The Tale of the Ice Princess

Part 2 - Chapter 8

P2C8

I woke up before the sun reared its head over the horizon, feeling tired but unable to fall asleep again. I dragged myself out of bed, deciding to at least start preparing for the day. Lavina had yet to wake, so I decided to prepare myself for the day.

I washed up and changed into a simple for the day, performing my morning ritual. To top my appearance off, I added all the necessary accessories and concealed weapons.

Ready.

I already dreaded classes though I had yet to attend one. The unnecessary attention also contributed to this dread. Once I left my room, I could feel the stares descending upon me, some envious, some curious and some spiteful. It was unnerving, to say the least.

I briskly walked to the homeroom of Class 1, having already taken the necessary sustenance to maintain life.

The classroom was what one would expect fit for nobility. There were fancy and stylish war trimmings adorned with gold, with numerous well-made curved mahogany desks fanning out from the speaker's area, with two aisles for people to walk to the rows further from the front. The benches where students sat had some form of cushion, though I wouldn't know how it felt as those were only in the first few rows, where high and mid-ranking nobility sat.

I took a seat on the unforgiving wooden bench at the back of the Class, furthest from the entrance, as per my status. I took out a sheet of parchment and started doing a rough sketch of a new spell that was in its early stages of development. I wanted it to be able to be used by all with a mana stone, with the circle being engraved on a stone itself. I started on the rough sketch of the stone, adding the key elements and sub-spells for the intended effect.

Before I knew it, many more students appeared in the once sparse classroom. I could finally start feeling the familiar glances of others, but for the reason for that glance, I could not bother even trying to figure it out and left it at that.

After the first bell had rung, the homeroom teacher came in, he looked quite youthful as if his beauty was frozen in time, with delicate flaming red hair cut into a militaristic style. Despite his beautiful looks, I could tell that he was to be feared; the muscles, stature and calluses contradicted his soft appearance.

I recognised his face too, he was the current head of the Royal Knights, Leon Ehre

No surprise. They would only send the best to overlook the education of the true sovereign

There was no reason to be on guard as of yet, House Ehre was a neutral house that was not bound to either faction in court and the House was loyal to only the crown. They served the crown, offering their skills to the crown in exchange for peace. The House had a large influence, despite it being a neutral House, due to the fact that it has produced skilled swordsmen generation after generation, each with their own notable achievements.

As soon as he started introducing himself, I started to zone off, focusing more on my magic circle than on his voice. But I did pick up that he was the teacher in charge of swordsmanship, a course I was taking. I took some notes and continued to zone off, my head feeling a bit out of sorts.

After his lengthy introduction, he started going through the overview of the year. I opened my ears for that part, jotting any useful points down.

Let's see, exams are in the fall, and winter is when we get a break to visit family....... And the Middle of Summer is a school break. The Summer Solstice Gala and the Winter Solstice one in the castle...... nothing of importance.

I started to doze off after the important parts were all said, feeling lethargic from the continuous lack of mana. I had to forcefully reduce my mana levels to the more socially acceptable level of mid-ranking nobility in case any students or professors started to check mana capacity on the first day. However, since my mana capacity was so tremendous, reducing it to mid-ranking nobility's mana levels was akin to barely life-sustaining levels of mana to me. It was like having a loss of blood, except, this was intentional. It was a necessary sacrifice.