Ch.1212. Aftermath

“You’ve come.”

A man with a grave voice tinged with ashen gray stares down at his daughter, who lags far behind his promising sons, with narrowed eyes.

“…Yes.”

The one who answers is the illegitimate daughter of the Count’s family, head bowed and trembling with fear.

Although she undeniably carries the Count’s blood, despite being born from another woman, Sylvia cannot raise her head.

Rather, she shrinks at his single word of greeting, unable to speak properly, and must maintain the utmost respect with her already weakened body, not knowing what words the Count might say next.

If an outsider were to witness this scene, they would ask if these two were not father and daughter but master and servant—a relationship of lord and subordinate.

The Count’s gaze, seated in an authoritative posture, is directed at Sylvia’s crown with clear disdain.

The Count opens his mouth, his tone even more oppressive than usual.

“I’ve already heard the news. It seems you failed to handle this matter properly.”

Sylvia cannot speak as she hasn’t been given permission to do so.

Until the Count finishes speaking, Sylvia must wait without breaking her posture.

“This is unlike you. Explain what happened.”

Now that he has asked a question, Sylvia finally has the opportunity to speak.

Adjusting her uncomfortable posture as best she can and straightening her back rigidly, she must maintain a mature tone so as not to upset the Count’s mood.

This was the etiquette and attitude that the illegitimate daughter of the Count’s family had been taught to adopt.

However, even with permission to speak, there was a brief silence because she wasn’t sure what words to offer.

“I apologize. If you would give me another chance to ensure this doesn’t happen again…”

“Are you asking me for a second chance, Sylvia?”

Sylvia’s body flinches at the Count’s angry words.

Having failed to properly complete her assigned task, an appropriate punishment would surely follow.

Having upset the Count’s mood for the first time, Sylvia couldn’t help but feel desperate.

“I-I will succeed this time! Please give me a chance to make amends!”

She had always done her utmost to please the Count and fulfill her duties to avoid being cast out.

Even her enrollment in the Academy was under orders to elevate the Count’s family prestige.

However, compared to the two legitimate sons, Sylvia’s magical talent was noticeably inferior, causing the Count to click his tongue and abandon his expectations.

The Kutelli Count’s family was the epitome of aristocratic authority; anyone who became useless was cast aside, regardless of who they were.

Not even his own children were exceptions. Some of his children had already been expelled, with only the two legitimate sons and a few other family members remaining.

‘After everything I’ve been through… I can’t be cast out…!’

Sylvia had desperately tried to earn the Count’s trust, mechanically completing every task assigned to her in order to survive.

A noble expelled from their family instantly reverts to commoner status and can no longer enjoy their previous lifestyle.

Moreover, being pointed at as a disgraced noble and treated worse than commoners meant that expulsion was tantamount to death for Sylvia.

Treated worse than even fallen nobility, becoming gossip fodder for both commoners and nobles, surrounded by enemies with no backing—the end for the expelled usually leads to death. Even if the body survives, the mind rarely does.

Therefore, her plea for consideration was a final struggle to escape the death sentence of expulsion.

A glimmer of hope appeared for Sylvia. Fortunately, the Count showed leniency for the first time.

“Very well. Everyone can make a mistake once. Handle it properly this time.”

“Yes, yes…!”

“However, I will not tolerate a second failure.”

But in exchange for this small mercy, there would be no further chances.

Sylvia had no other option but to subdue Junon.

***

The office is always a place where work accumulates with each visit.

I had always known that being assigned an office implied “all tasks will be entrusted to you,” but…

I frown every time I look at the piles of documents requiring verification, review items, and the academy’s policies.

“Is this how the vice principal and professors have been running the academy?”

Professor Muniher pushed back his hair and leaned his aching head against the chair, staring at the insurmountable pile of documents.

He had successfully ousted the figurehead vice principal by presenting evidence provided by Ophelia, but examining how they had been handling affairs only made him sigh.

