CH 123

I criticized Rany, who sat down with a sulky face.

“How is it that you are late on the first day?”

“It’s not like that. The guide made a ‘mistake’.”

Her brief sentence contained anger.

It made me wonder, as I knew she wasn’t a petty person who would be angry just because of a small mistake.

She then added.

“Not only the guide, the administrator also gave me the wrong document, omitting my information. On top of that, I caught him trying to eat my trust money.”

I tilted my head at the words that showed her bad mood.

Young Lady Liz on my side nodded.

“I was also in trouble with the guide. Like taking the long route to the class, or pretending to guide me to the general library but guiding me to the restricted zone.”

“That’s possible?”

The students here were the three or more generations of a noble family with their own territory unless they had special circumstances.

Thus, how could a mere guide play tricks on them?

“It means they’re not the ones who did that.”

Rany spoke in a low voice.

Her eyes scanned on the other students in the class who treated us like a phantom.

“Either they were ordered or bribed.”

“. . .”

“From someone higher than us, or someone with strong influence.”

From people who at least could get rid of the evidence, and had a lot of money to use in case it went wrong and they were sent to prison.

After explaining, she looked at me while grimacing.

“But, has nothing happened to you? Shouldn’t you be the most targeted person?”

“Nothing happened.”

When I shook my head in response to Rany, she asked one by one.

“Playing with the trust money?”

“I didn’t give trust money.”

“Tricks from the guide?”

“I look at the map.”

Suddenly, a gasping sound flew from my side, and when I turned my head, I saw Young Lady Liz covered her mouth.

She looked at me with an admiring gaze.

“You already took account of every situation.”

No.

I only did that for my own convenience.

Even Rany, who knew the situation through my answer alone, also looked at me in surprise and spoke.

“The young ladies who spent money to harass you must be clenching their teeth now. Sometimes, you screw with people’s plans even if you didn’t mean to.”

Wanting to live independently is not a sin, right?

Come to think of it, I noticed that the atmosphere around us was not that happy.

It was only the three of us who talked. Everyone was busy rolling their eyes with either a gloomy or a questioning face.

“Ah. Am I the reason for the bad atmosphere here? Is it normally harmonious?”

Young Lady Liz shook her head.

“Normally, disputes happen more often. Whether it’s the young lady or the young master, everyone fights while laughing.”

“Oh.”

While I was thinking that it would have been difficult for Young Lady Liz to adapt since she came from a distant territory, she added.

“But I think there won’t be any more disturbances. People will band together when they have a common enemy!”

So you’re saying I’m everyone’s common?

Do you need to speak of it with such a bright face?

As if Rany also understood what she meant, she made a strange face.

Fortunately, the professor entered and our conversation ended there.

* * *

“I heard there are new transfer students.”

The strict professor looked quite young.

His hair that was brushed back looked like it was because of his neat personality, not because of following the trend.

The gaze beyond the glasses stayed on me.

“Marianne Miller.”

“Yes.”

“I will call you Marianne. I don’t think the name of the duchy is needed in class.”

“Yes.”

Every time he spoke, a cold wind blew.

“The duty of students who enter the academy is to learn.”

When I slightly lifted my head at the sudden words, he growled while looking at me as if he was showing an unpleasant feeling.

“Not to drag and kick their teachers to the vatican.”

Now I realized where his unpleasant feeling came from.

As I chose to stay silent instead of refuting him, he continued.

“The academy you attended previously became completely devastated with a few words from you, Young Lady, did it not? I won’t tolerate your control of an academy of long history and heritage, even though it was a public academy of low level.”

A few words, hmm?

If he put it that way, then who would judge the qualifications of the professors, who pushed the students they teached, off the cliff with a few words?

I replied to him after reflecting.

“I was righting a wrong. If you don’t wish for me to do something like that again, don’t you just need to teach conscientiously?”

The whispering sounds from my sides turned loud.

The professor, who stared at me as if wanted to claw on me, lowered his gaze to the book.

His voice still leaked his disapproval, but his attitude said he had finished what he had to say.

I opened the textbook without much motivation.

I was much more comfortable with people who openly showed their hostility than people who approached with a friendly face and hidden intentions.

Abigail stared at me, then turned her head.

Her eyes looking at me were a bit different from the former wrath and resentment.

While I was disturbed by her odd gaze, the professor attacked me again.

“It’d be hard to learn history if you don’t know the ancient language. It’s the first day, so you shall interpret the first chapter yourself for me to figure out your level.”

The curious gaze swarmed on me.

Looking at the disordered atmosphere, the professor raised his eyebrows but then focused his gaze on me.

I calmly began to read the first chapter.