Elsi had to endure all sorts of humiliation for several days.
It was the first time she had bowed her head to a commoner.
Inside, she was angry and had almost lost her patience several times, but in the end, Elsi gritted her teeth and suppressed her temper.
It was frustrating and difficult.
Why should she have to apologize to someone like a commoner?
It was natural for the weak to be trampled upon.
What Elsi had shattered beyond repair was meant to prepare for the day when they would become strong and try to trample her down.
The world Elsi lived in had always been this way.
It had been so since her childhood.
The strong trample and bully the weak, while the weak either get trampled or become strong and trample again.
Thus, her violence could also be classified as self-defense.
Elsi simply did not want to be trampled again.
She did not want to return to her painful and difficult childhood. That was Elsi’s unvarnished true feelings.
Yes, until recently, she would have said so.
However, now whenever she felt sad and unjust, she thought of I-an.
He was a man who not only didn’t trample the weak but also supported and embraced them.
Her first meeting with him hadn’t been pleasant, but it was undeniable that her fate changed upon meeting him.
Elsi’s world was no longer trapped within the Rainelle Clan.
I-an was the new master she had chosen for herself, her life, and her world.
So if this new world required a new morality, she would adapt to it as much as needed.
Thus, the maiden gritted her teeth and endured the path of humiliation.
Facing her past relationships happened on one of those days.
“Wow, who is this? I heard that the high-ranking nobles have been smeared by… that little bastard, Rainelle?”
It was a woman who appeared with a candy in her mouth.
She was accompanied by a group, which was not unusual. After all, by the later grades, everyone either had or traveled in a group.
Elsi glanced at the woman with a glare.
What was her name again? Ah, that’s right.
“…It seems you haven’t forgotten the taste of the electric shock from last time? Ludmila.”
The woman called Ludmila burst into a giggle.
She was someone who had previously faced off against Elsi’s group and had been completely crushed.
Like Elsi, her group wasn’t particularly high quality, but due to her status as a high-ranking noble, they had deliberately left her alone.
Then, when a provocation arose, she seized the chance to take her down instantly with a perfect pretext.
It was an incident that occurred during the time when Elsi was thriving at the Academy.
As a price for that, her right shoulder had been shattered, but it had been effective in putting Ludmila’s clan in their place, so it wasn’t a bad deal.
Since that day, Ludmila would often shrink before Elsi, but today, for some reason, she appeared spirited.
Elsi found the sight amusing and let out a half-hearted laugh.
Yet Ludmila remained full of confidence.
“Rainelle, I hear you’ve been bowing your head to commoners lately? Why don’t you bow that cheap head to me as well?”
“Get lost, you bitch.”
With a snap, flames flared from Elsi’s hand.
There were many of them.
Under normal circumstances, Elsi, as a mage, would be at a disadvantage, but after growing stronger in her recent battle against the Corpse Giant, she felt she could handle this.
So what if she was at a disadvantage?
Fights were won by the ones who hung on until the very end.
Still, Ludmila continued to laugh gleefully.
“Is that okay with you? If you touch me again, bad rumors are going to spread… another violence incident.”
“That’s just the talk of powerless common brats. Are you really comparing yourself to them?”
“Yeah, I am.”
While saying this, Ludmila revealed her pure white left arm, which had been hidden by her uniform.
There were red lines like scars running across it, resembling cracks.
It was clearly the result of someone’s handiwork.
A wound that Elsi had left during that time.
It was still a scar.
A smile of pleasant surprise appeared on Elsi’s face.
“…Oh, this brings back memories.”
“Who would believe your words?”
Ludmila said in a low voice, her eyes igniting.
Elsi’s blue eyes silently fixed on Ludmila.
“Did you know that recently that brat I-an has been following you around? Can you imagine how untrustworthy you must be for him to do that… He even let you go while you were on the losing side.”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
Ludmila, with a vague smile, said, “If I set my mind to it, it’s easy to make you into a little bitch.”
“…Master would never believe that.”
“Isn’t that just because you were abandoned by that master? Like a stray dog.”
With a laugh, Ludmila spread her arms wide.
“And I’m not even here to fight you… I just came to collect an apology.”
Elsi chuckled in disbelief, realizing Ludmila’s intentions.
She hadn’t come to fight.
It was a method Elsi had often used in the past.
Simply cornering someone, keeping them occupied for a long time. Torturing them with words.
The annoying part about this method was that she couldn’t retaliate violently.
Otherwise, it would mean initiating the attack first.
There weren’t any devices in the world to record the events happening throughout the Academy.
Naturally, one had to rely on testimonies and traces, but the marks left by fights were still the clearest.
