Chapter 30 Translator: XZY Chapter 30: Elente (5) ***
As Elente crossed the corridor and left, everyone she encountered offered her words of comfort and encouragement.
It was Lady Aiseline who had received everyone's attention by manifesting 2-Star magic, but Elente, in her own way, had shown her outstanding magic skills without holding back.
The noble family members who thought her struggle had its own value threw words of praise, saying it was truly impressive, with gentle smiles.
They too had only stopped by Lady Elente for a moment before going to speak to Aiseline.
Elente was not unaware of that fact, but she treated them with dignity, a gentle smile filling her face.
"My magical achievements are still very lacking. I must try harder to be able to beat Lady Aiseline next time."
"Even at your current level, there are not many in this Ebelstein social circle who can match you, Lady Elente. If Lord Belmeade had seen it, he would have been truly pleased."
"Thank you. Your words are a great encouragement!"
Elente sincerely accepted the comfort of the nobles whose names she couldn't even remember, and then turned into the corridor.
The servants following her had worried faces, but surprisingly, Elente wore a relieved expression.
To the nobles crossing the corridor, her appearance as she walked down it looked majestic. For the loser of a duel she had prepared for so tenaciously, her smile seemed truly steadfast.
It was around the time when Lady Elente, having roughly finished the pleasantries, approached the vicinity of the guest corridor where there were no people.
Before turning into the corridor, Derek, who was sitting on a wooden chair set along the wall, stood up from his seat and gave a bow.
Lady Elente, upon seeing that Derek, spoke with a face full of delight.
"Did you see the duel?"
"Yes."
"Surprised? I am a person who knows how to admit defeat when I have to."
"..."
Elente puffed out her chest and spoke with a satisfied face.
"It was probably hard to see from far away, right? You should have seen Lady Aiseline's expression."
"How was it?"
"How was it... hehe... her eyes were wide open. You're forfeiting here? She was looking at me as if asking that several times. To think that Lady Aiseline, who was always so composed, would show such a dumbfounded look. It was truly a sight to behold. This is much more gratifying than grinding my teeth and talking about winning or whatever!"
Elente explained in a rapid-fire manner with a voice full of excitement.
Derek glanced at the expressions of the servants lined up behind her.
Those servants, who worried about their master day and night, were making eye contact with Derek with awkward faces.
When he turned his gaze back to Elente's face, she was still smiling with satisfaction and her chest puffed out.
"Besides, I even managed to corner Lady Aiseline in the middle, didn't I? Everything you thought of turned out to be right. You really are an expert in this field, aren't you?"
"You praise me too much."
"Thank you, thanks to you I was able to feel this sense of superiority over Aiseline... today was truly the best day!"
Lady Elente, who was laughing with a raised voice, dusted off Derek's collar and continued to speak in a tone that did not hide her satisfaction.
"Yes, Derek. I have to admit your ability. I'll have to pay you more than the promised gold coins."
"..."
"So, how was the duel? The ending wasn't that great... but still, my magic skills weren't too bad, right? As you know well by now, Derek, I'm a very fast learner. Still, it would feel most real if you, who played the role of master, judged it, right? Well, if you're going to find some useless fault and talk about areas for improvement, let's go back to the mansion first and..."
"You were flawless and excellent."
At those words, Elente's pupils trembled for a moment.
When she lifted her head and looked at Derek's face, it was an expressionless face as always, but there was a strangely warm feeling in it.
He was a person who was stingy with praise. He was a person who did not easily offer empty words even when dealing with nobles.
After receiving such a straightforward compliment, Elente was somehow at a loss for words.
The reason why Derek, who did not easily utter even a ceremonial compliment, was taking Elente's side like this was obvious. He was being considerate of her.
That meant that this boy had already seen through Elente, who was pretending to be strong.
"You have worked hard."
Elente was about to answer, but instead, she hung her head low and plopped down on a seat on the corridor wall.
Without even caring about her dress getting disheveled, Elente wiped her face a few times.
At some point, the girl's back began to tremble slightly.
"I actually wanted to win."
"..."
