Noble Lady Reformation Guide

“D-did she really… run away?”

No matter how much they looked around the banquet hall, Trisha was nowhere to be seen.

The image of Aiselin, calling out to Trisha again and again from the podium, was almost pitiful.

The dormitory assignment ceremony of the prestigious Ravenclaw Academy.

At an event like this, where not even the slightest mistake was permitted, disappearing completely was something that could not be covered up or justified in any way.

First in rank among the direct disciples of the Ravenclaw faction and representative of the Camellia dormitory, Diella Katherine Duplain strode quickly toward Dereck, who was leaning against the wall, and spoke with a pale face.

“T-this… what the hell is going on… Dereck…? N-no, S-Sir Dereck… Lady Trisha isn’t here…”

“She was definitely in the hall until just before the banquet…”

Because there were many people listening nearby, Diella asked about Trisha’s whereabouts using a somewhat forced formal address.

Something unusual for him, Dereck was visibly shaken; he closed his eyes and activated detection magic.

In an environment saturated with mana everywhere, distinguishing only Trisha’s mana did not seem easy.

After all, her mana was extremely weak.

Dereck straightened up at once, placed both hands on Diella’s shoulders, and whispered to her.

“I’ll go look for her myself. I’ll bring her back as soon as possible, so could you help Aiselin stabilize things here?”

“T-that’s not the problem… this is already a huge incident…!”

Diella’s eyes sharpened with fury.

She always maintained a basic level of respect toward Dereck, but toward everyone else she rarely showed mercy.

It was not unusual to see those around her tremble before her attitude, as sharp as that of a wildcat.

Clenching her teeth, Diella spoke with a gaze full of hostility.

“In the end… we never should have accepted someone like her as a direct disciple of the faction.”

The mere fact that she failed to appear at such a crucial moment—one that would define the future image of the dormitories—was already a clear sign.

Trisha was nothing more than a girl with insufficient ability who had reached the lowest position among the direct disciples purely by luck.

Diella, who knew that better than anyone, seemed convinced that even for Trisha’s own sake, it would be necessary to reconsider whether she should remain in the faction.

Dereck gently patted Diella on the shoulder.

As long as he intervened, Diella would not completely lose control.

“We’ll discuss that after we get the situation under control. She was here just a moment ago, so if we use detection magic around the area, she’ll probably—”

“S-sorry… huff… huff…”

Just as Dereck was about to focus his mana to go search for her, the murmur in the hall abruptly died down.

On the podium, at last, Trisha had appeared.

There was not a trace of the lofty dignity Ellen or Denise had displayed during their presentations.

She was drenched in sweat, as if she had come running at full speed.

Her hair, once carefully arranged, now had unruly strands sticking out everywhere, and her face was tinged a pale blue.

The representative of the Sepia dormitory and the youngest direct disciple of the Ravenclaw faction.

Trisha of the Renuel family.

“…”

Diella, the other direct disciples seated in the hall, and all the students facing the podium wore rigid expressions.

Watching young noble ladies, raised like delicate flowers in a greenhouse, elegantly describe their respective dormitories was like strolling through a garden overflowing with floral fragrances.

But in Trisha, panting and covered in cold sweat, there was not a shred of that noble dignity.

What emanated from her was something different—a strange obstinacy, almost belligerent.

“S-sorry for being late… the truth is… there were circumstances… huff… huff…”

Living mixed in among shining stars is, without a doubt, exhausting.

The faction founded by Dereck Lydorf Ravenclaw, a genius of magic and a famed instructor, gathered only brilliant stars.

In an event filled with people who seemed to confirm that rumor, Trisha’s existence stood out all the more.

“C-circumstances…?”

“Yes… t-the truth is that…”

Faced with Aiselin’s bewildered question, Trisha steadied her breathing and let out a sharp exhale.

“I got nervous about going up to the podium… so I was practicing alone on the terrace and ended up concentrating too much…”

“…”

“I started breaking out in cold sweat, I felt dizzy… and it took me some time to pull myself together. I’m sorry.”

Every sentence was completely unexpected.

