About two minutes passed, and Aurelianne stood motionless in the pool of blood.

She stared at her trembling hands, unable to believe it.

The monster before her, capable of crushing her repeatedly, was now dead?

It was the first time she had seen so much blood, killing a monster in such a cruel manner.

But she didn't feel the slightest discomfort.

Instead, she experienced a novel sensation she had never felt before.

Her mind, tense to the extreme, began to relax. Her whole body trembled, unable to conceal her inner excitement.

Exhilarating!

Because she had personally defeated an enemy she thought was completely unbeatable.

Through repeated failures and "deaths," Aurelianne was left with only one thought.

She had to defeat it! Then, kill it!

It seemed only this could vent the emotions from her repeated deaths, only this could prove she wasn't just a weak ornament.

Aurelianne completely relaxed, sitting ungracefully on the grass, letting the foul-smelling blood stain her entire body.

This was her trophy, proof of her victory.

The Royal Knights stood far away, lowering their weapons, each knight's eyes filled with shock.

What had they just witnessed?

"The fifteen-year-old princess personally killed a Forest Demon!?"

The knights were very familiar with this type of magical beast.

Every week, knights were assigned to patrol around the royal capital, clearing out surrounding monsters to prevent them from rapidly proliferating and becoming a disaster.

The Forest Demon before them was the most troublesome existence for the knights. Each time they cleared one, it took at least a dozen knights to subdue it steadily.

They never imagined that the little-known princess would possess such ridiculous strength.

Most importantly, she was only fifteen years old!

The female guard also rushed forward amidst everyone's shock, hurriedly helping the princess up.

"Princess! Are you alright!?"

In fact, when she first entered and saw the monster pouncing towards the princess, she was almost scared witless.

She had even thought about where her future grave should be buried.

But then she witnessed a scene that instantly lifted her from rock bottom to the peak.

Princess Aurelianne had actually killed that monster in retaliation!?

Having protected the princess for so long, she naturally knew the princess's capabilities.

Although her magical talent was indeed unparalleled, able to learn spells taught by teachers with just a glance.

But talent doesn't equate to combat ability.

Everyone in the palace knew that the princess, who had never had any real combat experience, would still be just an ornamental princess even after learning magic.

But now, Aurelianne had slapped them all in the face.

Whose ornament could defeat a Forest Demon single-handedly at fifteen years old?

Perhaps even Erica, hailed as the current youngest genius in the royal capital, would struggle to achieve this.

Aurelianne shook her head after being helped up by the guard, saying:

"I'm fine."

She hadn't expected her guards to find her along with the Knight Order.

A flame appeared out of thin air, and Viktor slowly emerged into people's view.

The female guard was furious at first sight of Viktor.

If it weren't for Viktor taking the princess away without any explanation, she would have already prepared for her head to be separated from her body.

How could she not be angry?

Viktor had nearly gotten everyone killed!

"Viktor! Abducting the princess is already an unforgivable crime! How dare you bring the princess to such a dangerous place! You..."

Viktor remained unmoved, but the princess frowned first, stopping her next words.

"Cecilia."

"You're being too disrespectful to my teacher."

Hearing the princess's words, the guard called Cecilia began to stammer:

"But, Princess, he..."

Before she could finish, as if struck by a repulsive force, she was forced to step back involuntarily.

Cecilia looked up to see a light glowing at Viktor's fingertips.

[First-tier Magic: Repulsion]

After doing this, Viktor nodded to the princess, praising:

"The final repulsion magic was used well."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Aurelianne was overjoyed at Viktor's praise.

It meant her efforts hadn't been in vain.

A beam of light fell, sweeping over the princess's clothes, cleaning the blood stains.

The materials from the corpse on the ground were also collected by Viktor.

However, Viktor left the body in place, as it was Aurelianne's trophy after all.

He looked at the [Demon's Heart] he had just picked up, then glanced back at Aurelianne.

Although it was his student's trophy, still...

Viktor put the [Demon's Heart] into his bag and looked back at Aurelianne.

"Well, today's lesson is over. Tomorrow, you can take a day off."

As he spoke, he nodded to Gwen, who was approaching from afar. A blue formation rose beneath his feet, dissipating into points of light.

Gwen watched Viktor leave and gestured to the Knight Order.

"Temporarily seal off Milute Path! No one is allowed in or out!"

...

The princess finally returned safely to the palace under the escort of her guards, bringing her trophy, a "Forest Demon."

Emperor Obery was very pleased, shouting in front of everyone about rewarding Aurelianne.

Soon, the news of Aurelianne single-handedly killing a Forest Demon spread through every noble circle in the royal capital.

