“Wow, still, the Academy hasn’t changed a bit.”
“...Excuse ?”
After introducing Sasha—who Pierre must have missed dearly—we stepped into the Academy, and a familiar landscape ca into view.
“I’m actually a graduate of the Academy myself. Haha.”
I hadn’t taken on any particular roles back then, nor had I made any close friends. But even so, those mories feel precious now, especially compared to the life where I’d been shut away in a hospital bed.
“So then, the reason you requested to guide you...”
While I was montarily distracted, chewing over those mories, Pierre—who had suddenly grown very quiet—spoke up with an emotion-choked voice.
“Did you just need an excuse to call out?”
“...I like how fast you get to the point, Pierre.”
Judging from that, it seed Pierre, unlike his sister Sasha who lacked a bit of awareness, was quite the sharp one.
“The truth is, I’m already very familiar with the Academy, so I don’t need an attendant or a guide. But even so, the reason I brought Sasha along...”
“...Was to show how she’s been living, wasn’t it.”
“Another correct answer. Haha.”
Murmuring as he looked at Sasha—who was tearing up so much she looked genuinely sorrowful—Pierre clenched his jaw tightly.
“I already knew... that the amount of money Sasha was sending to the family had increased exponentially.”
“Right?”
“I also knew it wasn’t the kind of money you could earn from just nial labor.”
Hearing him say that, hands clenched tightly, it was clear that the family’s situation was quite dire.
“No matter how many tis I asked what she was doing, all I ever got was a letter saying she was doing well.”
“My, how admirable.”
I found myself muttering with a fond expression as I looked at Sasha.
“But unlike the content, those letters were always soaked with tears.”
“Well, Sasha is a bit of a crybaby, isn’t she?”
I tried to lighten the mood with a gentle smile, but—
“Let ask you just one thing.”
Pierre’s face, which had grown even paler as he looked at , now showed signs of strained breathing. Then he asked, firmly:
“What exactly is my sister doing?”
What Sasha usually does, huh. If you don’t count the recent unavoidable secret missions, then... washing dishes, cleaning, and occasionally bringing tea?
Co to think of it, she doesn’t really do all that much for soone who’s supposed to be a personal maid. But that’s only natural. The role itself had been hastily made up to give her a way out of her desperate situation.
“...Do you want to know?”
But explaining that myself would hurt her pride, so I decided to give her the chance to speak for herself.
“Then why don’t you ask her directly?”
With that decision, I nudged the still-sniffling Sasha toward Pierre, then stepped back a little to give them so space and smiled contentedly.
“I’ll give you two so ti alone, so... go ahead.”
I had stepped far enough away that I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but staying too close would’ve made the mont feel insincere.
‘Well, Sasha will probably explain things just fine, right?’
Considering how many plates I’d let her break already, it’d be nice if she included that too.
***
A few hours earlier, before Whitney and redia arrived at the Academy.
“...I apologize. It was my mistake.”
-.......
“It was impossible to block Lady °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° redia’s appointnt as a judge.”
Pierre, an executive mber of the Commoners’ Assembly, stood in the Chairman’s office, sweating coldly as he communicated with soone via crystal orb.
“But Lord Maier... even if the Assembly has unprecedented power, overturning the decisions of the Student Council and the Board is not sothing we can do so easily...”
That figure was none other than redia’s older brother, Maier Embergreen.
Contrary to Whitney’s suspicion that the Emperor had interfered, it was Maier—gritting his teeth in an effort to reclaim his standing within the Black Magic Federation after their previous failure—who had been pulling strings behind the scenes.
—I'm starting to doubt whether you're even worthy of my support.
“L-Lord Maier...”
—You do realize your usefulness is running out, given how the Chairmanship rotates monthly?
Maier had contacted Pierre, who was as desperate as Sasha to support his family, but blocking the now-established redia had proven impossible.
“P-please, just give one more chance! I won’t disappoint you again!”
—Haa...
As Pierre, in a state of growing panic, pleaded for rcy, a long sigh ca through the crystal.
—...Fine. I’ll give you one last chance.
“Th-thank you!”
At last, the voice that had remained silent for so long offered him another opportunity, and Pierre let out a visible sigh of relief.
—Block the appointnt of Whitney Ringaarden as judge.
“...What?”
