My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 106

“The academy campus is bigger than I expected.”

“Right…? To be honest, I didn’t know where was what at first either…”

“I can see that.”

We were chatting in Karen’s dormitory room.

Naturally, the topic of conversation was the academy. Since we had just entered the academy, we couldn’t help but talk about it.

“But hey, sister.”

“Y-yes?”

“What grade is your dormitory room? This place… is really nice.”

“Umm… I think it’s A grade…? But it’s a superior one among the A grades…”

“…There are levels even within the grades?”

“Yep.”

“…Hmm.”

I guess I really needed to study a bit harder for the exams.

If even the C grade is divided into C-1, C-2, C-3 like that… I definitely needed to step up my game.

In fact, ever since I entered Karen’s dormitory room a little while ago, I had been looking around.

Of course, the reason was that it was so different from my own dormitory room.

“…It’s nice here.”

“Right…? I was really surprised when I got this dormitory too.”

“…Yeah.”

There was a huge difference compared to the shabby C grade dormitory room.

From the kitchen to the size of the living room and the number of rooms… there were really various differences, but even aside from that, the interior design was also really different.

The lighting was luxurious, the curtains on the windows were upscale… in many ways, it was definitely a different sight from my own room.

“Wowww…”

The sofa I was sitting on was just that comfortable.

I hadn’t been to the bathroom, but I could tell just from being here that the room was of a very good standard.

“I guess I need to work hard on my academy life.”

“Haha, Camelia, you’ll definitely do well…!”

“Thanks for saying that.”

“It really is true…”

“Oh, by the way, sister. Did you have a good time during the break? I had a blast with mother. How about you?”

“Umm… It got a bit noisy at the mansion because my little sister was entering the academy…”

“Ahh…”

“Seriously, both of my parents are quite… loud, so as soon as we returned to the mansion, it was super noisy… I was tired…”

…One thing for sure was that Grace Roseaki was also trying to enter the academy as a new student like me.

Honestly, I hadn’t been paying any attention to this Grace girl until now, but since she was a fellow new student, it felt like I should pay a bit more attention.

Of course, I didn’t necessarily need to care too much, and there probably wouldn’t be many chances to connect with her.

But still, I couldn’t completely ignore her either.

We were both new students, and since we’d be living as first-year students at the academy… maybe we’d cross paths a little?

“Oh, right… Since Camelia is also a new student, could it be that you’ll run into Grace?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t really plan on getting involved with other students, and I think Miss Grace will probably be quite popular among the new students anyway… Hmm…”

I don’t know.

Karen thought that Grace and I might bump into each other, but it seemed like it would only be at the level of passing by in the hallway.

After all, Grace and I were not on the same level. I mean, I’m just a nobody compared to the popular and well-regarded daughter of a count.

“But hey, sister, do you know how the class assignments at the academy are done?”

“Usually, after the opening ceremony, there’s a test… Based on the results, they assign classes to balance out the average.”

“They balance the averages?”

“Yeah… They figured it would cause more problems inside the academy if they divided based on social status or grades…”

“Hmm…”

Something feels off.

It just felt that way. I had a strong intuition that after the class assignments were done, things wouldn’t go smoothly.

Of course, it was just a hunch, but it just felt like it.

*

After spending time playing and napping with Rize in the small dormitory room of the academy, the day of the academy entrance ceremony finally arrived.

All the new students gathered in the auditorium of the academy’s main building, creating quite a ruckus… a vibe I personally didn’t like much.

“Ugh…”

I had spent about a month on the academy campus without doing anything, and the weather was starting to warm up a bit.

Although the flowers hadn’t bloomed fully yet, it was a day fitting for the academy’s entrance ceremony.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just a bit noisy around here. I’m not too used to this kind of thing.”

“Ah…”

Naturally, I was sitting with Ella.

Honestly, excluding Ella, I had no close friends among the new students at the academy.

That was to be expected, and Ella was in a similar situation. Of course, she probably had more friends than I did.

Anyway, we were all gathered in the auditorium for the entrance ceremony, and everyone was sitting on the prepared chairs.

Since they said it would start right at the hour, it should begin soon.

“Oh, speaking of which… I heard that the representative of this year’s academy new students is a super famous young lady.”

“It’s surprising that she’s not a saint.”

