Chapter 5: Where is the Trüde Family? (5/302)

Chapter 5: Where is the Trüde Family?

2023.04.18.

Neris was also looking at the silver-haired boy. Neris muttered briefly, so that only Diane could hear.

"Yeah. He's the young duke."

The person who made Neris hate the name 'Nel.'

The man who killed her mother to lure the owner of the Zain.

The man who used Neris all her life and then cruelly discarded her when she was no longer useful.

'Why did you have to go that far?'

Neris wanted to run up and ask him that right away. She wanted to show him her heart, filled with resentment. She wanted to make sure that he, now sixteen, would never feel the cruel satisfaction again.

She wanted to run up and snatch the dagger from his waist and stab his neck.

Even if it meant her own death, she didn't care. After all, she had already died once.

But would that be enough punishment?

'Yes, I have to endure for now.'

Neris whispered to herself. By chance, her eyes met Nelusion's.

Nelusion had also met Neris before. It was just a few months ago, by current standards.

Neris' mother had asked the Duke of Elantria's family to lend her the money needed for Neris' academy tuition, and the family invited the mother and daughter to their estate for dinner. The atmosphere at the time was quite good.

At the time, Neris simply thought, 'Since a relative is treating us to dinner, I must become an excellent adult to repay them.'

'You must have been curious if the child of Zain was really born.'

They confirmed it and lent the money. It's highly likely that they started planning to thoroughly use the mother and daughter from then on.

Nelusion probably remembered the innocent and pure Neris from her childhood, before any darkness had touched her.

'You're the one who ruined her, Nelusion.'

So when the time comes, Neris intends to shatter Nelusion's smiling face.

Nelusion volunteered to go to the women's classroom to run an errand and felt satisfied with his clever choice.

Nelusion Elantria lacked nothing. He was born as the eldest son of the highest-ranking family in the Empire of Vist, except for one royal family and one grand ducal family, and he had the trust of the Crown Prince Abelus.

In the political department, he repeatedly skipped grades to study with older students, and all the students liked him for being handsome and fair.

Kind and fair.

As these two words came to mind, a smile appeared on his face. That's how he was perceived.

However, he had no intention of using his outstanding talent to become an excellent duke and assist the emperor. A person as smart as him should have greater ambitions.

And something that could help realize those ambitions was right there in the freshmen classroom.

The faces of the freshmen, overwhelmed and curious, were something he had seen for years. Just before reaching the center of the hall, Nelusion pretended to be indifferent and scanned the freshmen of this year.

It wasn't hard to find the face he already knew. The sharp Zain and mysterious platinum blonde hair caught his eye.

Neris Trüde.

The daughter of a distant relative who had declined to the point of marrying a low-ranking knight was of no interest to the Elantria family, no matter what kind of daughter she was.

However, the daughter of that relative surprisingly had the precious Zain, and the duke decided to invest immediately upon confirming this fact. A Zain noble would be a good asset in the noble society.

Nelusion knew that it had been over a hundred years since a Zain was born in the Elantria family. This situation was concerning.

After all, one of the reasons the Elantria family is respected is because they are descendants of the legendary three heroes, like the royal family.

The young Valentine was mischievous, but Nelusion thought his parents' decision was excellent. The noble society, where dignity is important, places great value on symbols.

So he gave kind encouragement and left a good impression on the mother and daughter who were thanking him for lending them the tuition.

'Hmm?'

But was this child like this before?

The Neris that Nelusion remembered was an innocent and gentle child, but the one whose eyes met his now was nothing like that. Her eyes were sharp like those of a seasoned politician, piercing through him, which even surprised him.

Fortunately, Neris soon smiled. It was a pretty and soft smile. He calmed himself and stood in the center of the hall.

It must be a mistake. A person can't change so much in just a few months, especially a twelve-year-old child.

But his smile was already somewhat awkwardly twisted. Realizing this, Nelusion quickly put on his usual kind face.

If this child is smarter than expected, it's a good thing. After all, she's just a child; with a little coaxing, she'll easily fall in line. The difference between the daughter of a low-ranking knight and a duke's relative is too great.

"Everyone, in a moment, Mrs. Alex will come to supervise a test to gauge your math abilities. I am Nelusion Elantria, who will explain the test before it begins."

Even some of the children who didn't know Nelusion's name gasped. He glanced at all the children.

He already knew the names and faces of the children who needed attention, but he had to appear fair to everyone. It was unknown which of them would reveal their usefulness.

"In the Aigne College, where you belong, there are general and theology departments, just like the Kartak College, where I belong, has swordsmanship, magic, politics, and theology departments. You are students in the general department, which is why you are here."

While each class can be taken regardless of gender, traditionally, most males chose one of swordsmanship, magic, or politics at Kartak College, and most females focused on social and cultural studies in the general department of Aigne College.

