The lecture hall fell into a dead silence.
“Really… nothing at all?”
“…An elven royal who can’t use magic.”
“Silence! What do you think you’re doing…”
A student from the Alchemy Department tried to scold them, but her voice was also trembling with shock.
The magic students, who had previously surrounded Merlin with looks of fervor and adoration, now wore twisted and strangely shocked expressions.
The adoration faded, replaced by an ill-concealed disappointment that quickly fermented into a condescending pity.
The students looked at her as if they were staring at a counterfeit item labeled as a “rare treasure.”
Merlin struggled to maintain the dignity expected of an elven royal.
Then, she spoke calmly.
“Then, please leave. Since I am in the Alchemy Department, you should have expected this situation.”
The alchemy students merely shifted their gazes awkwardly; they understood this feeling all too well.
That stinging sensation of being rejected by the mainstream.
Even if Merlin couldn’t use magic, she was still a student of the Alchemy Department. If anything, she might have been more popular for lacking magical talent.
However, this awkward scene of being identified as lacking sufficient magical talent was difficult to get used to, no matter how many times it happened.
Merlin lowered her head.
Her long, blue-gradient hair cascaded down like a waterfall, obscuring her profile and shielding her from those prying eyes.
The sunlight still dappled her hair, gilding the tips with a warm golden edge, but she felt cold all over.
She didn’t need to look up.
She could feel it.
A gaze heavier than the noisy discussions, colder than the looks of pity, was pinning her mercilessly to the spot from behind.
And then there was Mahina.
It was as if she were saying:
“Even if you are an elven princess, your essence remains the same—still an elven princess who can’t use magic.”
This gaze was even more piercing than that night.
Merlin clenched her hands hidden under the table, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.
Like this… haven’t I made any progress at all since then?
She asked herself bitterly in her heart.
That night, what was the difference between the self that had been mercilessly cast aside by Mahina and the self now?
Whether she had turned into a girl or luckily returned to being a high-blooded elf, the result hadn’t changed at all.
Mahina was still that radiant, genius mage.
And she… she was still the one who could only hide in a corner tinkering with alchemy.
Merlin looked at Mahina in the center of the crowd and squeezed out her last bit of strength.
“Are you satisfied?”
It had been like this since she could remember, anyway.
Merlin sighed, preparing to stand up and leave.
“So what?”
A cold, sharp voice rang out with exceptional clarity in the noisy tiered classroom.
Lucia was leaning against the wall.
“Is my magical talent poor? I’m in the Swordsmanship Department too, yet you lot talk as if anyone not in the Magic Department is some kind of inferior being.”
The curve rising at the corner of Lucia’s mouth was as sharp as a blade.
The noise in the classroom flared up for a moment before instantly cooling down once they saw the source of the voice.
“Haha, why don’t you people from the Magic Department give it a try? You can use your magic, and I’ll compete with you purely without it to see what happens.”
The entire tiered classroom fell deathly silent.
Lucia walked slowly toward Merlin.
The crowd surrounding Merlin parted for Lucia like repelling magnets.
Lucia looked left and right, her moon-soft long hair swaying gently, appearing like a goddess descending to the mortal world.
That was, assuming one didn’t see her expression or the murderous glint leaking from her eyes.
Lucia’s voice roared, carrying even to the outside of the building.
“Hey, speak up! So what if she can’t use magic? I can still beat you all into the ground without magic. If anything, I hate magic to death.”
“Don’t be like that, Lucia.”
Mahina took a step forward, acting as if she were protecting the magic students.
“Don’t be like that? You’re making it sound like I’m the villain here.”
Lucia deliberately raised her already sharp voice.
“Weren’t you the one who brought up the topic of magic first? What are you pretending for? Besides—”
BOOM—
Lucia struck the long desk in Merlin’s row with such force that it slowly fractured perfectly. The instruments previously placed on the desk tumbled to the floor as it shattered.
The shards of the desk and the equipment clattered and rolled down from the top of the tiered classroom, acting like a fuse for the explosive atmosphere.
And Merlin? Merlin just sat there obediently.
“Have you all forgotten that Merlinlia is a princess? Does not having magic make her not a princess? There are people in the Amber royal family who have no mana as well; would you dare treat them like this? Or is it—”
Lucia looked at Mahina, who stared back without flinching.
Lucia slowly tilted her head up, looking at Mahina with a slight upward gaze.
“That someone is backing you up? Is that why you dare treat a princess like this? If you offend the elves, is there a single person here who can take responsibility for that? Even I wouldn’t dare say I could. Do you want to see Zeryon submerged in the sea again?”
The magic students looked at each other and lowered their heads in unison.
“Princess Merlinlia, we are very sorry! We only wanted to invite you to join the Magic Department; we meant no malice.”
Mahina also lowered her head.
“Merlinlia, I am very sorry. As the department representative, I failed to manage my classmates properly.”
Merlin looked at the slightly bowing Mahina and the silver-haired boy standing beside Mahina—the one who had first approached her.
Should she just let it end here?
Merlin hesitated.
Although she had long accepted the fact that she couldn’t use magic, it certainly hurt to have her wounds exposed in public.
Lucia looked at the silent Merlin and took a step forward.
Then, she reached out.
Sensing something was wrong, Mahina quickly deployed an ice shield for defense, but she was still not as fast as Lucia’s preemptive strike. She was forced back several steps as Lucia’s fist slammed into the half-formed ice shield.
The other boy wasn’t as strong.
He didn’t have time to react before Lucia’s brute fist struck him directly in the stomach. His face contorted like a bitter gourd, and muffled groans escaped his lips.
Lucia raised her hand again.
She walked toward the stunned Mahina.
“This slap is for Merlin.”
SLAP—
A crisp sound echoed through the classroom.
A terrifying red mark spread across Mahina’s face, showing just how heavy the force was.
Mahina let out a pained groan.
“Ugh…”
“Next—”
Mahina watched Lucia’s movements with a sense of dread, but she hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of the slap and could only watch.
For a mage to do this well against a close-quarters attack was already impressive.
“Hey!”
Lucia used the moment the boy was backing away while clutching his stomach to take a running start. Then.
BOOM—
“And you—being instigated by others to harass a girl a hundred times over. Disgusting.”
Lucia threw a punch with all her might into the boy’s face. The powerful force knocked him unconscious instantly, his features contorted by the impact.
Rivers of red began to seep from his eyes, nose, and the corners of his mouth.
The boy’s body was sent flying out of the building by the force.
Lucia wasn’t finished. She leapt from the third floor, following the boy as he fell.
Mahina screamed.
“Enough!”
Following the pull of gravity, Lucia stomped brutally onto the falling boy, this time channeling power to reinforce her right leg.
CRASH—
With the male student at the center, a massive crater spiderwebbed across the lawn below.
This time, it wasn’t just his facial features—even his limbs became twisted, blurred, and broken.
Lucia slowly looked up at the students watching from above.
“Go ahead and report me, damn it. Come on. If you’re not happy about it, come at me. Who’s afraid?”
She gave a faint smile with her pure face, but that spring-like smile felt exceptionally cold in that moment.
“Is the Magic Department really that damn great?”