HTSA CH 11

Chapter 11

Eventually, the other nobles would have no choice but to accept Roshia.

The status of being the Blanche Family’s young lady wasn’t something that could be easily dismissed.

The children gathered around Roshia began scattering the moment Freya stepped forward.

“Don’t overwhelm her all at once. You might make Roshia uncomfortable.”

The noisy classroom quickly quieted down. Freya approached Roshia with a friendly smile. Seeing her now, one would never guess she’d been so hostile toward Eila moments earlier.

“Hello, Roshia! This is our first meeting, right?”

“Ah, are you Freya?”

“You know about me?”

“Mmm. Father told me to get along with you.”

A bright smile bloomed across Freya’s face as she immediately linked arms with Roshia.

“How perfect. My parents said the same thing—that I should learn much from you since your magical abilities are exceptional.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Freya.”

“My, but your smile is truly adorable.”

Roshia’s cheeks flushed red as she shyly lowered her head. Then she subtly glanced toward Eila.

When their eyes met, Roshia’s eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled.

Eila thought to herself:

‘That smile is meant for me, isn’t it?’

Had this been the ignorant Eila of before, that smile would have cut deep.

My family. My friends.

Who wouldn’t feel anger seeing the person who stole everything from them wearing a victor’s smile?

But far from showing displeasure, Eila met her gaze and smiled back.

Roshia felt irritated by Eila’s reaction. When someone deliberately provokes you and you show no response, it’s natural to feel frustrated.

Eila reflected inwardly:

‘In the original story, I tried desperately to please Freya and Roshia.’

She had done her utmost to adapt to academy life as a commoner, even acting somewhat servilely toward Freya, who had once been her friend.

‘But no matter what I did, Freya tormented me.’

On the surface, it was because Eila had “stolen” Roshia’s childhood that should have been Freya’s friend. But the truth was different—Freya took pleasure in bullying Eila while reminiscing about the days when she had to curry favor with the Blanche Family’s young lady.

‘Well, what more reason does one need? People don’t require grand justifications to torment others—it just reveals their own limitations.’

As Roshia adapted to the academy and grew closer with Freya, they would likely begin bullying Eila openly. But Eila felt no fear whatsoever.

Having read the original story, she knew exactly who to make her allies and how to act.

Eila shrugged nonchalantly and began calmly preparing for class. Watching her indifferent reaction, Roshia’s expression gradually hardened.

Class passed more peacefully than expected.

Roshia demonstrated her exceptional abilities, proving she was the true daughter worthy of the Blanche name, while students watched her with sparkling eyes.

Normally at this point, everyone would have been openly ignoring Eila. But perhaps because of their earlier confrontation, while they treated her as if invisible, no one dared mock her to her face.

The moment the long bell rang, Eila rose from her seat. She needed to execute her plans before others turned their attention to her.

‘I need to meet him.’

To graduate safely from Riod Academy, Eila needed to build her own support network.

‘The enemy of my enemy is my greatest ally.’

With a tense expression, Eila headed to the infirmary—where an important figure she needed to recruit was waiting.

Felix, the academy’s official outcast despite his exceptional swordsmanship skills.

Eila cautiously entered the lavishly decorated infirmary (as befitted an academy with exorbitant tuition fees), where pained groans could be heard.

“Ughh…”

Turning slowly, she glimpsed a boy with striking silver hair through the semi-transparent curtains.

A sigh escaped her lips immediately. With his disheveled hair and round glasses covering half his face, he was the very cliché of a nerd.

This was Felix, the lost son of Duke Azennta, one year Eila’s junior in the swordsmanship department.

‘No way someone like him is just an extra. Take off those glasses and he’d be incredibly handsome.’

At this time, Felix suffered severe bullying at the academy because, like Eila, he had Mana Insensitivity Syndrome—unable to use mana.

‘Yet even then, Felix never bowed to the nobles.’

Felix overwhelmingly surpassed nobles in basic physical training and non-mana sword sparring. His rigid refusal to flatter anyone only worsened the bullying.

“How dare a mana-deaf commoner score higher than us?”
“He’ll remain a commoner anyway.”
“With that lowly status and ability, he’ll never become a proper knight. Why even worry?”

Eila knew the truth—they feared Felix’s talent, aware that if he ever awakened mana, he’d surpass them all.

As they predicted, Felix would eventually overcome his Mana Insensitivity in the distant future.

‘Thanks to my research notes being found after my death.’

In the original story, Eila strove desperately to overcome Mana Insensitivity despite being a commoner. Though unable to sense mana, her intellect was exceptional, and through her efforts, she discovered a cure.

‘But she couldn’t complete the treatment.’

Because the required herb was extremely rare. Only after her death was it revealed to grow in Duke Azennta’s territory.

This was why Eila planned to make a contract with Felix—to restore what he deserved faster, while gaining his support in return.

“Eila Blanche?”

Eila sighed inwardly. ‘Even Felix knows me. Well, I suppose everyone does.’

The pitiful girl who fell from nobility to commoner—no one at Riod Academy could ignore such sensational news.

She extended her hand.

“Just Eila. I was discarded by the Blanche Family.”

Felix only stared sharply at her offered hand before asking in a prickly voice:

“What scheme is this?”

“Nothing much.”

Eila smiled faintly as she continued:

“How about entering a contract relationship with me?”

At her words, the wariness on Felix’s face intensified.

As morning classes ended, Kadin headed to the academy gardens.

Sitting blankly, he gazed at the entrance where greenery was fading, as if waiting for someone.

‘By now, Eila must realize how hard it is to attend the academy as a commoner.’