[ Chapter 47] A wounded person in the bushes

Nellis had thought that far when someone spoke to her.

"Hey, you, first-year student over there."

It was the voice of a girl in her early teens, with a tone that was a bit cold but still had some innocence left.

Nellis couldn't help but recognize the voice. She turned to look in the direction of the voice.

Natacha Grunehalz, with her ginger-colored hair elegantly styled, stood like a picture.

Nellis looked at Natacha with calm eyes for a moment, and then smiled faintly.

"Yes, senior."

"Why are you here so late? First-year students have a curfew. You kids should go to bed early."

Student council members regularly patrolled the school grounds to catch students who were still in the buildings late at night, playing pranks. Especially for lower-grade students, they couldn't be out after curfew unless they had a special permit.

Nellis replied in a innocent voice.

"Didn't the student council get a report? Today, Sheridan-sama is going to have a social etiquette test rehearsal with the students."

"Ah."

Of course, since it was an event held outside of regular class hours, Sheridan-sama had reported it to the student council. Natacha remembered it when she heard the words.

"Sheridan-sama reported that the rehearsal would be in the other building, not this one."

"Really? I thought it was here."

The classroom where the test rehearsal was supposed to take place was not the usual social etiquette classroom, but a building mainly used by upperclassmen. So, it was possible for a first-year student to get confused.

Natacha raised an eyebrow and said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Now that you know, go ahead. Your permitted route is limited to the building that the teacher reported and your dormitory. You don't want to get demerits, do you?"

"No, thank you for telling me, senior. If it weren't for you, I would have wandered around the wrong place."

Natacha knew she wasn't a particularly kind person, and she didn't intend to be, but there was no reason to feel bad about being praised. She looked down at the little girl in front of her with a softer gaze than before.

Her famous eyes and delicate features. If this child grew up like this, it was likely that she would become a great beauty.

In fact, there were many beauties among the new students this year. How famous was the young Megara Rikendros in the imperial social circle already? The elegant Iydalia Kendall?

Natacha was confident in her own beauty, but there was no guarantee that her boyfriend, Abelrus, wouldn't turn his eyes away from her in 10 years.

Her father, the Duke of Grunehalz, had also kicked out his healthy wife to the countryside with all sorts of excuses and had replaced her with several young beauties. Many men in the social circle were like that."

"Having grown up seeing that, she didn't expect loyalty from men's love. So, she had to firmly step on things that could crawl up.

Nellis' sharp eyes, which had been staring at Natacha, who was lost in thought, flashed with contempt for a moment. However, it was such a short moment that Natacha didn't notice.

Soon, Natacha spoke out her sudden thought. Although she looked different, this child resembled Nellrusyon when she had a soft expression, as if they had lived together for a long time.

"You're cute. Are you a relative of Nellrusyon? You look more like him than Valentin."

Valentin and Nellrusyon had different auras when seen separately. Nellrusyon was calm and kind, while Valentin was openly arrogant.

However, when you looked deeper, they were surprisingly similar, but Natacha seemed to be unaware of that fact.

"Vile devils."

Nellis thought that no one in the Elantria family could escape that description. It would be refreshing to tie them up and throw them into hellfire.

But if she were to be honest with herself, was she any cleaner?

"I'm the same, I suppose."

Nellis, who was also a master of lies, schemes, and betrayal, would eventually be thrown into hellfire. And when that day came, she planned to enjoy the pain with a clear conscience.

While watching her enemies scream in agony.

However, she couldn't go yet. She had to do as much as she could.

So, Nellis smiled shyly.

"Thank you for saying that, senior. If I were even a tenth as beautiful as you, I would have no wishes. Our classmate Megara is really cute and popular because she's beautiful. Everyone says she'll definitely meet a great person because of her high status."

Natacha had tried to hinder Nellis with her schemes, but ultimately lost Abelrus to Megara, who was not only beautiful but also of high status.

At the time, Natacha would have naturally prioritized Megara as a threat if she hadn't been preoccupied with the marriage talks between the Elantria family and the imperial family.

Now, the freshmen were too young to pay attention to Nellis, but if she could plant seeds of doubt, she could somewhat restrain them.

Natacha blinked at Nellis' words and soon erased all her thoughts with a businesslike smile, ending the conversation briefly.

"You're not late, are you?"

It was a fair statement. Nellis didn't plan to waste any more time on Natacha either.

Having said what she intended, Nellis bowed elegantly and turned her body towards the exit of the building. Behind her, she heard the sound of Natacha leaving the scene as well."

"Finally, Nellis arrived at the exit, where the starry night sky was visible, and thought that the garden in front of her was eerily rustling.

A faint metallic smell wafted into her nostrils.

The smell was very faint, but Nellis, who had spent many days in a prison cell, only able to smell her own blood and pus, instinctively recognized what it was.

It was the smell of blood.

The sound of metal clashing echoed from nearby. Nellis hid in the shadow of the building to assess the situation. Soon, two teenage boys, each holding a sword, walked towards her from the other side of the garden.

"Did you find it?"

"I don't see it. Didn't you say it was this way?"

Nellis' eyes flashed coldly.

