Chapter 32

My feet were completely exhausted.

That was hardly a surprise, considering I had been violently overworking legs that had barely done any exercise for nine whole years over the course of nearly two months.

Standing up straight and tucking my chin in naturally engaged my abdominal and back muscles. The unfamiliar pin-heels mercilessly pinched my toes.

“Your center of gravity is leaning to the side!”

“Guh……!”

Hearing Mother’s scolding voice, a groan slipped out of me, sounding just like a hero yielding to the Demon King.

Two months had already flown by since the princess consort lessons began. Just when I thought I had finally gotten used to pin-heels and could walk in a straight line, today she had gone and made me balance a book on my head.

Do nobles actually do this kind of thing?

“Mother! I only just managed to walk straight with good posture recently, isn’t this a bit much!?”

“Don’t talk back to me! Doing that is just the bare minimum. Talk back again and I’ll add two more books!”

“Eeeehh?!”

When I let out a shriek, the book fell with a flurry of flapping pages. Mother’s cold voice echoed, “Once more.”

After that, I glanced over at Will in the same hall and narrowed my eyes.

“Will, you hurry up and learn your steps, too! How long do you plan on playing around?”

“H-Haik!”

Will, who had been practicing dancing with a maid, had looked pale watching me get put through the wringer, but now Will had gone past pale and turned completely white.

Mother in teacher mode was terrifying.

Even so, I knew full well that she was doing it all for our own good. Whenever I worked hard at my lessons, sweets would arrive in my room at three o’clock even though I hadn’t asked for them. Father had secretly told me it was Mother’s doing. They apparently got delivered to Will’s room, too.

“Cilly. It’s almost been two hours.”

“……Is it already that time?”

The door suddenly opened and Father walked in, still wearing his glasses. It seemed he had been in the middle of work.

“Right on the two-hour mark.”

“Are you sure your clock isn’t wrong?”

“I’d be in a bit of a bind if you didn’t keep your promises.”

“The things that need to be taught today aren’t finished yet.”

Mother rebelled, which was a rare sight.

At times like this, she would usually quietly return to her room and start the afternoon lesson a little later.

It seemed she was in exceptionally good health today. Whenever Mother was in a good mood, she immediately got carried away.

Father’s expression smoothly vanished.

When I peeked over at Mother, she was grimacing as if realizing she’d messed up.

“Cilly. Don’t make me angry.”

As Father narrowed his deep gray eyes, Mother shrank down by the second. Still, watching Father refer to himself as boku and seeing Mother act so willful felt like watching my parents from back when I was little, which was rather amusing for a child.

“Bertia, Will, you both worked hard today. Bertia, you have Professor Martin’s class next.”

“Eh!? Today was that day?”

“Apparently he’ll be coming three times a week from now on.”

“Hooray!!”

When I forgot all about the previous lesson and leaped with joy, Mother let out an exasperated sigh.

“Bertia, you…”

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

“Well, it’s fine. We can just correct those habits from here on out.”

Mother flashed an innocent, beaming smile that gave me an unpleasant chill.

“This afternoon, Will and Bertia will be dancing together. Keep that in mind.”

With those words, Mother quietly turned on her heel and headed back to her room.

“Now then, let’s begin today’s lesson, Lady Bertia.”

The elderly man sitting in front of me with a face full of wrinkles and a smiling expression looked gentle, yet he was a renowned professor of national history in the country who had taught numerous students.

Professor Johannes Martin.

“I look forward to it, Professor Martin.”

“My, my. I have tutored many noble households, but I have never met someone as well-mannered as Lady Bertia.”

Professor Martin stroked his prized white beard with a beaming smile. Between his white hair and wrinkled eyelids, it was impossible to tell what Professor Martin’s original coloring had been.

“Do you remember our history lesson from the other time?”

“Of course! Around five hundred years ago, our homeland, the Vermelio Kingdom, was founded.”

“There was a war before the country was established, was there not? What was that war called?”

“The Vermelio-Galvani Magic War.”

“Splendid. You have reviewed very well. Today, let us study the background behind that Vermelio-Galvani Magic War.”

An hour just before noon.

A history class introduced ever since the princess consort education started. Mother had hired the tutor, insisting that since I was marrying into the royal family, it would be out of the question not to know the country’s history.

I was never particularly good at studying.

Even in my past life, I hovered right in the middle, always scoring average grades.

I had occasionally thought, Well, I’m Bertia now, and since I seem cunning, maybe I’m secretly a genius? but that hope ended in a complete disappointment.

Even so, the professor’s history lessons were a lot of fun. After all, this was an alternate world—and moreover, a world where half the people could still use magic back then!? It felt just like listening to a storybook, making it far too entertaining!

