The next morning, Selene sat at her desk, resting her head on her fist while her other hand rhythmically tapped against the wooden surface, irritated. Somehow, the Duchess convinced the Duke not to evict Thorn from the castle, under the condition that she would only tutor Damion. To make matters worse, rumors had spread throughout the kingdom about Selene burning and cutting off Thorn's arm for attempting to steal her pendant.
"How did that news spread so fast?" she muttered in frustration. Because of the scandal, no one wanted to tutor her. Well, not that it mattered.
Selene knew more about this world than any tutor could teach her. She knows about the kingdom's history, politics, military strategies, and culture. She even knew about foreign nations, their customs, and magic lore.
Back on Earth, she was always at the top of her class, excelling in every subject from elementary school to high school. She was even a student at the prestigious University of Seoul. The lack of tutors didn't bother her.
What did concern her, however, was her inability to understand magic. Though she was a Dark Priestess, she should be able to use elemental magic, even though it would be weaker than those specializing in it. The question was, how?
Rubbing her chin deep in thought, Selene's gaze shifted to the four soul essences on her desk. She still hadn't figured out how to reattach them to Thorn.
Earlier that morning, after breakfast, she had caught a glimpse of Thorn near the kitchen. The moment Thorn saw her, she screamed and ran like her life depended on it.
Selene sighed, staring at the soul essences. Hearing Thorn's story yesterday, she pitied the woman but was indifferent toward her.
Thorn's situation was unfortunate, but it wasn't as though she had no options in life.
The whole, I was suppressed by the nobles and couldn't become a mage was all a lie. Thorn could have easily become a castle mage, but she chose not to or changed her mind, Selene thought.
When she awakened as a mage class, Thorn was given special treatment that most commoners could only dream of. At the age of 15, she entered Ravencroft Academy of Magic and Combat at level 163. She only needed to reach level 170 to qualify as a castle mage, and during her three years at the academy, she raised her level to 187, which surpassed the requirements.
However, despite being more than qualified, Thorn turned down the opportunity to become a castle mage, and Selene knows why. In this kingdom, castle mages received no noble status, which made the position less appealing for someone like Thorn.
Furthermore, Thorn excelled in fire magic and could have easily pursued a career as a battle mage, earning achievements on the battlefield that would have granted her status. But, based on Thorn's story, Selene surmised that she was looking for a shortcut to rise in rank.
Shortcuts often lead to disaster, Selene thought grimly.
Thorn's downfall, however, didn't surprise her. Selene had encountered countless stories like this back on Earth. People often condemned mistresses for breaking up families. However, Selene also knows that this wasn't the real reason why Thorn went nuts yesterday.
Thorn tried to seduce the Duke and was caught by Damion. So, in order to keep his mouth, Thorn started an inappropriate relationship with him, which began when he was only twelve years old.
Selene frowned as she recalled that part of the story. The laws of this world were a little similar to Earth's. While minors could engage in intimate relationships starting at age fourteen, adults were only permitted to have relationships with those eighteen or older. In other words, Thorn was a child predator.
Disgusting, Selene thought with a shudder. Well, unfortunately for her, her plan had backfired big time.
Instead of gaining control over Damion, she had unintentionally nurtured his sadistic tendencies. Whenever he was in a foul mood, he would torture and humiliate her.
Thorn must have seen me as her saving grace. But after I revealed the Dark Priestess class, all her hops went down the drain. Well, not my problem, Selene thought, shaking her head. Dwelling on Thorn's misfortunes wouldn't do her any good right now.
Selene stood and made her way to the bathroom, where she changed into her combat attire. Since no tutors were available and she had no scheduled classes due to the ongoing scandal, she decided to attend her swordsmanship lessons earlier than planned.
The knight responsible for her training hadn't been able to teach her the day before because he had gone to witness his son's awakening ceremony.
The knight's name was Sir Galen, an extra character who had only appeared briefly in the game, tasked with teaching Eri swordsmanship in Damion's route. From what Selene remembered, he was a laid-back, easygoing guy.
I hope he wouldn't care about the rumors about me.
She finally turned to leave the room, once ready, and, grasping her wooden sword in her hand, glanced over at the time on her wall clock. Her face went white as she ran out of the room. She was late.
She internally scolded herself, Eun-ji, you forgot how you ended up like this is the first place.
