Chapter 47
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: 11. Guidance
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I'd successfully lured Ceres to the academy.
Now all that was left was getting Ella enrolled there.
The enrollment timing would depend on when Ceres started, but that was no issue.
I could just bribe an academy staff member or hijack their body to sneak in and slip Ella onto the application when Ceres signed up.
In the end, it all came down to Ella's own abilities.
But that was where the problem arose.
Ella was an orphan who hadn't received any basic education.
The academy was akin to a university from my past life.
Someone without even elementary schooling couldn't dream of attending lectures, let alone getting in.
So I assigned her a private tutor.
Fortunately for Ella, there were plenty of tutors available to prepare her for the academy.
"You want to... send this child to the academy?"
The tutor scratched his head.
This was right after he'd heard about Ella's academic level.
"Yes. I want to get her in there somehow."
"But starting from the basics...?"
"They say the dullest kids catch up the fastest."
Ella's face soured as she listened from the side.
"...Well, alright. I'll give it a shot, but honestly, the odds are..."
"If you get it, then do it."
"..."
The tutor had laid the groundwork for an excuse, but I brushed it off.
In my eyes, the tutor had more than enough skill.
All that remained was Ella's own determination. If she had the will to learn, she could master everything in time.
Publicly, that was the request I made. But away from Ella's eyes, I added another condition.
Report back to me on her interests, behaviors, habits, and values gleaned from your conversations.
The tutor gave me a look like I was some weirdo for not figuring that out myself.
But what could he do? He was just hired help.
With no other choice, the tutor nodded.
When the tutor first came to the house, Ella thought about killing him.
No, "thought about killing" was a bit too strong.
She just suspected he might be another watchdog sent by that lunatic.
It was only natural.
That bastard had even betrayed the broker who'd been helping her (his name was Kyle, she thought) just because it seemed amusing.
Ever since that incident, Ella had grown wary of every new face.
But the tutor turned out to be more harmless than expected.
"Alright, let's start with fractions today. Ella, suppose you have one apple. If you split it in two—"
"I know that stuff. Why do I have to learn it?"
"Uh, because it shows up on the exam?"
"..."
Even during exchanges like that, Ella scrutinized every finger on the tutor.
Had he ever gripped a sword? Cast a spell?
But the tutor's hands were utterly ordinary.
Knuckles swollen like a housewife's, a pen mark indented on his ring finger. Hands far removed from murder.
His mannerisms didn't resemble that bastard's at all either.
Still, Ella didn't let her guard down for weeks.
She even developed the habit of sleeping with one eye open.
But as time passed, she became convinced the tutor was just an ordinary woman earning a paycheck.
"Ella, want to try solving this problem?"
"..."
At first, she did it just because she was told to.
That lunatic wanted her to go to the academy. Her own feelings didn't matter anyway.
But strangely, matching numbers, reading sentences, and hearing stories of historical figures made time fly.
"...And so the knight won the duel against the enemy who'd destroyed his family. The moment he pierced the foe's heart with his sword, he said, 'This is the end of my vengeance.'"
Ella asked without thinking.
"And then?"
"And then? That's it. Vengeance ends there. The enemy died, and the knight triumphed. But..."
The tutor closed the book and continued.
"After that, the knight couldn't do anything. He'd prepared nothing to fill his life beyond revenge. The records say he lived on victorious, but utterly empty."
Ella felt her grip tighten on the pen.
"...What an idiot."
"Hm?"
"Just... obsessing over revenge like that. That knight was a fool."
The tutor smiled quietly.
"Yeah. You could see it that way."
That night, Ella couldn't sleep.
The knight's story swirled in her head. He'd succeeded in revenge but lived empty afterward.
And through more stories, history, and various subjects, she felt a new sensation.
A feeling different from swinging a sword. Something filling her up.
'Why... is this fun?'
When the tutor said, "That's all for today's lesson," Ella felt a twinge of regret.
The moment she realized that, chills ran down her spine.
'Why me?'
She, who had to avenge herself against that lunatic, was enjoying the studying he'd ordered.
That night, for the first time truly aware of her own emotions, Ella lay awake.
A torrent of thoughts and turmoil made her head spin.
What was that bastard thinking? What scheme was he plotting?
When they first met, he'd used her.
He'd lied about saving her brother, but the brother died anyway, and the bastard mocked her by impersonating him.
Even when she'd vowed revenge, he'd stuck around pretending to help.
And yet...
The tutor. Academy enrollment.
'What does any of this have to do with my revenge?'
The more she thought, the stranger it seemed.
From promising to help with revenge to actually providing education, food, and shelter.
She'd accepted sword training as a tool for revenge.
But how should she interpret this?
A question the tutor had tossed out days ago resurfaced.
[What do you want to be when you grow up?]
She hadn't been able to answer easily then.
Looking back, she'd never imagined life after revenge.
She might have even thought dying afterward was fine.
But now?
What would she learn at the academy? Who would she meet? What kind of girl was this Ceres?
Maybe the path beyond revenge that he'd mentioned was...
'No. Snap out of it.'
Ella shook her head.
She couldn't trust him. He was a liar.
He'd deceived her by pretending to be her brother. That fact wouldn't change.
But...
On the other hand, he'd done so much for her.
He hadn't forced anything or begged for forgiveness.
He'd just kept her around, given her tasks, spouted odd things now and then, and vanished and reappeared.
Ella tried to view it objectively.
'He did use me. For his amusement.'
Her thoughts continued.
'But beyond that... nothing actually harmful.'
On the contrary, only help.
'What is this?'
Ella was confused.
He was clearly the target of her revenge, yet she'd received too much from him.
She should hate him, but things unexplained by hate kept piling up.
No, was he really someone to hate?
Doubt crept into the core of it.
A few days later, Ella asked the tutor.
"When people... get older, do things that used to make them mad... start feeling less mad?"
The tutor pondered briefly before answering.
"Well... I think so. Things I couldn't forgive when I was young don't seem so grave now, looking back."
"..."
"But some grudges last a lifetime. It varies by person, right?"
Her thirst for revenge remained.
Thinking of him impersonating her brother still made her blood boil.
But reflecting now, the old impatience had faded.
Objectively, it wasn't strange.
He'd only deceived her; her brother's death was her own fault.
She'd ignored that until now.
"He deceived me and used me." She'd fixated on that one fact.
'...What if it hadn't been him?'
The conclusion was simple.
She would have died.
Tormented by guilt over her brother, doing nothing, just dying like that.
Paradoxically, the reason she'd survived this long was him.
'I can't understand it. Why?'
Emotionally, she rebelled, but rationally, it made sense.
'...That man practically saved my life.'
Ella grew more bewildered.
She didn't even know what she wanted anymore.
As lessons continued, she obsessed over this issue.
Once she realized her vengeful impulse stemmed from emotional error, maintaining the same attitude became impossible.
So Ella asked the tutor again.
Even knowing the tutor was placed by that man, sensing this question would reach his ears.
"If someone did something that made you emotionally angry at the time, but looking back, it ended up helping... what should you do?"