novelraw Chapter 382: Side Story: First Meeting with Elizabeth
Chapter 382: Side Story: First Meeting with Elizabeth
The beginning of the story was like this:
Elizabeth was enrolled in the Military Academy of the Royal Academy. Most of the students in the Military Academy were children of Naris nobility; there were rarely commoners or students from the industrial and commercial classes. People all said: The Military Academy of the Royal Academy has an invisible enrollment threshold; the nobility absolutely cannot part with the most important military power, unwilling to yield even a sliver of the most basic right to learn.
This reasoning was evidently incorrect, or rather, incomplete; the nobility perhaps were unwilling to yield, but propelled by the increasingly powerful parliament and the forces of the two parties, the Royal Academy, as the old nest of the Gryphon Party, naturally wouldn't specially slant toward the old-school feudal nobility.
The true reason lay in that studying at the Military Academy was very arduous, and the required tuition fees were exceedingly high, actually on par with the fees of the Magic Academy, and more than double those of the regular Business Academy and Science Academy.
Of course, Her Highness Elizabeth didn't need to worry about the exorbitant tuition fees. What she truly worried about were academic difficult problems; there were quite a few theories one needed to learn to lead troops, and the requirements for royal personnel were frighteningly high.
Perhaps previously she would indeed complain a sentence or two, but now she wouldn't anymore, because if not for these academic difficult problems, she perhaps wouldn't have gotten to know that boy.
She still remembered, it was an afternoon before the midterm exams in the middle of the first semester of her freshman year. Within the noisy Royal Academy, there was never a lack of quiet people, and Elizabeth, agonized over her thesis, was one of them.
"In the considerations of modern warfare, magic is a part that has to be considered. As excellent commanders, not only do you need to know how to utilize magic in war, you also must possess a certain understanding of all its principles and costs. This week's assignment: a two thousand five hundred word thesis regarding the application of magic in modern warfare, submit it to me by the end of next week. At least fifteen citations are required, strictly following the [Helson Citation Format Example]... That is all, class dismissed!"
Within the classroom, the professor on the podium's unquestionable words transmitted over. Without paying the slightest mind to the students wailing in grief below, he walked straight out of the classroom.
Such strict requirements made even the perfect smile on the face of Elizabeth, as the eldest princess, somewhat unable to hold up. She endured for a whole day, until the afternoon tea party with the noble ladies, where she finally couldn't hold back and complained to these sisters with quite some criticism,"I shouldn't have chosen this course. We haven't even finished learning basic military management yet. And next week I still have to face four exams, how could I possibly finish writing it... I know basically nothing about the content of magic, it seems I can only drop the course..."
"Oh my, it's rare to hear Her Highness Princess Elizabeth lack confidence like this."
Within the numerous noble sisters, an older sister currently enrolled in her third year at the College of Arts smiled and looked at Elizabeth, who despite being the youngest was sitting in the seat of honor. After a moment of hesitation, she recommended a "possible helper" to Elizabeth,
"But there's no need to worry too much. Actually, I have a helper here... I have a distant cousin who also recently came to Saint-Nazareth to study. His name is Tlander, and he's currently enrolled in the Business Academy. He was unwilling to live with us, so he rented a house in the inner city, sharing rent with a student from the Magic Academy."
Speaking up to here, that older sister casually introduced her family's relationships while slowly drawing out the main topic,
"His roommate who shares the rent is very unsimple. He's the first place in this Magic Academy entrance exam, and just as a freshman, he took a full course load plus three elective courses. I heard the magic class professor prepared to let him finish testing on all the content during this midterm, and it was at his own request..."
"I heard Tlander say that child comes from a poor background. Your Highness can write a letter asking him for help; he will definitely help you."
Before her words were finished, the other sisters nearby burst into laughter, covering their mouths and mocking,
"Let's skip this kind of suggestion. Asking Her Highness Elizabeth to write a letter to a poor student requesting his help in completing an academic thesis? If this spreads out, wouldn't it be too embarrassing? Or is it that you just want Her Highness Elizabeth to lose face like this?"
"N-no, how would I dare?"
These words made the face of the older sister who suggested it turn pale. She hastily laughed awkwardly and explained thusly.
Alright, perhaps she was indeed somewhat ill-considered. If it were other noble children, perhaps it wouldn't matter, but Her Highness Elizabeth absolutely couldn't act like this...
Elizabeth also knew she was unintentional and didn't continue to pursue the matter. Instead, she gently smoothed things over and asked,
"I will consider it. What's his name?"
"Ah, Fisher! Fischer Benavides, that's what he's called. Tlander mentioned him many times, so I remember..."
Elizabeth smiled, but everyone knew this Highness couldn't possibly write a letter to ask about matters regarding an academic thesis; after all, her status as the eldest imperial daughter was laid out here.
