I’m not scheming anything at all!

My father, glaring at me with a “what on earth are you up to?” look after seeing me all excited about going to the academy, got a lazy shrug in reply from my mother.

“Honestly, that place was a bit off, don’t you think? I figured Elen would notice.”

“…Off? What do you mean?”

My father tilted his head, puzzled.

I was bouncing on my toes, chanting “Castle! Castle!” with all my might, so Isabella’s eyes widened in surprise. “Elen-chan, you like castles?”

“I do!! Exploring! Exploring!”

My father sighed. He was clearly thinking, *My daughter’s obsession with castles again…* He trailed off.

“Elen-chan can’t help herself—she has to examine the structure of any castle she sees. That’s why she finds forgotten hidden rooms without a second thought.”

The others—Sauvel and the rest—gaped. Lauren, strangely, leaned in, eyes bright. “Wait, she *understands* castle architecture?”

Castles are such a fun thing, aren’t they?! There’s this weirdly high chance that the outside appearance and the inside layout don’t match up at all. You think it’s just empty space, but then—bam!—it’s usually a hallway or a hidden room. It’s like a game, you know?!

Even in Japan, there are those ninja mansion types. For some reason, those big old houses always seem to go for elaborate designs.

And if someone’s trying to hide something right in front of you… don’t you just want to burst out and dig it up? I mean, come on, you’re asking me to nod along with that?

“Walking around and hiding things from Elen? That’s just asking to get caught.”

I tilted my head at my father’s words. Had I ever actually hidden something from her and then been exposed? Then—“Albert”—that one word popped into my head. Oh, right. That did happen once.

“Elen’s been obsessed with my castle since she was born. By the time she was two, it was nonstop adventure every single day. Honestly, it was exhausting.”

Mother chuckled brightly, but Father looked thoroughly exasperated—like he’d just remembered that whole mess from back then.

“Two years old, and she’s already off on a castle adventure, disappearing into thin air? I still can’t forget how terrified I was that time…”

I nearly bowed my head in apology, despite not having done anything wrong.

Right after I was born, I was in a dreamlike haze. At first, I had no concept of “before birth” or anything like that—nothing at all.

My vision was blurry, and I only vaguely understood that Mother and Father were in front of me when I was first held up.

I remember hearing in a university psychology class that babies can’t protect themselves except by relying on whoever appears in their field of vision.

So they instinctively smile at whoever’s there. I was shocked when I heard that.

But once I actually experienced it myself? Yeah. Turns out it’s mostly right.

After I could finally see well enough and stand on my own, I couldn’t help but check my surroundings. That’s when I realized—this world was different. A castle. I’d been living in a castle all along.

The memories of my younger self—so eager to explore, so impossible to keep still—came rushing back.

“Break the magic on the castle, find the forgotten rooms, sneak into the treasure vaults from who-knows-where… and then, of course, always end up lost and never make it back?”

Once I started remembering, I couldn’t stop.

I’d just been sitting there, listening to my father retelling all the messes I’d made as a kid, and now I felt a little too aware of my own past stupidity.

I remembered that time I vanished at the castle when I was two—Isabella had practically wailed about it. Come to think of it, a two-year-old girl going missing? And not just that—she’d been experimenting with magic, trying out spells to hide herself, and suddenly teleporting to weird places.

Sauvel and the others were clearly feeling sorry for Father. He was practically drowning in their pity.

“But thanks to Elen, we’ve learned so much. That kind of talent? Perfect for the academy, don’t you think? And the letter’s sender—really persistent, isn’t he? Just talk to them a bit, that’s all.”

Mother said it all with that cheerful, offhand tone, but Father kept shaking his head, no.

“Then can’t I just… try out the academy first?”

My suggestion made Father and the others tilt their heads like I’d just spoken in a foreign tongue.

“How about this—what if you visit the academy first, then decide whether to enroll?”

“Oh, now *that* sounds interesting.”

Isabella nodded, her voice agreeing with my suggestion.

"I don’t want Elen spending a single day at that academy!!"

