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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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I firmly embraced her shoulders as she leaned her weight on me.
Moisture was already gathered between Yuria’s long eyelashes.
The tears she had been holding back were about to overflow at the sight of me.
“Your Highness. What happened?”
I asked gently, as if comforting her.
Yuria looked up at me with a desperate expression as if she was submerged in water and suffocating.
“I… just now, I stopped being the student council president.”
“What do you mean?”
I asked in surprise.
“Just now, a magical message came. The professors’ meeting decided to temporarily suspend my position as student council president.”
“Why?”
“Over 30% of the students expressed opposition to the student council I lead. They say I suppress them too much with force.”
“What did you say?”
“…They said they can’t reverse it.”
I was momentarily engulfed in perplexity.
What nonsense is this again?
Although Yuria strictly controlled the academy, it was always within the allowable range.
Didn’t the professors tolerate the battles between students happening right in front of them in the first place?
The students were afraid of Yuria, but they accepted her emphasis on power.
But for so many students to protest, and all at once?
And the professors accepted it?
It was clearly an abnormal situation.
‘It’s that guy.’
It must have been someone impersonating a constellation who had ordered the hero candidates.
Among the professors, who were also chosen by constellations, there must have been those who received orders.
Seeing that Yuria was driven out of the student council, the reason was clear.
In the upcoming election, they intended to tarnish Yuria’s reputation and prevent her from even running.
This constellation impersonator clearly wanted someone other than Yuria to become the student council president.
Then Yuria’s reaction was natural.
The position of student council president at the academy was everything Yuria had built up after escaping the imperial palace.
It suddenly collapsed in an instant.
It would be stranger if she were in her right mind.
And this was a troublesome situation for me too.
If Yuria wasn’t the student council president, I wouldn’t be able to achieve the achievement.
So, I willingly opened my mouth.
“I’ll help you.”
Yuria’s lips parted slightly upon hearing my words.
“No. I can’t let you get involved after all….”
Yuria shook her head as if being stubborn.
“No.”
She tried to push my shoulder as if trying to get away from me.
However, I didn’t let go and held Yuria even more firmly.
“Your Highness.”
“This is my problem. Not yours.”
Still, Yuria tried to push me away by putting a little more strength into her arms.
“I’ll do it alone. I’ve always done it that way. I can do it this time too!”
Yuria was unyielding.
As if her entire way of life had been denied.
She was shouting.
While holding back the tears that were about to overflow, never intending to let them fall.
“I… can do it. Definitely this time too.”
However, desperate despair seeped into her voice.
A girl holding back the desire to break down crying with her weak legs, barely standing.
I was just barely holding her, who seemed like she would disappear into dust with her entire life denied.
But it was too clear that she didn’t have the power to resolve this situation.
So foolish.
Even while trembling like this, Yuria was trying to manage somehow on her own.
Her childhood was stained in blood.
She was someone who thought she had to do everything alone no matter what.
She believed she had to live alone, enduring any hardship.
She believed she had to become stronger than others and trample on others to claim her life.
Only using others when relying on them.
As a result, Yuria ends up walking the path that appears villainous in the novel.
She hurt others because she wanted power and tried desperately to gather strength for survival while confirming her superiority.
That’s how it was depicted, and that’s how it appeared.
I knew well what kind of ending awaited Yuria, who insisted on that way of life.
Even what kind of death she met after being miserably abandoned.
Honestly, even when reading the novel, I was happy about her death.
In fact, even when I was young, I thought of her as the same villain as in the original work.
But the Yuria I knew was different.
She could smile ordinarily, be embarrassed, and tremble slightly while hunching her shoulders.
Including the 2 years of her childhood and her appearance at the academy that I had seen.
The Yuria I had seen was just a girl who wanted to survive.
I confirmed with my own eyes the true appearance of Yuria that wasn’t even written in the background settings.
Even if that was based on my interpretation, I would trust my eyes.
So how could I just leave Yuria alone?
“Yuria.”
