After Lucy suddenly left the dining table, Arthur attempted to follow her, but Zoe stopped him.
“When Lady Alrn acts strangely, there’s usually a reason for it,” she explained with an awkward smile.
Arthur was about to refute Zoe’s statement, but upon reflecting on it, he realized she was right.
Since coming to the academy, he had many opportunities to observe Lucy.
He had questioned her various behaviors, but looking back over time, he found that most of her actions had reasons behind them.
Even the fact that she called him the 'pitiful prince' was likely not without some cause.
His desire to surpass Lucy stemmed from his need to resolve this question through her own words.
“In the past, I used to think, ‘Here she goes again with her antics,’ but now I don’t feel that way. The Lady of the past and the Lady now are completely different people.”
Arthur agreed with Zoe’s perspective.
When he first met Lucy Alrn, he thought she was a fool who didn’t understand manners, but not anymore.
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How could the word ‘foolishness’ apply to a genius who was rewriting the history of Soul Academy?
She understood etiquette and formalities perfectly. At least, that’s how it appeared to Arthur.
There must be a reason why she left without any explanation.
Having come to terms with Zoe’s explanation, Arthur started to rise but then sat back down, crossing his legs.
“Zoe. In that sense, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it, Prince?”
“Is there a reason why she called my brother a gloomy, lonely prince?”
“Um...”
“Is there a reason she expressed her disgust and discomfort toward him in front of everyone?”
“...I don’t know.”
Although Zoe typically tried to interpret Lucy’s actions positively, she couldn’t respond to this question.
The severity of what Lucy had done was too grave for her to defend.
If the First Prince had not let it go, or if Lucy were not the daughter of the Alrn family, she would likely have been imprisoned for her blasphemy by now.
While Zoe hesitated to defend Lucy, Arthur spoke in a calm tone.
“You see, Zoe, there are times when her antics have reasons, but there are also times when they don't.”
The Lucy of the past had not disappeared.
She had merely weakened and still existed in some form.
Upon hearing that, Zoe unconsciously nodded her head.
Calling her brother a lecherous prince, giving strange nicknames to her parents, and calling herself a foolish lady—none of it seemed forced, yet Lucy pressed on with these actions. This was certainly not a result of reasoned mischief.
“In a way, she’s more malicious now. She knows what manners are, yet crosses the line simply because she wants to.”
“B-but Lady Alrn is a good person!”
“It seems you’ve run out of words to rebut, foolish lady.”
With a triumphant smile, Arthur lifted his spoon, and Zoe made a resolve in her heart.
After the meal, while wandering the festival together, she would ask him how he felt about losing to the foolish lady.
However, her resolve could not come to fruition.
While the fact that she lost to Arthur at various stalls was a reason,
it was even more significant that wherever they went, Arthur was overwhelmed by the records set by the First Prince and Lucy, making it impossible for her to touch upon that topic.
BANG!
Arthur slammed the hammer down with all his might, but the board underneath only cracked while maintaining its shape.
“Unfortunately, it's a failure, Your Highness.”
“Something went wrong. Look! It's almost on the verge of breaking!”
This stall was a contest to see how much power could be generated using a hammer.
At that stall, Arthur and Zoe heard stories from others about Lucy and the First Prince.
“Did you just see that? The First Prince powered up and smashed the wooden board effortlessly.”
“It was amazing. He really is someone of royal blood.”
“Honestly, I wasn't surprised by the First Prince. He’s expected to succeed.”
“That’s true.”
“More than that, the Lady of the Alrn family was remarkable.”
“Right? How can someone so small generate such power?”
“The bloodline of the Alrn family is terrifying. Will she command the continent in the future?”
Arthur and Zoe had to hear such conversations whenever they visited stalls.
It was unavoidable.
As soon as Arthur showed his face, it was natural for stories about the First Prince to follow, and since Lucy showcased impressive feats at various stalls, people began comparing him to her.
Usually, one would simply admire and leave it at that. Zoe also thought to herself that both of them were quite impressive.
However, for Arthur, the situation was different.
He considered both of them as rivals he had to surpass.
The First Prince was an object of admiration and someone he longed to catch up to, yet he was also the person with whom he had constantly been compared throughout his life.
No matter what he achieved, he would always be overshadowed by the image the First Prince had established before him.
The reason Arthur could not take pride in his genius was solely because of the First Prince.
As for Lucy, she had become a new rival since entering the academy.
She was the first person to give Arthur a second-place score, despite his brilliance that had no one in his age group to rival him.
When they first met, Arthur had defined her as an enemy due to her rudeness, but that was no longer the case.
Now, Lucy was a goal to surpass and nearly a nemesis to Arthur.
