She was a bit late returning. However, when the driver approached the stern-faced dormitory supervisor and exchanged a few words, the supervisor reluctantly allowed Aira in despite her obvious disapproval.

The problem was that there was too much luggage in the carriage for it to be just the clothes she had been wearing. Because of this, the driver had to carry the bags to her room under the supervisor’s watchful eye.

The dormitory was empty since it was still holiday until tomorrow. Relieved that Roje wasn’t in the room, Aira opened the bags.

First, she found exact replacements for all the items she had borrowed from her classmates.

The other bags were filled with unfamiliar items. Picking up one of the dresses and holding it against herself in front of the mirror, Aira raised an eyebrow. It was a perfect fit for her current body, which was smaller than others her age. How was that possible when no one had measured her?

Was it Jens? Or had Kle purchased these things on his own initiative?

They didn’t seem to be randomly selected designs either. The style reminded her of gifts Luten had given her when she crossed over to the Archipelago during this period.

Though they were completely different people who had given these items, the buoyant yet hollow feeling she’d experienced while looking in the hotel mirror subsided.

In the past, she had happily tried on clothes Luten had given her without thinking much about it. Without knowing anything.

No, this isn’t Jens’s fault. I’m the strange one. These are just ordinary gifts for a ward.

Aira pushed the dress she had held against herself back into the bag without hesitation.

As Jens had said, it would be difficult to meet like this for the next few years. So she had no need for such clothes.

“Going to find a flower…”

He was heading to the Arctic with those words.

She couldn’t even begin to guess what flower he could possibly be searching for in the Arctic, that barren land of ice without a speck of soil, or why he was looking for a flower at all. Perhaps it was a metaphor for something.

But despite being an Imperial princess and having learned all sorts of things while living under Luten in the Archipelago, she had never heard such an expression.

However, it was the first clue she had obtained. There was a strong possibility that this flower was the wish he had demanded of her in the past.

If so, she had only one thing to do.

Find that flower for Jens.

Aira arranged the items to be returned to her classmates on the desk and set aside money based on her estimate of their value. She planned to return them to Kle tomorrow along with the bags. She had neither reason nor right to accept these things.

“…”

As she placed the organized bags by the entrance, her eyes fell on the yellow dress she had worn here, now lying on the bed.

The face of the young girl who had worn that dress and gained a new life came to mind. Her chest tightened with a sharp pang. But then she shifted her gaze to the bag full of dresses.

In the past, she had received dresses like this from Luten too…

But now she wouldn’t be delighted by such things, nor would she let her guard down.

Even if she had briefly reclaimed it, that girl in the mirror wasn’t really her. The momentary comfort had been enough. Just seeing that face in the mirror was reward enough for enduring this life so far.

Her life had ended with revenge and a contract.

This extra young face was solely for fulfilling the contract.

Aira neatly folded the yellow dress, no longer hers, and placed it in the bag.

* * *

With the military band playing magnificent music, cadets wearing tall plumed hats and carrying batons swung their arms at identical angles, marching in with perfect precision.

Behind the cadets entering with precise angles, the graduates of the year 218 were preparing to make their entrance.

Today they would leave behind their status as cadets and receive their first commission as ensigns in the Republic.

“Graduates, enter!”

After the entrance of distinguished guests including the President, the Minister of Defense, and the Chief of Naval Staff, the 147th class, today’s protagonists, followed.

Artillery salutes thundered in the sky above the solemn faces of the fledgling cadets.

BOOM!

“Stand at attention!”

Over the graduates standing in perfect formation without the slightest deviation, the voice of the cadet in charge of proceedings continued.

“We now begin the 147th Naval Academy graduation and commissioning ceremony.”

Click-click-click-click.

Though it was merely a graduation ceremony for cadets about to become freshly commissioned ensigns, the flashes from countless gathered journalists were grandiose.

Despite the distinguished guests seated in a row on the platform, the journalists’ cameras were pointed not at them but at the left corner of the graduates’ formation.

Unlike usual, the journalists’ prey today wasn’t the high-ranking officials.

“We will now present the honors awards. The Nüer Award. Cadet Aira Til, step forward.”

“Yes, sir!”

The eyes of everyone gathered focused on the cadet stepping forward.

