After Ariel and Rachel departed, Luen murmured coldly to Adeline.
“What exactly are you plotting?”
“What is it you’re referring to?”
“I’m speaking of the maid who accompanied Ariel.”
“Ah, you mean Rachel. She has a particular task to attend to.”
“What task is that?”
Adeline replied in a low voice.
“It’s a maid’s duty.”
“Is that so? A maid’s duty, you say…”
After a brief, contemplative silence, Luen offered a wry smile and spoke.
“Since when did whipping become an additional part of a maid’s duties?”
She remained silent.
“It seems much has changed while I was confined to my chambers, hasn’t it?”
At Luen’s words, a faint tremor passed through Adeline’s eyes.
Though it was a minuscule shift, no more significant than a single petal drifting onto a still lake, Luen instantly perceived it.
‘How dare she.’
“Given that you’re already contemplating striking Ariel, do you genuinely believe I am mistaken?”
Adeline offered no reply.
Her silence was a tacit admission that Luen’s words held truth.
“Your arrogance knows no bounds. To be so conceited, especially after being demoted from something as ordinary as the Imperial Knights.”
A flicker of emotion crossed Adeline’s usually impassive face.
Just as Luen had stated, Adeline had indeed been demoted from the Imperial Knights.
Her abysmal swordsmanship skills were to blame.
Luen precisely exploited Adeline’s vulnerability.
“I’ve heard your swordsmanship is quite dreadful. Perhaps you’d care to learn from me?”
Observing Adeline’s face gradually contort, Luen spoke with a sneer.
“Both as a teacher and as a knight, you stand beneath me. Therefore, refrain from such unwarranted arrogance.”
Adeline remained silent.
“Tell me, are you resentful?”
Adeline shook her head.
Clenching her teeth, she spoke.
“Certainly not. I am merely concerned. I fear my personal sentiments might become entangled should I be compelled to discipline young Ariel. If the Young Lady were to score a zero again, as she did yesterday, I question whether her delicate body could endure it. Therefore…”
She whispered softly.
“I pray this is not mere overconfidence on your part.”
“Rest assured, you will not lay a single finger on what belongs to me.”
Adeline merely shrugged her shoulders, her gesture serving as a silent reply.
She then retrieved a sheet of paper from the satchel she carried.
Though this was a test originally slated for a month hence, Luen’s audacious provocation had thoroughly twisted Adeline’s resolve.
“It seems you won’t be needing any lessons after all.”
“A sensible decision. I confess I was rather curious as to who would be instructing whom.”
Having thoroughly vexed Adeline one last time, Luen accepted the test paper.
She quickly scanned it, then offered a soft smile.
“To call this a ‘problem’…”
“You have an hour to complete it.”
“Ten minutes will suffice.”
With that declaration, Luen immediately picked up a pen.
Adeline, observing her, scoffed inwardly.
Before becoming Luen’s tutor, Adeline had thoroughly researched her.
The Young Lady had not inherited the direct lineage’s power.
Her body was exceptionally frail, rendering her incapable of even wielding a sword, and her intellect was unremarkable, consistently yielding zero points on every test.
For such a person to dare provoke her.
‘Whence does such misplaced confidence spring, I wonder?’
Adeline gazed down at Luen, a sneer playing on her lips.
Then, she froze in astonishment.
In less than five minutes, Luen was already completing the final question.
‘Could she have simply guessed all the answers?’
Yet, there were no multiple-choice questions for such a feat.
Just then, Luen, having completed the final problem, lifted the test paper aloft.
Adeline, as if mesmerized, accepted the test paper from her.
She then swiftly graded it.
From the Empire’s history to imperial etiquette and mana mathematics.
‘Every single one… correct?’
A wave of shock washed over Adeline’s face.
Adeline, lifting her head in disbelief, suddenly shivered.
A surging, palpable killing intent.
Mana, vast and potent, radiating outwards.
‘I never even noticed…!’
That such immense power had been concealed!
The sheer volume and quality of her mana far exceeded Adeline’s own.
With such power, even the slender Grand Princess could hardly be guaranteed victory.
Adeline swallowed hard.
‘Were the rumors of the Grand Princess being a half-wit nothing but lies?’
How could anyone call this a half-wit?
She was unmistakably a direct descendant, born with innate power.
Yet.
‘Why had she kept such power hidden until now?’
Why had she suddenly chosen to reveal this concealed strength?
‘Could it be…!’
A single thought abruptly flashed through Adeline’s mind.
‘Is it because of the maid?’
Merely for the sake of one maid.
Had she unveiled the power she had concealed all this time?
Adeline’s eyes widened, staring intently.
In that fleeting moment, Luen spoke.
“If you value your life, bring my maid back this instant.”
Adeline was now certain her suspicions had been correct.
****
“Th-this is impossible!”
Rachel, exclaiming loudly, snatched up the test paper.
She scrutinized it repeatedly.
Yet, there was no conceivable way a perfect score on a test paper would alter simply from her prolonged gaze.
*Thud.*
Dropping the test paper, Rachel whirled around.
She glared at Ariel, her eyes blazing furiously.
“This is a fraud.”
