Chapter - 2: Elena, the silent ninja
The carriage fell back to silence again but this time the tension removed. Both of them looked away from each other as Elena looked out through the window, her earlobes a shade of red.
Despite the quietness, it's true that they got significantly closer with each other.
Letizia was fidgeting, twisting a lock of hair while stealing glances at Elena's aloof figure. She thought inside
'They were all wrong. Her Highness isn't cold-hearted at all. She's just...different. Maybe a little awkward, but kind. And kind of cute, in a regal sort of way. No, no, I mustn't let my guard down. I need to train hard and live up to my promise.' Letizia resolved to do her best and encouraged herself.
Elena on the other hand also noticed Letizia clenching her fist, lost in thoughts. She smiled thinking 'She's just like before in my previous life, very pure and motivated. Teaching her is well worth it'
As both of them were lost in their own thoughts, the carriage came to a halt in front of a massive gate.
The guard captain got down of his horse and came to open the carriage door. Letizia came to her senses and got down first before helping Elena out.
Then both of them looked at the magnificent gate which loomed over them. Leaning closer, they can trace the words above: "Imperial Academy of Eldora" in bold, archaic lettering. Below is another line smaller than the other one: "The last fortress of mankind."
A golden emblem adorned both sides of the gate: a worn leather-bound book flanked by a crossed sword and staff. The rising sun etched behind the book cast a warm glow over the scene.
A trace of Nostalgia flashed through her eyes as Elena entered through the gate while Letizia took a while to come back to her senses and hurried to follow her.
True to the last words, it felt like a fortress inside the city. Walls, seemingly impregnable, stretched as far as the eyes could see, encircling a sprawling campus that encompassed a staggering 10 square kilometers. Dominating this vast landscape was a magnificent palace-like building in the distance. Smaller structures dotted the landscape, suggesting a hive of activity.
Given the sheer size of the campus, traveling by foot would be time-consuming. To navigate the more distant parts of the academy, students can utilize internal vehicles provided by the academy.
One can ride a horse-drawn public bus or even ride boats which travel through the internal water pathway canals.
Elena was almost late already, so there were no other students near the academy gate. She quickly hailed a private carriage and brought Letizia with her to the central building.
Because of its size and appearance, people call the central building as the "Academy Palace" or simply "The Palace." This colossal structure, spanning a massive 0.2 square kilometers, housed the entirety of the academy's operations. Because of its size, there's no need for separate buildings. All the students of each department and term can study here in different classrooms and floors.
[Author's note: For your reference, Buckingham palace is around 0.16 sq km. I just rounded up that number for my own satisfaction]
Thinking about the sheer number of students this place could hold, Elena suddenly came to a halt. Letizia, who was following behind absentmindedly, almost crashed on her.
"I-Is there any problem, Your Highness?"
Elena didn't respond but internally she was thinking 'I forgot my classroom'
That's not surprising though. The Academy palace has 6 floors for 6 different grades of students. But it doesn't strictly follow the rule of one floor being allocated to a whole grade of students. There can be different grades of students in one floor and the distribution can change anytime.
And who knows which class is currently going on, the classroom might be different depending on it.
A voice came from behind as Elena was getting troubled by where to go.
"Princess Rosalind?"
Elena turned to the side. In the distance, she saw a fiery auburn haired girl practically skipping towards her, a wide smile plastered on her face.
She reached Elena quickly, her movements graceful despite her hurried pace. She gave a slight bow with elegance and a respectful smile. "Good morning, Your Highness! I hope you've been healthy and well."
Elena kept a straight face, trying to remember who it was before giving a slight nod "Good day to you too lady Navis"
In return the girl said with a smile "You can just call me Livia, your highness. We study in the same classroom."
Elena simply nodded, calling her again "Ok Lady Livia"
Livia continued, her voice bubbling with energy "Hope you slept well, your highness. Are you going to the magic theory class held by professor Rinaldi? Everyone's already there. Forgive me for my tardiness. I got delayed for a while, hehe" Livia asked along with a forceful laugh.
"Professor Rinaldi's magic class?" Elena trailed off for a while thinking before deciding to go along with it "Yes, I'm also going there, why don't we go there together?"
She felt relieved internally. Since she already forgot which classroom was where. Why not let someone lead the way for her then?
Livia froze for a while at this unexpected sentence before her face blossomed like a flower "Yes your highness, it's an honor for me to lead the way for you"
She started leading Elena to the lecture hall. Throughout the whole conversation, not even for once did she look towards Letizia, as if she doesn't exist.
Elena calmly followed Livia while Letizia was earnestly looking everywhere, catching every little detail.
Elena saw it and softly reminded her "Don't look like that, people would think you're a country bumpkin who haven't seen any grand structure in life"
Letizia got a surprise and removed her gaze softly muttering "But it's true, I haven't been here before. The academy palace is a sight to behold" Before hurriedly apologized with lowered head "Sorry your highness"
Elena directly looked towards her and said "First rule of a servant is to never talk back to your master. Though it seems you know about it already"
Letizia apologized again. To that, Elena just smiled "Don't worry, you're still learning. It's your first day of being my maid"
As they were talking quietly, Livia who was walking ahead looked back
"We're here your highness"
As it seems, the lecture hall was on the first floor. That's the reason Livia was here to begin with.
