TMM 5

“Even if she were to pass the entrance examination through the power of money, Mariabelle’s current academic ability would make graduation difficult. That’s why, when we entered her into the noble registry, we made her one year younger than Alicia.”

Thomas’s words struck Alicia with fresh shock.

(The same age… Mariabelle and I are the same age?)

“But in truth, I was born a month earlier, so that would make me Alicia’s elder sister, wouldn’t it? Really, I should be the rightful heir of this house.”

“That’s true enough, but those senile fools in the Volt County territory are a nuisance. It can’t be helped,” Thomas replied with evident irritation.

“Even so, Thomas, I’m opposed to that girl living in the dormitory.”

“Father, if my sister enters the dorms, won’t His Highness stop visiting this house? That would make me terribly lonely.”

Deborah’s displeasure and Mariabelle’s plaintive voice reached Alicia’s ears.

“Don’t worry. We’ll continue to hold tea gatherings here, and I’ll take Mariabelle to the palace. While we’re there, I’ll make sure she meets Prince Joshua.”

Still, Deborah and Mariabelle seemed unsatisfied.

“Thomas, at least stop her from entering the dormitory,” Deborah insisted sharply.

Their argument dragged on, but Alicia no longer had the strength to keep listening. She quietly returned to her room.

There was nothing in this house that she could call her own, nothing she could decide freely.

A week later, at Thomas’s firm insistence, Alicia’s move into the academy dormitory was finalized.

Though she had enrolled in the academy, Alicia was given no freedom to choose her own path.

She strongly resembled her late mother Jessica and possessed great magical power. She had wished to enroll in the magic department, yet because she was receiving queenly education, she was placed instead in the general course, attended by young ladies and gentlemen of society.

Joshua, to her surprise, had chosen the Magic Knight course.

Alicia only learned of this two months into her academy life.

“I assumed you would pursue politics,” she said to him over lunch in the academy cafeteria.

The cafeteria was the dining hall where noble students gathered at midday, and Alicia took her meals there every day.

Since enrolling, the two of them had begun to dine together.

Only when their schedules aligned, of course, at most once a week.

The curricula of the general course and the Magic Knight course were entirely different.

Even so, those moments were precious to Alicia.

“I’ve studied politics and finance at the palace since childhood. I already handle practical affairs as well. There’s no need to learn them again at the academy.”

Raised from birth as the future king, bound by countless obligations, Joshua nevertheless seemed to Alicia to be enjoying a rare freedom here at the academy. Perhaps it was only her imagination.

Their conversation lapsed into silence.

Alicia wished to hear more, but Joshua said nothing further, and she could not bring herself to press him.

She was still timid, still poor with words.

Unable to expand the conversation, she remained ignorant of what Joshua liked and disliked.

That frustrated her.

“And how about you, Lady Alicia? Are your studies difficult?”

At those words, disappointment washed over her.

Had Joshua known her at all, he would never have asked such a question.

She ranked first in the general course. Surely, he had little interest in her to begin with.

Fighting the urge to lower her gaze, Alicia forced a gentle smile.

“I’m enjoying my studies.”

“You have queenly training as well, and we’re both busy, but let us continue to do our best for the sake of the kingdom.”

Once again, their conversation failed to flourish.

Joshua sometimes smiled when speaking with Mariabelle, yet he had never once smiled before Alicia.

His expression was always stern.

Once the meal ended, Joshua rose immediately, joining his classmates or preparing for his next lecture.

Even so, the simple fact that Mariabelle was not here brought Alicia a sense of peace.

Another blessing of academy life was that her friends had returned to her.

As though Mariabelle had never existed, they now spent their time with Alicia once more.

Her academic excellence and her status as Joshua’s fiancée earned her the favor of the academy’s instructors, and she felt relieved that she was no longer isolated.

Still, she could not fully abandon her longing for magic. Whenever she had free time, Alicia visited the academy library and studied magic on her own.

Though the general course included magical subjects, they were no more than common knowledge, never delving into specialized study.

Etiquette lessons, too, were largely a repetition of what she had already learned during her queenly education, leaving her somewhat bored.

She also learned that her mother Jessica had once studied in the magic department here.

“…I envy it. I wanted to study magic.”

She murmured to herself, absorbed in the pages of a spellbook.

—Somewhat dull, yet peaceful, her academy life passed swiftly, and a full year slipped by in the blink of an eye.