🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 07
“Yes. That’s right.”
Briseis felt strange when she heard that. In the original story, Delilah was a genius. But from Briseis’s perspective, Calisten was also essentially a genius.
However, in the original story, Calisten often lost first place because of Delilah.
Briseis couldn’t feel happy knowing there were now two people above her. She was used to Calisten because they had taken classes together since childhood, but now Delilah suddenly appeared too.
Recalling how much she had been compared to Delilah in every class made her feel even worse.
As the villain, Briseis was nothing more than a device to make Delilah’s intelligence shine. Her own ignorance, cruelty, and viciousness stood in contrast to Delilah.
“I prefer obedient girls over smart ones.”
“And if she’s both smart and obedient?”
Delilah lowered her eyes slightly and asked Demian. He gently stroked her hair as if she were cute and said,
“That’s fine too.”
Briseis met Demian’s gaze, and he chuckled, saying,
“Still, a woman only needs to be pretty.”
“Then I’ll have to try harder. To be pretty and smart.”
“You speak beautifully, Dilly.”
Delilah smiled blissfully at Demian. Briseis pretended to focus on reviewing the third-period lesson to ignore their conversation.
After an excruciatingly long time, school finally ended.
“See you at the evening ceremony.”
Demian had to go with Briseis, but he said he would go ahead first.
“I need to buy Dilly some clothes.”
“….”
“She’s wearing someone else’s clothes, so they seem a bit big. Dilly’s body is very elegant.”
Demian casually insulted Briseis as he left the class with Delilah. Briseis sighed, lowering her gaze. She watched Delilah mockingly glance at her, wave, and leave, feeling her heart turn cold.
“I still think Brigi is better, though.”
Clueless Saturn said this as soon as Demian and Delilah disappeared.
“Right, Evusi?”
“Yes. I prefer this side too.”
Saturn and Evusi were identical twins. Their voices were similar, and only their personalities differed.
“Thanks for saying that.”
Briseis felt strange, wondering if she was really so useless with all the recent criticism.
“It’s not just words. Brigi is really prettier.”
“What good is flattery? I mean it, Brigi.”
Observing this, Ronald, like a little sparrow, jumped in. Though the son of a count, he had a rough and reckless mouth, despite being academically excellent.
“Demian is with her, so I didn’t say anything. But what’s good about a commoner? She looks so country-like and clumsy.”
Briseis might not have noticed, but not everyone liked Delilah.
Wilhelm Academy was known as the most difficult school to enter in the empire. It offered the best education across the continent. Even friendly foreign countries sent their children here to study.
Even in hostile territories, parents disguised their children’s status to enroll them.
So, anyone would naturally dislike Delilah, who entered without even taking the exam, just by showing one military achievement.
Besides, the class was strictly ranked by grades.
Class 1 consisted of twenty top students, ranked first to twentieth. These were ambitious, proud students.
Thus, resentment toward Delilah grew quietly.
But this resentment was suppressed because they feared Grand Duke Demian.
“I was happy a new female student joined, but why a courtesan?”
“Hey, even a courtesan needs culture. She lived as a commoner, how could it be the same?”
Someone said this, and the others laughed, about to leave the classroom.
“Were you inciting this?”
Demian appeared at the door, hearing everything. Delilah was behind him.
“Brigi.”
“…Demian.”
Briseis didn’t say anything, but Demian glared at her as if she were the cause of all this.
“This is why my heart goes to Dilly. Because of your disgusting mask.”
“Your words are too…”
“Yes. Brigi, you are beautiful. But what good is that if your heart is so rotten?”
“…Demian.”
Briseis clenched her fists, shocked and humiliated by his insult.
“I will go to the ceremony with Dilly. You can find another partner or not come at all.”
It was normal for a married couple to attend a ceremony together. But Demian was saying he would go with someone other than his wife.
“Let’s go, Dilly.”
“Sniff… Demia…”
“Don’t cry.”
Delilah sniffled, held Demian’s hand, and left, giving Briseis a sly smile.
The classroom fell silent. Everyone patted Briseis’s shoulder, looking apologetic, and left one by one.
❖ ❖ ❖
Briseis didn’t want to attend the ceremony anyway.
It was July 7th, the anniversary of her younger brother Gael Filia’s death.
The Filia family originally had four sons and one daughter. Briseis and Gael were the daughters they had wished for. Her three older brothers were all unpleasant and distant.
The Filia Countess had longed for a daughter. Her sons’ ignorance made her weary, so she cherished Briseis and Gael.
As fraternal twins, Briseis was the older sister, Gael the younger.
‘Sister, I have to go to the academy, so I need to go on a campaign.’
‘It doesn’t have to be Wilhelm Academy. You’re better suited to administration than swordsmanship.’
‘But I want to handle a sword well too. Anyone can be an administrator.’
‘Gael…’
‘With my skills, I won’t get into Wilhelm Academy anyway. I’d rather do what I want.’
Gael was talented academically but not as a knight. He used the academy entrance as an excuse to pick up a sword.
The Filia family had three grown men, so Gael’s behavior was tolerated. They even supported his plan to gain battlefield merit to make up for his insufficient admission score.
No one in the Filia family had failed to graduate from Wilhelm Academy.
“Lily bouquet, please.”
“Ah, hello, Vizon.”
“Yes.”
Briseis forced a smile to avoid sinking into her thoughts. She wore the academy’s white uniform and went to buy flowers. She handed them over with practiced movements.
“Charge it to the Filia family, please.”
“Understood. Have a nice day.”
“Thanks.”
She walked quickly to Gael’s grave.
He died last July 7th. Had he returned from the war, he would have entered Wilhelm Academy safely. But he died after only one campaign score.
Briseis carried guilt, wondering if she could have prevented her brother’s death. In the original story, Gael was a secondary male lead, but he never met Delilah.
Briseis kept the anniversary alone, since the Filia family considered him a disgrace for dying on the battlefield. No one else came.
She wiped her thoughts and approached her brother’s gravestone. Lilies had already been placed there.
“Sniff…”
Someone was already crying. Briseis didn’t know who, but it seemed they came for the same person. She silently placed her lilies and stood quietly.
Suddenly, she realized she recognized him.
Bright silver hair, gray eyes, wearing a knight’s uniform, slightly battered and blood-stained.
“Are you… Gael’s sister?”
It was Cassius Rosefell. One of the original story’s secondary male leads. A loyal man who revived his family for Delilah and even died in her place.