I lowered my voice and called the name of the princess who didn’t even know how to ask others for help.
Startled, Yuria reflected me in her blurry blue eyes due to the moisture.
Still, her gaze remained murky.
Yuria was still suffocating in despair.
‘I have to pull her out.’
So I smiled.
Like the smile I had shown her one day.
[Using Illusion of Dreams.]
At that moment, the surrounding scenery changed.
It was the scenery of a certain day that only Yuria and I remembered.
Drip.
Tap.
The sound of snow knocking on the window echoed.
The room, dimly shadowed due to the heavy snowfall pouring from the sky, spread around us.
It was my bedroom in Deinhart Castle.
Yuria looked around, swallowing her breath.
“This place….”
The startled Yuria looked around with tear-filled eyes.
“You don’t remember?”
I gently took her hand and pulled her towards me.
Her hand, which had become cold due to tension, was like Yuria’s hand that had pushed into my room that day.
I smiled as I gripped that hand a little more firmly as if warming it.
“Where this is?”
Yuria’s breath became a bit thinner.
She also seemed to recall this room and this scenery as her eyes widened.
“And who I am?”
I slowly knelt on one knee in front of Yuria.
And smiling brightly, I brought Yuria’s clasped hands to my lips.
And more politely than before, I gently kissed the back of her white hand covered in delicate skin.
“I’m Your Highness’ aide and knight who swore to stay by your side for life, aren’t I?”
In this winter scenery, I had sworn a knight’s oath to her with the intention of using her.
And now I just wanted to help her.
“So don’t cry. Your Highness.”
Yuria gently closed her eyes that she had been opening so wide they seemed to be bloodshot.
The moment her eyelids overlapped, the tears that had been pooling flowed down her young cheeks.
Yuria collapsed to her knees, showing how difficult it had been until now.
Just before Yuria fell, I quickly stood up and put my arm under her waist to support her.
Relying on my arm, Yuria barely managed to stand and rested her forehead on my chest.
And in a moist voice, she earnestly opened her mouth to me.
Quietly, barely audible over the sound of falling snow coming from outside.
“Please. Leonhart.”
It was a desperate voice, as much as she had never been able to rely on before.
“Can you help me? Because you’re my knight?”
I gently stroked her fine golden hair.
“I already told you. Yuria.”
I said while gently arranging her disheveled hair and tucking it behind her ear.
“I will help you.”
Yuria’s ear, dyed pink, caught my eye.
In fact, Yuria was quite a cute person.
Just not honest.
So how could I not help her?
“Leave it to me.”
With that, Yuria lost her words.
She quietly clung to me and shed tears, but as if it was her last pride, she bit her lower lip tightly, trying not to make a crying sound.
I tapped and wiped away the teardrops flowing from Yuria’s flushed eyes with a handkerchief.
No matter how many times I wiped, they kept flowing out, quickly soaking the handkerchief with moisture.
How many times had she resolved not to cry?
I understood that the tears came out because of that.
Even such tears eventually stop.
Waiting for her to stop crying, I whispered in her ear.
“Are you okay now?”
“…I was okay from the start.”
Even though she cried endlessly, I don’t think she needed to say that.
She knew it was just stubborn pride, as her body was getting warm.
“Then that’s good. I have a favor to ask.”
Yuria asked with a questioning light in her tear-swollen eyes.
“Sniff. A favor?”
“Yes.”
I grinned.
“A favor.”
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Yuria moved quickly for the favor Leonhart had mentioned.
After entering the academy, while Leonhart was buying time, Yuria was able to reach the depths of the academy.
The academy’s archive.
Yuria, who had sneaked into the archive where old books that were no longer read much were stored, found the bookshelf Leonhart had mentioned.
The bookshelf Leonhart had mentioned stood like a wall at the end of the archive.
“…E and… D. These are the books.”
Yuria simultaneously took out the two books Leonhart had mentioned from that bookshelf.
Then, after a moment, the bookshelf moved.
Very quietly, it revealed a secret passage, shaking off the dust that had accumulated for a long time.
