He got up from his seat with an angry face.
“She passed.”
“No way! There must be something lacking, Prince Kydel.”
“There isn’t? There’s no fault to find.”
“Prince!”
“No matter who you show this test to, they’ll say the same thing as me. If you really want to fail, just say that you don’t like her handwriting. Because I do too.”
After leaving his room, Locard walked down the hallway, trying to calm his excitement.
While grading Lorisha’s test, he realized that he had seen a test like this before.
He denied it, but the memory quickly came back to him.
The test paper of Labori Siha that he had seen at the Academy.
Labori Siha was definitely Lorisha Loire.
“It was you. Academy Top.”
Locard stopped in the hallway and clenched his fist.
“...Anagram.”
Outside, Lorisha Loire used her mother’s surname, ‘Roba.’ When you mix up the letters of 'Lorisha Loba', it becomes 'Laborie Siha'.
He was so shocked that he washed his face dry.
'Are you in your right mind now?'
Why on earth did she write a fake name on the academy entrance exam and disappear?
And she made herself the fake top student!
Locard had always been at the top since birth. He was the eldest son of the Kydel family, the greatest warlord in the empire, and the son of the first lion.
His background was brilliant in itself, but he had no intention of making what he had fake. He wanted to become the real top student who deserved the position.
That was why he had received an education beyond the level of the academy from a young age. The top student position had been his for a long time.
When he found out that it had been stolen by an unknown person, his pride was actually quite hurt.
The fact that he could not defeat his opponent again because he had disappeared was actually making him sensitive.
But the culprit was his secret money jar.
When he thought that she had been laughing at him, the fake top student, all this time, his teeth chattered.
'What kind of woman is this!'
He had been walking around the palace for a long time and had been interacting with the servants without hesitation. There was a reason for his quick acquisition of information.
The fact that he could smile and treat the chief maid, who said that even if you stabbed her, not a single drop of blood would come out, was almost the only one among the servants here.
That’s why the chief maid thought of Locard first when she had to hastily prepare a test for Lorisha.
‘A maid who is confused about whether she is a noble or a commoner only disrupts the discipline of the palace.’
Locard understood what the chief maid meant when she asked Lorisha to fail. And he decided not to turn down the opportunity to get his money jar back.
He smiled brightly and said,
‘If it’s a favor from Chief Maid Amella, I’ll give you a very difficult problem that even academy students would have a hard time thinking about.’
It was up to the chief maid to decide how many points would be the passing score would be. He just had to be fair in grading.
The chief maid, who understood this, smiled with deep wrinkles on her lips.
'I will trust the skills of the top student of the Academy, young master.'
Even then, he couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed.
Even though he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Laborie Shiha, whenever he heard the word top, he felt like he had stolen something from someone else.
Anyway, he took the test paper and imagined the face of Lorisha Loire with her eyebrows furrowed and worked on the questions.
Even for him, the questions were difficult, and even for an Academy graduate, the difficulty level was not easy.
However, when the maid returned with the test paper, he was a little dazed.
The test paper that he had written down so smoothly without any hesitation made it seem as if Lorisha had read his mind and written the answers.
"This is very..."
Lorisha's answers were flawless. Some of the questions were difficult even for him to answer, but Lorisha wrote excellent answers. As Locard returned to the Second Prince's Palace, Lorisha's handwriting occupied Lorisha's mind.
He felt out of breath. There must have been some reason why she had given up on entering the Academy. It was also natural that she had no intention of insulting him.
However, he felt a terrible sense of betrayal from Lorisha Loire.
As it turned out, there seemed to be more secrets than money in his secret jar.
“I should have brought you here earlier!”
Locard swallowed his anger. He was overwhelmed with regret for having spent his leisure time on the beach at Zebron.
However, the situation was already irreversible. Lorisha had just placed the test paper that would prove her intelligence in the hands of the head maid.
“I should have just given it to her easily.”
Locard left the Third Palace with a bitter smile.
I dressed up in new clothes with a renewed spirit. Then I went to the chief maid’s room. The test results should have come out today, so there should have been some chatter.
“Hello, chief maid.”
The chief maid, who was sitting at her desk, looked at me and nodded her chin slightly in response, then looked at her desk.
“You’ll break your neck like that.”
I tried to imitate her gesture.
I raised my chin, lowered my eyes, and slightly moved my chin.
It was half-joking, but I wish I had the chance to use such excessive arrogance and pride. I wondered what the chief maid was staring at so intently, and it was my test paper.
“Have you gotten the results of yesterday’s test?”
But she didn’t answer and got up from her seat.
“Today, I’ll check your manners.”
“So that means I passed the written test?”
