Whispers Around
Stories Around
Jerad's tyranny didn't end with the first class.
The next class, the afternoon class, and all the classes today, he sat next to me and touched my chest.
It was no different during class, and the surrounding students were busy watching my breasts being pressed and distorted by Jerad's fingers.
Thus, today's last class ended, and at the same time, I was able to be freed from Jerad's hand.
"It's a shame, but I have an appointment today, so I'll be leaving first."
"I'm not sad at all, so disappear as soon as possible."
As Jerad left the classroom, I was suddenly the only one left here.
Being left alone in this vast, silent space, I felt strange.
It was as if I had been abandoned here all by myself.
Of course, if I were to open that door and go out right now, there would be many people I could talk to, but I didn't particularly want to go out and talk to anyone.
Not that there's anyone to talk about daily life with anyway.
Still, as Jerad said, it was extremely useful that other men weren't bothering me.
If Jerad hadn't engaged in this perverted behavior, one of the men who had been looking at me today would surely have come to ask me to sleep with him.
You might argue that this is an overly paranoid imagination, but I saw it clearly.
The way some men's eyes had completely changed after the day I sparred with Jerad.
It was as if I could see their resolve right before they were about to take action.
"Ugh..."
I'm a little tired.
Is it because I've expended too much Mental Power?
Well, between listening to class, and constantly trying to keep my mind from wandering when my chest was being touched despite not feeling good, I was much more tired than usual today.
I shouldn't sleep in the classroom.
But it's an empty classroom with no next class, and it's not even time for dinner yet.
30 minutes? Or should I just close my eyes for an hour?
In the end, I couldn't shake off the drowsiness that was approaching, so I lay down and slowly, very slowly, began to fall asleep.
##
"It's been a long time, Yuriana?"
"Indeed, how long has it been, Morian?"
A small cafe in The Capital.
This place was famous for being the closest and having the best atmosphere near the Magic Academy, making it one of the cafes frequently used by many students.
And the people who met here were both acquaintances of Lunia.
-Slurp.
"How's the progress? Can I hope for some good news?"
"Hehe, at least there's no bad news yet."
".........That's a relief."
"Of course, there's no good news yet either."
Yuriana envied Morian, who spoke with such confidence.
And for good reason, Morian, despite being a woman, was aiming for the position of head of the Carolyn family.
Usually, the position of family head is passed down to a male who can inherit the line, whether it's the eldest son or the second son.
However, even though Morian had a younger brother among her family members, she boldly declared to her father and mother, the heads of the Carolyn family, that she would fairly compete with her younger brother for the position of family head.
Of course, the usual reaction in that era was, "How dare a woman try to become the head of a family?" and it was fortunate if she wasn't stoned.
This world was a fantasy world set in the Middle Ages, so perhaps it was a natural reaction.
But Morian was striving to become the head of the Carolyn family despite knowing that, and Yuriana wondered if she herself could ever say such a thing to her parents. For her, it was a choice she couldn't even dare to imagine.
Seeing Morian like that, Yuriana couldn't help but compare herself to her; unlike herself, who endlessly waited for a marriage partner as if being sold off by her family, Morian was determined to decide her own fate.
As such, she envied Morian, and she couldn't make the same choice as Morian to take responsibility for her family.
Because the responsibility of a family head meant having the resolve to cast people aside when necessary, and perhaps even having to cast aside family members.
She probably could never make such a decision.
"Hoo..."
"You're sighing a lot today. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Showing such a demeanor to Morian, who had gone out of her way to spend time chatting with her, was truly inexcusable.
"It's alright. More than that, I'd like to hear what's bothering you, wouldn't I? I haven't been able to go to the Magic Academy for a while, so I want to hear news from the academy. And while we're at it, I'd like to hear about Lunia too."
"Ah, um..."
I had forgotten.
Lunia and Morian had already known each other even before Lunia became close with her, hadn't they?
She didn't know how the two had met, as both were reluctant to talk about it, but it was thanks to Morian that she and Lunia had become close in the first place.
Should I tell her, or should I hide it?
Was it right to tell Morian, who was already busy with her family head training, about the misunderstanding between herself and Lunia, and what Lunia was currently enduring from Young Master Reinhardt?
She was reluctant to speak, fearing she might unnecessarily worry Morian.
"Ugh..."
Still, she was too much of a coward to lie and deal with the consequences.
"Actually, you see..."
Yuriana decided to only talk about what had happened to her, excluding the story involving Young Master Reinhardt.
##
"What?! You fought with Lunia?"
"No, it's not that, we didn't fight... it was just one-sidedly..."
Yuriana couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.
Honestly, while Lunia was the one who first trampled on her trust, her own response of not even trying to talk or meet with Lunia afterward was not entirely blameless either.
"So Lunia did it first, huh..."
Perhaps because she had omitted the sparring with Young Master Reinhardt and the incident in the classroom during the first morning class, Morian began to ponder quite carefully.
She muttered, 'Lunia isn't the kind of girl to do that...'
For now, leaving Morian to her thoughts, she began to finish her now cold black tea.
And just as she was almost finished with the black tea in her cup, Morian, having finished her pondering, opened her mouth.
".........Yuriana, you're hiding something from me, aren't you?"
.........How she knew, it was an uncanny deduction.
##
"No, no more... Jerad-nim..."
Jerad, who had left the classroom before Lunia, immediately headed towards the Vice-Principal's office.
This was the appointment he had today.
Jerad looked at the Vice-Principal bowing subserviently right in front of him.
It seemed he wasn't lying.
But it was also true that he needed money.
Perhaps he had been too wasteful until now.
But he couldn't help it.
Because to forcibly have his way with commoners and then silence those women and their families, it inevitably required a certain amount of money.
If money didn't work, then conversely, hiring thugs with money to threaten and intimidate their families usually made them understand.
Of course, hiring thugs also costs money, so that's another expense in itself.
"...Tsk."
In the end, no matter what he did, he needed money. The important thing was that the allowance or dignity maintenance fees he received from his family were all recorded in the ledger, so he couldn't use that money.
Therefore, the money he had used so far was money that couldn't be traced in the ledger, meaning it wasn't recorded in the family's accounts.
The source of that money was the Vice-Principal of the Magic Academy, right in front of him.
Of course, he wasn't directly extorting the Vice-Principal's personal funds.
"I understand for now."
"Yes, yes-sir."
It was two years ago.
By chance, he had the opportunity to look through various ledgers at the Reinhardt main residence.
After all, the Magic Academy was strictly operated by the Reinhardt family.
Soon after, he himself enrolled in that Magic Academy, and by chance, he also saw the Magic Academy's ledger.
However, the amounts recorded in the Magic Academy's ledger were different from those he had seen in the family's main residence ledger at that time.
So, feeling something amiss, he began to investigate on his own without informing the family.
After about two to three months of investigation, it turned out that none other than the Vice-Principal of the Magic Academy—the man right in front of him—had been embezzling the budget all this time.
He used that as leverage to blackmail the Vice-Principal, and thus made a 'deal' with him.
In exchange for keeping silent about the embezzlement, the condition was that more than half of the money to be embezzled in the future would be handed over to him.
He didn't even reveal that money to his personal maid.
Since he wasn't yet officially the family head, his spending habits would surely be reported to his father.
He didn't know how many days it would be, but it seemed he wouldn't be able to receive money from the Vice-Principal for the time being.
The problem now was where to procure money that wouldn't be discovered by the family.
There was one method he could think of right now, but it was a method that had to be reserved until the very last resort.