On the other side, Sophia was extremely worried.

"Lily, how could you bet your future against Margaret?"

In Cassia, there were only two higher academies.

Students who graduated from the academy would undoubtedly become talents that various lords would compete to recruit.

But if expelled from the academy, it meant that person either lacked ability or had moral deficiencies.

Their reputation among everyone would plummet to rock bottom, and it would be extremely difficult to make a comeback.

Sophia didn't care at all about Celitia's reputation—she could provide her with enough protection.

But Sophia knew very well what kind of proud and ambitious person Celitia was.

If she could only survive by relying on others' pity, Celitia would never be able to accept it.

"As long as we win, there won't be any problem, right?"

Celitia didn't take it seriously at all.

"You're not going to tell me you're already prepared to admit defeat, are you, Princess Sophia?"

Sophia blurted out: "How could that be?! I would never lose to Margaret!!"

"Right," Celitia snapped her fingers at her, the corners of her lips curving slightly, "that's the spirit, my Princess."

Benita sat beside Celitia, listening to their conversation, and couldn't help saying:

"You've stirred up something incredible again, Lily."

Her gaze examined Celitia carefully, full of confusion.

Benita rarely did such outrageous things, so she found it difficult to understand Celitia's choice.

"If we choose to keep retreating, in the end we'll just be bullied to no end. Moreover, in life, opportunities and challenges always come together. Why not take a bold gamble?"

The girl's smile was bright, her eyebrows raised, and between her glances, she was radiant with spirit, as if her former vigor had returned to her.

Benita stared at her in a daze, and gradually, a bright gleam also lit up in her eyes.

"Then shall we... fight it out with Margaret and them?"

"Of course we'll fight! Are we supposed to be afraid of Margaret?" Shanie said indignantly. "She's been spreading bad rumors about Her Highness and Lily everywhere. This time we must make her apologize publicly!"

"Right! She wants Lily to drop out? No way!" Sophia directly made the decision. "Let's fight them!"

○

The grouping results came out soon after.

The academy had about 120 students this year, and 100 people had registered for the competition.

This meant that over 80 percent had registered, showing how seriously everyone took this group competition.

The red and blue sides were each allocated 50 people, maintaining equal numbers on both sides.

For this competition, the academy had even postponed many course arrangements, giving everyone enough preparation time.

The noisy day passed, and night fell.

Celitia pondered the strength levels of both enemies and allies, preparing to draft an initial plan.

"A hundred people in total isn't few. Small-scale conflicts between two baronies would have about this many people."

But this didn't count the number of attendants.

Usually a noble knight would have at least four or five attendants.

If you included conscripts and mercenaries, the actual number of combatants would probably be even more.

However, this was just an internal academy competition after all, so naturally it didn't need to be made so complex.

Thinking this way, Celitia turned her head and glanced at Sophia.

She saw Sophia lying on the desk, holding a list filled with names, looking through them one by one with a somewhat bewildered expression.

Although Sophia was the nominal commander of the blue side, for her, this kind of thing was truly a first time, and she had no idea where to start.

Watching the girl mess up her wavy golden hair until it looked like a bird's nest, Celitia couldn't help but laugh.

She took the initiative to walk to Sophia's side and gently caught the hand that was frantically pulling at her hair.

"Don't worry, Sophia. The first step before a competition—or rather, before a war—is undoubtedly gathering intelligence."

Celitia leaned down, her left hand resting on Sophia's shoulder, her cheek close to her ear, extending her slender, pale fingers to lightly trace across the names on the list.

"Among the people on the grouping list, which ones are trustworthy and which ones aren't—this is all intelligence that needs to be mastered. Including those assigned to Margaret's side, whether there are people we can utilize is also worth discussing."

After Celitia spoke a few sentences, she felt the girl's body was unusually stiff and couldn't help asking in surprise:

"Are you listening, Sophia?"

"Ah... ah?!"

Sophia's whole body shuddered, almost jumping up from her chair.

She hadn't heard a single word of what Celitia said.

The warm breath brushing across her cheek, the voice entering her ear, and those fingertips gliding across the paper—each touch seemed to be teasing Sophia's heart.

Without realizing it, Sophia's thoughts had drifted far away, inexplicably recalling Margaret's words from the day.

Little lover...

Just thinking of this term made Sophia's heartbeat suddenly accelerate, pounding as if it would jump out of her chest.

If they really could become lovers...

Then could they do things that only lovers could do...?

Sophia's sweet dream hadn't had time to continue before she was startled awake by Celitia's call.

Looking at Celitia's purple-gray eyes full of confusion, Sophia's face gradually turned completely red.

Goddess!

She was the commander, everyone had placed their hopes on her, and Lily had even bet her own future!

Everyone was working hard to find solutions for the upcoming competition, and what was she doing here, letting her mind wander and thinking such nonsense?!

Sophia was so dejected she almost wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

Celitia quietly watched her, and after a long moment, thoughtfully tapped her palm.

She felt she could understand Sophia.

The girl before her wasn't even sixteen yet, but had to shoulder so many people's expectations.

And this was something she wasn't good at at all.

For Sophia, the pressure was really too great.

"Sophia."

Before Sophia could speak, Celitia suddenly spoke up, her tone becoming even more gentle and calm.

"Are you willing to... trust me?"

Not expecting her to suddenly say such a thing, Sophia couldn't help but be stunned: "What do you mean?"

Worried that her words might be ambiguous, Sophia hurriedly added, "Of course I trust you, but why ask this suddenly?"

"If you're willing to trust me, then leave the command of this competition to me." Celitia smiled, "Of course, you'll still be the nominal commander, just leave the arrangements to me."

Sophia was slightly astonished.

She suddenly remembered that the reason Celitia had originally proposed participating in the competition was because this competition was more about testing both sides' strategies.

Looking at the confident radiance blooming on the girl's face, Sophia didn't hesitate for a moment and nodded firmly.

"No problem!"