Chapter 18: Entrance Ceremony Part 3 

Isabel was the name of the girl who had been picking a fight with Philia.

She was the heir of the Ducal House of Sucre, boasting golden hair and violet eyes.

But in truth, she didn’t hold that much of a grudge against Philia.

The two had almost been close when they were younger.

To be specific, Isabel had wanted to befriend Philia.

She was the only noble girl in the area, after all.

But Philia had never reciprocated.

Not even once!

Even when Isabel sent gifts, invited her for tea via letter, or even when she forced herself to accompany her father on official business just to meet her!

So, it wasn’t like she had been seriously holding a grudge.

Not exactly.

But when she saw Philia standing all alone at the academy, she couldn’t help but make a remark.

“Still like this, huh?”

For the record, Isabel hadn’t successfully made any friends at the academy yet either.

Then again, she’d only arrived a day ago.

The two boys standing beside her were just some random classmates she had struck up a conversation with at the entrance ceremony.

“…Isabel.”

“Ha, you really haven’t changed at all. How can you still be standing there all alone, even in a place like this?”

Isabel resented Philia.

But not enough to want to kill her or anything—just enough to find her frustrating and annoying.

Not enough to be outright cruel to her all the time—just enough that, if Philia apologized first and asked to be friends, Isabel would huff a few times before forgiving her.

But if Philia were the type to apologize and ask to be friends in the first place, things would never have ended up like this.

“Yeah.”

Isabel’s irritation flared at Philia’s response—so cool it was practically ice.

And honestly, it hurt a little.

‘Couldn’t they at least try to get along, being from the same region and all, in this unfamiliar academy so far from home?’

***

Academy.

The thought of the long days ahead, dedicated to rigorous studies, already made her nervous enough to tremble.

Even as a noble, life here wasn’t a carefree paradise.

Everyone here wanted to prove themselves—they had to.

To show they weren’t just excellent, but the most excellent of all.

This place was a battleground.

A hundred students, each raised like little princes and princesses in their own lands, clashing heads in fierce competition, ruthlessly ranked and compared against one another.

At the same time, it was also the greatest social gathering one could ever dream of—a place where connections that would be impossible back in their own domains could finally be made.

Faced with such a future, seeing that same girl still standing alone was frustrating, infuriating… and just a little bit worrying.

So Isabel lashed out.

“Philia! Who are they? Your friends?”

And then—

A girl Isabel had never seen before suddenly approached and wrapped her arms around Philia’s.

Right in front of her.

‘…Huh?’

‘But the most shocking part?’

Philia didn’t push her away.

She accepted it—like this was nothing new.

Isabel’s violet eyes trembled.

The words the girl had just spoken replayed in her mind.

[Who are they? Your friends?]

No way.

Neither of the two boys, nor Isabel herself, could really be called Philia’s friends.

And yet—

‘Are you kidding me?’

She had been cold to her all this time, yet somehow, in the meantime, she’d made this girl her friend?

‘Why?’

‘What did this girl have that Isabel didn’t?’

‘What was so much better about her compared to Isabel, a noble?’

Isabel couldn’t name the feeling bubbling in her chest.

But whether she realized it or not, that feeling had a name—jealousy.

“You’ve been hanging around with this kind of girl lately?”

That’s why she said something cruel.

“Isabel. She’s the same as us—”

“That scarf is so tacky. Did you scrape together whatever little money you had to buy it, thinking you’d look nice?”

Words sharper than she normally would have said.

Words she wouldn’t have uttered—if she had known just how vile jealousy could make a person.

But.

If ignorance were an excuse for every wrong, 90% of the world’s conflicts would disappear.

The expression vanished from the girl’s face.

And then—

***

Smack!

A loud, resounding slap echoed through the air.

Isabel’s head snapped to the side.

‘?’

Before she even understood what had happened, she registered the burning pain in her cheek and the tingling inside her mouth.

‘Did I just…?’

But before she could finish her thought—

Smack!

The girl’s palm struck her other cheek just as hard.

Now the pain was perfectly balanced.

“Shut your mouth. If you keep it open, your lips will split.”

And from that moment—

The beating began.

Smack. Smack. Smack. Smack.

With every strike, the noble daughter of House Sucre’s head jerked left and right like a ragdoll.

It was so surreal—so absurd—that even the other noble children watching, including Philia, could do nothing but gape in stunned silence.

‘Some…someone has to stop this.’

Philia snapped out of it.

After all, she was the only one here who knew both girls.

However—

The hand she had reached forward instinctively…

Unconsciously retreated.

Ellie’s expression was brutal.

This wasn’t just a single impulsive slap out of momentary rage—she kept striking Isabel’s cheek repeatedly, like a machine performing the same action at regular intervals.

Philia didn’t dare intervene.

For a moment, she thought she saw starlight flash in Ellie’s eyes.

