Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 28

EP.28 No Need to Worry About It

The next day, when Jeong-hyeon arrived at school, Miria handed him a notice from the Swordsmanship Department.

“They’ve cancelled the joint exam results and are going to hold a retest.”

The mention of a retest made him frown. Jeong-hyeon was already busy with training, and now he had to take the exam again. He asked Miria for an explanation, and she spoke.

“Because of the dungeon rampage, it was impossible to properly assess the results, so they decided to start over from scratch.”

He was irritated but had to agree. As soon as the dungeon rampage began, the exam had essentially been suspended, and everyone had likely been waiting around, pressing the request-for-rescue button.

‘Come to think of it, there really wasn’t a solution.’

The very idea of putting first-year students in a maze dungeon was absurd. If they were going to hold the exam in a dungeon, they should have at least monitored it properly. Even if Jeong-hyeon was to generously overlook that, it was incomprehensible that they didn’t have personnel ready to handle any issues immediately.

‘… It almost feels like it was done on purpose.’

While it might not have been intended to cause a dungeon rampage, it seemed like they wanted something to go wrong during the joint evaluation exam. These were just suspicions without concrete evidence, but the more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

‘So, who benefits the most when problems occur during the joint evaluation?’

There was no need to guess. Jeong-hyeon just had to think about who had already benefited.

‘First, obviously me. Second, the kingdom?’

As soon as the problem arose, they promptly demoted the headmaster and vice-headmaster, and then, as if they had been waiting for this, they carried out a large-scale personnel reshuffle, filling the academy with the kingdom’s affiliates. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a calculated move.

Jeong-hyeon was getting too caught up in his own thoughts, so he asked Miria for her opinion.

“… It’s certainly suspicious. There’s no evidence, though.”

As she said, while it was convincing, there was no concrete proof to confirm it. It was just suspicion.

He nodded in agreement with Miria’s statement and asked.

“That may be true. By the way, what’s the retest going to be like?”

“I heard that the new instructors would conduct the exams through direct sparring.”

“… The new instructors are people from the kingdom?”

“Yeah.”

“When are they coming?”

“In two days.”

He didn’t know who would be coming, but if any of them recognized his face, he’d be in serious trouble. Feeling the pressure tightening around him, he decided to intensify his training.

***

In a room filled with what seemed like the masterpieces of renowned artisans, each piece a once-in-a-lifetime creation, the First Princess, Charlotte, looked around with a blank expression. The furniture was not just luxurious but awe-inspiring, yet she felt nothing. Eventually, she walked over to a shabby desk in the corner, seemingly out of place in such a grand room.

The desk was so modest and out of place that one might wonder why it was in the princess’s room at all. However, Charlotte seemed to cherish it more than anything else, gently caressing it.

‘When my mind is troubled…’

She glanced around the room, then crawled under the humble desk, curling up and smiling contentedly.

‘This is the best.’

If her personal attendants saw her like this, they would have been horrified and tried to stop her. But for the First Princess, this was the happiest she could be. She curled up like a cat and closed her eyes.

‘How wonderful it would be to live like this forever.’

She could avoid seeing all the things that filled her with disgust. Letting out a short sigh, she rolled around for a while, trying to forget her troubles. She then looked at the dolls scattered around the desk.

“You guys…! Your big sister is here, and you’re just standing there? Come here!”

She picked up the dolls with a bright smile, embracing them.

‘This is such an embarrassing sight that I could never show it to anyone.’

But if she didn’t relieve her stress this way, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her usual composure. Justifying her actions, she laughed again.

‘How happy I am…’

How wonderful it would be to die like this. As she rolled around, she thought of the junior she had recently encountered frequently, someone named Lee Jeong-hyeon.

‘He resembled the hero so much… No, he was exactly like him.’

Of course, it had been so long that her memory could be inaccurate, but as far as she could recall, the resemblance was perfect. The more she saw him, the more she couldn’t help but be astonished.

‘I don’t know whether there’s a reason for him to appear this way or if it’s purely coincidental, but…’

If this information were to leak to the kingdom, it would likely cause a significant stir. Moreover, she had heard rumours about his recent activities, which added to the political complexities and made her sigh once more.

‘Why, of all times…’

Since she knew very well that he had done nothing wrong, she was overcome with a strange sense of frustration, and it was complicated.

Anger that has no place to go tends to turn inward, and as she blamed herself for being foolish, a memory of her first encounter with the hero suddenly surfaced.

