Chapter 01
In the beautiful campus courtyard, students wearing academy uniforms gathered in a circle, chatting among themselves.
“Wow……! Julia! You didn’t lose the top spot even in the final graduation exam?”
“Political science, sociology, economics, herbology, mathematics, physics…… I can’t even count how many subjects you got a perfect score in. Aren’t you a monster?”
“You’re so lucky, Julia…… Right after graduation, all those great companies are probably dying to get their hands on you.”
Julia, the protagonist of their conversation, stood at the very center of the group, looking prouder than anyone else.
Ah, how long she had waited for this moment!
Only the countless nosebleeds, sweat, and tears she had shed could truly prove her efforts.
Julia lifted her blue eyes, hidden behind large, round glasses that took up half of her small face, and looked up at the school’s bulletin board.
[1st Place. Julia Heibel.]
Her name shone in a brilliant gold at the very top of this year’s board.
As the paper fluttered in the warm breeze, her name swayed gently up and down.
“Julia has always been exceptional since she first enrolled. She entered as the top student on the entrance exam, got a perfect score even in Professor Maibel’s notoriously difficult ethics class, and not just in writing—she also got full marks in the physical tests!”
“Julia, which company are you planning to join after graduation? The Luibel Imperial Bank? The Shifga Management Company?”
“Well, I haven’t really given it much serious thought yet, so I’m not sure.”
Julia answered with a smile.
By then, her friends were rattling off the names of all the most prestigious companies in the empire.
It was true that she had a mental list of potential companies, but she didn’t want to make a fuss over places that hadn’t even hired her yet.
But above all, the most obvious fact was this: as long as she knocked on their doors holding the top graduate diploma from Tritan Royal Academy, any company would open its gates wide for her.
Filled with joy, Julia looked down and gently opened the navy-blue cover of the diploma in her hand.
[Tritan Royal Academy – Overall Top Graduate. Julia Heibel. Heartiest congratulations on your graduation. – Principal Isabel Tweed]
Hoo…
Julia couldn’t stop inwardly admiring herself, celebrating over and over.
At this moment, she was so proud of herself she could barely contain it.
Just as Julia had planned, it seemed as though her bright future was already unfolding like a painting drawn with a delicate brush.
After her long, long years as a student, once she stepped into society and landed a good job, she would have a life where she could enjoy everything she wanted.
Julia thought about all the bucket list items she had put off for the sake of studying.
Once I get a job, I’m going to get a boyfriend and have a deep, romantic relationship! I’ll taste all the delicious, rare delicacies in the world! And I have to quickly bring Grandpa over so we can live together!
Julia swam blissfully through wave after wave of happy imagination.
“But… hey, just between us…”
Just then, Lily, who had been pressing close to congratulate her, whispered in a voice so low that no one else could hear.
Julia, who had been gleefully swimming along, snapped back to reality in an instant.
“Huh?”
“……You should have let the Grand Duke win.”
Lily pointed toward a group walking in their direction.
Cassian was crossing the courtyard, having just exited the first-floor door with a few noble children he kept close company with.
Thanks to his height, which was notably taller than everyone else’s, his black hair stood out like a solitary pillar rising above the group.
Even from a distance, the tallest man was recognizable by his strikingly handsome features, radiating an overall cold and aloof aura.
Julia stared blankly at Cassian as he gradually drew closer.
Just then, Cassian—neatly dressed in his uniform, his hair calmly swept back—seemed to feel Julia’s gaze and lifted his indifferent eyes to look at her.
The moment their brief glances met, Julia was so startled she instinctively dropped her head.
At the end of her lowered gaze, the navy-blue diploma in her hand gleamed.
Why did I have to meet his eyes all of a sudden…
Feeling awkward, Julia tried to act natural, lifting her head again and slowly reading the text at the top of the bulletin board.
[1st Place. Julia Heibel.]
And right beside it, like a pair, the text next to it:
[2nd Place. Cassian Isheide.]
“Still, he is of imperial blood. Getting second place in the graduation exam might have bruised his pride a little…”
Lily, standing right next to her, whispered worriedly.
Why? What? Is this one of those worlds where a timid, powerless commoner has to feel guilty about taking first place from a diamond spoon?
Julia wiggled the hand holding her diploma.
“Cassian! Ah, hello!”
Just then, Evan, who was standing next to Lily, greeted Cassian as he approached.
“Ca-Cassian! Congratulations on graduating!”
“Let’s see each other often even after graduation!”
