Layla's body ached as she tried to keep it up. But her young age, activities, and overuse of magic caused her to collapse.
"Hey, are you alright? Are you going to die? You cannot die-! Hey, stay awake!"
Kyle yelled as he tried his best to keep Layla's body upright. But she was too tired and had heavy eyes to stay away.
Her body dropped before she noticed, and gentle and familiar hands caught her.
*Gasp*
"You are-"
Kyle's voice sounded in awe, but Layla was already asleep by them.
People watched as her body was held by Mary (who appeared out of nowhere at the test grounds) and caught the youngest person here.
"Oh my! It looks like my young miss is running a fever. I should take her back now. You all don't have a problem with that, right?"
Mary asked the teachers who had allowed the situation to get this bad.
They all flinched at Mary's accusing tone, but their leader quickly coughed and pulled himself together.
"This test is held to test these kid's qualifications as future magicians. How will they survive future attacks if they cannot handle such small nuances? That's why we did not interfere."
The mages did not have the Great Wizard Rodric Burnance with them, so they felt more awkward opposing someone from the Duke's household.
But they held their ground since they knew that they were in the right.
Mary also knew that she was overreacting. She did not need to bite these people; she did not need them to just do what they were supposed to.
But she could not help herself.
For some reason, just thinking of something happening to her young miss made the inside of her stomach churn with displeasure. She had never felt like this for any kids she had looked after.
Even her contractors did not make Mary move and act the way Layla did.
'Am I under some kind of enchantment? Did Miss Layla somehow cast one on me? Heh! What an absurd thought…and yet…'
Mary finally considered this possibility, but her brain dismissed it as soon as she thought of it.
She would have known if some weird magic had been cast on her. So, this just meant that Mary's curiosity was evolving into other emotions.
But she had no intention of stopping this. She wanted to see how much more she could be entertained by Layla before she eventually got bored of her.
...
Layla slept for the remainder of the day and another few hours.
No one visited her during this time, and Mary checked up on her miss to ensure her safety.
By now, everyone in the shared house knew that Layla was sick, but no one dared to make a move on her for fear of her maid.
The atmosphere had turned tense as Mary's temper became shorter and shorter. The maid never openly snapped at anyone, but it was not easy to deal with her either. Most people chose to ignore her or get out of her way.
Things remained like this until Layla opened her eyes and faced Mary.
Suddenly, the atmosphere returned to normal, and the tension in the air wavered away, almost as if it had never been there.
"What happened…. I feel like I slept for a lot longer than I needed to."
Layla complained as she felt her body ache pleasantly.
Her muscles felt sore but well-rested. This ache made Layla arch her back and feel her body snap into place.
"My young miss sure knows how to be reckless. You almost lost your life because you did not take care of your body. What would I have done if you died because of a fever? My reputation would have been destroyed."
Mary fake-cried as she looked at Layla.
Her acting was not fooling Layla, and Mary noticed it quickly before she returned to her neutral expression.
"Did the results for the exams come in? I want to look at them as soon as possible."
Layla ignored Mary's fake crying and asked this question. Her serious expression made Mary shake her head before quickly taking the letter and handing it to Layla in bed.
"I would rather not have you be in bed when you check up on your quickly taking the letter and handing stop, even if I asked you to. So, I might as well become your accomplice and listen to you, right?"
Mary handed the letter to Layla, and it was sealed tightly.
Layla was sure Mary had already opened this letter to look inside before resealing it. She just looked like the person to do such a thing.
[Layla Lockhart
Placement: 1st
Extra points for saving a classmate's life and finding the hidden objective
Below is the form for the internship. Please fill it out and hand it back over before the end of the week]
'Shit! I wanted to be third, not the first. This pastes such a huge target on my back.'
Layla felt happy with what she had achieved but bitter simultaneously.
If she had known this would happen, she would have tried to do worse in the written part (she wouldn't have been able to; she was too conditioned to do her best and work hard).
"Miss, this is a happy occasion, right? How would you like to celebrate it? Would you like to have a special dinner? Or ask for something else? The Duke is impressed with your performance and has granted you an unconditional favor."
Even though Mary said that this was an unconditional favor, it likely had many restrictions, but that was fine.
Layla already knew what she was going to ask the Duke for.
"Mary, I know what I want. I want the Duke to give me four middle-grade magic stones every month. Do you think he will accept such a request?"
Layla asked, and Mary smiled immediately.
"Well, why don't you ask the Duke yourself? He has asked you to come to dinner tonight…which is in about an hour. We should get you ready."