Instead of presenting herself as a direct disciple worthy of guiding a dormitory with nobility and authority, Trisha looked at the dazzling stars with weary eyes and said.

“That’s what happened…”

Diella looked at Dereck with a stunned expression.

Dereck was also momentarily taken aback, but he eventually crossed his arms and raised his gaze toward the podium once more.

Those who knew Trisha well could understand what kind of resolve lay behind those words.

Who was Trisha?

A woman soaked in vanity, clinging to noble authority, arrogant to the core, always boasting whenever she had the chance.

She never backed down, even among monstrous talents; she had been capable of slapping Aiselin, standing up to Diella, and getting back on her feet even after being beaten by Siern.

A true obstinate among obstinate people, someone who would sneer arrogantly even on the brink of hell.

And yet, there she was, pale and drenched in cold sweat.

It was obvious how much internal pressure she had endured while remaining the youngest disciple of the Ravenclaw faction.

This dormitory presentation was nothing more than the trigger.

When accumulated stress explodes all at once, no one can know what a person will do once they lose their composure.

Perhaps the best course would be to stop the event for now and calm her down.

Just as Dereck, after deep reflection, was about to stand up, Aiselin, who had stepped down from the podium, gently shook her head.

As if she had seen a fragment of something within Trisha, she conveyed with her gaze that he should let her continue.

At that moment, Dereck’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m this kind of person. Trisha of the Renuel family, leader of the Sepia dormitory, is someone who, just when the important moment arrives, trembles, breaks out in cold sweat, and can’t even put strength into her hands because of her nerves.”

Gripping the lectern tightly, Trisha declared in a trembling voice.

“You’ve all heard the presentations of the other direct disciples, right? People truly worthy of the faction’s name—noble, wise, brave, and beautiful. I don’t have principles as clear as Lady Diella’s, nor the nobility of Lady Ellen, nor the wisdom of Lady Denise, nor the overwhelming genius of Lady Siern.”

“…”

“I’m just that kind of person…”

How does one survive among people who shine like stars, one after another?

This was Trisha—the same Trisha who had gone to Dereck’s office to speak very seriously about that very method.

In Aiselin’s eyes, as she stepped down from the podium with an expression full of conviction, something seemed to have been reflected clearly.

“As often happens to many people… I’m just an ordinary person. Nothing special…”

At that moment, Trisha’s eyes flashed.

A flame ignited deep within her.

She cast aside all the words she had prepared in advance and, as if hurling them straight at the audience, spoke by letting what welled up from within her pour out as it was.

“At the Ravenclaw Academy, there are geniuses of every kind. As heirs of the most noble families, we’re expected to be the most brilliant. Everyone who has entered here is. But… how is it possible for everyone to always move upward, never get lost, never fall, and keep climbing steadily without stumbling even once?”

With a gaze tinged with sadness, Trisha lowered her eyes toward Dereck, mingled among the audience.

“That’s only possible for chosen geniuses.”

“…”

At her side, Diella, who was watching the podium, opened her eyes wide.

Because it didn’t sound like someone else’s story.

There had been a girl born in a sea of stars who, even so, was deemed lacking in innate talent and cast aside.

Confined in a secondary residence of the Duplain family, she bristled with thorns toward anyone who approached her, screaming and displaying her inferiority complex.

By sheer luck, she encountered a good teacher and was able to glimpse a new facet of the world—but until then, her life had literally been an age of darkness.

What had she been like back then?

An executioner who mistreated servants and exploded in anger over anything.

When one spends their entire life being surpassed by others and discarded again and again, they end up being devoured by that inner darkness and, in the end, shut themselves away.

Climbing out of that abyss on one’s own is never easy.

Yet the girl now standing on the podium looked completely different from the Diella of those days.

She was someone who, even while being surpassed by everyone and constantly left behind, let out a haughty laugh and raised her voice even louder.

That was vanity, bravado, and useless pride.

But what Aiselin had perceived in that aspect of Trisha, when she saw her step down from the podium, was her innate strength.

“The Sepia dormitory is a place where those who have failed gather.”

Lifting her chin, eyes ablaze, Trisha continued.

The Sepia dormitory would be the dormitory for lagging students.

