Despite the small commotion... the entrance ceremony had concluded, and it was time to move to our respective classrooms.
The Royal Academy operated on a three-year system, with separate school buildings for each of the five departments.
Of the four classes ranging from A to D, Rest and his sisters had been assigned to Class A.
Class placement was determined by academic performance, with Class A reserved for those who had achieved the highest entrance examination scores.
Students were not guaranteed to stay in the same class until graduation — class reassignments occurred after each semester's exams, so they would have to keep working hard to maintain their placement in Class A.
(Whether you ended up in Class A or Class D completely changed your career path after graduation... I couldn't let myself become a disgrace to House Rosemary.)
Rest was currently set to marry into House Rosemary.
If he were to be demoted to Class D, it could bring shame upon the marquis's household.
(My career path after graduation would probably be court magician. Becoming the same profession as my father...
...it's not exactly thrilling.
But House Rosemary is a prestigious family of magicians. As someone marrying into the family, I really should become a court magician.)
"Ah, this must be our classroom."
Primula tugged on Rest's arm.
It was the second floor of the Magic Department building — the classroom for first-year Class A.
"Looks like seating is free. Let's sit toward the front."
Viola pointed toward the empty seats.
Rest and the Rosemary sisters took their seats side by side at their desks, just as they had during the entrance ceremony.
"Phew... Still, I wonder what that was all about during the entrance ceremony?"
"It looked like someone cast magic... toward Celestine, that is..."
The topic the two of them kept coming back to was, inevitably, what had happened during the entrance ceremony.
Celestine Crocus, who had been delivering a speech on the podium as the top student of the Magic Department, had been attacked with magic.
It may have been non-lethal magic, but that hardly made it a small matter.
With dignitaries in attendance, they couldn't exactly stop the ceremony midway, so no pursuit of the culprit had taken place on the spot—but when the target turned out to be a duke's young lady, it was a serious issue.
"Um... could it be that it was Lord Rest who defended against that mud magic?"
Primula asked in a low voice, making sure no one else could hear.
"Ah... so you figured it out after all?"
"Yes, I knew it. I don't think anyone other than me and Primula noticed, though."
It wasn't just Primula—Viola had noticed too.
"To cast a defensive spell on the spur of the moment like that... no one but Rest could pull that off."
"Of course it would be Lord Rest. Neither my sister nor I could do anything at all."
"You're overrating me. Even if I hadn't done anything, the academy headmaster would have blocked it."
It just so happened that Rest was the one who intercepted the mud projectile that someone had fired, but the academy headmaster had also activated a barrier at the same moment to protect Celestine.
There had never been any need to do anything in the first place.
"Being able to do the same thing as the academy headmaster is already amazing in its own right, though... The headmaster is a Sage, you know?"
"None of the other Magic Department instructors could do anything either... So yes, Lord Rest really is amazing."
"Mmm..."
Being praised so unreservedly was, frankly, embarrassing.
Rest fell silent, feeling self-conscious.
"Oh! There he is!"
However, just at that moment, a voice called out from the classroom entrance.
"Rest, is that you? You're in the same class as me!"
The girl who came trotting over to Rest's seat with a bright, cheerful atmosphere and crimson hair fluttering behind her — she sounded positively delighted.
Yuri Cattleya, daughter of the knight commander.
She was the girl who had taken the commoner-track entrance exam alongside him.
"You passed too! I'm so happy we meet again!"
"Ah... um, Miss Cattleya..."
"Just Yuri is fine! We're close enough for that, right?"
Close enough for what.
They were classmates who had merely taken the same exam together.
"Um... Yuri... san..."
"Just Yuri is okay! And I'll call you Rest too!"
"Ah, yeah... sure..."
"Rest, who might this young lady be?"
"Rest, who is this person?"
From either side, Viola and Primula joined the conversation.
Both were smiling, but... for some reason, a chill ran down his spine.
"Oh... I told you about her before, didn't I? She's Yuri Cattleya — we took the entrance exam together."
"Are those two over there friends of yours, Rest?"
"We're his fiancées."
Viola and Primula declared in unison, their voices firm.
Yuri's eyes widened in surprise at their words, but she quickly broke into a grin and laughed.
"Having such beautiful fiancées — that's just like Rest! I knew my judgment was right about him!"
"Mm..."
At Yuri's reaction, the sisters exchanged glances.
Judging from her response, Yuri didn't seem to harbor any romantic feelings toward Rest.
"I'm sorry, we were rather rude... My name is Viola Rosemary. And this is my younger sister, Primula."
"I'm Primula. We'll be classmates from now on, so I look forward to it."
Once Viola and Primula had properly introduced themselves, Yuri cheerfully offered her hand for a handshake.
"I'm Yuri. But say... Rosemary — does that mean you're from House Rosemary, the marquis family whose head serves as the chief court magician?"
"Yes, Marquis Rosemary is our father."
"You're from House Cattleya, aren't you, Yuri? The family of the knight commander."
The sisters squeezed her hand back and asked.
In response, Yuri averted her gaze with an awkward expression.
"W-Well, I suppose you could say that... But I'm attending the academy as a commoner, so please don't worry about my family name."
"............"
The sisters fell silent, their eyes saying, "Then why introduce yourself at all...?"
To Yuri, introducing herself properly when meeting someone was simply the natural thing to do.
"I'm so happy! First Rest, and now two more friends... At this academy, I feel like I can really change."
Yuri shook the clasped hands up and down, beaming with joy.
Judging by her tone, she seemed to have some kind of story.
"You three, we're going to get along great from now on!"
"..."
With broad smiles, Rest and the others nodded with mixed expressions at the beaming Yuri.