“Prince, why are you making such a strange bet without my permission? I wanted to keep studying here!”
“Yeah. So at first, I was the only one who wanted to quit, but you said you would join us.”
“I didn’t say it!”
“Is that so? If that’s the case, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t look sorry at all. What even worse—.
“You were planning on studying hard anyway, right? Don’t you? Let’s have fun and finish it off.”
Clarisse couldn’t ask anything more about that shameless behavior.
“What do you mean finish it?”
Clarisse muttered in despair, recalling the conversation she had had with the Duchess on the way here.
｢Perhaps… I might be able to make friends with the same goals.｣
In fact, when she said that, Clarisse’s heart was pounding with great anticipation.
Because she grew up almost exclusively among adults, she had very little experience hanging out with her peers.
However…
“From now on, we will study together every day. It sounds fun.”
“If you come across something you don’t know while studying, feel free to ask.”
Clarisse didn’t really feel like she would have a chance to make new friends.
* * *
A monastery was different from a school.
There was no such thing as a teacher or class here, and students had to continue their studies through their own self-study.
Nevertheless, there were three main reasons why many test takers came here to study.
An environment where they can focus only on studying.
Mock exams are held every month.
And it was possible to ask wise monks for answers to questions they didn’t know.
That was not a big deal for nobles who had tutors.
However, since ordinary families didn’t have the opportunity to be with these intellectuals, the monastery was like a dream just because there was an outlet to ask questions at any time.
Briefly, the monastery’s schedule was as follows.
Morning exercise and meal.
Self-study.
Lunch.
Self-study again.
Dinner.
Another self-study.
Sleep.
During self-study time, each test taker was free to study or rest, and monks didn’t intervene in their lives unless a major problem arose.
The morning after a day.
Clarisse woke up after hearing the bell and put on comfortable sportswear to participate in the morning exercise.
“It will be important to maintain the atmosphere as autonomy is high. More than anything…”
Clarisse thought about what Abington had said yesterday, that this was the only way to overcome the barrier of class.
In the monastery where people with deep earnestness gathered, Clarisse’s presence was definitely foreign.
“I understand.”
“Cooh!”
Mallang, who found a thick sock in her luggage that was not fully untied, ran with it covered on his head.
“Ah, thank you for finding it. Would you like to go to the morning exercise together?”
At Clarisse’s recommendation, Mallang gently shook its head.
“Cooh.”
“You don’t like it? Why? It’s a chance to look around the monastery.”
“Cooh.”
“From now on, you’re looking for talking stones in the monastery? Do you mean you’re going to make friends?”
“Cooh!”
Mallang was disgusted and shook its head.
“Cooh.”
“You’re going to visit every stone and warn them in advance not to bother me…”
Clarisse thought that if she didn’t listen to the stone’s story, it would be enough, but it seems that Mallang didn’t agree.
“I came here to study. There will be no time to listen to other stones’ requests.”
“Cooh.”
But Mallang didn’t believe her.
“Okay.”
When she thought about it, it seemed like a good idea to check if there was a special stone in case of an emergency.
“Instead, should you be careful not to be caught by others? The priests might faint in surprise when they see the stones walking around.”
“Cooh.”
“What do you mean they will think they saw it wrong?”
“Cooh.”
“Come here.”
Clarisse lifted Mallang up with her hand and kissed it on the top of its head.
So that her magic power would not run out while she was attending the monastery.
“Cooh.”
When she slightly opened the window that was said to have been twisted, Mallang escaped through the gap.
Clarisse, who was left alone, braided her long hair on both sides and quietly opened the door.
Other students who woke up early were walking down the stairs in pairs and threes.
From the looks of it, it looked like they had already picked out a close friend.
‘If I say hello first… will they accept it?’
Normally, Clarisse would rush forward, saying, ‘It’s a waste of time to worry,’ but among these unfamiliar peers, she somehow ended up faltering.
“Excuse me…”
She gained a little courage and tried to sneak up on a test taker who happened to be passing in front of her.
“….!”
However, somehow the test-taker was horrified and ran away from Clarisse.
‘Am I uncomfortable?’
Well, since something like that happened with the student representative, it could have been uncomfortable.
Clarisse put aside her goal of ‘making friends’ and headed towards the stairs alone.
At that moment, she saw a familiar figure in the central garden below the stairs.
