Chapter 5: The Wheel of Fate is Turning

“..One..! ..Two..!”

The wooden sword swung downwards, cutting through the air.

Around the time when students should have been taking third period, the figure of Leticiel repetitively practicing swings could be seen. She was wearing pants for ease of movement.

The location this was taking place in was the Swordplay Training Hall. Leticiel had come to practice the martial arts her father had drilled into her back in her previous life. She had been here since the start of first period.

Even as a Magecraft genius, if Leticiel couldn’t match an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, she wouldn’t be able to win any fights. Therefore, she was doing strength and endurance training in the training hall by herself.

Her current body was that of a sheltered noble girl. When she had first begun, just as one would expect, she would have been out of breath after just a few swings. However, as she had gained more muscle, she could now continue to train for longer periods of time.

A month had passed since she had begun to live as Drossel. In that period, she had spent every day to its fullest.

Almost all human contact had been broken off at her own home, as only her exclusive butler, Ruvik, would enter her room. Furthermore, beside her own room, she would only show herself in the kitchen, the library, and the garden.

Her family also adjusted their schedule to avoid her. While Leticiel didn’t know why they behaved like that, she believed that it wasn’t far off from her usual treatment anyway, and paid it no heed.

At the academy, Leticiel would spend her time until noon buried by the books in the Great Library, or practicing martial arts in the Swordplay Training Hall. In the afternoon, she would lock herself in her laboratory to focus on her research.

And then after school, she would head for the Magic Training Field to teach Sieg and Mirandalette about Magecraft.

As the result of a month of training, just as Leticiel had expected, both Sieg and Mirandalette began to show their talents as Mages.

For Mirandalette, while no single Element stood out for her, she had flawless control over Magecraft of every Element. On the other hand, even though Sieg was better at using Magic for some Elements, he excelled at Void Element Magecraft.

At the same time, Leticiel’s Formula research had been progressing favorably, as she was in the process of completing her rewrite of all the Low Spells.

Compared to the other ranks, it seemed that Low Spells and Middle Spells were the most abundant in number, hence it had taken her this long. Besides Formula modification, she had also been developing new Magecraft.

While she had been reporting all of her findings to the Dean, the two of them kept her discoveries in absolute secrecy. The only other people who knew about her discoveries besides them were Sieg; Mirandalette; Raven; and Valtorana (Mister Sparkly), who was shrewdly dragged into the mix.

Finally, Leticiel hadn’t once shown her face in class in the past month.

For someone who loved reading to the point of spending the majority of her time reading in the Great Library and at home, the lessons taught at the Academy were merely child’s play to her.

Indeed, she had reached the same conclusion that Sieg had.

It had proved to be a good decision. Over the past month, she had rarely even met her classmates, let alone been the subject of their insults.

The teachers didn’t get angry or worry about her. On the contrary, they would often visit her laboratory to chat while bringing her refreshments.

Leticiel didn’t know if it was because they liked her or if they had other motives.

“Third period should be ending soon, huh?”

Leticiel asked herself while swinging the wooden sword with all her strength. While there wasn’t any clock in the training hall, she made a guess based on the noises coming from the other side of the wall.

Unlike the outdoor Magic Training Field, the Swordplay Training Hall was indoors. However, it was also divided into many booths and a class was taking third period in the booth next to Leticiel’s.

Placing the wooden sword back on the rack, she then changed her clothes in the booth’s changing room before cheerfully heading for the cafeteria.

Even if she didn’t show up for class, Leticiel would make sure to have lunch with her friends. She believed that going out of her way to eat lunch alone despite having friends would be too pitiful.

Leticiel arrived at the cafeteria before the end of third period. Because it was still during instructional hours, not a single other student was in sight.

The girl headed straight for the well-lit table for six by the windows. On that table was a handsome black-haired boy. Leticiel’s comrade-in-truancy, Sieg, was idly gazing out of the windows while bathing in the gentle sunlight. He would always do this to secure a good spot.

“Hello, Sieg.”

“Hm? Drossel? You’re here earlier than usual.”

