‘Pfft! What is that?’

‘Did she really come wearing that?’

‘Oh dear.’

‘Heh.’

‘Miss Camilla is surprisingly naive.’

‘Why are you like that? It suits her. Our Petro really likes that kind of thing.’

I remember it as the day of the freshman welcome party.

Elisha, saying she was happy we would be attending the Academy together, sent me a gift. A hair ornament.

The problem was that the floral ornament was unbearably tacky. It was so big it took up half my head, and the colors and design were nothing but crude.

Jewels dangled here and there, but that only drove it to the height of gaudiness.

After the note that she had designed it herself, Elisha added one more line.

She said her brother loved ornaments like this, and that she would like Camilla to wear it to the freshman welcome party.

In the end, Camilla attended the party wearing Elisha’s gift, and of course people laughed.

Elisha and her friends, the ones who had given the gift, openly enjoyed the sight.

‘Camilla Sorpel, you silly know-it-all.’

Camilla knew Elisha’s scheme too. She might lack fashion sense, but she wasn’t that stupid.

Even so, there was one reason she let herself fall for the shallow ploy.

Because she—Elisha—was Petro’s sister. Because she didn’t want to be at odds with her.

Because she knew too well what Elisha would do the moment she refused that playful “favor.”

‘But what now?’

Now it doesn’t matter at all.

Camilla looked around at the people circling her and let out a thin laugh.

With no intention anymore of getting closer to Petro, she was only curious what Elisha would try.

“Camilla, I heard you took first in the midterms this time. Congratulations.”

“Right. Thank you.”

“You’re amazing. How did you get a score like that?”

“We were all shocked. Honestly, Camilla’s grades have been a bit... so some strange rumor started going around.”

Ah, so that’s how they’re going to push it.

Catching on, Camilla forced down the corners of her mouth that wanted to rise.

“A rumor?”

“Oh my, you didn’t hear?”

“What is it?”

“They say there was cheating on the midterms.”

“Heavens! Who would do that!”

You did, you.

Camilla barely kept herself from snorting as she watched Elisha and her friends put on their pathetic little act.

‘That’s what you call acting?’

In front of a camera, they’d rack up dozens of NGs.

‘They’re weaker than I thought.’

Well, if it were the old Camilla, this much would have been enough. She would have suffered alone without saying a word to Elisha.

“Right.”

But I’m not her.

“You girls should at least cheat a little.”

“...What?”

Camilla smiled sweetly, as if for show.

“When I checked your scores, I didn’t even need to tilt my chin up to find you.”

Because you were that far down at the bottom.

‘I’m good at memorizing things like this.’

Once I see it, I don’t forget easily.

“127th.”

“Gasp!”

Camilla met the eyes of Elisha’s friends one by one, in turn.

“107th.”

“Ugh...”

“97th.”

And last, she looked at Elisha.

“117th.”

Did you plan that? How perfect—friends sticking together with every rank ending in a seven.

“It must have been hard to pull off. In its own way, impressive, girls.”

“Ca—Camilla!”

There are 132 students in the first year.

In short, all of them live down in the lower ranks.

“At those scores, you really ought to cheat just to pull yourselves up a little, don’t you think?”

Watching their faces turn bright red, Camilla added one more line.

“Instead of only dressing up the outside, how about decorating the inside of your heads too?”

Stop stuffing your heads with ways to bully people, you brats.

“C—Camilla, that’s a bit much.”

Elisha clenched her fist and forced the words out in a trembling voice.

“Why? Going to cry?”

“You, you...!”

Seeing her look about to burst into tears, Camilla let out a thin laugh.

‘How can she be that transparent?’

When I watched while possessing Camilla’s body, she looked sly as a fox. Face-to-face, Elisha was clumsy in so many ways.

Looks like she’s planning to pop into tears right now to break out of this situation, but...

‘I’ve got you beat at acting.’

And you don’t know that on home ground, this kind of thing backfires more.

Crash!

Camilla let the champagne glass in her hand fall to the floor. The sound naturally drew every gaze.

At that instant, as if on cue, tears streamed down Camilla’s eyes. It didn’t even take three seconds for them to slide along her cheeks.

With her lips bitten tight, holding back sobs as much as she could, she looked like someone who had suffered some awful injustice—anyone could see it.

Elisha and her friends, who had watched the whole process up close, stood gaping.

Just moments ago she had mocked them with a thin laugh, and now she was dripping tears—that alone was enough to leave them flustered.

“Camilla!”

But what can you do? Other people will react a little differently.

The Duke of Sorpel strode up to Camilla.

