## Chapter 382 – Unconscious Intent (2)
“Nothing special.”
Saint Flansina Academy.
Each family hides their own vision, so unlike Chao Xing’s Shangri-La Imperial Medical Institute, which has virtually become a job center where commoners receive advanced education to be recruited and employed by prestigious families.
Hye-ryung, who entered the academy, a place for advanced, specialized education for actual nobles, was among the new students looking around with excited expressions, as if everything was fascinating.
Truly, a group of nobodies who couldn’t even present a business card anywhere.
That was Hye-ryung’s initial assessment of Saint Flansina Academy and its students.
“This is the better of the two.”
It spoke volumes that she found attending a swordsmanship department class during other department observation periods more interesting.
The swordsmanship department allowed her to see the skills of upperclassmen directly and confirm their level with her own eyes.
Now, taking classes in the medical department, where they were learning the structure of the human body, and the pharmacy department, which had started on pharmaceutical theory, was, for her, so trivial that she was confident she could get a perfect score on the evaluations without attending a single class all year.
‘What more am I supposed to learn in a place like this?’
In the end, her eyes led to conviction, and that conviction was enough to lead to arrogance, but the arrogance was based on something.
Looking at the evidence shown by her grades, the pharmacy students only speculated that it was because of her family’s pre-learning, but in any case, no student openly showed their claws towards her.
Eventually, Hye-ryung, filled with pride in her family and looking down on others, was gradually becoming isolated within the department.
Geniuses create as many enemies as villains chased by heroes desperate to catch them.
Hye-ryung, who could be called the epitome of arrogance, was even more so.
Only those who gave up even bullying and simply ignored Hye-ryung as if she didn’t exist increased.
What would happen to her, who relieved her boredom by boasting about her family, a girl who, to put it badly, was showing off her connections, or to put it less badly, was an attention seeker?
When she, who had been raised being pampered and revered, realized that there was no one to look at her.
At that time, she was feeling loneliness for the first time.
“Did you see what she was wearing today?”
“I thought she had a rag attached to her sleeve or something?
So frilly… hahaha!!”
A group of girls chattering and leaving the bathroom together, gossiping about someone.
Hye-ryung, who came out of the stall shortly after, was washing her hands at the sink where they had been standing, pondering something deeply.
“Shall we take care of them?”
“Leave them be. The Tang family’s level isn’t so low that we have to lay hands on such vulgar things ourselves.”
One of the assassins who had followed her from the main family to the academy and was serving her asked, clinging to the bathroom ceiling, but Hye-ryung dismissed it with a neat word, drawing a line.
“More than that, what do you think you’re doing, following me into a place like this?
This is a women’s bathroom……”
“I’ll leave immediately.”
“Ha.”
It could be seen as the余裕 that only the strong can show, or as compassion towards the weak, but even she herself wasn’t entirely pleased with it.
More outstanding than anyone else, more excellent than anyone else, but the envy and jealousy of others who treated her as if she didn’t exist.
She dismissed it as the last resort of those who didn’t have it and engaged in mental victories, but one day she heard some news.
A small mansion in the royal capital that seemed too large for one person to live in.
In front of Hye-ryung, who was sitting on the bedside combing her hair, as if she had just woken up, a masked man knelt on one knee and respectfully delivered the information he had gathered.
“A special evaluation will be conducted, Senior Sister.
Our informants are gathering related information.
It seems that you will be in a group of 4 with students from other departments.”
Hye-ryung’s eyes became sullen, as if she was annoyed, after hearing about the contents of this evaluation, which was literally a group project.
“Group project. I’ll carry it anyway.”
“Car… Where did you learn such a word?”
“It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it.”
“Serving the Great Disciple is our role… Ugh!!”
In the end, Hye-ryung, annoyed and not needing to hear more, threw a hairpin needle into the masked man’s forehead.
Although his life wasn’t in danger, the masked man, who had been hit in the pressure point properly, collapsed to the floor as he was.
“You must listen, Senior Sister.
Information is also the ability of those who will seize power.
Marie de Monaghan, a second-year student in the Magical Engineering Department.
And Anne de Monaghan, a first-year student in the Swordsmanship Department, are said to be sisters.
