Midterm Evaluation (1)
Yuri Gilbert.
The taciturn girl with short black hair and black eyes trudged back to her mansion.
"Welcome back, Miss," a servant greeted her.
She nodded with a face etched with exhaustion.
"Yes... Prepare a bath."
"Certainly, Miss."
It was no longer a novel sight to see her covered in dust after her swordsmanship classes.
The servant bowed without a change in expression.
Though she wanted to collapse onto her bed immediately, her body was coated in grime.
Lying down without a bath would only make her feel more uncomfortable.
She slumped onto the sofa in front of the bathroom.
Waiting for the bath to be prepared, she opened her eyes slightly.
Her reflection stared back at her from the mirror across the room.
At least today, the training focused less on rolling around on the ground, so she was cleaner than usual.
'Ugh... I don't want to do it. It's so tiring...'
Lately, Yuri had been sighing more frequently.
The truth was, she had absolutely no interest in swordsmanship.
Not that she was particularly interested in anything in the world, but she especially disliked physical activity.
She didn't possess any passion for swordsmanship like Selena or Rosnante,
nor did she harbor a strong interest in Zeke Clayman like Iriel or Elise.
All she knew was that her father, Count Gilbert, owed a debt to the First Prince.
Due to this circumstance, she was forced into swordsmanship classes against her will.
- Yuri Gilbert. Our Family has pledged loyalty to the First Prince. We are proud nobles, and we cannot refuse a request from our benefactor. Fortunately, the First Prince seems to favor your peculiar hair and eyes. Now you can finally fulfill your role.
- You inherited the Northern blood that even I, your father, do not possess. Surely you will excel in your swordsmanship classes?
- This is an opportunity, Yuri Gilbert. If you serve the First Prince well by his side, who knows, you might even secure a position as a concubine? If that happens, our Gilbert Family will rise again.
'Shameless...'
Her father always turned his head with cold eyes and ignored her.
But now that she seemed to be of use, he was acting all friendly and talking about "our Gilbert Family."
And to top it off, he was dreaming of her becoming the First Prince's concubine. His delusional fantasies were enough to make Yuri feel disgusted.
'Disgusting...'
She twisted her own innocent hair in frustration.
'I never wanted black hair and black eyes...'
Black hair and black eyes. To Yuri, they felt like a curse.
If she were truly a Northern noble like Instructor, she might have been proud of them.
But both her father and mother were nobles born and raised in the Central region.
Both of them had ordinary brown hair.
When Yuri Gilbert was first born into this world,
her father suspected her mother of infidelity upon seeing her black eyes.
He berated her mother, questioning how a child like this could be born from his blood, which held no trace of darkness.
However, her mother, treated like a harlot, felt only wronged.
She was engaged at such a young age that she knew nothing of men, and her life was immediately mortgaged to the Gilbert Family through marriage.
She tearfully pleaded, asking why she had to endure such humiliation and shame.
But no one listened to her desperate cries.
In the end, she took her own life to assert her innocence.
Only then did Yuri's father sense something amiss and ordered a thorough investigation.
And they discovered a name.
Yuri Gilbert.
An ancestor who shared her name. A woman who married into the family from the North.
This ancestor had left no trace of black in her descendants until Yuri, where it suddenly reappeared, and in a very intense shade.
Upon learning the truth, her father chose to hate Yuri instead of regretting his actions.
Rejected by her father and living a life without a mother,
the girl lost her expressions and her emotions.
Yuri hated her jet-black hair and eyes.
She hated having to explain her namesake ancestor to every whispering noble at the mandatory social gatherings she attended with her father.
She hated the students who mistook her for a Northern noble and assumed she was skilled with a sword.
She hated being scolded on the way back for the gossip surrounding her, which supposedly damaged the family's reputation.
So, coming to Ramielli Academy was a welcome change for her.
She could finally live alone, away from the Gilbert mansion.
The servants were all new, so no one dared to mistreat her.
There were no adults who suspected her relationship with her father because of her black hair.
Now, she could save money, leave the family, and live an ordinary life.
For the first time, Yuri dared to dream.
But was her dream too grand for her station?
Her life began to veer off course once again, against her will.
A few days after the entrance ceremony, she received a message from her father.
He ordered her to visit the First Prince.
Ilios Leonine. Yuri had heard rumors about him as well.
A delicate and gentle soul, a descendant of the great Imperial bloodline.
Though he was rumored to be physically frail, he was also known as a virtuous ruler who cared for his people.
Most of the rumors surrounding the First Prince were positive.
This eased Yuri's heavy heart slightly.
'Well, at least it's not the Second Prince...'
But when she met him, she discovered something quite different.
It didn't take long for Yuri to realize that Ilios was nothing like the rumors described.
