[IHTTMBW] Chapter 37

There was no reason for the King, who despised Euphil Raize, to send him to the Academy and let him gain fame. The King increasingly harboured resentment toward Euphil’s rising reputation, and it was only through Gelbart’s wisdom that this resentment was consistently thwarted. 

“Then why don’t you understand it won’t happen this time either?” 

“The Princess is a genius in another field. If Her Highness were to join the scholars of the Magic Tower, they could achieve great advancements!” 

‘Hmm, so that’s what it is.’ 

In short, I understood what they were implying. Euphil was said to be an exceptionally intelligent child, but if that were the case, then I was someone who had completed formal education in Korea with excellent grades. Of course, I didn’t think it would be of much help, as it was just regular schooling, but mathematics was different in this era. The world operated with magic and mathematics at a middle school level. Moreover, the formulas used in magic were practically at a high school maths level. The most inconvenient thing was that they didn’t use symbols. When I introduced the idea of using symbols instead of writing out every number and sentence, the Academy was turned upside down. 

“A genius! A genius has appeared who only comes once in a thousand years!” 

I was treated almost like Newton. Though I felt a twinge of conscience, what did it matter if they were pleased? And so, I ended up being revered as a genius at the Academy, with scholars from the Magic Tower coming to visit me. At just ten years old. 

“Please, ask the Princess her opinion!” Euphil, who was beside me, held my hand tightly and bowed his head once. It was a sign that he didn’t want me to go. 

Having grown a little taller, I blinked at him with my curly hair bouncing around. My white skin had become even more like porcelain, and I was growing more beautiful by the day, to the point where I admired myself when looking in the mirror. 

Euphil was the same. At fifteen, he was becoming a dangerously handsome young man, exuding an alluring aura that sometimes made me swallow hard. When the wind tousled his golden hair, he would look at me and smile softly, so breathtakingly handsome that it took my breath away. 

Five years ago, when Euphil was ten, and I was five, and many scholars from the Academy were desperately trying to take him with them, Gelbart had asked Euphil, 

“Do you want to go to the Academy?” 

“The Academy is a place for studying, isn’t it?” 

“It’s where the world’s greatest geniuses gather to pursue knowledge.” 

“But it means being separated from Myrthi.” 

At those words, I opened my mouth wide in surprise. The Academy was a place where Euphil wouldn’t have to see the King. But did it make sense for him to say he wouldn’t go because of me? 

“I don’t want to go to a place where I can’t protect Myrthi.” 

I think I threw myself into Euphil’s arms at that moment, pleased with what he had said. And at that point, I felt that Euphil probably wouldn’t kill me anymore. 

The original novel does not have a scene where Euphil goes to the Academy. Therefore, I shouldn’t have known what the Academy was about, but since the male protagonist, Allenan, had attended it, I knew roughly what it was. 

It wasn’t a bad place. But I didn’t want to go because I wouldn’t be able to protect myself in this palace. 

‘What should I do with this admirable person?’ 

It was practically like sending away more than half of the Academy’s students. 

“Even after all that?” I whispered to Euphil, adding that it seemed like they would treat him very well if he went. 

But Euphil tightly held my hand and whispered back, 

“Absolutely not.” 

“You don’t even nap with me anymore.” I pouted and grumbled. 

In fact, Euphil had been avoiding our daily napping time together lately. 

One day, he made a declaration. 

“Myrthi, you shouldn’t nap with me anymore.” 

To me, it was like a bolt out of the blue. Countless worries rushed through my mind at once. 

“Is it because he dislikes me as a sister now? Am I going to die at nineteen like this? Has he grown tired of me?” 

While I was lost in all these thoughts, Euphil sighed and wiped away the tears that must have welled up on my face. 

“Please, don’t cry over something like this.” 

“No!! Why! Why can’t we nap together anymore?” 

Napping with Euphil had been an incredibly effective way to coax him. When I laughed and wheedled, he would sometimes read me fairy tales until he fell asleep or held me close, patting my back.