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Searching for the Runaway Princess — Chapter : 2
The Royal Academy of the Neutral Nation of Swena treated everyone equally.
That meant anyone was given the chance to take the entrance exam, and as long as they passed, anyone could enroll. It also meant that no matter what status a student had, they would be treated the same as ordinary students.
A place where people could enter based only on their abilities, regardless of background or origin.
Even so, most students still came from upper-class families. After all, the privilege of education was only given to a small number of people.
In any case, inside the Royal Academy, even princes and princesses were not treated differently from other students.
Princess Elizia was no exception. Unless a student had health issues, dormitory life in shared two-person rooms was mandatory.
The roommate assigned to Elizia was a woman who had entered the academy one year earlier. She was one of the few commoners in the school and the daughter of a wealthy imperial merchant.
Sophie Windker.
The second imperial Elizia had met.
Unlike the worst imperial—her direct senior, Rakan—Sophie was actually someone Elizia liked quite a bit.
Thanks to that, after about a week of living together in the dormitory, they had grown close enough to casually chat together.
“Elizia, do well in your first class.”
“Yes! I’m really looking forward to it!”
Elizia answered with shining eyes while brushing her hair.
The Royal Academy of Swena—a place everyone dreamed of entering.
And finally, today, after proudly stepping into that academy, she would attend her very first class.
Although she disliked the fact that her first class was a general course together with Rakan, it did not matter much right now.
“But Elizia… your direct senior is Rakan?”
“…Yes. Somehow, it ended up that way.”
“Rakan.”
She did not know his family name.
Nor did she want to know, so she had never bothered asking.
He was from the enemy empire, and his first impression had been awful. She had absolutely no curiosity about him whatsoever.
At this point, she even felt it might have been better if the imperial prince, “Nobila Herve Karund,” had become her senior instead.
Just thinking about Rakan made her expression wrinkle.
Seeing that, Sophie spoke gently beside her.
“Your direct senior being Rakan… I wonder what the principal was thinking. Anyway, everyone’s probably going to be very hostile toward you. Be careful.”
“Hostile?”
Elizia looked at Sophie as if asking what she meant.
Instead of answering, Sophie only smiled as though to say, “You’ll understand soon enough.”
“Well, there’s a reason for it. Anyway, have a good class.”
“Yes. See you later, Senior.”
After saying goodbye, Elizia picked up a few books.
It was about time for her to leave.
As she walked through the pale marble hallway, Elizia thought about Rakan again.
Her direct senior, whom she would soon meet.
Her expression twisted before she could hide it.
Several days had already passed, yet she still could not easily forget someone so arrogant and full of self-love.
‘Stop trying to approach me.’
Approach him?
The one who should stop thinking such nonsense was him.
Her goal was to study hard for three years and become the perfect queen for the Kingdom of Ortigia.
There was absolutely no room in those plans for ridiculous imperials or romantic games.
‘So that’s why.’
Elizia stared ahead with a strange expression.
The professor, with neatly tied hair, lectured passionately while moving a magic pen through the air.
But instead of focusing on the enthusiastic professor, Elizia’s gaze kept drifting toward Rakan’s back, seated in the second row.
His broad and sturdy-looking shoulders.
His straight posture.
And…
The countless dresses surrounding him.
“Hm.”
Resting her chin on one hand, Elizia looked back toward the professor.
The first class was called “Understanding Ancient History.”
Of course, it was not really her preference. Elizia liked modern and recent history much more than ancient history from some distant age she barely knew anything about.
She was only taking ancient history because Rakan attended it.
As his direct junior, she had to attend several general courses together with her direct senior, which was why she had joined this class.
And now Elizia could fully understand why Rakan had such ridiculous self-confidence, why he had asked if she was trying to approach him, and what Sophie had meant when she said everyone would be hostile toward her.
Before class had started, when Elizia entered the lecture hall filled with marble desks—
She immediately saw it.
The sea of dresses tightly surrounding Rakan from every direction.
