By Zephyria 
“⋯And so, the Duke Valentia Family, in order to reject King Felix’s proposal, arranged a marriage with William Ernhardt, and held a wedding ceremony as grand as one for royalty, just three days before King Felix arrived in the Sierran Empire.”
The Duke Valentia Family was my maternal family. The story that my mother had almost married King Felix was news to me. Professor Calypse continued speaking in his consistently calm tone.
“Ultimately, King Felix married Kenia Macflorin of the House of Count Macflorin instead of Valentia, and the Kingdom of Felix currently acts as a fine ally to Sierran.”
The gazes fixed on my face were sharp. But how much could I know about events that occurred before I was born, and how much would I have heard? I hadn’t expected to learn such behind-the-scenes details about a past marriage in this manner before I had even come of age.
It was not appropriate to hear such things in front of other students, and if I had been the young boy I was before I was reborn, I might have been embarrassed. However, having spent considerable effort trying to foster a closer relationship with my estranged Father and Mother in the early days after my rebirth, I was curious about the reason.
The professor concluded the class by stating that the young successor of Iron Grimsbane was in hiding, awaiting his time due to a succession dispute with a collateral branch, but his whereabouts were unclear, and we should wait to see how events would unfold.
As always, I looked at him sitting in the chair at the far right of the blackboard, his brow deeply furrowed, and then politely picked up my notebook and pen and approached him.
“I have a question about the content of the lesson just now.”
Although he said he accepted questions freely during class, I wanted to avoid spreading my family history to all the students, so I spoke in a lower voice than usual. Calypse Agrigent casually nodded and said, “Ask your question in your own voice,” with a raspy tone.
“During the betrothal between the House of Valentia and the House of Ernhardt, was there no agreement between the parties involved?”
“⋯I didn’t expect you to ask that from the start, but yes, there wasn’t. William Ernhardt had only been in the capital for less than a week at the time. He had lived in the provinces for most of his life since childhood due to family matters.”
Professor Agrigent nodded with a cool expression and continued speaking.
“It caused quite a stir in the capital for a while when William Ernhardt caught the eye of the Young Duke Valentia at his very first ball, leading to a betrothal with Seiren within three days, and them entering their marital chamber. William Ernhardt and Seiren Ernhardt saw each other’s faces for the first time on their wedding day.”
“⋯Hmm.”
“The schedule leading up to the wedding was so rushed that there wasn’t even time to exchange greetings.”
“The Ernhardt family is a Count’s house, so why didn’t the Duke Valentia Family choose a partner from the Duke or Marquess houses?”
“Because there was no one suitable left. Among the Young Masters of the Duke and Marquess houses at the time, there were those who were only handsome, or only kind, or only capable, but none who met all three conditions. The decent ones were all already betrothed in the womb or engaged early.”
“Ah.”
“As Young Master Ernhardt would have seen for himself, the House of Valentia was known for being unusually protective of their Duke’s daughter at the time. The reason they rejected the marriage proposal from the King of Felix was not only to escape treaties between nations and power struggles, but the more prevalent theory was that they couldn’t send Seiren Valentia to a foreign country.”
“⋯.”
“Do you have any more questions?”
“No. Thank you.”
Even in the Central Plains, there were countless couples who only saw each other’s faces after entering their marital chambers. This was because most marriages were arranged. It was usually the case unless a suitable young man and woman from the same village fell in love, got married, and had children.
Especially for young ladies from noble families, it was rare for them to show their faces to men outside their circle, unless they were martial artists.
Recalling the countless women I had seen wearing veils while wandering the Martial World, I then nodded, thinking that my worried and timid Father must have been bewildered.
⋯But wasn’t I born the year after the wedding?
My complicated feelings were my own affair. I gave a slight bow to express my gratitude, and Professor Agrigent, with a nonchalant expression, began looking through the documents in his hand again.
I saw a distinct purple bruise on the back of his neck. Concerned, I stopped walking.
“Are you hurt?”
Instead of answering, the professor looked up at me as if to ask why, so I touched my own neck with my right hand and informed him.
From the middle of his cervical vertebrae, two remaining bruises were visible: one was a vivid purple, and the other was turning bluish. I wondered if it was from being pinched or hit, but the neck wasn’t a good spot to be struck so forcefully in one place.
Moreover, there was no way this meticulous man would have simply taken a beating. I thought perhaps his current sickly state, as if he might collapse today, was due to this.
Professor Calypse Agrigent seemed to ponder for a moment, then clicked his tongue as if he realized something.
“It’s a mark from an insect bite. Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
Only then, relieved, did I return to my seat. I saw Agrigent cover his neck with his hand and rub it. I watched him with sympathy, thinking that my pointing it out had reminded him of the itch.
For some reason, the companions I had taken camping class with and Shayden had desperately wanted insect repellent the other day, so it seemed there were indeed many insects within the academy, and I resolved to be mindful of it.
When I asked my companions, with whom I ate dinner, about the appearance of the insects that appeared in the academy, I was scolded for talking about things that ruined one’s appetite during a meal.
Seeing those who turned pale just from hearing about it, even though no bugs had crawled out of the food, I was bewildered. I clicked my tongue, thinking they were clearly pampered, but then I considered that if the insects were so venomous that they dissolved flesh and rotted bones, it would be understandable to be terrified.
