Chapter 55: Outcast Knights [1]
"...How did my life end up like this?"
Veriana Kalproten, the second-ranked first-year in the Knight Department, heaved a deep sigh that seemed to carry the entire weight of her shattered ambitions. The polished marble floors of the academy’s grand hallway reflected her dejected figure as she gazed out through the towering arched windows at the sunset casting long shadows over the training grounds where she had once excelled.
The first semester hadn’t even ended yet, a mere three months since she’d proudly strode through the academy gates wearing the Kalproten family crest with unwavering confidence and determination.
Her reputation as the proud heir of the illustrious Kalproten family and second-ranked first-year in the prestigious Knight Department was now nothing but a distant memory, dissolving like morning mist under the harsh light of recent events. The whispers that had once been filled with admiration now carried tones of pity and schadenfreude as she passed through the corridors.
She had been decisively defeated in the autumn tournament by the golden-haired scion of House Armian, her family’s centuries-old rival whom the Kalproten family desperately needed to overcome to claim the coveted title of Margrave. The humiliating defeat had come not in a close match, but in a one-sided display that had left the audience murmuring in shock. The memory of her family’s disappointed faces in the viewing gallery still burned in her mind.
Abandoned by the prince whom she had considered her reliable supporter.
And now, accused of having a contract with a demon she’d never even met, she had fallen into the clutches of Gerhard Goldenheim.
Just when she was about to reach the summit of the mountain, she fell off the cliff and was now rolling in the mud. Nothing could be worse than this.
’Aint Armian...!’
All the fame that should have been hers now belonged to someone else.
’He’s thriving...! Damn that bastard!’
Yesterday, Veriana had seen it. The person she had wanted to befriend so badly, Balrosi Viston, showing Aint Armian an invitation to the yacht club.