Chapter 152: Royal Academy I

"Hey, isn’t that the commoner who defeated the other nobles in becoming the top student?"

"Don’t say that, lest you get in trouble. Even if she’s a commoner, she’s still the adopted daughter of the Grava Family!"

"Right... but still, isn’t it too outrageous for them to risk accepting an outsider to their house?"

"What you said is true, but it’ll be bad if we get in trouble because of this."

"I can’t help it! I wonder how a commoner like her used the Grava Family to attend the Royal Academy..."

...

Whispers could be vaguely heard throughout the hallway.

The gossiping students were wearing navy blue uniforms that had a peculiar style not unlike that of the modern times.

However, it could also be seen that the styles of their uniform varies from person to person.

Students who had a sword, hammer, dagger, or any sort of weapons had a blazer-like upper attire with matching trousers and shoes.

Meanwhile, the students with crystal orbs, staffs, wands, and the like wore a robe that was more like the style of a trench coat.

Upon careful observation, the uniforms of male and female students were roughly the same.

They all wore trousers as it was more practical for combat and also more comfortable when doing complicated movements.

However, a common thing that could be seen in all their uniforms was the emblem on the left side of their chest.

The emblem consisted of a golden torch with flames made of human hand prints.

It vividly personifies the unity of humanity as the light of hope that would be able to repel the darkness of despair.

At this moment, the subject of all the gossiping students, Dahlia, walked to her class without a change in expression.

"Sigh..." She shook her head after she took a seat in the lecture hall.

Seeing that there were only a few people, she took out a notebook from her satchel and began reviewing her notes.

"Dahlia!" A voice called from behind, prompting her to turn her head back.

What greeted her sight was a bespectacled girl with short auburn hair that only reached her neck and freckles that littered her cheeks.

She was radiating a lively vibe brought upon by her bright eyes that was the color of the sky.

However, the most noticeable thing about her was her sleepy eyes and tired expression, as well as her hair that looked like a tornado badly ravaged it.

Upon seeing who it was, a relaxed smile blossomed in Dahlia’s face, "It’s you, Melissa!"

Pat—

Melissa tiredly smiled as she slumped on the chair beside Dahlia.

"Argh, I’m so tired..."

Dahlia stared at her friend’s eyes that had thick eye bags under it and giggled.

"Did you study all night again?"

"You bet it... I swear those teachers are going to be the death of me!"

Anger could be seen brewing in Melissa’s eyes as she spoke with spite before looking towards Dahlia, "How about you?"

"I’m surprised to see you still fresh as ever despite spending a whole year in this damned hell."

Her spiteful words caused Dahlia to have a helpless smile on her face, "Come on, we both know that you’re a top student too."

"And look where it got me! Haha..." At this moment, Melissa seemed to have a few screws loose in her head, "I can’t even take care of myself and do makeup to look pretty! Those fucking teachers are really demoni..."

As her friend went on with her daily rant, Dahlia couldn’t help but reminisce, thinking of just how fast time passed by.

In the year that she had attended the Royal Academy, she had experienced many things.

She experienced the pressure of exams, she experienced having friends, she experienced the so-called school life and overall, just experienced life itself.

She had also met countless people with varying personalities which were really different to the people she knew back in the slums.

The school system of the Royal Academy was also relatively simple.

Their curriculum for both the junior and senior years was divided into two: General Education and Specialized Education.

The former consisted of those 11-15 years old while the latter consisted of 16 years and up.

As the Royal Academy aims to hone their students into being elites that could handle all kinds of fields, they also teach subjects like economics, languages, etiquette and others.

Hence, the existence of the General Education field in the academy.

Meanwhile, the Specialized Education consisted of the path that each student wanted to take.

The Aura Path was composed of different departments such as Sword Training, Warrior Training, Spear Training, Archery Training, and many more.

Meanwhile, the Mana Path includes but is not limited to the departments of Battle Magic, Array Magic, Elemental Magic, and the like.

At this moment, a middle aged woman who had bloated muscles entered the lecture hall and stepped onto the podium.

"Good morning class! Today, we’ll be tackling etiquette when it comes to meeting all kinds of nobles. Not only human nobles, but also the nobles of other races..."

"...the knowledge of how to give respect in the way the other races do is significant in improving our relations with the other races."

"For us humans, the shaking of hands when meeting other people of the same status is common practice and the act of bowing and kneeling is used when meeting someone of a higher status."

"However, the mannerisms and etiquette practice of the other race differs..."

That was right, Dahlia was currently attending her etiquettes subject where the burly female teacher teaches them about mannerisms and the like.

In the past year that she had attended the Royal Academy, this was one of the subjects that bore her the most.

Of course, it didn’t mean that she would take it lightly as she was not that ungrateful.

’No matter how boring the classes get, this is an opportunity given to me by Uncle Doron and Aunty Glorietta!’

Dahlia’s eyes blazed with determination, not willing to take this opportunity for granted.

"I still don’t get why she’s teaching etiquette when she’s better off teaching in the Warrior Training department..."

On the other hand, Melissa complained in a whisper with a bored look on her face.

"Stop, what if she hears you?"

Dahlia whispered nervously while Melissa just rolled her eyes.

Well, it was not impossible since it had already happened in the past: instances of her being told to stand outside the room and whatnot.

As the lecture went by, Dahlia couldn’t suppress her boredom anymore.

Her eyes then started to wander.

In the distance, she saw a boy with black hair and eyes glancing at her.

She knew this boy, but chose to ignore him since she entered the room. Though he seemed quite persistent.

’Argh, what the fuck? I’m not even paying attention anymore and he just keeps going, huh?’

Dahlia became annoyed as she knew exactly that the reason behind the boy glancing at her was not anything good.

It was not because he had a crush on her nor was it because he wanted to be her friend.

The boy was none other than Gustav Grava, her Aunt Glorietta’s son. His handsome features couldn’t be hidden by his childish face.

’I can’t believe that he’s still angry at me when he should be angry at his stupid ass!’

The reason why Dahlia was so annoyed was because of how she met Gustav back in his first few days in the academy.

Their first encounter was quite simple: it was a normal day back then and she was touring the school premises.

It was then that Gustav, a famous fuck boy of the academy noticed her.

Her cute features that was an obvious sign of how she would grow into a beautiful woman made the fuck boy’s heart thump.

He then approached her without any knowledge of her and his family’s relationship.

Basically, their conversation went by like this:

"Hey cutiepie, wanna go on a date with me?"

"You must be Gustav Grava, right?"

"Oh, you must’ve heard about me?"

"Yes. The others said that you like playing with girls’ feelings."

"Come on, don’t believe them. You’ll only know for sure when you get to know me better, so what do you say~?"

"I’m sorry, but we’re cousins."

At that moment, Gustav, his friends and the crowd’s face froze at her words.

Humans, especially nobles, were not fond of incest since they wanted to be more powerful through the merging of bloodlines with other families.

Thus, Gustav’s attempt at trying to make his cousin his woman made him a laughing stock of the other students.

He was labeled as the one who would try to flirt with any girl, even within the same family.

The Royal Academy was a boarding school that required students to live in it for the rest of the semester.

This was so they could focus on their studies with no influence from the events that happened outside the campus such as some political related activities between the nobles.

Of course, visits were still allowed with minimal restrictions since they were students and not prisoners.

However, it was through Gustav’s request that a butler of the Grava Family visited him and told him about Dahlia.

It was then that he became aware of the details of how his Uncle Doron spontaneously adopted her during his journey.

From then on, he had unfairly directed all his anger towards his new "cousin".