When she thought back on her trip to the capital, she was reminded of the boy she met in the garden of Marquis Everen.
How are you doing? Don’t tell me you’ve been crouching by the lake again.
Her memory of the boy crouching alone and scratching his skin until he bled was something hard to forget.
“Grandmother, do you know how to make medicine for Maram vines allergy?” Lucy asked her grandmother, who had been drying herbs.
“Maram vines allergy? Why are you suddenly asking me that?”
“Well, I’m just curious,”
“That’s easy.” Her grandmother smiled and stroked Lucy’s head with her rough hands. “It’s just an allergy medicine. Grandma knows everything!”
Lucy’s face brightened at her grandmother’s boast. Thus, she began to make allergy medicine with the help of her grandmother. She didn’t know why, but her hands moved by themselves.
I guess it’s because I felt sorry seeing him crouching down that it never left my mind.
Lucy thought so.
Yeah, it was annoying, but somehow it bothered me. It’s like seeing a dog getting wet in the rain, and it makes me want to help it. But how can I get this to him?
She agonized over the finished medicine.
Could I mail it to the Duke of Berg?
However, she realized they were all useless worries.
He was the Prince of Berg. It was clear that the leading doctors of the Empire were checking the health of the duke’s family day and night.
A beggar was worried about the rich. Even if it wasn’t her own medicine, the boy must have been receiving the best treatment and care.
Eventually, Lucy sighed lightly and put the medicine bottle deep in the display case.
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It was a waste of time and effort to make it, but what’s done is done.
Still, Lucy decided to be satisfied with the fact that she made the medicine for someone who was in pain.
As time passed, the days of thinking about the boy became fewer, and the regret of not being able to send the medicine faded.
“Lucy, the allergy medicine I made the other day was still in the cabinet. Didn’t you make it for someone?” Lucy’s grandmother asked.
“I just tried making it. It would be useful to know how to make any medicine,” Lucy replied with a firm smile.
Upon hearing Lucy’s answer, her grandmother smiled happily.
“Well, I’ll tell you everything I know about medicine, so don’t worry! You will take over this pharmacy one day.”
Lucy’s smile faded slightly at her grandmother’s words, but soon she smiled broadly. “Yes, of course.”
Lucy, pretending to be calm, had another dream in the corner of her heart. A dream she couldn’t tell anyone about.
It was to go to the capital again.
Of course, she loved Brom, the place where she was born and raised, but in Lucy’s mind, the lively and magnificent sight of the capital rarely left her.
It was her secret that she could never reveal to her grandmother. She was sure her grandmother would be disappointed if she found out about it.
With the secret hidden in her heart, Lucy again lived a peaceful and insignificant life as a country girl on the outskirts of the empire.
* * *
However, the seeds planted in the little girl’s heart did not rot over the years and were only taking root.
Then, when Lucy turned 16, it finally began to sprout when she learned of a place called Xenomium Academy.
“Xenomium Academy?” Once again, Colin’s pride in the academy piqued Lucy’s curiosity.
“Yes, the prestigious academy near the capital.”
“You’re going there?”
“If I pass!” Colin shrugged as if he had already passed despite his words.
“Wow!” Lucy looked at Colin with eyes full of envy.
Colin had strong support as a son of a baron. She heard that he was going to enter a good academy, but Lucy never imagined it would be an academy in the capital.
Lucy recalled her trip to the capital six years ago with Lady Triana. The scenery she saw at that time had faded a little over the years, but the excitement and emotion she felt in her heart were still vivid.
Lucy’s heart swelled with strange emotions.
“Are you going that far?”
If Colin went to the Xenomium Academy or something, she wouldn’t be able to see him again until he graduated. The capital was indeed a long way away.
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Lucy’s eyebrows dropped as she was disappointed that her best friend would move to a city and she wouldn’t get to see him as often.
Colin became sullen when he saw Lucy’s sad expression and quickly tried to soothe her. “I’m not staying there forever. It’s just three years!”
Three years is a long time!
Lucy cried inwardly.
Without you, I have no one to play with.
No matter how much Colin comforted her, Lucy didn’t feel better. Even when she got home and had dinner with her family or when she was in bed after finishing her day’s work. She felt somewhat dejected and disappointed and couldn’t sleep until late at night.
