side. Anastasia (1)

I thought I understood the concept—theoretically, at least—that talented commoners existed.

However, I was quite surprised when I saw the entrance exam rankings on my first day at the Higher Academy. After all, the second and third spots were held by a commoner and a former commoner, respectively.

According to the investigation conducted by my Ducal House, the man in second place was raised by a single mother in a particularly impoverished district; he had apparently grown up enduring considerable hardship. Despite that, he had graduated from a school for commoners as the youngest student in history after skipping multiple grades. Furthermore, he seemed to have experience as an adventurer, having seen his fair share of gritty scuffles.

On the other hand, the individual in third place was apparently an illegitimate child of Baron Braies. She had lived a relatively modest life thanks to a certain amount of financial aid from the Baron’s house. Once it was discovered that she possessed the Divine Protection of [Healing], the circumstances shifted rapidly, and she and her mother were officially taken into House Breyes.

When considering these facts as a whole, the man in second place was clearly the one who required caution. Given his background as an adventurer from a poor family, common sense dictated that he shouldn't have even dreamed of enrolling in this Higher Academy—nor should he have possessed the financial means to do so. Had my own family or the Royals arranged his entry, I would have been informed. Since I wasn't, it was entirely possible he was receiving support from a hostile faction or an unsavory foreign organization.

The Crown Prince, princes from neighboring countries, and the children of high-ranking nobility all attended this academy. We could not allow an incident to occur here.

I must keep a close eye on this man to ensure His Highness doesn't get swept up in any unnecessary trouble.

As I entered the auditorium for the entrance ceremony with my friends, I stole a glance at this "person of interest" sitting in a corner at the back. He looked tidy enough, but with his brown hair and brown eyes, he appeared to be nothing more than an average commoner you might find anywhere.

Is this man truly that exceptional?

Suppressing my doubts, I took my seat before he could notice my gaze.

＊＊＊＊

As it turned out, the dangerous one wasn't the man in second place—it was the woman in third! I understood that our engagement was a pragmatic political arrangement devoid of romantic love, but the Crown Prince was still my fiancé.

And yet, she was constantly all over him!

Even within the walls of the academy, there are limits to what is acceptable. She hadn't even obtained permission to speak to His Highness yet, and yet she had the audacity to approach him herself. Every other word out of her mouth was "Karl-sama" in that nauseating, coquettish voice. Is that woman a harlot or something?

To make matters worse, His Highness permitted her behavior. He wouldn't even deign to listen to my attempts to admonish him.

If the Prince continued to be deluded and rendered spineless by a woman like that, the country would surely fall into disorder. When that happened, the consequences would eventually fall upon the people. As a noble living a life of privilege funded by the people's taxes, I have a responsibility to them. I realized I had no choice but to be patient and continue my remonstrations.

It’s all right, I told myself. His Highness is no fool. I’m sure he’ll eventually understand.

That was what I believed at first. However, contrary to my hopes, the situation continued to spiral in the worst possible direction.

The first incident occurred during our first magic practice session, about a week after the ceremony.

In response to the instructor's request, His Highness and I performed a demonstration. Unfortunately, I accidentally destroyed the target, which seemed to touch a nerve with him. But His Highness was using fireballs, while I was using ice arrows; by their very nature, ice arrows possess physical mass and striking power, making them far more suited to shattering targets like that.

Then, His Highness attempted to use a spell he hadn't yet mastered. As expected, it went out of control. I acted quickly to extinguish the flames, so he escaped with only minor burns and no threat to his life, and a larger fire was averted. But then, that woman came shoving her way forward again.

It was a low-level healing spell—honestly, it was hard to believe she had actually received the Divine Protection of [Healing]—but she spent a literal eternity performing the treatment.

His Highness, however, had never suffered a serious injury before and had no experience with healing magic. He was utterly enchanted by the experience, and his trust in that woman deepened significantly.

I cannot let this continue. But the more I panicked, the more things went wrong.

＊＊＊＊

After that, just as one might expect, the harassment against that woman began. I stepped in to stop my friends when they tried to participate in the bullying—thinking they were "reading between the lines" of my frustration—but the harassment didn't stop.

The atmosphere in the class turned toxic. I tried to pull strings behind the scenes to fix things, but every attempt was a swing and a miss. A sense of futility began to weigh on me.

Why do I have to be the one to suffer through all of this?

As those days of frustration dragged on, the man from the entrance exams completely vanished from my mind.

The next time I remembered him was when the results of the final exams were posted.

To my shock, I—of all people—had missed out on first place. The cause was a single careless error on a multiple-choice question.

To be blunt, my pride was wounded. Yet, at the same time, I felt a deep sense of shame. I had entered this academy to study, but I had let my grades slip because I was too busy fussing over His Highness and that woman.

Meanwhile, this commoner genius—who didn't speak to anyone and lived in the middle of a class with a horrific atmosphere—had been silently piling up his efforts. He had brilliantly snatched the top spot away from me.

Compared to him, how foolish have I been?

Once I truly reflected on my behavior, I found I was able to applaud him with a sincere heart when he was honored by the teacher in front of the class.

It was then that everything I had been overcomplicating started to feel very simple.

I would focus on my studies first. That was enough.

My engagement to His Highness was a loveless political match. Given the status gap between royalty and the illegitimate child of a Baron, marriage between them was impossible anyway. If His Highness wanted to play with fire, I should just let him. There was never any reason for me to trouble my heart over it in the first place.

With my mind cleared, I began to think about my independent research project for the summer vacation. It would be problematic if I didn't conduct it jointly with His Highness, so I decided it would be best to visit the ruins he had expressed interest in.

In that case, we would need an adventurer as a guide.

That’s right, I realized. There is a perfect candidate right in our class.

Having reached that conclusion, I decided to call out to Allen.