Elsi tried to scoff and walk away, but Ludmila wasn’t about to let her go.
Ludmila tightly grasped Elsi’s shoulder.
Elsi nearly screamed from the unexpected strength.
She had pride, so she merely shot a fierce glance at Ludmila.
Ludmila’s voice dripped with menace.
“…Just apologize, bitch.”
It was a tone steeped in sticky emotion.
It was the growl of a wounded beast whose pride had been deeply injured.
“Do you know how ridiculous I look, walking around bowing my head to commoners? And you don’t want to apologize to me? You fawn over your master like a low-ranking noble.”
Elsi tried to swat Ludmila’s hand away, but it was in vain.
As it were, more of her group had gathered around them.
Facing this long-awaited crisis, Elsi bit her lip.
She wanted nothing more than to sweep them away at once.
However, there was another nagging thought lingering in her mind.
‘Did you know that recently that brat I-an has been following you around? Can you imagine how untrustworthy you must be for him to do that…’
That was also the reason Ludmila was so brazen.
If she had seen Elsi in distress and said nothing, it could be interpreted as giving her a pass as long as she didn’t cross the line.
And Ludmila was cleverly dancing along that very line.
Elsi felt conflicted.
Would I-an forgive Elsi?
Returning to the days of her “little villain” self wasn’t complicated.
She could fight like a dog, and if that didn’t work, she could summon her old gang for a brawl.
But hadn’t I-an said, that’s why she hated him?
Elsi wanted to part ways with her past self.
With someone so cowardly that she would bark and bite like a pit bull.
Elsi was still human.
As a result of enduring the various forms of humiliation and indignity while bowing in apology, her mind had become incapable of normal judgment.
Instead, her lowered self-esteem was leading her to misjudge.
Right, she should endure even if she got hit once.
At the moment she thought that without realizing, Elsi’s hand, which was gathering flames, twitched.
Ludmila was not someone who would miss the hesitation in her eyes.
She burst into a sparkling white smile.
“I only heard rumors, but it seems to be true? Crazy girl… not only did you fall for the guy who chopped you, but now you’re calling yourself a pet, and you’ve even sold your pride as a high-ranking noble?”
Grinding her teeth, Ludmila was on the verge of bursting her pent-up inferiority toward Elsi.
Since being defeated by Elsi, Ludmila hadn’t been able to look her in the eye.
But now that that terrifying Elsi had fallen to the level of a mere pet, it was something utterly unbearable.
It felt as if not only Elsi but also Ludmila herself had been diminished to something laughable.
Ludmila was now thrilled to finally unleash that pent-up rage.
As she tightened her grip on Elsi’s shoulder, she unwittingly squeezed harder.
Eventually, Elsi could no longer hold back and screamed.
“Ugh, n-no… Aaaaaah!”
Yet Elsi did not retaliate against Ludmila.
There was only one meaning to this fact.
Ludmila, with a gleaming gaze filled with ecstasy, said, “Sorry, sorry. But can you just bear with it? It’s an accident… Let’s just talk for a bit.”
The conversation with Elsi was just beginning now.
Yes, until that moment, she had thought it would go just like that.
Crack, a sound of something shattering echoed.
Had she miscalculated the strength?
Ludmila wondered, but as the warm liquid soaked her cheek, she couldn’t help but turn her gaze.
Before her lay the scene everyone at the Academy feared.
An axe lodged in a shoulder.
A shiver raced down Ludmila’s spine.
Instinctively, she quickly grasped the situation.
Then came the excruciating pain that burned her mind white.
“Ugh, eek, Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Blood-soaked the ground.
*
I let out a heated breath.
At first, I planned to just watch.
After all, Elsi could have been tormenting someone again.
However, the moment Senior Elsi screamed, my patience reached its limit.
Before I knew it, I had thrown the axe.
I shook my wrist and walked with determined steps.
The gaze of those around me was filled with terror.
Only Elsi was looking at me with a dazed expression.
One nameless girl had groaned after being struck by the axe.
Upon seeing me, she cowered in fear and sat down.
Then, dragging her bottom, she began to wriggle away.
“D-don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll report you to the disciplinary committee….”
Hearing those words, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
With a snap, the axe that had plunged into the girl’s shoulder was back in my hand.
As a result, the bleeding that the axe had stemmed resumed with even more vigor.
The girl grit her teeth and tried to endure, but ultimately she couldn’t bear the pain and collapsed.
“Ugh, n-no… I-it’s…!”
Amidst her moans, I spoke in a nonchalant tone.
While patting the blood-stained axe against my palm.
“Go on, report me.”
Just writing a blood letter would suffice.
