The Academy’s Queen (3)

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Inside the Astra General Assembly.

A somewhat extravagant reception room.

I sat on a fancy leather sofa, leisurely sipping tea. Aileen kept licking her lips at the slightly bitter taste.

“You’re here earlier than I expected.”

A calm, subdued baritone.

Student Council President Rebecca watched the student drinking tea on the sofa with an intrigued gaze.

The red-haired girl sitting to her left was Aileen, the protagonist of this dispute arbitration. She was sitting there, already downing her fifth cup of tea.

“It’s delicious. Is there more?”

“Haa. Do you think we came here for tea? I told you, no student attends at this hour!”

And a little to the side. Amelda Cecilia, the undisputed queen of the Magic Department, was fussing with her disheveled hair, grumbling.

Rebecca thought the two made quite the pair.

An uncontrollable girl and the Academy’s Queen-nim.

It was a completely mismatched combination, and in fact, they were at each other’s throats when they first entered the academy, but for some reason, they treated each other like sworn allies.

But that made it all the more puzzling. Rebecca asked, a hint of probing in her voice.

“I didn’t expect Cecilia-ssi to agree to be an observer.”

-You have time to waste on something like this? Cecilia read the hidden meaning in her words and scowled. Rebecca knew that Cecilia periodically received threatening letters.

“I didn’t come because I wanted to.”

“You’re telling an obvious lie.”

“Really. Can you just close your eyes for a bit?”

“If you wish.”

Rebecca closed her eyes. Her blue right eye lost its light, hidden behind the eyelid. Only then did Cecilia open her mouth.

“You’re still so sly, aren’t you?”

“Better than stabbing someone in the back like someone else.”

“I don’t want to argue. So why did you call us here?”

Normally, they would have to wait in a separate room. A cramped, narrow room with only a single window. A solitary cell with nothing but a chair and a table.

Rebecca shrugged and said,

“Did you think I’d lock up Cecilia-ssi’s precious daughter in such a shabby room? Even if I’m the head of the General Assembly, I can’t do something like that.”

“Your premise is wrong from the start. Why would I go to that room? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Be grateful that the Empire doesn’t hold you accountable for tacit complicity. It seems you’re trying to fix things now, but it’s too late. Way too late.”

“Is this just wordplay now?”

Wasn’t this whole thing Cecilia-ssi’s fault in the first place? Rebecca opened her closed eyes and sat on the sofa opposite them.

The Eye of Azamuth manifested.

Cecilia, who had been complaining and grumbling, snapped her mouth shut.

“Don’t think you’re the only one who received letters.”

And she pulled a pure white envelope from her pocket.

An unfamiliar letter with no recipient written on it.

Cecilia guessed that it was from Ruchelini.

“Things are quite complicated. If we’re not careful, we might even have a large-scale political strife. It’s beyond my authority.”

The Student Council President’s authority wasn’t that great. After all, she was just a civil servant, not a noble. The reason she could reign as the head of the General Assembly was solely because of the Eye of Azamuth, which could see through lies.

“Is it because of Aileen-yang?”

“The problem is her backing.”

Aileen perked up her ears when her name was mentioned.

Even if her head was made of justice and a spoonful of muffin, she wasn’t so dense that she couldn’t grasp the situation. Rather, because she was obsessed with justice, she knew evil. She knew how evil arose, and for what reasons it committed evil deeds.

In the end, it was a power struggle.

The vested interests, steeped in arrogance and deceit, couldn’t help but become evil. The world was too messed up to expect noblesse oblige.

But she wouldn’t cross the line. If you fight too deep, you’ll suffocate and die. She knew that the line of absolute power was evil in itself.

She resolved not to interfere in their conversation.

“Then what happens to the dispute arbitration? Surely you’re not going to expel Aileen-yang.”

“Are you crazy? Astra also has eyes and ears. We know how the Empire is doing.”

“…Something’s fishy. Still.”

“The role of the head is to prevent this place from becoming an outright political arena. It’s already rotten to the core, but we need to have at least a semblance of hope.”

-These dogs of power.

Aileen grumbled inwardly. She herself was drinking from the well of vested interests, but every time she faced this reality, she felt it to the bone.

In the end, I’m also a noble, she thought.

‘Was this how Mom felt?’

Compromising, compromising, compromising, and then giving up everything.

The emptiness she felt when she finally succumbed.

The emptiness that gnawed at her heart and crawled up her body was terrible.

Cecilia said, as if she had a headache,

“What about the students with broken wrists?”

“Did you think I called you here for something so trivial?”

Rebecca shook her head and said,

“All the student representatives, including Colin Angheln-gun, have withdrawn their arbitration requests.”

“…I see. So that’s why you called us here.”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong? Is there something bothering you? Or did you want this situation to happen?”

Cecilia just pouted her lips without a word.

It’s best to refrain from saying unnecessary things when the Eye of Azamuth is activated.

“Five of them left the academy of their own accord, and Colin Angheln-gun attempted suicide but failed. The other two are holed up in their rooms and not coming to class.”

“That’s so heartbreaking.”

“Liar.”

“Oh my, you caught me.”

Cecilia chuckled as if to show off.

And the girl sitting next to her seemed to be holding back a laugh as well.

Rebecca looked at Aileen-yang’s strangely excited face and thought,

‘Is she lacking in empathy?’

I thought she would at least feel guilty.

Rebecca felt cognitive dissonance at Aileen-yang’s gleeful appearance.

‘Serves them right.’

