Chapter 1.12
***
Although I ran into the final villain as soon as I stepped foot in the Academy, things went reasonably well after that.
It meant that Ayla, the original female lead, had safely attended the entrance ceremony just like me.
At this rate, it seemed I would be able to easily complete my second plan, ‘Getting acquainted with the original female lead.’
‘Should I try talking to her at the freshman welcome party held after the entrance ceremony?’
People unknowingly become intimidated when surrounded by strangers in an unfamiliar place.
In such a situation, if someone spoke to them first, it would be relatively easier for them to let their guard down.
Of course, it would be important to approach her like someone who wasn’t suspicious at all.
However, far from attending the banquet, Ayla disappeared somewhere as soon as the entrance ceremony service ended.
For me, who was circling the banquet hall several times to naturally strike up a conversation with her, it was a very difficult situation.
While I was snooping around as if looking for someone, I happened to overhear a conversation.
“To make her use the campus dormitory, which is as good as abandoned. I think I know why she slipped away without even showing her face at the welcome party.”
The owner of the voice saying that was a certain Young Lord positioned in a corner of the banquet hall.
When he spoke, the freshmen around him agreed in low voices.
“Even so, she’s a Baron’s daughter—isn’t a campus dormitory a bit embarrassing, not for a commoner but for her? Ryner is a family that once had a successful merchant guild.”
“Rumors are rampant that the reason the Lady is even kept alive is because of the inheritance left by the Baron couple.”
Even though they were speaking while covering their mouths, their voices were loud enough to be heard if one just paid a little attention.
A campus dormitory that was no different from a haunted house because no one used it.
A Baron’s daughter who lost both parents and came to live there alone.
‘That’s Ayla’s story.’
But listening closely, she wasn’t the only one on their lips.
“I hear that a certain defective product, who lies in a sickbed unable to do anything, is also enrolling.”
“The heir to a long-standing family of knights is just a fool who follows her crush around, and she’s even frail…….”
Though the reference wasn’t explicit, this was clearly a story about me.
I certainly couldn’t refute the criticism that the heir to a family of knights couldn’t even fulfill her role and just chased after a man’s coattails.
“If it were me, I would have bitten my tongue instead, so as not to bring shame to the family’s honor.”
But upon hearing those words, I didn’t want to let them keep talking, so I intervened in their conversation.
“Biting my tongue? I am the only one who inherited the Blessing of the First, so I cannot do that.”
Even though I intruded abruptly without an introduction, the complexions of the group I was talking to turned pale.
Well, they were having a grand time badmouthing me, so there was no way they wouldn’t recognize my face.
However, one of them, perhaps having overdrank, spoke up brazenly with slurred speech.
“I see the great heir of the House of Heron, Lady Levi.”
I had information about this man in my head.
Evan Cald.
The only heir to the Viscounty of Cald, a family of knights that had assisted the House of Heron for generations and specialized in defensive swordsmanship.
Just as Heron was affectionately called the Sword of the Empire by the people, the Cald family had the nickname Shield of the Empire.
To think that the heir of a family in a friendly relationship with mine would be badmouthing me like this behind my back.
I shifted my gaze for a moment to the wine glass held by the slick-looking Evan.
Crack—
Then, the glass shattered, unable to withstand the mana I let slip out.
“What in the world……!”
Only the glass he was holding had shattered, but the way he made a fuss as if he were being threatened with murder was a bit ridiculous.
I spat out toward Evan, who was flustered and hurriedly clearing away the glass shards.
“The heir of the Cald family, the Shield of the Empire, making such a fuss over a mere threat. If it were me, I would have bitten my tongue instead, so as not to bring shame to the family’s honor.”
At that, his face turned red and blue.
“Lady Levi!”
I looked at the fuming man with a cynical face.
“Why, do you want to try matching strengths?”
A family that had assisted Heron for generations.
That also meant they knew better than anyone why the head of Heron, who inherited the blessing, was number one.
No matter how weak a body I had—enough to be called a defective product—my family, Heron, possessed considerable power.
Rank as knights, the head’s supernatural abilities, and the support of the people.
Even if it wasn’t a family skilled in politics due to their honest nature, it meant they weren’t pushovers who could be criticized publicly without consequences.
“That is…….”
As expected, the guy’s defiance stopped there.
I stared him down and then slowly moved my steps.
‘I have nothing to say about clinging to Frid, but because I’m weak, all sorts of bastards are picking fights calling me a defective product.’
Ordinarily, I might have felt heartbroken while blaming my unchangeable, sickly body.
However, the current me knew a way to gradually strengthen my stamina.
It would be impossible to become healthy all at once as if being reborn, but I will gradually gain a healthy body.
Repeating effort while putting in time and dedication.
That was precisely what I was most confident in during my previous life.
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