“This is just… mountains of things to fix, no matter how much I look.”

In fact, it’s questionable whether it’s even possible to correct this complex and contradictory system.

Although he had briefly held a professorship at Hardia in the past, he had since retired to focus solely on research.

How could they ask someone dedicated to scholarship and research to take up a professorship again? It seemed absurd.

But he could understand why they had urgently requested his help.

The established rules were mere facades, major flaws had developed in the academy’s educational process, and the issue had spread into a social problem that threatened to shake the very foundation upon which the duchy had established the academy.

“This is what happens when corrupt individuals seize and wield power.”

He hadn’t even reviewed half of the documents yet.

Despite Professor Jake and several others with favorable positions toward the duchy having sorted through them, the problems remained endless.

Even after considering various approaches, there seemed to be no elegant solution to break through the conflict between the current academy policies and duchy law.

That left only one answer.

“I’ll have to overturn everything completely.”

There was no option but to take drastic measures.

Such an opinion would face fierce opposition even if the Emperor of Artena Empire personally intervened, but unless someone manually unpicked the wrongly sewn threads and restitched them, the fabric that was Lebrant Academy would never be properly mended.

But if the incorrectly sewn seams weren’t boldly cut and resewn, even the remaining cloth would cease to function properly.

Professor Muniher decisively organized the documents in sequence and rose from his chair to report to the Grand Duke.

At that moment—

-Knock knock.

“Um, I came to discuss something with the vice principal—”

This was originally the office of the vice principal who had been neglecting or mishandling the academy’s major issues.

Therefore, there could only be one reason why someone would knock and enter.

“Excuse me… Eh?!”

As the office door opened, the face of a once-familiar niece appeared before Professor Muniher’s eyes.

“It’s been a while, Renias.”

“Uncle Muniher, why are you here????”

The twin daughter of his friend who had once saved his life and his wife had grown into a mature young lady, no longer a child.

***

Sip, sip.

Two cups of tea were steeped as the two people sitting on the sofa decided to catch up after a long time.

“You don’t seem to have changed much since then. Are you eating properly these days?”

“Ugh. You nagged me so much about not being picky that I still clean my plate, you know? Don’t you see how much taller I’ve grown!”

“Heh, at this rate, when will you ever surpass my height? When was it that you said, ‘I’ll catch up to Uncle’s height, just you wait!’?”

“Oh, come on. That was something I said when I didn’t know any better as a child. Besides, my height is above average, you know.”

“Haha. Alright, I’ll stop.”

Renias puffed her cheeks at Professor Muniher, who was teasing her after their long-awaited reunion.

Still, she had grown into such a mature young lady. Professor Muniher, who had watched Renias for a long time, was genuinely happy and thought that the others should see her like this too, as he took another sip of tea.

“More importantly, I came here for something really important.”

The time for fun and chatter had been sufficient.

In fact, Muniher had also been wondering why Renias had come to the office.

“The vice principal has been nowhere to be found for the past few days, so I couldn’t visit. Do you know where he is? I have something to tell him.”

Unfortunately, the vice principal Renias was looking for had been fired and transferred to the imperial underground prison.

It might be too shocking for the still-innocent Renias to hear that he was a man who neither handled his duties properly nor refrained from embezzlement.

“The vice principal will soon be replaced by me. He decided to retire.”

“Hmm… I see…”

“If you need to discuss something, you can tell me. Of course, you’ll have to call me Professor now, not Uncle.”

Renias fell into thought for a moment, then spoke with an expression she had never shown before.

“Do you know… that there’s discrimination between classes at Lebrant Academy?”

It was a story about the light and shadow of the academy, including internal affairs between students that even Princess Ophelia had not been able to identify and report.

Information that should have been revealed after the imperial delegation completed their investigation and after some time had passed was being delivered one step ahead.

This was because Junon had met Renias and guided her to witness the dark side of the academy at the entrance to the banquet hall.