Chapter 94: Odd Queen
Perhaps because classes were in session, the large road leading to the academy’s main building was sparsely populated.
Amidst all this, a male student was reading a book on a bench under a thickly planted tree, where the sun shines through the trees. A gentle breeze caressed his silver hair.
And then a female student came up to him and said,
“Ara, if it isn’t Number 1. Reading during class, that’s a good sign, isn’t it?”
Her long golden hair was gently wavy, and her eyes were filled with a hint of sarcasm, despite her neat face.
” ……Zara, huh. I’m free at the moment. Even though there’s no one nearby, I don’t like to be called that outside of meetings.”
“Ara, sorry about that, Alex. I was careless.”
She gave a mocking smile that was absolutely intentional, and her name was Zara Yessel. She is the ‘9’ of the Numbers, a group of students who aim to restore aristocratic supremacy.
And the male student is Alexei Gouberg. He is the representative of the Numbers, the man who bears the number ‘1’.
“Besides, may I?”
Without waiting for a reply, Zara sat down right next to Alexei.
He closed his book and turned his attention to her, not moving an eyebrow at all.
“It’s rare to see you show up at the academy. You already have all the credits you need to graduate, don’t you? I thought you wouldn’t show your face at the academy until the graduation exam.”
“Guess so. I earned all my credits during my fourth year, so I was enjoying the freedom of the fifth year. But now, I have some fun toys. I’m going to want to play with them.”
Alexei gave Zara a dismissive look as she licked her tongue.
“More importantly, how did it go? You met the queen yesterday, didn’t you? Did you manage to get her to agree with you?”
“I’m not sure I want to be so careless with my words. ……Yeah, we’ve generally gotten what we wanted.”
“Fufu, as expected. However, that fox vixen can be tricky. Don’t let her get the better of you, okay?”
“I know. I joined hands with her in anticipation of this. It’s just that ……”
“? What’s the concern?”
Alexei carefully chooses his words and tells Zara, who was wondering,
“Her vibe seems to be a bit off. It’s different from before. ……”
Alexei has had an audience with Gieselotte several times on official occasions. They never exchanged a word with each other more than once or twice.
However, what he saw when he was invited to the private chambers of the palace was that the dignified, elegant, yet frighteningly cold gaze he had felt until then had faded into the background and that she was now in a very good mood.
“She was in a good mood. ……”
“What’s that? Don’t tell me she was having a moment alone with a young man?”
Then, Alexei noticed a figure.
Someone was walking toward the main school building. And from a positional standpoint, that figure was approaching them.
He then glanced at Zara, to get her to quiet down, and then turned his attention to the figure.
He was surprised.
It was Queen Gieselotte who was walking toward them with light steps and in a good mood as if she was humming a song. She was walking alone, without an escort.
(Why is she here ……?)
Zara was surprised as well, and she stood up and bowed her head deeply.
“Ara? Ara Ara Ara? We meet again after yesterday, Sergeant of the Gouberg family. I thought you were an honor student, but you skipped class to have a secret meeting with her?”
“Please don’t kid, Your Royal Highness. I had some free time, so I had a chat with my friend.”
“Well, what an uninteresting reply. You have a good face and are very capable, but you are not able to make light conversation. How can you be popular with the ladies?”
The queen, who winked at him with teasing words, still couldn’t shake his sense of unease.
“I guess that answer, that I will take care of it, is not to her Highness’s liking either. Why did you come to the academy alone, without an escort?”
“To see the Dean for a bit, you see. An old acquaintance you may say.
Gieselotte then walked to the main school building while waving her hand.
(Old, acquaintance ……?)
A sense of discomfort came over him again.
The Queen and the Dean would of course interact with each other in their position. However, when Gieselotte was still in school, the Dean was not yet a related person, and he had not heard that there was a relationship between the families.
Considering their mutual age, it was felt that their association over the last ten years was not what one would call ‘old acquaintance’.
“She is indeed different from the queens I’ve met till now, you see.”
Zara whispered as she looked over at the defenseless queen’s back.
“She is a tad bit cheerful, don’t you think?”
“Cheerful, you say ……?”
“Something good must have happened. Fufufu, it’s becoming more interesting.”
Zara was smiling ecstatically, and Alexei felt a strange uneasiness.
Without any prior appointment, Queen Gieselotte had visited out of the blue.
“Heyaa. It’s been a while~”
Theresia Montpelier, the Dean of the Academy, froze when she saw her enter the door without knocking.
“Ara Ara, you have become so fragile. You are almost human. Is your name Theresia Montpelier now? What do you prefer to be called back then?”
“W-Why ……, you …… No, no, it can’t be. It shouldn’t be. The conditions for your resurrection are not yet met!”
Theresa shouted, rising to her feet forcing the chair back.
“Don’t be so loud. Someone may come thinking it’s suspicious. Well, I’ve already set up the barrier. And that man doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet.”
Gieselotte said, stepping forward to the office desk and sitting down on it impolitely. She crossed her slender legs and half leaned over to look at Theresa.
“Look, don’t just stand there. Let’s sit down and talk.”
“……”
Theresia pulled back her chair, sat down, and stared at Gieselotte.
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