“I have a proposal.”

At that, both Vincent and Adele, who had been trudging toward the exit, turned back to look at Charles.

“A proposal?”

Just then, someone knocked on the professor’s office door.

“Professor, here is the list of new students.”

A clear, crisp male voice came from outside. Adele’s head naturally turned toward it.

“Come in.”

The manner of speech sounded somehow familiar. The voice seemed a little young, but the distinctive tone could not be hidden.

Adele felt her heart beating faster as she waited for the door to open. And when the door finally opened.

‘Roger?’

She could not help but be startled when she saw the face that entered the professor’s office. That student had been a commoner knight who had stood at the vanguard of the war alongside Adele and Charles Theodore.

Pulling up a faint memory, he had apparently been the student Charles had cherished most. He had told Adele with a grin, ‘You are second!’

He had met his end in the same battle as Charles. Among those she had been close to, Adele had been the only one to survive.

“Let me introduce you. This is Roger.”

Adele gave a small nod of greeting, carrying within it a respect for an old comrade-in-arms.

‘Wh, what? Who is this rude woman?’

However, that respect did not quite come across to Roger.

Since Vincent had not even given that small nod, Roger had unconsciously bowed at the waist and was now flustered.

“Roger here is the top student in his third year of the swordsmanship department. Ah, so he is now entering his final year.”

“And?”

Why on earth was this woman speaking informally to the professor? Roger was startled once more and looked back and forth between Adele and Charles.

She looked young, as though she had just come of age, but could she actually just have a very youthful appearance? He had heard from a classmate that there was a professor in the magic department who used expressions that had been fashionable a long time ago, suggesting he was quite old despite having the face of someone in their twenties.

Considering that, the person in front of him might also simply have a youthful appearance, and could perhaps even be the same age as Professor Charles Theodore.

“If you can defeat Roger, I will grant your request right away.”

“Yes, yes? Professor, what do you mean by that?”

“Good. It has been a while since I held a sword.”

Faced with the absurd situation, Roger’s grip on the paper listing the new students crumpled it.

Not even noticing the paper was completely crumpled, Roger said.

“Are you telling me to have a match against that woman?”

“Still as blunt and outspoken as ever, I see.”

There had been more than one or two dangerous moments on the battlefield because of that. Adele shook her head, thinking there was no helping it.

“Do, do you know me?”

“……No.”

Roger’s expression contorted completely. Just what kind of person was this?

“There is no need for lengthy words. All you have to do is defeat him and you can enroll.”

“Enroll? What is all this about?”

Roger’s agreement had not been necessary in the first place. Adele and Vincent immediately ignored him and headed toward the place marked as the sparring ground.

Charles patted Roger on the back with his large, rough hand.

The list of swordsmanship department new students, which he had not even thought to hand over, fell to the floor.

“Let us go as well.”

– – –

“Professor, are you serious…… am I really having a match against this woman?”

Roger asked with a troubled expression. And understandably so, for the woman in front of him looked like someone who had never held a sword in her life.

Her hands without calluses, and that arrogant attitude of hers. She was clearly one of two things: either very wealthy or a noble.

But Roger was different. He was a commoner who had entered the famously expensive academy on a scholarship and had never once fallen from the top of the rankings.

In other words, he was a prodigy who had never paid a single coin beyond the enrollment fee.

Surely the professor was not suddenly asking him to discipline an insolent new student.

Roger had absolutely no idea what Professor Theodore was thinking.

The woman swung the wooden sword she had been handed around awkwardly. A slender body without muscle and hands without a single callus.

Had she ever held a sword in her life?

Roger, who had been observing the woman, let out a deep sigh. Without even crossing swords, the outcome was as clear as day.

‘I do not know what the professor is thinking, but I suppose I should just go through the motions of a match……’

Before long, a large crowd had gathered around the sparring ground. With Charles Theodore having called for them, there was no one who would not come, and everyone except the students who were not in the dormitory due to the break had assembled.

Once even the professors in charge of enrollment had all arrived, Charles opened his mouth.

“I am going to start a friendly match.”

People were astonished at that short sentence.

And understandably so, because the person standing before Roger was a slender woman.

It was not as though the swordsmanship department had only male students, but while they trained together, matches between men and women were implicitly forbidden under the current circumstances.

The oldest female professor among them approached Charles and asked.

“What is this all of a sudden?”

“She is a student who will be enrolling this time. I called her because she has the most outstanding marks.”

“Among the new students…… was there a student like that?”

The professor pushed up her sliding glasses and examined Adele with a puzzled look. No matter how she thought about it, there was no such person on the enrollment list. And outstanding marks on top of that?

To this, Charles said without missing a beat.

“Yes, I forgot to submit the documents on my end.”

It was an outrageously shameless lie.

But the professor, who had not expected such a shameless lie to come from that fearsome face, had no choice but to nod with a disgruntled expression.

“Ahem, ahem. I am not sure why a duel has been called so suddenly, but since Sir Theodore has stepped forward, there must be some reason.”

“It seemed like Roger’s spirit needed to be brought down a notch.”

Bring Roger’s spirit down a notch? The elderly professor was startled and stared at Charles.

“No. A new student bringing down the overall top student…… and a woman at that?”

Vincent, who had come to stand beside the elderly professor, chimed in.

“If it is the boss, it is possible.”

It was a tone laced with amusement. It even felt a little playful. Having said that, he could not hide his smile as he watched Adele.

At Vincent’s words, the elderly professor could not help but be taken aback. That woman is the boss……? Could it be that even as a full-grown adult, they were still playing make-believe?

“And who are you?”

No matter how hard the elderly professor tried to recall, she could not place who the person was. There did not seem to be anyone like this among the current students.

A young man with grey hair and light-colored eyes. Long eyelashes and fair skin. An overall pretty face, which no matter how one looked at it did not give off the air of someone who wielded a sword.

At that moment, a student standing right beside her whispered quietly to the elderly professor.

“He is the eldest son of the Rogato family.”

“The Rogato family?”

Vincent said nothing, but the number of people recognizing who he was was gradually growing.

The atmosphere had now changed completely.

No one was paying attention to Roger and the unfamiliar woman across from him.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Vincent, who could be called the most well-known among this year’s swordsmanship department new students. No, among all new students at the academy.

Even the elderly professor, having heard Vincent’s identity, was startled and took a step back.

The cruelty of Duke Rogato was already well known to her. It would be troublesome if she got unnecessarily entangled and something bothersome arose.

Above all, she was also suspicious of the fact that the Rogato family, which had been brown-haired for generations, had suddenly produced a grey-haired child resembling the duchess who had run away.

The truth would only be known to the former duchess, who no one knew was alive or dead, but seeing him in person, did one not already know without needing to verify it? No trace of the duke could be found in Vincent’s face.

Of course, the duke had also recently fathered a second son with a servant he had taken a liking to, so that side of things did not look particularly good either.

She did not know why the ducal family’s eldest son had chosen the swordsmanship department out of all the departments at the academy, but she intended to quietly see him through to graduation.

An eldest son of dubious birth and a second son born between the duke and a servant. Keeping a distance from such a strange family was surely the wisest choice.

Even as the murmuring grew louder, Vincent’s expression did not change at all. His eyes were directed solely toward Adele, who was warming up.

He behaved as though he could not hear a thing.

“So it was true that you were coming to the swordsmanship department.”

“But why has he come out already?”

“Is he even eligible to inherit the family?”

“I saw him walking hand in hand with that woman earlier. Could she be his lover?”