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But her mood soon turned sour when she was visited by an unexpected guest.

A guest that she couldn’t refuse, at that.

“Greetings to the Lesser Moon of the Great Moonasterion Empire,” Rubin Drayton greeted her politely. “I apologize for coming unannounced.”

She looked at the fifteen-year-old Rubin Drayton in front of her.

Dang, he looked taller and more handsome now that he was in his teens.

[Rubi is probably around 178cm?]

.....

But of course, Lewis was still the best.

[Lewis is a tad taller than Rubin at 180cm.]

In short, she was between two “towers” since Rubin was standing in front of her while Lewis was standing behind her.

But she was by no means short, since she was taller than average girls in the empire.

[My growth spurt was glorious.]

163cm was pretty much impressive for a thirteen-year-old girl, and she would only continue to grow taller from there.

If she remembered it correctly, during her first life, she hit the 170cm mark when she was sixteen years old. Yeah, it was like her growth spurt didn’t stop until the age of sixteen. Even during her second life, she was pretty tall since she was 173cm when she died then.

“Hello, Lord Rubin,” Neoma greeted the young lord casually. “What brings you here?”

She didn’t invite him for tea or ask him to join her for a walk. He came unannounced, so wouldn’t it be better to just get straight to the point?

It was still rude of her, but Rubin looked like he didn’t mind.

[Or maybe he’s already used to how we treat each other like this.]

“I’m here in my father’s order,” Rubin said monotonously. “My father asked me to see if I can help Your Royal Highness study for the upcoming entrance exam for Royal Moon Academy.”

Ah, right.

Rubin was her sunbae (senior) since he was an incoming junior student at Royal Moon Academy once the new term begins.

But...

[Rubin is not the sharpest tool in the shed.]

“Thank you for the offer, but I can manage,” she rejected his offer politely. “My tutor is doing an excellent job guiding me.”

“Okay,” Rubin said dully. “If my father asked, please tell him I offered Your Royal Highness my help.”

“Sure,” she said, her brows furrowed.

[Why does Rubin look lifeless these days?]

They weren’t particularly friends. Sometimes, Rubin would even pick a fight with her. But whenever they would meet recently, she noticed that he wasn’t acting his usual self.

[I thought he was doing better these days, but I guess I’m wrong.]

Perhaps Rubin was still longing for Regina Crowell.

[Wait, it’s none of my business.]

“Lord Rubin, is there something else you want to say?”

“I heard from my father that Duke Quinzel’s daughter is returning to the empire in time for Royal Moon Academy’s entrance exam.”

She let out a sigh. “Why does it seem like everyone is suddenly interested in Hanna?”

House Quinzel registered Hanna’s name for the upcoming entrance exam.

It became the talk of the town since then. After all, everyone who knew the Quinzels thought Hanna was in a horrible state. Thus, it came as a surprise when House Quinzel registered Hanna for the entrance exam.

“Of course, everyone has their eyes on Lady Hanna Quinzel,” Rubin said bluntly. “After all, isn’t Lady Hanna Quinzel your fiancée, Your Royal Highness?”

Well, nothing was official yet.

Everyone just assumed Hanna was her fiancée because she had refused to meet the other Crown Princess candidates these past few years.

“Setting my relationship with Hanna aside, I wonder why Lord Rubin seems to be curious of Hanna’s return,” she said to avoid confirming or denying her relationship with Hanna. She had to be careful with her words since the palace had “ears.” “I don’t fancy you as someone who’s interested in gossip.”

“I’m not interested in Lady Hanna Quinzel per se,” the young lord said. “I’m more interested to know what Your Royal Highness feels about the controversy regarding the entrance exam.”

[Ah, I get it now.]

“Lord Rubin, are you talking about the fact that Royal Moon Academy requires higher admission exam scores for girls than boys?”

Yes, it was true.

Girls needed higher entrance exam scores than boys.

[Thanks to that stupid regulation, a lot of girls failed the exam in the recent years despite scoring higher than the lowest-scoring successful male applicants.]

