“How terrible. You appear quite irate today.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be irritated, Sir Alfred? You are quite late. So disappointingly late! Please refer to the wall clock behind you.”

  “Oh…”

  Alexa impatiently tapped her feet on the floor. The ingenious nineteen-year-old knight in front of her, Alfred von Gottfried, on the other hand, gracefully turned to the clock and nodded. Then, he kneeled in front of Alexa while lowering his head.

  “Then you are permitted to strike me with ten lashes as punishment for my inadequacy, Your Highness.”

  Ew. He’s like…what was that called? Oh, yuck—a masochist!

  Alexa looked away, pinching her nose.

  “Ugh, would you please stop this? I require your assistance. Theatrics isn’t what I called you here for.”

  “Assist you in what?”

  Alexa looked back before she felt a surge of awkwardness, and then bam! She was frozen. How embarrassing, to ask him to train her? Wouldn’t that be quite scandalous?

  “Err…I need…” Alexa gulped. “C-can you help me with my magic?”

  “To speak straight is a virtue needed by all monarchs, Your Highness.”

  “Your head just might fall off if you push me any further, Sir Alfred.”

  “Then I shall aid you. Unfortunately, did you forget your ailment which greatly reduces your ability to form your magic circle? The last time you attempted to form it, your heart was almost crushed by your first magic circle.”

  Wait? He just…accepted? But I haven’t apologized yet.

  Alexa crossed her arms, looking away and huffing.

  “Of course not. But that’s why I called you here. Your expertise shall aid in preventing it. I wish to properly use magic at once!”

  “I see then. So you’ve finally realized what needs to be done before you are crowned,” Alfred suddenly stood up.

  Now that Alexa noticed it, he was a head taller than her. Of course, as a powerful knight at such a young age, he had quite a well-built figure, yet quite so dashing.

  With his red hair and blue eyes, he certainly was one of the most popular and handsome knights in the Royal Guard out there. To have him as her knight was certainly a high privilege.

  Unfortunately…

  Gah! The way he looks down on me is like…sooo annoying. I want to bash his head open.

  Alexa certainly was unimpressed by his looks. His unjust treatment of her was also quite offensive. She simply was above this cretin, so how dare he look down on her?

  “Why were you gone for so long? I penned you a letter and you took three days to come here,” she narrowed her eyes. “As a result, for days, I had nothing to do.”

  “Apologies. I had…family business. My…‘twin brother’ arrived last week from the Northern Front to the Imperial Capital. Considering he still dares to bear the Von Eisen family name, he made quite a ruckus upon his arrival in the court.”

  Oh…that guy.

  She almost forgot.

  Alfred here had a twin brother—Wilhelm von Eisen. Both were from what once was the second most powerful clan of the Empire, the House of Eisen. Wilhelm, in particular, was back then the designated heir as Archduke of Eisen.

  Unfortunately, the Archduchy became a part of the Northern Front against the Demon Horde two decades ago as the Defense Forces retreated southwards. Before mankind’s defenses collapsed in Eisen, the Archduke attempted to coup Alexa’s father to take control of the Empire and reinforce the north.

  The bloody affair failed after weeks of fighting with a resounding defeat for the coup plotters.

  The Northern Front’s defenses in the Archduchy thereby collapsed, until it was swallowed by the Demon Horde, while the Eisen family was stripped of their titles and wealth. The name ‘Von Eisen’ became reviled, and all but one person now bore it as its members died, changed their names, or were married off.

  That last person was Wilhelm, an infamous young military officer on the Northern Front. His unit, the “Fuchs Brigade” was known to have killed thousands of demons alone while losing very few casualties under his leadership.

  Because of that, he earned a moniker: the Laughing Fox, the man who merely laughs as those under his command slay demons.

  Unlike Alfred, he was said to be a bloodthirsty demon hunter. A psychotic commander who only knew and advocated for war. And since he was never adopted by any noble family to save his social standing, he was a commoner.

  A special one, of course, but a commoner nonetheless.

