IHTN 02

Chapter: 02

One early morning, Yulia rubbed her sleepy eyes and stopped her grandfather as he was heading out the front gate.

“Grandpa, if you go to the market… could you please get me just one textbook?”

Her kind grandfather, for the sake of his young granddaughter, spent what was quite a large sum for him—not on a single book, but on an entire set.

Sitting at a desk that looked like it might fall apart at any moment, Yulia devoted herself thoroughly to self-directed study, centered entirely on her textbooks.

Perhaps because she already had some basic knowledge, the young girl quickly began to show exceptional talent in her studies.

At the rural school she attended once a week, her homeroom teacher was the first to recognize her ability.

“Yulia is naturally gifted. In short, she’s a genius. It would be such a waste to let her rot away in this countryside. I’ll try to look into some funding—how about sending her to Mondinium to study?”

Though poor, Yulia’s grandfather was the type who would sacrifice anything for his only granddaughter.

“My lovely and precious Yulia… it pains me to send you away alone.”

After scraping together every bit of money he had, he sent young Yulia off to the capital by herself. Unable to bear watching her leave, he turned away and wept.

Yulia, too, couldn’t hold back her tears.

Before she knew it, she had come to truly love her grandfather.

“Grandpa, I’ll definitely succeed and come back to repay you! Waaah…!”

Dragging a bag nearly as big as herself out the gate, Yulia suddenly ran back, tightly embracing her grandfather as they shared a long, heartfelt farewell.

Arriving in Mondinium alone with nothing but a large leather bag, Yulia hopped off the train and looked around the wide platform.

“Hey there, little one. Did you come alone?”

Yulia turned toward the voice.

A station worker in a blue cap approached her with a friendly smile.

He seemed kind—but there was no such thing as kindness without reason.

Smart despite her young age, Yulia didn’t hide her wary gaze as she moved her bag behind her.

The worker froze, startled by the look she gave him—as if she were viewing him as a shady swindler who preyed on children.

In that moment, Yulia quickly stepped back and dashed off toward the opposite platform.

As she hurried along, glancing back repeatedly, she noticed a white sheet of paper fluttering on a red brick pillar.

[Duvert Family Scholarship Project – Providing stable educational opportunities for the underprivileged!]

There was an illustration of the gentle-looking Duke Duvert with his arms open, embracing children running toward him.

Yulia stopped in her tracks, as if enchanted, and approached the pillar.

The funding arranged by her teacher and the money from her grandfather were far from enough for a young girl to live and attend school in the capital.

In other words, she needed a new source of funds.

Yulia tore the flyer from the pillar and tucked it deep inside her leather bag.

One day, at the age of fourteen, Yulia stood at the gates of the Duvert estate, holding her public school report card in one hand and the scholarship flyer in the other.

The butler looked at the small girl who had arrived alone with curiosity.

Yulia boldly thrust the flyer forward and spoke in a clear voice:

“Hello. My name is Yulia Heibel. I’ve come to apply for the Duvert Scholarship Program.”

To the Duke and Duchess of Duvert, there was no reason to refuse a suddenly appearing girl—especially a dirt-poor genius.

“It’s for promoting the Duvert scholarship project. It makes for a great story!”

And just like that, Yulia enrolled in the Royal Academy—a school only attended by the most powerful and wealthy families in the empire—alongside the couple’s only son, Jerome Duvert.

She scored perfect marks on the entrance exam and entered as the top student.

“Yulia, that’s amazing! If you keep this up, graduating at the top won’t be a problem!”

At that school—the one that would turn her into a legend rising from humble origins—Yulia never once lost her first-place ranking after enrollment.

Everything was going exactly according to her plan!

…Until he transferred in.

“My name is Cassian Ished.”

That day, Yulia was sitting by the sunlit window, reading her alchemy textbook.

Turning stones into gold? How could that possibly make sense…?

Irritated, she flipped through the pages, rereading a practical problem she simply couldn’t understand.

At that moment, Lily, who was sitting beside her, shook her thin arm.

“Yulia! It’s the Grand Duke!”

“The Grand Duke?”

Without taking her eyes off the book, Yulia lazily lifted her head.

