The Shattered Ideal
Alicia Floren. Daughter of the southern Floren barony and a third-year student in the magic department at Joachim Academy. With her golden hair, blue eyes, striking beauty, bright personality, and outstanding academic performance, Alicia had once been the center of professors' expectations and the object of courtship from various magical schools upon her admission.
Then a single incident shattered her life. Two years ago, on the day Eden Rofas was framed and expelled from the academy—that day became the spark for everything that followed.
It had been pure coincidence. While heading to class as usual, Alicia witnessed Louise Violet secretly slipping red powder into Eden Rofas's drink. At first, she thought little of it. As the daughter of a remote baronial house, drugs were a story from another world to her.
One week later, she saw a wanted poster on the academy bulletin board.
Defendant: Eden Rofas
Crime: Illegal distribution and use of narcotics
Only then did she realize the true nature of the red powder. It was a drug—the empire's headache, Fellophon, known as the Rose of Ruin.
This is unjust.
She had still been young. Alicia was a girl who believed justice existed in the world, unable to even imagine the vast malice lurking behind the scenes. That was why she decided to uphold her own sense of justice. She would correct what was wrong. She possessed both that belief and the courage to act.
Yet her lack of political sense or cunning—having lived solely by magic—proved her undoing.
"Eden Rofas is innocent! He never did such a thing!"
On the day of Eden Rofas's trial, Alicia burst through the courtroom doors and shouted those words. An impurity had suddenly entered a perfectly arranged chessboard.
The naive daughter of a barony had no idea that those words would turn her academy life upside down.
"Arienne, let's go together!"
"...Don't talk to me."
"What?"
"Don't drag me down with your filth, you traitor..."
The first trial she faced was isolation. Fearing Violet's retaliation, those around Alicia gradually began to avoid her. They refused to speak to her, avoided eye contact, and eventually couldn't even bear to share the same space. It took less than a week for the promising new student Alicia Floren to become a complete outcast.
"Alicia. Come to the bathroom later."
"N-no, I don't want to."
"You fucking bitch, you don't want to? Don't want to?"
The second trial was torment. What began as petty pranks—tripping her, destroying her locker—escalated into outright abuse. Louise Violet's closest aides and children of high-ranking families, seeing an opportunity, turned Alicia into their plaything. Already beautiful, she became prey for wolves who had long coveted her. Though it was clearly criminal, no academy official cared.
Even as her agonizing academy life continued, Alicia was never given the option to withdraw.
"My lord, the business rights have been sold..."
"The Emperor has stripped the territory of all its rights...!"
"Our trading partners are all demanding to end their contracts!"
With a single breath from Louise Violet, the Floren barony collapsed. After a year, all that remained for Alicia was endless abuse and a ruined family.
Maybe... I should just die.
She thought of death. Dying might be easier than living like this. Sitting on the railing of the central academy building's rooftop, Alicia looked up at the sky. White clouds drifted across it, sunlight shone brightly—why did she alone have to live this way? She had only tried to be just. Why did the world abandon justice?
Just die already.
The bullying had already lasted a year. She had endured enough. Alicia climbed onto the railing and leaned forward. If she ended her life here, everything would stop—the endless torment, the retaliation.
"Goodbye, world."
Just as her body began to fall, something grabbed her collar and pulled her back. Alicia turned her head.
"I almost didn't make it in time."
Alicia gasped. Platinum-blonde hair. Sharp eyes that differed slightly from her memory, yet unmistakably familiar. Eden Rofas. The man expelled from the academy now stood before her.
"Don't say nonsense."
The Alicia Floren he met after so long had become a different person. Her once-bright expression was stained with despair, and the dark circles under her eyes were heartbreakingly deep.
"You'll bring down Louise Violet? If you could have, you should have done it long ago—before I ended up like this."
Her tone had grown sharp as well.
"I was waiting for the right moment."
"Enough. Stop with the nonsense. I'm going to die."
When he grabbed Alicia as she leaned against the railing again, she violently shook him off and screamed.
"You! It's all because of you! If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened! Get out of here right now!"