At first, he pretended to be the gentle prince in front of her.
But as soon as he learned that she was bound to him through her father, his attitude changed.
He summoned her at all hours, demanding her attention.
His gentle demeanor was only a facade.
He burdened her with all sorts of tedious tasks, like spreading rumors and gathering information.
Her sighs multiplied, and her motivation dwindled.
But she couldn't refuse.
Even a minor complaint from the First Prince reaching her father's ears could jeopardize the small freedom she had found.
Lost in thought as she stared at her reflection, the butler approached.
"The First Prince requests your presence."
"...But I need to bathe..."
"He says it's urgent."
Sighing deeply, Yuri dragged her feet towards the First Prince's mansion.
'Who was it? Who spread the rumor that the First Prince is kind and gentle?'
In Yuri's eyes, the First Prince was nothing of the sort.
The closer she observed him, the more he seemed like a shady and unpleasant person.
'Hmm... I wonder if Instructor will clash with him again...'
The most entertaining thing these days was watching the First Prince cower in front of Instructor Zeke Clayman.
She almost burst out laughing when the First Prince complained about Instructor Zeke telling him not to speak informally to him.
And at the Eustia banquet, even though she had to intervene due to her position, she secretly cheered for Instructor Zeke.
The rare sight of the First Prince, who tormented her, being put in his place brought her immense satisfaction.
'How can Instructor be so bold...?'
He was a truly fascinating person.
He was friendly with the Princess daughters, who were supposedly his sworn enemies, and he even welcomed back the Second Prince Rosnante, whom he had once beaten.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Enter."
She knocked and opened the door.
The First Prince, Ilios Leonine, with his long blond hair, met her gaze.
His sticky gaze swept over her, as if evaluating her worth.
Yuri quickly bowed her head in greeting.
"You summoned me, Your Highness."
"Yes, I called you to inform you about the midterm evaluation."
"...!"
Yuri's eyes widened.
"The midterm evaluation will be conducted through a public sparring match."
"A public... sparring match?"
"Indeed. It should be quite entertaining. The format will be 4 vs. 4, with each class selecting four representatives for the match."
Four representatives.
It was a ploy to pit all the students from Zeke's class, except for Yuri herself, against each other.
He probably assumed that since the two classes had a significant difference in size, the proportion of skilled students would also be skewed.
Moreover, Zeke's class had a predominantly female student body, while the other class had none.
It was an evaluation method devoid of any knightly honor.
Yuri frowned.
"But then, what about the students from Instructor Dios' class who won't be participating?"
"That's Instructor Dios' problem to deal with."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
But Yuri still couldn't comprehend his confidence.
'What makes him so sure? If he had heard about our training regime, he wouldn't be so complacent...'
Instructor Zeke's classes were brutal.
The intensity was unimaginable for a class attended by Duchess daughters and the Second Prince.
And Yuri had explicitly informed the First Prince about this.
She told him that everyone, regardless of their status, underwent the same rigorous training.
'And he seems to think highly of Prince Rosnante...'
Yuri recalled the scene she had witnessed earlier that day.
Elise charging fiercely, and Rosnante abandoning all grace and dignity as he rolled on the ground to evade her attacks.
She also remembered Iriel Eustia, who didn't even flinch at the terrifying assault.
'The Second Prince... is weak.'
If they were to rank the weakest in the class, it would probably be Rosnante and herself.
But to exclude only her from the sparring match? Ilios was making a grave miscalculation.
What would happen if she didn't tell him the truth? Yuri organized her thoughts.
- You useless thing! What good are you if you can't even follow simple instructions? Don't even think about leaving the mansion when you return!
Her father wouldn't forgive her.
"Your Highness."
"Hmm?"
"...I apologize for speaking out of turn, but... I believe you should reconsider the sparring match."
At Yuri's words, Ilios' lips curled into a smirk.
As if he had been expecting her to say that.
Seeing his smile, Yuri's hands clenched into fists.
'He was testing me.'
"Hehe, I've heard about your training methods. I know that even if we were to fight now... it wouldn't be a completely hopeless situation for your side."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"So, Yuri, I have a task for you."
"A task, Your Highness?"
"Yes. Three days before the evaluation, I want you to give this to your classmates. It's a muscle relaxant that takes effect after three days. It's colorless, odorless, and tasteless, so you can easily mix it into their water during training without raising suspicion. They won't suspect that a drug they consumed three days prior could be the cause of their weakness. Just in case, Yuri, you should drink it too."
Ilios held up a small vial containing the drug.
Yuri's pupils trembled.
He was actually asking her to do this.
Disgust churned in her stomach.
'But... how can I do it without getting caught by that monstrous Instructor?'
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