Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Chapter 46

Step. Step.

Inside the pitch-black building, where not a single lantern or candle had been lit, the sound of someone walking cautiously could be heard.

The silence was as heavy as the dense darkness, making every footstep sound exceptionally loud.

Marie looked down each side of the corridor. There was nothing but darkness, as though the entire place were dead. There was no one to guide her—in fact, she could not see anyone at all.

However, she could clearly hear faint breathing coming from somewhere.

She walked toward it.

Step. Step...

When she reached one of the doors, she heard breathing from beyond it. It sounded like several people sleeping, not just one.

But was she allowed to open the door?

Should she knock?

Marie could not bring herself to break the silence, which felt like a thick sheet of ice. All she could do was remain standing there.

She leaned her back against the wall, set down her luggage, and lowered her head.

For the first time, she began to feel a little exhausted.

She did not know how much time had passed when someone wearing pajamas opened another door and stepped outside. A single candle glowed dimly on the plate she held.

Marie quickly raised her head and looked at her.

"Um, excuse me..."

This was the first person she had encountered since entering the girls’ dormitory, and Marie was about to ask for help. However, the girl holding the candle merely stared at her before walking away somewhere.

Huh?

Marie blinked in bewilderment.

Soon, she heard the trickling sound of water from what appeared to be a bathroom, and the pajama-clad girl emerged again.

This time, she did not even glance at Marie.

She displayed none of the curiosity one might expect toward someone she had never seen before.

The door closed again, and silence descended upon the corridor.

This place does not welcome me.

Marie could feel that unmistakably.

A sense of helplessness weighed upon her chest.

And so, she spent the night in the corridor.

As time passed, dawn arrived.

Marie was crouched against the wall, drifting in and out of sleep, when the door directly in front of her suddenly flew open.

A crowd of female students wearing stained aprons poured out. Students emerged from the other rooms at almost the same time.

Startled, Marie flinched and rose to her feet.

Her legs were stiff.

But the apron-clad girls merely glanced at Marie. Not one of them spoke to her.

They simply hurried about, fetching water, collecting laundry, sweeping and scrubbing the floors, and performing other menial chores.

They looked almost like maids.

Creak, creak—the sound of the pump.

Splash, splash—the sound of clothes being washed.

The sounds of fires being lit, cauldrons being placed over them, water being boiled, and people hurrying frantically back and forth.

The girls’ dormitory filled with the sounds of daily life, making the oppressive silence of the previous night feel like a lie.

Yet Marie remained completely isolated amid it all.

She could only stand blankly in the middle of the corridor and watch the other girls hurry about. Even when she spoke to them, they walked past as though they genuinely had not heard her.

It was not until around midmorning that the commotion subsided and several students finally began stirring in their beds.

One girl stretched as far as she could before emerging from her room with a half-asleep expression, vigorously scratching her stomach.

When she noticed Marie, she said,

"Are you new? There should be an empty bed in that room over there."

She then yawned loudly and shuffled toward the bathroom, dragging her shoes beneath her crushed heels.

Marie understood instinctively.

Only after receiving that girl’s permission was she finally allowed to enter the room.

It was invisible, yet unmistakable—the students here were not equal.

This place had a hierarchy of its own, separate from the outside world.

For the moment, Marie dragged her exhausted body into the room the girl had indicated.

Four students were still asleep, while the other beds had been neatly made without so much as a wrinkle.

Beside each bed stood a small set of drawers for storing personal belongings. Marie spotted one bed with no possessions around it.

That appeared to be the vacant one.

Marie unpacked her belongings there, folded her clothes and placed them in the drawers, then propped the famed sword Ricky against the wall.

The Academy courtyard was visible through the window. Several boys were washing themselves shirtless beside the well.

There were pump-fed water pipes now, so there was no real need to wash in the courtyard. However, students who did not want to wait had come outside to wash themselves.

Marie carefully sat on the bed and looked around the room.

Around that time, the maidlike students who had been bustling about since early morning entered carrying trays.

On the trays were freshly picked raspberries and plums, along with roasted sweet potatoes, cheese, ham, and other food.

They carried the trays over to the students who were still asleep and quietly called their names to wake them.

"Lea, Lea. I brought you breakfast."

"Kaylee, I brought your breakfast."

"Mmm... Thanks."

The girls sluggishly sat up, but the one named Kaylee refused to wake.