She was a female cadet two or three heads shorter than the burly male cadets standing nearby.

Her short bob was ivory-colored, looking as delicate as a bird’s down, and she was so small it was hard to believe she was about to become a naval ensign.

Nevertheless, the Nüer Award she was receiving was given to the valedictorian among the graduates.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The cadet saluted President Schulson, who handed her the trophy with an expressionless face.

Journalists furiously pressed their shutters to capture the moment. On one side, other reporters frantically scribbled articles to be released as breaking news.

[The Imperial princess graduates top of her class at Conifer. Will she become a sharp dagger to stab her motherland?]

During the presentation of commission certificates and rank insignia, followed by the oath and congratulatory speeches, the cadets standing at attention maintained solemn, expressionless faces.

But with the joy of finally graduating from four grueling years at the Naval Academy, some forcibly suppressed smiles at the corners of their mouths, while others worried their pounding heartbeats might be heard.

However, seemingly unrelated to all this, the newly twenty-year-old female cadet—no, the newly commissioned ensign—standing at the front left in the valedictorian’s position, watched the ceremony with bored eyes, without the slightest change in her heartbeat.

She had merely reached the starting line.

* * *

“To think she actually took the valedictorian position!”

At the gathering of admirals after the graduation ceremony, Major General Lo, the 31st principal of Conifer, sighed deeply at someone’s outburst of indignation—something he had heard dozens of times before. Then he answered mechanically.

“She never once yielded first place in theory or practice over the four years. How could I give the valedictorian position to another cadet?”

“What? Grades? GRADES? No matter what, it must be the Empire’s dirty tactics!”

Lo was irritated that he had to bear their anger over a mere ensign of imperial princess origin who was nothing but trouble.

However, he couldn’t break principles and change the valedictorian position for emotional reasons.

In shipboard training, diving training, and rifle and bayonet training, Aira Til always achieved the highest scores.

Having an excellent cadet who devoted herself to study and training, even giving up holidays, was fortunate for him as principal.

It would be nothing but beneficial for a principal when such a cadet later wore golden epaulettes on her shoulders and rose to a high position.

But Aira Til had a fatal problem from birth.

The Republic’s greatest enemy.

She was from the Empire, their mortal enemy that could not tolerate the other’s existence, and moreover, she had been a member of the imperial family with succession rights.

“And do you know which ship that princess chose?”

“Ah.”

So that was the issue. The right to choose a ship given to the valedictorian.

They were making such a fuss because they feared she might join their fleet.

Just a newly commissioned ensign. In reality, they could easily crush her from their admiral positions.

They could drive her out through harassment, or send her to a ship far from power and keep her away from land.

But what they were taking issue with was the fact that she had graduated as valedictorian from Conifer.

“We’ve been reducing the number of ship selection rights over four years, and she still managed to grab that one spot!”

Four years ago, the top ten graduates of Conifer were given the right to choose their first ship assignment upon commissioning.

But as the princess’s exceptional academic performance became known after entering Conifer, they reduced the number of top performers given ship selection rights from ten to five, then to three… every year.

And this year. The imperial princess had claimed the right to choose the first assignment ship given only to the valedictorian—a naval tradition they couldn’t eliminate.

“If that’s what you’re worried about, don’t be. Ensign Til has already selected her first assignment ship.”

“What?!”

Tension instantly filled the table.

“Stop testing us and tell us quickly.”

Lo felt somewhat pathetic looking at the admirals urging him and said:

“The Paul Nor.”

“Is there such a ship?”

The admirals voiced their confusion. It was an unfamiliar name even to them, who knew most naval vessels.

“Then you’ll know this. The captain of the Paul Nor is Commander Jens Will.”

“…What?”

At the name of the captain, far more famous than the ship, the admirals finally recalled the Paul Nor.

The one who had been most vocal in criticizing Lo stammered:

“Surely you don’t mean that wreck of a ship?”

“I do.”

“…!”

Shock spread among those gathered.

They looked at each other’s faces.

Their expressions showed confusion about whether they should be relieved that the princess hadn’t chosen their ships, or regret that Conifer’s proud valedictorian was going to a vessel that could be called scrap without exaggeration.

Someone spoke in a dumbfounded voice:

“Why would she choose that ship?”