I pressed the children who disliked them for more details, and a few of them described the insects. They said that most of them were not larger than a finger and had little venom, which made me wonder.
So, I asked why they were so scared, and the answer was simply that their appearance was disgusting and they found them unpleasant. I found it amusing and let out a chuckle.
When I was in the Central Plains, it was impossible to find a beggar on the street without lice or fleas in their hair, and if I slept outdoors, centipedes as thick as my forearm would often fall from my clothes when I woke up.
If bitten by a venomous creature, unless one was a master of poison arts, the bitten area would swell up, and one would have to suffer by cutting it open with a knife to squeeze out the blood.
At least when it was just men, they could help each other if something happened. But if a woman in the group suffered such harm, everyone would be in trouble and blush.
I suddenly recalled a time when I went on a mountain stronghold subjugation with about five or six people, including Moyong Yeonhwa, Moyong Amu-gae’s younger sister by two years.
When Moyong Yeonhwa was bitten on the calf by a venomous snake, Jegal Amugae, who had maintained his neatness by wearing only white clothes even in that chaotic situation, immediately knelt down and saved her by sucking the wound directly with his mouth, which eventually led to their marriage.
At the wedding, the bride was perfectly fine, but Jegal, who had been crying profusely, saying he would do a good job, died after seeing his grandchild, or perhaps he passed away before that – my memory was hazy.
Moyong Yeonhwa was upset for a long time about the scar that remained on her leg, but my friends’ memories were vivid of how she had caused a scene, unable to even swallow more alcohol at a drinking party for the elderly, by pretending to vomit, because Jegal had told her it was a beautiful mark thanks to which he got married.
I tried to console my longing by thinking that since I had been reborn, they too must be living their lives again in a good place.
❖ ❖ ❖
Wednesday. During the beginner swordsmanship class, Professor Maelo Sanson placed a clock the size of a child’s head on the podium, stating he had received it from Professor Cedric, and began the lesson.
In the previous class, they had gone over the allotted time, causing the children to suffer, unable to eat and rushing to their next class. He said that Professor Sanson had been reprimanded by the Academy Head for some students being late.
He chuckled, saying that while he had seen students who disliked attending class, he had never seen ones who ran around so wildly. I was also satisfied, as he seemed to be in good spirits.
Although I had been steadily accumulating internal energy by regulating my Circulating Qi morning and evening, I was trying to abandon my Namgung swordplay after giving up on passing down my internal energy cultivation method to the people of Sierran.
After all, it was a form and style that would be discarded upon reaching a higher realm. To forget my attachments, I wanted to create my own swordplay.
Creating new sword techniques was said to be difficult without the talent of a Grandmaster
(*A great teacher who appears once in an era for each martial arts sect)
. In the Central Plains, I had never even considered attempting it, but here, with a Hwagyeong master by my side and dozens of others engrossed in it, why shouldn’t I try?
If I were to create a new swordsmanship school, I wanted to abandon the Namgung name, abandon the person I had left far behind, and keep only the character for ‘stop,’ which meant ‘to stay,’ and call it ‘Jeonggeom’ (Righteous Sword), the staying sword. I harbored this thought in my heart.
It was a childish dream. It was too embarrassing to speak aloud at my age, so I didn’t reveal my inner thoughts completely, but everyone noticed my dedication to creating new sword techniques and tried to help in any way they could.
Their efforts were both cute and endearing.
Surprisingly, Benjamin Claudian, that bear-like friend with dark hair and golden eyes, who silently followed me like a shadow during this work, was quite helpful.
As a master who had already reached a First-rate realm at the age of Geomancy, he had physically learned and mentally understood many of Sierran’s sword styles.
Seeing his solidly trained limbs, I thought he focused on external energy, but I was quite surprised by how much knowledge he held in his mind.
After drawing lines on the dirt floor of the martial arts training ground and classifying each sword style, Professor Maelo Sanson, who had been watching us, suggested that the next class be held in the indoor lecture hall with writing materials. We agreed.
In Alchemy class, Marianne grabbed me by the collar.
“You said you resolved it through conversation! What kind of conversation was that?! A conversation of bodies?!”
“No, wait, Marianne. What are you doing! I’m sorry, Mikael! She often goes crazy!”
“Ah, let go, Jenny! Are you really trying to kill Mikael?!”
“My, my hands, please let go, Marianne!”
For some reason, the members of the same group for Alchemy and Camping Class were struggling to pull Marianne off me. Jenny hugged Marianne from behind and pulled, while Damian tried to pry Marianne’s hand off my collar.
However, with the strength of three chicks flapping their wings, no matter how much they clung and thrashed, I wouldn’t budge. Instead, I stood still, worried that the children might get hurt if I moved, and watched Marianne rage.
I didn’t ask why. It was because I already knew the reason.
“It’s nothing major.”
“Then what is major?!”
“A noble lady with purple bobbed hair grabbing a Count’s Young Master by the collar and shaking him during class?”
“Eeeeeeek…!”
“What’s not allowed is not allowed, so let go.”
Even an agitated beast will eventually calm down if the other party continues to maintain a calm attitude. I waited without saying anything, without avoiding her, and without raising my voice, and eventually, Marianne let go of my collar.
I pushed away Damian’s hand, which was trying to straighten my collar in his flustered state.
Ivan, who had been watching blankly, put his hand on his forehead and pretended to have a headache, which I found quite amusing.