I smiled hypocritically at her. But she came to me without blinking, as if she were carved from wood. I could feel a slight respect for her determination to find fault with me and kick me out.
However, I had no problem with etiquette. The Countess had intensively trained me in etiquette so that I wouldn’t be kicked out of the palace.
I should have studied how to look, how to bow my head, how to do it here, how to do it there... Even the way to smile was set?
“She passed.”
“No way! There must be something lacking, Prince Kydel.”
“There isn’t? There’s no fault to find.”
“Prince!”
“No matter who you show this test to, they’ll say the same thing as me. If you really want to fail, just say that you don’t like her handwriting. Because I do too.”
After leaving his room, Locard walked down the hallway, trying to calm his excitement.
While grading Lorisha’s test, he realized that he had seen a test like this before.
He denied it, but the memory quickly came back to him.
The test paper of Labori Siha that he had seen at the Academy.
Labori Siha was definitely Lorisha Loire.
“It was you. Academy Top.”
Locard stopped in the hallway and clenched his fist.
“...Anagram.”
Outside, Lorisha Loire used her mother’s surname, ‘Roba.’ When you mix up the letters of 'Lorisha Loba', it becomes 'Laborie Siha'.
He was so shocked that he washed his face dry.
'Are you in your right mind now?'
Why on earth did she write a fake name on the academy entrance exam and disappear?
And she made herself the fake top student!
Locard had always been at the top since birth. He was the eldest son of the Kydel family, the greatest warlord in the empire, and the son of the first lion.
His background was brilliant in itself, but he had no intention of making what he had fake. He wanted to become the real top student who deserved the position.
That was why he had received an education beyond the level of the academy from a young age. The top student position had been his for a long time.
When he found out that it had been stolen by an unknown person, his pride was actually quite hurt.
The fact that he could not defeat his opponent again because he had disappeared was actually making him sensitive.
But the culprit was his secret money jar.
When he thought that she had been laughing at him, the fake top student, all this time, his teeth chattered.
'What kind of woman is this!'
He had been walking around the palace for a long time and had been interacting with the servants without hesitation. There was a reason for his quick acquisition of information.
The fact that he could smile and treat the chief maid, who said that even if you stabbed her, not a single drop of blood would come out, was almost the only one among the servants here.
That’s why the chief maid thought of Locard first when she had to hastily prepare a test for Lorisha.
‘A maid who is confused about whether she is a noble or a commoner only disrupts the discipline of the palace.’
Locard understood what the chief maid meant when she asked Lorisha to fail. And he decided not to turn down the opportunity to get his money jar back.
He smiled brightly and said,
‘If it’s a favor from Chief Maid Amella, I’ll give you a very difficult problem that even academy students would have a hard time thinking about.’
It was up to the chief maid to decide how many points would be the passing score would be. He just had to be fair in grading.
The chief maid, who understood this, smiled with deep wrinkles on her lips.
'I will trust the skills of the top student of the Academy, young master.'
Even then, he couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed.
Even though he had nothing to do with the disappearance of Laborie Shiha, whenever he heard the word top, he felt like he had stolen something from someone else.
Anyway, he took the test paper and imagined the face of Lorisha Loire with her eyebrows furrowed and worked on the questions.
Even for him, the questions were difficult, and even for an Academy graduate, the difficulty level was not easy.
However, when the maid returned with the test paper, he was a little dazed.
The test paper that he had written down so smoothly without any hesitation made it seem as if Lorisha had read his mind and written the answers.
"This is very..."
Lorisha's answers were flawless. Some of the questions were difficult even for him to answer, but Lorisha wrote excellent answers. As Locard returned to the Second Prince's Palace, Lorisha's handwriting occupied Lorisha's mind.
He felt out of breath. There must have been some reason why she had given up on entering the Academy. It was also natural that she had no intention of insulting him.
However, he felt a terrible sense of betrayal from Lorisha Loire.
As it turned out, there seemed to be more secrets than money in his secret jar.
“I should have brought you here earlier!”
Locard swallowed his anger. He was overwhelmed with regret for having spent his leisure time on the beach at Zebron.
However, the situation was already irreversible. Lorisha had just placed the test paper that would prove her intelligence in the hands of the head maid.
“I should have just given it to her easily.”
Locard left the Third Palace with a bitter smile.
***
I dressed up in new clothes with a renewed spirit. Then I went to the chief maid’s room. The test results should have come out today, so there should have been some chatter.
“Hello, chief maid.”
The chief maid, who was sitting at her desk, looked at me and nodded her chin slightly in response, then looked at her desk.
“You’ll break your neck like that.”
I tried to imitate her gesture.
I raised my chin, lowered my eyes, and slightly moved my chin.
