TN: Thank Dragons33 again for this chapter. It’s the last bonus chapter. Hopefully, I can start stocking up on chapters.

“Have you gone crazy…?!”

To tell the truth, I was a bit emotional.

There was no reason to continue the conversation with Leonhardt, but my mind seemed to regress as I felt as immature as him… For some reason, I ended up getting a little agitated as well.

Of course, it was also true that I personally disliked Leonhardt. Even when reading the original novel, he was an extremely unlikable character.

However, it was a bit reckless to rashly antagonize Leonhardt.

When conversing with Leonhardt, I seemed unable to control the agitation welling inside me.

‘…What a strange feeling.’

After being lost in thought for a moment, I gave a faint smile to Helena, who was causing a fuss by repeatedly slapping her hand on my seat, and sat back down.

“What if the Prince takes revenge…!”

“Well… Unless he becomes Emperor, he won’t be able to.”

The current Emperor of the Empire is still healthy. Above all, the original work didn’t even cover his death.

We only saw the three heirs fighting over who will ascend to the throne. Leonhardt was one of them.

Leisurely resting my chin, I looked out the window.

To briefly describe Leonhardt,

‘A selfish and self-centered brat.’

He was just an idiot who didn’t even know what was immediately important to him, let alone how to achieve it.

That’s why I wasn’t too worried about him.

“…But what if he really does become emperor?”

Although the probability was very low, Helena asked me worriedly. I curled up the corner of my mouth gently and answered her.

“If the Third Prince becomes emperor……”

If, by chance, such a situation arises.

“We’ll have to leave the Empire.”

Because that would be the day the Empire disappears into the back alleys of history.

***

[Basic Swordsmanship Class]

As the name suggests, it was a class where the basics of swordsmanship were taught.

Although there is a prejudice that it would not be very popular since the academy primarily admits those with ‘talent’…

Unexpectedly, from the early days of the academy, the basic subjects have been consistently loved.

Of course, subjects like magic were different since ‘talent’ was required to learn the basics. Still, other subjects like swordsmanship, archery, and spearmanship were popular even at the basic level.

Some female students chose them for self-defense, while most male students who enrolled in different majors wanted to learn them as hobbies.

And there, today, were two people who shouldn’t have been present.

“Although a little late, Leonhardt will join our classes from now on.”

Third Prince of the Empire, Leonhardt.

“……”

Zellin, the instructor of the basic swordsmanship class, inwardly gritted his teeth at Leonhardt’s behavior of simply looking down at the students before him without saying a word in response to his introduction.

However, although Leonhardt was undoubtedly a student and Zellin was a teacher, Zellin was just a commoner. He could not voice his displeasure at Leonhardt’s behavior with the difference in status.

He couldn’t understand why Leonhardt kept his mouth shut when he was the one who asked to be introduced to the class instead of quietly joining.

Leonhardt opened his displeased blue eyes, glanced at the students, and returned to his seat without a word.

After briefly sighing inwardly at his behavior, Zellin shook his head slightly and spoke.

“Then, let’s practice what we learned last time.”

Basic swordsmanship, as the name suggests, teaches the basics of swordsmanship.

The basic swordsmanship class focused on the basic things knights or those just learning the sword can do. In other words, the class focused on the basic motions of downward strikes, upward strikes, and thrusting.

Creak!

The training hall door opened, and a man entered. Zellin and the students’ eyes widened upon seeing his face.

However, as if their reaction didn’t matter, he glanced around the inside of the training hall and gave a small nod.

“Sorry, I’m a little late.”

Red hair and black eyes.

Upon confirming his face, Leonhardt curled up the corner of his mouth roughly.

“I’m Felix, and I will attend this class starting today.”

It was Felix.

‘That guy definitely came here because of Sylvia.’

As I stared intently at Leonhardt’s back, I shook my head and picked up my sword.

Leonhardt is a student of the magic department. Moreover, he was admitted with the high honor of being the second-highest scorer, meaning he has outstanding talent in magic. Of course, being taught by a great magician also helped with his growth.

Anyway, the reason he came to learn swordsmanship, even though he didn’t need to, was obvious.

‘Even if Sylvia doesn’t show it, she still admires knights.’

Sylvia was just a girl around my age. In other words, she likely had the romance of a prince on a white horse coming to rescue her.

Of course, there was no rule that the Prince in fairy tales had to wield a sword, but they all did.

That must be the reason for him to come learn swordsmanship despite his displeasure.

‘He might also unconsciously feel inferior to Cain.’

The Geyrus Ducal family was more stable and superior than the Third Prince, who could be pushed down the line of succession.

Moreover, Cain was the top student in the swordsmanship department, so Leonhardt might have felt that way even more.

Anyway, since I also participated in class without delay, I raised my sword and listened to the teacher’s words.

The basic swordsmanship class.

