A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Upon seeing her, I was suddenly reminded of what had happened not long ago.
The way she had ignored my request to take a stroll through the Garden, pretending to know nothing, and simply left.
It was the same today.
I had come to the Academy, yet until this very moment, I hadn’t caught a single glimpse of Camilla.
If I hadn’t happened to pass near the Training Grounds, I might never have encountered her today.
‘She’s like a completely different person.’
Petro let out a soft chuckle.
“That’s enough.”
After gazing at Camilla for a moment, he resumed walking.
“But doesn’t Camilla seem a bit different lately?”
“I suppose so.”
“Even if she doesn’t pay attention during class, she’s not the type to sleep so peacefully—”
Thud!
“What the—!”
Roye, Petro’s friend who had been walking and conversing with him, collided forcefully with someone’s shoulder and stumbled backward.
His face contorted in pain as he cried out, but he couldn’t finish his words.
“What the—?”
The moment he confirmed the face of the person standing before him, his entire body froze.
“Are you talking to me?”
“Ah… ah, no! I, I didn’t mean—”
Roye’s heart seemed to plummet as he met the gleaming black eyes peering through the long bangs falling across the figure’s face.
“I’m, I’m sorry, Arshian.”
Arshian Sefra.
The eldest son of the Sefra Family, counted among the Three Great Ducal Houses alongside Sorpel and Jebillen.
His frame was far leaner than that of an ordinary adult man, giving him an almost skeletal appearance.
But…
“Don’t apologize.”
“Ah, Arshian.”
“I won’t apologize either.”
Roye trembled as he witnessed Arshian’s twisted smile. He knew all too well of his cruelty.
As the eldest of the Sefra Family, a magical house that had produced countless Grand Mages, Arshian possessed equally tremendous magical power.
Moreover, unlike other mages, he possessed exceptional athletic ability as well, though perfection in all things was impossible.
There was but one thing lacking in Arshian Sefra. That was his character.
There had been a rather infamous incident last year.
A transfer student who had foolishly picked a fight with Arshian was beaten by him to the very brink of death.
Using his vast magical power, Arshian cast healing magic to restore him to his original state, then began beating him again.
Healing and beating.
This cycle repeated endlessly. Those witnessing it and those suffering it alike had to surrender their senses.
Even the instructors who came rushing upon hearing the news couldn’t bring themselves to step forward and stop him, overwhelmed by the toxic aura Arshian emanated.
“I… I’m truly sorry!”
It was only natural that Roye, who had clashed with Arshian Sefra, would react this way.
“Come now, enough of this. There’s no reason to fight like this.”
In that instant, Petro stepped between the two of them.
“It was all a misunderstanding, Arshian. You’ve already received an apology—why not let it go?”
Petro intervened with his usual disarming smile, the kind that made him seem genuinely good-natured.
“A jester.”
Yet Arshian Sefra’s gaze only grew colder.
“A jester?”
“I’m curious.”
….
“Whether you’ll still be smiling when you’re beaten.”
“…I’m actually a bit curious about that myself.”
Petro’s smile deepened.
“Still, let’s end this here.”
“What if I refuse?”
“Arshian.”
Whoosh!
Crack!
….
….
In an instant, a fist flew forward, and Petro swiftly blocked it.
The two stood with their fists pressed together, silently regarding each other for a moment.
“Don’t address me so casually. Not my name.”
Arshian Sefra’s voice came low and glacial, cutting like ice.
“I don’t like hearing it.”
The sheer chill in his tone made Roye’s entire body feel frozen, and he swallowed hard.
“Stop right there! What do you think you’re doing!”
As the commotion grew louder, professors came running from a distance.
“What a shame.”
Arshian Sefra clicked his tongue with genuine regret and stepped back.
It was almost laughable how the professors, who ordinarily turned a blind eye to such incidents, came rushing over the moment someone touched Petro, the son of the Sorpel Household.
“Stay out of my sight from now on.”
With those words, Arshian Sefra turned and walked away as though nothing had happened, while Petro watched him in silence.
“Fast.”
He looked down at his own hand, the one that had met Arshian Sefra’s. It still tingled.
From that single collision, he could fully grasp the gap between them. Movements faster than his own, despite having wielded a sword and trained his body his entire life….
And beyond that, Arshian Sefra possessed even greater power.
‘Mana.’
Yet he had detected no mana from the one who had just overwhelmed him. He had been pressed down by sheer physical strength alone.
Thud.
“….”
Meanwhile, Arshian Sefra’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt as he passed the Training Grounds.
His gaze settled on Camilla, who lay beneath the shade of a tree.
I watched as she shifted restlessly, then suddenly stiffened at the sight of something, quickly averting my eyes. She didn’t turn her head in that direction again.
“Hmm.”
Arshian Sefra stared intently at the scene before him.
“Could she actually see me?”