They could have shaken her awake, but the girl did not touch her at all. She merely continued calling her name quietly.

"Kaylee, I brought your breakfast. Kaylee."

Marie wondered what in the world she was doing.

Even my nanny used to yank off my blanket to wake me.

Kaylee showed no signs of waking, making the task seem truly miserable for the girl trying to rouse her.

Then—

"Kaylee. Kaylee. Kay—"

"Ah, fuck! I heard you!"

Kaylee irritably threw off her blanket and sat up.

The other girls flinched in surprise.

"Hey, do you think I’m deaf? Know when to stop. You’re not a mosquito, so why are you being so damned annoying?"

"...Sorry..."

Amazingly, it was the maidlike student who apologized. She gently placed the tray on the table beside the bed.

"Hey, control your temper. What did she do wrong?"

"Ah, that fucking bitch wouldn’t stop pestering me."

"Good grief... Tsk, tsk, tsk."

One of the other girls who had awakened late shook her head and clicked her tongue.

Judging by her reaction, this was nothing new, and she appeared to have half given up already.

Marie watched all of this unfold.

The girls eating on their beds turned their gazes toward her—and then toward the sword leaning against the wall.

Their eyes traveled up and down Marie as though looking down on her.

It must have been obvious to anyone that she was a new student, but none of them spoke to her either.

Once they finished eating, the girls leisurely left their beds and went to wash in the bathing room.

The maidlike students had already heated the water. After washing, the girls returned to the room, got dressed, and began grooming themselves while looking into bronze mirrors.

They chatted animatedly, mostly about the city and the male students.

Who liked whom, who had confessed and been rejected, which boy was not particularly appealing—things like that.

Around noon, they ate once more. It was not until the afternoon that they finally went outside.

The maidlike students ate whatever food they left behind and then cleaned everything up.

Marie was tired and hungry, but she could not sleep while the sun was still up.

So she rose and went outside.

While walking around and examining the Academy grounds, she spotted a group of the maidlike students gathered closely together behind the girls’ dormitory.

Strangely enough, Boribori was sitting at the center of the group.

He was fiddling with something in his hands.

"Here, like this. Yeah. You just tie it this way."

He appeared to be teaching them how to make something by weaving grass or plant stems together.

The other girls watched with fascination while chatting among themselves.

"Bori."

Marie called to him.

Every student turned to look at her. The girls reacted as though they had seen something they should not have and hurriedly scattered.

"..."

"Oh, Marie. Did you sleep well? Are you settling in?"

"Huh? Oh... I’m not sure yet. But Bori, what are you doing here?"

"Me? When I’m not with Ricky, I mostly spend time with the girls. People say I’m like a girl anyway. And I’m not very good at controlling my strength during sparring, so I’ve broken the other boys’ bones a few times."

"I don’t think liking flowers and plants necessarily makes you girlish. You simply like them."

"You think so? Well, it doesn’t matter anymore."

Boribori merely gave her a bright, innocent smile.

Seeing his smiling face made Marie feel as though her bleak mood had lifted a little.

"Where’s Ricky?"

"He said he’s going to discipline everyone."

"Huh?"

"I don’t know. He said the students needed to be put in line. I don’t really understand those things."

"Oh, right. You said he was ranked first..."

"The top-ranked student doesn’t necessarily have to do something like that, but I suppose Ricky stepped in because Volka isn’t here. And since they’re nobles, it’s probably better for Ricky to be the one who beats them. One of them nearly died yesterday, but he barely survived."

Marie had heard about Volka while traveling there with Rickart and Boribori, so she understood that part to some extent.

But it was better for Ricky to beat them because they were nobles?

She could not understand that.

"It’s better if Ricky beats them?"

"Huh? Oh, well... there’s a reason for that."

"You’re just as bad at lying as I am. Fine. I won’t ask any more."

"Thanks. But have you eaten?"

"No."

"Then let’s go get something to eat."

Boribori dusted himself off, rose to his feet, and led Marie somewhere.

He held a bundle of flowers in his hands. They looked as though someone had given them to him as a gift.

"Wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back."

Leaving Marie outside, Boribori quickly slipped into the inner castle.

Marie cautiously peered inside, wondering whether she might see Ricky.

But she was forced to turn her head away because of the boys walking through the inner castle.

There was not a single male student who did not turn to look at her.

Just then, a voice pierced through the haze caused by her sleepless night and jolted her fully awake.

