NOVEL NEXT chapter 42 - School opening (2)
In my previous life, there was a saying.
“The important thing is an unbreakable spirit.”
Thinking about how that saying became popular, it meant that if your spirit truly does not break, you can accomplish anything.
“So, then, you have no regrets now.”
Put another way, if your spirit breaks, even what could have been done becomes impossible.
Lorellya senior’s love life has now come to an end!
Because she herself cleanly gave up!
“Well, there never really was love to begin with. I hardly had any lingering feelings for anyone else anyway.”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, she was just a fiancé for an arranged marriage.
I had forgotten that while watching that blazing, burning unrequited love right next to her.
“To be honest, when I was defeated by force, I tried a little harder. But just because I witnessed it, I never imagined someone would single-handedly reform the Holy Nation. Never in my wildest dreams.”
There was no hint of wistfulness in senior’s chuckle when she said she gave up on her fiancé.
It was a smile that seemed genuinely joyful.
“To see injustice and not back down... that’s truly saintly, isn’t it?”
“That’s not it.”
“…Is it not?”
Lorellya senior looked at me awkwardly after my blunt reply.
“Yes.”
No matter how senior she is, what’s not is not.
Unless she was a hero, what could a saint do by refusing to back down at injustice?
“It’s Daisy who’s weird. Normally, saints can’t do those kinds of things.”
Actually, I thought being a saint meant being someone who also served as a hero—a person with extraordinary talent—so while I was in the kingdom, I gathered all the information I could find on saints throughout history.
Here, I had to dig everything myself, but in the kingdom, if I made a request to the education bureau, they would organize it automatically.
And I was able to confirm.
Originally, the saint position I knew was correct.
There were occasionally saints talented in swordsmanship or magic.
But in history, there was no one like Daisy, who wielded an insanely powerful sword of light to judge the wicked.
“That’s… true.”
Senior seemed to want to argue but couldn’t come up with a rebuttal despite struggling for a while.
“Anyway. Privately, I acknowledged Daisy. Publicly, I’ve given up the fight.”
Lorellya senior mumbled, her lips slightly pouting as if displeased, but what she said carried weight.
“Saying you gave up publicly is a bit surprising.”
It wasn’t just that senior gave up—her entire family gave up.
The Jayka family, senior’s clan, seemed to have invested heavily in Prince Esid.
And now they were saying they’d abandon all that?
“They valued the saint’s worth more. Rather than fighting the saint with Prince Esid, it’s better to support both and take whatever can be gained.”
Is this the dignity of a great house?
From the outside, it was clear the investments were considerable.
No matter how distant Prince Esid was from becoming the next emperor, they casually ignored the sunk costs and looked to the future.
“Well, they won’t break the engagement. For now, senior will remain the fiancé.”
“Huh? Why?”
The moment I heard senior say she gave up, the fire user who was half out of it suddenly came to her senses.
Or maybe she was still half out of it?
Asking such an obvious question.
“There’s no need to take a loss unnecessarily.”
“That’s right.”
If the Jayka family declared the breakup, they’d lose all they invested so far.
But if Prince Esid declared the breakup, they could recover some of their investment.
It’s not because there’s a problem with Lorellya senior that they break off the engagement.
It’s because Prince Esid’s eyes turn to another woman and he declares the breakup.
Of course, normally, rumors of losing to another woman might spread through society.
But Daisy now is like a natural disaster—everyone would acknowledge that.
“But there’s a bigger problem, senior.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Will Daisy choose Prince Esid?”
There was doubt in Lorellya senior’s large eyes.
It was only natural.
Though a bit distant from the succession, he was imperial royalty.
There hadn’t been any succession battles like the ancient empire where brothers killed each other.
Once the next emperor was decided, the remaining brothers would leave the royal family and join suitable houses.
And the new emperor would share appropriate power and authority with them.
To obtain that, even the Jayka Duke’s family aimed for Prince Esid. Royalty was a sweet fruit.
There was no way Daisy, a simple daughter of a minor baron family from the outskirts, would refuse.
That was the normal assumption, but…
“I don’t think Daisy will.”
The counterpart was the romance fantasy heroine.
If she chose a lover just based on status, Boradori wouldn’t have seen that mess.
“Uh, well then.”
“Senior will have a long engagement life, huh.”
“......”
Lorellya senior closed her mouth.
She seemed to realize there was a dating ban until Prince Esid’s romance succeeded.
“…Prince. How’s your love life?”
That’s why I asked a spy I had bribed for information.
“Just messing around.”
I handed over the information I knew exactly as it was.
Fortunately, the members of the imperial academy’s love alliance remained unchanged.
Only Lorellya senior’s position, the love party herself, had changed.
