Chapter 25: Effort

After lunch, where many things had happened, it was afternoon class time again.

“…”

I was sitting on the bench alone as usual, quietly watching the other students’ sparring.

“……Your Highness, Princess.”

“Why are you calling me, Lian Trice?”

“Aren’t you sparring today?”

Next to me, Layla, who would normally be sparring more diligently than anyone else, was sitting with an indifferent expression.

“What’s your business? Whether I spar with other people or not.”

“…”

“And you, who just left me to talk to your fiancée.”

Layla, with an indifferent expression, blurted out as if it didn’t matter.

Was she upset?

Because I disappeared with Elena during lunch earlier.

Regardless of whether the princess was really upset, that wasn’t wrong.

I couldn’t interfere with Layla’s class as I pleased.

“……Then why are you sitting next to me?”

“…”

“As I told you this morning, I’m getting a lot of attention just because I’m sitting next to the princess.”

However, the other students’ gazes that naturally followed Layla’s actions were uncomfortable.

It was a different kind of discomfort.

It was an unpleasant gaze that was completely different from the looks of disgust I’d felt until now.

How should I explain this?

Everyone was looking at me as if they were curious, but should I say that the curious gaze was the exact opposite of friendly?

Anyway, it was a burdensome gaze that made me feel like my face would be pierced if I stayed still.

Layla, who heard what I said, said confidently as if it didn’t matter.

“It’s something that can’t be helped when you’re with someone like me who attracts everyone’s attention.”

“…”

“So you should just accept it.”

“No.”

“That’s why I never said I wanted to sit with you.”

It was a sentence that would have come out of my mouth if I had let my guard down even a little.

If that were the case, it wouldn’t be strange if I were dragged to prison for insulting the royal family.

Hmm. That’s not a very happy imagination.

This is a proposition I’ve imagined many times.

How could there never have been a good time until now?

While I was absentmindedly thinking about this, Layla, who had been quietly looking at me, opened her mouth again.

“Of course I meant it as a joke. But looking at your rotten expression, I don’t want to dismiss it as a joke.”

“……Was it bad?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen such a rotten expression in my life.”

Your expression was really rotten right now.

Layla was saying something along those lines very directly.

“But in the end, it’s because I was the one who joked with you first, so there is nothing I can do about it.”

“So I’ll forgive you this time. Be careful with your expression from now on.”

“……Yes, thank you.”

The world’s most insincere answer.

It was as if there was a hint of sarcasm in my tone.

Fortunately, Layla didn’t seem to care much about that.

“By the way. Did you ask why I’m sitting here?”

“Yes. That was the first question.”

“I’ll answer that question. The reason I’m sitting here right now is because there’s no one to spar with me right now.”

……Hmm. That’s like saying, ‘I don’t have any thoughts.’

Because I don’t have any thoughts.

Still looking at Layla with an expression that said I didn’t understand, Layla sighed and corrected her answer.

“Ha, correct me. There’s no one here right now who has the skill to spar with me.”

“…”

“If we were to spar with sincerity, the sparring time wouldn’t last more than a minute, and if we weren’t to give it our all, it wouldn’t be respectful of our sparring partner.”

“……That’s what you meant.”

Now I felt like I understood.

As Layla, who always tried her best for everyone, neither of those would be acceptable behavior.

-I understand that you’ve gotten stronger than before.

However, I don’t think you’ve gotten to the level where you can compete with me yet.

-If you become stronger and have a true heart, then I will treat you with sincerity.

This is what Layla said to Damian at the beginning of the original work.

When Damian, who had become stronger after the midterm exam, requested a duel with Layla, she smiled slightly and declined.

It was the most Layla-like thing she had said.

Knowing Layla’s personality, I could only nod.

“……Well, actually, Ellis Akstra and Elena Brilliant would be fine.”

“…”

“However, one of them is already sparring, and the other one didn’t attend class this afternoon. That means there’s no one I can spar with right now.”

It was true.

The duel I was watching in the first place was Ellis’s duel.

Before Layla sat down next to me, I had been watching Ellis’s duel with great concentration.

“What’s with that disrespectful expression? It’s not like you were watching it well but got cut off because of me, right?”

“……No.”

“Hmm, I suspect.”

Layla glared at me sharply, her sapphire-colored jewel eyes shining.

It’s not for nothing that she’s from the palace.

The way she showed her wit in this area was beyond my imagination.