Sieg blinked his eyes as if surprised by Leticiel’s appearance. Looking at that face, Leticiel couldn’t say she didn’t know the reason why.

For the past month, Leticiel had spent almost every day lost in her own world without noticing the time. It was normal that Sieg would have to search for her and drag her over to the cafeteria.

“How unusual. For you to come here on your own before the chime..”

“It’s because I got distracted earlier than usual today. Days like these also happen, you know?”

Leticiel got to the table and sat down. The pair then began chatting in an empty cafeteria.

It seemed that Sieg was researching about numerical formulas in his laboratory. He had planned to visit the machinery room at first, but he had to call it off due to a sudden inspection.

As Leticiel began to doze off in the warm sunlight, the chime rang. And with that, the last person in her group of close friends flew into the cafeteria.

“Good morning! Drossel!”

“Hi, Mira. Your energy level is at 100% like always, huh?”

“Eh!?”

Seeing Mirandalette’s eyes opened wide, Leticiel let out a giggle.

***

The rest of Leticiel’s day had passed without any trouble. As the sun was going down the western skies, she and her friends were in the usual booth.

“You should be able to use this level of Magecraft without a Sorcery Formula now. Now, try using this Water Formula.”

“Okay! Um.. I think it’s like thisー”

”..My head hurts..”

“Sieg. Did your image get caught up with Mira’s Magecraft again!? Close your eyes and calm down. Drive that image of the Water element out of your head at once!”

In the Magic Training Field, Leticiel was helping out her two friends (mostly Sieg).

While Leticiel and Mirandalette had been practicing here every day, Sieg only showed up once in a while whenever he felt like it.

However, their training regimen were fundamentally different. Mirandalette was striving to be able to freely use Magecraft from every Element. On the other hand, because Sieg’s Magic Power in the Five Basic Elements was so high, he had to deal with various constraints.

Particularly, when he and Mirandalette practiced together, her Magecraft would sometimes influence the image in his head. He was trying to use Void element Magecraft just now, but the image of the Water element appeared in his head and caused his body to suffer from a Mana Rebound.

”Didn’t I tell you that it’d be best for you to practice separately?”

“You did. But in this world where Magic is commonplace, I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I couldn’t at least overcome this.”

Sitting on a bench with ragged breath, Sieg formed a smile on his face. Leticiel could only wish that he’d stop pushing himself as she gazed at that poor state.

Leticiel was sitting next to Sieg as she used a Healing Magecraft on him. While his argument was sound, she wondered if he realized that it would be in vain if he broke his body in the process.

Incidentally, Sieg’s Magic Power measurement results were as such:

Leticiel had to do a double take when she first saw it. The normal Magic Power average was between 50 and 60, and anything over 100 would be considered high Magic Power.

And yet he held Magic Power ten times that of those normal values. Furthermore, Leticiel had never met anyone with such a contrast between their proficiencies. With this variation in Elemental Ratings, it was no surprise that it‘d be difficult for him to strike a balance between Magecraft and Magic.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but nevertheless, it’s still not a reason to go this far. You should know by now how violently the Magic Power of the Five Elements in your body reacts to Magecraft by now, right? You’ve been injured so many times already.”

“..”

“And I’ve told you about this so many times, the difference between your abilities is too extreme. Even when you’re not planning to use Magecraft from the Five Elements, you still need to pay utmost attention when you handle Mana. I understand your desire to use both Magecraft and Magic. But if something happens to you then it would all be for naught.”

“..”

“Luckily, Magecraft and Magic aren’t that much different in their structures. Once you master calculation processing step, you should stop suffering from Mana Rebound. In other words, you won’t go anywhere if you keep rushing like this.”

“..Sorry.”

Sieg reminded Leticiel of her past self. In order to not show others her weakness, she tried to resolve everything on her own, but that only led her straining herself even further.

The person who admonished and saved her back then was Nao. Taking care of Sieg like this made Leticiel understand a bit more of what had went on in her husband’s mind.