“Your Royal Highness is right- I’m talking about that controversy,” Rubin said. “I also heard from my father that Duke Quinzel, along with the other nobles who agree with his plea, has been appealing to the Ministry of Education to take corrective action for the past few years. When House Quinzel registered their only daughter for the entrance exam, only then did the education board change its passing threshold this year in order for the discrepancy to shrink.”

That meant girls still needed higher entrance exam scores, albeit the lowered passing threshold for them.

The Ministry of Education wanted to stay neutral, so that was the best they could do to address Duke Quinzel’s concern. It was so obvious that the education board only exerted a little effort just so they wouldn’t be accused of ignoring the duke.

“People are saying Duke Quinzel only appealed to the Ministry of Education for the benefit of his own daughter,” Rubin continued. “The Quinzels’ reputation these days isn’t that good.”

[It looks like the Noble Faction is trying to bring House Quinzel down this time.]

And it was probably because Hanna Quinzel was the best prospect to be the future Crown Princess.

“Duke Quinzel was just trying to make the educational system in the empire fair for the girls,” she said firmly, even though she knew she had to at least appear neutral. But she couldn’t keep quiet when it came to people she cared about. [After all, in this house, Rufus Quinzel slander isn’t allowed.]

“My father...” Rubin trailed off, then he shook his head. “House Drayton, including the vassal families under us, was one of the people who opposed Duke Quinzel’s appeal to the Ministry of Education. Do you know why?”

“I know,” she said firmly. “If the educational system for girls and boys is fair, low-scoring male applicants like you wouldn’t be accepted.”

After all, the regulation that required girls to have higher admission exam score was made in order to give the boys a higher chance to get accepted in Royal Moon Academy. Because the moment the Royal Moon Academy opened its gates to girls, the nobles noticed that the number of girls passing the exam was higher than the boys.

“How did you know I was one of the low-scoring applicants during my entrance exam?”

[Well, in my first life, your father beat you to a pulp for getting the lowest admission exam score among the Draytons who graduated from the Royal Moon Academy.]

“Just my hunch,” she lied. “Why else would House Drayton oppose it?”

Rubin smirked bitterly. “My father was afraid that my future heir would inherit my stupidity, so he wanted to make sure the admission system in the most prestigious school in the empire wouldn’t change.”

That also meant that Rubin’s father was expecting him to have a son, not a daughter.

She didn’t want to feel this way, but she felt a little bad for Rubin.

“I should have asked you to have tea with me,” she said, a little regretful. “Discussing the current state of our empire’s educational system is something that young lords like us should be discussing passionately over a cup of tea.”

“Discussing the educational system wasn’t my intention, though,” Rubin said bluntly. “I just wanted to see Your Royal Highness’s reaction regarding the controversy that affects your fiancée.”

“But why?”

“Maybe because I wanted to see you as miserable as me because of a girl?”

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

[So, this miserable punk hasn’t moved on from Regina Crowell’s “death” yet.]

“Rubin Drayton, you’re a jerk,” she said bluntly. “You won’t see me and Hanna despair over that stupid controversy. We’ll be fine- and we’ll definitely ace the entrance exam together.”

Rubin just smirked, then he bowed to her. “See you at the academy, Your Royal Highness,” he said, then he raised his head to meet her gaze. “I’m sure Your Royal Highness will pass the entrance exam with flying colors since you’re not dumb like me.”

“I like that you’re self-aware,” she said bluntly, making Rubin smile. She clicked his tongue when she felt an ounce of pity for the miserable punk. “I’ll treat you to a meal once I become the student representative.”

“As if I’d let an incoming freshman treat me to a meal.”

“Then, you’ll treat me? I don’t say no to free food.”

“Let’s see first if you’ll become the student representative,” Rubin said, then he really said goodbye this time. “Thank you for your time, Your Royal Highness.”

After that, Rubin Drayton left and didn’t look back at her.

[Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a poor fellow.]

Her thoughts were interrupted when he heard a sigh behind her. When she turned around, she saw Lewis scowling at her.

“What?”

“I don’t think I can support you in your goal to become the student representative, Your Royal Highness,” Lewis said coldly. “I hope Your Royal Highness doesn’t end up taking the first place.”

.....