After a few minutes of frantic running through the castle corridors, she rounded a corner and slammed into someone. To her surprise, it was Aldric who ended up on the floor, not her.
"Ow! Watch where you're going!" Aldric groaned, rubbing his sore backside as he sat on the floor.
Selene blinked in confusion. "What are you still doing here?!" I thought he and the queen would've left already.
Still sitting on the floor, Aldric shot her a glare. "Galen told me to come get you!"
Selene muttered an "Oh" and reached out to help him up, but Aldric slapped her hand away.
He grumbled, "I can stand up myself!"
He stood up and eyed her suspiciously as if he were sure she had planned this whole thing to get his attention. Selene couldn't understand why he was behaving like that but let the matter go, thinking that his male ego was bruised from the fall.
Without a word, Aldric turned and started walking away, and Selene followed behind him silently. As they walked, Selene noticed that Aldric was dressed in combat attire and found herself thinking, Is he going to train with me too?
As they finally approached the training grounds, she saw Galen chatting with a few knights.
There was also Damion, clad in his combat attire, which shocked her since he should be attending his classes.
Then she was baffled when she saw that the Duke was close to the training area, also with his fighting suit on, together with the Queen and the Duchess. Selene couldn't help herself but whisper, "What's going on?
Her thoughts were muddled as Galen spotted them and waved for them to come over.
"About time you two showed up!" Galen called out with a smirk. He glanced over to where the Duke was and thought, Maybe I can show off a bit to the Duke.
Standing side by side with Aldric and Damion in front of Galen, Selene felt uneasy.
He announced, "Today, each of you will spar with me. Your goal is to land a hit within five minutes. If you don't, I'll start attacking, and you'll defend. Understood?"
The three of them nodded.
Galen pointed at Aldric. "Your majesty, you can go first."
Aldric stepped forward, gripping his wooden sword tightly. Galen's expression softened a bit, Even though the Ravencroft is more powerful than the royal family, they won't protect me in case something happens to the Crown Prince.
The two began their duel with swift, controlled movements. Aldric swung his sword, but Galen blocked each attack with ease. After a couple of minutes, however, Aldric managed to land a hit on Galen's abdomen.
Galen grinned, patting Aldric on the shoulder. "Well done! Your Majesty."
Selene made a face when he said that. This dude is definitely trying to suck up to Aldric.
Aldric smiled proudly before stepping aside. Galen's tone shifted as he turned to Damion. "Damion, you're next."
Selene frose, Wait. That doesn't sound right. He just called Damion by name. And what's with that tone?
Damion stepped forward a bit uneasy, and Selene noticed that Galen's demeanor had completely changed.
They began the duel. Galen's movements were much more fast than when he dueled with Aldric. Though Damion tried with all his might, he wasn't able to land one hit on him.
After five minutes had passed, Galen burst out laughing. "Times up. My turn."
Without giving Damion a chance to relax, Galen attack. Damion didn't have time to raise his sword before the first blow came crashing down. The blows were heavy, hard, and merciless. Damion tried to defend, but with each blow, his feet slipped. Soon enough, he found himself on the ground, gasping for air.
But he wasn't done. Galen raised the large wooden sword and swung down hard on Damion's shoulder, who screamed out in pain.
"Pathetic!" Galen scolded. "If you can't even defend yourself, how do you expect to lead this place being so weak?"
Selene watched in shock and was stunned. Galen of the game, was calm and kind but this one was completely different from that one. She turned her gaze at the Queen and the Duchess. Isolde was grinning from ear to ear while the latter seemed indifferent.
Her gaze turned to the Duke, and what she saw sent chills down her spine. The Duke's face was cold and emotionless, but Selene felt a great murderous intent coming from him.
Galen, deer, your days are numbered, she thought with grim satisfaction. She silently wished for safe passage for the knight to the afterlife.
She was knocked out of her thoughts when she heard Galen shout. "Selene, you're up!"
The suddenness of his voice made Selene jump; in one quick motion, she stepped forward. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her beating heart. But the second her eyes met Galen's, something inside of her clicked.
[Ruthlessness skill activated]
A cold detachment washed over her, and she could feel her emotions slowly slipping away. She wanted to panic but it was as if she had forgotten how to. In fact, she didn't know how to feel or rather, she couldn't feel anything at all.
The only thing she could think about was that the man in front of her is a threat and she needs to eliminate him.