Love Letter From The Future

The second year of the Academy was undoubtedly the most vibrant year. It was a time for enjoying the benefits of just graduating from being a mere chick.

In their first year, they were the ones who would freeze up at the sight of their seniors without realizing it. However, after about a year, they adapted to the notorious life at the Academy and weren’t preparing for practical training like third-year students or going out for dispatch like fourth-year students.

It was the period when they squandered the most time on entertainment. As soon as they stepped outside their rooms, they had friends living within a 10-minute distance. What those young youths would do while hanging out was really predictable.

They gathered together to chat, drink, plan trips, and go out to have fun in the city.

In any case, if it was fun, they did whatever they wanted. Naturally, while hanging out, groups of friends began to form, and it was around this time that the clique for their future Academy life was decided.

This made the relationships among friends particularly important. Therefore, among second-year students, rumors spread quickly.

Which department’s whoever was said to be like this lately, who was having a certain type of relationship with whom, and the seemingly well-off relationship of whom and whom was, in fact, awkward.

At first glance, it seemed like trivial information, but to the second-year students of the Academy, it was the most crucial type of story. This was because one of the main reasons for attending the Academy was to build networks.

An Academy diploma guarantees a stable job, but connections ensure success and fame. It was only natural that the Academy, where talents from all over the continent gathered, produced the top elite of each country every year.

To properly utilize this established network, forming connections was paramount.

Sometimes there existed students with poor social skills, known as “the insolent one from Yuridina,” but excluding such exceptional cases, most Academy students were proactive in socializing.

The monthly Martial Arts Festival was also part of these activities. Nobles gained political allies and capable talents there, while commoners secured friendships with nobles that could never be achieved outside the Academy.

In order to grasp the intricate chains of complex human relationships, one could not afford to miss even the slightest piece of information. Although they had just barely become adults, they weren’t clueless about societal dynamics.

So for second-year students at the Academy, there was a well-known rumor.

The two flowers of the Swordsmanship Department, Celine Haster and Seraia Yuridina, had a particularly poor relationship.

The reason for that was quite obvious. Just from the fact that Celine, with her beautiful looks unsuitable for a lower noble, had never been in a romantic relationship, one could understand. Despite her lively personality and rough speech, she was surprisingly steadfast.

The identity of her admired counterpart was also already well known. The object of her affections was Ian Fercurus, a man who had recently become the hottest topic at the Academy.

The reason Ian, possessing a fairly handsome appearance, had never received a confession was also thanks to Celine. Since she was openly blocking others, he felt no necessity to approach him.

Celine was exceptional not only in appearance but also in her relationships. There was no reason to antagonize her, who had some influence in the world of women.

This was the same for high-ranked nobles. Would a noble lady from a high-status family want to tussle with a lower noble man just to seduce him?

Even if they won, they would only become a laughingstock; if they lost, the ridicule would be even greater. High-ranking nobles had to socialize among themselves, and until quite recently, Ian Fercurus was not worth such effort.

However, even with such extensive and intricate social dynamics, there would always be exceptions.

The “insolent one from Yuridina,” namely Seraia Yuridina, belonged to that exception. She had never formed human relationships in the first place. There was no way she knew about the relationship between Celine and Ian.

Even if she did know, it was highly likely she didn’t care much about it. After all, the relationship had initially started from pure admiration.

But as time went on, Seraia began to follow Ian closely, and understandably, Celine’s feelings were becoming increasingly twisted.

Recently, rumors had spread that there was a peculiar atmosphere between Seraia and Ian, further clarifying the rivalry between Celine and Seraia.

If a woman who always bore a cold expression suddenly smiled brightly in front of Ian, it was natural for anyone to think this way.

“Oh no, this is bad.”

It seemed like one flower had two butterflies clinging to it. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but it also wasn’t rare, and everyone knew how it would conclude.

A mud-slinging fight was about to begin. Just as it always did.

The relationship between Celine and Seraia was already fragile. Yet, at that time, another rumor began to circulate that would further discomfort both of their hearts.

The rumor about Delphine Yuridina and Ian Fercurus.

According to hearsay, Ian had seen Delphine naked, and like all widely spread rumors, there were various speculations about the cause.

Among them was the rumor that Ian was Delphine’s lover. It was a rumor that Elsi Rainelle had been scolded for mentioning, yet this only managed to lead more people to support such a hypothesis.

Since it was a fatal flaw for a noble, it was predicted that action would be taken to silence such gossip.

Of course, it was nonsense, but the mere fact that such rumors were circulating was enough for Celine and Seraia’s expressions to turn cold.

Because of this, the second-year students of the Swordsmanship Department always felt like they were walking on thin ice.