Neoma hit Lewis lightly on the arm. It was okay since it wasn’t skin-to-skin contact. “You punk- how dare you jinx your own mother?”

***

“I HEARD you’re in hot water recently, Rufus,” Nikolai said while stirring his tea with a teaspoon. “The parents of this year’s student applicants are very upset that you tried to change the system- right when the entrance exam is just around the corner.”

Of course, the parents that he spoke of were the higher nobles.

Even some of the nobles in the Royal Faction opposed Rufus Quinzel’s appeal to the Ministry of Education.

“We already expected this kind of backlash, Your Majesty,” Rufus said while laughing softly, then he quietly put his teacup down on the saucer. “But despite the backlash, I’m glad that people are talking about the unjust educational system we have. Our main goal is to spark this a debate, after all.”

And that was also the reason why he and Rufus were having tea in his office.

“It’s a shame that I can’t directly attack the Ministry of Education,” he said while popping back the teaspoon on the saucer, to the right of the cup. “The Royal Faction was divided into two, so I had to pretend to be neutral this time.”

If he wasn’t protecting his children, he wouldn’t have any problem forcing the Ministry of Education to do his bidding.

But he couldn’t afford to lose the support of the nobles right now.

Thus, he had to pretend to be neutral.

“Don’t feel too bad, Your Majesty,” Rufus encouraged him. “It’s a part of our plan for me to be the center of attention so that Your Majesty can work on our secret project in silence.”

Their secret project was the school they were building that only a few select knew about.

Rufus would ultimately own the school, while he would be the biggest investor.

He was using his own money to invest in the school under Neoma’s name. But since Neoma’s identity was still hidden, he had to be careful. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself, so he just let Rufus do what he had to do.

[It’s self-serving, but it can’t be helped.]

“Building a school took longer than we anticipated,” Rufus said, then he sipped his tea. “But it can’t be helped since we’re doing it in secret.”

He nodded in agreement and was about to say something when he heard a sharp voice in his mind calling him. The voice was so loud he scowled as a response.

“Your Majesty?” Rufus asked worriedly. “Is something the matter?”

He raised his hand to tell Rufus to keep quiet as he listened to the voice in his head.

“I don’t have a son-in-law,” he said coldly. “Not even in the future.”

“I know,” he cut him off. “What is it? I only allowed you to connect our minds together if it’s for something important.”

Nikolai, unconsciously, smiled at the piece of good news. “Nero is awake?”

He needed to hear it one more time.

***

“WHY ARE you upset at me again?” Neoma complained while walking backwards. She was walking that way in order to face Lewis. It was safe for her to walk that way since they were in the garden, so not much was in the way. “Is it because I said I’d treat Rubin to a meal?”

“If Your Royal Highness knows already, then don’t ask.”

[Wow, look at how this punk talks back to his mother.]

“Do I need to remind Your Royal Highness how Rubin Drayton has hurt you in your first life?” Lewis whispered coldly. “It seems like Your Royal Highness’s heart is so big you’ve already forgiven the person who hurt you the most back then.”

Lewis’s sarcasm kinda hurt.

“In my defense, I lived a happy life for more than twenty years after my first life,” she said defensively. “I was so happy back then that I almost believed the memory of my first life was nothing but a long nightmare. So, for me, it has been a long time since then.”

Lewis let out a sigh. “You pity him, don’t you?”

She bit her lower lip to stop herself from making an excuse. The more she talked, the more she would just get in trouble.

“The problem with Your Royal Highness is you think you need to save people by fixing their problems.”

“It’s not like that-”

“Just because you can save a person doesn’t mean you have to,” Lewis said coldly. “What will you do if you save Rubin from his misery now, only for him to betray you later?”

She couldn’t talk back.

After all, she knew it was really stupid of her to feel bad for Rubin. She should have just minded her business and ignored his miserable state.

But her heart felt heavy.

[Do I have a savior complex or something?]

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a strange sensation.

She couldn’t explain it, but Nero’s presence grew stronger even though her twin brother wasn’t physically there. And, at that moment, only one thought filled her mind.

“Nero,” Neoma said, beaming up. “I think Nero is awake.”

***

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