The Twenty-Fourth Flower of the Emperor's Garden
Ramnusia is a quick learner. Laura Arnold, the twenty-fourth flower to bloom in the Garden of the Emperor. How on earth should I exact my revenge on this young lady?
I was murdered by Laura. I was incredibly lucky to be given a new life as Lady Ramnusia, but that is entirely separate from Laura's crime.
"It was just pure luck that things worked out so well..." I muttered, unconsciously biting my thumb. "Laura... Laura Arnold... I don't want to just kill her..."
"For what reason do you find it disagreeable, my lady?" Keres asked.
"If I just kill her... it won't be any fun for me." Keres blinked. "It would be like... just drinking a glass of water. I want her to live the rest of her life in constant regret for what she did to me."
"However, Lady Laura will not even know why you are seeking vengeance against her, my lady."
"I didn't know why I was being killed when Laura murdered me, either. But I'm sure Laura felt great doing it, didn't she?" Keres stared at me quietly before nodding.
"So... I don't care if she ever learns the truth. I just want to punish her."
"That is a wonderful perspective, my lady."
"...Why did Laura kill me in the first place?" I asked, lowering my spit-slicked thumb as I idly pondered my revenge.
"Why do you inquire about that, my lady?"
"Because taking a life isn't actually an easy decision." I bit my thumb again. Crunch... "Though to a noble, I suppose killing a commoner like me is as easy as killing a rabbit for sport."
"I shall not deny that truth, my lady."
"But even rabbits are killed for 'fun.' Just like pouring water down an anthill is done for amusement."
"In other words, there must have been a specific reason behind your murder? Is that your deduction, my lady?" As I nodded, Keres's lips curved into a subtle smile.
"Indeed, it is so. Laura Arnold undoubtedly had a reason for taking your life. If we recall her boasting at a recent tea party about receiving a brand-new carriage, that was likely her objective."
"A carriage? Ah... right. She definitely did. Laura said she wanted to get a new carriage from her father."
"Yes, my lady. Upon hearing that his precious eldest daughter had been 'attacked by bandits,' Chancellor Arnold gifted her a new carriage."
I see. So the carriage really was her goal. But why a carriage of all things? "...Keres. Are carriages a big source of pride at the Academy?"
"Indeed, they are, my lady. While a carriage is fundamentally just a means of transportation, it is an excellent vessel for extravagance. The larger it is, the more horses can be harnessed to it, and the more comfortable it becomes."
"So Laura is the type of person who wants to show off so badly that she'd even resort to murder?"
Keres nodded. "Then it means that if Laura runs out of things to boast about... if her carriage breaks, she loves showing off so much that she'd kill an innocent commoner just to get a new one?"
"That is correct, my lady. Though one might call it a basic trait among noble ladies..."
"The sight of Laura crying her eyes out after losing everything she has to boast about..." Would that be enough? Isn't there something more fitting for a proper revenge?
...Aria. I actually liked how Aria looked today. The way she ran away, face beet-red, with her panties fully exposed. It was incredibly satisfying. And yesterday, watching Aria and Luna fooling around? It was so hot. My lower abdomen throbbed, and my heart pounded. I got so wet just thinking about it.
"...Just like what I did to Aria and Luna..."
"Lady Ramnusia?"
"Doing something like that to Laura... might be fun. Crunch... Why didn't I think of this sooner? Isn't this the ultimate revenge on a woman?"
Keres's eyes widened slightly as she spoke. "...Generally speaking, that is indeed the case, my lady. Forcing one to yield sexually to someone they hold no affection for brings immense shame and humiliation."
"G-Good. I think it'll be fun to make Laura do what I made those two do."
Whatever happens, this will be the first step of my revenge. Shatter Laura's pride, destroy what she boasts about, and force her to do dirty things. And if I still don't find it satisfying? I can just kill her then. I'll exact my revenge by making her bleed just as I did. I can worry about that when the time comes.
"In that case... I'll have to use the Hypnosis Rune Magic I recently learned from the Armonomicon... Is there any way for us to be completely alone?"
"How about utilizing the Academy's classes, my lady? Since you are a student of the Academy, you must attend classes from now on."
This was something Keres had already been telling me about. I wasn't sure if I could keep up with those classes, but Keres had smiled and promised to help me if things got too difficult.
"Classes? Didn't you say it's all about reading difficult texts, handling weapons, and learning magic?"
"The Academy offers various other classes besides those, my lady. There are also classes where students must form pairs. Perhaps we could target one of those?"
Keres really remembers and shares any piece of information just for my sake. This is going to be incredibly helpful.
"The hypnosis sigil... in the end, it only neutralizes the single person who looks at it, right?"
"Of course, my lady. While there are methods to create multiple sigils at once, you are not a magical genius, so that would be impossible for you at present."
"So in the end, I need to naturally get Laura alone, and once she's neutralized by the hypnosis sigil... crunch... I can have my fun?"
Keres clapped her hands lightly. "Indeed, my lady. Until you learn new magic, that will be the absolute basics of basics for you."
"G-Good. Then what is this class where we form pairs? I want to get a feel for it beforehand... using that book you gave me last time."
"It is the hunting class, my lady." In front of Keres, who spoke with a bright smile, I spat out my thumb in sheer disbelief.
Keres was highly capable. I understood that there was a hunting class conducted in pairs, but when I asked how I could possibly end up in the same group as Laura, she assured me she would handle the preparations. Honestly, I had considered using my Command Magic, but since there was a chance it might fail, I decided to comfortably rely on Keres's assistance.
