At the academy—central arena, guest lounge.

There wasn’t much time left before the exchange was scheduled to begin. Celicia finally arrived at the prepared competition venue at an unhurried pace, with no one following her at all.

Even without attendants, and even though as the empress she wore only a simple long white gauze dress, her bearing was still cold and noble—icily beautiful, untouchable.

By now, most of the participants had basically arrived, and they had even waited a while. But because of Celicia’s status, no one could say anything about it. Instead, they considered it perfectly normal and all stepped forward to greet her respectfully.

“Your Majesty looks to be in good spirits. Did something good happen?”

After Hertz finished paying his respects, he keenly noticed that Celicia looked a little rosier than usual, and he asked probingly.

“Not bad.”

Celicia glanced at Hertz as if she hadn’t noticed his little intention, and said coolly, neither warm nor cold:

“I dealt with a certain someone who acted disrespectfully and dared to be reckless. My mood really has improved a lot.”

“Someone actually dared offend Your Majesty within the academy grounds? That’s truly unexpected.”

Hertz stroked his beard and offered a sincere suggestion. “If it’s that kind of vile villain, then they really should be dealt with properly. Your Majesty mustn’t be softhearted.”

Heh heh... sure enough, his suspicion about discord within the empire was becoming more and more credible. It wasn’t just those high-ranking ministers—even in this academy, there were people dissatisfied with this young empress?

Thinking that, Hertz’s confidence in the success of this operation of his grew even stronger. He even started thinking about whether this might be the only chance of his entire life.

“Lord Hertz doesn’t need to worry. My private affairs—I will naturally handle them properly myself.”

Celicia’s tone turned slightly cold.

“I overstepped.”

Hertz put on a show of panic as he apologized, but his mood was excellent. Turning his head, he happened to see Milne had returned as well.

“How was it?”

Using an excuse to step aside, he quickly called Milne over.

“Did you see that Muen Campbell?”

“I saw him.”

Milne glanced toward Sevier not far away. Only after confirming she wasn’t paying attention to this side did he lower his voice and say,

“To be honest, I was very disappointed.”

“Disappointed?” Hertz froze. He also knew that his other disciple, Sevier, had been saying over and over that Muen Campbell was actually very formidable and that they shouldn’t be careless. Milne had gone to confirm out of caution, but he hadn’t expected this kind of result.

“He has many rumors, and there are also many rumors about those rumors being just rumors. True and false are hard to distinguish. But after seeing him in person, you can tell some rumors really are true.”

“Speak plainly.”

Getting dizzy from all those “rumors,” Hertz frowned and said,

“Which rumors are true?”

“Lustful, spoiled, playboy, addicted to women... even the kind of thing like stepping on several boats at once has credibility. When I found him just now, he actually looked like he’d just crawled out of a woman’s bed.”

“Just crawled out of a woman’s bed?”

Hertz said in surprise, “At a time like this? Does he have no sense of urgency at all? If we humiliate him in public, forget losing face—there’s even a real chance he won’t be able to keep the position of the empress’s fiancé. Doesn’t he know our purpose?”

“Maybe he knows, but he simply doesn’t care.”

Milne sneered. “He thinks his position is secure. But he doesn’t realize that as long as we poke this kind of thing to that empress, his position will definitely shake. That empress is a woman too—she definitely won’t pretend she didn’t see something like this.”

“No.”

Hertz lifted a hand. “Doing that would indeed breed conflict, but it would also provoke the empire’s empress’s displeasure. It’s her private affair. We can’t be the bad guy. Just act like we didn’t see it.”

“I know. I’m not so stupid as to do something like that.”

“Strange.”

Hertz clasped his hands behind his back and paced, thinking for a moment before saying, “Actually, if you put interests first, this kind of lifestyle is only a small problem. Otherwise, those rumors about Muen Campbell wouldn’t have lasted until now. But if you think carefully, even if he really is a spoiled playboy, it shouldn’t have reached the point where gossip spread to every country. Looking at it this way, it’s practically like... someone is deliberately publicizing it.”

“Why?”

Milne was also puzzled for a moment, and asked in confusion, “Deliberately publicize this kind of thing? What’s the benefit? Right—speaking of that, I really did see someone outside earlier, sneaking around selling this.”

