A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 44

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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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Chapter. Professor JB
[Are you looking at the map right now?]
“Yes.”
At the question from Perol, the chef ghost, I nodded lightly.
[You’ve seen it before.]
“I have.”
I needed to hurry my preparations to flee to the farthest place from here.
After visiting the Marketplace yesterday, I understood it even more clearly. I couldn’t stay here long.
‘How is it that everyone around me is completely insane!’
Petro. Annoyingly unlucky, but I still thought he was reasonably sane.
A kind and gentle person. The sort who couldn’t simply pass by those in difficulty—truly a good person.
Unusually kind to everyone around him, especially women, which was incredibly irritating, but that was how I thought of Petro.
‘But….’
What was that display yesterday?
‘Absolutely chilling.’
The sight of him wearing blood on his face while smiling with his usual gentleness felt like watching a thriller film.
“Sigh.”
Fortunately, the dead men’s reputations were so abysmal that it caused no real problem.
With the merchants’ eager testimonies, Petro faced no serious legal consequences—though the fact that he was a young master of the Sorpel Household certainly helped.
The three ducal houses known as the Imperial Guardian Houses possessed the authority to execute summary judgment against lawbreakers.
‘Still, even so. How could he act without a single moment of hesitation….’
What was even more horrifying came after they died.
Clearly, having committed many misdeeds while alive, the spirits of the dead men departed in a most unusual manner.
Countless black hands erupted from the earth, seizing them and dragging them down, ever downward.
[Aaaaaaahhhhh!]
[No! I don’t want to! No!]
Their desperate screams still echoed vividly in my ears.
‘They must have instinctively known.’
That the place they were being dragged to was far from pleasant.
‘Either way, I never want to see it again.’
I disliked the screams of the living, but hearing the wails of the dead left me feeling utterly filthy.
“Miss.”
“Hmm?”
Shortly after, the butler Rube came to find me.
“You have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
I tilted my head briefly in confusion, then rose from my seat and headed outside.
“Miss Camilla!”
“….”
An unexpected person was in the Reception Room.
“Laila?”
“Yes!”
Laila rushed toward me with a radiant smile, her footsteps quick and light.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to express my gratitude!”
Gratitude?
“I didn’t properly greet you yesterday….”
“Sit down for now.”
No matter how much I wanted to sever ties with someone, I couldn’t simply turn away a person who had come all the way to my home.
I offered her a seat.
“Ah… well….”
“…?”
“The weather is really lovely today, isn’t it?”
“And?”
“Would you perhaps like to spend some time outside? I have something I’d like to give you….”
Now that she mentioned it, I noticed Laila was carrying quite a large basket in her hands. It seemed she had brought something to eat.
“Then let’s go to the Garden.”
Since the weather was indeed as pleasant as she said, I readily agreed with her suggestion.
Shortly after, the two of us left the Reception Room and headed to the nearby Garden. A table for taking tea was already set up there.
“This place is truly beautiful.”
Watching the flowers blooming abundantly around us, Laila’s smile grew even brighter.
After admiring the Garden for a moment, she opened the basket she had brought and began removing its contents one by one.
As expected, food poured out of the basket endlessly.
[Ho.]
Perol was the first to react.
A cake topped generously with fresh strawberries, a blueberry pie, warm bread that looked freshly baked, butter that was clearly of excellent quality, and even fresh fruit juice with ice added to it.
“I hope it suits your taste.”
“….”
“I’ve received so much help from you, and I wanted to do something in return, but these are the only things I know how to make.”
“Did you make all of this?”
“Yes, and I made the butter this morning as well.”
It was clearly no ordinary skill. I spread butter on the bread that still retained its warmth and took a bite.
“…!”
What? The flavor is extraordinary?
Though I wouldn’t call myself a refined food critic, this was a taste that would make anyone exclaim in admiration.
I had eaten quite a lot of butter both in my previous world and since arriving in this one, but nothing compared to the richness and depth of flavor in this butter.
“It’s delicious.”
“Really, truly?”
At my assessment, Laila broke into an even brighter smile.
Laila, who had been watching me with anxious eyes until I put the bread in my mouth, finally released a long sigh of relief.
“I cultivated these strawberries and blueberries myself.”
“You farm as well?”
“Yes, though it’s not quite at the level I’d call farming in the grand sense. I simply grow small things for myself and my family to eat. Come summer, we’ll be able to enjoy potatoes and corn too. I’ve planted quite a lot of them!”