“It must be because there are two of them. If only one were to do it, it would surely make a huge ruckus.”

Hmm.

Ella’s words made some sense.

Of course, I wasn’t particularly interested. Personally, I just wanted the entrance ceremony to get over so I could play with Ella in the dorm room.

Thus, we sat quietly, waiting and waiting.

There was still time left until the hour, and I had no intention of wandering around in such a crowded place.

-Oh, oh.

As I was sitting quietly, suddenly an elderly-looking man who looked like a wizard came up to the stage.

He wasn’t the principal, but more like a vice-principal.

Once that old man appeared, the new students who had been noisily chatting fell quiet.

Hmm, this isn’t bad.

-First of all, I welcome all of you who have enrolled in the Solkemia Empire Academy… Our Solkemia Empire Academy is…

…One thing for sure was that everything he was saying was incredibly boring.

It really wasn’t just a standard level of boring but extremely boring. Because of that, a few students were dozing off with their heads drooped over in their seats.

Of course, that wasn’t me.

“Ugh…”

Ella next to me was dozing off in between… and we continued to listen through the long speech.

After about 30 minutes, which felt like nearly an hour, the student council president came up and gave another speech, but it wasn’t anything I focused on.

It didn’t feel like there was anything important, and he was a guy, so I just didn’t feel the need to pay attention.

So… as I was sitting there absentmindedly, finally the representative of the new students started to come up to the stage.

“…Hmm.”

I hadn’t been told anything other than that she was a young lady.

Ella probably just heard it through rumors and told me.

“Y-you! Am I really seeing this correctly?!”

Everyone was cheering and screaming as they looked at the young lady stepping up to the podium.

Personally, I thought it was a bit over the top, but the woman on stage absolutely warranted that kind of attention.

“She’s the daughter of the Nordal family.”

“W-wow… The Nordal young lady is the representative of the new students…”

“I just found out too, and I’m amazed.”

“I heard that the Nordal young lady was enrolling, but to think she’s the representative…”

Ella sitting next to me was bombarding me with exclamations, honestly, I wondered if it was really that big of a deal, but it indeed was.

The Nordal ducal family was such a remarkable family.

Among the various families in the north, they were unquestionably the strongest, able to dominate surrounding marquis and baron families by force.

They had survived in a harsh region with a relatively high number of monsters for a long time, holding considerable power… well, about that kind of family.

Anyway, this incredibly prestigious and highborn family’s beautiful young lady was Ivana Nordal.

As far as I knew, she was arguably the most famous young lady among all the new students, maybe even more popular than two saints.

With snow-white hair and blood-red eyes, she perfectly epitomized the Nordal family’s appearance.

From a young age, she had been adept in various areas, with her strongest suit being fighting, so before even enrolling in the academy, she had always led in subjugating monsters in the north… Simply put, she was an overpowered character.

Moreover, she was immensely popular, regardless of gender or age, receiving love letters from both young men and women…

“That’s impressive.”

In many ways.

“Exactly! The Nordal young lady being the representative of new students… Of course, it’s the Nordal young lady!”

Ella next to me kept looking at the Nordal young lady with awe and amazement in her eyes.

Hmm… I wasn’t too fond of how fascinated she was, but I could understand it.

In fact, it wasn’t only Ella reacting this way; most of the new students were fawning over the Nordal young lady. It was a completely different response compared to the academy teacher and student council president.

Poor student council president, I suppose. Not that it really mattered since he was a guy.

-A-ah… Can you hear me?

The Nordal young lady spoke with that voice amplifying magic.

You could feel the unique gravity in her voice that you wouldn’t sense from an ordinary young lady.

It was a distinct feeling that I never felt even from people like Christina or Alexandra from Count Rose’s family. To be honest, I hadn’t felt it even after excluding Rose.

“Hmm…”

By the way, she looks much prettier in person.

The portrait I received through the Information Guild only gave a vague sense of beauty. It definitely felt like it couldn’t capture her true appearance.

It seemed to miss entirely that unique charismatic quality.

“…….”

The look she had was like a mighty and fearsome wolf? That’s the kind of appearance Ivana Nordal had.

But alongside her intimidating and cold impression, her unique beauty was also captivating.

I could almost understand why wealthy Middle Eastern people kept ferocious beasts like tigers and lions as pets.