Before the thin morning mist had fully cleared, students were already moving about in small groups along the main thoroughfare of Glory Cael Magic Academy.
When that blue figure, as slender and upright as bamboo, appeared, everyone along the way—whether first-year freshmen or upperclassmen—instinctively lowered their voices. Some paused to offer respectful greetings, while others cast glances from afar that mixed awe with admiration.
"Good morning, Her Highness Vivian."
"Good day, President."
"Your Highness, you've arrived so early."
The greetings rose one after another, polite and restrained, carrying clear respect.
Vivian Kahn was the First Princess of the kingdom, a second-year student at the academy, and the Student Council President of this top-tier magical institution.
She possessed waist-length, lake-blue hair that outshone the morning light, bound meticulously into an elegant ponytail. Her ice-blue eyes gazed calmly ahead, and her exquisite face looked as though carved from ice and snow—perfect, yet lacking warmth.
She merely offered a slight nod or a brief response before continuing forward. The dignity and sense of distance she naturally radiated made any attempt at closer pleasantries feel entirely out of place.
This towering prestige did not stem solely from her noble identity as a princess.
At Glory Cael, strength and ability were the true passports to respect.
Vivian's prestige had been earned step by step through strict self-discipline and extraordinary performance that far surpassed ordinary people.
She was the only freshman in the academy's past decade to pass the year-end evaluation with top scores across all subjects during her very first year, successfully running for and becoming an officer in the Student Council.
Her daily schedule was precise down to the minute. It was said she began her meditation and physical training at four in the morning without fail.
Her lecture notes were praised privately by professors as a gold standard—well-organized, deeply annotated, and even supplemented with obscure reference materials.
She handled Student Council affairs with strict impartiality. Whether dealing with nobles or commoners, she used only academy regulations and individual performance as her standard, having even stood her ground against deeply connected professors to uphold them.
In public settings, her demeanor was always impeccable; her every word and action served as a textbook example of royal etiquette.
Her magical prowess was equally outstanding, wielding ice-attribute magic with exquisite skill. It was precisely because of this that she held the position of Second-year Representative.
Right now, as dawn was just beginning to break, her appearance at the academy was not due to any elective classes at this hour.
She had arrived this early to process the Student Council's backlogged paperwork and organize the upcoming week's schedule.
To her, efficiency was a virtue, and wasting time was intolerable.
However, as she walked up to the quaint stone building reserved exclusively for the Student Council and grasped the cold brass door handle, her movements paused slightly.
From inside the door came the faint sounds of a conversation among several of her capable subordinates.
And the center of their discussion seemed to revolve around the news brief that had caused such a massive stir yesterday.
"...Greg Sass? That former Duke's son? He defeated an officer of the Demon King Cult? What kind of joke is that!"
A slightly agitated male voice sounded. It was Karl, a third-year student in charge of discipline.
His voice was filled with disbelief:
"I took Basic Magic Theory with him last year! That guy couldn't even manage basic stable mana output, and the professor chewed him out in class all the time! Him? Defeat a Demon King Cult officer? Was that officer a pushover?"
"Shh, quiet down, Karl!"
Another, steadier female voice belonged to Emily, who handled clerical work:
"The news was released by the academy. Although it didn't go into much detail, if it made print, it must have gone through preliminary verification. Besides, I heard... the source of this news seems to have been indirectly confirmed by the Headmistress herself."
"The Headmistress?!"
The third voice, Daniel, who was responsible for event planning, chimed in with a tone of surprise:
"Didn't the Headmistress leave for the Magic Tower Exchange? I remember Professor Martin mentioning that the exchange wasn't supposed to end for a few more days."
"That's where you're out of the loop, Daniel."
Karl seemed to have found an outlet, lowering his voice with a hint of mystery:
"What kind of figure is the Headmistress? A Great Archmage over LV80! Maybe she foresaw everything with divine foresight, predicted the academy would face this calamity, and ended the exchange early to rush back! That's the vision and responsibility of a top-tier powerhouse!"
Hearing them talk about the Headmistress, Vivian felt somewhat helpless.
She knew that these ordinary students only held such a rose-tinted view because they rarely saw the Headmistress.
