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“…Can you stop with the ‘older brother’ talk already?” I shuddered, my face twisted in distaste, and Axel’s lips curled up in satisfaction. He was definitely calling himself “older brother” just to see me squirm.

“Oh, by the way, did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Servian’s son is here!”

“Oh.”

Unlike me, who was bouncing with excitement, Axel just nodded calmly.

“Leonid passed the exam last year. He was six years old at the time, making him the youngest to ever pass.”

“Wow, at six years old?”

I managed to pass because of my “Legendary Intuition” card, but…

‘Leonid actually solved those insanely difficult problems at such a young age.’

Despite his snarky attitude, there was no denying he was an incredibly smart kid.

“Did he get his smarts from his dad?”

Servian Kol, a Spirit Sorcerer and the chief researcher of the Imperial Academy, was undeniably the brain of our Mad Dragon Subjugation Expedition. He was so intelligent that even our strong-willed comrades would listen to his advice. Of course, being 19 years old at the time and the oldest among us added weight to his words. 

Looking back, we were all pretty young, but back then, Servian seemed like a real adult.

“People say he’s even smarter than his brilliant father. The Ivory Tower is quite excited, thinking they might finally have someone capable of interpreting the Prophecy Book.”

“Really?”

“Right now, the youngest scholar in the Ivory Tower is Dr. Lukas, but everyone thinks Leonid will break his record for skipping grades. If that happens, he’ll not only hold the record for the youngest admission but also for the youngest to earn a doctorate.”

“Wow. For someone so smart, his personality is just…”

“Personality?”

Axel asked, looking puzzled, and I quickly shook my head.

“Uh… nothing.”

It would be petty to run to an adult complaining about a few sharp words from a kid. 

Besides, I’d known Leonid since he was a baby, so I could let it slide this time!

Instead, I puffed out my chest proudly and clenched my fist, showing it to Axel.

“But more importantly, I did really well on the exam!”

“Hmm.”

Axel tilted his head, looking intrigued.

“So, that intuition of yours worked on a written test too, huh?”

“What…?”

My confident smile quickly crumpled.

“How did you know the test was… how did you…”

I always tried to speak carefully in front of Axel, but I was so surprised that I started tripping over my words, making all sorts of tongue-tied sounds. 

How did you, how did you, how did you… 

After repeating it several times, I wondered what I was even doing.

‘Ugh, forget it!’

From the moment I made that nonsensical “dolphin” comment, I’d already shown Axel the most ridiculous side of myself. At this point, trying to speak more clearly wasn’t going to make him think any less of me. So, I gave up. I let go of any pretense and let my words flow freely.

“How did you know?” I asked, completely abandoning any attempt at proper pronunciation.

“Isn’t it obvious? No matter how independent the Ivory Tower is, it’s still part of Elpinard. There’s no way I wouldn’t know.”

“What? Then why didn’t you tell me?”

I stomped my foot in frustration, feeling betrayed. Axel just chuckled, shrugging his shoulders casually.

“A fair exam. Isn’t that how it should be?”

* * *

The next day, Duke Elpinard summoned me to his office. The results from the Ivory Tower exam had come in. Normally, multiple people would spend about a week reviewing the exam answers. But since I had written so little, it seemed the results came out in just one day.

“Whatever the outcome, don’t be disheartened, miss. Just taking the exam was an impressive feat,” Lily said, encouraging me all the way to the Duke’s office. She clearly thought I’d failed, which wasn’t surprising. It would be strange to expect a four-year-old, who was still learning basic manners, to pass such a prestigious exam.

When we arrived at the Duke’s office, the waiting attendant quickly led me inside. Usually, Lily would accompany me, but today, the attendant only allowed me to go in alone. Lily seemed a bit taken aback, but when told it was the Duke’s order, she nodded and said she’d wait outside.

“I’ll be back,” I said, waving to Lily as I was about to enter. But then I hesitated. Lily and the attendant looked at me curiously, so I spread my arms and spun around in place.

“Balance!”

“Pardon? Balance?”

“Yes, everything’s in balance. The Duke doesn’t like things being crooked.”

“Oh, you want to make sure you look tidy,” Lily said with a gentle smile, finding it sweet that I was so concerned about this. She quickly adjusted my clothes and hair. Though I couldn’t see myself, with her expert touch, there shouldn’t be anything out of place.

‘Perfect.’

Feeling confident, I entered the office. But as soon as I faced the Duke, who was exuding his usual intimidating aura from behind his desk, all my confidence deflated rapidly.

The Duke of Elpinard looked as stern as ever.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart pounded wildly in my chest. I swallowed nervously and carefully walked up to the desk. Normally, the Duke would be busy reading documents, but today he held only a small envelope in his hand. I stared at it, wondering what it contained, when I suddenly felt the intense gaze of the Duke cutting through me.

‘Oops!’

Snapping back to reality, I quickly greeted him.

“Hello, Duke. My ribbon isn’t crooked today. Everything’s in balance.”

As I leaned my head forward to show that everything was in order, the Duke’s hand, which held the envelope, twitched slightly. A cold sweat trickled down my back, fearing that I had somehow missed a crooked spot. Thankfully, the Duke didn’t make any comments.

“…Take it,” he said in his usual stern voice, extending the small envelope toward me.

‘Phew. I dodged a bullet!’ I sighed in relief internally and quickly reached out to grab the envelope. The desk was so high that I had to stand on tiptoe and stretch as far as I could to get it. As I finally grasped the envelope, I noticed the Duke’s lips twitch slightly, as if he were holding back a reaction. My slow movements must have been frustrating for him.

Before his irritation could grow, I hurriedly opened the envelope. Inside was an official letter of admission from the Ivory Tower, complete with their seal.

“Reshia Elpinard, you are hereby granted admission to the Ivory Tower.”

“The scholars who reviewed your answers said you’re a genius,” the Duke continued, his voice as rigid as ever. “They mentioned that calculating all the answers mentally is something even they, with their years of study, cannot do.”

“Yes,” I replied, though I knew it wasn’t true.

‘Of course, with the memories from my past life, I’m smarter than other kids my age… but I’m definitely not a genius.’

I hadn’t taken the Ivory Tower exam to be recognized as a genius, nor did I ever expect such a title.

“But I’m just a slightly smart four-year-old, not a genius,” I said, shaking my head firmly.

“A perfect score on the exam, yet you claim you’re not a genius?”

“Yes,” I nodded quickly. “Someone gave me the answers, so I just wrote them down, and they happened to be correct.”

“Someone… gave you the answers? Who?” The Duke’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

The already tense atmosphere became even more stifling, making me instinctively shrink back.

“Was it Axel who helped you?”

“No.”

“Then was it someone from the Church?”

“No.”

“Did you bribe a scholar?”

“No,” I stammered, shaking my head vigorously at each question. Finally, with trembling fingers, I pointed upward.

“Heaven helped me. I’m not a fake; I’m a real Saintess.”