"Alright everyone, let the complaining end here. I'm going to the church to pray, farewell, ladies."
"Goodbye, Your Highness."
The Mother Goddess Church was the state religion of Naris, or rather, all nations of the West Continent were deeply influenced by the Mother Goddess Church, just that the churches established between the several nations were each different.
To express the closeness between the royal family and the church, Elizabeth's outward persona of gentleness made it best for her to add the status of a "devout Mother Goddess believer"; this would make the public feel closer and like her more.
Only, Elizabeth might question in the bottom of her heart exactly what use there was in doing this.
No matter what, the imperial daughter of Naris couldn't possibly inherit the throne, so what if she made the public love her?
The answer was: as a political resource, a political resource for marriage alliances.
Someday in the future, when Royal Father needed to support a noble or other faction worth relying on, perhaps a rising star of the Gryphon Party, or perhaps so-and-so of the New Party's Pioneering Company, to gain the public's support, he might marry her off to those people to tighten the connection between the Golden Palace and them.
Elizabeth understood that this was her best destiny.
She might harbor some criticism in her heart, but she also understood the difficulties of the royal family or her father, and understood the difficulty of change. Perhaps she had indeed somewhat accepted her fate, just playing the role of the gentle and friendly eldest princess like this, until she married an unfamiliar gentleman and spent the rest of her life.
That day, she rode the carriage towards the largest church in Saint-Nazareth to go pray.
The front of the spacious prayer hall, just like thousands upon thousands of churches, placed an amiable and kind Mother Goddess Statue, quietly watching the crowds coming to pray below.
Within the church, the bishop's voice reciting blessings was loud and resonant. Those devout believers sat on the wooden chairs, quietly closed their eyes, and adopted standard praying postures, feeling the seemingly non-existent summons of the Mother Goddess.
Quite a few people were already accustomed to seeing Her Highness the Eldest Princess at this time. Even the bishop greeted her. Only when she took her seat preparing to start praying did she abruptly realize that there was another quiet praying person at the other end of the wooden chair she sat on.
That was a quiet and handsome young man. The short black hair on his head and the three-dimensional facial features unique to Naris people all indicated his identity as a Kadu-Naris mixed-blood. What truly attracted Elizabeth's attention was the Royal Academy uniform he wore.
Yes, the Royal Academy actually had uniforms, but aside from the scholars of the research institute, no one would wear them; mostly everyone wore casual clothes.
But the Royal Academy, which represented an institution of new ideals, stood to reason it should have very few Mother Goddess believers, especially one still wearing such a conspicuous Royal Academy uniform.
Elizabeth shot a glance at the decent praying posture of that young man with closed eyes, and couldn't help but suspect that the person before her was actually a opportunist.
He perhaps knew she came here to pray every week. Proud of his own good looks, he purposely wore the uniform indicating he was from the same school as her and came here to put on an act of praying, wanting to forge a relationship with Her Highness the Eldest Princess...
One couldn't blame Elizabeth for imagined affection; she had indeed seen far too many people like this.
She originally could have ignored him, but perhaps due to those critical thoughts regarding her "persona" on the carriage, she abruptly pointed somewhat unfriendlily at the opposite party's praying posture, speaking up to remind him,
"Fingers for praying to the Mother Goddess must be entirely crossed. Your praying posture is wrong."
Yet that gentleman, who was quite handsome just looking at his side profile, paid her no mind. Only after several seconds passed did he seemingly slowly realize after the fact that the opposite party was speaking to him.
His rather cold and stern face turned to sweep a glance at Elizabeth. Subsequently, he turned his head away without caring in the slightest, patronizingly replying,
"I am not praying to the Mother Goddess, so the posture is correct. Furthermore, I am also not a Mother Goddess believer, Your Highness."
Elizabeth blanked slightly. She looked at the man's fingers before her, only then discovering he had standardly bent his middle finger without crossing it, and in the doctrines, the longest finger represented the Mother Goddess.
He was praying for someone else.
"Not a Mother Goddess believer yet coming to a church to pray?"
"You are also not a Mother Goddess believer, why did you come here?"
Elizabeth's pupils shrank slightly, not understanding how he saw through her persona. She was about to continue questioning when she saw him raise an index finger and place it before his own lips, signaling her to be quiet.
This man...
Yet Elizabeth entirely ignored his silencing gesture, continuing to ask in a low voice,
"How did you know?"
That man glanced at her speechlessly, helplessly speaking up to explain,
"Truly devout believers are very focused even when praying with closed eyes, but when you closed your eyes you were only spacing out. At the very least it can't be considered devout, right?"
"You were looking at me just now?"
Yet Elizabeth no longer pursued the question. On the contrary, she abruptly smiled faintly. That Godolin golden face instantly bloomed with unimaginable charm, making the young man before her blink his dazzled eyes, replying somewhat sluggishly,
"You are Her Highness the Princess, naturally you receive a lot of attention from others, and I am no exception."