—I can handle redia, but that guy seriously rubs the wrong way.
Maier’s next order was just as daunting as the last.
—Make sure he doesn’t get involved in the Prodigy Selection Tournant. Understood?
“Uh...”
—Why aren’t you answering?
Now Pierre was being ordered to go against soone appointed directly by the Crown Prince himself—currently the Empire’s top hero. Cold sweat beaded down his back as he fell into a troubled silence.
“He’s not as dangerous as Lady redia, right?”
—This isn’t the ti for you to be making judgnts.
“S-sorry!”
Pierre ducked his head in panic at the frosty scolding that followed his cautious question.
—Well, he’s probably easier to deal with than that damn redia.
“I-I see...”
—But don’t take him lightly either. You need to be careful.
Maier’s mumbled warning left Pierre tilting his head in confusion.
—That bastard... I don’t know what it is, but he’s seriously dangerous.
Even if Maier’s obsession with the selection of the judges was suspicious enough to make one wonder what he planned to pull during the tournant, that last line still didn’t sit right.
‘Why would soone known as the Empire’s hero be considered dangerous?’
Whitney’s image in the papers, aside from his rumored involvent with redia, had been remarkably positive.
‘...Well, whatever. As long as my family’s safe, that’s all that matters.’
At the ti, Pierre had simply brushed it off as petty spite toward soone Maier didn’t like.
He wouldn’t realize the true aning behind those words until a few hours later.
“B-big brother...”
“Sasha...”
Back to the present.
The little sister he’d been so worried about—unsure what dangerous work she’d been doing to support their family—was now...
“I-I’m living a wonderful, happy life at Young Master Whitney’s mansion.”
Holding back tears at Whitney’s command, she awkwardly smiled as she approached him.
“That’s a lie. Then what about those tear stains...”
“Th-the Young Master treats well. He made sign a weird contract called ‘insurance’? And sotis he makes do scary and difficult things, but...”
Pierre had tried to question her, face pale with suspicion, but what Sasha said next left him speechless.
“He gives a lot of money when that happens, so it’s okay.”
After staring blankly at her for a long mont, Pierre swallowed hard and asked in the softest voice he could manage:
“...Sasha. What exactly are those scary and difficult things?”
“T-that’s... um...”
Sasha glanced at her master, then turned her eyes away from Pierre and quietly answered:
“It’s... a secret.”
Washing Lunelle while pretending not to see the slave mark engraved on her. Acting friendly with girls her age to spy on them. Helping disguise a kidnapped imperial saintess, or assisting with shady parties she attended each night...
With only a few months of work behind her, Sasha had already been through a list of strange and unexplainable tasks. So honestly, keeping it vague like that was the best option.
“B-but I’m fine!”
“......”
“I can do anything for my family...!”
Still, it wasn’t hard to guess how that looked through Pierre’s eyes—his expression said it all.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Quit what you’re doing right now and co ho.”
“...What?”
“I’ll find a way to get the money sohow, so please...”
So naturally, Pierre, who had grown desperate, began whispering to Sasha in a pleading tone.
—That would be a problem.
At that mont, a cold voice echoed inside Pierre’s head.
—She’s already seen sothing she shouldn’t have.
The voice froze Pierre in place, mid-sentence. He recognized it as redia’s—she had stepped down from the carriage with Whitney not long ago.
‘...Shit.’
Sure enough, when Pierre looked around, he spotted redia just behind Whitney, her jewel-like eyes glinting coldly with a chilling smile.
‘How the hell did it co to this...’
And with that, Pierre knew—he was now paying the price for having gone up against the Empire’s one and only duchess. His face slowly contorted into despair.
“Y-you don’t have to worry that much, really. The benefits are actually kind of decent.”
“...What?”
“Master said so himself.”
Watching Pierre’s expression, Sasha tried to reassure him with a strangely aningful statent.
“He said that if this mission goes well, I’ll get a bonus? Or sothing like that, and even get to visit the family.”
“Ah...”
“So you don’t have to make such a serious face. Hehe...”
Though Sasha was simply repeating Alfred’s explanation word-for-word, to Pierre, the aning behind those words sounded very different.
“...If you want to protect your sister, then know your place.”
And the mont Pierre muttered that bitter interpretation under his breath—
“How’d your conversation go?”
