Chapter 71: CH 70

“You’re in your third year already, right?”

“Yeah.”

Paul tapped his chin for a moment, then he continued speaking.

“Starting from year 3, cultural subjects other than the mandatory ones will be replaced by internship courses.”

“…Really?”

“Yup. That’s why Fran only comes to school about two days a week.”

“Ah, so that’s why?”

No wonder she couldn’t find him anywhere in the academy no matter how much she looked.

‘I thought he was just avoiding me again.’

“Reina, you’re really not interested in studying, are you?”

Under normal circumstances, Reina’s eyes would have lit up with flames, but she just waved one hand roughly and focused on what she’s curious about.

“Uh-huh, yup, I’m an idiot. So, tell me, tell me. Where should I apply for an internship? Can anyone apply? Is there, like, a grade requirement?”

Bursting with excitement now, Reina asked one burning question after another without taking a breath in between. At this, Paul chuckled a little.

“Yeah, there’s no grade requirement, you just need to keep your attendance up. It’s true that you didn’t really study, Reina, but at the very least, you attended your classes regularly.”

“Exactly!”

Even though she was dead-last in her class, she never missed any of her lessons. Well, all she did was doze off and sleep shamelessly, but nevertheless! She attended!

“Then you’ll be fine. The Empire encourages people to work in public office anyway, that’s why they usually allow everyone who wants to enter an internship at any of the national institutions. Ah, of course, you’ll need to get permission from the person in charge of the department first.”

“Oh…!”

Even if the sky were to collapse, she found a hole she could weasel her way through! Reina quickly grabbed Paul’s hand and pushed the plates aside.

“Then, can I skip all my classes in the academy and just focus on my internship?”

If that’s possible, then she could block any and all possibilities of running into Lehman!”

“You still have to attend your required classes though. With your cultural subjects though, I guess you can skip them?”

“Wow…”

She found it. Her life jacket.

“I love you, Paul. I love you from the bottom of my heart.”

You’re my savior.

* * *

After she and Paul talked a bit more about the internship system, she decided to head towards the academy’s quadrangle to pass the time before her next class would start.

“Haa… What should I do until the next class?”

Walking while swinging her arms back and forth, Reina suddenly noticed that there was a crowd some distance ahead of them.

“Huh? Is there an event?”

It’s not usually the time that more people start going out here, but in front of the central fountain, there were many academy students gathered.

But then.

“Huh? Reina’s over there.”

“Heck… Speak of the devil.”

Soon after the unflattering line was uttered, cold gazes turned directly towards Reina.

Flinching unconsciously, she stopped walking.

“What… What the. What’s wrong with everyone’s expressions?’

Just one glance made it apparent that they were entirely livid, as if they couldn’t stand looking at the villain of the century.

“Reina, can I talk to you for a second?”

Like a signal, the crowd parted like the red sea when Douglas’ grim voice rang out. And there, amidst the crowd… was Lehman, so obviously trembling. His face was as white as a sheet.

‘Ha… What now.’

As soon as a wave of anxiety washed over her, people started surrounding them in a circle, and at the center were Douglas, Lehman and Reina.

“Reina. Just how far will you go?”

“What?”

The suddenness of the situation reminded her of the sound of someone randomly knocking at her bedroom window. Or perhaps, it’s as if you’re just walking down the street, eating a steamed bun while minding your business, but then someone would just walk up to you and start nagging you without any warning.

“You really can’t do this, Reina Chantra.”

“Douglas… I’m fine.”

“What do you mean, you’re fine?”

Douglas raised his voice, which quivered with anger when he saw how Lehman was trembling.

“Reina, you’ve clearly crossed the line here. Are you seriously unaware that there’s a limit to your actions? Do you think you’ll be forgiven every single time?”

Now hold up. Just tell it straight then, what exactly was the line that she crossed, and what exactly was the limit?

“Tell me then. What in the world did I do?”

Reina enunciated her rebuttal clearly. Douglas growled even more as he wrapped a blanket around Lehman, who was shaking from the cold.

“You locked Lehman in a warehouse.”

A warehouse? There’s a warehouse inside the academy?

“For several hours. On this cold day, too.”

Reina didn’t even know there’s a warehouse inside the academy. So how then could she have locked Lehman in said warehouse?

“I think you’re misunderstanding something here—”

“Someone saw you walking away from that warehouse. Drop the act.”

“……”

This was seriously driving her completely mad.

Right then, murmurs started here and there amongst the onlookers. Reina could hear them clearly.

“But did Reina really do that?”

“Yeah. I heard that Lehman’s been locked up since this morning in that warehouse, and someone saw Reina walk away from there.”

“Hoh… Reina’s a different kind of amazing, too. No matter how much she hates the other person, how could she lock someone in a warehouse?”

Those who were curious about what’s going on decided to listen in a little more.

“But how did she know that Lehman’s in charge of cleaning the warehouse this morning?”

“Can’t the members of the nine households get ahold of the regular cleaning schedule?”

“Indeed…”

That one reply of ‘indeed’ was bullcrap. The Imperial Academy’s chancellor was also dragonfolk, so there’s no way that such an act of corruption was possible.

And most of all, the members of the nine households, including Reina, were excluded from cleaning duties in the academy in the first place.

But they’re telling her that she went out of her way to find out which cleaning area Lehman’s in charge of?

“Tsk, tsk… The time she’s spending on acting out on her jealousy is better spent on reading books instead.”

Was it because Douglas was antagonizing her so openly like this? Or perhaps, because Lehman was ‘everyone’s beloved’?

Reina was utterly speechless. So many people, who otherwise wouldn’t have talked bad about her, were now cursing her out in the open.

“Haha…”

Despondent laughter left through her lips.

Was it out of anger? No. Out of despair then? Probably not that either.

“Just what kind of situation is this even…”

This is just absurd.

As she muttered under her breath, those who surrounded her in a circle did not hear what she just said.

But they all glared at her with such hostility.

‘Haa… There’s literally nothing that could be done about this.’

This was yet another ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ type of situation. It would be faster to just read the scriptures to a bull, even if it wouldn’t be able to understand the words.

‘So, if I’m going to get cursed at anyway, I might as well just say what I need to say, and then get cursed at.’