The distinction between the colleges and the presence of theology departments in both are remnants of the old conservative tradition, where students of different genders could not even see each other's faces.

Those who would become knights among the male nobles chose swordsmanship, those who would become mages chose magic, and the rest chose politics.

For women, it was simpler: those who did not enter the theology department were placed in the general department.

This is why the political department of Kartak College and the general department of Aigne College are essentially similar.

"The general department includes music, language, and literature. Since you are all first-year students, you will take all the basic subjects together. However, some of you may have already studied certain subjects in your families. Listening to what you already know would be a waste of time, which goes against our academy's highest value of improvement. Therefore, based on your test scores, some students will join higher classes with seniors rather than other freshmen."

Megara Lycandros, who was already subtly at the center of the classroom, sparkled her eyes. Nelusion understood her reaction because he knew she had shown talent in various fields since childhood.

Students who were taught by famous teachers from a young age and those who could barely write would inevitably produce different results. Neris Trüde probably didn't receive proper education.

If she comes to complain about the difficulty, it would be nice.

Then he could easily win her favor. Nelusion found Neris impressively memorable and attributed it to her usefulness.

Originally, he just wanted to see her once, along with the other students in this classroom.

Since she is so pretty and already has friends, it's worth paying more attention to her.

***

The results of the math ability test were posted near the entrance of the main hall before the first-year common social studies class began.

The students were speechless as they saw the names, families, and scores clearly listed in order of rank. The eyes of the children, who were either hopeful or fearful, widened. The smaller children quickly checked their own scores and then jumped around to peek at others'.

Although the students of Kartak College and Aigne College took separate tests for administrative convenience, the content was the same. Therefore, the skills of all about thirty first-year students were publicly displayed there.

The male students who visited the main hall, located at the center of Aigne College, to listen to the orientation for the common social studies class, complained with wounded pride.

"Where is the Trüde family?"

"Neris Trüde? I've never heard of that name."

Regardless of gender, Neris' name was listed as the top student and the only one with a perfect score among all first-year students.

Neris stood at the back of the group of children with a desolate look. Even among the chubby-cheeked boys, there were those who had bullied her.

Some of them, even when other students had stopped overt bullying, continued to humiliate Neris in front of the entire class as a fun game.

The boys who bullied Neris the most were usually one of two types: those who had poor grades in Kartak College and thus bullied others out of frustration, or those who thought being mean to others made them look strong in front of girls they liked.

As expected, the names of the former were already at the bottom of the list.

Neris, who could score in the top ranks without much effort, had never been interested in others' rankings before. Now, she noticed that some of the boys who had bullied her the most couldn't even read properly, and their scores were abysmal.

It was fortunate that she wouldn't have to see their faces in the advanced classes.

"You're first place? That's amazing."

A few gentle girls approached Neris and spoke to her. Neris hesitated to respond.

During the time she was being ostracized, the children criticized her no matter what she said, so Neris didn't know how to respond to such comments.

"...I was just lucky."

"You seem to have studied really hard. Where is the Trüde family from? Are you from the Trüde family in Lokaster?"

"Lokaster is the Trass family. I'm Trüde. My father isn't a lord, so I don't have a specific origin."

The nearby children exclaimed, 'Wow,' and leaned in to hear Neris' voice. This was a new experience for Neris, so she was a bit flustered. Then, the children gathered around her suddenly parted.

The girls who were talking to Neris quickly left when they saw Megara appear. Megara approached elegantly and said,

"You're impressive. It seems you've been well-educated by a good teacher."

"Not really."

The black-haired girl standing next to Megara looked angry. Neris was familiar with this expression from Lianon Bertha.

Lianon always had this expression whenever Neris breathed.

As if it was inappropriate for someone like her to breathe the air in front of her.

As if it was inappropriate for someone like her to breathe, to do well on tests, to look up and see her.

Sure enough, Lianon immediately criticized Neris with a sharp voice.

"You're really funny."

"What's funny?"

Neris found it amusing that Lianon was already following Megara at this stage.

It was easier to respond to Lianon than to the girls from earlier, whose intentions were unclear. She knew the cause of Lianon's reaction.

There was only one reason why Lianon said bad things to her.

'Because people around her agree with her.'

She didn't know this when she was younger. So she tried to be 'not funny.'

But even if she did everything others asked and always smiled, it didn't solve the root cause of the problem. Her efforts were in vain.

But Lianon was still a child, and the only person who actively agreed with her was Megara.

Neris' calm question made Lianon irritated, and she replied without thinking.

"You did well on the test. There's no way you could do that without a good teacher. Why are you lying? Are you trying to make others think you didn't have a teacher?"