SRC 6

Chapter 6

“Oh, good job today… See you tomorrow… Ah, goodbye.”

When homeroom ended, Ms. Karen—still as faint in presence as ever—appeared and dismissed the class.

Siana, who had already finished packing, said goodbye to me first.

“It’s my first day, so my father said he’d come pick me up. I’ll head out first.”

“Okay, get home safely.”

“Is Olivia here?”

Unlike the others, I had been packing my things slowly for this exact reason.

“Unnie!”

I slung my bag over my shoulder and ran straight into my sister’s arms.

“Our cutie, how was your first day?”

“It was very intense.”

Being placed in a new environment called the academy made everything feel unfamiliar and fascinating.

And on top of that, I had the precious experience of meeting two potential brothers-in-law in just one day. That made it even more special.

“Alright, tell your sister everything on the way home.”

I couldn’t exactly go into detail about Brother-in-law Candidate No.1 and No.2, but I could at least share my impressions of the academy.

“I’m curious to hear how Kongkong felt about her first day at the academy.”

At that moment, Liam, who had been standing behind my sister, stepped forward.

“Are you going home with us too, sunbae?”

“Yeah. She said you two could go alone, but I insisted on walking you.”

“I said ‘since I’m heading that way anyway.’ The dorm and your house are along the same route.”

There was indeed a dormitory at Saint Louis Academy.

Any student who wanted could stay there with meals provided, though it was usually used by those who lived far away.

In a way, the Imperial Palace and the academy were quite far apart too, so Liam technically counted as someone who lived far away.

It was something I already knew, so I wasn’t particularly surprised.

Whether or not the dorm really was on the same route as our house, Liam naturally joined us on the way home.

The two of them looked used to chatting like this—apparently they had walked home together during their first year as well.

Maybe they parted ways halfway, since I’d never actually seen them walk home together before.

Thanks to the two popular figures, we drew plenty of attention from other students even outside the academy gates.

“Even so, you’re royalty. Don’t you ride a carriage?”

“If you attend the academy, you’re just a regular student. I can’t exactly ride around in a carriage stamped with the imperial crest. That would just create unnecessary tension.”

It seemed Liam didn’t like using his status to dominate others.

That slightly shattered my prejudice that he would be arrogant and self-centered.

Should I count that as a plus point?

While I was thinking about it, my sister cleanly ignored Liam’s comment.

“Anyway, how was your day, Olivia?”

To Emma, whatever Liam said clearly wasn’t high on her list of priorities.

Poor Liam.

Pretending to be “just friends” really did have its limits.

“My future dream might change.”

“From becoming a rich unemployed person to something else?”

Since I talked about it so often, my sister knew my dream very well.

Though my real, exact dream was to marry my sister off to a good husband and then live as a rich unemployed person benefiting from my brother-in-law.

“Of course, that’s still my number one priority. But if that turns out to be difficult and I have to work, I think I want to become an academy teacher.”

Even though I didn’t explain in detail, both Emma and Liam nodded as if they understood.

“Indeed.”

“Seems like you learned quite a lot on your very first day, Kongkong.”

They must have had their own impressions of the academy’s very unique teachers.

There were even teachers who didn’t seem to teach properly and yet weren’t fired.

Just from the teachers I met today, I had already realized a lot.

“Wanting to work less and earn more has now become my number two dream.”

“If there are many young people like you, this country’s future must be very bright.”

No matter how sarcastic Liam sounded, my dream wasn’t going to change.

Honestly, didn’t everyone dream of a life like that?

Perhaps as someone born Crown Prince, he simply couldn’t understand.

I turned away from him and continued speaking to Emma.

“And I can use magic now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. In elemental magic class, Noah helped me.”

“Noah?”

“Yeah, Noah Logan sunbae.”

“I knew Noah was sitting in on first-year elemental magic classes. Was it your class?”

“Yeah! Thanks to him, I even tried using magic!”

Rather than explaining it in a hundred words, I thought it would be better to show them directly. I focused strength into my wrist like before.

We were outside the academy now, so it should be fine to use magic, right?

But perhaps because Noah wasn’t helping me this time, nothing happened.

“Ugh.”

“Seems like your skill isn’t quite there yet.”

“But it definitely worked earlier.”

“It might be because you were inside the elemental magic classroom. Those rooms have devices installed to help mana flow more easily.”

“Is that so?”

Feeling unnecessarily disappointed, I lowered my wrist.

“But since when did you get so close to Noah? You’re calling him by name, not ‘sunbae.’”

My sister sent me a wary look.

It was the kind of look that suspected there might be something between Noah and me.

“Oh, I asked him if he could give me some advanced lessons in magic. Then he said instead we should just be friends. He even said that since I’m your little sister, it’s fine for us to be friends.”

“That sounds like Noah.”

Only then did my sister seem reassured.

Since the reason we became friends was because of her, there was no need for her to be on guard.

“Noah is a good kid. He even became friends with my friend and volunteered for advanced lessons. Olivia, your social skills are impressive.”

Emma patted my head proudly.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

After all, I only got close to Noah because I was her sister.

And the reason my classmates became interested in me was because they saw me talking with her and Liam.

So it wasn’t wrong.

“Still, if you weren’t as special and cute as you are, Olivia, not everyone would want to be your friend.”

I wondered what exactly I looked like in my sister’s eyes.

At her embarrassingly affectionate words, I could clearly see Liam making a disgusted face.

But I had heard these sister-obsessed remarks so often since birth that I simply let them go in one ear and out the other.

“Unnie, between Liam sunbae and Noah, who are you closer to?”

Suddenly, I became curious which of the two potential brothers-in-law her heart leaned toward.

Standing right beside her, Liam seemed to perk up as well, paying close attention.

“I’m close with both.”

“But if you had to choose just one?”

At my persistent question, she held her chin and began seriously thinking.

Depending on which candidate her heart leaned toward, I would need to decide whom to support. This was an important moment.

No matter how much I liked someone, it would be meaningless if my sister didn’t.

“Well… if I had to say, other than Olivia, everyone else is the same to me.”

At yet another sister-obsessed remark, Liam once again made a horrified face.

“Forget I asked.”

It seemed I would have to choose the brother-in-law candidate myself.

For now, my sister didn’t seem to be particularly conscious of either of them.

What on earth had they been doing all last year when I wasn’t here? They couldn’t even win her heart.

As we talked, we eventually reached the point where Liam had to part ways with us.

“Get home safely, Emma, Kongkong.”

“I said it’s not Kong.”

“Right, not Kong. It’s Kongkong.”

“Hey!”

Just like earlier in the day, Liam ruffled my hair again and walked away without much of a goodbye.

“This is a deduction.”

“What is?”

“It’s just something.”

Without explaining further to my sister, I fixed my messy hair and huffed.

I wasn’t a child, and I didn’t like being called a nickname that sounded like a high-protein food.

And on top of that, he kept messing up my hair.

Even if he was the Crown Prince, there were things that simply couldn’t be forgiven.

Back in my room, I secretly took out the notebook hidden in my clothes and wrote “-1” next to Liam’s name.