A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 55

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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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‘Pfft! What is this?’
‘She actually wore that here?’
‘How charming.’
‘Heh.’
‘Camilla is surprisingly naive.’
‘Why are you all like that? It suits her perfectly. Our Petro really does love things like that, you know.’
I remember it was the day of the freshman welcome party.
Elisha had sent me a gift, saying she was happy we’d be attending the Academy together. It was a hair ornament.
The problem was that the flower accessory was painfully tacky. It was so large it took up half my head, and its color and design were utterly crude.
Jewels were scattered all over it, but they only amplified the tackiness to its absolute peak.
Elisha added one more thing after mentioning she’d designed the ornament herself.
She said her older brother adored accessories like this, and she really hoped I’d wear it to the freshman welcome party.
In the end, I attended the party wearing Elisha’s gift, and naturally, I became the subject of ridicule.
Elisha and her friends watched my appearance with undisguised delight.
‘Camilla Sorpel, you absolute fool.’
I knew Elisha’s true intentions. No matter how poor my fashion sense was, I wasn’t stupid enough to miss something so obvious.
Yet there was only one reason I fell for such a shallow trick.
Because she was Petro’s sister. Because I didn’t want to make an enemy of her.
I knew all too well what she might do the moment I refused her playful favors or requests.
‘But what does it matter now?’
It was none of my concern anymore.
I let out a quiet laugh, looking at those around me.
Since I no longer had any intention of growing closer to Petro, I was simply curious about what Elisha would do next.
“Sister, I heard you placed first in the midterm exams. Congratulations.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“That’s truly impressive. How did you achieve such grades?”
“We were all shocked. Your grades had been somewhat lacking until now, so strange rumors have been circulating.”
Ah, so that’s how she’s going to play it.
I barely managed to suppress the smile that was trying to creep across my face.
“Rumors?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“There was cheating on the midterm exams.”
“My goodness! Who would do such a thing!”
You did, obviously.
I barely managed to stifle the hollow laugh that threatened to escape as I watched Elisha and her friends perform their pathetic act.
‘And they call that acting.’
If this were in front of a camera, they’d need dozens of retakes.
‘Still, she’s weaker than I expected.’
Then again, the old Camilla would have found this sufficient. She wouldn’t have been able to say a word to Elisha and would have just suffered in silence.
“Exactly.”
But I’m not one of them.
“You lot should probably resort to cheating.”
“…What?”
Camilla smiled brazenly, as if to make a point.
“When I checked your grades, I didn’t even have to look up—they were that far down.”
Rock bottom, really.
‘I happen to have a good memory for things like this.’
Once I see something, I rarely forget it.
“127th place.”
“Gasp!”
Camilla met the eyes of each of Elisha’s friends standing nearby, one by one.
“107th place.”
“Ugh…”
“97th place.”
And finally, she looked at Elisha.
“117th place.”
Did you all coordinate this? Like friend, like friend—you all matched your rankings to end in seven.
“That must have been quite difficult to pull off. Impressive, in your own way.”
“C-Camilla!”
The total number of first-year students was 132.
In other words, all of them were playing in the lower ranks.
“With grades like that, shouldn’t you cheat to improve them?”
Watching their faces turn crimson, Camilla added one more remark.
“Why not decorate what’s inside your head instead of just your appearance?”
Stop filling your minds with nothing but schemes to torment others.
“H-Hey, that’s going too far.”
Elisha spoke through a trembling voice, her fists clenched tight.
“What? Going to cry?”
“You, you…!”
Watching her on the verge of tears, Camilla let out a soft laugh.
‘How is she so transparent?’
When I possessed her body, she seemed cunning as a fox, but facing her directly, Elisha appeared far more clumsy.
It seemed she was already planning to burst into tears to escape this situation, but…
‘I’m better at acting than you are.’
And she doesn’t realize that home ground is actually a disadvantage here.
Crash!
Camilla dropped the champagne glass she’d been holding onto the floor. The sound naturally drew everyone’s attention.
In that instant, as if she’d been waiting for it, tears streamed down Camilla’s cheeks. It took less than three seconds for them to roll down her face.
With her lips pressed tightly together, she held back her sobs in a way that made anyone watching think she’d suffered some terrible injustice.
Elisha and her friends, who had witnessed the entire scene unfold up close, stood frozen with their mouths agape.
The sight of someone who had just been mocking them with a smirk suddenly streaming tears was more than enough to leave them bewildered.
“Camilla!”
But what could be done? Others would surely react differently.
Duke Sorpel strode purposefully toward Camilla.
“What is the matter?”
His expression hardened instantly at the sight of Camilla weeping.
“Father….”
At Duke Sorpel’s question, tears streamed even more sorrowfully down Camilla’s cheeks.
