Winter break was too short. “Come in the summer as well. Let’s launch a boat on the lake together. Going to the beach altogether would be great too.”

Countess joyfully joined in the conversation. Neris smiled.

“I think I’ll visit my mother during the summer. But thank you for your warm invitation, Count, Countess.”

“How can you be so mature.”

The Countess bent down and tenderly kissed Neris’s forehead.

It had been a very long time since she had been treated so warmly by an adult woman. Almost forgotten, from her far-off past, in fact, from her ‘real’ childhood in her previous life.

Of course, she had tightly hugged her mother right after returning to her twelve-year-old self, but they had to part soon as she left for the academy.

Feeling the warm and soft touch of the lips for a long while, Neris was left with an indescribable emotion. She hurriedly composed her face, lest her emotions become too visible.

“Get in the carriage now. You’ll be late for school.”

The Count spoke, his face filled with reluctance. He had delayed the departure as long as possible, wanting to spend just one more day with his precious daughter.

The feelings of the parents seeing their child off and the child leaving aren’t the same. Dianne climbed into the carriage, giggling. Joyce quickly came over and took her younger sister’s hand, helping Neris into the carriage shortly after.

“Take care, darling.”

“Don’t call me that!”

Dianne reflexively snapped, but her eyes were full of affection. Neris sank into the soft seat of the carriage, a more comfortable and spacious one than she had ridden before, provided by the Count and Countess Mackinnon to ensure the girls’ journey was comfortable.

“Goodbye! Dad, Mom, see you next break! Bye, Brother! Take care! Pioni! Jon! Don’t cry!”

Dianne kept shouting her farewells to the mansion’s residents even after the carriage door closed.

Soon, a dozen knights of the Mackinnon family surrounded the carriage, and the coachman slowly began to move. It was special escort assigned by the Count and Countess because they couldn’t be at ease ‘until they reached the school’.

Neris looked out the carriage window at the mansion growing distant. Muriel’s figure flickered briefly on the terrace.

“Muriel is going to the temple?”

Dianne finally sat straight only when their voices could no longer reach the people at the mansion. She nodded at Neris’s question.

“Yes. Though she claimed she knew nothing, it would still be awkward for our parents to look after her. The other relatives would hate her more.”

Given the presence of serious criminals, Muriel, who had only ever uttered spiteful words a few times, was nearly forgotten. Dianne snickered.

“Do you think she really knew nothing? But I also feel a bit hesitant to push too much.”

“Yes, Muriel is not worth worrying about.”

Neris agreed. She genuinely thought so.

Muriel couldn’t even manage herself, let alone younger Hedder or Dianne. Neris had no memories of people mentioning ‘Lady Mackinnon’ when she was a Crown Princess.

Perhaps after the plan succeeded, the family had either married her off or Nualan, fearing leaks, had sent her away.

If she entered the temple, she wouldn’t come out unless she got engaged, which also meant she wouldn’t be entangled in any other plots.

Considering the character of the Mackinnon Count and Countess, they would provide a reasonable donation to the temple. It was much better treatment than what Muriel, who had always bullied Dianne, could have expected.

If Muriel truly knew everything about what happened, then it couldn’t have ended there…
Indeed, she must have been unaware of her brother and father’s real plans.

If she had known, she wouldn’t have paraded around McKinnon Manor as if it were her own. Muriel probably only suspected that Diane and her family would leave the mansion.

Diane, feeling the carriage’s vibrations, suddenly brightened her eyes.

“Will you occasionally come to our dorm when you go to school?”

“No, thanks. I’m grown, I can sleep alone.”

Neris had been quite tolerant of Diane’s tossing and turning and her sleep-kicking. At Neris’s stern response, Diane laughed.

The girls’ laughter filled the carriage as it traveled the long road.

After a short winter vacation, Noble Academy resumed its busy routine.

The upperclassmen didn’t put much emphasis on the winter break, and many stayed in the dormitory, enjoying their last free days among themselves. But the lowerclassmen mostly went home and bragged about the new items they brought back.

A considerable number of first-year students realized for the first time in their lives that they were not the wealthiest or most sophisticated kids in the world.

During the winter vacation, those who confided this to their parents or other guardians received expensive clothes and toys, accompanied by a chuckle, saying they had expected as much.

“My goodness, Idalia, I’ve never seen that pearl necklace before.”