3 - Can I Cry Now?
Episode 3
Was it the power of the shooting star? Or was it because I prayed to find my parents for the first time?
A few weeks later, I received a notice that I had been accepted.
Ibi couldn't believe the acceptance letter in her hand, so she looked at it again and again.
Then, she saw the Emperor's name written at the end.
Clois.
"Clois..."
Even though it was a name she already knew well from school, Ibi looked at the name on the paper again and again until she fell asleep.
\ \ \
While the Headmaster was excitedly boasting about Ibi, the carriage arrived in front of the Imperial Palace.
The front of the Imperial Palace, which would normally be quiet because only authorized people were allowed to pass and the guards were strict, was crowded with people.
"My goodness, it's like everyone in the Empire has gathered here."
The Headmaster held Ibi's hand tightly and gaped in surprise.
Ibi, too, was seeing so many people for the first time in her life, so she took the Headmaster's hand and looked at the gathered people.
In front of the main gate of the Imperial Palace, there were countless carriages and people dressed in splendid attire.
"Oh, my son. Write to me whenever you miss me. I'll apply for a visit right away. No, should I just apply for a visit every day?"
"My daughter. Your father believes you will do better than anyone else at the Academy for the Gifted."
"Brother! Have a good trip! I'll study harder next year and make sure I get in too!"
The front of the main gate was noisy with families sending their children to the Academy for the Gifted.
Ibi and the Headmaster stood on the edge of the crowd, waiting for someone from the Academy for the Gifted to come out.
'They said someone will come out to guide us if we're in front of the main gate.'
At the appointed time, people wearing the Uniform of the Academy for the Gifted came out of the Imperial Palace with the guards and shouted.
"We will now move inside. Please follow our instructions! And let me reiterate that no one except the Academy for the Gifted students is allowed to enter!"
At those words, the children waved to their families and approached the staff.
However, some children were crying and clinging to their parents, saying they were scared to go alone.
Amidst the commotion, Ibi looked at the Headmaster and said,
"Well, I'll go now."
She was only seven years old.
The youngest of the children entering the Academy for the Gifted.
Yet, Ibi didn't cry or show any signs of fear.
Ibi was always like that.
Unlike the children who burst into tears several times a day, she was a child who never cried.
When the Headmaster met her at the inn, she saw the innkeeper deliberately hitting her on the head, saying, "That one doesn't even cry. She's like a heartless little girl."
A child who doesn't cry.
The Headmaster knew why Ibi was like that.
If there is no one to listen no matter how much you cry, a child quickly learns to give up.
The Headmaster felt even more affection for Ibi because she was a child who had learned to give up before coming to the Poorhouse.
Ibi always showed a bright side and, since starting school, showed a genius that everyone was amazed by.
At the same time, she constantly took care of the other children in the Poorhouse and helped with the adults' work.
The Headmaster was proud of her, but also felt sorry for her.
She should have been more childish, whining and crying.
The Headmaster opened her arms and hugged Ibi.
"Ibi. We will always be thinking of you. If you ever have a hard time, contact us right away. We'll come and get you. Okay?"
When the Headmaster suddenly hugged her, Ibi smiled and hugged her neck.
"Okay. Thank you, Headmaster."
Even at the moment of parting, her words were so mature that the Headmaster stroked Ibi's back.
"It's time to go inside now. Everyone, get ready!"
At the urging of the staff, the Headmaster released Ibi and stood up.
Ibi didn't cry, but the Headmaster's eyes were red.
"Go now."
"Yes! I'll write often!"
Ibi smiled, waved her hand, and walked towards the staff.
Watching Ibi's back, the Headmaster prayed.
May Ibi be able to live well in the Academy for the Gifted.
And may she grow up to be a child who can cry there.
\ \ \
The entrance into the Imperial Palace was quick.
Except for a few children who were crying and clinging, saying they didn't want to go, everyone followed the staff's instructions and went inside.
Ibi hugged her bag tightly with a nervous face.
She pretended to be mature so that the Headmaster wouldn't worry, but she couldn't help but feel nervous standing in the Imperial Palace in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by nobles.
