🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 02
Wasn’t she looking at them with an expression of admiration for a romance of the century, as though she genuinely believed it?
She looked so thoroughly captivated that Octavia couldn’t bring herself to reprimand her.
Just then, the bell signaling the break rang. The students rushed out of the classroom like a receding tide, as though they had been waiting for that very moment.
By the time Professor Octavia finally came to her senses, Astina had already made a swift escape as well.
“That’s rather mischievous of you, little sister. Even talking back to your teacher.”
It seemed the commotion during class had already become the subject of gossip.
Astina quickened her pace, ignoring her older sister Canna, who was following her annoyingly close behind.
“Are you ignoring even your own older sister now? I’m not some stranger, you know.”
Canna playfully leaned her face toward Astina.
Astina denied it.
“I wasn’t talking back.”
“I heard you spent the entire lecture staring out of the window.”
“I was contemplating poetic inspiration, just like a proper lady.”
Astina answered indifferently. Of course, Canna didn’t believe her.
Her younger sister, Astina, had been an unusual child ever since birth.
When Astina began speaking earlier than other children, her family simply thought she was exceptionally bright. After all, most parents were blinded by their love for their children and often praised them for even the smallest things.
As Astina grew older, however, the expectations of Count and Countess Lete were thoroughly overturned. The only difference was that things had turned out in a rather unusual direction.
Astina wasn’t merely clever. She was a genuine genius.
Astina had no interest in the balls or dolls that ordinary children loved.
While other children ran around outside playing, she shut herself away in the library, reading history books that even adults would have difficulty understanding. She would pile them up until they reached her own height.
Count Lete was puzzled as to why his daughter, who wasn’t even ten years old, was so interested in the history of the empire.
In response to her father’s curiosity, Astina offered only incomprehensible answers.
‘I need to see what happened during that time.’
Count Lete understood Astina’s behavior as one of the eccentricities of a genius.
Impressed by his daughter’s extraordinary intelligence, Count Lete began teaching Astina etiquette earlier than usual.
As it happened, he had just hired a private tutor for Canna, who was two years older than Astina. It was a simple matter to squeeze one more little head into the classroom that had already been prepared.
Young Canna was embarrassed about having to take lessons alongside her younger sister.
Astina, however, made no effort to adjust her pace out of consideration for her older sister’s pride. Even a genius could find things like the proper angle for holding a teacup or correcting one’s walking posture unbearably tedious.
After attending only two or three lessons, Astina appeared the following day with impeccable manners, astonishing everyone.
Her graceful movements were far better than those of her older sister, who had started learning first. In fact, they were even better than those of the teacher herself.
As a result, a small incident occurred in which young Canna mistakenly believed herself to be an idiot and shut herself away in her room.
The Count and Countess enthusiastically explained that ordinary children learned etiquette at roughly the same pace as Canna, and that even her education had begun quite early.
In truth, Canna was also considered a gifted child. It simply took her some time to realize that she wasn’t an ordinary person—rather, Astina was the extraordinary genius.
When Canna finally emerged from her room, Astina offered her something that could hardly be considered consolation.
‘Don’t be so disappointed in yourself already. Your limitations will keep tormenting you again and again until the day you die, anyway.’
Young Canna couldn’t even understand what she meant.
To Canna, Astina was an oddball.
It was strange enough that someone with such a beautiful face and graceful manners would be interested in swords of all things.
On her tenth birthday, Astina had once asked her father for a sword, only to receive a severe scolding.
She never made the same request again, but Canna knew why Astina occasionally disappeared into the courtyard.
It was because of her secret meetings with Hissen, the knight responsible for Count Lete’s protection.
At first, Canna suspected that the two were secretly dating.
However, Astina was twelve at the time, while Hissen was a sturdy young man of twenty-five. Moreover, the conversations between them were rather strange.
‘Do I look like a fool to you, Sir? If you make such a large move before you’re certain, how do you intend to defend yourself while recovering your sword?’
Astina, who was considerably smaller than Hissen, was irritably criticizing his swordsmanship habits.
Hissen stood at attention, sweat dripping profusely from his body.
‘I’m sorry! It was my mistake!’
‘Why are you apologizing to me? Well, if even a moderately skilled assassin comes along, you won’t be able to protect Father and will end up dying a dog’s death. How impressive.’
‘I have no excuse, Master!’
‘I never said I had a disciple like you.’
Astina replied indifferently before turning her head toward the place where Canna was hiding. Then, she walked toward her with her short legs.
Realizing that she had been discovered, Canna cautiously stood up.
Astina immediately said:
‘Keep this a secret.’
‘Why?’
‘Father would be saddened to learn how incompetent his subordinate is.’
‘That’s not the point. Father said swords are dangerous.’
‘Canna, what’s dangerous is becoming weak.’
Once again, Canna couldn’t understand what Astina meant. Nevertheless, in exchange for being given her desserts for an entire month, she faithfully kept the secret.
Afterward, Hissen, who had once been the youngest knight, gradually improved his skills by leaps and bounds. He eventually became talented enough to aim for the position of the youngest-ever commander of the Knights Order.
There was no way such a talented knight could have been taught by a mere twelve-year-old girl.
Canna wondered whether she had simply dreamed the whole thing up back then. However, Astina continued to devote herself to swordsmanship, almost as though she were deliberately teasing Canna.
In any case, unlike her boisterous behavior during childhood, Astina thereafter followed the ordinary course of progress in everything—at least, as far as other people could tell.
That was why she was still attending the academy despite possessing enough knowledge to make early graduation entirely reasonable.
“Making a fool of your professor isn’t something a proper lady should do.”
Canna reprimanded her in a refined manner. The walk back to the dormitory was long.
Since it would take some time before they reached the quiet privacy of their room, Astina decided to entertain the conversation.
“I never did that.”
“You mean to tell me you actually believe in the love story between King Theodore and Empress Martina?”
Although the story had been used as a theme in some novels and plays, it was nothing more than fiction.
There was no way that someone like Astina would seriously believe something like that.
What utter nonsense.
Canna scoffed.