As Rebecca thought, Aileen-yang’s way of thinking was somewhat lacking. There was no flexibility in her view of evil. Even if she knew about over-punishment, she ignored it. Aileen-yang wanted the unconditional destruction of evil.

“Hmph. I don’t feel sorry for them at all. It’s all their karma.”

An unfortunate ending was karma for their usual behavior.

It was exemplary poetic justice.

“Anyway.”

“Anyway?”

Rebecca said, taking another letter from her pocket.

“There’s one more.”

“…What kind of letter is it?”

“It’s a personal letter.”

• Hwik.

She threw the envelope like a card. The envelope, imbued with Aura, flew in a smooth arc.

“Hmm?”

• Kwajik.

It stuck into the wooden table.

The corner of the envelope, embedded like a blade, was pointed at Aileen-yang.

“You can read it here, or take it with you and read it later, as you wish.”

“This is?”

It was surrounded by a gold border. It was quite high-quality paper. It wasn’t something that could be made just by manufacturing it; it was high-quality paper that had to be printed with Mana.

Aileen-yang tilted her head and pulled out the envelope.

“…!”

Her eyes widened.

“Mom?”

The sender was Yujin.

---

The capital was still peaceful.

Having been in the North, where death lurked in every corner, for so long, I couldn’t get used to it. Peace was nothing but poison to me, who needed mental pressure to stay sharp.

“Disgusting.”

“I agree.”

I was used to it and could tolerate it to some extent, but Hajin, who was experiencing all of this for the first time, made a face of disgust at the unfamiliar peace and retched.

“When do we arrive?”

Hajin trembled, her face slightly dejected. She was biting her lips and muttering in a language I couldn’t understand, looking like she was about to commit suicide at any moment.

“Do you want to go out and get raped or something?”

“…Here? Is there anyone who would touch me?”

“That’s true, isn’t it.”

When I was in the West, I thought everyone was like that. Everyone hated each other, loathed each other, committed violence, tried to take things away, and tried to win through blood.

I thought everyone was unhappy.

But that wasn’t the case.

I was the only one who was unhappy.

When I realized that, really, really-

“You said you wanted to see your daughter.”

If I didn’t have a pillar to lean on.

I might have really died.

“…You mean your daughter, not mine.”

“You want to see her, don’t you?”

“Does seeing her change anything?”

“It does. I can assure you.”

Shuriel and I had parted ways for a while.

He had stayed behind at the mansion to take care of his backlog of work. He said that defeating demons wasn’t the end of it. He had to stay up for three days and nights to get through the related documents. And even if he finished the work, he couldn’t move right away.

I wanted to help him, but unfortunately, I wasn’t free either. I needed to take Hajin to my daughter and find out what she was up to.

“That’s why I didn’t want to get married.”

“Everyone thinks that way.”

Hajin, who seemed to have calmed down a bit, regained her usual playfulness.

“If I bo-bi with your daughter, is that incest?”

“Dream on, you crazy bitch.”

“I’m just kidding, kidding. I’m just saying. I might have thought about it if you had a son.”

“Even if it’s a son, I won’t- um. Um…”

If the son wants it, um. Um…

“Crazy bitch.”

Hajin muttered with a disgusted face.

Geez. She started it first, and now she’s acting like this.

“Anyway. I’ve sent a letter, so there shouldn’t be any problems getting in.”

“Okay. So that’s how it is…”

We walked on and on like that.

We were a little late because I had to calm Hajin, who kept showing signs of anxiety, but we should be able to have a simple meeting.

I stopped near the entrance of Astra and said,

“You’re not going to be disappointed that Dad’s not here, are you?”

I felt uneasy for no reason. There aren’t many children who can answer the question, ‘Do you like Dad or Mom more?’ But Aileen-yang- ugh. I don’t want to think about it. Such a terrible thing should never have happened in the first place.

‘I was crazy.’

What kind of mom has a 3p with her dad? What would Hajin say if she knew about this?

Hajin, who hadn’t heard the shocking truth yet, said to me, who was trembling with anxiety,

“Just because you like Dad more doesn’t mean you hate Mom, right?”

“…That’s true.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

Hajin stepped back without saying anything when she saw me muttering with a serious face. There’s nothing more annoying than getting involved in someone else’s family affairs.

I sighed and said,

“Let’s go in.”

*

It wasn’t uncommon for parents to visit. Most of them exchanged words by letter, but when they couldn’t do that, they would visit in person.

Of course, there was a separate room for those parents. To put it bluntly, it was a visiting room. Students who couldn’t leave Astra freely were no different from criminals.

And that wasn’t exactly wrong. It was common for students to escape here for political reasons. The fact that Astra was used as a refuge or exile was already public knowledge.

“You may enter.”

But I didn’t use the visiting room.

What could they do even if I broke through the barrier and went in without anyone knowing?

“Go to room 18 in the East Dormitory for Girls. Students are not allowed to be accompanied during the practical training period, so…”

But Hajin.

She had to enter as a ‘maid’ because she had to be with Aileen-yang.

“Ah, yes, yes… But.”

“Yes?”

“Do I have to keep wearing this?”

Of course.

Along with the maid uniform that was prepared separately.

“…There is no prescribed uniform, but all uniforms must outwardly reveal that the wearer is a maid. Is that all you have?”

“For now, yes.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

A short skirt that showed her panties if she moved even slightly carelessly.

An off-the-shoulder top that showed her collarbones and armpits.

Stockings that emphasized her butt and thighs.

“Ah, damn it.”

Hajin admired the ‘service uniform’ I had prepared and squeezed her eyes shut.