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“Ma’am, I am not one to interfere with your family matters, however, I believe this is going too far. Miss Veronique’s input has great potential to revolutionise the future of the kingdom, so I would prefer if you wouldn’t utter such disrespectful words out of your mouth otherwise I will take it that you no longer need a tongue, Duchess,” the Grand Mage said with hostility dripping from his words.
The Duchess became frightened at such implications but tried to act like she was unphased despite 3 venomous glares being directed at her, making the air turn rigid.
“Wh-wha- S-Such- Such impudent words! How dare you threaten me!” After witnessing how none of the people in the room batted an eyelid at her words, she hastily rushed out of the room with one hand holding onto her hand fan and the other gripping the fabric of her dress tightly.
“Sorry for that unsightly display,” apologised the Duke.
“No worries, I’m surprised you’re still married to such a person.”
Eston Veronique let out a sigh and replied, “I don’t want to bother with dealing with her, divorcing her will bring more nuisances than just ignoring her...anyways, my adorable daughter! So cuteeee!!!!” the Duke exclaimed as he hugged his daughter tightly after she looked up at him.
“So aside from that interruption, I suppose we have finished discussing,” said Corlissa.
“I guess so, then I will be taking my leave now,” replied the Grand Mage.
“Take one of our carriages, it’s going to be a hassle to call one this late at night,” recommended Eston.
The Grand Mage took upon the Duke’s offer and left the estate, leaving the father and daughter duo to entertain themselves.
“So what should we do now, Corlissa?”
“Let’s talk until the sun goes down, I’m going to have to leave tomorrow to attend the academy,” she replied, slightly downcast.
The two spent the rest of the day enjoying their time together before they had to go to bed, Corlissa fell asleep contemplating the decisions that she will have to make soon and realising how time truly passed quickly. Although Corlissa was getting closer to where her path of life ended, she was not worried about such things, she was more worried about fulfilling the will of the previous villainess so that her death would not be in vain.
The next morning, Corlissa woke up feeling revitalised and dressed in the school uniform consisting of a simple white blouse tucked into a long white skirt with gold accents that reached her knees. The skirt had four gold buttons split into 2 columns on the midriff area and had few pleats. On top of that was a coat the same shade of white as the skirt with gold buttons connected with a gold chain.
The idea that Amiere Academy wants to enforce is independence and strength built upon independence that is why they did not allow for maids nor butlers to accompany them into the dorms.
After the rather long carriage ride to the academy, the Duke hugged Corlissa once more before she entered the gates of the academy where only her early death lay ahead. Since the events had changed this time around, she was less worried about triggering the wrath of the First Prince or the other ‘side characters’ that would have killed her if she had ticked off the heroine.
Fate was truly such a cruel thing.
The supervisors and seniors that were helping out with the first years of Division D were there to guide the new students to their dorms then their classes. Each student had a choice of whether they wanted to be alone or have roommates, Corlissa chose the former.
The person that was guiding her was someone she did not wish to see, one of the men who in the future would chase the heroine but unfortunately did not end up with her in the end, the classic ‘playboy’ type. He had golden blonde hair, vibrant crimson eyes and always seemed to have either sparkles radiating off of him or girls clinging onto him.
“Hello Marquis Clervan, my name is Corlissa Veronique, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she greeted.
“Haha, so formal, there’s no need for that since you’ll be in the same class as me anyways, you can just call me Rieval. But yeah, nice to meet you too, so since you’re not going to be with the other first years, you’ll be led to the courtyard in the middle of where all the third years’ classes are,” he said with a cheerful aura before his tone suddenly changed and began dripping with malice.
“On behalf of the 3-S class, just because you got bumped up a few classes, don’t start getting cocky. Don’t forget that no matter what, you are still a first year,” he stated before becoming cheerful again. In response, Corlissa immediately smirked, replying, “Your appearance fits you quite well, Marquis Clervan.”
“What are you talking about, Corlissa?” he questioned in a sing-song voice.
