispering.

“What does ‘ppai ppai’ mean?”

“I don’t know? It seems like a goodbye greeting or something?”

“Is it trending among girls?”

“Ah… you? I’ve never heard of it.”

Ellie was working hard to prevent 21st-century slang from taking over the world.

Sometimes, failing was just part of human effort.

Anyway, Mira’s first attempt at “breaking the arrogant girls’ pride” (bullying people out of jealousy) completely failed.

But fortunately, another chance came right away.

She noticed Philia, who had the lowest status besides Ellie, walking this way.

“Hey, you.”

Mira called out to Philia, just like she had done to Isabel earlier.

The red-headed girl glanced at Mira.

Then, she squinted her eyes.

With a “tsk,” she clicked her tongue, and just kept walking.

She didn’t even slow her pace or stop.

“…Huh? No, hey!”

Mira called out late, but Philia didn’t even turn back.

The coldness was so intense that anyone with a weak heart would freeze to death.

“Phfft.”

“Hahaha, she’s famous, isn’t she?”

Mira, who had become the laughingstock, gritted her teeth.

“Tch…”

‘Why did these girls always reject her so easily!?’

With her anger rising, Mira saw Ellie’s friend approaching again.

This time, it was Stella.

“Hey, hey!”

“Hm?”

Luckily, Stella stopped walking.

Mira shouted before she could leave.

“Your attitude has gotten so rude lately!”

By this point, midterms or anything else didn’t matter, but Stella nodded seriously.

“It seems that way to you. But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Yeah! It looks disgusting… what?”

“Even the same sparkle can look beautiful to some eyes and chaotic to others. I regret that. If it’s really difficult, I’d advise you to close your eyes.”

Then Stella gave a slight nod and walked away, standing tall.

Mira, who had failed again, mumbled.

“What… crazy…”

She was so stunned that she couldn’t even curse.

“What was going on? How come none of these girls were reacting the way she wanted them to?”

“Phfft…”

“Ugh…”

Her friends, who had never cared about what Mira did and just thought it was funny, giggled at her repeated failure.

One of them, who at least considered herself a friend, reached out a hand to Mira.

“Hey, just stop and come drink this. It’s the last of what I smuggled in last time.”

“No thanks!”

Unfortunately, Mira rejected the offer.

Furious and practically filled with malice, Mira suddenly blocked the way when she saw the last of Ellie’s friends at the edge of her sight.

“Hey!”

But then, she realized who she was blocking.

‘This girl is from that family…!’

The girl was from the prestigious Lacostrin Marquis family, where every girl was meant to be chosen as the Emperor’s concubine.

No matter how much the Emperor wouldn’t take her as a concubine now, you never know, and anyway, her family still had a special connection to the royal family.

In fact, the moment Mira stepped in front of Clea, the friends who had been quietly observing her scattered instantly with gasps.

“…What is it that you want?”

Clea’s voice was cold.

Though Mira didn’t know what was going on, Clea clearly recognized her as an adversary.

“I, uh, that is…”

Clea’s eyes scanned Mira from head to toe, checking her hair and eye color.

“I asked what you wanted, Miss Mira Ravenhood.”

“Uh, I, well, I mean…”

Mira quickly took a step back.

“I… I made a mistake. Sorry, sorry…”

“…Yeah, sure.”

Clea’s tone was filled with disbelief, but she didn’t press any further and just walked away.

***

After Clea had gone far, Mira slumped down onto the grass.

“Ahh, damn it…!!”

She ground her teeth, filled with a mixture of shame, anger, and jealousy.

“Damn it! Those bitches, ugh, seriously, those damn bitches…!”

There was no one to hear her, so Mira continued to curse.

“Those bitches! Haah, haah…”

Finally, when Mira grew tired of cursing, she slumped down into the bushes.

Someone suddenly poked her shoulder.

‘Had those bastards come back?’ Mira turned her head with an angry glare.

“What!”

And then she froze.

Her eyes locked with the only dark-haired student in the school.

Her black hair, like her eyes, was colder and scarier than anything Mira had ever seen.

Ellie, smiling without smiling, raised a hand.

“Would you like to take your punishment quietly, or would you prefer to struggle?”

Mira wisely chose to take her punishment quietly.

That was the only sensible decision she made that day.

The sound of a palm striking her cheek echoed through the far corner of the schoolyard for a long time.