At that moment, there was a boy nearby who kept glancing at Ibi.
'That girl is definitely the commoner His Majesty the Emperor personally chose.'
The boy was the youngest son of the minister who had crumpled Ibi's documents.
On the day the meeting ended, his father returned home and repeatedly cursed the child who had applied for admission without knowing her place.
The boy bit his lip.
Anyone could see that she was the most shabby-looking of the children who had come inside.
To the noble boy, she was practically a beggar.
'To think she's grinning and laughing because she was lucky enough to be chosen.'
He was furious when he thought about how his father had been worried that he would fall out of the Emperor's favor for a while because of this.
Besides, wasn't she said to be unnecessarily smart?
'There's a possibility she'll catch His Majesty the Emperor's eye.'
Of course, the Emperor wouldn't adopt a commoner, but it would be annoying if she gained the Emperor's favor and acted up.
Unlike a child from a noble family, she was a lowly child with no one to rely on.
Then no one would say anything even if he bullied her. After all, everyone inside was a competitor.
'From the rumors that a commoner child was coming, other people seemed quite displeased.'
Already, besides himself, people who had recognized the commoner child were frowning and deliberately walking away.
Then other nobles might thank him for getting rid of the annoying child.
The boy twisted his lips and snatched the bag that Ibi was holding in her arms.
"Ah!"
Feeling suddenly pulled, Ibi instinctively hugged her bag.
But she couldn't overcome the strength of the boy, who was much taller and bigger than Ibi.
As Ibi staggered, she was about to fall.
Thud!
With the sound of something being kicked, the boy who was taking Ibi's bag groaned and sat down. And Ibi's swaying body straightened up.
Ibi realized. Someone had caught her from falling.
'Who caught me?'
When Ibi turned her head, blue eyes were looking at her.
"Are you okay?"
The person who caught Ibi was a boy with black hair and blue eyes.
"Uh...?"
Ibi stared at the boy for a moment, forgetting what situation she was in.
The blue eyes that were looking at her were cold, but they were as beautiful a color as the calm black hair, and the skin was also white and clean.
Neat eyebrows and neatly combed, slightly long hair.
A face that made you think of the word beautiful rather than handsome first.
But the straight lines in the beauty made it impossible to mistake him for a woman.
Ibi, who had been staring in surprise at the person who had caught her, finally came to her senses and quickly straightened her body.
"Y-yes! T-thank you."
The clothes he was wearing were also plain without any special decorations, but even Ibi, who didn't know anything about luxury goods, could tell.
That the boy's were much more luxurious than the others'.
Moreover, even just standing there, she could feel his disciplined movements.
Ibi realized that he was a high-ranking noble whom she could not dare to reach and quickly lowered her head.
At that moment, a cheerful voice was heard from the side where the boy who had bullied her had fallen.
"Arcel! What should we do with this?"
From that voice, Ibi learned that the name of the boy who had caught her was Arcel.
The boy called Arcel took his eyes off Ibi and said to the red-haired boy.
"Ruska, we don't have the right to punish anyone inside the Imperial Palace."
Then the red-haired boy called Ruska clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed and kicked the fallen boy with his toe.
'Come to think of it, I suddenly heard a groan.'
It seemed that Ruska had kicked the fallen boy.
When she realized that fact, Ibi's face turned white.
This was inside the Imperial Palace.
To cause a commotion in such a place.
If the fallen boy made an issue of this, wouldn't she be kicked out before she even entered the Academy for the Gifted?
Of course, the fallen boy was the one who was at fault first, but it didn't seem like they would listen to her, a commoner.
'What should I do!'
While Ibi was frozen in fear, the fallen boy got up and stuttered when he saw the two boys who had helped Ibi.
"A-Arcel? Arsel Keilen? And if it's Ruska... Ruska Ragselb?"
"It's an honor that you know our names?"
When Ruska answered mockingly, the fallen boy's face turned white.
'Oh my god. Of all people!'
Arcel Keilen and Ruska Ragselb.
They were names that no student entering the Academy for the Gifted this time could possibly not know.
Because they were the people most likely to become the Emperor's adopted sons.