Ariel was so utterly dumbfounded that a hollow laugh escaped her lips.
To call it a fraud after personally seeing the test paper.
‘Does that woman possess no brain?’
‘Does she believe mere insistence makes it true?’
Ariel scoffed and spoke.
“Even with Adeline Joubert herself having graded it, you utter such words?”
“Indeed. How else could it possibly be explained if not by fraud? How could a half-wit possibly achieve a perfect score?”
“Repeat that, if you would.”
“A half-wit—”
—*SMACK!!!*
Rachel’s head, which had been glaring fiercely, snapped sideways.
As if her strength had suddenly given out, she crumpled to the floor, gazing up at Ariel with a stunned expression.
Ariel spoke with chilling calm.
“Listen closely and engrave this upon your mind. Should you ever again utter such vile words, it will not end with a mere slap. Understood?”
She had not uttered these words expecting a reply.
Ariel, offering a wry smile to the speechless Rachel, slowly turned away.
Adeline was observing her with a visibly startled expression.
Given that she made no move to intervene, it appeared even Adeline understood Rachel’s words had crossed a boundary.
“Adeline Joubert, I shall take my leave now.”
“…Very well.”
“Then.”
She bowed her head.
Ariel, having bowed her head, exited the room.
She then briskly made her way directly to Luen’s chambers.
—*Knock, knock, knock.*
“Young Lady.”
“Enter.”
Ariel flinched.
Ariel was startled by Luen’s voice, which echoed before she had even finished speaking.
But her surprise was fleeting; Ariel, a gentle smile gracing her lips, opened the door and stepped inside.
Luen was not on the terrace.
Ariel naturally shifted her gaze to the side.
There, she saw Luen curled up on the bed.
Ariel spoke with an excited voice.
“Young Lady! I heard you scored a perfect hundred!”
“…Indeed.”
‘Could she be shy?’
Luen replied in a small voice.
“That’s truly incredible. I was absolutely certain you would score zero!”
“…What was that?”
At Ariel’s words, Luen’s brow furrowed.
Ariel, observing Luen’s complexion instantly sour, tilted her head quizzically.
“Young Lady…? Are you, by chance, feeling unwell?”
“Yes, because of you.”
“M-me? Because of me?”
Ariel flinched in surprise.
Luen spoke to her with an icy tone.
“You are remarkably dull in the oddest places. Foolish, even.”
“What?”
“Fool?”
“And just how intelligent are you, Young Lady?”
“Intelligent enough to effortlessly achieve a perfect score on a test.”
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘Luen, you were a prodigious genius, weren’t you?’
Ariel clicked her tongue.
Ariel, clicking her tongue, spoke with a pout.
“Please get up now. If you continue to live in such disarray, your future groom will flee at first sight.”
“What, a groom?”
“The Young Lady is almost an adult; it’s time you married!”
“I won’t do such a thing.”
‘Not do it, indeed.’
‘After having pursued love so relentlessly.’
“Regardless, please rise quickly. I shall comb your hair.”
Luen remained silent.
This time, it was Luen who gazed at Ariel with a pout.
Yet, as soon as Ariel gestured, Luen rose from her spot without a single complaint and settled into a chair.
Ariel positioned herself behind Luen.
Her hand grasping the comb she always kept tucked in her pocket.
“Young Lady, how can your hair be so remarkably fine?”
Though it had appeared dry and brittle from a lack of nourishment, upon touching it, Ariel found it to be as soft as silk.
It seemed likely that after washing, it was simply left neglected rather than being properly dried.
With no one to tend to it, she had likely endured with her hair in this tangled state.
Ariel offered a bittersweet smile as she gently untangled the matted strands with her comb.
Surprisingly, Luen did not flinch away from Ariel’s ministrations.
‘It’s rather like tending to a cat.’
As this thought crossed her mind, her gaze unexpectedly fell upon the garden outside.
“Young Lady, look there. The flowers outside have bloomed so beautifully.”
“I have no interest in such things.”
“Oh, come now. You stand on the terrace every single day, yet you speak such falsehoods.”
As Ariel spoke with a gentle smile, she saw Luen press her lips together tightly, reflected in the mirror.
Ariel chuckled inwardly, then pointed at a flower with her hand.
“That yellow flower there is likely a marigold.”
“You can tell that simply by looking?”
Rarely, Luen expressed a hint of interest.
Ariel nodded, replying.
“Yes. I’ve loved flowers since I was a child.”
“Then you must enjoy growing them, too.”
“That’s right. I adore growing them. Oh!”
Ariel clapped her hands and said.
“This is a secret I’m only telling the Young Lady, but I’ve always wanted to own a farm.”
“A farm?”
“Yes. My very own farm. My dream is to leave the manor when the time is right and become a farmer. What do you think? Doesn’t it sound fun?”
Ariel smiled brightly, looking into the mirror.
Simultaneously, she froze.
Luen was staring at her with an icy expression.
Moreover, the surrounding air, despite it being summer, had frozen cold as if in the dead of winter.
‘Why, why is she like this?’
Ariel’s head began to spin in confusion.
Just then.
“You’ll leave when the time is right?”
The cold voice pierced Ariel’s ears.