"Like this..."
They didn't converse anymore. Both on their own accord lowered their heads to pray, and both were not that devout either.
That young boy was clearly very devoutly praying for a certain person, yet his posture wasn't that standard; her own posture was clearly so standard that no flaws could be spotted, yet her heart wasn't devout in the slightest.
The eye-closed Elizabeth abruptly grew a bit curious if this handsome young man beside her would peek at her again taking advantage of her closed eyes.
"The Mother Goddess said one must be devout, one must be kind, one must be selfless..."
The bishop's earnest teachings turned into gospel. Elizabeth then quietly opened her eyes, her head uncontrollably looking towards the side—this seemed to be her first time doing this, making such a move regardless of her persona. Clearly, the spread of such an "undevout" matter wouldn't be a good thing, but for some unknown reason, Elizabeth was just certain the other party wouldn't speak of it.
They seemed to possess a certain indescribable, undefinable tacit understanding, even though this was merely their first meeting, just like at this exact moment.
At the time Elizabeth opened her eyes and sneakily turned her head to look at the man beside her, that man who was praying also opened his eyes at the exact same time. Both subconsciously looked towards the person separated by a distance beside them. Consequently, both saw the other's head-turning movement...
Elizabeth didn't try to hide anything. She merely opened her mouth and looked at the opposite party. The young man before her looked back at her neither haughtily nor humbly, yet shrank back a slight distance under the gaze of her slightly flickering, bright golden eyes.
"..."
They had no superfluous dialogue, merely both feeling somewhat astonished that the opposite party would make the exact same movement as themselves.
For Elizabeth, it was to not make the opposite party feel awkward; for the young man before her, to avoid overstepping and offending the princess; they both seemed to want to stand up and leave at the same time, because the prayer seemed to have already ended. So they stood up together at the same time.
Looking at the opposite party's converging actions once again, Elizabeth could no longer hold back and began to smile. Yet this made the Naris gentleman before her, who possessed quite a scholarly temperament and was extremely introverted, feel increasingly awkward. Elizabeth then proactively acted the "gentleman," saying,
"After you."
"Thank you."
He wasn't polite either, standing up and walking towards the bishop in front, handing an envelope to the bishop. Elizabeth recognized it; that was a [Farewell Message], typically written by living people to deceased relatives. And handing the farewell message to the bishop also meant he had a relative who was a devout Mother Goddess believer and was buried within the church, resting eternally beneath the Mother Goddess's throne.
After the bishop amiably nodded, Elizabeth and that young gentleman soundlessly and tacitly didn't look at each other again, until that gentleman left the church from the main entrance.
Sensing the departure of that young gentleman from the same school, Elizabeth fell silent for a moment, stood up, and walked over to the bishop. She exchanged pleasantries with him for a moment, expressing her reverence for the Mother Goddess and how the Mother Goddess guided her life, not forgetting to donate some money like a devout believer.
No one could see through this "perfect Mother Goddess believer's" true thoughts, except for the gentleman just now.
Perhaps he did it on purpose, wanting to latch onto the royal family's high branch?
But that bizarre tacit understanding stopped Elizabeth from thinking that way.
She just followed behind the bishop like this, conversing while watching him hold the farewell message the young gentleman handed over earlier and approach a wall formed by stone caskets at the back of the church. Words were carved on every single stone casket; inside were the ashes of devout Mother Goddess believers. The bishop was responsible for burning the farewell messages sent by family members, to ensure the family's longing could reach the Mother Goddess's divine kingdom and be known to them.
At the corner of that stone wall, the bishop waved the envelope playfully in front of a stone casket, saying in a low voice,
"Envoy of the Mother Goddess, your mortal relative expresses sincere longing for you. May you slumber peacefully in the kingdom of the Mother Goddess."
Elizabeth's golden eyes looked over, only to see a single line of words carved upon that stone casket,
[Thank you for giving the lonesome me a home. Even though you have departed and I am solitary once again, you will forever be my family.]
[In memory of this: Teresa Benavides, a great and devout nun]
[Fischer Benavides]
Elizabeth looked at the words on that tiny tombstone. The "family" within those words seemingly glowed, causing layers of ripples to abruptly splash within her golden eyes.
She took a deep breath, looking somewhat worrying about personal gains and losses at the church behind her where the figure of that young gentleman had long vanished. But a second later, she seemed to recall something anew, abruptly turning her head to look at the name on that tombstone.
"Fischer Benavides?"
"What did you say, Your Highness?"
"Ah, it's nothing... Thank you for your guidance, Bishop. I must take my leave first."
"As you please, Your Highness."
Elizabeth smiled perfectly, yet her footsteps involuntarily sped up a bit, briskly leaving this place.