“You worked hard, Cassian!”
Starting with Evan, all the other friends standing nearby also said a few words to him.
Even though they attended the same school, opportunities to speak with Grand Duke Cassian had not been many.
Without stopping his stride, Cassian gave a curt nod.
Ugh, so arrogant.
Despite her negative thoughts, Julia also lowered her head slightly among her friends, trying not to stand out and politely showing respect.
For a fleeting moment, she felt Cassian’s gaze linger on her face.
Sensing his eyes, Julia broke out in a cold sweat.
‘Lily’s unnecessary comment is making me self-conscious…’
Only after Cassian passed by the group and completely disappeared beyond the school gate did she unconsciously exhale the breath she had been holding.
Evan, standing right next to her, also let out a big sigh.
“Phew…… Did you all see that? I spoke to Cassian informally!”
“Evan, you looked pretty calm to me. My voice was trembling horribly…… I don’t even remember what I said.”
“And yet, at the graduation banquet, you’ll probably address him as ‘Your Highness the Grand Duke’ again, right, Evan?”
“Hey, do I look like that much of a coward to you? ……Well, if I do, then you saw correctly.”
At Evan’s easygoing joke, everyone burst into giggles.
Julia also forced a small, thin laugh, trying to erase her lingering discomfort.
“Ju…… Julia…… Ah……”
Just then, from behind them, someone called Julia’s name.
Julia quickly turned her head and saw Jerome walking toward her, waving a navy-blue diploma above his head.
“Ah, Jerome! Are you done? Well, guys, I’ll head off first……!”
“Julia, wait a second!”
Lily quickly grabbed the wrist of Julia, who was trying to turn away.
“Huh?”
Julia, pulled along by Lily’s firm grip, looked up at her—much taller than herself.
“You absolutely have to come to the graduation banquet next week, got it? Since it’s held in place of the graduation ceremony, they said it’s going to be big and grand! How can the overall top graduate of the academy miss an occasion like that?”
“Uh…… okay. I’ll think about it.”
“Is the dress the problem? If so, I’ve told you again and again that I’ll lend you the prettiest one I have!”
“With Julia, the problem isn’t the dress, it’s her drinking habits, isn’t it?”
Chloe, standing behind them, giggled as she chimed in.
“It’s neither! Lily, Jerome is waiting for me! I’ll go first. See you all later……!”
“We’ll see you at the graduation banquet, Julia!”
With a stern expression, Lily tightened her grip on Julia’s wrist, but Julia pulled it free.
After nodding goodbye to Lily, who was looking at her with a disapproving expression, and to the rest of her friends, Julia ran over to Jerome, who was beaming at her.
Born as the only granddaughter of a poor farmer, Julia Heibel had realized something very early in life, much faster than anyone else:
‘If a frog wants to become a dragon from a ditch, studying is the only answer!’
That was an unchanging truth that held true in any world, the law of the entire universe.
The reason Julia had been able to grasp that truth so quickly was that she was a person who had been transmigrated into the novel ‘Stars Embroidered Upon Tritan.’
One day, when she opened her eyes, she found herself transmigrated as a non-entity extra in the novel.
“What’s that……? That’s the flag that was boldly drawn on the cover of that novel I stopped reading a while ago.”
The flags hanging and fluttering both inside and outside her house, and even at the neighbors’ houses, reminded her of exactly where she was.
“And this isn’t even the capital, Mondinium!”
Why did she have to be an extra—not the female lead, not the female supporting lead, not even a minor supporting character who appeared briefly in the story to say a line or two?
And not just any extra, but the granddaughter living alone with a dirt-poor farmer?
“It was just a novel I bought without thinking because the title was so pretty…… I’d barely just figured out the protagonist and the world setting!”
Lying on a thin mattress beneath a drafty window, Julia vigorously ruffled her disheveled brown hair in deep despair.
Looking down, her eyes fell on her shabby pajamas, covered in patches and stitches.
Feeling even more despair at the pajamas that looked like a cross between a blanket and a rag, Julia prayed to every god in existence to wake her up if this was a dream.
She even pinched her own cheeks hard, trying to wake up by her own will.
But even after both her cheeks swelled up red like a squirrel’s full of acorns, nothing changed.
This place was now her reality.
“I’m screwed.”
Julia, more realistic than anyone else, soon adapted quickly to her new reality.
Fortunately, in the midst of misfortune, she was still young.
Yes, young Julia could still have endless opportunities ahead of her.
