Strongest Noble's Daughter Uses Water Magic Book 2

Shared Revelations

Leia led me down the halls towards a room Edward was said to be in. As we walked, neither of us made any attempt to start a conversation, which came as a surprise from her. After all that time of trying to reach out to me, I thought she would make use of this small trip to us talking. Well, not that it would matter; I wouldn't want to talk to her regardless. Despite how close we may have gotten back at the mock exam, as a whole, I was still unsure about this girl.

Don't get me wrong; I know she's a nice girl, that she's pretty much innocent from my grudge against the Anberibca household, and that she probably doesn't know that she took my place in that family. But even so, I can't help but feel like blaming her for taking my spot. A childish and stupid reason it may be, it could be because of how I feel towards my family deep down; how much I wanted to be back in that family, only to then realize that the option was no longer open to me. Rather... it was never open for me to begin with.

"We're here," Leia spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts, as I lifted my head and saw that we had arrived in front of a door, leading to the study hall.

"Why the study hall?" I asked.

"The rooms are enchanted with a spell that makes it impossible for anyone to hear what goes on inside or outside them."

I nodded in understanding to her explanation, as well as caught on instantly to what my brother wanted to speak to me about. 'So it's something involving our family after all...' I thought, following Leia inside.

As we walked down the halls past the door, I noticed each of the study rooms had a glass window, displaying what was going on within them. Some of these rooms were occupied with students, in which some of those students were studying diligently and silently, while others seemed to be doing some testing; be it on magic or on other things. All in all, as Leia said, no sound was being heard from within the rooms.

"It really is the perfect place for a secret chat," I unintentionally muttered.

"What was that?" Leia asked.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

If the thing Edward wanted to talk to me about really has something to do with family, since neither he nor anyone in that household told Leia a thing about me, it was best to keep it as is. This act may be infuriating to her, but unfortunately, this is something those people want. And who knows what they will do to me and the people close to me if I decide to go against that now?

It did not take much longer to reach the end of the hall, in which I noticed from the glass windows that neither rooms had Edward in them.

"In here," Leia said, taking out a card and placed it on the door, which opened upon contact.

Though confused and suspicious, I followed her inside. At first, I expected that maybe Edward used some kind of magic item to hide his presence- most likely to avoid anyone talking about our connection with one another- but even as I walked in, even as I used my mana sense to see if he was in the room, I got nothing.

"Did you take me to the wrong room or something?" I asked Leia, turning to her in time to see her seal the door shut, much to my confusion. "What are you doing? I thought you said Professor Anberibca wanted to talk to me."

Leia went silent at my question; only looking down with a gloomy expression on her face.

I grew even more confused at this, especially since she was avoiding eye contact with me. It did not take long for me to realize what was really going on, though. "You... Did you lie to me...? The professor didn't ask for me, did he?"

The silence and continuing lack of eye contact were more than enough to be an answer, as I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Unbelievable... To think you would go this far just to have a talk with me. You could've come up with anything else, yet you decided to use one of the professor's name to get my attention."

"Because this is the only way I can get you to stay. The only way I was sure can make you stay," she reasoned, looking me in the eyes this time.

"You really think you'll get away with using a professor's name to get a fellow student's attention? Then again, he is your brother; I wouldn't be surprised if he makes an exception of this."

"You're right, he did. But not because he is my brother." I tilted my head in confusion when she said that. "You really think I used Professor Anberibca's name because he is our professor? That he helped me make this meeting possible because he was willing to make an exception for me? It was because it was you he helped me make this possible."

I only became more confused at those words. "What do you mean?"

Leia was silent for a moment, taking in some deep, calming breaths, before speaking. "I... I did a lot of thinking after that mock exam. ... About you. I kept wondering why you have this grudge against the Anberibcas when you don't seem to have that big of a grudge against nobles in general. How you were able to use Water Magic to fight, or even how you have so much mana in you; more than any commoner should have. I assumed that maybe- just maybe- you were like me; a commoner both different from everyone else, born with an abnormal amount of mana in her. But... the possibility of there being two commoners being born that way in the same generation- in the same era... I just couldn't believe that to be true. No matter how much I wanted to believe it..."

I raised a brow when she said this. Honestly, I was impressed with her observation skills. Going by our chat back during the exam, I had thought she was nothing more than a naive girl who couldn't really look out for herself. Then again, the reason for such observation skill could be due to the fact that she was adopted into the Anberibca household. As daughter of a duke- the strongest duke in the kingdom, no less- she had to have the skills worthy of the family name.

"Another possibility about you... would be that you could be of noble blood." My eyes widened slightly on instinct when those words left her mouth, and my whole body tensed as well. "That was the only one other possibility I could think of that can explain all that mana you possess, especially... since my dad once accused my mother of having me with a noble once. Only, for as long as I became a noble, I have never once heard of anyone with noble blood having an affinity for Water Magic." My body instinctively relaxed a bit when she said that. "Things happened after that and... and a small incident helped me find out the truth about you."

"A small incident?"

Leia hesitantly nodded in response. "I... I wasn't sure exactly about it, especially since it sounded like a long shot. But, after everything that happened, it also sounded so plausible. I couldn't get anywhere on my own with all these baseless ideas... and went to Edward."

My eyes widened again when she said that, when she said all of that part.

"I confronted him about it... He who was the only one in that household who did not dote on me, nor see me as someone who should be an Anberibca. It was a long shot, since we rarely spoke to each other, but thankfully, he went along with my request. Truth be told, even though so much time passed since then, I still can't believe it... Though no matter how much I think about it, it also explains everything about you."

My worries and suspicions for what she knew grew right then, as I forced out, "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Lord Lennox... He may have taken me in out of whatever goodness was in his heart at the time, but that was a lie... Back when I told you about how he snapped me out of my trance, I should've known by now, looking back on it, that something was wrong. It was one thing to be saved by a wandering hero, but Flammel Kingdom's strongest noble? Way out in the countryside? The timing was too convenient; in truth... he was actually searching for a replacement in his family. Every noble already knew he had a daughter, but no one knew what she looked like. Even if he wanted to say that she died, unfortunately, everyone knew she was far from dead; all they did know was that her mana was unlike any other. The detail was so vague, and yet... Everyone assumed it meant she was born with mana much stronger than her own family..."

My eyes continued to widen at each word coming out of her mouth; at what she was revealing to me, what she learned about me, what she came to realize about me.

"Levi... I... I took your place, didn't I?"