The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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In front of me, my younger self and my mother were sitting in a gazebo over a foggy lake, having a conversation.

“Yep, it’s a dream.”

I didn’t really feel like waking up. My only best friend wouldn’t dare betray me, and even though it was a dream, I was able to see my mother’s face.

Sure, we often communicated through my diary, but seeing her directly was different. With some distance between us, I decided to walk toward them.

Maybe because it was a dream, I could walk on water without any prayer. I wondered if that was alright, but hey, it’s my dream, so who cares.

Sliding over the water like I was skating was amusing, and I strayed off the path for a moment, but soon enough I arrived at the gazebo where my mother and I were.

“My child, I want to ask you something. What do you think life is?”

“…What is life…?”

I didn’t stutter, but my lack of fluency suggested I was probably around 13 years old. Or maybe just about that age.

I had spent almost four years focusing on correcting my speech. Back then it was tedious, but now I understood that my father loved me enough to teach me diligently, so I didn’t think much of it.

…Still, I didn’t want to go back. Repeating my father’s words like a parrot and needing to give correct answers to unexpected questions was exhausting.

“Ugh…”

My mother always asked difficult questions whenever it was just the two of us.

For example, can humans live without gods? Is it right to sacrifice a few to save the many? Is aging truly the way of all living things? And many more.

At first, I struggled to come up with a decent answer whenever she asked such questions, but at some point, I just wanted to run away saying, “I don’t know about those things!”

I didn’t dislike my mother; I just hated the complicated matters. Plus, I wasn’t smart enough to answer them.

But I couldn’t recall ever being asked about the meaning of life like I was now. This felt too detailed to be just a dream.

“…Life is, um, something that is very precious and, um, valuable…?”

And that’s the best answer I could come up with? Mother would not be satisfied with such a cliché.

As expected, mother didn’t seem pleased either and mulled over my childish reply.

“Something that is very precious and valuable.”

After repeating that, she made a hand gesture. Then something began to materialize from thin air.

It was a skeleton. A skeleton of a fish, to be exact. Soon veins, a heart, internal organs, muscles, and skin were layered over the bones one by one.

That fish was definitely alive and moving. When she gestured again, the fish that had been floating in the air plopped into the water and disappeared.

“Then, is my gesture that creates life, precious and valuable?”

“Uh…?”

I know now that my mother was a great person, but I didn’t grasp that when I was younger. So all I could do was stare blankly.

By the way, this scene felt like something I’d seen before. It was too detailed to pass off as a mere dream.

…Oh, right. This wasn’t a dream; it was a memory. I don’t know why it came to mind now, but it was a memory I had forgotten for some reason.

“Uh, well, of course, you are precious too, but… um… isn’t the preciousness of life… a different kind or something?”

The child me was pale with shock. If I was this shocked, I should have remembered this, so why did I forget?

“You think so? Then I want to ask you one more thing. What do you think a human is?”

“Uh…?”

My mother smiled playfully and raised her hand. The younger me was so overwhelmed by the shock that I fainted right there.

“It seems I’ve gone too far with the jokes. Yes, forget about today. In due time, you’ll remember.”

After propping my fainted head on her lap and petting my head, I realized the whole situation.

She must have erased it from my memory to prevent it from becoming a trauma. In fact, when she raised her hand just now, I thought she might actually create a human, which startled me.

Seeing that would probably shock me even now. While I quietly trembled at the thought of imagining such a thing that wasn’t even real, I felt something strange.

My mother was looking right at me.

…Huh? How?

This was my mother in a memory, so how could she see me?

“…And my child who’s listening from there, you should think about it too. What is a human?”

I was still frozen in shock, but my mother continued speaking.

“Hurry along now. You need to finish what you were doing properly, don’t you?”

How does she know that? I tried to move my mouth, but my body wouldn’t budge. More than that, how could she tell me to keep an eye on Dokan?

None of it made sense. However, I could definitely hear Dokan’s voice tickling my ear.

That voice saying “Exipri”.

– – – –

“Why do I have to take remedial classes!”

“Good question, everyone. It’s because monsters don’t avoid girls. No, let me correct that. They target girls first. So you boys need to work twice as hard, right?”

Exipri, who was desperately trying to avoid remedial classes, couldn’t escape as Georg placed her into the remedial class without a second thought.

Even if he called it a remedial class, it was just the two of us. But I was focused on magic, so we didn’t have any overlap.

“Now, now, don’t be too disheartened, Lady Exipri. The professor surely has his deep intentions.”

Though I highly doubted that. In reality, a simple treat could raise affection points, so this wasn’t necessary.

Still, it was better than nothing.

Since Ho-yeon was asleep, there seemed to be no need to watch what I said.

Perhaps having no friends was her sore spot, as after I said that, she didn’t utter a single word.

I pondered if I should apologize for seemingly upsetting her, but I figured it could backfire if I spoke to her while she was angry, so I refrained.

She seemed simple yet troublesome as well. Perhaps, seeing others mingle would make her sulky again.

I wouldn’t know the truth until she told me.

“Ugh… I guess so…?”

“Yes, of course.”

Just by adjusting my mood a bit, I saw her brighten up quickly, which solidified my thought that she was much easier than Ho-yeon.

Ho-yeon was easy too, but only when you added the friend aspect. It seemed she hadn’t really had any friends at all.

Well, I mean, how could a child born between an emperor and something transcendent have someone to treat her normally?

That’s why it made sense that she was so happy about having made a friend, and now it was clear that her precious first friend had touched a nerve, explaining her anger.

Until I fell into the story, I’d been in contact with my first friend too.

Once her anger eased, I planned to sincerely apologize.

So as I kept it casual with Exipri, it was adorable watching her struggle and say she’d skip this workout.

Today’s special training was in the gym without using a void space.

She was dodging the illusions of beasts while running around, and I was just tasked with dealing with the magic Georg shot at me—quite a simple class.

During actual lessons, he would be ruthless, so I worried about what he might do in remedial classes, but it turned out to be easier than I expected.

The magic shot at me was just simple barriers that I could easily block or dispel with opposing attributes.

Well, during the first class, it just took a long time; in reality, it was just a measured evaluation. This class seemed to gauge our magical proficiency.

While I was thinking that and breezing through the lesson, I suddenly felt an overwhelming stare on the back of my head. No way, I turned around, only to find Ho-yeon watching me.

…Since when?

If she had just woken up, she wouldn’t have been glaring like that. So she must have seen me mingling with Exipri.

The question was, how long had she been watching?

If she had seen me call Exipri’s name for the first time, I’d be in even deeper trouble.

So she really had followed me here because she couldn’t stand seeing me talk to someone, huh? Just as I pondered, I got hit by a magic blast for being distracted.

“Where are you spaced out, Han Dogon?”

“Sorry.”

I felt like I had just been smacked hard on the back of the head.

It wouldn’t matter what I did to Georg; I had to crawl on the floor. Since coming to the academy, it felt like my life had just been crawling nonstop.

“Ah, I see. It’s because of that girl over there, isn’t it?”

“How do you…?”

Did you catch on?

Before I could even ask, he said what he wanted.

“Go to her. She’s waiting for you. That’s enough for today.”

He doesn’t seem like the type to do that. I couldn’t believe a person who saw everyone but himself as trash would care about someone else.

That aside…

Right now, I need to head over and apologize to the incredibly angry her.