Sieg couldn’t form a single word to refute Leticiel after hearing what she had to say. Averting his eyes, he disheartedly let out a few apologetic words.

It was a reasonable reaction for someone who hadn’t been scolded much before. However, the scene reminiscent of a downcast puppy was somewhat adorable.

“I think your desire and drive to better yourself is very admirable. However, you have all the time in the world. There’s no reason to burn yourself out, so try to pace yourself to avoid that. I will always be here to help you.”

“..Thank you very much.”

Hearing Leticiel’s scolding and seeing her smile at the end, Sieg opened his eyes and let out a defeated smile.

Leticiel continued to stay by Sieg’s side to use Healing Magecraft on him. He had closed his eyes once again, but his expressions were more at peace than before.

“Drossel, how is Sieg doing?”

“Looks like he’s fine now. His condition’s stabilized and the fever from before has disappeared.”

“Really? That’s great to hear!”

Hearing Leticiel’s words, Mirandalette patted her chest inf relief. At that moment, Sieg, who was lying back against the bench, turned his eyes to the two and said.

“..Can I take a walk around the training field? I want to calm down.”

“Yes, of course you can. In that case, let’s all take a break and go for a stroll.”

Leticiel readily agreed to Sieg’s request. Even if she knew that he was fit to continue, she had no plans to do as unreasonable as immediately resuming their training.

Leticiel’s group left the Magic Training Field together. The field was located to the left of the main building, and behind it was a vast forest spreading out as far as the eye could see. There were various greenhouses and breeding pens that belonged to teachers and researchers who used them for biological research, which were generally off-limits for students.

“Wow.. So there’s even a place like this in the academy.”

“Yeah. When the weather’s clear, you can even see the setting sun in the evening.”

“That’s wonderful! I want to see it with you two sometime!”

While walking along the wall dividing the Magic Training Field and the forest, the three enjoyed their idle chatter.

As a princess who had to protect her citizens a thousand years ago, Leticiel didn’t have much of a chance to enjoy normal conversations like these with people of her age. Spending time with her friends was refreshing to Leticiel.

“You wretch! What are you doing there!”

As the trio turned the final corner to complete a lap around the field, a loud voice suddenly rang out, causing all emotion to drain from their faces.

The expressionless girl turned her head to find Rochefort and his followers glaring at her.

There had been zero contact between Drossel and Rochefort for the past month. They had neither met each other at the academy or at the Duke’s residence, nor had they exchanged any letters.

Leticiel’s eyes were ice-cold as she stared at the fiancé that she hadn’t met in a month. Inside her mind, Rochefort was nothing more than a ‘troublesome existence’ she didn’t want to be involved with.

“What can I help you with, Your Highness?”

“Hmph! The nerves you have to pretend that nothing is happening! Seducing another man even though you have a fiancé, how fitting for the disgrace of the Duke’s household!”

“..”

It seemed that Rochefort was under the impression that Leticiel was enjoying a tryst with Sieg.

Unwittingly, she looked at the first prince as if he was some pitiful thing. There was not a scrap of romance in the current situation, not to mention that Mirandalette was also with them. She wondered how in the world he had managed to come to this conclusion.

At that point, it was already too late for Leticiel to call this prince an idiot. She could only call him a maggot who had spent the last month flirting indiscriminately with his fiancée’s younger sister.

“B-But Your Highness.. There’s another person beside those twoー”

“Quiet! Bastard, you dare to speak up at me!”

One of his followers, a glasses-wearing boy, pointed out the existence of Mirandalette. However, Rochefort was so full of himself that he immediately disregarded that idea.

The timid-looking follower glanced toward Leticiel as if frightened. He slightly lowered his head, just enough so that the rest of his group didn’t notice.

Even though her expression hadn’t changed, Leticiel certainly noticed his gesture. While she had thought that every single one of that idiot prince’s followers were idiots themselves, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Hmph! But you’re right. It seems that you’re also mingling with that infamous dunce of a lower-ranking noble! You should be ashamed as fiancée of this first prince!”

“..”