At that moment, she almost understood his narcissism.
And she could slightly understand why he had told her not to “make moves” on him.
Rakan was like another flower surrounded by beautiful flowers.
Maybe it was because she had been too excited for her first class and failed to sleep properly.
Or maybe it was because the professor’s voice was soft and slow.
Either way, Elizia had to struggle desperately to keep her eyes open.
But the harder she tried, the more it looked as though she were glaring sharply at the professor with half-open eyes.
“Elizia.”
Perhaps the professor felt her intense stare.
The professor turned around from drawing a map and called her name.
“Yes!”
Startled, Elizia answered loudly.
Bang!
She abruptly stood up while slamming both hands on the desk.
That part was completely unnecessary.
The professor laughed softly.
“You don’t need to stand. If you’re sleepy, you can go wash your face.”
“No, I’m fine! I’m sorry!”
Elizia hurriedly sat back down and shook her head.
Her face burned with embarrassment, and her heart pounded wildly.
Falling asleep during the very first class!
Because she had been too excited to sleep properly, this disaster had happened.
Rakan quietly turned around.
A crooked smile rested on his lips as he looked at her.
‘You told me not to pay attention to you.’
His eyes clearly seemed to say that.
Elizia suddenly felt like smashing her head into the desk out of shame.
‘To receive such humiliating looks from that imperial bastard!’
Her very first class could not have gone worse.
That was how Elizia’s first class ended.
Her next class was swordsmanship training.
That class also overlapped with Rakan’s.
It was not intentional. She had simply signed up because she wanted to continue practicing swordsmanship like she had back at the royal palace, and by coincidence, she ended up in the same class as him.
After gathering her writing tools, Elizia turned around.
Rakan had already left the lecture hall.
Even though he was her direct senior, he clearly had no interest in paying attention to her.
But Elizia had no desire to get involved with him either, so she was not bothered at all.
She walked along the path under the noon sunlight.
The hem of her dress fluttered in the wind.
Humming lightly, Elizia headed toward the large dome-shaped training grounds.
And when she reached a path lined with long green grass—
She ran into someone.
A beautiful woman with red hair.
“So you’re Elizia?”
Without even greeting her, the woman spoke first.
She was around the same height as Elizia, but somehow gave the impression of looking down on others.
Her face was seductive rather than youthful.
Even though she wore a modest dress that covered up to her neck, she still gave off a strangely alluring atmosphere.
Elizia searched her memory.
She was definitely the female student sitting beside Rakan earlier.
And judging by the badge color attached to her dress, she was also Elizia’s senior.
Elizia gave the woman a slight polite bow.
Her face remained expressionless, but she was still behaving courteously in her own way.
“Yes. I’m Elizia Warder Ortigia. So you know me.”
“How could I not? There’s already a huge rumor going around that you became Rakan’s direct junior.”
The woman was smiling, but there was no friendliness in it.
Soon, she continued.
“I’m Beth. Princess of the Kingdom of Shati.”
Her tone sounded less like an introduction and more like a declaration of war.
And the Kingdom of Shati…
‘That’s a country that has been allied with the Empire for a long time.’
Even if they had no direct conflict with Ortigia, they were still practically enemies.
Elizia could roughly understand why Beth was treating her this way.
Ignoring the girl’s sharp attitude, Elizia smiled calmly.
“It’s nice to meet you, Senior Beth. I’m the princess of the Kingdom of Ortigia. Though I’m sure you already knew that.”
There was even a sense of composure in Elizia’s greeting.
“Hm.”
Beth curled her lips slightly and slowly looked Elizia up and down.
Her short trimmed nails.
The dress buttoned tightly around her body.
Even her loosely tied hair.
“I expected more from someone from such a wealthy kingdom… but you’re more unfashionable than I thought.”
And the words that followed were far from pleasant for Elizia to hear.
‘What is this sudden hostility? Senior or not, should I just fight her?’
Elizia seriously considered it.
This princess named Beth was openly looking down on her.