“I’m still suspicious, but let’s let this slide this time. It’s true that I also put the burden of people’s gaze on you.”

“……Is this going to be resolved and passed like that?”

“Isn’t it one-on-one? I think this is enough.”

I felt like I’d been scammed.

I felt like I’d been scammed to the point where I thought, ‘Maybe Layla had foreseen this and planned it.’

“…I understand.”

However, there was nothing I could do.

What could I do?

Even if that were true, what could I do?

It was a mistake to let it slide.

It was a mistake to be dragged along by Layla’s eloquence that continued like a flowing stream.

But how can I not fall for it?

Of course, there was no way to avoid being dragged along by the next emperor’s words from the beginning.

He was making a stupid expression while chewing on the red truth like this.

“…… It’s almost over there.”

“…”

The duel between Ellis and the other student was already coming to an end.

The opponent was slightly disheveled, but still maintaining his posture.

Ellis’s posture was disheveled enough that anyone could tell she looked tired.

Although all I could see was a fragmentary scene, anyone who had ever experienced a duel could easily predict who the winner of that duel would be.

As if to prove my words, Layla opened her mouth in a quietly hushed voice.

“Ellis Akstra. I guess it’s still hard for you.”

“…”

“Maybe that’s only natural. The time units of the efforts you’ve made so far are different.”

The difference in the efforts you’ve made.

This was the difference Layla was hushed about.

“Of course, this doesn’t mean that Ellis Akstra’s efforts are lacking. On the contrary, she puts in an excessive amount of effort compared to ordinary people.”

“…”

“You could say that she’s on a different level from these incompetent people who don’t even try.”

Princess Layla probably knew.

The efforts that ordinary people can dream of, Ellis’s efforts.

The family’s work and improving one’s own skills.

It would never be easy to do both at the same time.

“However, in the end, efforts are meaningless actions if they can’t be proven by results.”

“……I see.”

However, in this vast world, there was no one who would recognize Ellis’s efforts.

It was even harder that there was no one who truly recognized one’s efforts.

“….”

If it was obvious, it was obvious.

It was a fact that I knew more desperately than anyone else.

Proof of effort.

It’s simple, but it’s harder than anything else.

It was obvious.

The standard for proof would be different for each person.

Especially when the standard for proof was clearly set.

It was much harder for people like Ellis, whose standards were far higher than those of ordinary people.

Clang-!

“……I lost.”

“You worked hard too.”

No matter how hard you tried, if you couldn’t meet your standards, it was a heavy word that made you lose yourself.

“That’s amazing.”

“That’s right. Both of you were amazing.”

“It’s not for nothing that Erica is Edgar Tristan’s girlfriend.”

The voices of other onlookers could be heard faintly.

If it were normal, I would have thought it was just the usual academy students’ fuss and just ignored it.

‘……That name is somehow familiar.’

That name.

The name Erica in that sentence admiring the two people’s skills felt somehow familiar.

It felt like I’d seen it somewhere.

It felt like I’d seen something similar in the original.

Then, suddenly, a part of the original story came to mind.

-The image of Ellis Akstra.

-In fact, it’s not that bad now, but there were some bad rumors going around after that fight.

The scene where Layla explains to Damian the reason Ellis always walks alone at the academy as she knows.

The name of the person Layla mentioned back then was definitely the same person the onlookers were talking about.

With this thought in mind, I looked at the two again.

Parts that had not been visible until just now became visible.

The words of a student named Erica, whose mouth was moving and whose voice was hard to hear from here, and Ellis’s dead red eyes that were so clearly visible despite the distance where her voice was hard to hear from.

……It was a scene that I had definitely seen somewhere.

And, was it because of this?

“Lian Trice? Why are you suddenly getting up….”

I sat up, ignoring Layla’s seemingly flustered words.

“……You?”

“……Why are you here all of a sudden?”

As soon as I got closer, I heard two people’s bewildered voices.

“…”

At the same time, Ellis’s white hand, which was trying to take something out of her bosom, froze.

At this moment, everyone was just quietly watching the situation.

I spat out, looking straight at the woman who was still reaching out to Ellis.

“Erica Perleino. May I challenge you to a duel?”

“…”

“Oh, of course you can decline. Unless you want to get revenge on your boyfriend.”

Anyone who heard that would look at me like I was crazy.

However, it was a sentence that had credibility because it was uttered by none other than ‘Lian Trice.’