Seemingly realizing that Rochefort was referring to her, the girl standing next to Leticiel lowered her head while clutching her shirttail. Unlike the golden line sewn on Leticiel’s shirttail, the line being crumpled in Mirandalette’s grip was a color that denoted her status, black.

Something inside of Leticiel snapped.

She could care less about what he had said about her. However, Rochefort had insulted her friend.

(Say, can I beat this man up? It’s fine for me to beat him up, right? Or rather, it’s better for the world if he’s beaten up, no?)

Ignorant to Leticiel’s silent rage, Rochefort formed an arrogant smile. His eyes that gazed down at her were the same as ever; they were filled with contempt.

”With all due respect.”

Despite meeting Rochefort’s glare, her eyes were clearly showing her disgust, and without any facial expression, Leticiel plainly stated her thoughts.

“If you think you are in any position to call me ‘the first prince’s fiancée’, then I suggest you try some soul searching first.”

“What!”

Rochefort didn’t even attempt to hide his surprise. It seemed that the thought of her retaliating had never crossed his mind.

“Wretch! Even if you’re a good-for-nothing, it still doesn’t change that you still belong to the Duke’s household! Getting involved with something like a lower-ranking noble would only further lower your non-existent reputation!”

“Even if you say that, Your Highness. A country is something built upon the shoulders of its citizens and its many lower-ranking nobles. Despite that fact, you choose not to interact with them just because of a difference in social status and academic ability. That’s very short-sighted for a royal, wouldn’t you say?”

In truth, this was one of the ideals Leticiel held even during the previous age. She believed that while royalty controlled a country, they could only do so because of all the citizens and nobles under them.

She also believed that the same ideal still held true even in the modern day. The reason the minority, the high-ranking nobles, could live leisurely like they did was because of the people under them.

“Y-you wretch! Don’t get carried away!”

Unable to contain himself, Rochefort’s glare grew sharper as he rushed at her, as if attempting to grab the girl.

Simply dodging that attack was easy as his movement was too dull. Without sparing him a glance, she began her counterattack and invoked a Magecraft on the ground. Vines made of grass crawled up his legs; he was caught without even being touched.

“Gaah!”

Taken by surprise, Rochefort tumbled face-first onto the ground.

Staring down at the dirtied Rochefort with eyes cold as ice, Leticiel walked towards him step by step.

“H-h-how! Why did you! If you know what’s good for yoー”

Holding onto the label of ‘incompetent’ until the very end, Rochefort returned to his usual presumptuous behavior as soon as he recognized her approach.

However, that miniscule confidence was inconsequential to Leticiel. She took what was left of it and smashed it to pieces by creating five spears of ice around her.

“Uoohhhhh!!?”

Letting out a strange shriek, Rochefort frantically attempted to flee.

But Leticiel had no intention of letting him do so. With a swing of her hands, the spears were released, flying towards the bug before her. His body barely avoided injury as the spears pinned him to the ground.

”I wouldn’t try to move if I were you. I already went out of my way to avoid your face, so don’t blame me if you get hurt, okay?”

“H-h-hiiii!!?”

Before Rochefort could decide on whether he should run or not, Leticiel stooped down and matched his gaze.

An ice-cold Leticiel slowly narrowing her mismatched eyes of different colors pushed Rochefort’s mental state over its limits. Something like his pride as royalty was no longer in his mind.

“Your Highness. Although I don’t enjoy doing unproductive things like conversing with you, I will leave you with just this.”

“U-u-unproductive, you say..!!”

“I’ll say this frankly so you have nothing to bark back about. Well then, Your Highness. You said I’m seducing a man even though I have a fiancé. Then what about you, who has a woman waiting by your side to serve you even though you have a fiancée?”

As he heard those emotionless words, Rochefort’s shoulders stiffened.

He didn’t expect her to flatly ask him to think about his own position as someone who was yearning for someone else before chastising her and Sieg.

Not only was Rochefort unable to form a single word against her sound argument, he was looking at her as if he was at his wits’ end. Being shut down by her argument was understandable, but Leticiel wondered why he was that shaken.

