Come to think of it, after being adopted into the Elrandria family, Neris had changed her living habits so as not to become a burden to the Duke and Duchess. She always woke up earlier than anyone else, studied all day, and went to bed later than others.
Nelrusion had teased her in passing that that’s why she wasn’t tall. Her growth period was already over by then.
Enduring the lonely palace life, such trivial memories had been more precious to Neris than jewels. But now that memory was nauseating.
That would never happen again. Neris spoke gently to her mother.
“I can get up early if I need to. You’ll see tomorrow.”
“Our daughter does what she says, doesn’t she?”
Mother whispered sweetly, rubbing Neris’s back, and then playfully patted her daughter’s buttocks twice as if to send her off.
“Come on! Let’s pack the remaining luggage now?”
“Yes. I’ll do it right away.”
So please wait for me, healthy and well, Mother.
For all I know, if I have truly traveled back to the past, God might have given me the chance to save my mother.
Murmuring so inwardly, Neris embraced her mother’s warmth one last time.
(This is a time delimiter.)
The name of the city where the Academy was located was Caten. It was named after Princess Caterina, who founded the Academy for the first time, and it was only natural that the city was maintained solely from the revenue generated by the Academy’s students and teachers.
After a long carriage ride, Neris arrived at Caten Station and saw children of her age all around her.
Neris recognized all of their faces, and she felt a strange emotion at how much more naive and submissive they seemed now, compared to when they were spiteful and malicious as they mocked her.
Since Neris already knew the geography of the city well, she walked briskly and skillfully, even with a bag as big as herself. The eyes of the children wandering around, not knowing the way, were focused on her.
The first was because of her attitude, and the second was because of her purple eyes.
Purple eyes are very rare, but violet eyes were still occasionally seen. However, Neris’s irises, in a vivid Tyrian purple, were something no one there had ever seen.
Wasn’t it also because of the symbolism of her purple eyes that the Elrandria Duchy had taken her in as an adopted daughter and sent her as a crown princess? A symbol of Elrandria, one of the three heroes who defeated the evil dragon and laid the foundation of the empire, long ago.
The current Elrandria family claimed to be the legitimate descendants of Hero Elrandria, but no one had purple eyes.
Neris found it strange that she had purple eyes, which were not in her mother’s bloodline, but it seemed possible since she did inherit the lineage, even from a distant relative.
After she turned 18 and the gem eyes manifested, the stares became more intense. Whether for good or bad.
“Hey!”
An adult woman’s voice was heard nearby. Neris looked around. A good carriage was parked by the side of the road.
A tall woman got out. Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be someone’s maidservant, but she was not in Neris’s memory. A servant of someone about to graduate?
The maidservant approached Neris and looked down at her and asked. Seeing that there was no reaction even after seeing the purple eyes, she didn’t seem to be from a very highranking family.
“Do you live around here, kid?”
The maid seemed to think Neris was a commoner since she was carrying a heavy load and had no attendants around. Neris’s current appearance was certainly not neat, likely due to a long journey.
Neris put down her bag and lifted her chin.
“I am the daughter of a knight. Are you looking down on me and speaking insolently?”
The maid made a surprised face and quickly bowed.
“I beg your pardon, Miss.”
A laughing voice came from inside the carriage. A moment later, a girl with a clear laugh stuck her face out through the open door of the carriage.
The girl, with her chestnutcolored hair, wore a strange face. Neris tilted her head, seeing the girl as a peer.
Of course, Neris didn’t remember every young lady in social circles. But she should have known all her peers from the time of admission to graduation.
Nobles in the narrow sense of imperial law, that is, direct children of Earls or higher, had to attend the academy.
On the other hand, nobles in the broad sense, such as descendants of noble families or knights’ children, only enrolled if they could afford tuition and wished to attend.
Neris was of the latter case. But some children belonging to the latter disappeared halfway through school if they couldn’t afford tuition.
Was this child one of those cases?
Judging by the carriage or the maid’s attire, she seemed to be the daughter of a fairly wealthy family. While Neris pondered, the maid quickly approached her mistress.
“Miss, are you hurt?”
“I am holding on just fine.”
The child spoke assertively and addressed Neris.
“You’re clever. You speak well.”
“You look clever too.”
Neris replied vaguely, without much to say. The child gestured to Neris.
“If you’re going to school, ride in our carriage. Is the bag not heavy?”
“It’s heavy, but I don’t want to be indebted without reason.”
It was still before enrollment, and there was time before the days when children indiscriminately shunned her, but Neris was on guard habitually.
She had learned the hard way not to trust anyone.
The child, undeterred by the refusal, widened her eyes.
“What does it matter? We don’t know the way anyway, so we were going to ask you. You’re in the second grade?”
“I’m enrolling today.”
“Same as me! My name is Diane McKinnon.”
“Neris Trued.”
Although the McKinnon family didn’t have a long history, they were a prominent family in the commercial world.
By the time Neris became an adult, they had declined somewhat, but she remembered that the McKinnon merchant group had been one of the three major merchant groups in the empire.
But had she gone to school with the daughter of Earl McKinnon? Neris couldn’t be sure since she wasn’t very observant and read books all the time in her lower grades.
She only memorized her peers’ names around the latter half of her second year. Even then, it took some time to match the faces and names again.
Diane was definitely not one of the children who bullied Neris in high school.
The McKinnon family was still not in bad shape by the time Neris died, so why had this child quit school?
Anyway, Diane’s offer to guide the way in exchange for a ride was reasonable. The maid kindly took Neris’s bag and handed it to a neatlooking servant, and Neris skillfully climbed into the carriage.
Once inside, Neris saw Diane sit and realized why the maid had overreacted. Diane had a limp leg.
Diane saw Neris’s gaze and smiled brightly.
“I have a bit of trouble with my leg. The adults said they don’t know if I can continue school life.”
“Why? Is it still painful?”
“Not that, but they still worry.”
Neris roughly guessed the situation. Children instinctively recognize the weak. Diane might not have been as weak as Neris, who had no family power, but adapting to school life might have been difficult for her too.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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