"Calm down."
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down? Do you know how I've been living? My friends call me a whore. I have to suck the dicks of those disgusting pigs. Professors give me the lowest scores no matter what I do. My family is ruined. There's no one left in this world who can help me!"
"...It was the same for me."
"......"
Only then did the thrashing Alicia finally calm down.
"I understand. You and I are in the same position. Because of that bitch Louise Violet, our lives were thrown into the gutter."
"So... what are you going to do about it? Revenge? What kind of revenge can you pull off with nothing?"
Alicia cried out as if wailing. Her face was smeared with tears and snot, her eyes filled only with hatred. He recognized that face. He knew that expression. There had been a time when he looked exactly the same—when hatred and despair made it difficult to maintain his sanity.
"What we need is evidence."
If that was the case, there was only one way. Seeing is believing. He would show her.
He took out the crystal orb tied at his waist and contacted Heil.
"Boss! Are you doing well?"
"Yeah, Heil. I need you to do something. There's a guy named Yanis Dailer at the academy. Bring him to me right now, and cut off all Fellophon and antidote shipments to the Dailer family. Recover everything already sent."
"You seem to be doing fine. Just wait a moment. About thirty seconds?"
"Alright."
Alicia watched with questioning eyes. He returned the orb to his waist and spoke.
"Wait thirty seconds. I'll bring one of the people who tormented you right in front of you."
***
"You fucking bastard! You son of a bitch!"
Exactly thirty seconds later, a pig-like man bloated with fat was delivered before them, bound. Alicia, watching, kept rubbing her eyes in disbelief.
"We'll be taking our leave now, Boss."
"Yeah. Take care."
The pig's name was Yanis Dailer. One of Louise Violet's ten closest aides, and according to the information he'd received, the one who had continuously tormented Alicia Floren. He hadn't planned to kill him just yet... but since he was going to anyway, it didn't matter.
"Eden Rofas! You bastard! You think you'll get away with this?!"
"Yeah, I think I will, so shut up and stay down."
He pressed his foot firmly on Yanis Dailer's face and asked Alicia, "This is the guy, right?"
"......"
Alicia only nodded silently.
"Do you believe me a little now?"
"......How?"
"I survived desperately. To get revenge on that bitch Louise Violet."
He picked up the writhing Yanis from the floor, gagged him so he wouldn't bite his tongue if things went wrong, sat him on a chair, and tied him again with rope.
"There were times I thought about dying, just like you. But I didn't. I didn't want to die before I saw that bitch Louise Violet on her knees begging."
"...I'm sorry for what I said earlier."
Alicia spoke in a choked voice.
"No need to apologize. I understand. Just don't die. If you're going to die anyway, it's better to kill someone else instead."
He nodded at Alicia.
"Do as you like. Torture him, beat him until he dies... Ah, wait—don't kill him. I still have uses for him later."
"......"
After a moment of hesitation, Alicia extended her foot forward. A staff had somehow appeared in her hand.
"Mmph...! Mmph!!!"
He turned around, took out a cigarette, and placed it in his mouth. I used to have one in my mouth whenever I quit Fellophon. He lit it, inhaled, and slowly exhaled. The smoke spread through the air like a faint mist. The cigarette, which he hadn't smoked in a long time, tasted sweet.
***
A short while later, Yanis Dailer's face was so bloodied it was barely recognizable. He asked Alicia, who was breathing heavily, "How do you feel? A little better now?"
"No. Not yet."
"I thought so."
He smiled. Humans were like that—when a small hope appeared even in despair, the spark would ignite. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Alicia asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Exactly what I said earlier. I'll bring down Louise Violet. Slowly, until she withers and dies."
Conflict flickered briefly in Alicia's eyes. But it was only for a moment. She spoke with a determined voice.
"......I'll do it."
"Good choice."
"What do I need to do?"
Just as planned. The gears of the plan to crush that detestable woman, Louise Violet, were beginning to turn. He placed his hand on Alicia's shoulder and spoke.
"From now on, you will become the new queen of the academy."