As she struggled to find her words, Duke Sorpel’s face grew progressively colder.
“I, I….”
“Yes?”
“I apparently committed academic fraud.”
“What?”
“I’m truly sorry.”
I need to look more pitiful here—the kind of expression that would break anyone’s heart.
“Because I’m inadequate… I’ve caused such rumors to spread….”
“Who! Who dares speak such nonsense!”
“Sob….”
Them.
At Duke Sorpel’s fierce outburst, Camilla gazed toward Elisha and her friends with eyes brimming with tears.
Duke Sorpel’s savage gaze followed, turning upon them as well.
“…!”
They could not muster a single proper excuse as their faces drained of all color.
Elisha fared little better. True to her nature as a young fox still lacking in cunning, she could not properly handle this sudden turn of events.
“Elisha!”
“…! Father!”
Elisha’s face brightened the moment she spotted Duke Jebillen.
Her fear vanished in an instant now that someone to take her side had appeared….
Watching this unfold, Camilla clicked her tongue inwardly again and again.
‘How naive.’
This is your home ground, which only makes your position even more disadvantageous.
“What on earth have you done!”
“Pardon?”
Elisha’s expectations were completely off the mark. Instead of the gentle embrace she had anticipated, harsh words fell from her father’s lips.
“Father, that’s not… that’s not what happened…!”
“I asked what you’ve done to our guest!”
That’s right.
‘I’m a guest, apparently.’
Tears poured from the eyes of a guest who had come to celebrate, and they were shed because of none other than his own daughter.
For the host, it was an extraordinarily awkward predicament. Even Duke Jebillen, who would move heaven and earth for his daughter, would find it difficult to take Elisha’s side in this situation.
“I apologize.”
In the end, Duke Jebillen offered his apologies not to his daughter, but to Camilla and Duke Sorpel.
“This situation arose from my failure to educate my daughter properly. I hope you can understand.”
“Father!”
At Elisha’s cry, Duke Jebillen’s gaze turned glacial, piercing through her like shards of ice.
Tears welled up in Elisha’s eyes, and true to form, she fled the scene as though escaping a burning building, her friends hurrying after her in a flurry.
‘Grow up first.’
Still nestled in Duke Sorpel’s embrace, I wiped away my tears and silently hurled insults at her retreating figure.
* * *
“Hmm.”
Using the pretense of composing myself, I left the Party Venue and headed toward the Lounge, but paused mid-step.
Something in the Corridor had captured my attention entirely.
As I drew closer, a single sword resting within a transparent glass case came into view.
On the wall beside the case hung a portrait of someone.
‘Why does this feel familiar?’
The reason I’d suddenly taken interest in this stranger’s possession was that I felt certain I’d seen the sword in the glass case somewhere before.
Even to someone like me, who knew little of such things, this blade appeared distinctly unusual.
An intricate pattern etched into the azure hilt, and above it, a brilliant golden radiance flowing like liquid light.
Whether genuine gold leaf adorned it or not, the sword exuded an unmistakable aura of refinement.
‘Where have I seen this?’
I was certain I’d glimpsed it somewhere before.
“That is the Previous Head of House.”
A familiar voice reached my ears at that moment. Turning, I found Petro standing with a gentle smile.
His gaze was fixed on the portrait hanging on the wall. Only then did I lift my eyes from the sword to examine the portrait more carefully.
‘Ah…’
My eyes wavered for an instant. Now I remembered where I’d seen this sword.
“He was the one who created our family’s swordsmanship, wasn’t he?”
“You mean he was the Head of House?”
“Yes.”
“And this sword?”
“It is a sword he discovered. It is called the Guardian Sword.”
“The Guardian Sword?”
Shinsu exists, and now there’s a Guardian Sword too? This world certainly has no shortage of peculiar things.
‘A sword is just a sword.’
What in the world is a Guardian Sword supposed to be?
“It is a blade mentioned in ancient texts. Legend holds that it chooses its own master and warns of dangers approaching the world.”
“It chooses its own master?”
“Yes, it is said to respond only when touched by the master it has chosen. Unfortunately, no one has yet been selected by the sword.”
Even the Previous Head of House—the very person who discovered the sword and brought it to the Jebillen Family, whose portrait hangs here—had not been chosen by it.
“Hmm.”
Camilla regarded the sword and portrait in turn with newfound interest.
In that moment, Petro’s voice pierced through to her.
“Are you alright?”
Petro’s concern about what had transpired at the Party Venue moments earlier drew a soft laugh from Camilla.
“Of course I am. It was all an act.”
“An act?”
“I wanted to put his younger sibling in a difficult position.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“I’ve endured quite a lot from them.”
Watching Petro struggle to form words, as though he’d heard something incomprehensible, Camilla inwardly clicked her tongue in frustration.

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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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