Occasionally, Edna dreamed.

A dream where she had pure white wings and flew through a garden filled with iridescent flowers.

She would hold hands with baby angels and wander around in a dreamy state.

She would slide down rainbows as if they were slides, playfully jump on clouds, and swim in a lake filled with jewels.

"Edna! Do you want this too?"

"Um..."

With vacant eyes, she received a gift from someone. It was a golden ring that seemed to radiate its own light as if it embraced the sun.

"You wear this on your head."

A man revealed his snow-white teeth and smiled.

Another man beside him slowly placed the golden ring on Edna’s head.

Edna continued to gaze at it with vacant eyes.

‘... Did these guys really go crazy and want to die?’

Suddenly snapping back to her senses, she threw it to the ground.

"Hey! If you talk crap like that one more time, I'll pluck all your wing feathers and make a jacket out of them! Didn't I tell you that?”

"W-Well, our wings aren't made of feathers..."

“This guy is pissing me off. Come and face me in a real fight.”

"Hehe! I-I'm sorry!"

Then, the baby angels... or rather, adult angels, quickly retreated. Most of them were male, with three pairs of wings on their backs and golden rings on their heads.

Angels.

They, the most noble race who always looked down from the celestial realm to the earthly realm, bowed their heads deeply at Edna’s outcry.

‘Oh, I almost got caught…’

Edna touched her own head, hoping to confirm if she had an angel's ring.

Occasionally.

More precisely, once a month.

Her physical and mental strength weakened, such incidents would occur.

The angels would try to put a ring on her and take her away as one of the celestial beings.

She would let her guard down, thinking it was just a dream, and end up experiencing it for real.

"Edna... Instead of that, can't we live together in the sky?"

"That's right. The earthly realm is boring."

"... But you guys are even more boring."

‘What’s so fun about a mundane life, pretending to play musical instruments and eat fruit?’

"Don't dream until I die."

Upon hearing that, the men hung their heads with gloomy expressions. Despite her slightly weak heart due to their appearance resembling an idol group, Edna was not easily swayed by mere looks.

"Hey, when I graduate, I'll come visit occasionally. I promised, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, wait until then. If you make a fuss for no reason, I'll never come."

"That's not fair!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I was wrong!"

She didn’t know why they were so obsessed. Even in the original novel, angels appeared, but their detailed background wasn't described.

If she were to think of it roughly...

Maybe it was because there were no female angels, that was why they were like that. That thought crossed her mind.

She had never seen a female angel since coming here.

But, they said angel blood flew vividly in Edna’s veins.

They didn’t know the reason either, but if she wore that angel's ring, she could fully transform into an angel and live in the sky.

‘I understand that you guys want girlfriends, but I still prefer humans.’

She really didn’t think about dating either.

If she were to commit a crime in the human realm, it would be a different story.

But she didn't want to come to this boring place, so she didn't volunteer.

"Anyway, send me back quickly. I have to go to the academy."

"Okay..."

The angels quietly approached Edna and extended their palms. Then, everything became hazy, and the world seemed distant.

Until then, they smiled brightly and waved their hands at her.

‘Remember, Edna.’

‘No matter what happens.’

‘We will always protect you.’

During the morning class.

Edna stared at the blackboard with dull eyes. Due to the restless dream, she couldn't concentrate on the lesson.

"Are you okay?"

A friend sitting next to her asked cautiously.

It was understandable.

Last night, the lingering atmosphere of the grand funeral was still present.

At the academy for training magic warriors, they held elaborate funeral ceremonies for students who die while on a mission.

The same was true when Jecky died.

That child had never been well-liked among the students and was despised by many to the point of hatred, but still, a fellow student had died.

It was inevitable that tears would flow.

Many students cried during the funeral and sincerely mourned her.

… Edna didn't cry.

It was because she knew the truth about Jecky’s death.

The incident involving the Persona Gate was kept a secret. So only a few people knew the truth about it.

As a result, people believed that Edna was exhausted and struggling due to the death of a comrade.

But, it wasn't true at all.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the atmosphere on campus didn't become too gloomy.

The second round of exams was approaching.

It was difficult enough to survive in the present, so there was no room for other thoughts.

During this time, Stella's students would turn into zombies.

With bloodshot eyes and disheveled appearances, they could easily be mistaken for real zombies.

"Now, let's try to solve the next problem."

The students' faces turned grim as the professor spoke.

It felt like their heads were already overloaded with what they had learned so far, and now they had to go further with the exam material.

"Why do we have to learn attributes that we don't even use...?"

Edna, who was solving the trajectory of demons flying at a certain speed using Earth attribute skills, let out a small sigh.

Although she had a general understanding from the original work, she couldn't possibly know all the mathematical knowledge in advance, so she had to study those aspects just like the other students.

