The fact that Idalia Kendal had stolen the exam papers and tried to frame Megara when caught was spread throughout the school by lunchtime that day.

“So what happened last night? You didn’t come to class without saying anything.”

“I had a headache, so I went back to my room.”

“I see. I was worried that something serious had happened to you.”

Diane, who had been stirring her strawberry compote, put her hand on her chest and sighed deeply. True to being the only one who would have worried about Neris’s safety last night.

“I heard that Idalia not only stole the exam papers but also tried to frame several people. I thought the second-place student trying to trap the first out of jealousy only happened in urban legends! How could she do that?”

Idalia wasn’t actually second place, but Neris didn’t correct Diane’s statement. The generalization captured the essence of the matter.

Because Megara, the real second-place student, was the mastermind behind this incident.

‘I knew she’d find a way out.’

Even in her past life, Megara wasn’t completely free from crises.

No one is without crises. Especially when acting as the crown prince’s consort in all but name as Abelus’s lover, Megara meddled in state affairs with Abelus’s tacit approval.

It was only natural that with involvement in important matters came responsibility.

‘She was good at shifting blame to others before too.’

Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly at all, when things went wrong with her actions, Megara skillfully deflected criticism onto Neris.

Then Megara, Duke Likeandros, and the court officials who minded the crown prince’s mood would act as if they had believed from the start that Neris was to blame.

Even now, while still young, Megara’s performances witnessed in the classroom were always superb. So with a little effort, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her to escape that situation.

Especially since Neris had given her a hint about this sacrifice when she left.

Although Duke Kendal’s status wasn’t as high as Duke Likeandros’s, he was still a proud high nobleman. Not just anyone could receive a ducal title, after all.

So if it weren’t for a situation like this, Megara would never have turned against Idalia.

By ‘a situation like this,’ of course, it meant when there was a need to publicly punish a traitor who dared to defy her.

Megara liked her dominance over people to be absolute, and at least while attending school, the children’s world was confined to the classroom.

From Megara’s perspective, Idalia was a rebel trying to ruin Megara’s kingdom.

Also… no other story should come out from now on.

‘She’ll thoroughly crush Idalia.’

The story believed by the public becomes truth over time, and even has the power to change the memories of those who know the actual facts.

The dining hall, noisy with the sounds of eating and students chattering like a marketplace, grew a little louder.

Neris and Diane glanced up to see who had entered the dining hall. It was Megara, looking pitifully thin as if she had fallen ill overnight.

First-year students surrounded Megara, speaking to her with concern as if seizing the opportunity. They had truly decided their stance as quick as lightning.

“Maggie, are you okay? You must have been so shocked.”

“How could she do that to you? My goodness, after all you’ve done for her!”

The omitted ‘she’ of course referred to Idalia. Megara shook her head awkwardly as she went to buy food.

“Don’t say that. Dali must have had her reasons.”

“You’re too kind.”

“That’s right. Curse her out! You have every right to!”

The students crowded around Megara each expressed their feelings, adding another comment.

One child was moved by Megara’s saintly statement, another was indignant at Idalia’s character in contrast, each reacting differently.

It was laughable. These children would have been repeating ‘You’re so kind’ to Idalia until just last evening.

Neris glanced at Megara’s brazen face. Megara’s gaze, as she was choosing her lunch menu, briefly turned this way.

As if by chance, their eyes met.

It took Megara a very short but noticeable moment to put on a smile. But Neris smiled naturally and deeply while looking at Megara.

Soon after, Megara’s eyes flashed with hostility, but Neris had already turned her gaze away, effectively ignoring it.

A moment later, the dining hall entrance became noisy again, this time for a different reason. And soon that noise was replaced by an awkward silence.

Diane whispered to Neris.

“Idalia’s here.”

“So she is.”

Neris didn’t miss Heath Angerson from the same year glancing at Idalia.

Heath continued to like Idalia even after becoming an adult. There were talks of marriage between the two after Neris became the crown princess, or so they say.

Idalia, like Megara, had a pale and gaunt face.

The usual Idalia wouldn’t have entered the student dining hall alone, and even if she did, she would have gone straight to where her group was sitting.

However, the group Idalia usually hung out with wasn’t even looking in her direction.

Idalia herself must have been aware of this atmosphere. She went straight to the cold food corner on one side of the student dining hall without looking around. And she bought whatever sandwich she saw first.

Heath opened his mouth as if to call out to Idalia when she finally raised her head to find a place to sit.

But he soon glanced at Megara and closed his mouth with a helpless expression. Despite Megara herself smiling as if nothing was wrong.

Idalia quietly went to an empty table and sat alone. After eating a couple bites of her sandwich, she started coughing as if choking.

“Cough! Ack, cough!”