* * *
“At this rate, the Academy is less an institution of learning and more a paradise for ghosts.”
After finishing my swordsmanship class and entering the Classroom for regular lessons, I let out a hollow laugh.
A student ghost sat brazenly in an empty seat at the back of the Classroom.
‘Why is there a desk with no owner sitting in the Classroom?’
The surplus desk that no one bothered to remove was surely left untouched because of the ghost attached to it.
Places haunted by spirits like this naturally caused people to unconsciously avoid and ignore them.
‘Sigh.’
If there had been only that one student ghost in the Classroom, I might have accepted it.
‘But why is that one even attending class?’
Beside the professor who was conducting the lesson with great enthusiasm, there was also a ghost teaching with equal passion.
The sound coming from both sides made my head spin.
‘Their scholarly zeal is truly remarkable.’
Do you really want to stay at the Academy even after death? Do you love studying that much?
I chose to bury my face in my desk as a way to avoid making eye contact with the ghosts. I figured I might as well sleep through this class.
“Miss Camilla.”
But unlike the Swordsmanship Instructor, the professor currently teaching mathematics would not tolerate such behavior.
There were two types of professors at the Academy.
The first type were those who thoroughly ignored Camilla Sorpel and treated her as if she didn’t exist.
And then there were….
“It seems Miss Camilla finds my lessons rather uninteresting.”
The second type were professors like Professor Bellet, who sought to demean Camilla in every way possible.
Failing to concentrate on the lesson and then burying my face in the desk was undoubtedly my mistake.
But the Classroom was filled with others doing equally distracting things. Some were even openly sleeping.
The reason he singled me out while leaving them alone was painfully obvious.
A petty sense of satisfaction.
Those who couldn’t even lift their heads before Duke Sorpel wanted to crush her beneath their feet and feel superior.
“Are you protesting that my lessons aren’t worth listening to?”
“Of course not.”
“I see. Then I can assume your silence means you’re confident enough to solve these problems without attending class at all, correct?”
What a sharp conclusion he drew. I barely suppressed the urge to laugh at the absurdity.
“Why don’t you come up front and solve these problems for us?”
A faint smile played at the corners of Professor Bellet’s mouth. The expressions of the other students in the Classroom mirrored his.
Everyone who had been distracted, hoping to watch Camilla stumble at the blackboard, now lifted their heads and focused intently on the unfolding scene.
How childish.
Camilla let out a soft laugh. After skimming over the problems written on the blackboard, she strode forward with confidence.
I may look like this, but I graduated from S University.
Moreover, I was admitted as the top student with a perfect score on the college entrance exam—it even made the news.
An entertainer gaining admission to S University with a perfect score was truly major news. It dominated not just the entertainment industry, but all of South Korea.
I despised hearing it.
Being an orphan, having no parents—I absolutely hated hearing people say I couldn’t study because of that.
So I studied with relentless determination. Even while working in entertainment, despite barely having time to sleep, I never abandoned my studies.
There were countless days when I slept less than an hour, but it didn’t matter. I always carried both scripts and study materials with me. Fortunately, I was naturally gifted intellectually as well.
Actually, it was far better than merely “not bad.”
I could memorize entire scripts after reading them just a few times.
In any case, I was someone who captured public attention with a perfect score on the college entrance exam—a score no one could dismiss.
One shouldn’t underestimate the mathematical abilities of South Korean test-takers.
Problems at this level are nothing.
Besides, hadn’t I watched Camilla’s school days meticulously over the past twenty-odd years?
By now, I had memorized every detail in those textbooks.
I had solved the midterm exam questions that Professor Bellet created more than ten times over.
Standing before the blackboard, Camilla solved the problems without any particular difficulty.
Professor Bellet’s eyes, which had been gleaming with self-satisfaction at having written problems that could be solved with just one basic mathematical formula, grew progressively wider.
Can I go back to sleep now?
Having filled in the answers to all three problems on the blackboard in an instant, Camilla flashed a subtle smile at Professor Bellet.
….
Professor Bellet’s expression went blank.
She solved those problems in one breath?
The others felt the same way.
As Camilla returned to her seat and laid her head back down on the desk to sleep, not a single person dared to speak.
* * *
Sigh….
I was exhausted.
After all the classes ended, Camilla boarded the carriage and let out a long sigh.
I had only spent half a day at the Academy, yet my entire body felt as heavy as lead. It felt like I had filmed three consecutive dramas back-to-back.
The mathematics class was one thing, but the other classes were equally effortless. The material was so familiar it was actually tedious.
The ostracism didn’t bother me much either. If anything, the absence of people being difficult made it quite pleasant.
The real problem was, as always….
Ghosts.
There were so many of them scattered throughout the Academy—what was with all these ghosts?
Watching the ghosts enjoying their own Academy life, Camilla found herself sighing continuously.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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