They were people she knew well. They were knight trainees who were raised in noble families to serve as future masters and playmates.

One of them was Abelrus' subordinate, and Nellis had owed him a favor when she was the crown princess.

"I don't know what the crown prince said, but I don't know. You're his master, Ralph."

The voice of the other boy pierced Nellis' ears again, and she clenched her fists.

How could she forget him?

The boy searching the area with Abelrus' subordinate was Joseph, Nellrusyon's guard. He was the one who had followed Valentin in her previous life, pinned her to the prison floor, and helped Valentin!

"He's still helping the imperial family, even at this time."

Nellis knew the closeness between the imperial family and the Elantria family as well as anyone, but even she hadn't imagined how each family was doing when she was twelve years old.

Of course, Nellrusyon, who was like a snake, wouldn't miss an opportunity to lend his playmate to Abelrus to curry favor.

But what was that opportunity?

Now, Nellis was genuinely interested and listened to their conversation quietly.

"I don't know. Is this the only way he can come? The school has all sorts of hidden passages and secret rooms."

"Let's search first. Don't draw attention to ourselves. It could be a trap."

"Shh, do you hear something?"

The two boys stopped and looked around. Nellis didn't hesitate and made a noise, revealing herself in front of them.

The two boys, who had thought the surrounding buildings were empty, were startled and drew their swords. Nellis looked at them, about six steps away, and pretended to be frightened, screaming.

"Ahh!"

"What's going on?"

Abelrus' knight, Ralph, frowned. Joseph stopped him from getting angry at the small Nellis."

"Joseph lowered his sword slightly and acknowledged Nellis.

"Nellis Truede?"

"Joseph senior?"

Nellis called out to Joseph with a cautious expression, as if she was unsure. Joseph, the knight, narrowed his eyes but responded kindly.

"Yes, you know my name?"

He and Nellis had not formally greeted each other in this life yet. So, the question "Do you know my name?" should have come from Nellis first, but she didn't ask and just smiled innocently, as if she was happy to see him in this place.

And, in fact, she was happy. If she had greeted him, it would be easier to manipulate him later.

Hmph, it seemed that Nellrusyon had given him a hint, judging by how quickly he recognized her.

"I've seen you with Nell brother. I'm glad I remembered your name correctly. You're Nell brother's friend, right?"

"Ah, yes."

Joseph lowered his guard and put away his sword. What did he have to be careful about, anyway, when a 12-year-old girl suddenly appeared?

On the other hand, Nellis noticed that the bushes behind Joseph were not moving at all, as if something heavy and large was pressing down on the roots.

She naturally looked away from the bushes, as if she hadn't noticed anything, and continued talking.

"Where are you headed?"

"Ah, just somewhere. Where are you going?"

Joseph was never as good at acting as Nellrusyon. Nellis smiled inwardly at his awkward and uncomfortable expression.

However, Ralph didn't fall for it as easily as Joseph did. To him, a young girl from a distant branch of the Elantria family, who was already a favorite of the crown prince at her age, was nothing.

If there was something suspicious, he had to investigate strictly. That's how he would rise through the ranks. He didn't put away his sword and glared at Nellis with a fierce gaze.

"What are you doing here? The curfew for first-year students has passed."

"I came for a class. I have a supplementary lesson for the exam. The teacher got special permission because other first-year students are also attending."

Nellis' words had many omissions, but the two boys didn't know that. They understood her words to mean that all the other first-year students were in "this building," and they exchanged a surprised glance.

Ralph put away his sword and adjusted his tone.

"Don't be out too late. I drew my sword, thinking you were a beast."

It was a poor excuse, and he realized it immediately. Nellis just nodded innocently."

"Yes. I'm sorry for startling you. I just got the same warning from Natacha senior from the student council. I'll go back as soon as the class is over. I'll tell the other kids to go back too."

"Alright."

The boys exchanged a glance, and they both decided that if they lingered here any longer, they would give a strange impression to the first-year students.

Moreover, now that they thought about it, this kid was going to tell the other first-year students that they met seniors here, just like they mentioned Natacha Grunehalz's name earlier. Who knows, they might even spread Joseph's name around.

They left the scene, pretending they were just out for a stroll.

Nellis stopped acting like a chatty and diligent fool. When she judged that she was far enough away from the two boys, she carefully crawled into the bushes.

As expected, there was a boy covered in blood, curled up in the bushes.

It was a dark night, and the thick bushes that had grown in the spring provided some camouflage, but if the boys had searched a bit more seriously, they would have been discovered in an instant.

The fact that he couldn't even hide far away and was lying in this open area, which was almost a barren plain, meant that his injuries were severe.

Nellis had been wasting time with unnecessary conversation earlier, so she thought that if the suspicious person had died in the meantime, there was nothing she could do about it. However, as she approached, the boy opened his eyes wide and glared at her.

Eyes that shone like diamonds, gray in color.

Although it was impossible for human eyes to emit light, the boy's gaze seemed as clear as that of a nocturnal animal.

"N...e..."

Lis Truede.

The words behind that were swallowed by Kledwin Maindlandt's dry tongue.