Chapter 12. Meeting the 7th Princess
“Why would the Supreme Deity Order send me an invitation?”
I set the invitation from the Supreme Deity Order aside for now. It was because I had found the Imperial Magic Academy admission guide.
The guide showed the location of the Academy’s registration office in the Imperial Capital and a map to get there.
After checking what was needed for document submission, I decided to go register right away.
The closest registration office from the 8th Prince’s Palace, where I was, was inside the Imperial Castle.
Gauging the distance, it seemed the secret passage would be the fastest way, so I took the recommendation letter and the guide and entered the secret passage.
“I think I should be able to go this way.”
Following the flow of mana through the passages between the palaces, I found an exit leading outside.
It was the first time I had used the secret passage in this way, but just being able to cross the Imperial Castle was incredibly convenient.
The place I emerged into was the garden of some palace.
“…Where is this?”
To be precise, it looked like a garden.
There was grass on the ground and landscaping stones were arranged, so it was clearly managed by someone, but there were no flowers or trees that should naturally be in a garden.
Even the garden of the 8th Prince’s Palace wasn’t this empty.
‘How can there not be a single tree?’
I was flustered.
To others, I was a suspicious person who had suddenly appeared in someone else’s palace, so I needed a place to hide. More than anything, standing alone in a desolate garden made me stand out too much.
Let’s get out of here first.
It was better to move, even if I was seen, than to stand around idly.
If someone asks, I’ll just say I came in by mistake!
I walked towards where I thought the entrance might be.
“Inette! What are you talking about?”
But as soon as I found something that looked like an entrance, I ran into people.
“You’re not going to the Academy? It’s where all the royals of the Empire go.”
“I said I’m not going. If you want to go so bad, you go, Mom!”
It was a mother and daughter fighting, clear to anyone who saw them.
A girl with fiery red hair and a woman with similarly red hair.
At this point, I couldn’t fail to recognize them.
They were the 7th Princess, Inette Dastion Cretian, and the 3rd Imperial Consort, Celiana Dastion Cretian.
The place I had emerged from was the 7th Princess’s Palace.
Celiana had a carriage waiting and was trying to persuade her only daughter.
“The registration office is right in front, so let’s go and come back quickly. Huh?”
“Ah, really! Stop it!”
Seeing Inette’s unchanged appearance from her childhood, I put a hand to my head.
She was an Imperial Princess in name, yet not only did she call the Imperial Consort ‘Mom’, but she was also rudely getting angry in front of other attendants.
“What’s this? You said we were going shopping today! I don’t believe you anymore, Mom.”
Inette flared up in anger and turned away.
“Inette, wait a moment.”
Celiana urgently grabbed Inette’s arm.
At that, Inette suddenly pushed Celiana away with tremendous force.
“Don’t touch me!”
As Celiana fell to the ground, unable to withstand the strong force, the attendants rushed to help her up.
Inette, as if surprised by her own push, stood frozen in place.
“It’s okay, Inette. I’m fine.”
Instead, it was Celiana, who stood up with the help of the attendants, who reassured Inette as if she were used to it.
“Nothing happened. See, it’s no big deal.”
I felt like I knew why she was acting that way.
I recalled the contents about the 7th Princess written in Armandy’s notebook.
‘August 11th. The 7th Princess burned down the garden using her Ability. Wields her Ability at will depending on her mood. Lacks caution.’
What if it wasn’t a lack of caution, but an inability to control her Ability?
The 7th Princess’s Ability was the Crimson Flame.
A flame that burned everything.
Only then did the black gloves Inette was wearing come into view. They felt like artifacts that suppressed flames.
I also felt I knew why there were no flowers or trees in the 7th Princess’s Palace’s garden.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t been planted, but that they had been burned down. They must have repeatedly replanted and cleared them whenever she couldn’t control her Ability.
“See? Mom isn’t hurt at all, right? …Oh my?”
While I was getting closer to the truth, Celiana spotted me.
“Aren’t you Radel?”
I came to my senses at her gentle voice. Everyone’s gaze was fixed on me, standing in the middle of this desolate garden.
I realized that quietly slipping out of the garden was out of the question.
* * *
“Thank you, Radel. Please take good care of our Inette.”
“What are you talking about? You even lent me your carriage, I’m the one who should be more grateful.”
Celiana smiled warmly at my polite words.
“My, how reassuring. You two have a good trip!”
I didn’t forget my social etiquette until the end and bowed my head.
And as the carriage moved away from the 7th Princess’s Palace, I quickly leaned back comfortably in my seat.
“This is nice and soft.”
As I unintentionally said a word, Inette, sitting opposite me, snorted.
“What are you, a beggar? You don’t have a carriage?”
“No, I don’t.”
Inette was flustered without realizing it.
Seeing Radel answer so nonchalantly to her mean-spirited comment, a sense of rivalry sparked in her.
“I guess that makes sense. I heard you manifested your Ability recently. Maybe you’ll get a carriage soon enough.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the encouragement.”
I had said it sarcastically, but Radel didn’t seem to care at all.
He wasn’t the timid and withdrawn Radel I used to know.
‘What’s with that strange confidence?’
Inette glared at me.
He seemed like a completely different person after manifesting his Ability.