She had already declared that to Dereck.

“But we aren’t ashamed of it. Because failing is proof that you tried. What we truly ought to be ashamed of is being trapped by an inferiority complex and helplessness, sitting down and doing absolutely nothing.”

Trisha knew it.

No matter how blessed by lineage the descendants of prestigious families might be, not all of them could shine like stars.

In fact, like the Diella of the past or the Trisha of the present, there would be many more who would fall behind and be discarded.

Because those who shine are always few.

“Thank you for listening.”

With an almost ferocious aura, Trisha bowed to the audience—wrapped in absolute silence—and stepped down from the podium.

When the presentations of the other dormitories ended, all of them had received formal standing applause.

But as Trisha descended, only a tense silence reigned.

It was like the embodiment of a burning flame.

No one knew how to evaluate her; everyone present seemed sunk in confusion.

However, one thing was clear.

In the Sepia dormitory, led by Trisha, there undoubtedly existed something irreplaceable that could not be found in any other dormitory.

***

“The descendants of prestigious families have no excuses. And even less so those who’ve reached the point of entering the Ravenclaw Academy.”

When the dormitory explanations came to an end, Aiselin approached Dereck after letting out a deep sigh of relief and continued speaking.

“That the times are like this, that the environment is like that, that there’s no lineage, that there was no luck—those who don’t achieve results can always find a thousand reasons, but even so…”

Young women who, by sheer luck, are born as descendants of prestigious families, carry good blood, and test their talent in an environment where everything is provided, cannot present any excuses.

Paradoxically, there are times when that very perfection of environment ends up corroding a person.

Because it is a law of the world that not everyone can become extraordinary.

If one fails, the reason is solely one’s own inadequacy. One cannot protect the heart by resorting to other reasons or by speaking of “if only…”

There was no need to look for distant examples.

Aiselin still remembered the time when her dearly beloved younger sister had shut herself away in the annex pavilion and refused to come out.

If Dereck had not visited the Duplain family back then, perhaps Diella would not be here today.

“…”

Diella silently watched Trisha on the podium and, after slowly lowering her gaze, blended back into the crowd in the hall.

She seemed to have many things she wanted to say, but she did not wish to bring them to light.

“Those born into a perfect environment suffer far more lethal blows when they fail. Because that lays bare their true face. That’s why we need people who are strong in the face of failure and natural selection. Someone capable of conveying that value to the noble houses is by no means common.”

“…”

“In that sense, Trisha is an irreplaceable resource. Even if she herself probably doesn’t realize it.”

Aiselin smiled gently and bowed slightly to Dereck.

“Thank you for supporting my decision, Dereck.”

“I didn’t do anything in particular—but then, is Lady Trisha all right now? She looked quite pale.”

“Yes… once she stepped down from the podium, she should be coming over here at any moment…”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Trisha was striding over, her face still devoid of color.

Her speech hadn’t gone as planned, and because she had felt frightened and nervous, she hadn’t even managed to keep proper track of the timing.

As if she wanted to apologize for all of that, she stopped in front of Dereck and bowed deeply.

“Lady Trisha?”

“…”

Thus, Trisha remained with her head lowered for quite a while.

Dereck watched her in silence and, finally, spoke in a much more relaxed voice.

“In the end, everything turned out fine, so there’s no need for you to bow that much. Lift your head.”

“…”

But Trisha, as if something weighed heavily on her heart, kept her head down, both hands pressed against her chest.

Her abundant hair fell all at once, sliding down like a cascade.

“Lady Trisha?”

“…”

“As I told you, it’s not something you need to apologize for so much. So lift your hea—”

“…Ugh…”

“…?”

The moment he heard a sound like retching, he understood.

Trisha wasn’t keeping her head down just because she felt guilty.

“Uuugh… my stomach… I don’t feel well… gwaaah!”

“Damn it! Bring any container! Quickly!”

When a person alternates excessively between extreme tension and relief, they can become dizzy and nauseous.

Dereck, drenched in cold sweat, shouted to the attendants.

Judging by everything, at that moment Trisha seemed to be the only one capable of leaving him so completely flustered.