The very next day after the Leap Ceremony had concluded.
Ordinarily, I should have woken up feeling refreshed as usual, but instead, I let out a groan with sunken eyes.
The reason was simple.
At the same time, it was serious.
“…How did things even end up like this…?”
The meeting with Karian the night before.
Of course, it wasn’t our first meeting, but the way it played out was an absolute disaster.
Karian had mistaken Letter as Asher’s daughter.
In other words, he mistook me for my own daughter.
That was the first problem.
The bigger problem was that Karian planned to stay around me from now on.
And the biggest problem of all was that I couldn’t forget the eerie sensation of someone’s lips touching the back of my hand.
“…That damn Karian.”
Strictly speaking, a kiss on the back of the hand was part of the noble etiquette I had been taught in the past.
I also knew that the gesture itself wasn’t particularly strange.
—Tap.
[Karian Desar. The name of the man who was indebted to your father.]
—Chills.
“Ugh…”
Regardless of etiquette or anything else, my body rejected it on a fundamental level.
At the very least, I might have let it slide if it had been some other man.
‘But of all people, Karian?’ That, I could never tolerate.
That was why the Leap Ceremony documents remained untouched.
No matter how much I tried to focus and process the paperwork, my hands kept trembling with tension.
In the end, I gave up on dealing with the documents and lay down on my bed—only to end up in this sorry state.
To make matters worse, I hadn’t slept well, leaving me in an even worse mood.
“Sigh…”
I was feeling more out of it than ever.
The only saving grace was that classes were on break for two weeks after the Leap Ceremony.
Since the event was meant to assess each student’s abilities, the break allowed them time to reflect on which lectures they should take moving forward.
It was a break for the students.
But right now, it was a much-needed break for me as well.
After all, in this condition, I wouldn’t be able to teach properly anyway.
I also needed to adjust the curriculum based on the data gathered from the Leap Ceremony.
Of course, before that, I had to deal with the pile of paperwork in front of me.
“…Should I spend lunch with Ifrit?”
Remembering my prior engagement with Ifrit, I hurriedly started tackling the documents.
No matter what, breaking a promise with a Spirit King like Ifrit was out of the question.
I had promised to spend a whole week with Ifrit after the Leap Ceremony—it was a kind of contract.
Technically speaking, breaking it wouldn’t result in any immediate penalties.
But it would damage the trust between Ifrit and me, making future summons more difficult.
In other words, my schedule for the next week was completely booked.
And no one—absolutely no one—was allowed to interfere with that.
However, just as I was about to finish the documents and summon Ifrit—
[The First Princess is calling for you.]
[Please come to the Headmaster’s office for a moment.]
“…Lilian this time?”
Without a doubt, the Headmaster had summoned me for something troublesome.
But ignoring a royal summons as a mere professor would lead to consequences I couldn’t afford.
—Knock, knock.
“…Letter Yurt, reporting in.”
Resigning myself to the situation, I gathered the Leap Ceremony documents and headed to the Headmaster’s office.
There, I was met with familiar faces.
The only small relief was that neither of them looked particularly displeased.
The bad news was that there were no other positives.
The cautious look in the Headmaster’s eyes, as if gauging Lilian’s mood, made that clear.
“Hmm…”
Sensing the tense atmosphere in the office, I handed over the Leap Ceremony documents first.
Perhaps because they contained various improvement points and feedback, the stack was quite thick.
Lilian finally opened her mouth after that.
Of course, regardless of her reason for calling me here, I intended to politely decline, citing my prior engagement.
But—
“Could you step out for a moment? I’d like to speak with the professor alone.”
“…Understood.”
Lilian unceremoniously kicked the Headmaster out of his own office.
I was at a complete loss for words.
‘If this was how you wanted to do it, you should have just called me alone in the first place.’
The words nearly escaped my mouth, but I barely held them back.
Right. Lilian had always been like this.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to remain calm and sat across from her on the sofa.
Then, as carefully as possible, I tried to ask why she had called me—
“Um, where is your mother…? Has she, by any chance… passed away?”
“??”
Lilian’s question made me doubt my own ears.
And once again, I was left speechless.
‘Why did my students take turns driving me insane?’
‘What on earth happened while I was gone for things to go this off the rails…?’
‘If we followed the timeline, Lilian had suspected that Letter Yurt was related to Asher Astoria before Karian did.’
Unlike Karian, whose actions seemed relatively natural, Lilian, as a princess of high status, couldn’t openly search for Letter.
However, precisely because she was a princess, there were certain pieces of information she could access.
Among them, the attack on the academy-bound train from the past provided a crucial clue about the girl named Letter.
‘They said she evacuated the train single-handedly.’
Even in the chaotic situation of a train attack, her judgment and execution had shone.
And what made those two qualities even more significant was Letter’s extraordinary strength.
Lilian had already suspected the possibility of Letter being a blood relative of the Sage due to their similar appearance.