“What happened?”

At the sight of Camilla crying, his face instantly hardened.

“Father...”

At the Duke of Sorpel’s question, tears fell even more pitifully from Camilla’s eyes.

Seeing how she couldn’t get her words out easily, the duke’s face grew even colder.

“I—I...”

“Yes.”

“They said I cheated.”

“What?”

“I’m truly sorry.”

Time to make my face a little more forlorn here, something that would hurt to look at.

“Because I’m lacking... I let a rumor like that start...”

“Who! Who dares spit out that kind of filth!”

“Sob...”

Them.

At the Duke of Sorpel’s blade-sharp shout, Camilla looked at Elisha and her friends with eyes brimming with tears.

His fierce gaze followed to them.

“...”

They went white, unable to form a proper excuse.

Elisha was no different. True to a young fox still lacking, she couldn’t handle a sudden turn like this.

“Elisha!”

“...! Father!”

Elisha’s face lit up when she spotted the Duke of Jevillan.

It seemed her fear vanished in an instant at the arrival of someone who would take her side...

Watching that, Camilla kept clicking her tongue inside.

‘Still a child.’

Because this is your home ground, you’re even more at a disadvantage.

“What have you done!”

“What?”

As expected, Elisha’s guess missed completely. Instead of the gentle defense she expected, thunder fell from her father’s mouth.

“Father, n-no, that’s not...!”

“I asked what on earth you did to a guest!”

Right.

‘I’m the guest.’

A guest who came to offer congratulations had tears pouring down her face—and because of no one else but his own daughter.

For a host, that’s a mortifying situation. No matter how deathly devoted the Duke of Jevillan is to his daughter, it would be hard to take Elisha’s side here.

“My apologies.”

In the end, the Duke of Jevillan offered words of apology to Camilla and the Duke of Sorpel in his daughter’s stead.

“This happened because I failed to educate my child. I ask for your understanding.”

“Father!”

At Elisha’s cry, the duke’s cold gaze cut across to her.

Tears welled in Elisha’s eyes, and sure enough, she fled the spot in a hurry. Her friends scrambled after her.

‘Come back when you’ve grown.’

Still in the Duke of Sorpel’s arms, Camilla kept wiping at her tears and, inside, kept cursing Elisha out.

****

“Hm.”

Using “collecting herself” as an excuse, Camilla left the party hall and headed toward the lounge, then paused.

Something along one side of the corridor yanked her gaze tight.

As she stepped closer, a single sword inside a clear glass case came into view.

On the wall where the sword was displayed, someone’s portrait hung beside it.

‘Why does it feel familiar?’

The reason for her sudden interest in someone else’s household display was that she felt she had seen the sword in the case somewhere before.

Even to someone like her, who didn’t know much about this sort of thing, the sword before her eyes looked different.

The intricate pattern engraved on the blue hilt, and the brilliant stream of gold running over it.

Whether it was plated with real gold or not, the sword radiated luxury.

‘Where did I see it?’

I’m sure I’ve seen it...

“It is the former head of the house.”

Just then, a familiar voice came. She turned her head to see Petro standing there with a gentle smile.

His gaze was on the portrait hanging on the wall. Only then did Camilla lift her eyes from the sword and look closely at the portrait.

‘Oh...’

Camilla’s eyes wavered for an instant. She finally remembered where she had seen this sword.

“He is the one who created our house’s sword style.”

“The head of the house?”

“Yes.” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

“And this sword?”

“He is the one who brought it back. It’s called the Sword of Protection.”

“The Sword of Protection?”

We have Guardians and now a Sword of Protection too? This world is full of strange things.

‘If it’s a sword, it’s just a sword.’

What’s with a Sword of Protection?

“It appears in ancient records. It’s said to choose its master on its own and warn of dangers coming to the world.”

“It chooses its master?”

“Yes. They say it only responds when touched by the one it chose. Unfortunately, no one has yet appeared whom the sword has chosen.”

Not even the very man who found it and brought it to House Jevillan—the subject of the portrait here, the former head—received the sword’s choice.

“Hm.”

Camilla looked back and forth between the sword and the portrait with a fresh gaze.

At that moment, Petro’s voice slipped into her ear.

“Are you all right?”

At his question—worried about what had happened in the hall just before—Camilla let out a thin laugh.

“Of course. It was acting.”

“Acting?”

“I wanted to make your sister a bit uncomfortable.”

“...What?”

“I’ve taken quite a lot from her for a while.”

Watching Petro struggle to continue, as if he had heard something hard to grasp, Camilla kept clicking her tongue inwardly.