In a critical situation, they may betray their group members for the sake of their family.
And……”
Hye-ryung, who was listening to another masked man who appeared in the same posture, slowly took off her pajamas, as if she was finally waking up.
Her alluring and healthy-looking beautiful nude body was revealed, but for a disciple of the Tang family, it was merely the gracious body of the master they served.
The masked man conveyed the information without a single flaw, bowed his head, and disappeared from the mansion.
‘They’re just half-wits anyway.
Why should I care about such things?’
Even if she said this, she had already heard the information she really needed to hear.
“A man-spider. A little poison should be enough.”
The opponent was an Arachnella.
A chimera that is still only found in Chao Xing, and is also an inefficient result of the Tang family’s human experimentation, now feral.
Even if it was a creature with poison and called a monster, living things have weaknesses, and she had learned all of them.
Hye-ryung had actually hunted similar creatures as training, so she wasn’t particularly nervous.
She had only gone out to see the faces of the new group members a few days later to relieve her boredom.
However, perhaps her change was foreshadowed from that day.
“Lucia di Borgiada, a fourth-year student in the Swordsmanship Department.”
“I’m Marie de Monaghan, a second-year student in the Magical Engineering Department.
This is my younger sister, Anne, who is studying in the Swordsmanship Department.
Please take care of us during this special evaluation.”
“Antonio von Sterben, a fourth-year student in the Smithing Department.
Let’s do our best together.”
The only male among the four group members.
Hye-ryung, who initially assessed the man as merely tall and handsome, waited for the date without much thought throughout the preparation for the special evaluation.
‘I’d rather do personal training during that time.’
She was going to trust herself rather than trust the skills of others.
Hye-ryung, who was training her mind and body through her usual studies and cultivation, would never fail, which she herself firmly believed without a doubt.
Until that incident happened, she had never imagined that her world would collapse like that.
“Dodge it!”
‘What is this……’
Unlike the information she had received, she encountered it not at the final gate, but at the previous gate.
An Arachnella attacking her more viciously than she had thought.
In the monster’s struggle, as if it would kill Hye-ryung even if it died, she had no choice but to admit that she had been careless.
Despite scattering deadly poisons and chemicals, the Arachnella expressed its extreme hatred for the daughter of Chao Xing’s prestigious Tang family with concentrated attacks.
Hye-ryung, who had been avoiding the attacks with ease, maintaining her upright posture as much as her arrogance, faced the spiderwebs flying in a deadly trajectory that seemed to shatter her entire body and delayed her reaction.
Failure was her responsibility.
Just like her older sister and brother, even if the result was death, she had no reason to be upset or blame anyone, it was purely her lack of ability.
In a situation where her flesh would be torn and her bones would be shattered as soon as she was caught in the white, sticky spiderwebs, there was someone who blocked her path, even though she was secretly hoping to be saved in her heart.
“Regulus!!”
The silver falcon expanded its body and created armor in the form of a human torso.
Antonio, the man who had intervened in front of Hye-ryung using the armor as a shield, was blocking the spiderwebs with his body.
Watching the silver knight dramatically saving her in slow motion, Hye-ryung, whose legs gave way and she collapsed without realizing it, was looking up at him and moving her lips.
“Lady Hye-ryung, are you alright?”
“…… I’m fine.”
If she had known at once what this feeling that was starting to rage in her heart was, she wouldn’t have been in such a hopeless situation.
Hye-ryung, who shook off Antonio’s hand reaching out to her, was inevitably passive in the subsequent battles due to the shock of her first defeat.
In the end, unlike her wishful thinking that she would easily defeat the Arachnella, it was Antonio’s younger sister, Carla, who played that role at the final gate.
“Eiiitt……!!”
“Carla!! That’s!!”
Unlike herself, who didn’t know how to fight and didn’t even seem to have confidence in what she was doing, the girl was a mess, covered in dirt as if she had been properly attacked by the Arachnella.
The storm of flames created by the materials in her hand being thrown and mixed together.
Until the Arachnella was swallowed by it, all Hye-ryung could do was to steel her heart once more and thoroughly defend against the incoming attacks.
After the evaluation was over.
Unlike the group members who had worked hard in their respective roles.