How could he not feel frustrated when the audience praised the person he had to defeat?
However, the wriggling of the worm was still just wriggling.
He experienced defeat at many stalls, and even in places where he won, he couldn’t catch up to either the First Prince or Lucy’s records.
As this repeated several times, Arthur’s nerves became quite frayed.
Even Zoe, who had intended to tease him, dared not touch upon it.
“One more time! Just one more time, and I’ll definitely succeed!”
“Um... that...”
As Arthur insisted, Zoe was about to intervene when she noticed Jeff running toward them from afar.
Unlike Zoe, who often forgot something and became flustered, Jeff always appeared calm and collected.
However, his expression now could hardly be described as pleasant. Was something else happening that made him unable to maintain his composure?
“Gasp! Hah! Zoe! Where is His Highness the Third Prince?”
“Over there.”
How desperately had he run? Gasping for breath, Jeff quickly took a deep breath and headed toward Arthur.
“Your Highness the Third Prince!”
“Hm? Is that you, Prince Jeff? What brings you here?”
“It’s urgent! The First Prince is going to have a duel with Lady Alrn!”
“...What?!”
Upon hearing something outside common sense, Arthur briefly doubted if it was a lie, but the man in front of him would not joke about such a matter.
Just hours after his brother had a bout, another dispute was breaking out?!
“Where is it?”
“I will guide you.”
He placed the hammer he had been holding down and hurriedly followed Jeff.
Good grief. Lucy Alrn, do you have some grudge against the royal family?
Just how many incidents do you intend to cause in one day?!
At this rate, Lord Benedict's disguise would have so many holes that it would turn into cheese!
Desperately rushing to suppress the situation, Arthur unfortunately arrived just in time to see it unfold.
At a table centered around a stall, the First Prince was seated. Opposite him sat Lucy, writing something on a piece of paper.
“...Did I arrive too late?”
Arthur let out a long sigh, feeling dejected at the sight of them.
Now that the duel had begun, there was no way to reverse it.
How could Arthur possibly speak out against the duel proposed and participated in by the First Prince?
Even though they were both princes, there existed an unbridgeable gap in authority between Arthur and Rene.
At this moment, all Arthur could do was watch.
“It’s already begun.”
As he bit his lip, a voice came from behind him.
Zoe was behind him. He thought she would fall behind, given how fast he was moving, but she had easily caught up.
“Is the event a mock dungeon raid?”
A mock dungeon raid.
Instead of entering the dungeon directly, it involved looking at given conditions and devising the optimal strategy to clear it.
Having frequently appeared in the written exams of the academy, both Arthur and Zoe were familiar with it.
“Well, that’s fortunate. In that case, Lady Alrn can win.”
“Winning or losing is a problem either way.”
“Still, winning is better, right?”
“That’s true, but...”
At Soul Academy, Lucy Alrn was the nightmare of the dungeon studies professor.
No matter what problem the professor devised, he could do nothing against her extraordinary strategies.
Arthur had witnessed the sight of his devised dungeons being shattered by her numerous times.
“Can she win?”
Arthur knew of Lucy's abilities, but at the same time, he was well aware of Rene Soladin's genius.
He was someone with talents so remarkable that even Arthur looked up to him.
“It’s over.”
The first one to put down his pen was the First Prince.
Without even reviewing it, he handed his paper to the stall vendor as if he were certain he would never make a mistake.
The vendor politely took the paper with both hands and placed it on the magic circle that existed in the center of the stall.
Then the magic circle glowed blue, and a translucent image appeared above it.
One vanguard. One rear guard. A typical party composed of a thief and a cleric.
Their illusion would now clear the dungeon according to the plan set forth by the First Prince.
“Amazing.”
“How can he only choose the right answers like that?”
“It’s as if he came back from the future.”
“At this level, it’s like showing us the answer sheet directly.”
The First Prince's strategy was the very definition of perfection.
Considering all variables and choosing only the best move would have left the stall vendor unshocked, even if he had been told the answers in advance.
The spectators watching him all felt certain of the First Prince's victory.
They believed there could be no better strategy than his.
However, some in the crowd—those who knew of the many antics Lucy Alrn had displayed at Soul Academy—were different.
“With that, Lady Alrn has won.”
“I was mistaken. I need to plan considering Lucy Alrn's victory.”
As Arthur and Zoe spoke, their expressions were devoid of concern. Behind them, Jeff felt puzzled.
Then Lucy spoke up.
“What a shabby, clumsy, and poorly constructed dungeon. It was so easy I almost failed!”
From her face, adorned with a mischievous smile, one could sense her confidence in victory, but nothing more.