Celine was making her displeasure evident. While she still appeared cheerful when conversing, that was about it.

Just from her gloomy atmosphere, it was clear that her mood was low.

Seraia was just the same. Having already been expressionless, her aquamarine eyes began to reflect murky emotions from a certain day.

The cold desolation in her eyes and her silent sword-wielding gestures carried a faintly ominous aura. Anyone could tell that Seraia’s mood was at its worst.

It was a situation where even the slightest provocation could lead to an explosion. Celine and Seraia had become akin to walking time bombs.

The issue was only who would light the fuse, as anyone in the second year of the Swordsmanship Department agreed that one of the two was bound to explode soon.

Then that day arrived.

“Sword training,” an essential class designed solely for the second year, in contrast to the joint ‘Swordsmanship Practice’ session that involved both second and third years.

It was created with the belief that the second year needed to compensate for their absolute training requirements, while third years had the freedom for more autonomous training.

Every second-year student of the Swordsmanship Department had to attend this class. So within the sword training, even the two famous flowers of the Swordsmanship Department could not avoid crossing paths.

Celine and Seraia, those two time bombs.

All the students who understood the situation held their breath, worried that there would be sparks. However, unexpectedly, the class proceeded quietly.

Celine and Seraia pretended not to see each other. If their eyes ever met, Celine would let out a cold snort and turn away. Seraia would merely glance at Celine with an indifferent gaze before swinging her sword again.

Had it continued like this, it might have passed without incident, but then—

Thud, a wooden sword struck the ground beside Seraia. It was a sword that had bounced from somewhere.

The atmosphere instantly turned chilly. Seraia’s cold gaze turned towards the place where the wooden sword had come from. There stood a pale-faced woman.

It seemed she and another had been playfully sparring when the wooden sword was deflected; even if it was unintentional, it was undoubtedly a mistake. Moreover, the one who made that mistake was the real issue.

It was one of those lower nobles who had mocked Seraia’s mother in the past, one of the women who had been cowed by the threat of Tean.

“…N-no! This was not on purpose!”

The woman shouted out, as she felt the piercing gaze of Seraia upon her.

Seraia was already on edge. There was ample possibility of her seizing this opportunity to pick on the one who made the mistake. After all, that girl had a record of such incidents.

A sound of someone swallowing hard could be heard. The onlookers had tense expressions, expecting the time bomb to finally explode. Seraia stared silently at the woman for a moment.

But then, after a brief pause, Seraia sighed in annoyance and spoke.

“…Apologize.”

“Uh, what?”

The woman blankly retorted at Seraia’s cold voice. At that, Seraia’s eyes grew even colder.

“You should apologize if you’ve made a mistake.”

The firm tone made the woman shiver as though she had been electrocuted. Then she began to nod vigorously. At a glance, it looked nearly subservient.

However, unless someone mocked her from the side, for someone who didn’t have the courage to face Seraia head-on, this was the only option. Confronting Seraia, who had both the backing of the Yuridina Clan and strength, was like committing suicide.

Especially when she was in such a bad mood.

“R-right! I-I’m sorry… I just… have a bit of a clumsy personality…”

The woman stuttered as she approached Seraia cautiously. She picked up the wooden sword she had dropped, carefully checking Seraia’s reaction. Seraia watched her intently with a cold gaze.

Having retrieved the wooden sword, the woman hurriedly ran away from Seraia. Only then did Seraia’s cold stare fade away. Indifferently, she turned her gaze away again.

The woman let out a sigh of relief. The onlookers felt the same. The difference being that the latter harbored a hint of disappointment.

Someone needed to ignite the match for this situation to end. If the explosion had to happen, it would have been better if the involved parties were not the ones to confront it. If the victim disappeared, they couldn’t help but feel regretful.

Still, it wasn’t bad for the lecture time to pass peacefully like this. The bomb would eventually explode, and if that happened when they weren’t around, it would be better than anything.

Just as everyone was trying to turn their attention away again, at that moment—

“…Hey.”

Seraia, poised to swing her sword again, abruptly froze. Her deep blue gaze slowly turned towards the back.

There stood a lovely girl holding a water jug, sipping water. Her neatly tied hair shone in the back, and she had hazel eyes.

Only then did the onlookers remember the existence of another time bomb they had forgotten. Indeed, there wasn’t just one.

Celine Haster. She took a few more sips from her water jug before flashing a hazy smile and said.

“Let’s do it with a smile… it was an accident, right? Why are you being so harsh?”

She was also one of the prominent figures among the lower noble girls in the second year.

Naturally, she was included in the group that had made mistakes towards Seraia.

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