It took about an hour for Celitia to reach the academy gates, her body covered with a light sweat from the walk.
Looking up, she saw the academy entrance bustling with countless people hurrying back and forth.
Noble children mostly arrived with an impressive entourage, and even commoners usually had parents or relatives accompanying them.
There were few like Celitia, arriving alone with just her package.
"Phew... first let's go handle the paperwork."
Wiping the fine beads of sweat from her forehead, Celitia followed the signs along the roadside and quickly found the place to process enrollnt.
"Hmm, do we need to queue at different windows according to status?"
The enrollnt windows were divided into two: one exclusively for "nobles" and another exclusively for "commoners."
Celitia knew that compared to the Kingdom of York, the Kingdom of Lansca placed more importance on social hierarchy, with a clear division between nobles and commoners.
That's why the Kingdom of York had many rising stars, rapidly forming a centralized state dominated by humans.
While the Kingdom of Lansca was relatively conservative and decentralized, many ancient non-human races were able to coexist peacefully with humans because of this.
But knowing was one thing; this was the first ti Celitia had so clearly witnessed the class divisions in the Kingdom of Lansca.
No wonder Olar didn't want to co at all.
In the eyes of certain status-conscious nobles, attending school with commoners was simply an insult.
Establishing this "Samuel National Academy" now was probably an attempt to break down certain outdated traditions in people's minds and gradually implent reforms.
The idea was good, but implentation would likely face nurous difficulties...
Having unconsciously pondered state affairs for the Kingdom of Lansca for a mont, Celitia suddenly smiled and slowly shook her head.
Why think about such things? Now, she was just an ordinary girl.
Moreover, she was just an empty shell with a noble title but no actual backing.
"What are you smiling at?"
An arrogant voice suddenly ca from behind, interrupting Celitia's thoughts.
Standing behind Celitia was a golden-haired girl slightly younger than her, glaring at her with great displeasure.
The enrollnt procedure required students to be present in person, so noble children had deigned to co queue, but each brought several attendants, making the noble window much more crowded than the other.
She probably misunderstood that I was laughing at her... She's quite sensitive.
Celitia silently criticized, but her face maintained a gentle smile as she politely answered:
"Nothing, I just thought of sothing interesting. If I've caused any misunderstanding, please allow to apologize."
The blonde girl clearly hadn't fully accepted Celitia's explanation. She frowned, looking Celitia up and down:
"Whose servant are you? Hasn't your master co? According to the academy's rules, your master must queue in person. Go call your master over quickly!"
"Thank you for the reminder," Celitia explained, "but I am the student who's here to register."
"You?"
The blonde girl's gaze fell heavily on Celitia's attire, and after a mont, she raised her chin, using it to point at the other line.
"The commoner queue is over there. Don't block the way here."
"I know," Celitia's smiling lips beca slightly stiff, "I'm not in the wrong queue."
"Oh—Another fallen noble family trying to curry favor by crying and begging to enroll?"
The blonde girl's gaze toward Celitia completely transford into contempt. She rudely pushed past Celitia, cutting to the front of the line.
"If you want to curry favor, at least show so proper attitude and wait at the back of the line. You're not worthy to stand in front of , Charlotte Williams."
The girl's attendants also crowded forward, pushing Celitia back several steps.
The nobles behind followed suit, quickly filling the space, squeezing Celitia out of the line, each with an expression of watching a joke unfold.
Celitia stood outside the queue for a while, looking at the vast crowd, her face gradually showing resignation.
She didn't know any of these nobles, and they each had four or five people—strength in numbers. If the conflict escalated to physical confrontation, Celitia would definitely be at a disadvantage.
A wise... um, woman avoids imdiate adversity.
Celitia remained very calm, silently walking to the end of the long queue to start over.
Since she couldn't do anything about them for now, she could only yield.
As long as they didn't cross her bottom line, Celitia was quite tolerant.
After all, now Celitia just wanted to be an ordinary person, living a quiet life in obscurity.
However, while Celitia chose to yield, soone in the other queue couldn't stand by and watch.
"Hey, she had been queuing for a long ti! You're all bullying her too much!!"
An energetic voice rang out from the side as a girl with pink braids rushed over, hands on her hips, shouting at the blonde girl nad Charlotte.
"And who are you, lowborn?" Charlotte sneered. "No manners, no rules. Talking to you would just waste my ti."
"I'm Shanie, from Paril Village south of Cassia!"
The braided girl actually seriously answered Charlotte's question.
"My teacher said nobles and commoners are all humans, with two eyes and one mouth, no difference—"
Before Shanie could launch into her debate, Celitia hurriedly walked to her side, grabbed her sleeve, and pulled the girl away.
"Hey, wait, I wasn't finished—"
The hand gripping the girl's sleeve wasn't very strong, but the will behind it was exceptionally firm.
Shanie had no choice but to follow Celitia away from the spot, walking to a flower bed far from the crowd.
"Thank you very much for standing up for ," Celitia explained helplessly, "but those people are used to being arrogant. I don't want you to offend them because of ."
For Shanie, who ca from a commoner background, getting into this academy probably wasn't easy.
If Shanie beca targeted by that group of nobles because of her, Celitia would feel guilty.
So before the two sides could really conflict, Celitia quickly ran over and dragged Shanie away.
Just this brief jog made Celitia breathe slightly heavily. She released her grip on Shanie's sleeve, a faint smile appearing on her lips.
"However, there's one point where I think you're wrong. There is a difference between those nobles and you."
Shanie tilted her head in confusion, her face showing defiance:
"Do you also think nobles should be superior and commoners deserve to be lowly?"
"No, what I ant was, toads also have two eyes and one mouth."
Celitia said with a straight face, "They clearly resemble toads more, how can they be compared to humans?"
Shanie was stunned for a mont, then burst into laughter, her face breaking into a genuine smile.
"What a poisonous assessnt... but I like it!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)