16 Years Old K of Hearts

Note: Please dont read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesnt reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click view original.

Today is the day of the Royal Magic Academy magic exam. At this school, a pass is determined by the cumulative scores of the general education exam and the magic exam. The other day, we had the general exam, and I was shocked at the incredible amount of people. Itd be great if I passed, but Or so I began to worry. I mean, for a prince to fail the exam, it would be much too lame, you know?

Achille will probably pass without a problem. Camille Im a little worried about her general section.

The contents of this times exam is extremely simple. You destroy a sturdy target provided by a teacher, theres a measurement of your magic power, and finally there are various challenges set for you. Because there are a great number of people, we take the exams in groups of twenty, but upon checking which group I ended up in on the magic noticeboard, due to some good luck I was allotted to the same group as Camille.

Royce-sama~

While I waited at the gathering place for our group, Camille ran over with sparkling eyes.

Camille, were in the same group, huh.

Yes! It seems that the first exam will be held on the field grounds, you know? Lets go.

A continuation from the day of the general exam, Camille has no tattoos today, which is a very fresh look. Looking at her like this, shes extremely cute. Achille probably cant relax out of nervousness.

Because Camille and I are moving together, there are no women obstructing our path like the day of the general education exam. Camille as well, because Im here, isnt being surrounded by men either.

We were headed to a large field in the middle of the academy. On the lawn in the middle was the first group of students. Surrounding, were spectator seats, and students waiting for their turn were sitting there.

Were the eighth group, huh.

Yes, thats right! Incidentally, Achille is the second group, so he might be waiting down here, huh?

While we were speaking, the first group began their exam. When the examiner used magic to bring up a rectangular target, the people in the spectator seats began watching the exam seriously. In front of each student floated a hard-looking stone slab target. The exam involved accurately breaking your target, without getting any of the other targets involved. The slates of stone look hard, and not so easily broken. People who managed to break the stone, people who didnt manage to scratch it at all, people who fired their magic in the wrong direction The first exam finished with a lot of people still unable to break their stones.

Next was the second group with Achille. High-pitched screams rose from the spectator seats. Even though hes engaged to Camille Achille has it rough too, huh.

Achille skilfully broke apart a slab like the ones from earlier. Once again, high-pitched screams rose around us.

After that, the exams continued Finally, its our turn.

Royce-sama! Itll be okay!

Camille who noticed my nervousness, encouraged me.

After all, with your power, Royce-sama, youll be able to reliably break that rock slab.

It seems that she accurately grasped the strength of those magically produced rock slabs and my magic power.

Your words are very reassuring.

Its too reassuring. When it comes to magic, I trust in Camilles words more than anything else. With her skill in magic alone, despite being only sixteen, she climbed to quite a high position within Red.

In time with the examiners signal, slates of stone appeared before Camille and I.

Royce-sama, just watch~

Camille who was next to me winked, and at the same time her stone slab was pulverised without a trace. A commotion ran through the spectator seats but she didnt pay it any attention.

She turned to me with a gaze that said Praise me, praise me.

I see. Theres still the stone powder left. Shall I burn it away?

Its fine, thats plenty. I can really see that youve been trying your best, Camille. As a candidate for my guard, theres no complaints to say about your skill.

So that Camille doesnt do anything unnecessary, its my job to stop her. Right now Achille isnt here, so I have to do it properly.

Really? Ill definitely become an excellent guard, okay!?

With a happy expression on her face, she gave a fist pump Because of Camille, my nervousness about the exam has disappeared.

When I calmed down and faced the target, I gathered mana around the target and made it explode. With one shot, it cracked, and then it very quickly flew off in four directions. Thanks to the magic cast on the area, the flying pieces of stone didnt hit any other students.

Its just like you said, huh, Camille. It broke.

When I said that, she looked incredibly glad and smiled. Probably startled by that smile of hers, the men around us were entranced by her. Some of them shot off their magic in various directions, or hit themselves with magic instead of the targets Even though its an examination, they sure lack concentration, huh

Up until now, Camille hasnt concerned herself with the gazes of the opposite sex. She only knew of boys sidling up to her in their aim for the seat of the next marquis during tea parties while she was young, and of men who looked down on her from a distance due to her tattoos. Thats why she didnt notice at all, the commotion she caused amongst the men. Its fine that she doesnt notice their gazes, but I wish she would just hurry up and notice Achilles feelings already Achilles also in the wrong for not frankly telling her his feelings though, huh. After we finished the target-destruction exam, we headed to the examination ground for the magic power measurement.

However, at our destination, the exam was temporarily suspended. The other students were making a fuss.

Oi, have you heard? It seems that in the group before ours, there was someone who broke the measurement item.

Serious? They didnt get disqualified?

Nah, the examiner said that it broke because their magic power was too great, and it couldnt be measured.

It seems that theres an incredible examinee. Camille also has strong magic power, but even she isnt strong enough that shed destroy the measurement item. I looked towards her, and found that for some reason, her eyebrows were knit in thought. Its rare that Camille makes such a serious face.

In the end, the magic power measurement started again a little while after that, and we finished the final exam without a problem.

But still, there are still heaps of incredible people in this world, huhh.

/Child Chapter End

Camille who noticed my nervousness, encouraged me. is actually just spoke to me, but seems grateful enough, so yeah

Might be a bit late to mention, but the prince is relatively soft spoken. Uh, also he uses boku. Achille uses ore(at least in his monologues).

Also funny that Royce thinks her dullness is because of her lack of experience with men. Shes been to high school before, and her monologues show that she clearly has experience. Its clear to us that she didnt notice them, simply because shes just a straight up legit 100% idiot sometimes, lol.

Also, hehe. Enter the heroine. Id be happy as long as she was even half as nice as Wakaba-chan.