"Marie?"

Startled, Marie spun around. It was Rickart, who had been walking down the corridor.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was waiting for Bori. We were going to eat together."

"Really? I was about to eat too. Come inside. Let’s eat together."

"...Am I allowed to go in?"

"Why wouldn’t you be? Classes are held in this building too. Come on in."

Rickart spoke casually, but just as boys were not permitted to enter the girls’ dormitory without good reason, girls were not supposed to enter the inner castle outside class hours.

It was an unwritten rule.

Of course, there was nowhere Marie could not enter if Rickart brought her along.

However, there were people watching Marie from the windows of the girls’ dormitory. Unfortunately, they could not see Rickart standing inside the inner castle.

Just then, Boribori returned carrying an armful of food, so the three entered the inner castle together.

As soon as Marie stepped inside, spirited shouts from the unarmed-combat classroom reached her ears.

"Pankration! Pankration!"

"Kill him!"

"Rip his head off!"

"That’s it!"

Marie’s eyes widened as she wondered what in the world was happening.

Rickart and Boribori, however, calmly climbed to the second floor and entered an empty classroom.

They took seats beside the window and began eating. The vast fields stretching below the cliff upon which the Academy stood were visible in their entirety. Perhaps because the building had once served as a fortress, it commanded an exceptionally broad view.

A refreshing breeze blew through the window.

It was not particularly harsh.

"Are you settling in all right?"

Rickart asked Marie.

"Hm? Oh, well... I’ll have to adjust little by little."

To be honest, Marie had felt something strange and uncomfortable inside the girls’ dormitory, but she chose not to describe every detail.

It would have felt like tattling.

Besides, she certainly felt comfortable whenever she was with Rickart and Boribori. The two of them were strange, mature, and occasionally frightening, yet innocent at the same time.

More than anything else, she liked that they seemed free of prejudice.

They occasionally misspoke, but there was never any malice behind it.

"It looks like we’ll have to wait for a few more new students before classes begin. Do you want to go into the city tomorrow? There’s a friend I’d like to introduce you to. His name is Molti. He used to be a student here, but now he’s a blacksmith’s assistant. He’s married too."

"Really? Sure, let’s do that."

It was not particularly unusual for people to marry at seventeen or eighteen, so Marie was not especially surprised.

In any case, Marie chatted casually with Rickart and Boribori about various things. It was not until late afternoon that she left the inner castle and returned to the dormitory.

When she entered her room, however, she found the girls rummaging through her drawers without permission.

They had even drawn her sword and were examining it as they pleased.

They were the girls who had awakened late that morning.

The situation was so absurd and outrageous that Marie was too stunned even to become angry.

"Excuse me..."

"Oh, you’re back? Hey, you have a lot of nice clothes."

"This sword seems pretty valuable too. Did you sell your body to get all this?"

Marie frowned at the blatantly insulting remark.

But rather than responding to it, she spoke firmly.

"Excuse me, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t touch my belongings without permission."

The girls scoffed.

"Are you showing off because you earned some money selling your body? We only looked because your clothes were pretty."

"Are they going to wear out because we touched them? Are they? Are you saying we’re dirty or something?"

"Bori seems like an idiot. Are you planning to seduce him?"

"We have our pride too, you know. This is an academy, not a brothel. Understand?"

Their tongues were like sharp daggers stabbing into Marie.

Not a word of it was true.

She was so confused that she did not even know where to begin refuting them.

Marie’s heart pounded as she experienced something like this for the first time in her life.

Still, she struggled to remain calm as she spoke. She could not stop her breathing from trembling slightly.

"That isn’t what I meant. I’m asking you not to touch my belongings. Especially the sword. Don’t touch that under any circumstances. It’s dangerous."

"We won’t touch it. It’s filthy anyway."

The girls carelessly flung Marie’s clothes onto the floor. Her drawers had been left open, and everything inside was in complete disarray.

They even tossed the sword roughly onto the floor.

Clang!

Then they bumped their shoulders against Marie as they returned to their places. They sat or lay together on one bed, chattering among themselves.

Marie silently lowered her head and looked at her possessions scattered across the floor.

She suddenly remembered something Ricky had told her.

You need to establish your own principles.

Yes.

I’ll establish a principle.

I’ll give them a chance.

Anyone can make a mistake.

Marie turned toward the girls who were still speaking ill of her behind her back.

"Apologize."

