It Seeps In Little by Little (2)
It seeps in little by little.
The freshmen of Arjen Academy’s Sword Department experienced a truly shocking start to the semester. Even the rumors that had circulated before the entrance ceremony were far from ordinary.
I heard a member of the Gallia royal family might be enrolling this year…?
They say it’s even Her Highness Lydia, the “Golden Princess” who hasn’t debuted in high society yet.
A discarded royal enrolling at the academy? Why? Don’t tell me she plans to join the Magic Department and cozy up to the republicans and reformists?
I heard she enrolled in the Sword Department….
But why…? Her twin brother, His Highness Léonard, belongs to the reformist faction in the diplomatic service. Wouldn’t the Magic Department make more sense?
Who knows.
The Gallia Kingdom’s “Forgotten Gold.” When the news spread that Lydia de Gallia was enrolling at the academy, the Gallia noble freshmen could not hide their excitement. They exchanged letters even before the term began. To think they would share their school days with a beautiful royal who rarely showed herself except at national events. Before they were nobles, they were hot-blooded teenagers.
“What kind of person could she be?”
“How beautiful must she be to earn the title ‘Golden’?”
“Will she truly carry herself like a noble royal?”
Their curiosity toward Lydia grew by the day. Moreover, she had not chosen the Magic Department—the place for republicans and upstart reformists. True to the knightly kingdom of Gallia, she had proudly enrolled in the Sword Department.
The noble students felt both anticipation and worry.
“As expected of the Gallia royal family…! Only those who take up the sword can call themselves true nobles of Gallia!”
“But…”
“Can Her Highness, with her noble lady’s body, truly endure the Sword Department?”
“She won’t just watch from the sidelines while we suffer, will she?”
“It’s very royal of her, but… if that’s the case, there was no need to come to the academy.”
“They say beauties are difficult. If she’s called ‘Golden,’ I can’t even imagine how particular she must be.”
They worried inwardly for months. Then, at the entrance ceremony, they finally saw Lydia… and she was a royal beyond their imagination—in the best possible way.
She was beautiful, diligent, and benevolent.
“My god…”
“A royal like this…”
“She really exists…?”
She was so beautiful it felt as if an angel of dawn from legend had descended. She never skipped training. She always ran silently alongside them and rolled in the dirt. She was exceedingly generous. Even in a harsh environment, she showed consideration for others. Though she was clearly a royal, she trained on the same field as everyone else.
When Lydia spoke those words and gently brushed the dust from the students’ shoulders, the Gallia Kingdom’s freshmen simply stared at her with dazed expressions.
…
…
…
They watched her noble figure walk gracefully, long golden hair swaying. They watched her stride with the dignity of a battlefield goddess. Even the shabby training uniform could not conceal that presence.
Male and female students alike, nobles and commoners alike, clutched their pounding hearts and sighed.
“Huu…”
That person is a royal of our kingdom.
I’m proud.
I want to become a knight who would give his life for a royal like her.
The scale of their thoughts differed, yet they were remarkably similar.
…
…
…
Was this love? Or admiration?
To think there exists such a perfect royal…
It felt like a dream. They wanted to speak with her more. But they could not.
Her Highness Lydia, like His Highness Léonard, is highly likely to belong to the reformist faction. Do not approach rashly—observe from afar.
Even though the academy is a neutral zone between the three nations, a poorly forged connection could hinder your future. This is not the time to approach.
Do not casually associate with the discarded royal.
If she is that capable, there must be a reason.
…
…
…
All the noble freshmen of the Sword Department were the youngest in their respective noble factions. They had no choice but to quietly obey the instructions of their family elders and upperclassmen.
Still… if only we had permission, I would love to become close to her.
The commoner freshmen could not dare approach a royal.
If someone like me, a mere commoner, spoke to such a perfect woman, she would surely dislike it…
The freshmen from the Holy Theocracy and the Republic quietly observed.
Indeed, she possesses the spirit befitting royalty. But there is no need to create unnecessary friction with a foreign royal.
For those reasons, aside from Arty and Mave—whom she had approached herself—Lydia received almost no particular attention from the student body. She herself did not question the situation much. In the original story, the “Incompetent Princess” had also wandered without belonging to any department. So she simply thought, Even royals get ostracized, huh, and moved on.
But there was one thing Lydia had not considered.
The difference between standing apart because one was “incompetent and timid” and standing apart because one was “noble and dignified”… was far greater than she imagined.
That truth revealed itself the moment Lydia peeled away the stigma of “discarded golden” through her own competence.
Right now, for instance.
*
…
Lydia was bewildered. Before Instructor Jacques’s class began, she had expected to wait in the usual spot in the Sword Department training ground with only Arty and Mave nearby. Instead, the few female students in the department were sitting demurely around her.
What is this, a pride of lions?
Mave stood boldly beside Lydia, flaunting their closeness.
“Hehe. Lady Lydia, is there anywhere you feel uncomfortable? As your ‘friend,’ is there anything I can help you with?”
“There is nothing. Thank you for the consideration ‘as a friend,’ Mave.”
“Hehehe…”
See? I’m this close with a royal.
It was that kind of display. The surrounding students looked at Mave with sparkling eyes full of envy. The honor Mave had lost after her massive blunder (the skeleton rider incident) was steadily being restored.
“I’m so jealous…”
“Even a commoner can stay by a royal’s side.”
“If I work harder, could I do that too?”
Simply being able to grow close to a royal was considered valuable in itself. The fact that Lydia was a discarded royal did not matter. It was the advantage of socially recognized authority rather than personal charisma.
So there was a method like this to raise the self-esteem of those around you. Since I’ve never seriously used royal authority before, I never thought of leveraging it.
Lydia slightly raised her head.