“Your golden hair that makes you shine in the eyes of the mindless girls fawning over you and your blood-red eyes that show your true nature, but there's no need to fret. My masks are more polished than yours, after all, they have been developed through experience,” Corlissa replied with a straightforward tone.
The final message in Corlissa’s words made Rieval grin, “great, it seems like you’re not just some white lotus, this year is going to be fun!”
‘I don’t want to hear that from you who ends up falling for a white lotus in the future,’ Corlissa thought to herself.
They then proceeded to her room where she dropped off her brown leather briefcase before heading to her class guided by Rieval. They then reached the room which their class was having a lesson at the moment and entered after knocking, the instant Corlissa recognised the faces she saw, she could feel her energy draining away.
‘Oh my lord, please save me, why are there a total of 3 absolute love bound psychopaths in my class. I have no energy, I just want to go to my room and sleep, this is too much to deal with. But if I’m willing to risk it...combat classes give me an excuse to knock some sense into them but they may come for my life so uh...if I am really bored I’ll do it,’ such thoughts were going through Corlissa’s mind while she was maintaining a serious composure.
“This is your new classmate, Corlissa Veronique,” announced the teacher upon her arrival.
“Isn’t she a first year? Why is she in our class?” questioned a boy with flaming bright red hair and matching crimson eyes.
“She’s here due to special circumstances but you have the Headmistress’s word that she will certainly not drag the class down,” replied the teacher before continuing, “We will now move onto economics, please take your seat Mister Clervan and Miss Veronique.”
The two individuals both took their seats, the classroom was set out in a tiered format, the seats at the back were at the highest elevation compared to the other seats. Instead of individual seats lined up, there were 3 long benches in each row, all separated with a stairway in between, the window was on the left of the classroom. Corlissa sat herself on the seat furthest to the left and at the very back of the classroom, it was a surprise no one had sat at such an ideal placement yet.
After the teacher had announced the lesson outline for the day, Corlissa quickly fell asleep after hearing that there was nothing meaningful being taught for the class. Of course, fictional laws had to be put into place and Corlissa was called out by a fuming teacher.
“Miss Veronique! Since you have the nerve to not only fall asleep in the first lesson but also while I am teaching, why don’t you come up and teach everyone?! I don’t care if you’re backed by some powerful figure, people would put more trust in an adult after all!”
“Please stop screaming, my eardrums are going to burst,” Corlissa calmly stated before walking towards the front of the classroom, “W-What...What are you doing, Miss Veronique?!” the flustered teacher voiced, although it fell to deaf ears as Corlissa still continued to make her way towards the chalkboard.
“So since this is the supposedly advanced and prodigious S class, I suppose this lesson was child’s play for you all. Since I believe in your mental capabilities, not to mention the future sun of the kingdom is present, I will teach you the simpler version of what your teacher just talked about,” Corlissa began, casually throwing off the class 3-S teacher who had never been placed in such a situation before.
“To start off with, the truth behind a successful business is neither the price of the items nor underhanded methods such as human trafficking, child labour or slaves, that is how nobles do things. And nobles are stuck-up pigs. That is my first lesson to you all, you are all the future of this kingdom so I advise you to not become hideous pigs with broken masks, also don’t gossip and drink tea all the time, this is a personal request.”
All of the students in the class were all nobles so they had mixed emotions after what Corlissa had fearlessly announced.
“To create a successful business you need to look at what’s trending and what will become the next trend, whether you look at past data or innovate to create the next trend. Then you need good marketing, even if what you want to sell has the potential to become the next trend, if it can’t get into the market, it’ll all be for nothing. Next, treat your customers well, if they are the subject of malicious comments, at least make your business a safe haven from that, noble ladies have nothing better to do with their time than to make themselves feel better by pushing down others to hide their insecurities behind their disgraceful masks.”
After her relatively short lecture, Corlissa returned to her seat but not before glancing up into the darkest corner of the room where she connected an almost invisible string of mana into the crystal orb and made eye contact with the Headmistress of the Academy who was holding an amused smile on her face.