Darian felt conflicted but decided to put on his mask and show a friendly smile to Naria. Who was she supposed to be? He can't remember having a relative with that name.
After class he purposely seek her and drag her to a place with few students.
"Who are you?" Darian didn't try to hide his curiosity and slight hostility. Before the class ended he already contacted Finicke to do a background check on this girl but didn't get any useful information at all.
"I'm your uncle's illegitimate child" Naria answered calmly.
Darian expected that answer. That's one of the information confirmed by Finicke.
He hated seeing her composed, for some reason he felt familiarity but at the same time there's something unsettling about her that makes him want to pull out her mask.
"Look, I don't care if they sent you here to spy on me or for something else, but let me tell you that this is a foreign land, don't try to create trouble and drag me with you or compromise our country" Darian threw off his warning.
He cannot afford any mishaps in his plans. Everything was calculated to a T so the appearance of Naria shook him off a bit. Hopefully, his warning is enough to scare her not to jeopardize his plans.
Upon hearing his warning, Ember can't help but laugh in her head. This prince is really paranoid. Didn't he know that he's the one who creates troubles for her. Just this mission to protect him already gave her the headache on how she could upgrade Cindy.
"Don't fret my cousin prince, I'll certainly not dip in your troubled waters, but you'll never know when you might actually need me, so don't scare me off. Instead, I hope that you won't drag me down with you" Ember said coolly and walked away.
Darian can't believe what he just heard. It seems that he needed to make allowances for this unexpected variable of a cousin.
The next day...
"Have you heard, the new student was not initially invited but to make it fair, they actually made her take the entrance exam" the student from Country S started. His name was Lauren.
"Tsk, it doesn't change the fact that Ruwei had two representatives. And so what if they let her take the entrance exam, I'm sure it's just a mere play" the hot headed Ace from Country Y was not convinced.
"Well from what I gathered, Prince Darian only pick two servants and that's the reason why they allowed Naria to take the last slot, only since she's royalty, she managed to make it into class" a prim girl named Sanna from country K shared her information.
"Sanna got it right, but only the half of it. As I said before she did take an entrance exam and it's not a hoax like Ace was trying to imply. You may not know since this was only revealed recently, but Corvin's entrance exam is the second most difficult in the whole world. Had they asked us to take it, I'm sure more than half of the representatives would have been eliminated" the students was shocked by this revelation. But since Country S is known for their massive network of information, no one doubted Lauren.
Lauren was satisfied by the reaction of his classmates. Then, before they can settle their emotions, he dropped another bomb.
"So, Naria Rei took the exam and guess what?" Lauren smiled wickedly.
The students obviously knew she passed and so they are now curious on what else Lauren is about to say.
"Dammit Lauren, say it" Ace impatiently urged Lauren. If he was in his country he would have already hanged Lauren from the top of the building upside-down so he can puke out the whole news.
Lauren felt helpless about this guy.
"She managed to get a perfect score" Lauren said straightforwardly else Ace would have choked him to death.
These students can't help but admire Naria. Although they didn't go through the entrance exam but from the country they're from, all of them took one and not one of them got a clean hundred mark. As privileged as they are, they're not exempted from such exams.
"Wait, isn't she a few years younger than us?" a student suddenly remembered. Not one day had passed and they already gathered basic information about Naria. Unfortunately, like Darian, they could only gather much.
The representatives from each country are actually around 18 years old and in their senior year in high school. That's also the reason why there's only a small group of them in this academy. Their country would never want to let a stranger represent them and only few nobles are around this age. Still, that girl managed to get into their class, it seems that they have to really pay attention to her.
"That's right. The academy allowed her to join us after evaluating her learning capability. She's just perfect" Clearly, Lauren paid attention to Naria. He had never seen a girl as perfect as her. And the fact that even with his family's influence he can't obtain any additional information than what most already has made him more interested in her person.
Each student was left with their own thoughts.
A few minutes after, Naria entered in her blooming glow which again awed the masses. But before they can recover, Leine entered and started to organize them before the trip to the capital began.
Unlike yesterday when they were still aloof, today, a lot of the students approached Naria.
The truth is, it was Prince Darian that they intially wanted to get close to, but since he is like an ice king, they opted to gain some relation with Naria. Even if she's only an illegitimate child, they've long since known that the Duke Alder, King Elliot of Ruwei only brother didn't take a wife. Up to now, Naria is the only known offspring of the Duke, therefore, she was officially adopted and placed on the Royal family tree. She may not be privy with the country's top secret information for now but the fact that they let her be one of the representatives and that she had shown great potential means they're going to nurture her.
It's profitable to start getting acquainted early in the game.
Meanwhile, Darian was observing Naria. Even he was surprised when he got to know the process she went through to get in the academy. At least she's smart enough and will not be a rotten teammate. As the saying goes, do not be afraid of smart guys but of the dumb ones, because they're more unpredictable. They can give you trouble in more ways than one. But for him it would be enough if she can keep away from his business.