Since I possessed Felix’s body, there was no particular reason to attend this class. Of course, this was under the assumption that I had Felix’s complete memories.

Last night, while practicing swordsmanship, I realized that no matter how many hundreds or thousands of times I practiced alone, I could not surpass Felix’s original skills.

If Felix’s memories were fully absorbed into me, I wouldn’t have to worry about that… but waiting for that was too uncertain.

That’s why I chose to attend this basic swordsmanship class.

Although I still don’t know the pattern of how memories resurface, by laying the foundations, those memories might return, and even if they don’t, laying the foundations myself and combining them with Felix’s existing memories might produce a better synergy.

Breathing evenly, I listened to Zellin’s words and imitated his actions.

Moreover, I might be able to eliminate any bad habits Felix might have unconsciously developed. No matter how many dozens, hundreds, or thousands of times one swings a sword the same way, habits are bound to form.

That’s why each knight has slightly different movements, even when performing the same action. Of course, that difference might not be noticeable unless one has exceptionally good eyesight.

‘…But how do I know this?’

It feels like something I’ve seen somewhere before.

I’ve read so many novels that I can’t quite remember where.

Anyway, I decided to attend the basic swordsmanship class for those reasons. I was just focused on listening to Zellin’s words and swinging my sword.

As the name suggests, the basic swordsmanship class is about laying the foundations, so it’s boring and tiring.

That’s why many students will drop out as time goes on. It’s not even a required subject, so failing it doesn’t really have major disadvantages.

At most, they might lose out on a scholarship.

If their financial situation is so dire that they need to worry about scholarships, they wouldn’t attend leisure classes like basic swordsmanship. Instead, they would spend that time reviewing their main subjects again.

However, I had a clear purpose, so I was just focused.

“Huff……”

As I felt yesterday, this repetitive action unexpectedly consumes quite a bit of stamina.

I have to slowly swing down the sword in a straight line, and even the slightest deviation in the sword’s path is not allowed. Training the body and mind like that causes sweat to pour down your entire body like rain.

Drip.

Like me right now.

I frowned at the beads of sweat rolling down my forehead but kept my eyes firmly fixed on swinging down the sword.

‘It deviated.’

After doing this for hours, I could somewhat grasp the ingrained bad habits in this body.

Felix’s bad habit was that the sword tip would subtly veer to the left as it swung down. At first, I thought it was my imagination, but it wasn’t.

‘…Again.’

This time, I focused on bringing the sword tip straight down, and I could only let out a long sigh at the voice coming from beside me.

“So you ran and hid here after getting beaten by that Cain guy. How pathetic.”

“…Huff.”

There was Leonhardt, not having broken a single sweat, resting a practice sword on his shoulder with a smug posture as he looked at me.

He was smirking unpleasantly, probably still disgruntled from my backtalk this morning and unable to openly voice his thoughts about Sylvia.

…To think he is a prince of the Empire, the future looks bleak.

Inwardly shaking my head, I lowered my voice as much as possible and spoke.

“Your Highness, please focus on the class.”

Once again.

An unfamiliar, viscous feeling began welling up inside me. Even I couldn’t understand this strange emotion.

“There is no need for me to do something like this anyway.”

The thought that I didn’t need to antagonize Leonhardt somehow disappeared. Without realizing it, my mouth opened, and words tumbled out.

“Regardless, since you’re participating in class, you should focus.”

It was an untimely provocation, but I calmly admonished him while keeping my voice composed to avoid getting drawn into it.

Leonhardt seemed to think I was trying to lecture him, briefly scrunching his face.

However, as if struck by a good idea, he curled up the corner of his mouth again and spoke to me mockingly.

“Well, unlike this body, which is the second-highest scorer in the magic department, you can’t even take the second seat of the sword arts department, let alone be the top, so you better diligently work on the basics.”

It was a transparent, childish provocation. Realizing this, I quietly scoffed and slightly bowed my head to answer Leonhardt.

“I’m astonished that you would compare me to Your Highness, the disciple of that famous great magician.”

“……”

While Leonhardt’s words and actions were vexing, I suppressed my emotions as much as possible to avoid being provoked by him.

It felt like if I let my guard down for even a moment, I might blurt out things like status, lineage, or any other nonsense.

“If you’re as talentless and unskilled as you are, I suppose you have no choice but to cling to whatever you are mediocre at.”

“…Your Highness.”

Grinding my teeth inwardly, I composed myself.

That viscous feeling kept welling up, so it took quite an effort to rein it in.

“Hey! Be quiet during class!”

Zellin, who had been watching out for the Prince’s reactions, seemed to think we had gone too far and raised his voice to come between us.

“Tch……”

Even so, Leonhardt couldn’t defy a teacher during class, clicking his tongue before throwing his sword to the floor and leaving the training hall.

Watching his retreating back, I narrowed my eyes and stared at him intently.

…That’s the second time.