‘Why isn’t she coming…? Is she really late?’

Being alone was boring—and waiting endlessly was just as tiresome.

‘Hmph.’

In the end, I rummaged through my wardrobe and started blowing up balloons.

Originally, I’d brought them for a different occasion.

But since they were mine anyway and I’d packed plenty, I figured I could spare a few for Linna.

‘She must really not want to come to the Academy. Maybe a warm welcome will make her feel better?’

Thinking that, I carefully wrote a “Welcome” sign, even if the letters came out a little crooked, and stuck it to the wall.

‘Was it Antata? Or Theol?’

The spelling of those two syllables confused me until the end. In the end, I had to secretly look them up in the dictionary.

I also cut colored paper into flower shapes and stuck them to the floor.

After that, I went back upstairs, finished dinner, stepped out briefly to run an errand, and by the time night had fully settled in—

At last, a cautious knock came at the door.

I shot up like lightning and flung the door open.

“Wow, welcome! I’ve been waiting!”

I must’ve waited too long, because my voice came out a bit too excited.

“Linna, let’s be frie—mm?”

I was smiling brightly and greeting her warmly, but then I frowned.

“……Mm?”

The person standing in front of me couldn’t possibly be Linna Idra.

Pale sky-blue hair, eyes the color of a lake. And… boy’s clothes.

“Ah.”

The neatly-dressed boy looked flustered as he spoke.

“Sorry. I’m not Linna Idra…”

“Mm, yeah, I figured.”

I quickly straightened my posture, then blinked and asked,

“So who are you, exactly, and why are you barging into a girl’s dorm with no introduction?”

“Uh… I didn’t just barge in. I’m the class representative… I came to deliver an announcement.”

“Oh, so you came because you’re in a position of power. Makes sense. So what’s the announcement?”

I asked calmly, and the boy, eyeing me curiously, replied kindly.

“Linna Idra won’t be joining this class. So, you’ll be using the room alone.”

“…Ah, really?”

I couldn’t hide my expression as it soured in an instant.

Alone? Alone?!

Even here I don’t get a roommate?

As the corners of my mouth drooped, the boy tilted his head and asked,

“Why that face?”

“Hmm?”

“Isn’t it good that you don’t have to share a room with Linna?”

At that, I slowly opened my mouth and made a shocked face. Then I asked in a drawn-out voice,

“Ah… Was Linna some kind of psycho murderer? Did I just innocently overlook a critical red flag?”

“Ah, no… That’s not it…”

The boy laughed awkwardly and waved his hand.

“I just figured… it might be hard for the Count Noart’s young lady and the Idra duchess’s daughter to get along.”

He glanced around the room, at the balloons and the crooked “Welcome” card, and shrugged.

“Didn’t see this coming, though.”

“And why’d you assume we wouldn’t get along?”

“Well, there are various political complications…”

“I see. But I believe a child’s social development shouldn’t be hindered by adult political agendas.”

“Uh, yeah, well… that’s… You talk really weirdly well, you know that?”

He laughed, flustered. Then he glanced around the room again and waved.

“Well, I’ve got to go deliver other announcements… I’ll see you.”

The class rep’s smile was surprisingly gentle. I grabbed his arm for a moment.

“Wait.”

“Hm?”

Then I blinked and slowly asked,

“But why you? Why are you the class rep?”

“Huh?”

“Why you?”

“Ah, that’s….”

The boy smiled with dimples showing and answered kindly.

“Apparently, out of the earliest confirmed enrollees, I came from the best family. So, I ended up in the position.”

“Hmph, I see… That’s neither democratic nor particularly rational. Well, okay. Got it. See you.”

I waved lightly, and the boy smiled again before finally closing the door and leaving.

‘Ah!’

Only after he was completely gone did I click my tongue in regret.

‘I forgot to ask his name!’

I’d been too surprised by the “class rep” part and forgot entirely to ask his name.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“You were the class rep, Zahid? Seriously?”

“Yeah. It was such a pain in the ass I thought I’d die.”

“Then why’d you even take the job?”

“The original rep got seriously injured on the first day…”

Yawning, I flopped onto my bed.

‘Well… at least this one won’t be getting hurt today.’

Because right after dinner, I’d already done the prep work to make sure that rep wouldn’t get injured.

* * *

That same evening, in the Academy’s instructor office.

“Whew…”

While the instructors were all out for dinner,

Yuta quietly slipped into the empty office.

“I’m not planning to tamper with grades or anything…”

What he quickly pulled from a desk drawer were the entrance exams taken earlier that day by the new students.

“But still, I get anxious.”

In his other hand was a dictionary.

Yuta found the test sheet labeled ‘Rosie Noart’ and swiftly skimmed through it.

To be precise, he wasn’t reading the answers—he was checking the spelling.

“Here it is. Mm… Right.”

Rosie had written “Theol” instead of “Antata” on two out of ten instances.

Yuta glanced at the dictionary once, then corrected the curve of the “Antata” characters to read “Theol.”

“Hmph, better than me…? Only two wrong? When I was twelve, I couldn’t even read.”

He quickly returned the test sheet to its original place.

Then, Yuta locked the office again and returned to where the instructors were dining.

All the instructors were deep in conversation about the entrance exams.

“Isn’t the entrance test usually what determines the final ranking? There’s rarely any surprises, right?”

“Who do you think ranked first? Probably Ray Lavendal, right?”

“It won’t be Zahid Dyfenril, I bet. I heard he didn’t get any formal education after what happened to his parents.”

Yuta blended in naturally as he began eating. Someone pointed at him and chuckled.

“Ah, back in our day, Yuta was the undisputed top scorer. His test was hilarious.”

“What? Why?”

“The answers were perfect, but the spelling mistakes were insane. How is that even possible? Even commoners pick up reading easily these days.”

At that, Yuta let out a quiet sigh and set his fork [N O V E L I G H T] down. Then, putting on a serious expression, he said,

“Ah… The time has come to reveal my long-held secret.”

All eyes turned to him. Yuta smiled innocently, as if he were completely sincere.

“I made those mistakes on purpose. To seem more human to the graders. You know that thrill when they get to mark something wrong?”

The tension at the table vanished in an instant. The instructors burst into laughter.

“Oh, come on. More nonsense again.”

“Yeah, Yuta really does lack any actual human flaws.”

The topic shifted smoothly, and soon the instructors were chatting about something else.

* * *

The next morning.

“Lady Rosie!”

Heidi came to help me get dressed.

“Did you hear? My goodness…”

I rubbed my eyes, yawning, as Heidi began chattering.

“They say the east wing collapsed from an earthquake! Can something like that really happen at the Academy?”

“An earthquake?”

“Yes! Apparently the anti-quake spells failed temporarily!”

Heidi huffed through her nose in frustration.

“It’s not like the Academy’s short on money. Why is the maintenance so awful?”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Thankfully no. It happened during dinner, and all the students were in the dorms.”

As Heidi kept chattering, she fixed my hair.

“Oh! I think one student was in there, but they managed to get out in time. Talk about lucky.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled faintly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep