The 21st Century Grand Grand Duchess in the Royal Academy - Chapter 20

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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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A Twenty-First Century Grand Duchess in the Royal Academy
Backing
Sung Hee-joo’s spring as a tenth-grader was far from easy. Her applications for extracurricular activities required for early graduation were continuously rejected, and her classmates expressed their displeasure far more openly than before. Whether it was because they resented her, the perennial top student, pursuing early graduation, or because Min Jung-woo and Han Da-young were absent, she couldn’t say.
Not that she cared to know. After all, none of the opposition she’d faced thus far had been motivated by any clear reason.
Sung Hee-joo knew exactly what to do in such circumstances: excel despite the petty, underhanded obstruction. Eat well. Laugh well. It was almost laughably easy how such simple things could render her enemies miserable.
So she made her way to Royal University. She’d heard that the reason she couldn’t join extracurricular activity groups was because of the senior students. If mere seniority could block her path, then she would simply leverage their seniors instead.
“Where is the Political Science and Diplomacy Department building?”
Having given up on reading the map, Sung Hee-joo stopped a passing student.
“The Political Science and Diplomacy Department is in the College of Social Sciences building…”
The student, glancing around uncertainly, pointed toward a solitary spire jutting upward.
“If you head straight toward that spire, you’ll find the Central Library. Turn left from there, and the first building you see is the College of Social Sciences.”
“Thank you.”
Sung Hee-joo bowed politely and gazed at the distant spire. The Unfinished Tower, as it was called, symbolized the meaning of advancing without pause. Imagining herself studying beneath that spire someday, she moved forward.
“That concludes today’s lecture.”
The moment the professor finished speaking, Min Jung-woo rose from his seat. He’d had his bag on since ten minutes before class ended.
This was the first time she’d seen him since the semester began. He was so busy that even when she sent messages, she had to wait half a day for a reply.
Min Jung-woo spotted Sung Hee-joo immediately upon leaving the building. Sitting alone on a bench in her school uniform among fashionably dressed university students, she was reading something intently.
“Sung Hee-joo!”
At his call, Sung Hee-joo looked up and rose from her seat with a smile. What had she been reading so intently? Her ever-present vocabulary notebook.
“Memorizing all day long, all day long.”
Amused by her unchanged habits, Min Jung-woo teased her, and Sung Hee-joo merely shrugged.
“This is the best time to memorize. Cramming with intention is a waste of time.”
“Did you find your way without getting lost?”
“I asked someone passing by and got here fine.”
“Want to grab something to eat first? There’s a place nearby with great pizza.”
Despite Min Jung-woo’s efforts since yesterday to scout nearby restaurants, Sung Hee-joo shook her head firmly.
“I don’t have time to eat. I need to leave right away.”
“Right away? Where?”
“School. Midterms are coming up soon. I need to study.”
“Take a break today. You came all this way.”
Min Jung-woo couldn’t hide his disappointment, his face falling.
“You told me to pursue early graduation. Don’t you know I’m finished if I fail even one exam?”
“Then why did you come?”
“Because there’s something you need to do for me.”
With a determined expression, Sung Hee-joo pulled an extracurricular activity application form from her bag. As Min Jung-woo read it with a puzzled look, he noticed the rejection stamp at the bottom and finally understood his role.
“Ah, this is that? Elevator: Part Two.”
“Something like that.”
Though she lifted her chin with brazen confidence, her eyes betrayed her nervousness, and Min Jung-woo couldn’t help but laugh.
“Which program do you want most?”
“The one at the very front. I’ve organized them in order.”
The way she answered so quickly was inexplicably adorable.
Jung-woo chuckled and pulled out his phone. The Royal Academy actively encouraged extracurricular activities starting from tenth grade, the equivalent of high school, and since group activities required good academic standing, there was no reason to reject a student with excellent grades.
It would just be another pointless rejection anyway.
Jung-woo clicked his tongue and spent barely a minute resolving the absurd situation. A single phone call and a few words were all it took—
“Someone will contact you tomorrow.”
The matter was settled.
“It gets resolved that quickly?”
Hee-joo felt both relieved and deflated, her lips pouting. She was grateful for Jung-woo’s ability to solve anything, and his dependability was reassuring, yet it frustrated her that she couldn’t resolve something this simple on her own.
“You’re so lucky. Being Min Jung-woo.”
“You don’t want to eat with Min Jung-woo?”
“Ugh, you’ve gotten so sentimental since going to university.”
Hee-joo snatched the application form from Jung-woo’s hands and turned away without hesitation. Though her coldness stung a little, Jung-woo felt oddly proud. He loved that someone with such strong pride would turn to him when she needed help. He hoped she would continue to do so in the future, whenever things became difficult.
Wan’s eyes were shadowed with exhaustion as he left his Aesthetics lecture. There was too much to think about to sleep.
‘You need to become my support.’
He understood what his brother’s words meant. If the Crown Prince were deposed, the Royal Family would need a replacement, and he was the only one capable of fulfilling that role. It was a fact that Mother could not deny, no matter how much she disapproved of him.
The problem was that he himself didn’t want it. As a child, he’d spoken of wanting to become king, but now he felt indifferent. Besides, the reason he’d wanted to be king in the first place was because there were so many things he was forbidden to do.
After growing older and wiser, he’d begun to think something entirely different. What reason was there for the Royal Family to exist when all it could do was simply exist?
He knew such thoughts were presumptuous and had never voiced them aloud. He simply found himself lost in contemplation whenever the situation around him felt suffocating—only occasionally, and in solitude. Imagining the impossible provided a kind of catharsis.
Thinking today was one of those days, he lifted his head—
“What?”
Wan’s brow furrowed.
“What is she doing here?”
Beneath the distant spire, bathed in sunlight, stood Sung Hee-joo. That girl with the blazing red spirit who made the impossible possible.
The moment he tried to call her name, Sung Hee-joo turned and walked away. Without thinking, Wan lengthened his stride, watching her retreating figure with aching desperation.
He could barely suppress the urge to run, but then Sung Hee-joo began to sprint.
“Why is she running again?”
Wan’s anxiety intensified, held back by propriety. He didn’t want to catch her for any particular reason. There was no time for a quiet conversation, and Sung Hee-joo wouldn’t welcome his approach anyway. Yet he simply wanted to catch her.
Because whenever he saw those burning eyes of hers, all his worries seemed to turn to ash.
The problem was Sung Hee-joo’s athleticism. Whether she excelled in physical education as well, her running speed was extraordinary.
“….”
Wan concluded he couldn’t catch her and stopped in his tracks, unable to tear his gaze from her receding figure.
Hee-joo, running at full speed, didn’t catch her breath until she reached the school’s main gate. She couldn’t understand why she’d started running. It was just….
“What?”
She’d seen Prince An. His presence was unmistakable, even from a distance.
Their eyes hadn’t met. He hadn’t waved his hand or called her name or acknowledged her in any way. Her legs had simply moved of their own accord.
‘Who will Prince An marry?’
Suddenly, a conversation she’d overheard in the classroom this morning came to mind. With the Crown Prince’s wedding to Yoon Irang approaching, people were equally curious about Prince An’s future bride.
‘His standards must be high.’
‘Why?’
‘The Crown Prince is marrying Irang, isn’t he? Being his younger brother, he probably has similar tastes.’
‘Should I take a shot at that position?’
‘What crime has Prince An committed?’
Sung Hee-joo couldn’t fathom why that tedious conversation kept surfacing in her mind now of all times.
“I suppose he’ll end up with an equally disagreeable woman, then.”
It was a consistent assessment.

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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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