Whitney, having been fiddling with his crystal orb, strolled toward them with a relaxed smile.
“Prince Kendrick just contacted , told it’s about ti I attend the Board’s eting regarding my appointnt as a judge.”
“......”
“Unlike , however, I imagine your schedule is now completely free, Mr. Pierre?”
He lightly patted Pierre on the shoulder again, then leaned in close with a smile full of warmth and whispered in his ear.
“I do hope you’ll make good use of your ti. Haha...”
“......!”
“Oh, and I’ll send Sasha back once the eting’s over.”
Pierre stood frozen, staring blankly at Whitney for a long ti before finally lowering his head and quietly replying.
“...I’ll be in your care from now on.”
That was the mont Pierre, current chairman of the Commoners’ Assembly for the month, officially switched sides.
“Hmm? Oh, sure. I’ll be in yours, too.”
Had Parsha been watching, her eyes would’ve lit up in delight as she confird her theory that Whitney was indeed planting spies in the Academy. But—
Whitney simply humd a tune, satisfied with yet another good deed, as he turned and walked toward redia.
“Well then, shall we get going, Lady redia?”
redia, watching him with half-lidded eyes, let out a cold smile and muttered.
“You really are terrifying.”
“...Excuse ?”
The Board and the Commoners’ Assembly had both been critical of Whitney’s sudden parachute appointnt, but since she herself was the Chair, she could sowhat handle the Board.
However, if the Assembly, which was under Maier’s influence, started attacking Whitney’s qualifications, things would beco a real pain. And this was a very “Whitney-esque” way of dealing with it, she thought.
“...Which is why I like you even more.”
“......?”
“Don’t play dumb. Eyes front and walk straight.”
And so, the Board eting held shortly afterward proceeded exactly as redia had anticipated—with no interference from the Assembly.
“...Thus, the Board hereby resolves the following.”
Of course, just because the eting went smoothly didn’t an the result was painless.
“Whitney Ringaarden. In order to prove your qualification as a judge, you are to serve as the proctor for tomorrow’s first-year midterms.”
“...Excuse ?”
“If you fail to detect cheating or any unusual activity before the observing professors do, your appointnt as judge will be imdiately revoked. That is all.”
Having attended the eting in a lighthearted mood, Whitney now mumbled with a miserable expression, having just been stabbed in the back by the very person he trusted most—redia.
“...Maybe I should take her gift back.”
But in truth, the resolution redia had passed in her capacity as chairwoman was...
“My lady, the directive from the Imperial Family explicitly stated that Sir Whitney was to be excluded...”
“...Since when did the Academy take orders from outside forces?”
“I-I wouldn’t know.”
She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but for her, this had been one of the rare tis she had done sothing kind for soone without expecting anything in return.
***
The next morning, at the exam hall for the midterms.
“Cecil, I heard you applied to be a candidate for the Prodigy Selection Tournant?”
“...Yeah.”
“So jealous... I’m not even eligible.”
“Think you’ll make it in?”
Cecil, who had walked in with her friends rubbing sleepy eyes, responded in a low voice as they asked their questions with bright eyes.
“...Honestly, I already got advance notice. It’s pretty much confird.”
“No way, really?”
“Well, it does make sense. There’s no one else like you.”
As complints began pouring in, a soft smile crept across her lips.
‘Let him watch from that mansion, scheming away with those slimy little plans of his.’
Feeling good for the first ti in a while, she started mumbling internally with a slight sense of pride.
‘Even you can’t stop from entering the tournant... Hmm?’
That was when a sudden feeling of discomfort made her tilt her head and glance around.
“Am I still half asleep or what...?”
For so reason, she felt the presence of her brother—not safely tucked away in his shady mansion plotting—but sowhere very nearby, sending a chill down her spine.
“Cecil, what’s wrong?”
“Feeling off? The exam’s about to start.”
“No, it’s nothing...”
She shook her head quickly, deciding it was just her imagination, and began to walk again with her concerned friends.
“Our Cecil sure has a lot of friends.”
“...!”
But then, a familiar, crisp voice whispered right next to her ear—freezing her in place.
“Would you mind introducing to them?”
“...What the hell.”
Standing behind her with a smug, sinister smile, arms behind his back, and a proctor’s armband wrapped around his arm—
Was none other than Whitney.
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