“Grand Duke Cassian Ished! They say he just returned from studying abroad last month!”

At that moment, Yulia doubted her ears.

Cassian Ished…?

That Cassian Ished from “The Star Embroidered on Tritan”? The son of the emperor’s only sister? The male lead who lost both his parents as a child and rose to the position of Grand Duke?

‘Th-that person… is Cassian Ished?’

Thud.

Yulia didn’t even notice her precious textbook falling to the classroom floor as her mouth fell open.

From that day on, Yulia decided to openly avoid Cassian.

‘I never finished the novel, so I don’t know how the story unfolds.’

Rather than catching the protagonist’s attention and getting entangled in the story’s events, she would simply live her own life and leave.

After all, Yulia and Cassian had nothing connecting them from the start.

However, there was one thing her careful planning overlooked.

“Huh? Yulia, I think Cassian got first place this time?”

“What?”

That was—Cassian was extremely good at studying.

From the moment he transferred, they became inseparable rivals.

Walking out of the academy gates with Jerome, Yulia smiled brightly at him.

“Jerome! Congratulations on graduating. I saw your grades earlier—they improved a lot!”

“Yuu… li… a… it’s… th-thanks… to you…”

Jerome replied, trying hard to pronounce each word clearly.

Yulia looked at him with a mix of warmth and sadness.

Jerome had a congenital speech disorder.

His tongue would stiffen, causing him to stutter and struggle with proper pronunciation.

Despite being one of the wealthiest men in the Tritan Empire—second only to the imperial family—the Duke of Duvert had searched everywhere for a cure, but no medicine could loosen Jerome’s stiff tongue.

“Hey… I didn’t do anything. It’s because you worked harder than anyone else!”

At Yulia’s praise, Jerome smiled brightly, his eyes curving.

As he smiled, ladies exiting Mrs. Kiss Salon on the street found their gazes drawn to his face as if enchanted.

“Oh my…”

“Who is he?”

Seeing their astonished looks, Yulia felt strangely proud.

When he kept his mouth shut, Jerome truly looked like an angel descended from heaven.

Just like Yulia, he had pale skin, platinum-blond hair that shone even brighter in sunlight, and clear sky-blue eyes.

More than once, she had thought that if an angel from an old fairy tale appeared in the real world, it would look like Jerome.

“Th-th… thank… you…”

But the moment Jerome spoke, the ladies who had been blushing while staring at him widened their eyes and stepped back.

“Oh my?”

“C-cough, cough!”

One woman in a flamboyant hat even forced an exaggerated cough.

They quickly hid their faces behind their fans and began whispering.

From bits and pieces—comments about his awkward speech and how his looks didn’t match—it was clear they were talking about Jerome.

“Jerome…”

Perhaps sensing their gazes, Jerome shut his mouth tightly and lowered his head.

Yulia was used to the stark difference in how people treated him before and after he spoke—but she couldn’t stop the bitterness rising inside her.

Unable to bear it any longer, Yulia stepped in front of Jerome and looked at the ladies.

“Excuse me.”

“Y-yes?”

“We can hear everything you’re saying. How about you stop whispering right in front of someone?”

“Hohoho? What are you talking about? What did we say?”

One of them fanned herself, pretending ignorance.

“Yu… Yu… li… a… st-stop…”

Jerome reached out to stop her, giving an awkward smile as if telling her not to mind it.

Realizing that pushing further would only harm Jerome, Yulia reluctantly closed her mouth.

She shot the women the fiercest glare she could muster, then grabbed Jerome and hurried away.

Terrible people…

“Jerome, I’ll head back to the dorm now.”

Standing in front of the grand gates bearing the Duvert family crest, Yulia said goodbye and turned to leave.

“Yu… li… a… m-m… mother…”

“Hm? Lady Catherine has something to say to me?”

Yulia asked, puzzled, and Jerome nodded.

Taking her hand, he led her through the gates into the estate.

Guided by the butler, they entered a spacious drawing room, where Catherine—seated on a plush velvet chair—stood up with a bright smile.

“Jerome! Yulia!”

Her voluminous red dress swayed elegantly with each step she took.