Chapter 77 : Chapter 77
Volume 2
Chapter 1 : The Return of the Crooked-Smiling Dragon King
“Saint Maria Academy, I have returned.”
Inside a low-key luxurious black carriage, Ariel Bugarde lifted one corner of the curtain.
Her gaze passed beyond the great gate flanked by enormous statues and looked toward the solemn buildings hidden in the depths not far away.
Saint Maria Academy.
One of the Empire’s finest institutions of learning, it possessed an enormous faculty and vast teaching resources. It was a sacred place of study countless students dreamed of entering.
There was a saying about Saint Maria Academy: even if a toad walked in here, by the time it graduated, it would transform into an elegant and noble white swan.
Of course, that was only an exaggeration, but it still served to highlight the strength of the academy from another angle.
“Has it really already been a whole year?”
A trace of wistfulness surfaced in Ariel’s eyes.
A year ago, after her mother died of illness, she had been brought back by her father, the Count, and transformed in a single leap from a commoner into Count Bugarde’s third daughter.
But becoming the Count’s third daughter had not improved her situation.
On the contrary, her status as an illegitimate daughter had earned her scorn and targeting from those academy nobles who prided themselves on being “purebloods.”
And among them, Muen Campbell was the most hateful of all!
He was constantly picking fights with her, constantly tripping her up. Nearly every time they met, he would sneer at her with some line like, “You filthy servant with lowly blood in your veins.”
And the most infuriating part of all was that he was actually Princess Selicia’s fiancé!
How was he worthy of her?!
Selicia was so cold and noble, so peerlessly graceful.
Ariel had reserved the position of mistress of her crystal palace for her long ago.
How could Muen Campbell possibly be worthy?!
Damn him.
If he had not been wearing the all-purpose halo of being the Duke’s son, she would already have shaken that head of his full of bean curd into something evenly mixed, then kicked him into uselessness so he could stop bouncing around and polluting the environment.
But fortunately, even without her kicking him, Muen Campbell was still a piece of trash.
Arrogant and overbearing, ignorant and incompetent, with his nose in the air.
It was said that over the course of an entire school year, he had learned only a single spell—Light spell—and had angered Professor Prang of the magic department so badly that the man had not slept well for three straight days.
Every time Ariel saw him relying on his status as Selicia’s fiancé to shamelessly approach her, she found it laughable.
Go on, keep it up. Did you not see the disgust in Selicia’s eyes?
A cold and aloof person like her hated nothing more than someone shamelessly clinging to her like glue.
“If I want to win over Selicia, then naturally I have to improve myself like this, then take it slowly.”
The corner of Ariel’s mouth lifted crookedly, and she could not help revealing her trademark unruly smile.
“In this past year, not only has my strength advanced by leaps and bounds, from an ordinary person who had never even seen magic before to someone firmly ranked first in the entire grade, but during the mere two months of vacation, I also defeated my two foolish elder brothers and truly obtained the status of the Count’s heir. I think even Selicia will not be able to help noticing me now. The time has come. I can use the excuse of asking her for guidance in swordsmanship to get close to her, casually snuggle up to her, and build favorability. If this continues over time, hmph, Selicia will be mine sooner or later!”
Ariel clenched her fist and could not help giving a small cheer for her perfect plan.
After straightening the necktie of her academy uniform, Ariel stepped down from the carriage and entered the academy gates with a heart full of eager anticipation and excitement.
“Well, well, if it is not that filthy servant with lowly blood in her veins. I was wondering why the air at the academy suddenly smelled so foul. So it was because you arrived.”
Sadly, her pleasant mood did not last long before it was shattered by a few fools who did not know their place.
Ariel lifted her eyes and looked at the noble young men blocking her path, her gaze turning cold.
“Aemon, are you here again to bark nonsense on your master’s orders?”
As the Duke’s son, Muen Campbell had long since earned a notorious reputation, and very few people were willing to involve themselves with him.
But there were always power-hungry dogs willing to act as his lackeys and let him use them as he pleased.
The Aemon before her was the one under Muen Campbell’s command who barked the loudest.
“Barking nonsense? I do not like that phrase.”
Aemon walked up in front of Ariel, looming over her with his height, and sneered.
“Ariel Bugarde, so you really were raised by commoners. You do not have the slightest bit of breeding. Is this how you speak to a senior?”
“I speak to people like people, and to dogs like dogs. Kind, considerate, and fair to all—that has always been my philosophy in life.”
At the word commoners, a chill flashed through Ariel’s eyes. “Do you have any other business, Senior? If not, would you kindly move aside? I am not as idle as a lot of you. I do not have time for such meaningless things.”
“Hmph. Since you have put it that way, then I will stop beating around the bush.”
Aemon removed one of his gloves and flung it down before Ariel with a sharp smack.
“I challenge you, Ariel Bugarde!”
“Huh?”
Ariel froze.
Again?
How many times had this group challenged her already?
There had been three times last semester alone, had there not?
Were they really just coming one after another to offer themselves up?
“Hmph. Last time, when we sent that fool Gru against you, we were careless. We underestimated you. We did not expect you to break through in the middle of battle.But this time is different. This time I will personally test you myself! I will absolutely make you taste the humiliation of defeat, and then let the entire academy laugh at you!” Aemon said viciously.
No, you are a fourth-year challenging me, a second-year.
Even if I lose, nobody is going to laugh at me, all right?
If anything, should you not feel ashamed for coming to challenge me on your own initiative?
Ariel had no strength left to even complain.
She truly felt these people had spent so long following Muen Campbell around that their heads were full of bean curd as well.
“Here it comes again.”
“Classmate Ariel is so pitiful. She is always being harassed by those people.”
“Sigh, why has nobody dealt with that hateful Campbell yet?”
“Shh, keep your voice down. Do not let them hear you.”
The crowd gradually grew.
Most of them were ordinary people who did not care about Ariel’s status as an illegitimate daughter, so many of them looked on with sympathy.
Quite a few were even secretly cheering her on.
“Classmate Ariel, do your best! I believe you can do it!”
Of course, some offered dissenting opinions as well:
“Sigh, classmate Ariel is in trouble this time. That Aemon is outstanding even among the fourth-years. He is known as the Wolf of Campbell, and his Blood Wolf Summoning is so masterful that even many professors have praised him highly. He is the most vicious enforcer under Muen Campbell’s command. Even though Ariel defeated the third-year Gru last time, facing the even stronger Aemon, she still seems a little outmatched.”
“...”
Listening to these supposedly objective analyses, the corner of Ariel’s mouth twitched slightly.
She felt as though she had heard these exact same words many times before.
The medicine was the same, only the packaging had changed.
Aside from the names, even the sentence structure sounded identical.
But every previous time, she had slapped those predictions hard across the face.
This time... naturally, it would be no different.
A spark of fighting spirit gradually ignited in Ariel’s eyes.
Her blood began to surge as well.
The Wolf of Campbell? Good.
This would be a fine chance to test the results of her training over the past two months of vacation.
At the same time, if she, having only just advanced into the second year, could defeat a fourth-year, then surely such a shocking result would make Selicia pay even more attention to her.
The corner of Ariel’s mouth tilted up. “All right, I acce—”
But just as she was about to agree, the crowd suddenly stirred, and someone cried out in a low voice:
“It is Muen Campbell!”