"But, the moment I cornered Aiseline, I somehow knew. That even if I beat Aiseline here, I would never stop being jealous of her. Just... I would just continue to be like that... the thought that I'm just that kind of person."
To Elente's eyes, even Aiseline, who was cornered and on the verge of collapsing, had looked like a sublime, single flower.
Even if she won a practice duel by relying on a stroke of luck, her jealousy towards her would not disappear. Nor would her pathetic self change. It was because the girl named Aiseline was a great wall in her very existence.
"I might be superior to Lady Aiseline in terms of inferiority complex, at least."
Elente chuckled, and with her head bowed, she finally said nothing more. It was because she felt that if she spoke more, her voice would only tremble.
As Elente wiped her face and trembled, Derek quietly lowered his gaze and then finally sat down next to her.
And after contemplating what to say, he finally spoke without making a fuss, just indifferently.
"How would I be any different?"
"..."
Trying to persuade her that she was not wrong by telling a long story would only make the words verbose.
Knowing that well, Derek just sat next to her, staring blankly into the air.
Therefore, Elente had a moment to think.
What would this mage from the dark slums have thought while looking at the expensive magic books that filled the shelves of the noble family, or the noble estate full of dazzling luxury items?
It was not difficult to deduce without thinking for long. It was just a difference of whether one showed it or not, and whether one had accepted it or not. Becoming an adult must be something like that.
Elente looked at Derek with wide, moist eyes, but Derek spoke as if it were nothing new now.
"So what if you're a little pathetic?"
"..."
"Everyone just lives like that."
Right, wrong. Good, bad. What would change by making such value judgments?
It was just like that. It was just that obvious.
Derek said so, and just sat quietly next to Elente.
Comforting a person was not actually such a grand affair.
In the end, what was needed was not a clear answer.
The end of a deserted corridor.
The servants, worried that someone might pass by, gathered like a wall and shielded their master.
Even if she sat there sobbing for a long time, no one passing by from a distance could see her.
<><><>
'Wow…she really did corner her.'
Lady Denise of the Beltus family, who was lounging in the spectator seats, sipping the tea her servants had poured, was inwardly surprised.
Everyone's attention was focused on Lady Aiseline, who was the star of this duel, but at least, the place where Lady Denise's gaze was directed was a little different.
Although she was watching the duel with an indifferent face, she had been inwardly certain that Lady Elente would not even be able to hold a candle to Lady Aiseline.
Lady Denise was one of the trio of the Rosea Salon. Therefore, she was quite close to the two of them.
She was also the person who knew their magical capabilities most accurately. Although Lady Elente's magical achievements were truly amazing, she was by no means a person who could exchange blows on equal terms with Aiseline.
Her gaze was directed towards a white-haired boy who was leaving the dueling ground following Elente.
It was obvious that the magic master that Elente had brought had influenced her in some way. Other than that, there was no other factor that could have made Elente grow to the point of being able to exchange blows with Aiseline in such a short period of time.
She, who was twisting the end of her silver-gray hair, was lost in thought for a moment.
It was a situation where she should get up quickly and go over to Aiseline to offer her pleasantries, but Aiseline's surroundings were so full of people that she would not mind much if she was a little late.
'That mercenary's price is going to go up a lot. Ugh... I hate troublesome things...'
Lady Denise deliberately put on an elegant smile to prevent her listless psychology from showing on her face.
But inwardly, she wanted to let out a deep sigh and lounge on her seat right away. It was because the future seemed as clear as day.
How precious was the existence of a competent magic master in this Ebelstein social circle?
Of course, the fact that he was of a lowly origin would block his path, but considering his ability, he seemed to be a person who would break through even that prejudice and rise up before long. If so, Lady Denise's father, the Grand Duke of Beltus, would not leave him alone.
Unlike the Grand Duke of Duplein, who had a strong tendency to value substance, or the generous Margrave of Belmeade, the Grand Duke of Beltus was a progressive person who tried to grasp everything he needed in any field.
If there was a magic teacher who was starting to make a name for himself in this Ebelstein social circle, the Grand Duke of Beltus would try to get him in his hands by any means necessary.