In the student dining hall, by regulation, there were designated areas where servants should usually wait and seats for the masters. Simon, who had been watching Idalia from afar, quickly approached and gave water to his mistress.

After drinking water and barely suppressing her cough, Idalia was met with silent stares. Stares as sharp as sword blades, with no one asking if she was alright.

If it were Alecto, she would have shouted, asking what everyone was looking at. If it were Rhiannon, her face would have turned bright red as she glared at each person one by one.

But Idalia just handed the barely-eaten sandwich to Simon and left the dining hall weakly.

Neris kept her gaze on that retreating figure for a long time.

Idalia Kendal was kind. At least as long as it didn’t harm herself. So even when doing bad things, wasn’t it only when others took the lead, pretending reluctance?

Clumsily stepping into the affairs of real villains like that, not knowing she couldn’t even defend herself once when a real villain changed their stance.

The words Neris had said to Idalia, “Thanks to you, it was resolved well. Thank you,” were of course meant to make Megara suspect Idalia.

To make Megara abandon Idalia without hesitation in order to clear her own suspicion.

However, there was also a bit of sincerity in those words.

If Idalia hadn’t moved Simon last night, or if she hadn’t brought him to the student council room this morning, Neris would have faced quite a big problem.

Did Megara really think that Idalia had betrayed her and tipped off Neris about the exam paper theft in advance?

It was impossible to know. And it didn’t matter anyway.

What mattered was that Megara had the power to make Idalia socially isolated, at least implicitly.

Megara went to the table she and her friends often used, laughing and talking excitedly with them. And she started eating.

Right after the midterms, assignments piled up. As if to ensure that you wouldn’t forget what you learned throughout the year even after summer vacation, teachers gave out mountains of assignments.

Diane screamed at just the first-year subject assignments, while Neris did about five times that amount of studying. And in the midst of all that chaos came the time to register for second-year courses.

‘That rumor’ flowed from someone’s mouth and reached the ears of all first-year students.

“I heard Idalia Kendal transferred to the Theology department.”

Even Cledwin, who wasn’t a first-year, mentioned the rumor with a straight face.

The 5th floor of the Zacharia Library was quiet. It was as quiet as one could hope for in a school library during this time.

Thanks to that, Neris, who had piled up mountains of books needed for assignments and was looking for necessary parts, showed no interest.

“Are you bored?”

That pointed remark came out after reading a few more pages of the book. Cledwin smiled with his handsome face.

“Right now, yes.”

“You’re about to inherit the Grand Duke title soon. If you have free time, read even one more line of a book.”

They hadn’t even made plans to meet today. Neris had just come to this building’s reading room to study in a place without people.

Cledwin’s expression didn’t change even at that halfhearted response.

“If you look this way, I won’t be bored.”

“Then stay bored.”

Neris was truly busy. Her grades needed to be noticeably good so she could take as many different courses from other first-years as possible next year.

A first-year taking classes with upper-year students? Who knows if the teachers might say, “As expected, it seems too difficult at this young age, so let’s have her focus more on the basics,” even if she got average grades?

Moreover, the courses Neris had chosen were all ones where the teachers were full of enthusiasm, so while she was learning a lot, it also meant the student had to follow along prepared to die.

Unlike someone who often killed time sitting in library chairs yet never lost first place in his subjects—Neris didn’t have any courses with Cledwin, but she had occasionally seen his grades posted at the back of upper-class classrooms.

“So cold.”

This time it wasn’t even worth responding to. Neris thought her initial impression of Cledwin was slightly damaged. She had thought he was someone who only said what was necessary.

After a while, Cledwin got up from where he was sitting, that is, across from the desk where Neris was sitting, and walked somewhere.

Neris didn’t show any interest, thinking he was probably going to kill time again.

However, right after Cledwin hid his body behind a pillar, she paused when she heard what sounded like whispering coming from that direction.

A low whisper that wouldn’t have even been noticed if this reading room wasn’t quiet. Like a bee buzzing in the distance, that voice wasn’t even bothersome.

But Neris finally understood why Cledwin had been hanging around the library so often despite it not suiting him.

Her secret place was actually his secret place too. Just in a more practical sense.

It seemed he had another meeting with a subordinate today. He probably had some kind of communication device hidden near the chair.

Judging by the chair’s design that didn’t quite fit the library, it seemed they had originally met somewhere else and moved locations once.

A medical library was an odd choice for a secret meeting place, but thinking about it, there was no reason it couldn’t work. First of all, there were no people, and there were spaces that weren’t easily visible from outside.

‘Ah, so that’s why.’

She had wondered why he had even pulled out some kind of sword while sitting in his chair.

Neris found it a bit amusing realizing she had unknowingly made herself comfortable in such a place after choosing it of all places. Anyone could see he was clearly an assassin.

‘Then today’s presence was…’

Cledwin had deliberately revealed it. His important secret.