  He died in the first arc of the Iron Saintess novel, during a grave incident while he temporarily stayed as a military instructor in the Grand Academy. He seemed to have played an unknown role in aiding the saintess, but the novel never went into detail, as he was a disposable character.

  Still, Alexa’s interest was triggered.

  “Hmm…why is he here then?” Alexa curiously asked.

  “Your Highness, it is of no importance—”

  “I asked a question. Therefore, I demand an answer. At once.”

  The knight sighed, before answering reluctantly.

  “Major Wilhelm von Eisen arrived in the Imperial Capital after being forcefully recruited by the Combat Tactics Department in the Grand Academy. It seems that there’s a lot of interest about how to combat demons, and he, a rising star in the Northern Front, who had just finished two of his deployment tours, has been snatched by the Headmaster.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The knight however shrugged and gave an amused laugh.

  “But, it is quite pointless. That one-eyed freak, despite his rank and battle records, still seems pitifully weak by himself. As expected for a lowly soldier. That’s all he will be—useless. Which is why I said there’s no reason for you to think about someone like him. I shall instruct you and turn you into a fine mage worthy of the Sun Dragon myself.”

  “...Is that so?” Alexa smiled. “My, so there’s no need to think about that then. Forgive me, I simply wanted to hear what amusing tales you two pitiful brothers have.”

  The knight laughed.

  “How cruel. To seek amusement from others’ misfortune…that is not the way to live, Princess.”

  “S-shut up. Anyhow, please…would you help me practice now?”

  “At once, Your Highness,” the knight bowed, before following her out of her room into the palace hallways.

  On the other hand, Alexa was thinking deeply to herself.

  So it seems. The academy arc will be where the first battlefield for the crown will happen. And it’ll be the place where I can find people to help me strengthen myself. I have to see what each one of them can offer me.

  She curled her fist.

  I have to be ready when I come back there once winter vacation ends.

  +++

  It had been a month of grueling days in the palace for Alexa. She discovered that in fact, moving and grinding was too much of a slog. She also discovered how truly powerful her skill of procrastination was, and she was somewhat disturbed by it.

  Regardless, she still resigned herself to trying to cast her magic—and failing, alongside reading and reading about how to do it. At the very least, she was heavily aided by Alfred, and the vast libraries of the palace also gave her a lot of magic theory to chew through, but her progress in concrete terms was very little.

  It was already January 1841. Winter vacation was soon going to be over, and she was going to return to the Grand Academy.

  Even then…

  “I can’t believe it! Sir Alfred, why can’t I still cast a single spell?” a tearful Alexa whined in the courtyard, her wand aimed at a target dummy. “This is quite humiliating. Tell me, is this my fault?”

  “I’m afraid not, Your Highness. While your diligence is…” he coughed. “Less than desirable, I doubt pushing yourself further would have helped. Quite frankly, as you well know, even Imperial healers struggled to fix your condition. It just so happens, unfortunately, that some people simply have no tolerance to form a magic circle—”

  “There has to be a fix for it,” Alexa demanded. “...Do you have any idea? Please.”

  I know I’m being very demanding right now, but like I really, really need it.

  Her knight’s endless patience certainly was something Alexa appreciated. Though, she’d probably need to fix her attitude soon.

  But that was for later! For now, focus was magic!

  “Quite frankly…the herbs and the way to refine them into a usable elixir that could aid you in forming a magic circle are a difficult thing to acquire.”

  She had had enough. She had already read about this back then, so she crossed her arms and stared into his eyes.

  “House Eisen had it, right?” Alexa asked, her tone demanding. “You still are a former member of that fallen house.”

  “...That’s where the problem lies. The three magical herbs to create the aiding elixir are only found in territory occupied by the Demon Horde. The recipes to create it are also stocked in the library of our estate. When the defense lines collapsed back then, there simply was no time for the Defense Forces to fully evacuate everything, so I’m afraid that functionally, that solution is lost for now. We’ll try to find another way.”

  “How troublesome…” Alexa frowned, looking to her side. “Why is it the only way? There must be methods to help me become a mage.”

