Some surprises are like sudden love.
You never imagined they would appear, but when they do, they somehow feel completely natural.
January 17th, afternoon.
Miss Betty, the daughter of Viscount Carl, followed a teacher from a noble magic academy along with a group of aristocratic classmates to visit the Royal Capital First Military Academy.
Although Betty was a mage, her talent was limited. She had failed to gain admission to the Royal Capital Magic Academy, and under Viscount Carl's arrangements, she ultimately enrolled in an ordinary noble magic academy instead.
Now sixteen years old, she had only recently advanced to a first-tier mage.
Even that result had been achieved only because Viscount Carl spared no expense in purchasing large quantities of magic potions.
In truth, this had already exhausted most of Betty's magical potential.
Even though they had now purchased a Nether Orchid from Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop, it would likely take a very long time before she could advance to the second tier, and she would probably never become a mid-level mage in her lifetime.
Of course, Viscount Carl didn't care about that.
Simply having the identity of a mage was enough for Betty.
After all, she didn't need to go to the battlefield and fight with magic, nor did she need to study complicated auxiliary spells for magical research.
For her, being a mage simply made it easier to obtain certain things.
For example, small opportunities like today's academy visit.
Or larger matters like her future marriage.
Although Betty still felt a faint sense of unwillingness deep in her heart, if her future husband were someone like His Highness Ron, then she would have no complaints at all.
But unfortunately, ever since the royal hunting trip where she met Ron, she had never seen him again.
Even when she participated in two more hunting events organized by Prince Soven, she only witnessed two more noble ladies falling into Soven's charms after Penny. The person who had served as Soven's "wingman"—Ron—was nowhere to be found.
She had even accompanied her family's steward to Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop to negotiate the purchase of Nether Orchid and Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum.
But the only person she met there was Miss Nora, who introduced herself as the shop's general manager.
Watching Nora converse confidently with the steward, calm and composed, Betty couldn't help feeling a little envious.
If she were placed in that position, she would probably start stammering.
Unfortunately, when it came to business negotiations, simply standing beside the steward and observing was already Betty's limit. Personally handling negotiations was completely out of the question.
Because in the eyes of most nobles, allowing women to control the flow of family finances was considered somewhat improper.
In short, during the past ten days of her "chance encounter plan," Miss Betty had failed to achieve her goal of meeting His Highness Ron again.
She was gradually beginning to lose hope.
Glancing around at her classmates, she saw that most of them were the sons and daughters of barons and viscounts.
They were either mages or warriors who had already formed a Battle Aura Vortex.
Occasionally, a bastard child of an earl would appear among them, instantly becoming the center of attention.
In Viscount Carl's view, marrying into the family of an earl would already be a very good outcome.
But after seeing Ron's handsome face, looking at these "crooked melons and cracked dates" around her made them seem completely unappealing.
After lunch, their group gathered at the academy entrance and rode their respective carriages to the gate of the Royal Capital First Military Academy.
After regrouping at the entrance, the teacher leading the group reminded them once again:
"Once we enter the First Military Academy, remember one thing—set aside your pride!"
"If anything happens, do not involve yourselves. And if you accidentally cause trouble—even if you believe you're not at fault—apologize immediately."
"That is, unless you want to cause trouble for your fathers."
"In this academy, even a boy from a remote village with no background whatsoever might be valued by the academy leadership because of his outstanding performance."
"Believe me—if you provoke someone like that, the consequences will be no lighter than provoking the son of a marquis."
"Understood?"
Everyone immediately responded in unison, expressing their understanding.
Only then did the teacher approach the military academy's gate guards, present the relevant documents, and lead the group inside.
They toured the academy's museum, library, training grounds, physical testing hall, large-scale war simulation sand table, battle aura threshold activation device, and the martial arts institute.
Finally, they reached the free exploration period.
The teacher once again repeated the warnings he had already emphasized countless times before, reluctantly dismissing the group.
Betty began wandering around the academy with two close friends.
"At times like this, it should be like in fairy tales—some military academy bully falls for a beautiful girl, then a handsome noble young master rescues her, and they live happily ever after~."
"What are you talking about? You don't even qualify under the 'beauty' requirement."
"Oh come on~ Let me fantasize a little!"
"Wait—look over there! That guy looks really cool~."
"Ahhh! I want to touch him!"
Betty didn't join in their fangirl discussion.
In her opinion, compared to His Highness Ron, none of the men around them were even worth comparing.
She only occasionally echoed her friends' comments while letting her gaze wander around, secretly hoping she might run into Ron by chance.
Unfortunately, although Ron was an honorary student of the First Military Academy, he rarely came here.
Betty's wish was destined to fail.
Just then, a sudden commotion broke out near the training field, drawing the attention of the three girls.
"What's going on over there? Suddenly, so many people gathered."
"Should we go take a look?"
"Maybe not… didn't the teacher warn us not to get involved in matters here?"
"Just looking shouldn't hurt, right? Some of the others from our group have already gone."
"We can stay on the outside and see what's happening first," Betty suggested after thinking it over. "If there's trouble, we'll leave."
So the three of them walked to the edge of the training field and politely asked a nearby student what had happened.
"See those three people in the center?" the boy said, pointing toward two men and one woman who were drawing everyone's attention.
"That girl is Leticia, the granddaughter of the Duke of the Northern Frontier."
"The two guys beside her—one is the grandson of the Duke of the Eastern Territory, and the other is the son of General Moen, one of the Empire's three great generals."
"Both of them have taken a liking to Leticia and invited her to go hunting this weekend and have dinner together. Now they're arguing over it."
Betty looked toward the girl at the center of attention.
Like a star surrounded by admirers, Leticia had dark blue hair, snow-white skin, and a tall, slender figure that made people envious.
What Betty noticed, however, was that Leticia wasn't trying to calm the two young men down.
Instead, she simply folded her arms and covered her mouth with a smile, leisurely watching the two boys quarrel over her.