As I waited for the professor’s lecture with wide, shining eyes, the professor chuckled like an immortal sage.

“In ancient times, the ability to use magic was not limited to the royal family alone. Half of humanity possessed magical power, and there were mages, witches, and alchemists as well.”

“Professor! In other materials, it says the royal family’s power wasn’t magical power, but holy power. When looking at others, there are various descriptions like divine power, sorcery, and psychic powers. What does that mean?”

When I raised my hand and asked, Professor Martin smiled happily and nodded.

“Indeed. You have studied well. To be frank, there is no official name for the royal family’s power. If one speaks with respect and reverence, the specific terminology matters little.”

“Is that so?”

“Though it has become common to call it magic around a century ago.”

Clearing his throat, Professor Martin steered the conversation back on track.

“Humans capable of using magical power declined from half to even fewer as time went on. The cause remains unknown. All that can be said is that magical power cannot be inherited and becomes diluted with each passing generation.”

“It really was that precious, then.”

“Indeed. However, while the magical power of other magicians grew thinner, only the Vermelio and Galvani houses retained their magical power intact.”

The professor lightly tapped his textbook.

“It may be a given, but even today, the name Galvani is viewed unfavorably. There are records stating the entire family was wiped out, but we cannot be certain. All literature on it has been missing since five hundred years ago.”

Sighing, the professor shook his head.

“The Galvani and Vermelio houses went to war simply to acquire territory. The strong stand at the top. Since both the Galvani and Vermelio houses ruled their own lands, they likely found each other a nuisance. By that era, those two houses were the only ones remaining who could use magic.”

The professor drew a continent on the board, drew a line down the middle, and divided it in two. He wrote Galvani in the north and Vermelio in the south.

“And the victors were the Vermelios. According to literature, the Vermelio house excelled in offensive magic, while the Galvani house reportedly excelled in mental-interference magic.”

“Incredible… That’s a world we can hardly imagine.”

“Quite so.”

Perhaps feeling nostalgic, the professor slowly stroked his white beard. That was when a certain question popped into my head.

“Um, Professor. Did the Vermelio house’s magical power never dilute at all?”

“No. It appears to have gradually thinned over time. As proof, statistics show a difference in the volume of magical power between the King of Vermelio from five hundred years ago and His Majesty the current King.”

“Eh… Then does that mean magical power will eventually disappear?”

Wouldn’t that be bad?

Right now, the Vermelio Kingdom was the largest superpower on the continent, subjugating other small nations, but that was solely because the royal family could wield magic.

There were other continents out there, and if magical power vanished, wouldn’t they gladly come invading us……?

When I voiced that opinion, the professor’s eyes widened in surprise. It was then that I realized the professor’s eyes were blue.

“Splendid! Well done thinking that far ahead! Indeed. In a sense, this country is unstable. Of course, we store resources and advance our technology for that very reason, but it ultimately comes down to the difference in the populace’s awareness. Technology does not improve so easily.”

Professor Martin clapped his hands in delight and began speaking with great enthusiasm.

“However, they do appear from time to time. Shall we call it a dispensation of the heavens? Individuals known as ‘Atavisms’.”

“‘Atavisms’?”

“Yes. In this country, King Altinya from about two hundred and fifty years ago is said to have been an atavism. An atavism is one who possesses magical power equal to their ancestors, along with their knowledge and memories. However, there are individual differences; some retain both magical power and memories completely, while others are incomplete ‘atavisms’ who inherit only the magical power. Their common trait, perhaps, is that many of them tend to be quite eccentric.”

Chuckling, Professor Martin closed his book.

An atavism…… I felt like I had heard that term somewhere before. Did it mean having as much magical power as one’s ancestors?

“I believe Second Prince Dylan is also an ‘Atavism’.”

“Eh? The Prince is?”

“Yes. It was once whispered among scholars as well. His Highness is likely someone close to an ‘Atavism’. He appears to have inherited only the magical power, but I have heard his magical reserves are vast and he grasps things with remarkable speed. That is likely the fruit of his ancestors’ knowledge. Such anomalous specimens are difficult to handle with special care. They can be a blessing, yet equally a disaster. They are terribly troublesome.”

“Do your best,” the professor said, smiling as he looked at me. He was smiling, but I gathered that it was something requiring careful attention. The professor’s demeanor had grown sharp for a split second.

Perhaps someone who had lived as long as he had could perceive things I still could not understand.

“You must not let an ‘Atavism’ run wild.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, look at the time. Well then, Lady Bertia. Thank you very much for such a meaningful time today.”

“No! Thank you very much for taking the trouble to come out here.”

With his wrinkled face scrunched up even further, the professor packed up and left.

I was looking forward to the next lesson, too.