As someone who had interacted with the Headmistress in person, however, Vivian knew that the Headmistress was by no means the kind of prophetically far-sighted individual they imagined.
She had undoubtedly just found the exchange too much of a hassle and used some excuse to ditch the rest of the events, allowing her to come back early.
Out of respect for an Archmage over LV80, however, Vivian had no intention of shattering their illusion.
Fortunately, their conversation did not linger on the Headmistress for long. After all, they were students, and they preferred gossiping over discussing the greatness of their teachers.
"Speaking of which..."
Emily's voice sounded again:
"Did you know... that Greg Sass almost had an engagement with our President, Her Highness Vivian, in the past?"
"Of course I know!"
Daniel immediately chimed in with certainty:
"But wasn't it because Greg Sass was so... well, beyond redemption, that the royal family initiated the broken engagement? That matter caused quite a stir in noble circles back then."
"But with what the news says now..."
Karl's voice was filled with confusion:
"If yesterday's event is true and Greg Sass defeated an officer of the Demon King Cult single-handedly, how could he possibly be the useless trash rumors made him out to be? His strength is definitely not weak! At the very least... he's way stronger than me."
He said that last sentence somewhat reluctantly.
"Right!"
Emily agreed, her thoughts wandering:
"Could his past self have been just a disguise? But why would he do that? It couldn't possibly be... just to break off the engagement with Her Highness Vivian and get expelled from his family, right?"
As the topic reached this point, Vivian's ice-blue eyes outside the door flickered slightly.
She knew she could not continue listening.
Because the fire had, without question, spread to her.
Regardless of whether Greg Sass's past foolishness was real or fake, a disguise or his true colors, she, Vivian Kahn, had never felt a single shred of regret over her decision to support the royal family in dissolving that ridiculous engagement.
To her, marriage was no child's play, nor was it a simple bargaining chip to maintain the interests of royalty and nobility.
Her future companion had to be a powerhouse who could stand shoulder to shoulder with her, possessing matching strength and stature.
Whereas the Greg Sass of the past—a prodigal son with nothing but a handsome face, arrogant, foolish, and devoid of ambition—didn't even have the qualification to stand by her side.
If she were to be forced into marrying someone like that, she would rather choose a far more resolute path.
Click.
The heavy wooden door of the Student Council room was pushed open. The sound wasn't loud, yet it instantly brought all the whispers inside to a dead stop.
Vivian walked in with her usual expression, as if she hadn't heard a thing.
Still wearing her neatly tailored academy uniform, she walked with steady strides straight to the wide President's desk at the innermost side of the room, where stacks of documents were neatly arranged.
"G-Good morning, President!"
"Good day, Your Highness!"
Karl, Emily, Daniel, and the others hurriedly stood up, greeting her in some fluster, their faces showing varying degrees of guilt at having been caught gossiping.
In their eyes, President Vivian was beautiful and powerful, but also exceptionally stern—even somewhat terrifying.
They wouldn't dare make light jokes in her presence, let alone discuss private topics related to her.
Vivian gave a casual "Mm" in response before taking her seat at the head desk. Her eyes swept over the organized stacks of documents on the table, and she began reviewing them attentively.
Seeing that the President didn't seem to have heard their earlier conversation, the few of them quietly breathed a sigh of relief, quickly returning to their seats to focus on their work.
The Student Council room returned to its usual efficient, slightly oppressive quiet, filled only with the rustling of quill pens across paper and the occasional soft sound of pages turning.
However, this tranquility did not last long.
About half an hour later, the door to the Student Council room was gently knocked on once more, then pushed open.
A young woman wearing wire-rimmed gold glasses, radiating an intellectual and gentle aura, stepped inside wearing a standard black-and-white long maid dress.
She first bowed politely to everyone in the room, then cast her gaze straight toward Vivian at the President's desk.
Vivian raised her head, a hint of surprise flashing across her ice-blue eyes.
She recognized this maid. Layla was one of the three personal maids serving her younger sister, Lilith, known for her meticulousness and intelligence.
Why was she coming to the Student Council?
"Is something the matter, Layla?"
Vivian set down her quill pen and asked, her voice calm and cool as always.
