Chapter 52: End of the semester Part 2

As the days lead up to the final exams, the number of letters to the academy increases noticeably.

This is because parents tend to send more letters to their children.

Around 30% of the cause is about the upcoming vacation.

“How are you coming? When will you arrive?” and so on.

The remaining 70% is about the final exam grades.

Even though this isn’t a country obsessed with grades like K Country, it’s natural to want to get a good rank.

Of course, it depends on the person.

Some parents only briefly mention it, while others persistently pressure their kids.

‘If we roughly categorize the parents of Ellie’s friends, Philia and Stella’s parents are average, while Clea’s parents are the ones who pressure her the most.’

Especially Isabel’s case.

“Hmm? Grades? There wasn’t anything like that written.”

“Really?”

“Oh, she asked specifically about what Ellie likes, so I wrote about her preferences in detail. It’s fine, right?”

“…How much of my story was in that letter?”

“About 60%?”

She was quite a difficult person in many ways.

On the other hand, Clea was different.

“Well… there are a lot of unnecessary details. She must be anxious.”

“Is… is that okay? Parents’ expectations aren’t as easy as they sound.”

“Ah, it’s fine. Our Marchioness is a person with a lot of fear and anxiety.”

The “Marchioness” referred, of course, to Clea’s mother.

“She’s not really worried, more like she just can’t handle her own anxiety and writes all sorts of things. It doesn’t really burden me.”

“Clea is… I don’t know, amazing…”

Stella, who was trying to comfort her, scratched her cheek.

“No? I think Stella is more amazing.”

“That’s embarrassing to hear. And, even more than me…”

Stella’s gaze turned toward one person, and Clea also looked in the same direction.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hmm.”

As Ellie was pondering the intentions behind the letter the Duke sent to Isabel, she tilted her head.

“Why? Are you talking about me?”

“No.”

“Hmm. No, it’s nothing.”

Ellie tilted her head again.

“Really? Alright. I’ve read all the letters.”

***

After getting the letter back from Ellie, Isabel asked, “But… do you really think we can get such good grades again this time…?”

Her question made not only Stella and Clea look up, but even Philia, who had been focused on her own studies, lifted her head.

From second to fifth in the entire school.

Originally, she never even thought about it, never imagined she could get those grades.

But once you’ve tasted success, you always want to reach for it again.

Even though Ellie had told her before, the anxiety still made her ask again.

It was an inevitable feeling.

“There is.”

Ellie spoke firmly, because it was the truth.

“We can all take the top 5 spots in the whole school.”

But.

“That doesn’t mean we’ll just get it if we sit back and do nothing. This time, other people will study harder too.”

Everyone thinks this before their first exam.

“I’ve studied this much, so my grades should be this good, right?”

And when they don’t meet their expectations and receive disappointing grades, they’re shocked and study even harder for the second exam.

That’s the standard pattern for the first semester.

“But we can do it. Do you want to try?”

One by one, the girls nodded at Ellie.

“Yeah.”

“I want to.”

“Me too.”

With the eyes of all her friends on her, Ellie nodded.

“Then let’s all do our best this time too. And after it’s all over, we’ll go to Isabel’s and Clea’s houses to relax and have fun.”

***

Dein Edwick’s father, Duke Edwick, was one of the parents who pressured their children about grades.

• During the midterms, I heard he was ranked 6th out of the whole school. It’s pretty good, but there are still five people ahead, so he wants more effort.

“What did he say?”

“Just the usual stuff.”

When Ellie casually told a friend next to her, another friend across from them reacted.

“Did he pressure you again?”

“No.”

These two had become friends after the original group, which had based its hierarchy on noble status, was broken up.

Actually, Ellie didn’t explicitly break up the group.

It just naturally happened, with everyone feeling something from her and awkwardly splitting up on their own.

It was strangely comfortable being with these new friends compared to the old group.

“I don’t know… I think you need to stand up to your father more.”