As they looked inside through the window, they found a gray haired elderly person with neatly trimmed beard and mustache talking on the podium.
"Oh no, Professor Rinaldi seems to be already here, it would be quite embarrassing to be seen late by everyone"
Livia looked inside and spoke in panic. She doesn't want to draw unwanted attention towards her, her pride won't let her to bear such a stain.
"Should we skip this period?"
As she voiced her thoughts while looking towards Elena, she noticed her being calm and collected.
"Your highness?!" There was confusion in her voice.
"Don't worry, I've got an idea" Elena said as she went towards the opposite side of the classroom door.
Livia didn't know what Elena was thinking before she quickly asked as she noticed where they were going "Your highness, don't tell me you're thinking about entering through the back door?"
Seeing Elena nod, she hastily said "Forgive me for my rudeness your highness, but large lecture halls have ascending benches. Even if we enter enter through the back door, we will need to climb it from the front"
But Elena didn't reply and continued waking.
"Your highness" Livia muttered "Arghh, whatever"
Livia thought inside, since the imperial princess herself initiated it, she as a duke's daughter shouldn't complain.
People might even forget her and solely focus on the princess.
As they entered through the back door, they noticed there weren't that many students sitting behind.
Fortunately, there were less students than expected, so no one noticed them yet.
It's also thanks to the academy being well maintained, thus the door didn't make any creaking noises.
'But there's no use of this temporary relief, we have to go through the front anyway' Livia thought as she looked towards Elena.
But then to her surprise, instead of going towards the front as expected, she saw Elena walking further behind.
'What is she doing, is she thinking of hiding behind everyone to pass the time? That's so stupid, people's gonna bound to lose their concentration and look elsewhere, potentially spotting us'
She continued watching Elena and saw her moving towards the bookshelf at the back, right beside the Ramp made for elevated benches.
'Wait, is she thinking of climbing the shelf to get towards the ramp? That's crazy, it's going to make a lot of noises, drawing everyone's attention; making them see the embarrassing posture of an imperial princess climbing a bookshelf. It's worse than all of my ideas'
The ramp becomes as tall as a person's height way towards the back. And there's a ceiling reaching bookshelf on either side of it. But they are still a bit far from it. It's not possible to step on the ramp from the bookshelf.
Obviously, there's a ladder to climb them, but it's narrowly placed on a corner which they can't get to. So the only way is to climb the bookshelf. At least that's what Livia was thinking.
Indeed, Elena reached the bookshelf and placed her hand on it. It really seems like she's going to climb it.
Worse of all, her ankle length skirt is not suitable for it at all.
'I can't look anymore' Livia felt like looking away. And she indeed did so.
She waited for a while and expected there to be creaking noises and people's gasp but there was no such thing even after a while.
She looked back and to her shock, she didn't see Elena climbing the bookshelf but stepping on the rampart.
There's a wide enough distance between the bookshelf and the ramp. Even if she somehow reached the top of the bookshelf, how did she get on the ramp without making any noises?
There's bound to be a large sound if a person jumps there from the bookshelf.
"How???" She almost shouted aloud
She then heard some hissing sound and saw Elena gesturing towards her.
"What are you pacing out for, hurry up here"
Elena already helped Letizia climb up the ramp and now beckons Livia to do the same.
Seeing it, Livia became a bit flustered.
"Your highness, I don't know how you did it but I obviously can't do the same as you"
Seeing this, Elena was getting impatient.
"Idiot, I didn't ask you to jump from the top of the bookshelf like I did but try to climb up the ramp directly. I'm gonna pull you up."
"Pull me up, but your highness…" Livia's face became red as she stammered "No matter what, I'm still a little bit heavy for you to directly pull me up by my hand"
"I say what, stop dilly dallying and come up here, someone might look back any moment now" Elena was getting really irked up and her tone became harsher.
"Yes" Livia instantly agreed with a teary voice. When did anyone speak to her like that? Remember, she's only 11 years old.
Livia gave her hand to Elena, to which Elena gestured to Letizia to help pull her up.
It's only then did Livia finally notice the green haired maid beside Elena.
But even with two people's help, it's bound to be hard pulling her up without any support to balance the weight. And the ramp is wooden, so it's going to make a lot of noise.
But to her surprise, she felt a sudden shift of air pressure supporting her back. It felt like she was floating in the air, weightless.
With the two people's help, she quickly got up, placed one leg on the lower side of the ramp awkwardly and finally got up.
"Princess, how did you do it? It's so incredible!"
Livia exclaimed, her noble face went away as she stared at Elena like a fan girl constantly asking questions.
"Be quiet, someone might hear you. Let's first get ourselves some seats"
Livia quieted down clutching her mouth while looking around.
To her relief, no one noticed them.
Well, really no one except one old man who was looking towards them with a gaping mouth.
…
Total word count: 2093
Total 7 pages