Chapter 42
Contrary to her delicate appearance, the fist that shot out in an instant was fierce.
Riette reflexively twisted her body to the side and narrowly avoided it. Luckily, the girl didn’t attack again—she only blinked in surprise.
One with her fist still thrust forward, the other having dodged that fist—their gazes met.
“……”
“……”
A few seconds of silence passed just like that.
The cousin was the first to pull her fist back. Despite having thrown a punch out of nowhere, she didn’t look the least bit sorry or embarrassed. Instead, she quickly returned to the haughty expression she’d worn back at the dance party.
“Who are you?”
Even after throwing a punch without warning, she didn’t apologize. Riette found her behavior not just rude but almost unreasonable. Still, for Lucas’s sake, she reined in the irritation rising within her and introduced herself again.
“My name is Riette Meren. I’m a friend of Lucas.”
At Riette’s calm introduction, the girl’s expression flickered for the first time. Riette quickly added an explanation.
“We met once before, at the school dance party.”
“…I know.”
For some reason, she seemed troubled, as if her thoughts were tangled.
“May I ask your name? I didn’t hear it then.”
She remembered that, at the dance, Lucas had only introduced her as his cousin, and the girl hadn’t said a single word.
“My name is Anna.”
Normally, a noblewoman would also state which house she belonged to and her birth order within it. But she only gave her name and then fell quiet again.
Riette thought Anna was truly peculiar.
“If you don’t mind, could we talk for a moment about something regarding Lucas?”
Anna nodded. From her behavior so far, Riette thought she might refuse, but surprisingly, she agreed easily.
The two of them moved to a nearby park and sat side by side on an outdoor bench. Fortunately, there weren’t many people around, making it a good place to talk.
“What is it… you want to say about Lucas?”
Anna cut straight to the point the moment she sat down. Since Riette also felt awkward around her, she decided she should ask quickly and part ways.
“I’m a close friend of Lucas. Lately his expression has seemed heavy, so I was worried.”
“……”
“He says he’s fine, but… is there some problem in his family, perhaps?”
Anna was silent for a moment before slowly answering.
“There is nothing.”
Her reply was clipped and stiff, but Riette felt relieved. If nothing was wrong, that was good enough.
But before Riette could say anything more, Anna suddenly stood up.
“If you have nothing else to say, I’ll be going now.”
“Yes, thank you for your time.”
Normally one would at least respond politely, but without another word of courtesy, Anna turned sharply on her heel and left.
Riette thought she was gone for good, but then Anna abruptly stopped, turned back, and returned.
“…I’m sorry about earlier. I mistook you for an enemy and attacked without thinking.”
An enemy…?
Would an ordinary noble lady really be on such alert about encountering enemies? Even if it was a bit late in the day, they were in the middle of a crowded street. It would have made more sense if she’d said she thought Riette was some dangerous stranger.
“Well then.”
While Riette was still parsing her words, Anna gave her a slight bow and left again. Once more, Riette was struck by how unusual she was.
“How can two people of the same blood be so different?”
Anna was close enough to Lucas to attend a party with him, so she must be a fairly close relative, and yet the contrast between them was stark.
“Ah, but now that I think about it, there was one similarity.”
The way Anna had thrown her punch reminded Riette of the way Lucas handled his sword. Perhaps, being from the same household, there was a martial tradition passed down through the family.
Remembering her strange first encounter with Anna, Riette left the park.
A few more days passed since the curious meeting with Lucas’s cousin.
“That damn clock.”
Unable to concentrate on class today, Riette glared at the clock tower looming outside. Glaring at it wouldn’t change anything, but the morning’s events still had her fuming.
Yesterday, after staying late at the library, she had noticed the tower clock running slow. But today, it wasn’t—it had been reset to the correct time.
Unaware of that, Riette had glanced at the tower on her way through the school gate that morning, seen the hands showing just a little time left before class, and panicked. If the clock had been slow by that much, then in reality class had already started long ago.
When did so much time pass?! Convinced she was horribly late, Riette had sprinted like mad.
But then—
Thud!
She tripped on a stone and went sprawling in a noisy fall.
The pain in her knee was nothing compared to the flood of humiliation. Hoping no one had seen, she cautiously lifted her head—
“……”
“……”
Evan was standing right in front of her.
Mortified, she silently prayed he would just walk away. But Evan, of all people, came over, helped her up, and even pulled out a handkerchief to brush the dust from her knee.
“You should be more careful.”
With a teasing smile, he walked off.
Just remembering that scene made her cheeks burn with shame. No wonder she was glaring at the clock tower as though it were her mortal enemy.
“Ri… Riette?”
Startled out of her glare, she turned her head to find Samuel staring at her in confusion.
“What are you looking at like that…?”
“The clock tower.”
