The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 35
The two men snickered at the playful remark. Inside the still noisy examination hall, they were gossiping about Hartbisa, who was the center of attention among this exam’s applicants. One of them, who had been laughing for a while, continued with arrogant eyes.
“She probably came thinking it’d be easy since her brother attends here, but what can she do? This exam won’t be so simple.”
“Why?”
The man created a wall with his hand as if sharing a secret and whispered.
“I heard that the difficulty level of the exam questions has increased dramatically this time.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
While the man was burning with determination, saying only someone of his caliber could pass what would be the most difficult entrance exam in the academy’s history, the entrance to the exam hall became noisy. The woman who entered through the door was Hartbisa Cellie.
Though all the academy’s flowers had withered from the sudden cold, it was vibrant around Hasa. Her pink hair, like flower petals, rippled beautifully. All eyes in the examination hall gathered on her flower-like beautiful appearance.
Even the men who had been gossiping about Hartbisa now scolded each other accusingly.
“Are you crazy, you said she wasn’t pretty. Are your eyes crossed or something?”
Hasa was too nervous about the imminent exam to notice her surroundings. The tension was beyond what she had imagined, making her legs feel weak.
‘Oh my, I can’t remember anything I memorized.’
Hasa sat in her seat with a pale face. As she tried to calm her pounding heart, she could see the library building through the window. Who knew the library would be visible from the exam hall. From a distance, the library looked even larger and more beautiful.
The time she spent studying with Berl in that building was vivid in her mind. Surprisingly, remembering that seemed to work like a charm, calming her heart.
The examination hall, which had been noisy for a while, soon quieted with the appearance of the exam supervisor. After announcing several precautions about the exam, the supervisor signaled the start.
“Now we will begin the Preju Radant Academy’s fall entrance examination.”
Exam papers were placed in front of each candidate. Hasa took a deep breath and slowly examined the questions. Her mouth gradually fell open.
***
Jual Mandro hummed softly while leaning back in his professor’s office chair. After the exam, wailing could be heard from everywhere. Among the examinees leaving the hall, reviews about the extreme difficulty of this exam poured out.
Seeing such reactions, Hartbisa Cellie’s exam results were as clear as day.
Jual Mandro recalled that detestable face.
Dayan Cellie, that guy with the annoying face might be called a genius elsewhere, but not in his ancient language class, which was like his sacred domain.
He used to deliberately give him harder assignments, enjoying watching him struggle with decoding while clutching small pieces of paper, but recently he had submitted an almost perfect interpretation of that assignment and was even selected as a presenter.
How that had twisted his guts.
And now, failing that detestable Cellie in the exam would bring even more benefits.
It was nothing short of a windfall. He couldn’t help but chuckle and mutter to himself.
“To make even her aunt an enemy, I’d like to see just how stupid this woman looks. Well, not that I’ll be able to see her now anyway.”
Jual Mandro reached for a cigarette out of habit. Though it seemed like he’d just received new ones a few days ago, there were only a few left. Seeing that made his throat feel parched.
“When did I get down to this few?”
Jual Mandro clicked his tongue with clouded eyes. That woman’s attitude had changed strangely after the exam questions were set. Now that the exam was over, he wasn’t sure if she would continue to grant his requests.
Thinking about that, Jual’s throat felt like it was burning up. He grumbled some small curses before smiling as if he’d had a good idea.
“Maybe I should ask for more compensation. After all, if this gets out, it’ll be just as troublesome for her side. ‘An aunt trying to sabotage her niece’s exam, the true face of noble families’ – that’d make a good headline, wouldn’t it?”
He smiled with satisfaction. As Jual Mandro’s pupils continued to dilate, suddenly there was a commotion outside the professor’s office.
Jual frowned and stood up. When he opened the door, several teaching assistants were heading toward the conference room. He grabbed one assistant’s shoulder and asked.
“What’s this, why all the commotion?”
The assistant stamped their feet nervously as they answered.
“W-well, there’s a perfect score, Professor.”
“What?”
Jual Mandro’s eyes widened. A perfect score? Jual Mandro thought it was impossible. Due to his insistence that the academy’s entrance exam standards had dropped, not only the ancient language questions but the overall difficulty had increased.
And in fact, the ancient language questions he had set were so difficult that even the professors needed considerable time to solve them. Yet someone got a perfect score?
If this was true, it would mark the birth of a genius for the ages in imperial history. Having such a person as a disciple would surely bring many benefits.
Jual Mandro’s expression softened at the thought of this promising prospect as he asked.
“Who is this promising talent?”
At Jual’s question, the assistant nervously moved their dry lips.
“W-well, it’s Hartbisa Cellie.”
“What?”
Jual’s expression turned dark. An eerie chill swept through the corridor.
“That’s impossible. It can’t be.”
Jual Mandro was struck by a question. What would happen if Hartbisa really did get a perfect score, meaning he had failed to complete his mission?
And then he remembered Helena, and the face of that person he’d met at the guild meeting he’d attended with her.
“……”
He had been so confident he could handle this task. Failure meant death. It wasn’t Helena herself he feared.
It was the thought of failing the mission given by the powerful figure backing her.
“No, this can’t be happening.”
The assistant caught a whiff of something like a foul odor from Jual Mandro as he muttered. Instinctively stepping back, they watched as Mandro headed toward the conference room, grinding his teeth.
“P-Professor?”
When Jual Mandro opened the conference room door and entered, several professors, including Zhao, were already seated around a circular table. The professors flinched at Mandro’s dark expression and made room for him.
“You’re here? We were about to call for you about the perfect score.”
It was the first perfect score in seven years. Moreover, the exam was even more difficult than seven years ago. Most professors were quite flustered that there was a perfect score on an exam that shouldn’t have had one.
While it was certainly an achievement that would go down in academy history, the subject happened to be Hartbisa Cellie.
Besides the rumors about the Cellie family, there were quite famous rumors about Hartbisa herself. A daughter who inherited her foreign maternal bloodline but not the Cellie genius. Rumors said she went mad and was kept locked in her room.
Though it was unknown how rumors spread so widely about a woman who rarely appeared in social circles, her story was famous.
Recently, there were even widespread rumors that she was looking for a marriage partner but, finding no one willing to take her, was set to be married off to a foreign country.
Yet a woman who appeared completely opposite to these rumors suddenly showed up at the exam hall and received an impossible score. Professor Zhao spoke with a face as if possessed by a ghost.
“It’s certainly a historic event after seven years.”
As Zhao cautiously opened the discussion, Jual Mandro snorted.
“What historic event?”
He struck the desk and declared firmly.
“There must have been cheating.”
Murmurs spread through the conference room at Jual Mandro’s decisive assertion. While several professors had similar thoughts, they couldn’t voice them without evidence, but Mandro’s attitude showed no hesitation.
Unable to stand it anymore, Zhao spoke up.
“Professor Mandro, how can you say such things without evidence…!”
Jual Mandro raised one hand to cut off his words.
“Isn’t it impossible otherwise?”
He continued confidently, raising one eyebrow.
“Our academy is the only place in the empire that has an entrance exam. I’m sure all the professors here would agree that this means we have many talented students who are called geniuses.”
He clenched one fist dramatically, speaking as if he carried the academy’s mission on his shoulders. Hearing this, one professor cautiously ventured.
“Since there are many talented students, couldn’t the Cellie lady be one of them?”
Mandro shook his head vigorously at these words.
“That’s exactly it. Talent isn’t something that can be hidden. To show no signs until coming of age, it can’t just suddenly burst forth like this.”