It’s Valentine.
In fact, the only thing that looked hidden by the tree was the top of the head, but she was sure.
His blonde hair was so special; it sparkled so beautifully even when the slightest light hit it.
Valentine was talking with Abington, the student representative he had met yesterday.
‘No way, are they really fighting since morning again?’
Thinking so, Clarisse diligently went down to the first floor and went out into the garden.
Abington glared at her as if he had felt a presence.
“What is it?”
“I was just passing by and came because I saw you two.”
“From today onwards, do I have to ask for their permission to have conversations with other test takers?”
He grumbled at Clarisse, but kept glancing behind her. It was as if he was on guard to see if someone was following him.
“That’s not true, but even if we fight again…”
Clarisse, who was confidently answering, became speechless when she saw Valentine standing in front of her.
No, it wasn’t Valentine.
She misunderstood that the color of gold hair, but it was clearly different.
Above all, it was a woman who had long, cool hair.
“Ah.”
When she found out it wasn’t Valentine, Clarisse was embarrassed and apologized.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…That’s enough. Hey, we’ll talk again later, Eugenie.”
Abington shook his head and walked away.
Clarisse is now left alone with a blonde woman.
When she looked up, she was staring down at Clarisse with an emotionless face.
‘She’s a very beautiful person. And she’s tall…’
Clarisse decided to give her her apology first.
It was true that she had interrupted the conversation between her and Abington.
“That…”
The moment when it is difficult to open her mouth.
“I refuse.”
She spoke first.
“Yes?”
“It means I won’t accept your apology.”
“Ah… Oh, but I…”
“Apologizing when you did nothing wrong in the first place is so servile…”
Eugenie paused for a moment. It seemed like she was contemplating for a moment whether she could say something harsh (?) to Clarisse.
“I’m not a petty and crafty person, and I’m not servile.”
Clarisse quickly took over what she was saying.
“That’s why I don’t apologize unnecessarily. It’s true that I interrupted the conversation, right?”
“If I had to pick the one who interfered, it would be Abington. He’s such a brat.”
While Clarice was surprised by her cool swear words, she lightly nodded her head.
“Then, I will leave.”
“Ah, excuse me. I…”
“I know, Miss Grezekaia.”
“You may call me Clarisse. What about you?”
“No, I would prefer Miss Grezekaia. My name is Eugenie McLeod.”
After completing the introduction in an instant, she quickly returned to the other test takers.
At first glance, she noticed several of the test takers looking at her with admiration in their eyes. She seemed to be an excellent person in many ways.
Clarisse, feeling embarrassed for some reason, played with her braided hair and stood at the back of the line of test takers.
* * *
Abington Belleville reappeared in front of Eugenie McLeod after returning from morning exercise.
“Are you really not going to help me?”
“I refuse, you brat.”
He flinched for a moment at the curse, but Abington soon followed behind her.
“This is not a place for a rich lady to pursue her hobbies! Are you really going to leave it like this?”
Eugenie pretended not to hear him.
“You saw it in the morning, didn’t you? She’s flirting with a wizard and a prince on both sides. She must have come here without thinking? Do you think we should see the aristocratic dating in a monastery?”
“Even if that were the case, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Why doesn’t it matter? The atmosphere at the monastery has become chaotic, and overall grades are dropping!”
“Abington Belleville.”
“Are you really not going to cooperate? Are you really going to leave it like this? Are you saying that since you only get perfect scores every day, you don’t care about other people’s scores?”
Honestly, she wasn’t interested.
Eugenie felt that Abington would bother her even more if she answered like that, so she decided to say something else.
“…Why do you need my cooperation in the first place?”
His request was one.
He asks Eugenie to share her answers for the next test.
“You’re already getting good grades.”
“I just want to make sure. Anyway, that girl would have called a teacher for each subject and studied.”
“Even so, you know that it is difficult to get a good grade on the first exam when you have not even learned the sense of time allocation…”
Abington didn’t listen to Eugenie’s lengthy explanation until the end.
“Anyway, please tell me the answer at the test site! If you do that, everything will be solved.”
“….”
“Didn’t you say you wanted a scholarship? You said you had no money.”
“Why is that story coming out all of a sudden?”
“That’s, because I am the only test taker qualified to have an audience with Her Majesty the Queen. She always asks my opinion before selecting a scholarship student.”
