Ch 34: Huh?
“Huh?” Princess Amber was dumbfounded by Melissa’s question. How could this girl not know about the princess of the empire? Yet, seeing the genuine look in Melissa’s eyes, entirely free of deception or malice, Amber could only sigh and wonder under what rock Melissa had been living to not know about her.
Amber forced a gentle smile, not wanting to appear as an arrogant princess. She lightly grasped the hem of her red skirt, bowed with a graceful bend of her knees, and replied, “I am Amber Eldoryn, the princess of the empire.”
Amber straightened and resumed her normal posture, only to find Melissa staring at her in shock, jaw dropped and eyes wide. Amber felt as though she were looking at a startled child who had just seen a ghost.
She could not help but giggle softly. “You don’t have to worry about anything. I just wanted to know about you,” Amber said, gently steering the conversation back to her real reason for approaching Melissa. Melissa managed to return to a more normal expression, though with visible reluctance; her eyes still trembled under the weight of Amber’s royal status, a reaction Amber was all too familiar with whenever she approached someone lower on the social hierarchy.
Melissa bit her lower lip and nodded, looking as though she was ready to talk.
Amber disliked how troubled the girl seemed by her presence, and the situation only worsened as everyone’s eyes in the classroom were already turned toward them, making Melissa look even more uncomfortable.
As Amber pondered how to salvage the situation, something unexpected happened.
“What is your relationship with Lucien?” Eleena asked, stepping toward Melissa’s desk and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Amber was shocked to see Eleena dive straight into the main topic without hesitation—until now, Eleena had stood silently beside Amber, but suddenly she was taking the lead.
Amber studied Eleena, noticing how she fidgeted with her left leg and gripped her own arm tightly, her hands crossed as if desperately trying to mask her discomfort at being so direct. No doubt, Eleena felt uneasy asking about the girl’s connection to Lucien, who had once been her fiancé.
Melissa squirmed under Eleena’s intense gaze, which was practically throwing daggers at her. Amber wanted to intervene, but it was not something she could do casually, not with the tension in the classroom so high. She regretted approaching Melissa here; she should have waited until there were fewer students around.
“U-umm…” Melissa stammered, fumbling for words. Before she could muster the courage to answer, the sound of boots scraping against the floor drew everyone’s attention to the classroom door, where Professor Stella Catalan walked in, papers tucked against her chest in her right hand.
Seizing the opportunity, Amber quickly grabbed Eleena’s arm and pulled her back toward their desk. Eleena resisted at first, clearly wanting an answer from Melissa, but when Amber shot her a firm, unyielding glare, Eleena relented and followed Amber to their seats.
The students were clearly dissatisfied, some biting their tongues in disappointment at being unable to learn the nature of the relationship between the girl who had walked beside Lucien and Lucien himself.
Professor Stella raised an eyebrow at the students, as if realizing she had interrupted something. Yet no one spoke up about what had just transpired; none were foolish enough to openly gossip to a professor about what had happened in the classroom.
***
Vice Headmistress Charlotte Belmore sat in her office, surrounded by a haphazard pile of documents and papers scattered across her desk. She was busy dealing with the trouble Lucien had brought her way. Her current task was to ensure Melissa’s admission paperwork was in order and to add the girl’s name to the attendance sheets for the professors who taught Class 1-S, so they would be aware of the new student.
Charlotte threw the paper she was holding onto the desk and leaned back in her chair, rubbing the corners of her eyes as her vision blurred from staring at documents for far too long.
“Haah!” Charlotte let out a sigh for what felt like the hundredth time. She could not help but worry about the questions that would arise from other professors about the sudden admission of a new student, especially one who had entered without any entrance exam. To make matters worse, the girl had been admitted to Class 1-S, where only the elite were ever accepted.
“I will just have to tell them the girl possesses extremely high light affinity,” Charlotte muttered, resting her forehead on her right hand, and started massaging her forehead. The tension was mounting; she had barely finished dealing with the entrance exam just a few days ago, and just when she thought she could rest, Lucien had brought her even more trouble.
She also could not reveal to others that the girl was supposedly the saintess of the Goddess of Light, nor was she confident in the truth of Lucien’s bold claim. Even though it was rare to possess light affinity, not every person who had it was a saint or saintess of the Goddess of Light. Yet she could not simply dismiss Lucien’s words, not after seeing how confidently he had made the claim. From experience with Lucien, Charlotte knew there was often some truth in what he said.
If the girl truly was the saintess of the Goddess of Light, then Charlotte’s troubles would only multiply. IN frustration, she clenched her jaw tightly. She regretted ever admitting the girl into the academy, but it was too late—she had already given her word, and she could not take it back.
Just as Charlotte was about to immerse herself once more in the pile of papers to finish her work, someone knocked on her office door, the rapping coming in quick succession.
“Who is it?” Charlotte called out before granting entry. If it was Lucien or another bearer of trouble, she planned to refuse entry with some excuse about being busy.
But instead, a feminine voice came from outside the door. “I am student Eleena Halvorn.”
What is Lucien's ex-fiancée doing here?
“Come in,” Charlotte called, allowing entry. The ex-fiancée, Eleena, stepped through the door and closed it behind her as she made her way to the center of the office, stopping in front of the two visitor chairs across from Charlotte’s desk.
“What may I help you with?” Charlotte asked curtly, with no intention of exchanging pleasantries. Her plate was already full, and she did not want to add more to it. She had planned to dismiss Eleena, but something in the girl’s voice had sounded troubled, which was the only reason Charlotte had allowed her to enter.
***
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