…
Over there, the boys were whispering among themselves. Male students—commoners and nobles alike—had surrounded Arty. Yet instead of beating him, they were quietly asking him questions. Dominic and the noble faction students spoke in aggressive tones.
“What did you just say…?! You insolent commoner brat! While we couldn’t even approach Her Highness Lydia, you trained alone with her every single day—?!”
“You lucky bastard!”
“You monopolized that noble… that figure?!”
“How dare you become her subordinate before us!”
Dominic pointed at Arty.
“Carrying her del… her noble body while running up the mountain paths is a reward! If you ordered me, I could do a hundred laps!”
“A reward, you say…”
Arty scratched his head awkwardly.
“It was only the first few weeks that it was just the two of us. After that, the group gradually grew.”
The Holy Theocracy students, who had been listening to Arty’s story with great interest, now let out exclamations of understanding. Until moments ago they had harbored hostility toward the “country bumpkin who dares approach the Saintess.”
“Hehe, so that’s how it was. It wasn’t that Brother Arty and the Saintess were alone together; they were building a relationship alongside Her Highness the Princess…”
“It seems we let our imaginations run too wild. The two of them walking together at the Sabbath Festival was simply because their group had briefly separated.”
“We apologize for the terrible misunderstanding—that Brother Arty might dare to harbor impure intentions toward the Saintess.”
Arty flinched but smiled awkwardly.
“Haha…”
At that moment, the trembling Dominic shouted.
“You commoner! You enviable wretch! I, Dominic de Montrang, younger brother of Lucian the ‘Golden Knight,’ formally challenge you to a duel! I shall determine whether you have the talent to remain as Her Highness’s subordinate—!”
“Me too!”
“I’m a commoner, but I still can’t forgive you, Arty!”
“Same here!”
“Line up one by one! Everyone who wants to duel this guy one-on-one, gather round!”
“Hehe, let’s test this brother’s skill.”
“The old farts from Gallia are more entertaining than I expected.”
They grabbed wooden swords and began their “fair” lynching of Arty. Caught off guard by the sudden duels, Arty calmly began knocking them down one by one.
“Wait, what is this all of a sudden…?!”
Wooden swords clashed with crisp sounds.
Thwack! Thwack!
“Ugh?! This commoner is stronger than he looks!”
“Argh, next guy, get in here! That one just got hit in the ankle!”
“The next seat beside the Princess is mine—!”
Arty found them easier to topple than expected, yet he was horrified by the endless wave of challengers. He swung his wooden sword instinctively while dodging left and right. Even so, he thought:
Lydia’s subordinate… Honestly, she feels more like a mentor, so it doesn’t quite sink in. Still, for Lydia, it’s not bad at all. If anything, it’s an honor.
But.
Not as a subordinate… Someday, he wanted to stand beside Lydia as a fellow swordsman.
As a hero, as a swordsman… I want to become stronger.
And I want to become someone who can stand proudly before Aria—
Thwack!
“?!”
Arty stopped thinking as yet more students charged at him.
“Wait, hold on?! This is too cowardly—?!”
“Take my sword—!”
“Why won’t this commoner get tired?!”
The female students around Lydia sighed.
“So simple-minded.”
“Who’s the noble and who’s the commoner here…”
“As fellow apprentice knights, this is embarrassing.”
Watching the scene, Lydia thought:
…
Originally, only the commoner Arty would have stood out, triggering the “commoner beating” event. But now, because of his position as my subordinate, it has changed into these malicious duel requests…
The Holy Sword wielder. The weight carried by the name of hero. The connection he shared with Saintess Aria. All of it had placed him not in the position of a mere commoner, but beneath the shade of “the princess’s subordinate.”
Someday he would need to step out from even that shade, but at least he would not suffer indiscriminate harassment. Therefore she thought:
…
It was good that I settled things with Lucian that day on the street, even if it was a little noticeable.
I only thought reducing the intensity of harassment would be enough of a gain, but the result is better than expected.
Lydia watched contentedly as Arty fought fairly against seventeen opponents at once.
The brawl continued until Instructor Jacques entered the training ground with a dumbfounded look. He glanced at Lydia from afar and sent her a look that said, Why is that guy like that? Lydia returned a small smile.
“…It turned out very well.”
*
Lucian and the senior nobles of the Sword Department’s noble faction watched the scene from a window. The freshmen had begun rigorous physical training under Instructor Jacques’s direction. His thunderous voice rang across the field.
The freshmen, now understanding the meaning behind this brutal endurance training, gritted their teeth and pushed on. Behind them, the princess with her bright golden hair swaying followed without complaint. Seeing her, the freshmen now shouted with open pride.
The noble seniors watched and let out low groans.
…
…
…
One of them muttered.
“Is this really all right?”
“No matter how you look at it, allowing a princess faction to form inside the Sword Department is…”
“Even the commoner students who belong to no faction are following her.”
Lucian spoke indifferently.
“It’s fine. I already gave permission. Besides, Her Highness Lydia has not been seen making contact with any reformist figures. The lack of contact so far means we can simply classify it as an internal academy friendship group.”
“But…”
“More importantly, we should focus on our own tasks.”
“…Understood.”
They turned away from the window and returned to the classroom. Lucian remained, staring out the window until the very end.
With this, the debt is repaid, Your Highness. Whatever you do at the academy… I only hope it does not collide with us.
Because if it does, we will not be able to stand by quietly.
…
Lucian looked at his younger brother running across the training ground. Even while running, Dominic wore a bright, innocent smile as he secretly conversed with the princess. It was a pure smile that did not suit a boy who would one day be swallowed by the filthy noble society of Gallia.
“…Enjoy yourself while you can, Dominic.”
This older brother will handle all the difficult matters.