Chapter 9
Since Serendia Academy was attended by the children of nobles, both its school buildings and dormitories were magnificent.
Monica had once attended Minerva, the pinnacle of mage-training institutions. From the perspective of a commoner like Monica, Minerva's school buildings had been impressive enough, but Serendia Academy surpassed them. It was far more ornate and lavish than even the mansion of a lower-ranking noble.
Students who paid more than a certain amount in donations, achieved excellent grades, or had some record of activity, such as serving on the student council, were given single rooms. Everyone else was assigned to a two-person room as a rule.
Naturally, Monica had been assigned a double room as well. She clung to Lewis while sobbing with her nose running, insisting, "It's impossible! I'll die!"
There was absolutely no way she could live in the same room as someone else. On top of that, Monica had the secret mission of guarding the Second Prince.
As far as her mission was concerned, the best option would have been to share a room with her collaborator, Lady Isabelle. But Isabelle was sixteen and a first-year student, while seventeen-year-old Monica was a second-year student. They were in different grades.
Isabelle was merely a new student, while Monica was a transfer student accompanying her. Under those circumstances, it would be difficult for them to share a room.
So Isabelle put on an act when they went to greet the headmaster.
Unlike new students, transfer students were required to greet the headmaster before enrolling. Isabelle had forced her way into accompanying Monica on that occasion.
She sat alone on the sofa opposite the headmaster, made Monica stand behind her, and let out a haughty laugh.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Now then, Headmaster. Naturally, I'm being given a private room, aren't I? Surely you're not going to tell me I have to share a room with this woman?"
Saying "this woman," Isabelle indicated Monica, who stood meekly behind her, with a jerk of her chin.
The House of Kerbeck, Isabelle's family, was one of the five wealthiest among the provincial nobility. Having made a suitably generous donation, they had the headmaster rubbing his hands together and replying with an ingratiating smile, "Of course."
"We have a room befitting the daughter of Count Kerbeck prepared for you."
"Why, thank you for your consideration. Oh, yes, as for this woman... Ah, how unfortunate it would be for her roommate to be stuck with such a rustic girl! This woman is a disgrace to House Kerbeck!"
Isabelle leaned back and raised her voice with almost comical exaggeration. Then she glanced up at Monica, who stood with her head bowed behind her, and spoke with an especially malicious smile.
"An attic room would suit you perfectly... wouldn't you agree?"
When Monica nodded timidly, Isabelle drove the point home to the headmaster. "She says so herself."
Thus, thanks to Isabelle's quick thinking, Monica was assigned a small attic room above the storeroom on the top floor of the student dormitory.
It was the sort of treatment that would have reduced a well-bred young lady to tears, but Monica could not have been more grateful.
The room was dim and cramped, which made her feel at ease. Since it was on a different floor from the other young ladies' rooms, she probably would not run into them in the halls, either.
After leaving the headmaster's office, Isabelle's sharp eyes suddenly filled with tears.
When Monica began to panic, Isabelle took out a handkerchief and dabbed at the corners of her eyes.
"Oh... If I could have it my way, I would have loved to share a room with you, Monica-oneesama... But I mustn't get in the way of your mission. I understand that much perfectly!"
"Um, er... th-thank... you..."
When Monica managed to offer her thanks in broken phrases, Isabelle clung to Monica's neck.
"Oneesama! May I come visit your room from time to time? Ah! Better yet, please come visit my room! I'll entertain you to the very best of my ability!"
"Y-yes..."
Just then, they caught sight of what appeared to be a student in the hallway some distance away. They were too far away to make out the person's face, but it was probably a male student.
Isabelle immediately straightened, looked down at Monica as if she were garbage, and raised her voice.
"What are you dawdling for? Honestly! You really are a disgrace to House Kerbeck! Whatever you do, don't mention the name of House Kerbeck anywhere on campus!"
With that, Isabelle tossed back her orange curls and tilted her chin haughtily.
Apparently, she had practiced this pose over and over in front of a mirror. The key, she claimed, was the precise angle at which she lifted her chin.
"I'm going to attend the entrance ceremony now, but since you're a transfer student, you're going to your class, aren't you? Whatever you do, don't mention the name of House Kerbeck! I don't acknowledge you as a member of House Kerbeck, you know!"
Although Isabelle told Monica not to mention the name of House Kerbeck, she repeated it loudly several times so that everyone nearby could hear. Her goal was to make it clear that Monica occupied a low position within the family.
Anyone who saw Lady Isabelle glare at Monica and ask, "Is that clear?" while Monica nodded timidly would draw the same conclusion.
That girl named Monica must be some sort of troubled member of the count's family, shunned by Lady Isabelle.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Did you see that, Your Highness?"
Two people had been watching the exchange between Lady Isabelle and Monica from a short distance away.
One was a young man with loosely wavy brown hair: Student Council Secretary Elliott Howard.
The other was a young man with honey-blond hair and blue eyes: Student Council President Felix Ark Ridill.
At Elliott's prompting, Felix looked at the orange-haired first-year student making a commotion in the hallway.
"She's a new student. The girl beside her... are they in different years?"
The female students' uniforms were demure dresses that covered them from wrists to ankles, but the colors of their sleeve decorations differed by year. Even from some distance away, one could determine their year by looking at the color around their hands.
Howard clapped a hand as though he had just remembered something.
"Could she be the transfer student? There was another one besides Lewis Miller's apprentice, wasn't there? Uh... what was her name?"
"Monica Norton."
Felix answered immediately, and Elliott's drooping eyes widened in admiration.
"You remember that well."
"The orange-haired young lady is Isabelle Norton, the daughter of Count Kerbeck. I've seen her at parties in the royal capital several times."
Isabelle Norton and Monica Norton. Under ordinary circumstances, they would be sisters, but the two looked nothing alike.
Elliott let out a thoughtful "Hmm..." and rested a finger against his chin.
"So the transfer student is also a member of the count's family? Ah, but judging by the way she's being treated, perhaps she's the child of a mistress?"
"That sort of thing happens all the time."
"Well, yes. Though it's not exactly pleasant to watch."
Saying this, Elliott furrowed his brows in displeasure.
Felix kept his gentle smile in place, but looked at Elliott with a hint of coldness in his eyes.
"Not pleasant? You mean Lady Isabelle bullying Lady Monica?"
"No. The fact that someone who isn't even a noble is enrolled at Serendia Academy."
Elliott Howard was the heir to a count's house, but he was a cheerful and broad-minded young man. No matter how tolerant and amiable he appeared, however, he was still a proud noble.
Elliott's gaze as he watched Monica timidly walking behind Isabelle was icy.
"Don't you feel the same, Your Highness?"
"I wonder..."
Felix watched Monica's back with a slightly pensive expression.
At this distance, all he could tell was that she was a small girl with light-brown hair. Naturally, there was no way he could see her face.
Yet something about her had somehow snagged in his memory.
"I usually pride myself on remembering anyone I've exchanged greetings with even once, though..."
"You couldn't possibly have met His Highness. She's an obviously rustic little potato girl."
Elliott flatly dismissed the possibility, but Felix continued to stare silently at Monica's back.
A small figure, shoulders hunched, trudged dispiritedly along.
He never realized that the back before him belonged to 〈Silent Witch〉, who wore the robes of one of the Seven Sages at ceremonies, pulled her hood low over her eyes, and kept her head bowed.