Chapter 78

Sugar Revolution:

Marie calmly picked a wiggling bug from a hard ship biscuit, placed it on her finger, and studied it closely. Then she fed it part of the biscuit and quietly focused her energy. A halo appeared around her head—and suddenly, the bug spun itself into a cocoon.

Moments later, the cocoon split open, and a small moth emerged.

Marie had just transformed the bug into a moth in seconds.

She simply smiled while watching it happen.

Around her, hungry sons and daughters of nobles were fighting over scraps of food. But Marie, in the middle of this chaos, was calmly working with life, not food.

This pure and noble sight shocked Sendia.

“What is this girl? That looks like a miracle only a real saint could perform…”

Sendia Aspinal blushed watching her.

She found Marie lovely and admirable. Even Sendia, who usually looked down on others, felt affection and respect.

But then—jealousy suddenly bubbled up inside her.

“Why can’t I be someone amazing like her? Why was that plain-looking girl chosen to be a saint, and not me? She’s kind to even a tiny bug, but she’d never show mercy to someone like me…”

Her envy crushed any admiration she had.

Sendia’s pride wouldn’t let her worship or love the saint. Hating Marie instead felt more like herself.

“Ugh, I hate her. That so-called saint! Compared to her, the other saint candidate, Lady Idnia, is at least…”

Sendia looked around for Idnia.

“Huh? Where is she?”

Suddenly, the dining hall doors burst open.

“Excuse me for a moment!”

Idnia entered, magically pulling a wooden cart. She cleared the table and began setting down plates of what looked like salad—vegetables and fruits.

“Huh?”
“What’s going on?”

Everyone was surprised.

“Marie, could you help me?”
“Of course, Lady Idnia. But what is this?”
“It’s just a simple salad. Want to try?”
“Can I?”
“Of course. That’s why I brought it.”

Marie picked up a pale pink fruit-looking piece, sniffed it, and realized:

“It’s… a turnip?”
“Yes,” Idnia replied.

Some students frowned.

“Turnips? That’s just poor people’s food.”
“Aren’t turnips supposed to taste awful?”

Turnips were often grown in bad soil during famines. Most tasted terrible.

But when Marie took a bite, she was shocked.

“It’s… sweet!”
“What?”
“I mean it! It’s really sweet. Is this soaked in sugar?”

The other students were stunned.

Even if it was just a turnip, it looked way more appetizing than the gross ship biscuits and milk tea they had been eating.

“C-Can I try some?”
“Me too, please?”

Even Sendia asked Idnia for a piece.

“Go ahead,” Idnia said.

Sendia took a bite—and her eyes widened.

The taste was unbelievably sweet, crisp, and refreshing.

Normally, such high-quality turnips could only grow in rich soil. But why waste good land on a survival crop like turnips?

Also, the sweetness wasn’t natural—something was added.

“Is this… sugar? How can they use so much sugar like this?”
“What?!”

The other students gasped.

“Well, Marie’s a commoner. Maybe she thinks turnips are sweet already…”
“But if Sendia says it’s sweet, then it must be sweet.”

Now everyone rushed toward the salad. Idnia chuckled inside.

“Wow. They don’t even realize they’re being classist. Saying it out loud with Marie right there…”

To them, social class was everything. Marie, used to being looked down on, didn’t even react.

Idnia thought to herself:

“Should I say something? As a noble lady, if I speak up, they usually listen. But I better not… I shouldn’t get too used to this.”

As all this ran through Idnia’s mind, Marie casually asked:

“Where did you get these turnips?”
“I’d like to know too,” said Gatekeeper Gibbles, clearing his throat.

“Lady Idnia, even as a noble, this looks suspicious. Is this… smuggled?”

“Ah, no. I got permission from Professor Buremhyde.”

“P-Professor Buremhyde?!”

Fear filled Gibbles’s face. Even he was scared of the infamous “Tyrant of Lancaster.”

“Yes, he let me use the spare land near his building to grow these turnips. He said he wanted to help the Wizard Ball Circle.

I was going to ask for your permission too, but you weren’t there, so I had to act fast. Sorry about that. If you ask the professor, he’ll confirm it.”

“Ah, no problem then. I’m just here to support the professor’s schedule anyway.”

When Idnia offered to let Gibbles talk to Buremhyde himself, Gibbles quickly backed off.

The other students, meanwhile, were amazed.

“Wizard Ball?”
“That sport?”
“I like watching it, but are we going to play?”
“My mom will faint if she hears I joined something like that…”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”

They were curious, but no one volunteered.

Still, they all stared longingly at the turnip salad.

“Do we have to play Wizard Ball just to eat that?”
“Come on, it’s just turnips. Poor people food.”

“Still… if Sendia says it’s sweet, it must be amazing.”
“If it’s soaked in sugar, I bet it tastes great.”

They were starving and miserable with the usual food.

Then Idnia smiled.

“We made too much for just our Eurus dorm, so please come and take some!”

“But… Professor Buremhyde…”
“Come on, it’s not like we’re forcing anyone. This is just to promote the Wizard Ball club and share some benefits.

We’ll need some help handing it out, though.”

“I’ll help,” said Crown Prince Rudolf.

One by one, dorm leaders stepped up to get turnip salad for their dorms.

“In return, we’ll take the leftover ship biscuits,” Idnia said.

Everyone quickly handed over the horrible biscuits.

“Of course!”
“Please take them all!”

Lorenzo watched all of this carefully.

“What do you think, Fiona?”

The southern Notos dorm students tasted the salad too—and were shocked by the clean sweetness.

“Strange… So much sugar would be needed to make this.

We already knew Lady Idnia sneaks out at night, but she never smuggled anything in or out of town. We would’ve noticed.”

Their group controlled most shops in the nearby villages. They had spent a fortune to monitor all Academy supplies.

“So if she really got sugar… it must have come from somewhere we missed.”

“Maybe Professor Buremhyde gave it to her. She said it was grown on his land.”

“That man doesn’t seem the generous type. If he is helping just her, the Church needs to know.”

Lorenzo tasted the salad again and muttered:

“This is very sweet.

Even the stems are sweet. That’s not normal for turnips.

And… she’s been collecting leftover ship biscuits too. Maybe it’s related?”

He groaned. Fiona gasped and warned him:

“Sugar trade is our Southern Alliance’s main source of income.

If someone makes something as sweet as sugar from biscuits or bread… that’s a huge threat.”

Lorenzo didn’t say more, but everyone understood.

Even the powerful Vikrant Empire in the southeast was part of the sugar trade.

“Idnia Kache Betelgeuse is dangerous,” Lorenzo muttered.

He believed she was showing off her secret to southern spies, hinting that she might one day replace sugar entirely.