Some nobles believed this was a signal released by the royal family, that this little-known princess was finally going to step forward as a "genius" under the royal family's groundwork.

To increase the royal family's control.

The remaining nobles became interested in Viktor's teaching.

Under the royal announcement, everyone knew Viktor had become the princess's private tutor.

However, today's lesson shocked them.

Having a student kill a "Forest Demon" was actually Viktor's lesson.

What was Viktor thinking?

...

Erica had been troubled recently. Ever since she blurted out "take me as your disciple" to the professor yesterday due to sudden brain overload, she had been thinking about how to persuade her father, Duke Levi.

Just as Viktor said, she was her father's only heir. How could he possibly agree to her continuing to do anything dangerous?

But thinking of what Aurelianne had said at the banquet made her uncomfortable.

"Are you trying to steal my teacher?"

"I won't let you succeed."

Erica quickly shook her head, trying to shake off those unpleasant thoughts in her mind.

The sound of the door opening came from outside, followed by a servant's voice.

"Duke."

Father was back.

Hearing Duke Levi's voice, Erica pushed open the door, only to see Duke Levi's face looking somewhat gloomy.

Erica suppressed the words she had just prepared.

After all, father was in a bad mood now, and she indeed shouldn't talk to him about other things at this time.

But hadn't father gone to the palace? Could it be that someone had offended him while he was there?

Erica asked curiously:

"Father, what's wrong?"

"It's too inappropriate."

Duke Levi glanced at Erica, sighed, and said:

"Viktor took the position as the princess's teacher, but he used large-scale teleportation magic inside the palace to take the princess out of the palace."

"When the Royal Knight Order found the princess, she was facing a Forest Demon."

Erica covered her mouth, extremely surprised.

Forest Demon, the well-informed Erica had naturally heard of it.

This kind of monster seemed to be a lord-level creature appearing in dense forests, ferocious and difficult to kill.

Logically, such monsters were usually dealt with by the Knight Order, or some passing adventurers who killed them.

The dead bodies could even be brought to the royal capital for rewards.

Why would the princess... face such a thing alone?

But what shocked Erica even more was yet to come. Duke Levi continued:

"Even though she defeated that monster, it's still too inappropriate to let the princess take such risks!"

There was some anger in Duke Levi's voice, naturally directed at Viktor's "bold teaching."

The princess is His Majesty's daughter, and His Majesty dotes on her greatly.

If something really happened because of Viktor, how could Viktor still stand in the empire?

Everything he had accumulated would collapse in an instant.

Does he really not understand these things?

The duke didn't notice that Erica, upon hearing this, stepped back in shock.

What? The princess actually defeated that kind of monster!?

Alone? By herself?

She suddenly remembered what the princess had said.

Surpass her, become an even greater genius than her.

Now, what Aurelianne had accomplished was deeply imprinted in her heart.

"...Genius?"

Duke Levi paused, looking at his daughter.

For some reason, Erica was now lowering her head, making it difficult to see her expression.

"Erica? Darling, what's wrong?"

"No... it's nothing."

Erica sighed softly.

At this moment, she suddenly understood some things.

Staying by Viktor's side seemed... it wouldn't create any substantial gap between her and the princess.

Instead, it would make the distance between the princess and her grow shorter and shorter.

Moreover...

Since she already understood that her father would definitely not agree, why should she continue to make unreasonable demands?

'Erica, you should grow up too.'

She said to herself.

So, Erica took a deep breath and made a request to Duke Levi:

"Father, there will be a two-month vacation during the academy's recruitment period. I want..."

Duke Levi looked at his daughter, seeing her determined gaze, but with a different kind of confidence in her eyes.

"I want to train with your Magus Corps for a while."

Duke Levi stared at his daughter in astonishment.

"Dull and boring magic learning is destined not to improve me much, so I need an opportunity to train."

"Moreover, the Magus Corps is under your command, I won't put you in a difficult position."

Between admiration and understanding, Erica chose the latter.

It wasn't that her admiration for Viktor had diminished.

On the contrary, the closer she got to Viktor, the more she could feel the charm of his personality beneath his cold exterior.

She found that her previous self had been ridiculously wrong.

Trying to catch up to someone by becoming their disciple would only make the gap between them grow larger and larger.

Erica wanted to shine, wanted everyone to look at her with new eyes.

Unfortunately, Viktor's light was too bright, making everyone close their eyes, making everyone seem so dim and lackluster.

It also almost made her forget.

The strongest genius under twenty in the royal capital.

Could only be her.

A flash of gratification passed through Duke Levi's deep eyes, and he slowly said:

"I have an old friend far in the northern part of the empire, he is a powerful magus."

"If you can endure the cold of the north, then, in a while, go train with my Magus Corps there for a period of time."