Layla stepped forward a few paces and stopped before Vivian's desk, performing a standard, elegant maid curtsy as she spoke in a soft and respectful tone:
"Good day, Her Highness Vivian. Forgive me for interrupting your work. I have come at Princess Lilith's command to report to you: through her concentrated study and cultivation during this period, Her Highness has successfully reached LV20. Furthermore, she has increased her proficiency in the Supreme-tier fire magic spell 【Flame Burst】 from LV1 to LV2 【Molten Burst】. Both metrics have met the requirements you previously set for lifting her grounding order."
Layla paused slightly, raising her eyes to inquire discreetly, "Therefore, Her Highness has sent me to ask if the grounding punishment you imposed may now be lifted?"
In this world, there were only two ways to level up.
The first was to continuously deepen one's comprehension of magic through study, leveling up once a certain threshold was reached.
The second was to expand one's understanding of magic through life-and-death combat, leveling up after accumulating enough experience.
Vivian had heard that in a distant era, the second method was the mainstream way for humans to level up, as it placed far fewer demands on innate talent and granted impressive progression speed. Its flaw, however, was that it was far too dangerous.
Which was why most people nowadays preferred sitting before books to study rather than entering dungeons to fight.
Yet although the first method was safe, it was not without its drawbacks. It relied far too heavily on individual talent; those with ordinary talent, no matter how hard they worked, would eventually be left in the dust by the truly gifted.
And Vivian was once again deeply reminded of this fact right now.
Reaching LV20 so soon after entering the academy, while even raising the proficiency of a Supreme-tier magic spell to LV2—that was something Vivian knew her past self could never have accomplished.
That familiar sense of pressure, like tiny ice needles, quietly crept up her spine once again.
"Her Highness Vivian?"
Seeing that Vivian had not responded for a long time, her quiet gaze fixed on a spot on the desk, Layla called out softly once more, her tone even more respectful.
Vivian snapped back to her senses, her ice-blue eyes instantaneously regaining their clarity and composure, as if that fleeting moment of distraction had been a mere illusion.
"Mm, I understand."
Her voice lacked any emotion, as if stating an ordinary matter:
"Lift her grounding. However, remember to pass along to her—"
Vivian looked up, her gaze resting calmly on Layla. Though not harsh, it possessed an indisputable authority.
"—as a princess of the Kingdom of Kahn and a student of Glory Cael Academy, I expect her to be discreet in her words and deeds going forward, and to remain mindful of her conduct at all times. Behavior such as violating curfew late at night, wandering aimlessly through the academy to the point of being caught by patrolling professors, and tarnishing the reputation of both the royal family and the academy—I do not wish to see it a second time."
"Yes, I understand. I will be sure to convey Your Highness's instructions to Princess Lilith word for word."
Layla bowed deeply, her tone solemn.
She knew full well that this was already the most lenient resolution Her Highness Vivian could offer within her own principles.
Having received a definitive answer, Layla bowed once more, then quietly withdrew from the Student Council room, gently shutting the door behind her.
Quiet descended upon the room once more.
Yet Vivian felt that the cold, sluggish sensation weighing on her mind had not dissipated with it.
She drew a soft breath, trying to pull her focus back to the club activity funding requests awaiting her approval.
Yet the moment she raised her pen, whispers made distinct by the quiet in the room drifted over from Karl and Daniel's direction behind her.
"...Princess Lilith is really amazing..."
"Yeah, hitting LV20 so soon after entering the academy and even mastering 【Flame Burst】 to LV2... that talent is terrifying."
"Truly a once-in-a-century magic genius of the kingdom. She makes you feel like you don't even have the energy to be jealous..."
"It seems beyond a doubt that Princess Lilith will definitely become the First-year Representative..."
Their voices were low, filled with pure admiration and a touch of self-effacing awe, entirely devoid of malice.
Yet falling upon Vivian's ears, they caused her fingers to tighten imperceptibly.
The hard metal quill pen seemed to emit a faint creak under her unconscious grip.
She lowered her eyes, her thick, fan-like ice-blue eyelashes concealing the complex undercurrent that flashed across her gaze for an instant.
In the next second, she had raised her head once more, her expression cold and aloof as before, as though that momentary lapse had never occurred.
She refocused on the documents before her, though the knuckles of her hand holding the pen remained slightly pale.
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