I Start with a Bad Hand!

The initial ease of life, like a dissipating fog, had vanished. I asked the sleepless butler to wake me when he started his household chores, and I too began to rise at dawn to sit at my desk. Thanks to the free time during my college days, studying wasn’t too arduous except when unfamiliar imperial names or noble houses came up.

The problem was physical stamina. Dietrich’s body, long confined to her room, tired easily. Starting physical exercises was difficult due to her uncomfortable leg.

Thus, I began chopping wood.

“No, miss, how can you chop wood with those delicate arms!” Initially, the gardener tried to dissuade me but soon left the wood chopping entirely to me.

“Miss, there’s one log not fully split yet. Ah, yes, right behind that chair.”

Initially, he watched worriedly without moving, but eventually, he only offered advice in passing and stopped paying much attention.

When Baron and Baroness Degoph learned that Dietrich was chopping wood, they were nearly shocked into a faint, but after watching me smash about ten logs, they began to insist I stop lifting the axe.

When studying became too challenging, I used my crutches to visit the homes of the less mobile villagers to chop wood for them. The villagers who initially tried to stop me eventually praised me, saying I was better than a child who never visits.

Since I, too, had been a child who hadn’t visited family in reality, I chopped more wood in a sort of penance.

Baron Degoph had earned his title by distinguishing himself in a monster war alongside Roxanne’s father, Duke Elexion, and the Emperor. His barony hadn’t been his for long. Thus, he didn’t scold his only child, albeit a foster one, for roaming around the village chopping wood.

Perhaps for Baron Degoph, it was more important that his daughter, who had been locked away and weeping daily, was now gaining strength and becoming cheerful. When I returned from chopping wood in the village, he would tenderly check my hands and ask if I had hurt myself or if I found the work too hard.

***

Time flew, and suddenly it was September, the month of the academy entrance exam.

The royal capital, Calros, where the Imperial Academy was located, was a three-day journey by carriage from Heylem without stopping to sleep. Naturally, Baron Degoph’s coachman, Hans, who was well past retirement age, couldn’t drive non-stop, and it took about a week to reach Calros.

Baron Degoph’s driver, boasting fifty years without an accident, handled the carriage so smoothly it seemed to glide even over rocky paths. There were ups and downs, but after a few bouts of nausea, I felt better.

Travel to the capital wasn’t limited to carriages. True to the ‘romantic fantasy’ genre, this world also had magic, allowing for teleportation. The problem was that remote places like Heylem didn’t have teleportation facilities installed.

Perhaps the magicians thought the old citizens of the empire in remote areas had no reason to visit the capital. No teleportation stations were installed near Heylem.

‘If only I had enough magical power, I’d install a teleportation station myself…’

In this world, anyone from the Thomple Empire could use magic based on their inherent magical affinity. The issue was that the magic accessible to common folk was minimal.

For instance, Baron Degoph, who could use fire magic, could only singe a frayed thread, and the Baroness, a wind magician, had just enough power to blow crumbs off the table onto the floor.

Dietrich was a water mage. If she concentrated for five minutes, she could fill a teaspoon with water. However, it was quicker to cut a thread with scissors than to burn it, and it was better to sweep up breadcrumbs with her hand than to blow them away with the wind.

Of course, this was the level of magic that could be used in everyday life, and if she gathered her magical power, she could perform much more impressive magic. I could do the same.

There was a time when I wanted to test my own limits. So, I concentrated and managed to fill half a cup with water created through magic, but I exhausted all my energy and fell unconscious for three days.

Anyway, the citizens of the Thomple Empire, who possessed such negligible levels of magical power, lived as if they had none at all. However, among them, there were those born with innate magical abilities. Those who were intermittently born with powers were immediately registered at the mage tower and received magical training.

The mage tower also played a role in informing about the weather in Calros. This didn’t mean the mages controlled the weather, but on clear days, the tower building was visible from afar, and on cloudy days likely to bring rain, it was hidden among the clouds.