“Prince, why are you making such a strange bet without my permission? I wanted to keep studying here!”
“Yeah. So at first, I was the only one who wanted to quit, but you said you would join us.”
“I didn’t say it!”
“Is that so? If that’s the case, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t look sorry at all. What even worse—.
“You were planning on studying hard anyway, right? Don’t you? Let’s have fun and finish it off.”
Clarisse couldn’t ask anything more about that shameless behavior.
“What do you mean finish it?”
Clarisse muttered in despair, recalling the conversation she had had with the Duchess on the way here.
｢Perhaps… I might be able to make friends with the same goals.｣
In fact, when she said that, Clarisse’s heart was pounding with great anticipation.
Because she grew up almost exclusively among adults, she had very little experience hanging out with her peers.
However…
“From now on, we will study together every day. It sounds fun.”
“If you come across something you don’t know while studying, feel free to ask.”
Clarisse didn’t really feel like she would have a chance to make new friends.
* * *
A monastery was different from a school.
There was no such thing as a teacher or class here, and students had to continue their studies through their own self-study.
Nevertheless, there were three main reasons why many test takers came here to study.
An environment where they can focus only on studying.
Mock exams are held every month.
And it was possible to ask wise monks for answers to questions they didn’t know.
That was not a big deal for nobles who had tutors.
However, since ordinary families didn’t have the opportunity to be with these intellectuals, the monastery was like a dream just because there was an outlet to ask questions at any time.
Briefly, the monastery’s schedule was as follows.
Morning exercise and meal.
Self-study.
Lunch.
Self-study again.
Dinner.
Another self-study.
Sleep.
During self-study time, each test taker was free to study or rest, and monks didn’t intervene in their lives unless a major problem arose.
The morning after a day.
Clarisse woke up after hearing the bell and put on comfortable sportswear to participate in the morning exercise.
“It will be important to maintain the atmosphere as autonomy is high. More than anything…”
Clarisse thought about what Abington had said yesterday, that this was the only way to overcome the barrier of class.
In the monastery where people with deep earnestness gathered, Clarisse’s presence was definitely foreign.
“I understand.”
“Cooh!”
Mallang, who found a thick sock in her luggage that was not fully untied, ran with it covered on his head.
“Ah, thank you for finding it. Would you like to go to the morning exercise together?”
At Clarisse’s recommendation, Mallang gently shook its head.
“Cooh.”
“You don’t like it? Why? It’s a chance to look around the monastery.”
“Cooh.”
“From now on, you’re looking for talking stones in the monastery? Do you mean you’re going to make friends?”
“Cooh!”
Mallang was disgusted and shook its head.
“Cooh.”
“You’re going to visit every stone and warn them in advance not to bother me…”
Clarisse thought that if she didn’t listen to the stone’s story, it would be enough, but it seems that Mallang didn’t agree.
“I came here to study. There will be no time to listen to other stones’ requests.”
“Cooh.”
But Mallang didn’t believe her.
“Okay.”
When she thought about it, it seemed like a good idea to check if there was a special stone in case of an emergency.
“Instead, should you be careful not to be caught by others? The priests might faint in surprise when they see the stones walking around.”
“Cooh.”
“What do you mean they will think they saw it wrong?”
“Cooh.”
“Come here.”
Clarisse lifted Mallang up with her hand and kissed it on the top of its head.
So that her magic power would not run out while she was attending the monastery.
“Cooh.”
When she slightly opened the window that was said to have been twisted, Mallang escaped through the gap.
Clarisse, who was left alone, braided her long hair on both sides and quietly opened the door.
Other students who woke up early were walking down the stairs in pairs and threes.
From the looks of it, it looked like they had already picked out a close friend.
‘If I say hello first… will they accept it?’
Normally, Clarisse would rush forward, saying, ‘It’s a waste of time to worry,’ but among these unfamiliar peers, she somehow ended up faltering.
“Excuse me…”
She gained a little courage and tried to sneak up on a test taker who happened to be passing in front of her.
“….!”
However, somehow the test-taker was horrified and ran away from Clarisse.
‘Am I uncomfortable?’
Well, since something like that happened with the student representative, it could have been uncomfortable.
Clarisse put aside her goal of ‘making friends’ and headed towards the stairs alone.
At that moment, she saw a familiar figure in the central garden below the stairs.