“Sh-she is..”

“Ah, you don’t need to say anything. She’s just a ‘close friend’, right?”

“..”

“If Your Highness can have a ‘close friend of the opposite sex’, then why can’t I have one? And what does Your Highness have to say about the fact that you insulted my friends?”

“..”

“U-uh..”

“Your follower told you as well, didn’t he? That there was someone else present with us. Why didn’t you bother to observe the situation? If you had used your eyes for a bit, you would have seen her right away, right? Are your eyes just there for show?”

“Th-that, is..”

“Furthermore, Your Highness didn’t even think about the fact that you’re friends with your fiancée’s little sister as well.. But I suppose she’s just a ‘close friend’, right? Some nerve you have, to talk about me like that. You should look at yourself in the mirror first.”

“H-hiii!”

The first smile Leticiel directed at her fiancé was one as cold as ice. The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped, and the sound of Rochefort’s teeth chattering could be heard.

The phenomenon wasn’t because Leticiel had lost control of her power, but rather because she had invoked Blizzard on purpose. At this rate, she would be able to fully control her body’s Phenomenon Interference Power within two months.

The moment Leticiel deactivated her Magecraft, Rochefort scrambled away as if his behind had been lit on fire. Despite being unable to form a coherent sentence early, his pride still enabled him to spit out an empty threat.

“Y-y-yooou will regret this!”

“You two, are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine.. U-um.. Drossel..”

Leticiel raised her voice towards an absentminded Mirandalette and Sieg.

“Perhaps, what His Highness said just now is on your mind?”

“..Yes.”

In Lucrezia Academy, there were some differences between the uniforms of those belonging to high-ranking noble households and those of the rest of the student population. Those high-ranking households consisted of the Duke and Marquis households as well as parts of the Earl households. There were various lines on the uniforms that denoted a student’s status, which were located on the shirttail and cuffs, as well as the hem of the skirt or along the side of the pants. Those lines would be golden for high-ranking nobles and black for every other student.

“You should ignore his baseless rambling. I became friends with you two simply because I wanted to. Something like your status is completely irrelevant to me.”

Leticiel clearly asserted her intentions as if it was a matter of fact, prompting both Sieg and Mirandalette to stare at her with their eyes wide open.

“Let’s stop here for today. You two don’t feel like continuing after that either, right?”

“Yeah..”

Taking Mirandalette and Sieg’s mental states into consideration, Leticiel signaled the end of the training session.

After using Transference to return home, Leticiel thought about refreshing herself and headed for her private bathroom. However, just as she returned from the bath, Leticiel’s ears picked up on some noises from outside of her room.

“Hm?”

Bang, thud.

Leticiel guessed that it must have been the sound of someone hitting the wall close to her room and falling onto the ground.

Wondering about who it was, she quietly approached her door and placed her ear against it to discern the situation outside.

“You, how many times do you think this makes it?”

“M-my deepest apologies! Madam! Please forgive me!”

Leticiel could hear the voices of two females. As sounds alone were not enough to ascertain the situation, Leticiel stealthily opened the door and began to peep through the small gap.

Before her eyes was the scene of a maid lowering her head to the Duchess. The Duchess was in her usual extravagant dress, thickly caked in layers of makeup, while concealing her mouth with a folding fan.

On the other hand, the maid was in a pitiful state as her entire body was trembling. Perhaps she had made some mistake, however, it wasn’t normal to be that frightened.

“It seems that you wish to be dismissed? Well, it’d certainly be much better to hire someone capable instead of keeping you around?”

”N-no! I beg of you, Madam! Anything but that!!”

The Duchess seemed to be sneering as she declared that. Without even looking at her, Leticiel knew that the maid had turned deathly pale as soon as she had heard that. It seemed that she couldn’t afford to lose her job.

Leticiel thought about leaving it at that as she had no interest in the events unfolding before her. However, when she realized that she wouldn’t be able to rest until the charade had finished, she promptly decided to intervene.

“How do you do, Lady Diane. I didn’t think you would have the time to dawdle here as the Duchess.”

