Chapter 4

Chapter 4

From Cosmic Rascal to Professor.

Episode 4: Contract With An Outer God (2).

My father, Arnold von Reinhardt, had two wives. His first wife and my mother, ‘Reina,’ was the woman he truly loved and married. His second wife, ‘Lejein,’ was a contract marriage for the family’s future and glory.

The girl before me was the child born to the second wife. Ceti von Adelwein Reinhardt, a girl born between the prestigious Adelwein, rulers of the entire northern galaxy, and Reinhardt, the largest medical family in the south. With such a lineage, she was gifted with an array of skills and talents.

“Do you even have a sense of economic state…?” Ceti barged into my room, her silver hair rustling in the light, a clear indication of her noble lineage from the Adelwein family.

“Ceti,” I acknowledged her presence.

“Didn’t I tell you to not call my name? It’s disgusting.” Her unfriendliness was typical of the second external family, with the Adelwein family known for their foul tempers.

“What kind of manners is that to your brother?” I asked.

“Brother? What kind of brother are you? You are just trash.” Ceti clicked her tongue, disgusted.

I understood her contempt. The novel had mentioned the numerous harsh words Adel had thrown at Ceti over time, including calling her a bastard child of a concubine, insulting her mother, and attributing her personality to growing up without a father’s love. It was embarrassing, even though I wasn’t the one who had said those things.

Currently, Ceti and I were worse than strangers. Reminding myself of that, I lifted my head.

“I am asking because I cannot believe it. That much? Really? You actually wasted that much money?” Ceti questioned.

“That is what they say,” I replied.

“Shut up, I am asking Sonia.” Ceti turned to Sonia, unwilling to talk to me directly.

I decided to politely send her off and return to my studies. Apologizing now would only worsen the situation. I would apologize when the time was right.

[‘The God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ likes your scholarly attitude.]

[You have received a donation of 50 Pron!]

The status window updated randomly, catching me off guard. Meanwhile, Sonia and Ceti’s conversation ended, leaving Ceti’s face flushed with anger.

“Crazy bastard,” she glared at me.

“How come you speak just like father does?” I asked.

“A crazy bastard should be called as one. What else would they be called as?” Ceti retorted.

Being transmigrated into the body of a ruffian wasn’t easy. I had read about protagonists overcoming contempt and disregard in web novels, but it seemed like everyone but me had a mentality of steel.

[‘The God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ snickers.]

Ceti stood with her arms crossed, head held high, looking down on me with an arrogant expression. Her golden eyes, sparkling like melted gold, held anger.

“Wasn’t it enough to lose money on gambling? You went and spent millions of credits on entrance test workbooks?” she accused.

“Father said this would be fine,” I replied.

Ceti burst into a mocking laugh. “If you don’t pass into Stellarium, you get kicked out of the family, right?”

“Essentially, yes.” I didn’t bother mentioning the options of paying off the 2 trillion or enlisting in the military to keep the name. Those were paths I wouldn’t take.

“Hmm. Good. Get lost well,” Ceti concluded, assuming I would fail.

Her opinion didn’t matter to me. Now wasn’t the time to improve our relationship either. I resolved to let her words go in one ear and out the other until she exhausted herself and left.

“Miss Ceti,” Sonia suddenly interrupted.

“Please take a look at this.”

“Uh? What is this?” Ceti asked.

“Math workbook that young master Aidel solved a little while back,” Sonia replied.

My face went stiff. Why was Sonia showing her that?

Ceti had returned to the Reinhardt house, only to hear about Aidel’s latest trouble. He had not only blown away a fortune on gambling and received a severe scolding from their father but had also spent a million credits on workbooks for the Stellarium entrance test.

It was absurd and unforgivable to Ceti. Despite being just 15, she was adept in business, assisting her father and generating tens of millions in net profit each month. She had her own share in the Reinhardt family’s total assets.

While she worked hard to earn, her incompetent half-siblings were the ones spending the money. Could such a person even be called a brother? Probably not.

To Ceti, Aidel von Reinhardt was nothing but a trash human, bound by the chains of blood. She didn’t want to deal with him normally, but this time she couldn’t endure it.

“I will kill you!” she thought, planning to end him. Gritting her teeth, she entered the corridor she normally avoided, following the narrow path to Aidel’s room, which emanated a filthy and decadent aura.

Ceti burst in. “You gambling addict bastard!” She began with strong words, but Aidel didn’t even flinch. To deal with the lowest of humans, one had to act like them.

Instead of a curse or punch, Aidel handed her a workbook received from Sonia, the maid android assigned by their father to monitor him. “Watch from the start to end,” he said.

“White Blossom series, huh?” Ceti recognized the prestigious publishing house’s highest-difficulty practical book. “This is somewhat difficult,” she nodded.

“Right. Young master was solving it until a moment back,” Sonia explained.

Ceti burst into a chuckle. “Sonia, I thought you were blunt. Did you learn jokes in this duration?”

“It isn’t a joke, miss. Please take a look inside the book,” Sonia insisted, her serious attitude seemingly in defense of Aidel.

Ceti found it odd. Sonia, as Aidel’s personal maid, would typically discipline him with Muay Thai whenever he did something foolish. Now, she was defending him?

Ceti rolled her eyes and glanced at Aidel, who was sliding his hands down his face. “Miss, isn’t it odd?” Sonia asked.

“What is?”

“Young master was studying. It has been 8 years and 3 months.”

“Sonia, please,” Aidel sighed, flustered, his usual arrogance absent. “I am going to the bathroom.” He left the room with a Korean language mock test in hand.

“Yah, where are you going!” Ceti tried to catch him, but Aidel quickly escaped.

She had come prepared to end him, armed with curses, but the opponent was walking away. “What is with that bastard…?” Aidel wasn’t the type to run from her. Instead, he was the kind to curse her until she cried.

‘Has he really gone insane then…?’ Ceti wondered, unable to find an answer. She figured he must have lost his mind when facing expulsion from the family.

Dismissing it as not a huge deal, Ceti quickly skimmed through the workbook Sonia had handed her. “…!” She couldn’t help but be surprised.

First, the handwriting was neat. Handwriting is said to reflect the mind, with hasty writing implying impatience. By that logic, Aidel’s writing should have been terrible. But now, it was calm, with a clean force evident in the strokes.

Beyond the surface, the solution was concise yet pierced through the core of every problem, reaching the right answer without tolerating chaos. Contrary to expectations, all the problems were solved.

Ceti, called a genius since childhood and having solved numerous workbooks, quickly realized, “This isn’t the solution that appears in the solution manual.”

Nor was it a solution Aidel could find. After all, Aidel was known throughout the galaxy as a fool who needed to relearn everything. Study and Aidel were two words that would never coexist.

“I have graded it, and there was no wrong answer,” Sonia stated.

“Hmm.” Ceti appeared calm on the outside, but inside, she was shocked. There was no reason for Sonia to lie to her.

“Did he perhaps buy a workbook that someone else had solved and copied from it?” Ceti asked.

“It is a new one,” Sonia replied.

“So, how long did he take?” Ceti had taken a month to solve this workbook, finding even five problems a day to be too much, indicating its difficulty.

“3 hours,” Sonia answered.

Aidel had solved it in just 3 hours… “… Uh?” Ceti thought she had misheard. Not three days, but… “3-3 hours?” It was a unit of time she didn’t think was possible.

Occasionally, a genius would solve this kind of workbook in a week’s time. That happened often. However, achieving a 3-hour end was impossible unless one contracted with a Constellation specializing in calculation or Neumann himself reincarnated.

Ceti’s confused heart regained calmness. “Sonya, even a lie should make some sense,” she said.

“It isn’t a lie,” Sonia insisted.

Sonia’s desperate denial implied that she had been compromised, choosing to be generous even as an android with emotions prone to errors.

“If you ever have a hard time, feel free to ask,” Ceti gently tapped Sonia with a soft voice.

“…?” Sonia appeared puzzled initially but then nodded.

“Well, I need to go to the academy, so I cannot stay here any longer. Sonia, you keep an eye on him. Absolutely! Keep eyes on him! Make sure he doesn’t spend any more money. Get it?” Ceti instructed.

“Yes,” Sonia replied.

After giving cautious words to Sonia, Ceti left. “Haa…” she sighed, grabbing her bag and boarding the ferry. ‘Something feels bad,’ she thought.

[‘The God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ feels a strange kinship with your zeal for learning, having set up a study room in the bathroom.]

“… Did she leave?” Aidel returned to his room about an hour later, holding the Korean language test book that had somehow become unraveled.