“I must see if the mage tower is really visible when I arrive in the capital.”

As the week passed in the carriage, filled with study and various thoughts, occasionally leading to vomiting, Calros proved to be a cultural and artistic center befitting a capital.

“…That was it… Sigh… Hmm? Proctor! May I have another sheet for my answers?”

Reading his answer sheet line by line, the phonograph-like young nobleman was already on his third sheet replacement.

Rattle. Rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle.

The young nobleman’s legs trembling.

“Ah… Phew… No…”

The noble lady sighing as if beatboxing.

Surrounded by young nobles, an orchestra of noise was created, although fortunately, I wasn’t the only one bothered by the strange sounds they made, as a few students sent them stern glares.

“It seems not all nobles are overflowing with culture.”

The realistic portrayal of noble offspring was somewhat amusing and endearing in its strangeness, though not without occasional frustration and irritation.

Aside from the bizarre orchestra they created, the exam itself was straightforward. Fortunately, there were no questions I didn’t know. I diligently read through old books that reeked of mold and covered quite a few topics. However, my goal was not to get every question right.

“Being first… stands out too much.”

I carefully reviewed my written answers. More challenging than being first was achieving the rank I desired.

I needed the scholarship, but not the attention, so it was necessary to adjust my score accordingly.

There are always easy questions designed to adjust the difficulty of any test. I decided to be the person who got those questions wrong. I crossed out my initially written answers and wrote down incorrect ones.

“If I knew all the answers, surely there must be another student who does.”

Please let it all be correct. I need to be the runner-up!

Trusting my future to the top student whose face I didn’t even know.

As these thoughts crossed my mind, all the prospective students had already left the examination hall. I had deliberately waited until everyone else had left, not wanting to get caught up in the crowd.

‘I should probably get up too.’

I thought to myself, planning to tell Hans that I had done very well on the exam. I wasn’t sure about being the top student, but I could certainly expect admission. That thought might just lessen the fatigue of the journey home.

As I was lost in thought and walking, I noticed a figure approaching from a distance. Regardless, I continued on, tapping my way across the slippery marble floor with my cane.

The wooden cane slid across the marble with a screeching sound that annoyed me. As I focused on the floor, making sure to place my cane carefully with each step, I suddenly saw the shadow of someone standing right in front of me.

“I see I was correct.”

A calm voice reached my ears, bringing with it a chilling premonition that something tedious was about to unfold. Slowly, I lifted my head to see who it was in front of me.

“It’s been a long time, sister.”

In that instant, I locked eyes with piercingly blue eyes shimmering like the sea, and silver hair that fluttered lightly in the wind. Roxanne’s half-brother, Evan Elexion. In Dietrich’s memory, Evan had been a small and thin child, smaller and skinnier than herself, but now he had grown tall, looking down at Dietrich. I thought he might have come to meet Roxanne, but then I remembered from the original work that Evan was a prodigy who had skipped grades to enter the academy with Roxanne at the same time.

‘He must have come to take the exam with Roxanne.’

Realizing I hadn’t yet responded to Evan’s greeting, I said, “Hello… It’s been a long time.”

As I bowed my head respectfully, Evan casually waved his hand as if to dismiss the formality. His posture was upright, like a born noble.

“There’s no need for formalities, sister.”

Even though Dietrich was no longer a lady of the Elexion Ducal House, Evan still used honorifics as he would when addressing Roxanne, calling her ‘sister.’ It somehow felt ticklish, and I thought I should correct him.

Of course, the thought of facing a situation where I, merely an adopted daughter of a baronial family, was consistently addressed with honorifics by a young noble of a ducal house, was more tiresome than the correction itself.

“I heard you went to the Baron Degoph family in Heylem.”

“I am Dietrich. I am no longer associated with the Elexion house, so please speak more informally.”

“Dietrich… Dietrich Degoph.”

Ignoring my request, Evan savored my name as if rolling it on his tongue.

“That name suits you well… sister.”