Quietly opening the door, Leticiel called out to her so-called mother with her signature uninterested attitude and tone.

Diane didn’t even hide the fact that she was surprised by Drossel’s sudden appearance. The question ‘Why is she here?’ was written on her puzzled face.

Seeing her face, a thought came to Leticiel’s mind. Perhaps Diane had forgotten she was near Drossel’s room. Indeed, it was very much possible with that family of hers.

“..What did you just say about me..”

“Miss Maid over there, could you please tell me your name?”

Ignoring Diane, Leticiel turned her head towards the maid.

As if she was startled by the sudden question from the Duke’s daughter, the maid stumbled over her words as she answered the question.

“M-my name is Nicole..”

“I see. Then Nicole, why were you being scolded by Lady Diane?”

“Um..”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about Lady Diane. I’m the one talking to you right now.”

Hearing Drossel nonchalantly giving her permission to ignore the mistress, Nicole’s face became completely frozen.

Diane’s glare grew sharper as she stared at the girl.. to be more precise, Drossel. However, Drossel showed no sign of noticing it.

(No, it’d be impossible to ignore her right now..)

Despite having such a thought, Nicole knew it would be wise to not voice it out loud.

“N-no.. It was n-nothing..”

“Oh? Well.. Perhaps she was saying something like ‘You’re worthless when you can’t even clean properly’?”

“..!?”

Nicole gasped as if she was about to ask Leticiel ‘How did you know?’, but she held back at the last second.

In reality, Leticiel simply made a guess based on the cleaning tools that were laid next to Nicole, but it seemed that she had hit the bullseye.

“I was wondering what in the world would make someone like the Mistress of this residence angry.. but it seems that it was just something pointless.”

“..!”

“Furthermore, I can’t seem to find a single dirty spot around this area. With all due respect, Lady Diane, where is the dirty spot that you spoke of? Could I ask you to point out its location?”

“..”

“I dare say.. You were finding fault with a servant? But there’s no way the ‘Flower of High Society’ would do something as undignified as that, is there?”

Leticiel continued while keeping a blank face. As the rationale she had been given was unshakeable, Diane simply glared at the girl with disgusted eyes while concealing the rest of her expression with her fan.

However, Leticiel simply brushed off that stare. Despite being a spectator, Nicole couldn’t help but be nervous at the sight of Drossel acting nonchalantly before those razor-sharp eyes.

“You..”

“Is there something wrong?”

“You.. what have you been calling me?”

Leticiel was surprised by that forceful subject change.

It appeared that Diane was shaken by the fact that Drossel was calling her by her own name.

(Hmm.. Perhaps that’s what was bothering her?)

However, Leticiel simply tilted her head as she couldn’t understand why Diane was so shocked. For her, calling the woman who treated her as if she shouldn’t exist ‘mother’ was a ridiculous idea.

Past that, Leticiel didn’t consider Diane to be her mother in the first place, so referring to the woman as she had was perfectly logical.

“Yes? It’s ‘Lady Diane’, is there anything wrong with that?”

“Tch..”

Leticiel plainly responded as if it was completely normal. Hearing that, Diane’s folding fan began to shake. She then took one last glare at Drossel before storming off.

(Huh..?)

The sound of loud, unladylike footsteps echoed down the hallway. Leticiel realized that that woman was angry.

(Oh my..? She seemed to be really displeased, did I do something she didn’t like? Oh well, we rarely meet each other anyway.)

Once again, Leticiel simply brushed off anything she had no interest in pursuing.

“U-um.. Thank you very much!”

The moment Diane’s figure disappeared from their view, Nicole made a deep bow. However, Leticiel gently shook her head to stop Nicole.

Leticiel had never intended to help out the girl; it was merely a byproduct of her own selfish desires. It wasn’t something she should have been thanked for.

“I simply did that for my own satisfaction. You don’t have to lower your head like that.”

“No.. Even if you said that, Lady Drossel, you still saved me in the end. And I’m extremely grateful for that.”

Nicole quickly shook her head.

According to Ni-->>

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