Milne took out a small booklet. Hertz only needed to glance at it to lose interest. On it, in extremely lurid language, it described how Muen Campbell seduced respectable married women, stepped on multiple boats, and there was even some heavy-taste stuff like “noble young master X evil god.” If it were ordinary students, their blood might rush and they’d love it, but he’d long since passed that age.

With a lift of his hand, Hertz directly burned this low-grade trash to ashes, so it wouldn’t corrupt his own disciple.

“Who knows? Maybe someone also can’t stand Muen Campbell and is deliberately smearing him? Or maybe they’re directly dissatisfied with that empress and are using this method as an insinuation? It can’t be that someone is just selling his salacious gossip for money, right?”

Hertz felt more and more that the empire’s interior had already become rotten and corrupt because of the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) recent turmoil, but he still looked at Milne and asked seriously, “But none of that matters. Whether he’s a scumbag has nothing to do with us. What matters is—how strong is that Muen Campbell?”

After all the talking, it still came down to this. Even Hertz would never be lax about it.

“His strength... just from a first meeting, you naturally can’t see any strength. But a playboy who’s addicted to women, who was having obscene fun with a woman last night, his steps unsteady... Teacher, what do you think?” Milne asked back.

“In my view...”

Hertz pondered briefly, then said, “Indeed—if he was still in a woman’s bed last night, then he must be a man who doesn’t know restraint. How could he compare to His Highness, who has outstanding talent and has trained bitterly since childhood? You have to know His Highness has trained bitterly up to now and hasn’t even touched a woman. Unless that brat has several kidneys and a body forged from iron, today he definitely won’t be worth worrying about.”

“Ha. Teacher is right.”

Hertz was a rigorous man who rarely joked in ordinary times, so the moment he said something this relaxed, the two of them immediately looked at each other and smiled, thinking that their earlier caution might truly have been unnecessary.

...

...

“Is everyone here?”

Celicia entered the private guest lounge prepared specifically for her and swept her gaze over the entire venue.

Now, aside from the faculty and students of Saint Maria Academy, there were also observers from several academies in the royal capital, along with guests from other forces. Celicia even saw seats marked with nameplates from the Church of Life and the Silent Bureau. The grand martial arena had been completely packed to the brim—lively beyond measure.

“Pretty much all here, but...” Hathaway, who was responsible for the arrangements, checked the list in her hand, then hesitated. “We’re still missing...”

“Hm?”

Celicia looked at her and immediately understood.

“He still isn’t here?”

“Yes.”

Hathaway gave a wry smile. “We need to wait...”

“Wait for what? Wait just for him alone? We all didn’t sleep much, yet he still arrived even later than me. Useless.”

Celicia said mercilessly in a cold voice. “How were the rules set?”

“The kingdom’s side brought seven people, so we naturally also have to bring seven on our side. Time is tight—public selection was impossible—so these seven were all recommended by the academy’s teachers and professors.”

Hathaway lightly swiped. As light and shadow rose, detailed information about each participant appeared before Celicia.

Celicia swept through it quickly and let out a light sigh. “It really is a bit hard.”

After the previous upheaval, when it came to excellent students, the academy truly didn’t look as good as the kingdom’s side.

At least, on the surface.

“Yes. Time is tight, and the kingdom’s side specified Saint Maria Academy, so it isn’t easy for us to bring in outside help. Besides, Saint Maria is the empire’s top academy—there’s no need to ask anyone else for help.”

Hathaway said, “That previous upheaval affected all of Belrand. Every academy is in the same state—some are even worse.”

“When a tumor grows too large, after you cut it out, of course there’s going to be pain.”

Celicia lowered her eyelids.

“Are you confident?”

“It’s alright. The kingdom’s side agreed to a one-on-one elimination format—both sides draw lots for one-on-one duels, then the winner advances, and in the end a single final winner is decided. So unlike the international exchanges in past years, what matters in this competition isn’t which side wins more, but...”

“Who the final victor is.”

Celicia let out a snort-laugh. “I see. They’d rather erase part of their own advantage just to pave the way for their seventeenth prince. Looks like they’re very confident in that person—and also very confident in the little schemes that come next.”

“In their eyes, the empire really is the easiest to bully right now. That’s not unreasonable.” Hathaway pushed her glasses up.

“But now it really does look like what Your Majesty said—the whole so-called ‘exchange’ is nothing more than a way to highlight the brilliance of that seventeenth prince. For their purpose, it’s necessary for the seventeenth prince to crush everyone, and especially to crush Student Muen in front of you.”