It’s Valentine.
In fact, the only thing that looked hidden by the tree was the top of the head, but she was sure.
His blonde hair was so special; it sparkled so beautifully even when the slightest light hit it.
Valentine was talking with Abington, the student representative he had met yesterday.
‘No way, are they really fighting since morning again?’
Thinking so, Clarisse diligently went down to the first floor and went out into the garden.
Abington glared at her as if he had felt a presence.
“What is it?”
“I was just passing by and came because I saw you two.”
“From today onwards, do I have to ask for their permission to have conversations with other test takers?”
He grumbled at Clarisse, but kept glancing behind her. It was as if he was on guard to see if someone was following him.
“That’s not true, but even if we fight again…”
Clarisse, who was confidently answering, became speechless when she saw Valentine standing in front of her.
No, it wasn’t Valentine.
She misunderstood that the color of gold hair, but it was clearly different.
Above all, it was a woman who had long, cool hair.
“Ah.”
When she found out it wasn’t Valentine, Clarisse was embarrassed and apologized.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…That’s enough. Hey, we’ll talk again later, Eugenie.”
Abington shook his head and walked away.
Clarisse is now left alone with a blonde woman.
When she looked up, she was staring down at Clarisse with an emotionless face.
‘She’s a very beautiful person. And she’s tall…’
Clarisse decided to give her her apology first.
It was true that she had interrupted the conversation between her and Abington.
“That…”
The moment when it is difficult to open her mouth.
“I refuse.”
She spoke first.
“Yes?”
“It means I won’t accept your apology.”
“Ah… Oh, but I…”
“Apologizing when you did nothing wrong in the first place is so servile…”
Eugenie paused for a moment. It seemed like she was contemplating for a moment whether she could say something harsh (?) to Clarisse.
“I’m not a petty and crafty person, and I’m not servile.”
Clarisse quickly took over what she was saying.
“That’s why I don’t apologize unnecessarily. It’s true that I interrupted the conversation, right?”
“If I had to pick the one who interfered, it would be Abington. He’s such a brat.”
While Clarice was surprised by her cool swear words, she lightly nodded her head.
“Then, I will leave.”
“Ah, excuse me. I…”
“I know, Miss Grezekaia.”
“You may call me Clarisse. What about you?”
“No, I would prefer Miss Grezekaia. My name is Eugenie McLeod.”
After completing the introduction in an instant, she quickly returned to the other test takers.
At first glance, she noticed several of the test takers looking at her with admiration in their eyes. She seemed to be an excellent person in many ways.
Clarisse, feeling embarrassed for some reason, played with her braided hair and stood at the back of the line of test takers.
* * *
Abington Belleville reappeared in front of Eugenie McLeod after returning from morning exercise.
“Are you really not going to help me?”
“I refuse, you brat.”
He flinched for a moment at the curse, but Abington soon followed behind her.
“This is not a place for a rich lady to pursue her hobbies! Are you really going to leave it like this?”
Eugenie pretended not to hear him.
“You saw it in the morning, didn’t you? She’s flirting with a wizard and a prince on both sides. She must have come here without thinking? Do you think we should see the aristocratic dating in a monastery?”
“Even if that were the case, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Why doesn’t it matter? The atmosphere at the monastery has become chaotic, and overall grades are dropping!”
“Abington Belleville.”
“Are you really not going to cooperate? Are you really going to leave it like this? Are you saying that since you only get perfect scores every day, you don’t care about other people’s scores?”
Honestly, she wasn’t interested.
Eugenie felt that Abington would bother her even more if she answered like that, so she decided to say something else.
“…Why do you need my cooperation in the first place?”
His request was one.
He asks Eugenie to share her answers for the next test.
“You’re already getting good grades.”
“I just want to make sure. Anyway, that girl would have called a teacher for each subject and studied.”
“Even so, you know that it is difficult to get a good grade on the first exam when you have not even learned the sense of time allocation…”
Abington didn’t listen to Eugenie’s lengthy explanation until the end.
“Anyway, please tell me the answer at the test site! If you do that, everything will be solved.”
“….”
“Didn’t you say you wanted a scholarship? You said you had no money.”
“Why is that story coming out all of a sudden?”
“That’s, because I am the only test taker qualified to have an audience with Her Majesty the Queen. She always asks my opinion before selecting a scholarship student.”