It was half-joking, but I wish I had the chance to use such excessive arrogance and pride. I wondered what the chief maid was staring at so intently, and it was my test paper.
“Have you gotten the results of yesterday’s test?”
But she didn’t answer and got up from her seat.
“Today, I’ll check your manners.”
“So that means I passed the written test?”
I smiled hypocritically at her. But she came to me without blinking, as if she were carved from wood. I could feel a slight respect for her determination to find fault with me and kick me out.
However, I had no problem with etiquette. The Countess had intensively trained me in etiquette so that I wouldn’t be kicked out of the palace.
I should have studied how to look, how to bow my head, how to do it here, how to do it there... Even the way to smile was set?
Aaaah! I could have cursed at her, but now that I was an adult, I could barely hold back. Isn’t this what being an adult is all about? It’s a tragedy.
Anyway, I was tested in front of the chief maid, from everyday greetings to the etiquette and protocol for meeting His Majesty. I had to relearn some of the etiquette that was different in front of the royal family, but since it was difficult for ordinary people to understand, the chief maid didn’t point it out much. My training ended in the early afternoon.
“That’s enough for today.”
She said there was more tomorrow, but I quickly left without vomiting because I was tired. When I went to the backyard to catch my breath, I saw the Princess’s escort knight sitting on the bench in the corner. His hunched body and gloomy atmosphere made him look like a huge gray rock. A sharp rock that could hurt someone if done wrong.
“Are you slacking off?”
“...”
He was surprised by my undignified tone, and I was surprised by my words. You damn mouth! This is the palace.
When I just blinked, he sighed.
“The new maid is talking nonsense.”
I smiled awkwardly and sat on the edge of the bench.
“Thank you for your kind words. I’m Lorisha.”
“I heard you’re the illegitimate child of the Loire family.”
“Oh my! You’re being direct.”
I opened my eyes wide and pretended to be very embarrassed, like a noble lady would, but I felt a little discouraged. It’s less annoying when you curse behind someone’s back. People who speak so casually to your face usually don’t mean much harm. Furthermore, he was staring at me with an expression that said, “Put the play aside.”
“I’m Rond. Rond Amoe.”
“Nice to meet you, Lord Rond. It’s an honor to meet the Serpent of the South.”
When I pretended to know about the emblem of the Viscount Amoe, he made a displeased expression.
“There’s no use pretending to be friendly with me, Miss Loire.”
“Lord Rond is the one responsible for the safety of the Princess. It’s only natural for me, as a maid, to become friendly with you.”
“Then think of it that way.”
His short brown hair was cut without any intention of being fancy, as if it had been torn off, and his incredibly thick neck and arms looked like a bear pretending to be human. His deep gray eyes looked somehow sad, making him look like a sad fairytale knight who had been cursed to be a bear. Or an unlucky bear who had been transformed into the bodyguard of a bad-tempered Princess.
Anyway, I didn’t hate his pricklyness. I asked cheerfully.
“I thought Her Highness the Princess only hated me, but does she hate you too? Being in a place like this in broad daylight...”
"The Princess is having a tea party. The Princess rarely leaves her quarters, and I'm not allowed anywhere near the tea party because my presence makes the atmosphere ugly. All the knights are jealous of my position."
His words were clearly sarcastic. It was clear that she considered his position to be a low-level position and hated it. I somehow felt that no one in the palace liked their job. I answered awkwardly.
“Ah.”
“Her Highness the Princess will not accept you. It will be better for both of us if you return quickly.”
It seemed as if he was saying, ‘I cannot go even if I want to.’
He could have been expressing his frustration at not being able to escort a more powerful royal family member because he was an ambitious knight, but Sir Rond did not seem like an ambitious person, no matter how I looked at him.
I answered bluntly.
“If it were easy, wouldn’t you have already gone somewhere else?”
“...”
I took a deep breath and continued.
“Because it’s not easy, I am also being bullied by the head maid and receiving an education.”
“Ah. That old lady.”
I knew right away that I had found a friend when I saw the sneer spreading across his lips.
“Does Sir Rond know the head maid?”
“Her Highness the Princess will not accept you. It will be better for both of us if you return quickly.”
It seemed as if he was saying, ‘I cannot go even if I want to.’
He could have been expressing his frustration at not being able to escort a more powerful royal family member because he was an ambitious knight, but Sir Rond did not seem like an ambitious person, no matter how I looked at him.
I answered bluntly.
“If it were easy, wouldn’t you have already gone somewhere else?”
“...”
I took a deep breath and continued.
“Because it’s not easy, I am also being bullied by the head maid and receiving an education.”
“Ah. That old lady.”
I knew right away that I had found a friend when I saw the sneer spreading across his lips.
“Does Sir Rond know the head maid?”
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