Shouldn’t I be happy and support my best friend if he can enter a prestigious academy?
Lucy reprimanded herself, scolding her vile heart.
Colin is smart, so I’m sure he’ll get in. Don’t be disappointed. Colin deserves a good education at the best academy and deserves to be a good lord.
She constantly urged and encouraged him. But after a long night, even after the next day or many days after that, Lucy’s mood didn’t improve.
Am I really doing this because I don’t want Colin to go far away? Or…
Lucy agonized over the days and didn’t notice that someone was looking at her meaningfully.
Lucy’s grandmother looked carefully at her granddaughter, becoming more and more enraptured by the day.
“Perhaps she’s upset at the thought of parting with Colin.”
“They’ve been together since childhood.”
Her grandmother shook her head quietly at Lucy’s parents’ guesses. They were having dinner at the table. “That’s not it.” Her eyes shone sharply. “In a few months, Colin will officially go to the academy in the capital for the entrance examination.”
Lucy, biting her fork with a blank face, looked up quickly.
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Colin is smart, and he’ll definitely get in.” Lucy’s mother said, looking pleased.
Lucy nodded with an awkward smile and muttered, “Yes, I think so too.”
This was followed by a conversation about Colin’s upright mind and their expectations as the next lord of Brom. Despite Lucy’s nodding agreement, she seemed to be staring in a daze at the table’s empty corner.
“Lucy, why don’t you take the exam with him?” her grandmother said, peering at her.
Clank!
Lucy’s fork fell to the floor and made a loud noise. It bounced a few times and stopped moving after a while. Then a long silence came over the table.
The whole family looked surprised at her grandmother’s unexpected remark.
Lucy stared blankly at her grandmother’s face without even thinking about picking up the fork she had dropped.
… the academy entrance exam? Me?
No matter how much she thought about it, she felt as if she had been hallucinating. However, her grandmother smiled at her as if telling Lucy that she was not mistaken.
The first person to break the silence was her father.
“Mother… Are you serious?” he asked cautiously, and his face contorted in disbelief. “I’m afraid we will have to pay a lot of school expenses.”
Xenomium Academy was the most prestigious academy in the empire. Its tuition fees were also incomparable to those of ordinary schools. A slight frown formed on her father’s forehead as he began thinking about it.
“I was thinking of sending Lucy to school. Even if it’s not Xenomium… There are good schools in the east. It should be enough for Lucy.”
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“How do you know if it’s enough?” Lucy’s grandmother cut off her father’s words firmly. “Lucy doesn’t express herself very much. So, no one knows exactly what this child wants. Even if you are her father, don’t simply make your own judgement.”
Lucy’s grandmother crossed her arms and continued, “I’ve taught Lucy many things on my own since she was a child. Even the children of noble families who receive a high level of education would find it difficult to do so. I think a school of the right level for this kid is definitely Xenomium.”
“I know Lucy is a smart girl. But, Mother, Xenomium is impossible with our standing.”
“When I said I was sending you to a medical school, the villagers said the same thing. They told me not to give you false hope and just teach you how to farm.”
Lucy’s father, who was about to argue further, went quiet. There was another deep silence at the table. After a while, he sighed shallowly and said calmly, “Mother, you know that it doesn’t make sense to compare the tuition fees of a local medical center with the Capital Academy, do you?”
“Don’t worry. I have an idea. That’s why I brought it up.”
Her dad could no longer refute her grandmother’s firm attitude.
Lucy, who should be most pleased at that moment, was sitting restlessly on her seat despite her grandmother’s words showing infinite faith in her.
Her grandmother said she had an idea, but she didn’t really believe it. To Lucy’s eyes, sending her to the Xenomium Academy was a bad decision for the family.
I just have to say I don’t want to go. It’s for the better good. That way, Grandma and Dad won’t have to argue about this, and Grandma won’t have to be sorry for me.
“Grandmother, I’m…” Lucy, who had been hesitating, finally spoke.
I don’t particularly want to go to Xenomium.
That sentence was enough.
But…
Suddenly she jumped up from her seat and ran to her grandmother. Lucy hugged her grandmother’s neck and burst into tears.
“Thank you, Grandma!” she said, choking back her sobs.
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My eyeballs are sweating 🥲🥲