“The clock tower…? Why?”
“Because that broken thing made me humiliate myself this morning.”
Riette ground her teeth.
“The clock tower is broken?”
At Samuel’s stupid question, she scowled. But he wasn’t the only one confused—Lucas also frowned.
“Maybe you just saw it wrong, Riette? Look now—it’s showing the right time.”
“No. It’s fine now, but once evening comes…”
Wait a second.
Mid-sentence, Riette realized something.
Come to think of it, she had never noticed the clock running slow during the day. The bell always rang on time for classes and lunch, all based on that very clock tower.
Then why was it only in the evenings that it lagged?
Probably because none of the others stayed at school that late. Most noble students didn’t—why would they, when their homes had study spaces far more comfortable?
Riette was the exception, a holdover from her past life’s habits of studying late at school. That’s why she alone had noticed the clock malfunctioning in the evenings.
“What were you going to say, Riette?”
“…Never mind.”
She waved Samuel’s question away.
“Anyway, have you found out anything about the ‘ancient sun’?”
Of all things, he had to bring that up now. She was already anxious about it, and Samuel’s clueless question only stoked the flames.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—after a whole week of the election period, no one had yet solved the riddle. Since each student only got one chance to submit an answer, everyone was being extremely cautious.
When Riette didn’t answer, Samuel moved on to another question.
“Then have you found a partner yet?”
At that, Riette glanced sideways at Lucas.
Since suggesting their partnership, he hadn’t once pressured her, even though she’d put off answering for days. She knew full well he was still the most suitable choice, yet she couldn’t bring herself to decide with certainty.
Still, she couldn’t delay forever.
“Lucas.”
“Yes?”
“Let me think about it for just one more day. I’ll definitely give you my answer tomorrow.”
Lucas simply smiled and agreed.
Anyone else would have been annoyed at the delay, but Lucas almost never lost his composure. Seeing that, Riette felt her confidence in him grow stronger.
Yes—Lucas was someone she could trust.
Still, since she had bought herself one more day, she would use it to think carefully before giving her final answer.
“I’ll get going first.”
Gathering her things, Riette left.
Back home, she sat deep in thought again. The partner was practically decided—now all she needed to focus on was the riddle.
“The ancient sun, the ancient sun…”
No matter how she thought about it, nothing came to mind.
What had the headmaster been thinking when he gave this question? He wouldn’t have set it carelessly. After all, this was an election to choose a student representative for an entire year.
Since no answer came, she shifted her thoughts toward the man who had set the problem.
“The headmaster…”
Even though he had included some nasty rules in this election, Riette still thought of him positively. He was someone who wanted to give everyone an equal chance.
Allowing anyone to become student president if they solved the riddle, supporting those who placed in the top three with hereditary titles regardless of family rank or influence—all of that was his way of helping students pursue dreams outside their noble houses.
Thanks to that system, even Riette, a girl, had a chance to inherit a dukedom.
“What else…”
Ah, yes. Just as Lucas had said, the headmaster was modest and humble. His demeanor showed it, and his reputation in society matched.
His family had been educators for generations, entrusted by the emperor to continue running Truto Academy. With such authority, he could have been arrogant, but he always remained humble.
Even the way he left the school’s old facilities unrepaired could be seen as part of his frugal nature. Unless he considered it absolutely necessary, he never replaced anything.
“Still, he could at least fix the clock tower…”
Grumbling, Riette flopped onto her bed.
A book bumped against her head. It was an old volume on spirit stones that Duke Kreutz had given her long ago. She had promised herself she would read it this week, but as usual, hadn’t even opened it.
“Sorry, Uncle…”
For a change of pace, she decided she might as well start reading it now.
The first page was the table of contents.
“Types of Minerals, Understanding Spirit Stones, Effects of Spirit Stones…”
She skimmed through and turned the page.
The first chapter was a general explanation of various minerals in this world—background knowledge necessary before discussing spirit stones.
“Mana stone: a mineral that stores condensed magical energy. A high-quality mana stone can last up to a hundred years.”
Mana stones were the most commonly used resource in this world. Riette skimmed the section and let her eyes drift downward, where other familiar ores were listed.
Then something unusual caught her attention.
“Solar stone: a mineral that condenses sunlight. Commonly used before mana stones became widespread, but rarely used nowadays.”
“Solar stone…? This existed?”
She had never heard of it before. Intrigued, Riette read on.
“It uses solar heat as its energy source. However, once the sun sets, the energy condensed during the day is quickly depleted.”
Her eyes widened as she read.
Something immediately clicked.
“No way…!”
There was a structure in the school that perfectly matched that description. It worked fine during the day, but by evening, it looked as though it were broken.
“That’s the answer!”
Her hand trembled with excitement as she clutched the book.