"Group C!" In a classroom of just under twenty students, I swallowed hard at the teacher's booming voice from behind the podium. He was a man with brown hair and a beard, but his appearance didn't matter.
"Ramnusia Yuno." The name I had been waiting for was called.
"Ugh, gross..."
"Ohoho! The most unfortunate student of the year is about to be announced!"
"Goddess, please..." I didn't care about the noisy chatter of the students. The only thing that mattered was...
"Laura Arnold!" The moment the teacher's voice rang out, all eyes focused on Laura, not me.
"W-What... Haaah? Why on earth am I paired up with a piece of trash like Ramnusia?!"
"Quiet! Quiet! This was a random draw, so no complaints! Are you going to whine like that out in the actual field?!"
"Krrgh...! With a nobody like Ramnusia...!" Laura clenched her fists, her breathing ragged and furious, looking completely out of place with her elegant pink hair. Once again, I realized that Ramnusia Yuno's reputation was beyond trash.
"Ramnusia!" While the teacher continued speaking at the podium, Laura glared at me and hissed. Despite the distance between us, she leaned forward toward me, her eyes overflowing with hostility, seemingly oblivious to the fact that her cleavage was slightly exposed.
"Listen closely! A useless lady like you is bound to get a pathetic score in this hunting class, just like last year, right?"
"T-This time—"
"Shut up and listen to me! I will play the noble! You will be the servant!" To make sure I wouldn't talk back, Laura rudely gave me a thumbs-down, crossed her legs, and leaned back into her seat.
There were two roles in this hunting class. The noble, who rode a horse and shot the prey, and the servant, who followed the noble around and did all the grunt work. At a glance, it seemed like a boring class where only the noble got to have any fun, but Keres had explained that it wasn't quite like that. No matter how much the noble hunted, it was meaningless without someone to check if the prey was hit, how it was struck, and its overall condition. It was a class designed to teach those dynamics.
"Ugh, so annoying! So annoying! I already told Father that I'd get a good grade this year!" Looking at Laura huffing and puffing just from being paired with me, it seemed very few of these young lords and ladies actually understood the deeper meaning of the class.
Bang!!! Bang!! Loud gunshots echoed through the mountains. The hunting class of these noble lords and ladies was just as noisy, chaotic, and wild as I had read in books.
"Hurry! Hurry! Run! I said run!"
"Hey!! I'm not riding a horse like you!"
"Did it hit?"
"O~hohoho! It seems you missed, unfortunately!"
The noisy voices of the Academy's young lords and ladies echoed from all directions.
"Magic...! Can't we just use magic?!"
"Do you want to fail?! Idiot! Do it properly!" While their frantic voices filled the air, I only had to focus on one person. Laura Arnold. I just needed to hunt down this arrogant, boastful girl.
"Ah, ugh...! This is so incredibly annoying. Annoying! I'm so, so annoyed that I'm furious!" This simple, easy-to-manipulate girl was huffing and puffing, convinced she wouldn't get a good grade just because she was paired with me. Honestly, as long as I could get my revenge on her, I didn't care what happened to this hunting class. To be perfectly frank, I hadn't given it a single thought.
"Argh!! Seriously! Seriously! It went so much better than this last year! Ramnusia! This is all your fault!"
"I-Is it my fault?"
"Of course it's your fault! Do you have any idea how expensive this gun is? It was crafted by artisans in the Terra Principality! To think this hunting rifle... Hmph!" Clicking her tongue in disgust, Laura looked down at me from atop her horse.
"In the first place, even if I talk to you, you wouldn't understand a thing, would you? Because you're just Ramnusia." I wondered if it was normal to use my name as a synonym for stupid. As she spewed endless insults, beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Wearing leather protective gear over her Academy uniform, she almost looked like a proper noble lady, but her inside was pure trash.
"Laura..."
"Ugh, so annoying... You do the reloading. You at least know how to do that, right? And don't you dare break it." Thud! Laura tossed her precious, expensive hunting rifle down to me. Of course, I had absolutely no intention of reloading it for her.
"...Laura. There's something much more important than reloading."
"Hah? There's no way there is."
"N-No, look over there. A male horned stag just ran off toward the north."
"A horned stag? W-Wait... Isn't that the highest-scoring prey right after the Rune Boar?" Laura looked in the direction my finger was pointing, her lips curling into a wide grin.
"What are you waiting for! We have to go, obviously!" Before I could even try to stop her, Laura kicked her horse's sides and bolted. What a foolish girl. The direction I pointed was gradually leading away from the designated hunting zone of the Academy. I followed behind her, smiling. Since numerous students were scattered all over the place hunting, no one questioned where Laura and I were heading. Thanks to that...
"Pant, pant... Ramnusia! Are you sure the horned stag came this way? There's no way a sacred beast ridden by elves would be this hard to find."
"L-Laura! I-I think this gun is broken?!" I proudly showed Laura a piece of paper I had kept hidden in my school uniform pocket.
"Y-You! You broke it already? Do you know how much I begged for that as a birthday gift..."Zap! The moment the hypnosis sigil flared to life on the paper, my heart pounded dangerously, but it didn't matter.
"Ah..." Because right in front of me sat Laura, completely blank-faced atop her horse, thoroughly ensnared by the hypnosis sigil.