“Cough. Cough. It really existed…?”
Yuria swallowed dryly and entered.
The passage, which had looked narrow from the outside as if only one person could walk through, had widened considerably, with some magic cast on it.
‘How does Leonhart know this kind of information?’
Like last time with the Room for Good Children, Leonhart seemed to know this academy better than anyone else.
And many other things as well.
And sometimes, it felt like Leonhart saw through everything about himself too.
Yuria found Leonhart suspicious, but also amazing and mysterious.
But none of that bothered her.
If it were someone else, she wouldn’t know.
Yuria tightly gripped the blue sapphire necklace Leonhart had given her when they were young.
She always kept it hidden inside her clothes so others wouldn’t see it, but she always held it.
She had hoped Leonhart wouldn’t intervene in her affairs.
He always moved selflessly for someone else’s sake and didn’t even care about getting hurt.
Although he wouldn’t admit it himself, he was someone who put others before himself.
She was afraid that such Leonhart would overdo it because of her request.
So Yuria refused.
Because of her pride and the way of life she had insisted on.
But he was already on Yuria’s side.
‘Leonhart won’t know what that means to me.’
Yuria, who had lost her mother and had no one to rely on.
So she tried to become stronger than anyone else, alone.
But now she realized that in fact, there had always been someone she could rely on.
‘I should have accepted his confession.’
Yuria became depressed for a moment.
But before the depression deepened, the end of the passage was soon visible.
At the end of the passage was a huge metal door made of silver.
Yuria immediately realized that it was a door with numerous spells cast on it.
The three main powers of aura, holy power, and magic had gathered to strongly defend this door.
With this level of power, it would be impossible to break through this door with any force.
‘Does something like this really exist? A door that only the student council president can enter?’
Yuria was dumbfounded at those words.
Not a door that only the principal or professors could enter, but a door that only the student council president could enter.
At Yuria’s question, she recollected Leonhart’s words.
‘The world has many loopholes…. What does that mean?’
Yuria tilted her head for a moment and brought her hand to the door.
‘I wonder if I still have the authority of the student council president even though my qualifications have been suspended. Leonhart said it would still be fine, but…’
Yuria carefully touched the door.
At that moment, a voice rang in her head.
[Former Student Council President Yuria Roadmas. You have one chance left to take items. Unlocking and opening the door.]
The thick silver door opened inward.
Inside, 10 small pedestals were seen, each with one item placed on them.
They were all mysterious-looking ancient relics.
Yuria looked around at the items inside.
Most of them were unfamiliar, but there was one.
There was also something Yuria could recognize.
‘Oh my god. Could that be… the Ruby of Arcmas?’
That gold ornament was definitely the legendary gem that bestowed endless mana to its owner.
The gem that the great mage Arcmas had created by sealing the demons of hell.
With just that, there would never be a case of lacking mana to use magic, and as long as one could imagine, one could truly do anything like a god.
Yuria felt a strong temptation toward that blood-red gem.
But Leonhart had told her never to lay eyes on anything else.
‘Don’t lay eyes on any other items and only bring that one. Don’t be greedy and only bring one. If you try to bring this and that, the magic in the room will activate and you’ll die.’
Leonhart had said that as if entrusting her.
Yuria barely took her eyes off the gem and found the item Leonhart had mentioned.
It was easy to find.
It was a red plastic funnel-like thing that looked worthless.
“…?”
What the hell is this?
This is also red, but is this really more valuable than the Ruby of Arcmas?
Yuria was confused.
She could only take one, but the item she had to take was this unidentified object.
Yuria slightly closed her swollen eyes from crying so much and barely lifted her eyelids.
Would she really not regret it?
She thought that several times, but in the end, there was only one answer.
“…It’s what my knight said.”
Yuria reached out her hand toward the funnel on the pedestal.
And the moment she picked up the funnel, a voice rang in her head.
[Yuria Roadmas has selected the Megaphone.]
What’s a Megaphone?
Yuria tilted her head.
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Yuria soon:
