Chap 44-Now that it’s come to this

 

After that dangerous time in the storage room, we finally managed to get dressed.

I could still faintly feel the sensation of the collar around my neck, but I tried to ignore it.

“Haa… Stop with the jokes, and let’s go out and check the situation.”

Bella, her face still slightly flushed, said with a stern expression.

She didn’t seem to be completely relieved about me, but she seemed a little calmer than before.

“Okay.”

I nodded without complaint.

This was no time for jokes.

The information that the families were targeting me was a serious problem, and I needed to quickly figure out how to deal with it now that Master was not here.

We opened the door to Bella’s room and stepped out side by side.

The hallway was deserted as it was late evening, but there was an unusual tension in the air.

As soon as we entered the central hallway of the academy’s main building, an unexpected figure blocked our path.

A middle-aged man with a pleasant face.

A man who always wore a friendly smile on his slightly protruding belly.

It was the vice-principal of the academy.

‘Why is that guy here?’

When I was at the height of my power as Lady Yeon Bennet, he was the type to try to get on my good side, often showing his face and acting friendly.

But since Serena’s announcement, I hadn’t encountered him even once.

He had been completely ignoring me, treating me like I didn’t exist, but now he was blocking me, who was with Bella, at this hour.

I had a bad feeling.

The vice-principal’s face was devoid of his usual friendly smile, replaced by a stiff, businesslike expression.

He looked back and forth between Bella and me, then fixed his gaze on me and opened his mouth.

“Yeon Bennet.”

He called my name in a rather stiff voice.

“And Professor Bella Staren is with you.”

“What’s going on?”

Bella stepped forward and asked first.

“The headmaster is looking for Yeon Bennet.”

The vice-principal said to me.

“You’ll need to come to the headmaster’s office for a moment.”

‘The headmaster?’

The headmaster wants to see me?

And he sent the vice-principal himself?

I had an idea why, but I felt like the situation was unfolding faster than I had anticipated.

“Do I have to go alone?”

When I asked, the vice-principal glanced at Bella for a moment and nodded.

“Professor Bella…”

“I’ll go with her.”

Bella interrupted the vice-principal and said firmly.

The vice-principal seemed momentarily flustered, but he reluctantly nodded.

“I understand. Then let’s go together.”

We followed the vice-principal to the headmaster’s office.

The door to the headmaster’s office was tightly closed.

When the vice-principal knocked and entered, I could see the headmaster sitting behind a massive desk.

The atmosphere seemed quite chaotic.

He must have been overwhelmed since Master was leaving.

But the fact that he called me in the midst of all this…

He took his eyes off the mountain of documents and stared at us coldly.

His gaze was cold and calculating, completely different from his gentle appearance.

“Sit.”

The headmaster said briefly and turned his gaze back to the documents.

Bella and I sat in the chairs in front of him without a word.

The vice-principal stood quietly behind us.

For a long time, the only sound was the rustling of papers.

As if he was deliberately making us wait.

Finally, the headmaster put down the documents and opened his mouth.

His voice was smooth, as if oiled, but the content was not.

“Yeon Bennet. I have something to tell you.”

He looked straight at me and said.

“Currently, three families outside the academy are strongly demanding your extradition. The Medici, the Rapelasia, and your own Bennet family.”

As expected.

Bella was right.

The headmaster paused for a moment, as if gauging my reaction.

But I showed no change in expression.

“In principle, the academy has a duty to protect its students. Protecting students from undue external pressure is one of the reasons for the academy’s existence.”

His voice was as stiff as if he were reading from a textbook.

“However…”

The headmaster paused for a moment. And the next moment, the words that came out of his mouth were as cold as ice.

“We have found no reason to protect you.”

“Headmaster!”

Bella, sitting next to me, shouted in anger, but the headmaster stopped her with a gesture.

The headmaster continued without paying attention.

His eyes were filled with blatant contempt and annoyance.

“Since you entered the academy, you have only caused trouble. Your grades are at the bottom, your relationships with your classmates are the worst, and you have even been involved in unsavory incidents related to Contamination. Frankly, a student like you is a disgrace to the academy. Is there any reason for us to stand up to the three great families for your sake?”

He raised the corners of his mouth in a sneer.

“If headmaster Dorothy were here, it might be different, but she is currently away. Isn’t that so?”

I said nothing.

It was the reaction I expected.

The headmaster nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“Nevertheless, the academy has decided to give you a special choice.”

“A choice… you say?”

I asked quietly.

“Yes.”

The headmaster leaned back in his chair and said.

“We will let you choose which of the three families you want to go to. Now, which family would you like? The Medici? The Rapelasia? Or… the Bennet family, which you are at least familiar with?”

His tone was as light and indifferent as if he were choosing an item at a market.

He regarded the problem of my life as nothing more than getting rid of troublesome trash.

It was the moment when Bella was about to open her mouth to refute the headmaster’s hypocritical proposal once again.

Bang!

The door to the headmaster’s office was violently opened, and an unexpected figure burst in.

It was Emilia Gale, her sky-blue hair flying and her face flushed red with anger.

She glared coldly at the headmaster and vice-principal and shouted.

“What is the meaning of this, Headmaster! You can’t do this!”

The headmaster couldn’t hide his embarrassment at Emilia’s sudden intrusion.

“P, Professor Emilia? What is this rude behavior!”

“Rude?”

Emilia laughed as if she was dumbfounded.

“How long has it been since the Grand Elder left Terra, and you are trying to throw away the values she has protected all her life like old shoes! Isn’t it our duty to protect the students of the academy! And yet you are succumbing to the pressure of the families and trying to sell off a student!”

Her voice was trembling with anger.

“T, that’s because Yeon Bennet…”

The headmaster tried to make excuses, but Emilia cut him off as if she had no intention of listening.

“It’s unacceptable for any reason! If the Grand Elder finds out…”

‘I thought she hated me a lot…?’

I felt strange seeing Professor Emilia’s agitated appearance.

Her opposition to the headmaster’s decision could be because she valued the academy’s principles.

But her being so actively involved was unexpected.

Now, all of a sudden?

Unlike when she encountered me in front of the chairwoman’s office a few days ago, she was now acting as if she was trying to protect me.

What kind of change of heart could she have had?

Or is there another ulterior motive?

I was confused because I couldn’t understand her true feelings.

“It’s okay, Professor Emilia.”

At that moment, I quietly opened my mouth.

Emilia’s gaze turned to me.

Her eyes…

Strangely, they were filled with worry and pity.

“I understand, Headmaster.”

I said, looking at the headmaster.

“I’ll go.”

“Yeon!”

Bella and Emilia called me at the same time, but I shook my head.

“But I have a condition.”

I said, staring straight at the headmaster.

“I’ll go after the midterm exams. Please let me stay at the academy until then.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that.”

A low, calm voice, but with a chilling aura, echoed from outside the headmaster’s office door.

Along with the voice, powerful and refined magical power began to compress the space.

Creak-

The door to the headmaster’s office opened silently, and a woman slowly entered.

White hair flowed calmly below her shoulders, and deep, clear purple eyes quietly scanned everyone in the room.

Her appearance was strikingly similar to Elise, but unlike Elise’s timidity, she exuded an unapproachable dignity and coolness.

However, upon closer inspection, her eyes were slightly bloodshot, and beneath her perfectly managed expression, there seemed to be deep fatigue and anxiety hidden.

Reizel Rapelasia.

The current head of the Rapelasia family, and the duchess who leads the wealthiest family in Terra.

‘I didn’t expect that woman to come here herself.’

I couldn’t hide my surprise inwardly.

For the head of a ducal family to personally visit the academy headmaster’s office.

It was hard to imagine unless it was a very important matter.

‘Sera… that child should still be okay in the story, right?’

Duchess Reizel didn’t even glance at the headmaster and walked straight towards me.

And then, as if it were natural, she declared.

“We will take this child. Right now.”

Her voice was soft, but it contained a firm will that would not allow refusal.

“Wait a minute, Duchess! That’s not possible!”

Bella immediately protested and stood up.

“Even if you are a duchess, you cannot take a student from the academy without permission!”

Emilia also protested in a sharp voice.

In response to the two’s protests, Duchess Reizel’s purple eyes shone coldly.

The soft atmosphere disappeared without a trace, and the surrounding air turned as cold as ice.

She slowly looked back at Bella and Emilia.

“…Dare.”

Her voice, uttered in a low murmur, even felt murderous.

Even Bella and Emilia momentarily swallowed their breaths at the overwhelming pressure emanating from the head of the ducal family.

The headmaster and vice-principal were already pale.

The situation instantly became filled with a touch-and-go tension.

It seemed that the Rapelasia duchess was determined to take me away today, no matter what it took.

Author’s words (Author’s afterword)

Thank you for reading!