It had to be an illusion, but the fact that she even had such a hallucination showed just how terrifying Ellie was at this moment.

‘Was this really the same girl who constantly pestered her to be friends?’

The suffocating pressure that made Philia freeze was crushing Isabel just as much.

Except, in her case, she was also taking the blows directly.

Every time Ellie’s palm connected with her face, her head rang, and the inside of her cheek and lips trembled from the impact.

She could taste blood.

‘Had her lip split, or had she bitten the inside of her cheek?’

“Slap. And one last slap.”

At last, the storm of violence came to a stop.

***

Isabel’s once-pretty face was not only flushed red on both cheeks but also swollen and blotched with traces of blood.

“This scarf.”

Ellie grabbed the collar of the battered girl.

Isabel was clearly taller, but right now,

Ellie felt much, much bigger.

“My precious friend worked hard to make this for me. If you ever insult it again, you’ll realize that today was nothing.”

“Friend.”

That word again.

The daughter of the Ducal House of Sucre was not supposed to show tears…

“Hhhuuuk, h-huh, huaaah… uwaaaah!! Hic, hhhkk, waaaahhhh!!!”

As if.

‘How could anyone endure this much humiliation without crying?’

And so, Isabel cried.

She sobbed and wailed, letting out every ounce of frustration she had bottled up from being ignored by Philia all this time.

“Uwaaaaaah!! Hic, hhuuaaah, snff, ugh, uuuuugh… hhk… snff…!!”

Something felt off.

Ellie, who had been ready to just let things go, suddenly sensed something deeper.

This wasn’t just someone crying because they had been hit—there was a weight in Isabel’s chest, something festering for a long time.

“Whyyy!! Hic, why am I the only one nobody wants to be friends with…?!”

“…?”

Ellie turned to look at the two boys who had been too scared to run away.

“Weren’t you two her friends?”

Both of them quickly shook their heads.

‘Oh. So they weren’t.’

Ellie’s gaze shifted to Philia this time.

Philia’s jewel-like red eyes were shaking more than Ellie had ever seen before.

‘Ah.’

‘So it was her. That loner.’

‘Aha.’

Ellie finally grasped the situation.

She pulled out a handkerchief and started wiping Isabel’s tears.

“There, there. What did Philia do?”

Once someone starts letting out their long-held sorrow, they can’t stop.

And in this case, the floodgates had already burst.

“Waaaaaaah!! P-Philia… hic, Philiaaaa!!!”

“Mhm, what about Philia?”

“Hic, huuuaaah!! I-I kept asking her to be my friend! Hic, I gave her gifts, I wrote her letters, h-hic, I—I did everything!! But Philia still… uwaaaaaah!!!”

“There, there… So Philia did that, huh…?”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Philiiaaaaaaaa!!! Huuuuaaaaaaaaah!!!”

At this point, not only the incoming students but even the professors standing at the podium, about to conduct the entrance ceremony, were visibly unsettled.

The grass field wasn’t that large—maybe big enough for around a hundred people.

That meant everyone could clearly hear Isabel’s heart-wrenching cries.

“Uh… what do we do?”

“Isn’t that Ellie?”

“It is Ellie…”

“Yeah… it’s Ellie.”

‘Should they go up to the podium and announce, Ahem, students, the ceremony will begin soon? Or should they wait for things to calm down?’

While the professors hesitated, Ellie handled the situation herself.

Sigh… “Come on, let’s go. I’ll take care of you, and I’ll make the pain go away.”

“Uwaaaaaah!!”

Like a caring older sister, Ellie took Isabel’s hand and led her toward the dormitory.

Attendance at the entrance ceremony wasn’t mandatory.

Technically speaking, skipping it didn’t result in any school-issued punishment.

So no one stopped Ellie from taking Isabel away.

Even if there had been a punishment, it was questionable whether anyone would have dared to stop her.

***

And so, the only ones left behind were the other students.

And Philia.

Dozens of eyes, lost and confused, turned toward the owner of the name that had just been screamed across the entire field.

Philia Clyford’s face was as red as her hair and eyes.

She trembled, lowering her head to avoid their gazes.

This was the most humiliating moment of her life.

Worse yet, it wasn’t even her fault, which only made it feel even more unfair.

At this point, she almost wanted to cry just like Isabel.

On the podium, one of the professors hesitantly stepped forward.

It was Melrit.

She was the youngest among them, which was probably why she got pushed into dealing with this situation.

No, actually, that was definitely why.

“Uh… um, uhh….”

Her perpetually dark-circled eyes flickered downward.

“Hm, uhh… ahem.”

Hesitation.

“T-The entrance ceremony will s-s-start soon!”

Melrit nearly bit her tongue, her face flushing red.

Still, thanks to her, the stiff atmosphere finally loosened a little.