The fortunate thing was that there were many similarities between the mathematical formulas in her "hometown" and the ones she encountered here, so she could progress much faster than the other students.

Edna used magical formulas that blended her hometown's mathematical equations, and when she presented them, it was at a level that could overturn the academic community.

Her friends who were sitting next to her whispered softly.

"We're screwed. There's a problem this time that I can't solve. What should I do about this?"

"You should ask the professor."

When Edna casually suggested it, the girls gave her a frustrated look.

"Ugh... That damn magic professor. Do you know how pompous he gets when you ask him a question? Why does he want to show off his knowledge like that? We're just students."

"Yeah, and he seems to subtly ignore us with that look in his eyes. It's really annoying."

"Sigh... Edna, I envy you. You're smart."

"What are you talking about? I also struggle with many problems."

"But still, you have someone you can comfortably ask, right?"

"What?"

Who? Edna couldn't catch the name and the girls continued.

"There's Baek Yu-Seol, you know him? He’s really smart. I don't know how he ended up in last place with that brain of his."

"Maybe he deliberately ended up in last place? I heard getting zero points is harder than getting a perfect score."

"That could be possible. Ah, I wish I could be closer with him."

"Ah, I heard Baek Yu-Seol has a crush on Eisel. That was the rumor going around."

"Hmm... Is that so? But honestly, I think Baek Yu-Seol is more precious. Eisel..."

As soon as they were about to say something negative about Eisel, Edna gave them a warning look.

And they immediately got the message.

Anyway, since the opinions of the female students were the same as the overall academy opinion, a few words of conversation were enough to find out what rumors were circulating within the academy.

"Baek Yu-Seol has a crush on Eisel."

"But Eisel is an outcast at the academy, and Baek Yu-Seol is secretly popular."

In conclusion, Baek Yu-Seol was precious. It was a part that could be easily understood with a little attention.

Baek Yu-Seol tended to excessively care for Eisel, after all.

Just recalling the development of the "original" that only Edna knew was enough to confirm it.

All the hardships and adversities that Eisel should have experienced were mostly blocked by Baek Yu-Seol, and unknowingly, Eisel was able to have a very comfortable academy life with his support from behind.

‘Originally, around this time, she should have been looking for a part-time job. It was a period when she would have been working hard.’

In some way, Baek Yu-Seol managed to manipulate the situation so that money would accumulate in Eisel’s wallet.

He had planned everything meticulously without Eisel even realizing it. It was all in order to block her financial problems.

Thanks to that, Eisel was able to have a smooth academy life without suffering from poverty.

"Oh, by the way, where does Baek Yu-Seol study?"

The girls glanced at Baek Yu-Seol, who was quietly dozing off in a corner. He was always nodding off during class, and no one knew what he was up to at night.

"Does he quietly study in the Class S self-study room?"

"Yeah, sometimes there are students in Class A or Class S who do that. They become so elitist that they don't study with students of lower ranks."

"Oh, but Baek Yu-Seol doesn't seem to be like that."

"Yeah, he doesn't discriminate or anything. He just doesn't have many friends."

"True, his personality is refreshing and interesting. He's cool when he takes on the professors."

"To be honest, maybe it's because he voluntarily becomes an outsider that he doesn't have many friends?"

"But why does he keep his distance from people?"

‘Why indeed?’

‘After all, in time, he will be forgotten from the memories of everyone.’

‘So, maybe that's why.’

Edna smiled wryly. "Alright, here's the next problem."

The Theory of Elemental Attributes class was a series of boredom.

Students, who were dozing off and still made an effort to listen to the class, were truly pitiful.

"A ‘Earth Sphere’ spell, which requires an investment of 316mf of mana, is racing towards the northwest direction. The Earth Sphere forms a perfect 'sphere' with a diameter of 3.2m and rotates at a speed of 5,700rpm."

Another strange and senseless problem appeared. While the students sighed, the professor didn't pay any attention and presented the problem.

"The mage enchants the 'Acceleration' spell by investing an additional 109mf of mana in magic and the 'Weight Amplification' spell by using an additional 87mf of mana. In order to reach a target 715 km away, how much time will it take?"

At first glance, it seemed like an easy problem, but her head started to hurt because of the 316mf of mana acting as variables.

With an investment of 316mf of mana in earth-based magic for acceleration, the speed would increase.

However, using weight amplification as an additional spell would increase the destructive power but slow down the speed again…

What did it mean?

It meant calculating it was incredibly frustrating. To the point where steam seemed to be coming out of Edna’s head,.

"Uh-oh..."

"Eek..."

"Grrrr..."

When the students made agonizing sounds, the professor pointed to someone who had been nodding off since earlier.

"Alright, who wants to come up and solve it? Yes, Baek Yu-Seol, you give it a try."