"What?"

"Has she lost her mind?"

At that moment, Kaylee, the girl with the worst temper, glared at her and spoke.

"Hey."

She rose and approached Marie.

The other girls snickered.

"Would you like to say that again?"

"Apologize. Apologize for touching my belongings without permission and for insulting my friend."

The instant Marie finished speaking, Kaylee slapped her.

Marie’s head snapped to the side.

But Marie neither cried nor showed any surprise. She slowly turned her head forward again.

Her left cheek had turned red.

However, her eyes no longer held their usual innocent look.

They were as fierce as the eyes of a hawk or an eagle.

Marie whispered,

"Apologize."

Kaylee smiled cruelly and tried to slap her again.

Or rather, she intended to.

Before she could, something flashed before her eyes, and Kaylee collapsed facedown on the floor.

Smack!

Thud.

Marie had slapped her first.

Her hand had moved as swiftly as lightning, and the blow had been infused with a tremendous amount of Mana. Kaylee could not rise from the floor and merely writhed there.

The snickering abruptly stopped.

The room became silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Students from the other rooms had gathered outside to watch. They covered their mouths, their faces filled with shock.

Marie approached the remaining girls.

"W-Wait..."

"I believe I gave you more than enough opportunity."

She drew her hand all the way back and delivered a full-force slap.

The impact was almost powerful enough to tear the flesh from the girl’s cheek.

Smack!

She could not even scream.

The other students trembled in fear at how suddenly it had happened.

But Marie spared none of them.

She struck each of them across the face, sending every girl sprawling with a single blow.

Yet she did not stop there.

Marie slowly raised one long-booted foot and brought it down forcefully on one of the drawer cabinets.

Crack!

The Mana-infused stomp shattered it instantly, crushing and scattering the clothes and belongings inside.

Step. Step. Step...

Marie walked forward slowly and haughtily, destroying all the remaining cabinets.

Crash! Crack! Bang!

Each time something shattered, the students watching from outside flinched.

After destroying every cabinet, Marie turned around and spoke with a voice as cold as frost.

"While I’m gone, put my belongings back in order yourselves. If you don’t, I’ll tear out your tongues and cut off your wrists. This is your final chance."

Establishing her own principles was all well and good, but this seemed somewhat excessive.

Nevertheless, an individual’s principles could sometimes become the rules everyone followed—provided that individual possessed sufficient power.

Without looking back, Marie strode from the room.

The students watching outside hurriedly moved aside, opening a path for her.

From the previous day until that very morning, no one had spared Marie so much as a glance.

Now it was the exact opposite.

Every girl stared at Marie, while Marie paid no attention to any of them.

Marie possessed the grace, charisma, and dignity of a true noble, not someone merely imitating one.

The students found themselves captivated by her without even realizing it.

When Marie returned after clearing her head outside, she found her belongings neatly restored to their original condition.

Even without Marie issuing further orders, the students of that room who belonged to the so-called "Lady" rank were practically expelled and forced to move to another room once the balance of power shifted.

A storm had swept through the dormitory, but Marie remained calm.

She went to sleep without caring in the slightest about the atmosphere around her.

The next morning, however, someone called her name from outside.

"Marie! Marie!"

It was only just time for the maid students to awaken, yet the voice belonged to a boy.

It was exceedingly rare for a boy to shout so openly toward the girls’ dormitory, particularly to call for someone by name.

It required courage, and if done carelessly, it could make him a laughingstock.

But everyone who looked out the window was shocked.

It was Rickart—a boy who had never shown the slightest interest in girls.

He was the undisputed highest-ranking student in the Academy, a prodigious young swordsman, the leader of Beringen Academy’s legendary group of nine, and an object of both awe and admiration.

And now that boy stood outside with his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting,

"Don’t eat breakfast! Come outside! Let’s eat in the city!"

Marie smiled happily. Leaning out the window, she called back,

"Okay! Wait a moment! I’ll be right out!"

Marie washed and arranged her hair as quickly as possible. After dressing simply, she left the dormitory.

The astonished gazes of the other girls followed her every step.

Rickart was waiting outside with Boribori. When Marie emerged, he noticed her reddened left cheek, and his eyes widened.

"Did something happen?"

"No. It was nothing."

"Why? What happened?"

"Hmm... disciplining everyone? Like you did, Ricky?"

"...Huh?"

Chapter 9: Discipline — End.