Ibnis von Sielte.

She was Conrad’s fiancée and the granddaughter whom the former Empress of the Empire adored.

Although the Sielte Marquis family was not a branch of the Roberg family, she was attending the heir training with the Duke’s approval, especially considering their relationship with the imperial family.

So that’s why she was so arrogant within Roberg.

‘But why would she want to learn magic from her future in-laws?’

Either way, I wasn’t interested in the princess games of these little kids.

Liria sat with her chin resting on her hand, turning her body toward Rona with cloudy eyes.

Pitter-patter.

The princess and her group of ladies-in-waiting surveyed their surroundings before moving in this direction. They specifically surrounded Rona.

It seemed that Rona was currently the target of their bullying.

The girl with luscious red hair standing next to Clara, Ibnis, took out a silver-crafted hand mirror from the bag she was holding.

The delicate craftsmanship and beautifully reflective mirror were clearly not an ordinary item at first glance.

As the girls gazed at it with admiring eyes, Ibnis dropped the mirror from her hand.

In fact, rather than dropping it, it seemed she deliberately let it go.

Everyone was shocked.

Crash!

The mirror shattered into pieces at Rona’s feet.

“Oh my, my hand slipped? Pershu, dear, since you’re close by, would you pick up my item for me?”

Liria unconsciously frowned.

‘What? You deliberately dropped it just now! Is Rona the only decent person here?’

However, Rona quietly stood up from her seat and crouched down on the floor. She began touching the broken mirror pieces with her bare hands.

Liria said with a worried face.

“Rona, don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“…I-I’m fine, this is n-nothing at all.”

She didn’t stutter when they were alone, but now that she was nervous, Rona started stuttering again.

Giggle, giggle, a wave of laughter erupted from the girls.

Liria, who had been silently watching them, said to Rona.

“Sister, step aside for a moment. Let me handle this.”

“Wh-what…? N-no, don’t.”

At Liria’s offer to handle it herself, Clara and Ibnis raised their eyebrows.

They exchanged glances among themselves with amused expressions.

‘Yes, what comes next will be even more fun.’

“Move aside quickly. I have a very good method.”

“……”

When Rona finally moved aside, Liria used all her strength to lift her foot and began stomping on the broken mirror.

Thud, tap! Tap!

Crack!

When the mirror wasn’t completely destroyed, she simply kicked it hard.

Ibnis, who was watching this scene, seemed too dumbfounded to speak.

Clara stepped in, aghast.

“…Liria! What on earth are you doing, destroying Lady Sielte’s mirror?”

Liria, unfazed, climbed onto a chair, raised her hand high, and shouted loudly.

“Over here! Please come over here!”

The guards outside the magic hall then turned their attention inside.

Clara and the other girls were busy watching Ibnis’s reaction.

“She’s just a child who doesn’t know any better.”

“That’s right.”

“Indeed. She probably doesn’t even know how valuable it is. Is that child really a direct descendant of Roberg?”

Ibnis sneered as she looked Liria up and down.

“Excuse me, do you normally throw away precious items like that? When I saw you throwing it on the floor, I thought it was trash!”

Liria said with a bright smile.

“…Quite an impudent child, Clara.”

As Ibnis’s lips trembled, Clara scolded Liria instead.

“Liria, don’t you know who Lady Sielte is? Apologize immediately.”

“My nanny taught me that apologies are for people who make mistakes.”

Liria shrugged her shoulders.

Ibnis bit her lip and glared at Liria terrifyingly.

Meanwhile, adults arrived one after another. Among them was a familiar face.

“Lady Liria, what’s the matter?”

It was Aide Emmett.

“There’s dangerous trash here! Please clean it up immediately for everyone’s safety.”

“I understand. I will have the dangerous items removed right away. Would everyone please step back?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Emmett immediately gave instructions to the other servants.

The chaotic situation was quickly resolved.

The children who had gathered around for entertainment dispersed back to their places.

Meanwhile, Emmett seemed to be talking with Ilina, Fabian, and other teachers in charge of the heir training.

Though the children were chattering among themselves, their attention was entirely focused on Emmett.

The movement of the Duke’s aide meant that there were likely instructions from Grandfather.

“What could be happening?”

“He’s probably going to pit the heirs against each other. This should be interesting!”

Amid the worried whispers, the one showing confidence was neither Ibnis nor Clara.

It was Dimitri, the largest of the three siblings from House Jade, who had bullied Liria before.

Dimitri, making eye contact with Liria, sneered arrogantly.

“Now we’ll see who’s truly excellent as an heir! I’ll easily press down mere keys.”

“Dimitri, why is he so pumped up today?”

The surrounding children also looked at him with puzzled expressions.

Come to think of it, Natasha and Malcom, who usually stuck with him, were nowhere to be seen.

‘Was Dimitri’s magic strong enough to display such confidence?’

Something seemed suspicious.

It was then.

Having apparently organized his thoughts, Emmett, accompanied by the teachers, stood on the platform in the hall and addressed the children:

“His Grace the Duke has informed all heirs gathered at the Magic Hall of one thing. This semester, evaluation tests will be held monthly in different formats. The heir who achieves the greatest results in the tests will receive appropriate rewards. That is all.”

The Magic Hall referred to this place where heir education was taking place.

After Emmett left, the children buzzed even more.

“Monthly evaluation tests? That’s too intense.”

“Ugh, I hope it’s not a tournament.”

“Don’t even mention it. What if it actually happens!”

“Now, now. You heard what the aide said, right? Please participate diligently in classes to achieve good results in the evaluation tests.”

Someone raised their hand at Ilina’s words.

“Teacher, won’t there be class assignments this semester?”

“Well, this time we’ll proceed fairly without classes.”

“What? Then won’t there be too much difference with those who have higher skills?”

That was a valid point.

Liria was completely new to heir training, so she was in a clueless chick state.

“Instead, you’ll proceed divided into the previously formed group teams. The team assignments have been posted on the bulletin board, so please check for yourselves.”

As soon as Ilina finished speaking, the children rushed to check the bulletin board in the Magic Hall.

After the cloud of children passed, Liria finally looked up at the bulletin board.

“Ugh, the board is too high.”

The postings were not visible to the small Liria.

“Here, step on this.”

Just then, someone placed a footstool in front of Liria.

“Thank you… Oh, Rona?”

Turning around, there was Rona whom she had befriended earlier, and a boy with the same hair color and a mischievous look.

He appeared to be Rona’s twin brother.

“I should be thanking you for helping me earlier. Oh, this is my twin brother Rodrick.”

Unlike Rona, Rodrick has spiky hair and two band-aids on his face, making him look like a troublemaker.

“I heard someone saved Rona, but you’re just a tiny booger!”

“Rodrick, I told you not to use such dirty words with a lady.”

“…Right, have you ever seen a booger this big?”

Liria grumbled indignantly.

“By the way, we’re siblings, so of course we’re in the same team, right?”

Rodrick pointed to a section of the bulletin board as he spoke to Rona.

It seemed that three people were assigned to each team. But next to the siblings’ names, one familiar name caught her eye.

‘Eugene?!’

Come to think of it, though the new semester was starting today, Eugene hadn’t shown up at the hall at all.

‘Is he sick somewhere?’

The usually diligent Eugene would have attended without fail.

“…L-Liria. This is bad.”

“Hm? Why?”

“L-look over there…”

The team assignment was absolutely fantastic.

[Team F. Conrad, Ibnis, Liria]

“…Death team confirmed.”