“Ridiculous. The radiance of a truly dazzling person doesn’t need to be highlighted on purpose. Am I blind? As for that guy... if he really gets crushed, he deserves it. Even if he gets beaten to death, I won’t feel sorry.”

Celicia’s fingers moved slightly. Suddenly she dragged Muen’s name on the screen straight to the very last slot on the duel bracket, then waved her hand.

“Go. Take it for the draw. Remember to be fair—don’t let the kingdom’s side grab a handle and make trouble.”

“...”

Staring at the words “Muen Campbell,” already locked into the last appearance before any draw had even happened, Hathaway looked like she wanted to speak and stopped, but in the end she still said nothing. She obediently took the form and answered:

“Yes. I’ll go have them... draw fairly.”

“Mmph. Oh, right—can people outside see this room?”

“Your Majesty’s noble body naturally can’t be casually peeped at by outsiders, so this guest lounge has been covered by special magic. It’s only visible one-way.”

“Good. I’m going to rest for a bit. Don’t make a fuss.”

Celicia waved her hand, signaling Hathaway not to let anyone come in and disturb her.

“Understood.”

Hathaway again looked like she wanted to speak and stopped, wanting to ask if that person came, whether she should let him in.

But she glanced at the list in her hand and then felt that this stupid question wasn’t even worth asking.

...

“First draw, huh... If we win, we can crush the other side in momentum right from the start. Too bad, on our side it isn’t you, and on their side it isn’t Muen Campbell. It’s someone called... Ariel. I’ve heard she’s quite famous within the academy, but I haven’t heard of any particularly outstanding achievements. She isn’t even like that Fanny who’s participated in the Saintess Trials. It’s a good draw.”

Hertz scanned the finalized draw list. Seeing that His Highness Milne hadn’t met Muen Campbell in the first round, he felt a little regret.

If the first match had been His Highness Milne versus Muen Campbell, and he won easily, Hertz didn’t even dare imagine how electrifying that scene would be.

“Teacher doesn’t need to worry. Not meeting him in the first round is no big deal. If he can’t even hold on until he faces me, doesn’t that highlight his incompetence even more?”

Having seen through Hertz’s thoughts, Milne smiled indifferently. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something, and his smile grew even wider.

“Speak of the devil. Teacher, look—he’s here.”

“Oh?”

Even though he’d already seen information from all sides, this was still Hertz’s first time seeing the legendary Muen Campbell in person, so he couldn’t help stretching his neck to look.

At the entrance, a handsome man was sneaking in. After he confirmed with the teacher maintaining order on the outskirts that he wasn’t the one about to go on stage, that blond man finally let out a breath, relaxed, and revealed a dashing smile that could make countless ignorant girls’ hearts flutter.

Hertz didn’t pay much attention to that. After his talk with Milne just now, his attention subconsciously fell on certain aspects of Muen...

“Heh heh...”

Hertz laughed. “Just as expected—his steps are unsteady, and his whole face shows the signs of overindulgence in women!”

...

“The draw results are out.”

In the private waiting room on the other side, Ariel stared grimly at the number in her hand.

“I didn’t expect I’d be the very first one to go up.”

“With no way to grasp the kingdom’s patterns, it’s not a good draw.” Ariel’s teacher sighed. “Even if the person going up is different, the one teaching them is probably the same. So as long as someone goes up, I can see a thing or two. But this time our luck really isn’t great.”

“No. This is a good draw!”

Ariel clenched her fist, her eyes shining.

“If it’s just about winning easily, then of course it isn’t a good draw. But think about it, Teacher—what’s my other important goal this time? It’s to win Celicia over! And how do I leave a deep impression on Celicia? Naturally, either go up first, or be the very last! But from the format, even if you go last in the first round, it doesn’t help much, because there’s still a second round. So going first is the best.”

“It seems... there is some truth to that.”

“Of course!”

Ariel’s momentum surged.

“Look, Teacher—right now it’s morning. Celicia just woke up, she’s in great spirits, and then I deliver her an outstanding, crushing victory as a lucky first win—how could she not be deeply impressed?” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

With her spirit blazing, Ariel was the first to leap up onto the arena platform and burst into excited laughter.

“How could this be a bad draw? Even the heavens are helping me!”