“Ha…”
Hye-ryung, who was looking up at the large parchment with her evaluation ranking written on it, didn’t change her expression even after seeing her name in sixth place.
Nevertheless, she let out a low sigh that revealed her inner feelings.
At the very end, with Carla’s name, who had caught the Arachnella, at the top, followed by the names of the other group members.
While Carla’s group was behind in the group score because the Arachnella had a high score.
Even among them, in front of the evaluation that her role was the most lacking, her collapsed world was clearly revealing its identity.
Even Anne, a classmate who was only protecting her older sister, had earned points based on the fact that she had thoroughly fulfilled her role despite her lack of skill.
It was clear that she, who had collapsed due to carelessness, had no room for excuses.
Before leaving the Tang family, the Jangmunin’s appearance and gaze as he looked down on her.
And as the identity of everything he had instructed her to do became clear.
‘So… learning is…
I guess this is what he meant?’
“I never imagined I’d learn in this way…
Yeah.”
For the first time in her life.
After returning to her residence, Hye-ryung threw herself on the bed, buried her face, and spent the night crying like a child, shedding tears of resentment.
The next day.
“Senior Sister. You must reduce the swelling with cold water…”
“Shut up. This kind of thing goes down even if you just apply saliva.”
As she entered the academy, she began to look around her, unlike before.
Realizing that there was something to learn even from the weak, Hye-ryung’s eyes began to catch sight of something.
Surprisingly, even the half-wits she had ignored had quite excellent qualities in their respective fields.
Although it often seemed insignificant and there were many things that seemed unrelated to her, there were times when she wondered if she could imitate them.
As those with their own abilities were shown everywhere, Hye-ryung hadn’t completely abandoned her arrogant appearance, but she was changing to the point where she could at least acknowledge them.
And…
“Lady Hye-ryung, are you feeling better?”
“It was just… a scratch.
How long ago was that… Ah……”
He had only seen her in one evaluation, but the man was approaching her kindly.
Even though the mechanical bird on his shoulder was chirping and flapping as if it was jealous of her.
Antonio, who had come to her and was taking out a clean handkerchief to gently dab the scratch she had suffered during the special evaluation, was causing Hye-ryung’s cheeks to be dyed with a rosy warmth.
Was it because she remembered the image of his body, like a shield, blocking the Arachnella’s attacks?
“I… I’ll get better soon without doing that…”
“I might be able to say that your recovery speed is very fast.
I was worried that it might leave a scar, but I’m glad it didn’t.”
“The Tang family… doesn’t raise things like that…”
In fact, among the Tang family’s genetic modifiers, there were also transformations that accelerated metabolism and increased recovery.
Even if it was a wound that would take others more than a week to heal, it would only take Hye-ryung at most three days.
Antonio, who was looking at the wound healing after only a few days with warm eyes, gently placed his hand on Hye-ryung’s head and then took it off, giving her a gentle smile.
“Your family is your family, but I think Lady Hye-ryung is also wonderful.
Just looking at you, your stubborn appearance reminds me of Carla.
I was just saying it, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
His touch, which momentarily covered her head and conveyed a warmth so hot that she felt dizzy.
Hye-ryung, who had a dazed expression for a moment, didn’t stay that way for long.
“Are you teasing me now?”
“Even if I tease you, I don’t think you’re someone who can be teased.”
As if he wasn’t a siscon, Antonio was comparing even this appearance of hers to his younger sister, and Hye-ryung was turning away with a slightly protruding pout without realizing it.
“Apologize… to me……”
“You seem very angry.
What should I apologize with… hmm…
Ah, I think I had something.
How about tomorrow?”
“Time…? Why time…?”
“If you don’t have any plans, let’s meet at the Chartres family around lunchtime tomorrow.”
“The Chartres family? I don’t really care, but why there…”
“It’s decided then. I’ll be going now.”
Antonio left with only a meaningless promise and left somewhere.
Hye-ryung was showing a bewildered expression at that.
Without even realizing that she was tossing and turning in her sleep at the mansion, her face as she stood on the street, the place of the appointment the next day.
She was filled with embarrassment at herself, who had arrived at the meeting place early and was somehow unable to settle down.