Mother looked unusually flustered at Father’s rebuttal.

I could tell from her expression—she probably wanted me to investigate that odd thing myself. If Mother was thinking that, then I could practically feel a spirit-related hunch creeping in.

"Parental trial enrollment is a thing, you know. It’s the parents who decide whether their child can attend. So, it’s only fair that you and Elen go together."

Father’s eyes widened at my words.

"...Me and Elen... at the academy?"

"That’s right. If you won’t agree, just send a letter to the other party saying we’re going back to Mother’s land. They’re clearly desperate to get me in, so they’ll take that deal."

"Right, Elen-chan! Say more!!"

Mother’s getting carried away, swinging her fists in time with my covering fire. What a show-off… I glare at her, but sigh. Can’t help it, really.

"Papa, if Mama is pushing me to go to the academy this much, it’s probably something to do with spirits."

"That's right. Maybe Lovell can understand now, huh?"

She suggested I go with Mother. Which means Mother’s probably watching through the water mirror, as usual.

"...if it's about spirits, I can't exactly say no, can I?"

Reluctantly giving in, my father let us win. My mother and I high-fived with glee.

My father sighed again, watching the scene. "Can't beat 'em when wife and daughter join hands…" he muttered. Sauvel, beside him, offered a sympathetic nod. "Brother… I understand," he said. Seems like even Sauvel gets wrapped up in it sometimes.

"Mother, how big is the castle!?"

"About half of my household, do you think?"

"Kind of huge, isn't it!!"

"Is that so? Might take a few days just to look around, don't you think?"

"Why not just tell Papa you want to stay a few days with him and experience it firsthand? The academy’s got dorms, right? Even if they say no, knowing the mystery behind it’ll give you leverage in negotiations!"

"...Elen’s up to something again."

"Papa, please stop giving me that suspicious look. It hurts!"

Puffing out her cheeks in mock anger, she still couldn’t hide the glint in her eyes—she was absolutely certain he’d pull something eventually.

"...You’re really going, then?"

Sauvel asked, voice laced with worry.

I just smiled sweetly in reply.

"Going to check it out on a little trial visit—sightseeing included!!"

"Elen, your thoughts are just leaking out loud."

A dry, exasperated voice came from above—completely irrelevant.

I didn’t care. My eyes were already sparkling at the thought of exploring the castle again.

＊＊＊

That day, the academy was abuzz with men over a letter from the Vanklyft Family.

“What the hell is ‘experience enrollment’ supposed to mean!?”

“According to the letter, they want to let their daughter attend classes here for a few days… to test whether she’s worthy of admission.”

The thin man with glasses and a gloomy face bowed deeply as he reported.

Meanwhile, the other man was quite plump, short in stature, and his wizard’s robes dragged on the ground.

He was the academy’s headmaster.

The thin man was the deputy head.

“Is the hero’s daughter making that medicine, then? The one currently at the academy is supposedly the niece of the hero’s brother, isn’t she?”

"Even if we wanted to study that medicine, the royal family barely sends us any supplies... But the daughter’s coming to the academy, isn’t she? That’s simply splendid!!"

The two of them cackled.

Apparently, the royal family was paying quite a bit for the medicine from the Vanklyft Family.

When we asked them to send some for research at the academy, they brushed us off, saying it was needed for court research and couldn’t be handed over.

Of course, we’d sent letters to the Vanklyft Family, but they’d refused, saying there wasn’t enough medicine left in the Vanklyft lands to spare, what with the patients flooding in.

"Every nation’s interested in getting their hands on this medicine. If we can produce it, everything will be ours!!"

"Just recruit the daughter. She’s only twelve, after all!!"

Foreign students could always study abroad, of course.

They were hatching a plan to get the hero’s daughter into the academy at all costs.

But then, flipping through an old letter later, they noticed a clause: their own father, Lovell, had to experience it alongside his daughter. And that’s when the two of them panicked—realizing full well that the hero himself showing up at the academy would send them into utter chaos.