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However, she couldn't break her stubbornness.
Since then, Peony continued to treat her coldly, and Lona would give her longing glances.
"That commoner must have bewitched the Princess. Our Princess was originally so bright..."
"I'll be waiting quietly until the Princess changes her mind again."
She would occasionally spout such nonsense.
Of course, thanks to Peony cutting her off with a sharp word, she couldn't even open her mouth carelessly anymore.
Peony asked in a cold voice.
"A letter came?"
"Yes, perhaps Prince Darian has something to say regarding this cultural festival?"
Peony accepted the letter with a displeased expression.
After learning that the Cure she had been taking was poison, she had almost completely cut off contact with her family.
Perhaps that was why Prince Darian had sent a letter to check on her after a long time.
[Peony, I haven't heard from you lately. How is academy life? Have you made many friends? All of your family members are curious about how you are doing.]
Reading the letter, Peony felt an unexpected surge of emotion.
Darian and she had a relatively special relationship among the family members.
He had lost his mother as soon as he was born, and he visited Peony, who was weak and often sick, more often than anyone else.
'And he always checked to see if I was taking the Cure properly.'
Peony now didn't know if it was because he was worried about her, or if he was checking to see if she was taking the poison properly.
The moment she realized that Lona had been poisoning her, all the relationships she had built up until now lost their meaning.
[I heard that the autumn cultural festival will be held at the academy soon.
All of your family members want to come and see you, but Father is busy with official duties, and Adolf, the youngest, recently caught a cold.
I happen to have some time, so I plan to stop by to see you. It may be a bit of a bother, but please welcome me.]
It was still Darian's kind and easygoing tone.
Although the situation surrounding her had completely changed, she couldn't just accept it as it was.
On the one hand, it was also admirable.
Which next Emperor candidate would lower himself and be so humble?
It was all because of that that Peony was deceived by him without any suspicion.
'It seems like it will be inevitable to run into Darian at this cultural festival.'
The cultural festival was a big event to which not only students but also their families were invited.
So, in order to keep up appearances, at least one person from the Imperial Palace had to come.
Peony soon let out a deep sigh.
She had to write a reply to Darian, but she didn't have the confidence to joke around as usual.
Inevitably, Peony simply wrote that she understood and handed the letter to Lona.
"Deliver it to my brother."
A messenger bird summoned by Magic tapped on the window of the room.
Rosia, who was about to fall asleep, jumped up from her seat with a feeling of her heart sinking.
Beyond the dark window, a small bird with something tied to its leg was sitting quietly.
A messenger bird at this hour. She had an ominous feeling.
As she approached the window and reached out her hand, the bird dropped the letter as if it had been waiting.
Then, it disappeared like a phantom.
Rosia tore open the seal with hasty hands.
Soon after, she checked the short content written inside and was seized with a feeling that she was about to stop breathing.
[The results are quite poor for something you demanded so confidently. Should I trust you more?]
Rosia's hand holding the letter trembled.
Her chest was so tight that it was hard to breathe.
She bit her lip hard and then threw the letter into the fireplace.
"No, it's not too late. It's just that I lost the top spot once."
But the anxiety in her heart grew more and more.
Rosia wrapped herself in a shawl and tried to calm her mind, but her head became more and more complicated.
Recalling what happened a few days ago made her feel like her blood was rushing backwards.
"That pathetic Gerard."
Rosia gritted her teeth.
She had recently sent Gerard to Ayla, acting desperately.
It was to pressure Ayla to give up her studies and then bring her into the Noble house.
In fact, she didn't have high expectations.
She just thought it would be enough to shake Ayla.
But Gerard's reaction was strange.
"I think I made a big mistake. Even if it was a situation that was easy to misunderstand, I shouldn't have done that to Ayla."
"And about the story that Ayla was ignoring you. I think there was some misunderstanding. I don't think she had any bad intentions like you think."
"Ayla... she's having a very hard time right now. Why did I go to her and say such terrible things?"
Rosia was dumbfounded and swallowed a hollow laugh.
'You idiot, who doesn't know it's a misunderstanding?'
What mattered now was not Ayla's feelings.
The problem was that many people were still showing interest in her.
Rosia's chest felt stuffy because things were not going as she wanted.
'Ayla... what trick did you play?'
Gerard's appearance was strangely similar to Cedric's after he had a conversation with Ayla a few days ago.
This couldn't be a coincidence.
'There must be some element in her that is interfering with my Magic.'
Come to think of it, Ayla had escaped from the warehouse where the Magic was cast so easily.
At first, she thought it was because she had completely cured her Mana insensitivity.
But that alone didn't explain it well.
'She even broke through the Magic that was interfering with the flow of Mana in the warehouse and escaped, it doesn't make sense.'
Rosia anxiously bit her nails.
'I have to come up with another plan.'
If she could only find Ayla's fatal weakness, she would have nothing to fear.
After thinking, Rosia slowly walked to the fireplace and picked up a handful of ashes.
And she began to draw a Magic Circle on the floor.
Having studied ancient Forbidden Magic, she had learned various secret arts that the Mages of the Magic Tower could not even imagine.
And those were generally much more useful than ordinary Magic.
Rosia completed the Magic Circle and snapped her fingers to activate it.
Then, after placing a dead mouse on it, she bent down and breathed on the mouse.
Then, the mouse miraculously opened its eyes and came back to life.
Rosia opened her mouth with a quiet smile. In a very eerie and alien voice.
"Follow Ayla closely and check where she goes. Monitor and report her every move."
The mouse blinked its red eyes as if it understood.
Squeak-.
Making an ominous sound, the mouse soon left Rosia's room.
As night fell, bright moonlight shone down on the entire academy.
Ayla, holding the egg wrapped in a blanket in her arms, quickly headed to the Greenhouse, avoiding the gazes of others.
Fortunately, the Greenhouse that Professor Jacy mentioned was located on the outskirts of the academy buildings, so there were few people.
The high iron gate and glass-covered roof clearly revealed its presence even from a distance.
Ayla, who had just arrived in front of the Greenhouse, unlocked the lock and muttered quietly.
'I'm sorry, Professor. You didn't give me the key to raise the egg, but I'll use it well.'
It was the moment she was about to enter the Greenhouse.
Rustle.
At the sudden sound, Ayla frowned and looked back.
But soon, she sighed in relief.
'What, it was a mouse.'
On the floor, there was a mouse shining its red eyes and staring at her.
She felt strangely eerie, but Ayla, who was in a hurry, ignored the mouse and entered the Greenhouse.
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