  “Well…there is the option of experimental surgery offered by House Frankfurt—”

  “Nope, nope, nope!” She shook her head. “I greatly dislike the part where they could botch it and I die.”

  “They only botch it half the time—”

  “Gambling is an awful vice, Sir Alfred,” Alexa shook her head. “Nope. And are you trying to get me killed? How vile.”

  “Apologies. It was merely a jest. Please forgive me for my humor’s declining quality.”

  She sighed. The lack of treatment for this was simply unpleasant. It was one of the reasons why Alexa Theresa became gravely jealous of the saintess. The saintess shone brighter with her abilities than the Empress, because the Empress, by this world’s standards—was a cripple.

  And no one could help her.

  To be fair, this illness of hers…was quite rare. It was probably a congenital heart disease of some sort, and considering the demands that magic placed on one’s body, she was one of the few unlucky folks in this world unable to overcome the main hurdles of forming her magic circles.

  Even the option of physically strengthening herself was quite tricky. Again, it could work…or she’d just die of cardiac arrest once she tried attempting to form her first magic circle—because how would she even harden her damned heart?

  Hey, system, come out.

  What’s the risk again right now if I attempt a formation ritual?

  Shut up!

  Alexa mentally closed that annoying screen. Wasn’t it supposed to help her live? Then why was it practically goading her into effective suicide?

  Even my knight is doing the same. Gah, it’s so annoying.

  “...I suppose…there simply are not a lot of helpful things here,” Alexa said, facepalming. She tried to point her wand again at the target dummy, doing her best to visualize a simple water projectile spell she had studied earlier.

  While she had no magic circle, her ‘gate’, a metaphysical organ of hers that drew mana from magic circles to cast a spell, could technically draw it from her limited life force. Sure, overdoing it could kill her, as unlike magic circles, which were essentially mana from the environment absorbed and refined around her heart so that she could cast and use it to her pleasure, her life force was the very essence of her soul.

  Still, she wanted to cast at least her first spell! That was all that mattered, at least she’d make progress with that silly quest for a bit. But when she tried it again, she just felt cold, trembling, shivering, before collapsing to her knees with nothing to show for herself.

  “...This terrifies me. What if…what if I indeed am magicless?”

  “Your Highness, while this is quite unfortunate, there will be a solution eventually. You simply will have to accept that you’ll be a late bloomer in terms of practicing magic.”

  “That presents great trouble in gaining the Holy Mandate, Sir Alfred.”

  The knight grinned.

  “Why so fearful? The lack of a Holy Mandate does not necessarily mean you are not heir to the throne. You still are. You simply have to gain it eventually, so that the Empire will accept you wholeheartedly. It is but an ordeal to overcome.”

  He’s right.

  She looked back at her knight. There he was, again, staring at her coldly even after saying all that. No, it wasn’t cold. He was smiling confidently. It was his eyes that were dead as he stared at her.

  So he doesn’t believe in me either. He’s just buttering me up. What a jerk.

  Alexa stood up, her knees still a bit shaky. She resigned herself to gaining more answers and perhaps help instead at the Academy. After all, her allies were over there. Dozens of noble girls and boys gushed and followed the next Empress as if their lives depended on it.

  She grinned.

  Someone over there should be hiding something that I need. I just need to take it from those peasants.

  “Sir Alfred, we shall prepare to depart for the Grand Academy on Friday,” she declared.

  “But, Your Highness, school will only resume next Monday. And even then, it wouldn’t be in full swing until next Friday. Why the great rush? Wouldn’t you prefer to make the most out of your vacation?”

  Ugh, what? As if I’ll be a lazy slob forever, I’m not so slothful as to do that. I’ve been doing that for a month already.

  “Please, I simply wish for a head start over my peers, that’s all. Now, since that’s two days away, you shall recall my lady-in-waiting, and you two will make ready for our departure.”

  Albert, behind her, with slight hesitation, bowed.

  “I see. I shall be on it then, princess.”