It didn’t take long for her to reach a conclusion.
There was only one possible reason why someone so young could carry out such an incredible feat without so much as blinking.
‘Master must have personally trained her. And he wouldn’t have given her any special treatment just because she was his daughter.’
Lilian had long since realized that the blood inherited from one’s predecessors couldn’t be denied.
So when Letter displayed behaviors unfitting for her age, Lilian attributed it to her having inherited the Sage’s blood.
Internally, she had unparalleled insight and exceptional skill.
Externally, she had white hair and an aura of weighty presence.
The likelihood of two people who looked that alike being complete strangers with no blood relation at all? Lilian considered it to be virtually zero.
If they were truly unrelated, that in itself would be a miracle.
However, no matter how much she scoured the continent using the divine power of the Sacred Beast’s blood, she found nothing on Letter’s mother.
In other words, there was no trace of the Sage’s wife.
That was why the first question she asked Letter was about her mother.
If Letter’s mother were still alive, there would have been no reason to take a brutal being like an ancient dragon as a guardian.
***
“Um, where is your mother…? Has she, by any chance… passed away?”
“??”
Just as expected, the look in Letter’s eyes was one of utter bewilderment.
So Lilian quickly added that she didn’t have to answer if she didn’t want to.
After all, memories of the deceased would likely be painful for someone as young as Letter.
Instead, she rephrased her question.
‘Did Letter know a name that was very dear to her?’
‘And did she have any idea where that person might be?’
“Even the smallest clue is fine. Please, I’m asking you.”
Letter felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
That was why, in the end, she gave Lilian the same response she had given Karian the night before.
“I don’t know where she is either.”
A brief but heavy silence filled the room.
Then, a more cautious voice followed.
“If there’s nothing else… may I leave now? I have prior arrangements.”
At Letter’s clear intention to leave, Lilian instinctively reached out and held onto her.
Almost immediately, she asked what kind of prior engagement it was.
Letter’s voice, slightly hesitant, answered.
“I, um… I promised to hang out with a friend.”
“A friend?”
“Yes… A really scary friend, so I absolutely have to keep my promise.”
Lilian wanted nothing more than to tell her to cancel.
And for good reason—if Letter was truly the Sage’s daughter, then she was a treasure trove of stories about him.
If possible, Lilian wanted to stay up all night listening to what kind of person the Sage had been as a father.
However, after careful consideration, she realized—
‘If the Sage ever reappeared in the future, it would be best to stay on Letter’s good side.’
“…Children shouldn’t play alone. There should be at least one guardian present.”
“A guardian?”
“Yes. For example, someone kind and benevolent who watches over all the empire’s citizens… like a certain princess.”
“…Benevolent…?”
In the end, rather than stopping Letter, Lilian decided to accompany her as her guardian for the day.
That was why she allowed Letter to meet up with her so-called friend—a girl with tanned skin.
However, she didn’t bring an escort.
There was no benefit to drawing unnecessary attention to the Sage’s daughter.
Besides, Lilian alone was more than enough to deal with any minor threats.
Even as she disguised herself with a wide-brimmed hat and unfamiliar clothes—
Even when they finally met Letter’s tanned-skinned friend—
There were no major issues.
There was only one thing that bothered her.
“…Huh? You are…?”
For a brief moment, the tanned-skinned girl acted as if she recognized Lilian.
Letter, clearly startled, whispered something to her, after which the girl quickly corrected herself, saying she had mistaken her for someone else.
****
Their destination was a tourist city closest to Primus.
The streets were bustling with vendors selling all sorts of delicious treats, making the tanned-skinned girl’s eyes sparkle with excitement.
Soon, Lilian’s wallet opened.
One by one, she bought sweet snacks and handed them to Letter and the tanned-skinned girl.
She had remembered what Irina had told her—that Letter had a sweet tooth.
“Eat up.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you… Your Highness.”
“…You can just call me ‘sister’ if you’d like.”
Lilian was making an effort to get closer to Letter.
Strictly speaking, she was indeed in a position where being called “sister” by Letter wouldn’t be strange.
However, to Letter, the words she had just heard were practically an invitation to impersonate a divine-blooded noble.
Barely suppressing a sigh, Letter simply replied that she would try.
***
Meanwhile, in a back alley of the tourist city, Erifi.
Men with rough appearances reviewed their plan with sinister smiles.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The princess is out in the open without an escort.”
“And she even brought kids… Did she really think just covering her face would be enough to blend in?”
“Well, this makes things easy. If anything goes wrong, we’ll just use the brats as hostages to force her hand.”
They were confident in their strategy.
What they didn’t realize, not even in their wildest dreams, was just how grave their misunderstanding was.
They believed they had found the princess’s weaknesses—valuable hostages to exploit.
What they didn’t know was the true nature of the two girls they had just marked as easy targets.
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