“I’ll help Prince Esid and junior Mari with their romance.”
She had taken the same support position as me.
“Se-senior...”
Moved, the fire user hugged Lorellya senior, who said:
“It’s also helpful to me. Usually, noble daughters who enter the academy marry late... but usually have partners before then.”
If Prince Esid didn’t break off the engagement before graduating from the academy, Lorellya senior would have to choose one of the three.
Either give up on the investment made in Prince Esid,
or give up on romance,
or else...
“If nothing comes of it, just get married as # Nоvеlight # is, right?”
They could hold on and aim for marriage as is.
“As I said earlier, I gave up the engagement. If I break it off, I’ll declare it. I won’t just wait opportunistically.”
At that firm voice, I nodded.
“Then you’re an enemy.”
“Enemy?”
“I’m pushing for the young swordsman.”
“Ho...”
Confidently revealing my pick, Lorellya senior laughed as if amused.
“There are rumors that Aslan junior, called the young swordsman, is a good person. But compared to the empire’s prince, he can’t win.”
“In that case, if my dark horse wins, no one can deny it’s a perfect victory.”
“Interesting. But it’ll be hard to beat the Jayka family’s support in the empire.”
“I’ve been steadily preparing.”
Though the variable existed that there were surprisingly many singles, I had already arranged for education officials to prepare the young swordsman’s romance route before summer vacation began.
If we push him through various event timings starting second semester,
even if it’s difficult to pair Aslan with Daisy, I was confident I could raise his affection by about 20%.
“Interesting.”
At my confidence, Lorellya senior’s smile was full of fighting spirit.
Come to think of it, she’d been fired up with competitive spirit regarding Daisy since the first time I saw her.
“You’re more combative than rumors say.”
“I avoid fights I can avoid. But if I have to fight, I want to win.”
Despite that, it seemed she fought every time.
“That’s right. If I fight, I want to win.”
“Exactly. So... our junior Mari has to win too, right?”
Ugh.
“She looks hopeless, doesn’t she?”
At my words, the fire user hung her head low.
She knew it too.
“…Is it that bad?”
Lorellya senior frowned.
“She just lacks confidence to step up.”
“Last time she bravely challenged Daisy.”
“She lost.”
“I lost too.”
Well, considering the opponent was Daisy, it was understandable.
“So I told her to go after the guy, but she’s not moving.”
But if she can’t beat Daisy,
all she has to do is direct attack the magic user prince.
The problem was our fire user couldn’t do that.
“Hm. Freezing up in front of the one you like. Honestly, I don’t get it. If you like someone, can’t you just say you like them?”
Lorellya senior looked at the fire user as if she couldn’t understand either.
The fire user’s head dropped even lower.
She might bash her head on the floor soon.
“By the way, you speak so confidently about an engagement without love.”
“Is that so?”
“Senior, be honest. You’ve never dated, right?”
“I was engaged to the royal family since I was seven. How could I date?”
No wonder.
“I admit it.”
“Well, even if that weren’t the case, it’s still hard to imagine dating.”
“Aren’t you popular?”
Even Boradori praised her highly, so there must be many people around her.
Otherwise, given her status, it was inevitable she had many followers.
“I’m popular. But most of them want to marry into our family.”
“That’s popularity too.”
“Hmm. It’s strange to say this when you’re in an arranged marriage. But if I’m going to date, I want someone who truly loves me, not because of status.”
“You’re quite girly.”
“Don’t you see? I really am a girl.”
She smiled lightly, grabbed her skirt’s hem, and twirled gracefully for no reason.
Is this the noble daughter of the empire’s top noble family?
“I admit it.”
Around us were only the wild Princess Hestia, senior Lucia who’d quit, and Daisy, who would probably beat modern-day Violet in hand-to-hand combat, so I had no choice but to acknowledge such a perfect noble daughter skill set.
“Well then, Lorellya junior senior.”
“Yes, Adam junior.”
“First, please remodel our fire user who can’t even do anything but fire blasts.”
“Right. No, before that, that term ‘fire user’ is a bit much. Don’t you want to change it?”
If senior said so, it was worth changing.
“She can’t do anything besides fire blasts.”
“Ugh!”
The fire user glared at me as if offended.
“If you’re frustrated, try succeeding in love.”
“You can’t either!”
“I’m not unable, I just don’t try.”
Who said it?
In love, the first to fall is the loser.
I hadn’t fallen for anyone like the fire user.
Therefore, I was invincible.
And exactly three days later—
“She’s my girlfriend.”
With Daisy awkwardly linking arms and saying that—
“......”
“......”
I was able to prove it to Lorellya senior and the fire user.
…Damn.