‘Because of whom am I being dragged here against my will!’
It was because of the sudden appearance of Radel that Inette was being unceremoniously taken to the Magic Academy registration office.
Celiana, as if not to miss this opportunity, had pushed both of them into the carriage, saying that they both had to go register at the Academy.
That’s when Inette’s plan began to go awry.
“But do you even have money to go to the Academy? What’s with the nerve of someone who doesn’t even have a carriage?”
“I never said I didn’t have money.”
I could have ignored her, but I decided to play along with Inette.
To me, with the mind of a 30-year-old, the intentions of the now seventeen-year-old Inette were obvious.
Seeing how she kept picking a fight, she seemed thoroughly upset about being forced to register at the Academy.
‘And there’s what I received from the 3rd Imperial Consort.’
Earlier, when I was getting on the carriage, Celiana had slipped me something without Inette noticing.
It was a rather heavy pouch, and there was no way Celiana, the Imperial Consort and from the Dastion ducal family, would have prepared it carelessly.
Celiana’s intention, winking at the surprised me, was obvious. It was clearly a request to get Inette registered at the Academy no matter what.
Since I was going to the Academy registration office anyway, I had nodded, thinking things had turned out well, and it seemed I had to start paying her back now.
“You have money and a carriage, so why don’t you want to go to the Academy?”
I asked Inette.
Inette was at a loss for words.
“Wh-what?”
“You said you didn’t want to go to the Academy. Wasn’t that why you were angry at the Imperial Consort?”
“What do you know?”
Inette quickly got heated and started fuming.
“I could have run away, but now it’s all ruined. What is this, because of you!”
“You were trying to run away?”
“Because they keep telling me to go when I don’t want to.”
I let out a small laugh.
Inette got even angrier seeing that laugh.
“Is it funny?”
“Ah, sorry.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Honestly, it is a bit funny. The way you talk as if you can naturally go to the Academy.”
“What?”
Seeing Inette’s hardened expression, she was still a kid.
It was obvious her pride was hurt by my words.
“It’s not like the Academy accepts everyone just because they want to go. It might be a different story if you say you don’t want to go after already being accepted…”
“!”
“But you haven’t even registered yet, let alone been admitted. I was just wondering if you were running away because you were scared you might fail.”
Inette clenched her fists.
She wanted to burn that guy to a crisp right now, but she hated it because it would be like admitting that she was upset because of his words.
“Well, I’m going to register too. I’m sure you’re not that much of a coward.”
It was a childish provocation.
But Inette fell for it right away.
“Absolutely not! I really just hate being told what to do by my mom, that’s all.”
“Yes, I’m sure you do.”
“It’s true! It’s true!”
Sparks flew from Inette’s eyes.
Now that it has come to this, I will definitely get accepted. I’ll get into the Academy with a higher score than that guy!
And then I’ll quit just to show him!
It was the beginning of Inette’s lonely battle, which Radel wasn’t even participating in.
* * *
The carriage carrying Inette and Radel arrived at the registration office.
Perhaps because it was located within the Imperial Castle, the Academy registration office was quite deserted.
As soon as they arrived, Inette quickly got out and ran to the registration office faster than Radel. She was completely different from before she got on the carriage.
Inette, who had waited for me to enter the registration office, crossed her arms and made a triumphant expression.
“I arrived first. What are you going to do about it?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s amazing.”
I gave a half-hearted reply and approached the counter behind Inette to start filling out the application form.
Seeing that, Inette also filled out an application form at the next counter. She filled out the application form at an incredible speed and was able to submit it faster than me.
The triumphant expression of being one step ahead was a bonus.
The staff member who checked Inette’s application form stamped the document.
“Now, please submit your letter of recommendation.”
The Imperial Magic Academy didn’t allow registration just by submitting an application form, and this was the same for royals.
As a rule, they filtered applicants once through a letter of recommendation because they dealt with many secret and dangerous magics.
Therefore, it was difficult for commoners without connections to get admitted even if they had talent because they couldn't obtain a letter of recommendation. But the Academy had stuck to this principle, considering that also as an ability.
Of course, Inette had connections in abundance.
Not only was she an Imperial Princess herself, but her mother, Celiana, was the only daughter of the Duke of Dastion.
As for the Dastion ducal family, they were one of the founding contributor families who had been with the Founding Emperor since the establishment of the Empire.
“Here it is.”
Inette presented a letter of recommendation clearly stamped with the seal of the Dastion ducal family. It was as good as the most reliable letter of recommendation in the Empire.
‘What’s that guy going to do? He probably doesn’t have any nobles he’s close to.’
Come to think of it, Radel’s mother had passed away early. Since then, he had been practically abandoned by the Imperial Family for a long time, so there was no way he would know any nobles, and his maternal family didn’t look after him either.
‘Isn’t he going to fail because he can’t submit the documents?’
But contrary to Inette’s expectations, what came out of my pocket was a letter of recommendation with a clear seal.
The sword that protects the center of the Empire.
A noble family among the founding contributor families that was shrouded in mystery because they did not engage in any social activities.
‘The Chartrion earldom?’
How did Radel, who had no connections, come into contact with the Earl of Chartrion?
It was unbelievable.