Laila’s eyes sparkled with an intensity I’d never seen before as she spoke of her crops.
“….”
I felt something peculiar stirring within me as I watched her.
‘Now I understand.’
Why the men cherished and adored her so deeply.
Even I, who had once found her naive and foolishly kind nature frustrating, now felt my heart ease as I gazed upon her. There was something disarming about her presence.
Yes, comfort. Being with her seemed to soften the sharp edges that had been cutting through me just moments before.
“The weather has been so beautiful lately that everything is growing wonderfully.”
Watching her radiate such pure happiness over the simple fact that her crops were thriving, I found myself wanting to smile along with her.
‘All my worries seem so pointless now.’
There was certainly something about her that disarmed one’s defenses.
“I was truly grateful for yesterday. And I’m so sorry. It seems like you always end up in difficult situations because of me….”
Laila bowed her head deeply.
“I wished I could give you something more precious…. I apologize.”
“I like it.”
“Really?”
“I enjoy things like this.”
Watching Laila’s eyes widen with wonder at my words, I tasted each of the other desserts one by one.
[I want to try some too… Ugh, what a shame….]
I let out a short sigh as I observed Perol, who had been excitedly voicing his laments since earlier.
It seemed the food Laila had made appeared quite extraordinary even to Perol’s eyes.
‘Should I share some food with him?’
If I handed it to him directly, even a spirit could taste food, but if Perol discovered this fact, he would surely become insufferably bothersome to me going forward.
[I want to eat too….]
…It seemed I would have to indulge him after all.
Watching Perol’s pitiful demeanor, my resolve finally weakened.
‘Such is my fate.’
I sighed quietly where no one could hear.
* * *
“This… this can’t be real.”
“Is that actually true?”
“How….”
The midterm exam results had been posted.
Students gathered before the ranking board plastered in the Corridor, their mouths falling open in astonishment.
An utterly unexpected result was displayed before them. A name no one had anticipated topped the list.
【2nd Year Top Rank – Camilla Sorpel】
Everyone rubbed their eyes and checked multiple times to confirm that Camilla’s name, which had claimed the top position with an unbelievable perfect score, was truly there.
“Someone who used to be at the bottom of the class….”
“Is that even possible?”
“That’s insane!”
Until now, my grades had always ranked among the lowest. It wasn’t that I didn’t try, but the results were far from satisfactory.
The fact that I suddenly placed first was shocking enough, but a perfect score? It was a result I simply couldn’t believe.
‘If you all took the same exam dozens of times like I did,’
you’d score even higher than this.
I remained composed despite the bewildered stares from my classmates. It was a result I’d anticipated to some degree.
[Wow, your grades suddenly skyrocketed! What’s your secret?]
Amy, the female student ghost, had appeared beside me at some point and kept exclaiming in amazement.
[Did you cheat using the spirits? No, wait—I was in the classroom the entire time during the exam?]
I ignored Amy’s questions and had already focused my attention elsewhere.
‘That’s what really surprises me.’
The third-year grade rankings. Familiar names appeared there as well.
The name at the top spot wasn’t particularly surprising.
【Third-Year First Place – Petro Jebillen】
‘That man, what else would I expect.’
He’d never lost the top position since first year, so I simply accepted it as inevitable.
What caught my attention was the name written in fifth place.
【Arshian Sefra】
Someone who’d been even lower than I was, who always turned in blank answer sheets and gave the professors headaches—he’d finally achieved a top-tier ranking for the first time.
“What’s going on?”
“Who? Me?”
Arshian’s voice came from directly behind me—I hadn’t even noticed when he’d arrived.
“Have you ever seen a stupid mage?”
“You.”
“….”
Watching Arshian furrow his brow, I let out a small laugh.
Recently, Arshian had been attending classes without fail and showing a certain diligence.
Of course, his sharp personality remained unchanged, so people still kept their distance from him.
The moment he appeared, the students instinctively scattered away.
“What’s that thing next to you?”
Arshian glanced toward where Amy was.
I felt Amy flinch as she quickly hid behind me the moment he appeared.
“The one you tried to get rid of before.”
“Why does it keep clinging to you?”
“Who knows.”
At Arshian’s bewilderment over my closeness with the spirits, I laughed again.
‘To everyone else, you’re the one who seems stranger.’
The students who’d scattered away now looked at me and him with even wider eyes, alternating their gazes between us.
It was exceptionally rare for Arsian to approach someone first and strike up a conversation.

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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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