And usually, the person who was dragged around by the Grand Duke of Beltus's ambition and suffered was Lady Denise. It was because she was at the forefront of this Ebelstein social circle with the name of the Ducal House of Beltus.
And unfortunately, she considered this situation to be an ordeal.
'Ughm—if the three families start a rivalry to get that kid, my head will only hurt more...'
Lady Denise was a petty and lazy person.
Although she was born into the enormous family of the Ducal House of Beltus and acted like a rose in a chamber, when she returned to her mansion, she would lie down all day and do nothing.
Her calculation was that if she occasionally read third-rate romance novels, or went for walks and let time pass, her marriageable age would pass on its own and she could just live comfortably attached to the family without any particular achievements.
Still, since it would be troublesome to be treated as a complete nuisance, she would play the role of a noble from time to time, put on the elegant smile she had practiced in the mirror, and exchange some meaningful words while pretending to be something, making those around her mistake her for a mysterious person.
In that sense, she could be said to be a person who was thorough in her self-management. She was a person who would endure a little bit of hardship now if she could avoid troublesome things that would come later.
However, at this point, having noticed Derek's qualities earlier than others, there was nothing she could do right away.
In any case, he was a person who was working for Elente now.
'I hope things don't develop in a troublesome direction...'
She let out a deep sigh and stood up from her seat.
The crowd that had gathered to offer congratulations to Aiseline had almost disappeared.
As a member of the same Rosea Salon, it was the etiquette of this place for Lady Denise to at least add a word or two. Although she lived with the monologue of 'troublesome, troublesome' in her heart, she knew that she had to do the minimum as a young lady.
And so, she came down towards the platform and said, with an aristocratic smile filling her face.
"Lady Aiseline, you have achieved another accomplishment. Every moment of watching the duel was a series of thrills."
"Oh my, for Lady Denise to give such a compliment, I don't know where to put myself."
"I must learn from your humble character as well. I wish I could use 2-Star magic soon too."
It was while she was exchanging such ceremonial pleasantries a few times and thinking that she should go back to the mansion and read the book she had left off yesterday. It was a third-rate romance novel called , and although the plot itself was standard to the point of being nauseating, the poignancy of the lines that occasionally struck the heart came as a tangy charm and was not so bad—
"—You know well, don't you, Lady Denise? That I didn't actually win this duel."
Although she had been thinking about the book she would read as soon as she returned to the mansion, a question that pierced her lungs flew in in an instant, and she had to quickly come to her senses.
When she looked around, most of the people had already left. As the crowd thinned, Aiseline had immediately thrown a direct question.
Just as Lady Denise knew well about Lady Aiseline and Lady Elente, it was the same for Lady Aiseline.
She had a good grasp of not only Lady Denise's discerning eye, but also her unmotivated inner self to some extent. That was why she sometimes skipped the ceremonial pleasantries and got straight to the point.
Although she was a girl who seemed just graceful and good-natured, she should never be taken lightly. It was not that she didn't know that fact, but she never thought she would cut to the core so suddenly.
"..."
"Seeing that you have no answer, it seems you agree."
"I think Lady Elente worked very hard. But the fact that Lady Aiseline is far superior in magical capability remains unchanged. At least, that is what I think."
"Well... I was very surprised while facing her. For her magic proficiency to rise to this extent in such a short period of time..."
Aiseline looked up with a dumbfounded look, then finally said with a clearer voice.
"It's because she learned magic from Mr. Derek, isn't it...?"
"..."
As she felt a sense of conviction in those eyes, Denise had to take a sharp breath from the depths of her heart.
Somehow, it felt as if the situation was already getting complicated.
"Daisy."
Aiseline, who gave a polite bow to Denise and turned her steps towards the corridor to go home, called the name of her personal maid.
As the maid who was following her bowed her head politely and answered, she continued in her usual gentle voice.
"I need to prepare to send a letter to the main family."
"Yes. I will tell them to prepare a quill pen and ink."
Denise saw Lady Aiseline off like that and made a complicated expression.
The magic duel between the Duplein family and the Belmeade family, which had drawn people's attention, had ended well.
However, Denise had a feeling that all of this was just the beginning of something.
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