‘It wasn’t like we met, more like I just happened to see him.’

She remembered the hero’s desperate cries from the prison and pressed her forehead. Despite the years that had passed, it was a memory that still haunted her.

‘I didn’t particularly like the hero, but his cries in the prison were so heart-wrenching that I went around the court, pleading for better treatment for him.’

─ It’s the king’s order.

No matter how she begged, her requests were always denied. Eventually, she was even chased away from the vicinity of the prison, leaving her unable to offer any help.

‘So, I had no choice. I repeatedly asked my nanny to secretly bring him some of my food.’

Most of the time, the guards would refuse, making it difficult to get the food to him. Even when she was lucky enough to have it delivered, the hero’s state of torture was so severe that she could only leave the food in front of him without being able to speak to him.

‘After repeating this a few times, one day I heard that he had left for a journey without any notice.’

The problem was that the end of that journey was not freedom but death… and not just any death, but suicide.

‘To save their own skins, they forced an innocent person to sacrifice everything… It’s still revolting to think about.’

Disgusted by such behaviour, she realized that all her efforts for the kingdom were meaningless. She abandoned the fight for the throne and headed to the academy.

‘Why, of all people, does someone who resembles him have to appear?’

It was as if she were being reminded of everything she had tried so hard to forget. Her mind was overwhelmed with confusion, and as she fidgeted with the dolls, trying to calm herself, she could not find peace. Eventually, she stood up, biting her lip in frustration.

‘When did Karina and the others say they were coming?’

Upon checking, she realized she had only two days left. She sighed deeply and crawled out from under the desk.

She really didn’t want to do it, but if she didn’t, it felt like the memories would haunt her forever, just like before.

‘Let’s just help him this one time.’

Not necessarily for him… well, if she had to be precise, it was indeed for him. Anyway, she decided to get it over with and move on, letting out another long sigh as she prepared to act.

***

Two days passed, and on the day of the retest, Jeong-hyeon sat in the waiting area near the training grounds, observing the new instructors who had replaced the old ones. He had no idea who they were, so he was curious. Miria, however, seemed quite alarmed and whispered to him.

“Wow. The new instructors are so impressive that they make the previous ones look like amateurs.”

Her tone was filled with awe. Honestly, Jeong-hyeon had no idea about the qualifications of the previous instructors, so he simply nodded silently. Noticing his lack of understanding, Miria continued to explain.

“First of all, starting from the very front, the commander of the 2nd Knights Order of Ferre, Marquis Marpe. Rumor has it that he was a genius among geniuses, having manifested his sword aura at the age of 15, and his family is the renowned Marche family, a family of swordsmanship…”

Miria went on and on, but he couldn’t understand a word. Her explanations were long-winded, and the names she mentioned were filled with strange terms.

‘And besides…’

What good would it do to remember their names? Eventually, he’d kill them all anyway.

‘Remembering their names just to mock them at their graves… well, that wouldn’t be so bad, I guess.’

But he didn’t have that much of a grudge against them. He rested his chin on his hand and watched them.

‘So, they’re from the knights’ order.’

They call it a knight division, but in more straightforward terms, they were sword-crazed maniacs.

‘People who abandon everything and dedicate their lives to the sword.’

If he had to fight them, it would undoubtedly be challenging.

‘At least, unlike with Erie and Regina, they wouldn’t be helpless even if one of them died.’

He decided to focus even more on training to improve his skills and stats. Suddenly, Miria tugged at his sleeve with a very tense look.

“What’s wrong?”

Jeong-hyeon wondered why she didn’t just speak and looked at her. She silently pointed to a dark corner.

‘What’s going on?’

Her unusual behavior made him look in the direction she indicated. There, Jeong-hyeon saw a man with a cold, expressionless face, resembling Erie. The unsettling feeling grew as he watched the man, and Miria murmured in a small, trembling voice.

“… That’s Esich, the Second Deputy Archmage. Considered the next Grand Mage, and he entered central politics right after graduating from the academy…”

Miria finished with a short sigh.

“He’s Erie’s brother.”

Hearing that, Jeong-hyeon patted Miria’s back lightly and spoke.

“Why the long face?”

“… Well.”

She couldn’t continue, perhaps because she was afraid someone might overhear. He chuckled and whispered to her.

“What are you so worried about? Erie was killed by Regina, wasn’t she?”

With just that one sentence, Miria stared at him with a blank expression.