NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23.1
Lunch the next day...
“Ugyaaaaagh!!!”
As Anna was preparing lunch in the kitchen, she heard a strange scream.
Right after that, a loud sound as if something soft thudding against a wall or floor could be heard from her master’s bedroom.
It seemed that her master got up and fell off the bed first thing again.
‘Hehe.’
Anna smiled as she remembered her master’s appearance at dawn.
Honestly, her drunk master was like a big cat and she was just so cute.
It had been three months since she became Jeon Ji-hye’s maid.
She was quite satisfied with her current life.
Fortunately, Anna’s new master was not the type to be harsh with slaves.
Jihye never gave Anna harmful orders, and above all, her master was a woman.
She set the tableware and cutlery and placed the finished stew in the centre of the table.
This was a dish that would help to relieve a hangover, and her master especially liked it when the cooking resembled the cuisine of her home world.
“Yawn... Good morning...”
“Good morning?”
Jeon Ji-hye opened the door and came out while holding onto her hungry stomach.
Her expression was gloomy.
Despite her low mood though, she addressed her maid politely.
“Anna. No. Did I actually fall asleep last night? Ugh... What if Jihoo misunderstands? I’m not the type of girl who drinks recklessly like that... I’ll never drink in a place where Jihoo isn’t around, and I have no intention of getting drunk unless Jihoo is beside me...”
“·······.”
Jung Jihoo.
He is the man her master admired.
When one lived together with Jihye, one could see just how much her master loved Jeong Ji-hoo.
Every time Jihye was in that state, Anna felt both thrilled and bitter.
She was sometimes envious of her master’s feelings of love.
‘That’s love... Will there ever be a moment when I can feel that kind of emotion...?’
Anna was wary of men.
The reason why she had fallen from a commoner to a slave in the first place was because of the men who lived in the same village as her.
To her, men were terrifying beings who treated women badly.
“Don’t worry too much, Master. Even after you fell asleep, you stuck close to Jung Ji-hoo, and Jeong Ji-hoo continued to smile and stroke Master’s hair.”
“Really...? Hehe.”
Ji-hye, who was now relieved, started to eat with a spoon.
Anna found herself wanting Jihye to be made happy at some point.
She knew it was presumptuous of her, but she sometimes felt that her master was as dear to her as a real sister would have been.
She had to admit that Jung Ji-hoo was a cool man even if she was wary of men.
She hoped Jihye could live a happy life with him.
But she also worried for her master regarding Jung Jihoo.
This was because her master frequently fell into a trance while thinking of him and just continued to talk to herself about Jeong Ji-hoo.
Each time, it was Anna’s responsibility to break her out of that state.
“Phew! I ate well!”
As Jihye stretched her muscles with a pleasant feeling in her, she thanked Anna.
The maid took the dishes from the table and started washing them.
The dorm room had two bedrooms and a bathroom, as well as a living room and kitchen.
Anna had been astonished to find that this country house was larger than the one she had lived in when she was a commoner.
When she finished washing the dishes, she took some keys out of her pocket and politely gave them to her master.
“Here is your room key.”
“Okay. Do you have one too?”
“Yes. I got a total of three from the caretaker yesterday. Where should I put the other one?”
“Oh! I’ve got a good idea!”
Jihye exclaimed this as she put the final key in her pocket as well.
“I can give this to Jihoo. Then I won’t need to get it made again separately for him, hehe.”
“·······?”
Anna doubted her own ears for a moment.
‘Is she going to give the remaining key to Jeong Ji-hoo? Why···? Did the two of them develop a relationship at the drinking party?’
Her dormitory should have been a private space where she lived and slept at night.
Didn’t giving the key to an outsider mean they could come in whenever they wished?
“...May I ask why...?”
“Huh? Why?”
“The reason why you will give the key to Jeong Ji-hoo...”
“Hmm?”
Ji-hye made an expression as if Anna was asking her a very strange question.
“Well, isn’t Ji-hoo the person I like? Doesn’t Ji-hoo have the right to all of my stuff? It’s only natural that Ji-hoo has the key to my room, no?”
As the girl spoke, Anna watched Ji-hye smiling bashfully, as if she was thinking of Ji-hoo while saying so.
Anna recalled that she also felt really scared of Jihye sometimes.
***
The tradition of the commoners’ dormitory- the drinking party for new students- started in the evening three days before the entrance ceremony and ended at dawn the next day.
For the two days remaining until the entrance ceremony, we commoner freshmen attended the academy orientations prepared by our seniors.
There we learned the academy’s structure, curriculum, and rules.
Commoner freshmen usually live without thinking about anything related to attributes, and then on the first day of the new year, they accidentally awaken and find themselves entering the academy.
This tradition seems to have arisen because their conditions are different from those of the aristocratic freshmen who can directly obtain information from their family and noble peers.
The point was, everyone was looking forward to the upcoming academy life.
And on the day of the entrance ceremony, in the main hall of the academy…
“Kant Voica~. Ah, ah.”
We were currently rehearsing for the entrance ceremony.
‘All these things are similar to the traditions back on Earth.’
It was almost like a high school entrance ceremony.
Even back there, I practiced countless times how to stand up and sit down, and when to clap.
But the entrance ceremony was ruined because of a broadcasting error.
That was not cool
Even now, just like on that day, under the podium, freshmen were lined up in rows of five and continued to sit and stand up.
I was standing on the podium.
There was a certificate of merit in my hand.
[Academy Admission: Best Practical Test Score: Jeong Jihoo ]
It was the test in which I had instantly killed twelve goblins from a far distance with magic spears.
At that time, I had not even taken ten steps, and the test time didn’t exceed 30 seconds.
Across from me, I could see a familiar face.
[Academy Admission: Best Written Test Score:
Amer Di Kairos]
As expected of the royal family, Amer received only the best education from an early age, and so she scored a perfect score on the written exam.
However, as [Beauty] Attribute was not suitable for battle, it appeared that her practical performance was not so good.
And in between me and Amer, and standing a few steps ahead of me was a man I did not know.
[Academy Admission: Overall Best Test Scores:
Nicholas Bondrania]
The Bondranian family: They were the losers of the eastern regions of the western continent during the era of the Five Powers before the founding of the Empire.
He is royalty.
His half-hidden eyes were fierce with white bangs hanging over them.
He was a classmate who exuded a savage and ferocious atmosphere.
However, I could feel the freshmen under the podium looking at me and whispering.
Unlike the noble and famous two, was it because I was a new face to them?
Was it because I was a summoned individual? Or did they just happen to watch my duel?
All of the above would probably apply.
We were not the only students on the podium.
More than 10 seniors were standing as if attached to the walls perpendicular to where we were looking.
The faces I knew of among them were 2nd Prince Dave Von Kairos and senior Ian standing on the right, and senior Adele Griff standing on the left.
I had a brief conversation with Adele at the academy banquet.
It was said that she, a blue-haired woman, would take the post of vice president of the academy’s policing department this year.
Finally, a faculty member retrieved the certificates and informed us of the order of the awards.
We would wait in front of the freshmen, and then when our names were called, we would have to go up to the podium, receive our certificates, and take the oath.
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