Even though the advice might have seemed presumptuous, it felt so natural that it comfortably reached his heart.

Dein gave a wry smile.

“That’s true.”

The boy who gave advice to Dein was actually from the Count’s family.

If this were before Dein met Ellie, he might have thought, “How dare a mere noble like you give advice to someone like me…” and looked down on him.

‘What an idiot I am.’

“Ugh…”

“Why again?”

“Nothing. Anyway…”

Dein stood up.

“I will study hard for the exam.”

It wasn’t because his father told him to.

Ellie.

She was the one who changed his values and life, and he wanted to surpass her.

No, maybe just catch up to her.

Dein didn’t care about being in the top 5 of the school.

His benchmark was Ellie.

“Well, I’ll try my best too.”

The Count’s child, who had just given advice to Dein, also looked up at the sky and said.

“I think everyone will work really hard this time.”

“Seems like it.”

Both Dein and the others felt it.

All the new students this year had a goal.

There was a role model, a figure who served as a guiding light.

“Well, I’m also going to try harder this time.”

This atmosphere and sentiment weren’t just shared by Dein and his friends, but by all the first-year students.

“Isn’t this enough…?”

A female student who had intuitively sensed that Ellie would surpass Dein in their comparative three-item test.

“Yawn… just a bit more…”

A male student who had joined the alliance break during the break to fight against Rachel Vermi alongside Ellie.

“…This won’t do.”

A male student who had been in the same group as Ellie during the previous practice week.

“Hehe… that bad girl… just wait…”

A certain young duchess, who hated and despised Ellie, even slapping her on the cheek before the practice week (and immediately healing).

Everyone was aiming for Ellie.

It’s not unusual for the best student of a class to motivate others, encouraging them to work harder.

However, showing this level of unity and scale was unprecedented in the Academy’s 30-year history.

***

Inside the dean’s office, where Ellie and her friends had become busy with studying and the atmosphere had quieted down, the person who knew this better than anyone else was sitting alone, holding a teacup and thinking.

‘This year’s final exams for the new students should be a bit harder.’

In order to do a fair assessment, the scores should be distributed evenly without clustering.

Skaha looked out the large window behind her seat.

The exam week was the same for all grades, but the proportion of first-year students playing outside on the lawn was unusually small.

‘Maybe.’

This year’s class might just become the best generation in the Academy’s history.

And if that happens, she would have to admit that she owes Ellie as an educator.

“…Hehe.”

Ska finished her tea alone and returned to her work.

If the students are busy with their own tasks, the dean should focus on her duties too, to avoid feeling ashamed.

***

Time passed, and the final exam week began.

The first-year students were more exhausted and tired than the upperclassmen, and the lights in the Snowdrop dormitory, whether it was the male or female dorm, were especially on late at night.

Even after the delayed lights-out time during the exam period, secret study groups where students gathered secretly and lit up their rooms with magic started to form all over the dorms.

“Ugh…”

“Ughh…”

Even though it was only Wednesday, the first-year students were walking around like zombies.

It was then that Ellie distributed snacks to the entire Snowdrop dorm.

“What’s this…?”

“Ellie sent it.”

In a society where social classes were clearly divided, gifts couldn’t be given carelessly.

Spreading items to comfort those who were exhausted was especially the role of a leader.

For example, even in modern Korea, when the whole company is struggling with heavy workloads, it’s natural for the CEO to distribute gift certificates, but if a deputy manager did it, it would be strange and presumptuous.

In a world where social hierarchy is clearly defined, this would be even more obvious.

However, “Really…? It looks delicious, thank you…”

None of the first-year students thought, “Hah, Ellie? Who is she to be handing things out? Even though I’m from a noble family, I’m staying quiet about it,” and no one felt dissatisfied.

Even some students who hated Ellie just thought, “There’s no harm in snacks…” and ate them or said, “I don’t want anything from her, you can eat it all.”

This moment solidified that Ellie was indeed the leader of the entire first-year class, just like after the practice week.