A Two-Month Destiny
The Fate of Two Months
Jerad's approval was given.
The Trio's hearts began to pound wildly, but they managed to keep their expressions in check.
"H-hey, Eden··········"
"W-why are you calling me··········"
The two briefly met each other's gaze, exchanged a silent conversation, and then shifted their eyes to Jerad.
"·····Jerad, do you perhaps wish for Lunia to be ruined·····?"
"···············."
-·····Gulp.
At Jerad's brief silence, someone's Adam's apple bobbed noticeably.
And not long after, Jerad's answer came.
"··········That's not it."
At Jerad's reply, the three's minds raced, and they began to extract maximum value with minimal effort.
"In that case, Jerad. If you entrust Lunia to us for a while, we'll give you several times the gold with minimal fuss."
"··············."
Jerad couldn't help but both doubt and trust them at the same time.
However, that trust didn't stem from their character or conduct, but from their family background.
That's right.
They were the scions of noble families renowned for trade and business.
##
The next day
While Lunia was attending class, completely unaware.
Behind the school, four students who had skipped class without permission were gathered.
"Jerad. W-we've gathered some money for now."
Arnold, who stepped forward as the representative of The Trio, said.
Jerad received the pouch Arnold handed him, and when he opened it—
"T-the one hundred fifty gold is an advance payment. The period is two months until graduation, and after that, we'll earn about 300 gold."
The thick pouch contained no less than 150 gold.
Even if Jerad was from one of the great noble families, 150 gold was no small sum.
Jerad, who had been momentarily surprised by the large money pouch, began to follow their gaze.
And Arnold, who was at the very front, noticed Jerad's gaze and spoke.
"It's the money I, Eden, and William each collected, 50 gold apiece."
Jerad was secretly surprised.
Unlike him, they didn't have a 'source of funds' like the Vice-Principal.
That meant they must have brought their allowances allocated by their families.
Surely, even the use of this money would be recorded in their families' ledgers.
Nevertheless, he was surprised by the fact that they had gathered such a large sum.
But thanks to that, Jerad could trust the three of them, at least a little.
This was because, in noble families where even family members couldn't be easily trusted, the most reliable form of trust came from financial relationships intertwined with money.
##
"Hmm-hmm, hmm~"
Just walking around the school made me hum, I was in such a good mood today.
The reason was simply that I hadn't encountered Jerad's whining yet!
On top of that, it felt as if a lump that had always been in my heart had disappeared.
I strongly felt that something had changed since I woke up yesterday.
Instinctively, I realized that it wasn't particularly harmful to me, so I didn't feel any special need to be wary.
Whatever it was, from morning until now.
Just not having to face Jerad's bullying was enough to make me excited, so anything was fine.
Of course, after a little while, by afternoon or tomorrow, Jerad, having regained his vigor, would surely lay his hands on my body again to do something awful.
"··········Sigh."
Thinking such thoughts made my mood sink.
"Two months, huh··········"
The time remaining until graduation was about two months.
As it was, because I was being thoroughly messed with by Jerad every weekend, I hadn't even been able to go home to see Master recently.
'Will Master be angry··········?'
I don't know about others, but for me, her disciple, she gave very special treatment and worried terribly about me, just like a mother would for her daughter.
But since I hadn't gone home without a word, wouldn't it be natural for Master to be angry with me?
Fortunately, I had never seen Master get angry before.
Considering Master's usual gentle way of speaking and the image of her showering me with affection, it didn't seem like I would be scolded too severely.
'Ah, they say that people who don't usually get angry are terrifying when they do··········'
What if Master's angry appearance is truly terrifying?
'S-should I try to act cute··········?'
Normally, I would never have come to such a conclusion, but for some reason, today, this kind of imagination didn't feel uncomfortable.
In fact, I even thought it would be a relief if I could resolve it that way.
If I had thought a little deeper and doubted more, I would surely have questioned my current way of thinking and discovered the difference—
"Hmm~ I feel like eating something sweet today··········"
By the time I realized it, it would clearly be too late.
##
"But Jerad. Even if we involve the professors, wouldn't things get serious if Lunia were to expose it to outsiders?"
Before executing the plan, Arnold asked Jerad.
Of course, no one was going to back out of this matter just because they were scared.
Because they weren't fools who would kick away the chance to bed a woman they so desperately wanted, just out of fear of repercussions.
Besides, no matter how grandly they spoke of repercussions, Lunia was merely a commoner.
Whether a noble scion couldn't control their lower half and raped or assaulted a commoner woman, most incidents were quietly covered up.
Such incidents occurred frequently among noble families in the first place.
If it was a truly powerful noble family dominating the political scene, there were even cases of them raping the scions of other noble families.
Therefore, even if such an incident occurred, at most, they would be made to reflect for about a month by the family head, or it would end with a few admonishments.
They wouldn't receive any specific punishment.
For something truly serious to happen, at most, they would have to be caught raping the scion of a noble family higher than their own, or touching the status of a distinguished guest of the empire.
Furthermore, The Trio also knew that Lunia subtly used noble etiquette.
However, even so, they knew the faces of all the noble scions in their social circles through social activities, so they ruled out the possibility of her being a noble hiding her identity.
And if she happened to be the granddaughter of a fallen noble family or a fallen neighboring country, she would be nothing more than a weakling who couldn't resist even if they touched her.
Therefore, the biggest potential problem was only if Lunia reported it to the academy's principal or an outside family.
Orland asked Jerad with such concerns, but—
"Ah, there's no need to worry about that."
Jerad's mouth overflowed with baseless confidence.
Of course, "baseless confidence" was merely from Orland's perspective; for Jerad, who possessed the Book of Oaths, it was anything but baseless.
Jerad, perhaps noticing Orland's gaze, conveyed words that didn't necessarily need to be said.
"··········I'll go and show you directly."
Saying that, Jerad turned his head.
And where his gaze landed—
-Hmm-hmm~
Lunia was walking along, humming a cheerful tune.
##
"Lunia."
"·····Hm?"
As I was walking, I turned around at the sudden sound of my name, and·····
"Ack."
Jerad was standing there.
But if there was something different from usual—
"Who are they?"
A sharp voice escaped me without my knowing.
And for good reason, because behind Jerad stood the three thugs I always saw.
The relationship I vaguely understood in my head was probably something like Jerad's lackeys.
That's why my nerves couldn't help but become sharper.
After all, Jerad wouldn't suddenly introduce his lackeys to me directly, would he?
He must have brought the three of them to find me for some purpose.
Moreover, the situation of four men and one woman was enough to create considerable unease in me.
And as if unsettling situations were never wrong, even with everyone listening—
"This is the final oath of the Book of Oaths, Lunia."
"··········What?"
He brought up the topic of the Book of Oaths.
Even the lackeys behind him listening to the conversation about the Book of Oaths was extremely annoying, but that was a secondary matter anyway.
What was most grating to my ears was the "final oath."
Although I didn't know the true nature of the Book of Oaths at all, could it even specify the number of oaths?
"The final oath," he said. I wondered what unheard-of nonsense he was suddenly spouting.
Jerad continued speaking.
"Yesterday, you said it. That you'd sell your body to other men for 200 or 300 gold each."
D-did I··········?
I was so flustered, and I had exaggerated a lot to mess with Jerad, so I didn't remember the exact details.
'I think I might have said something like that·····'
Still, I vaguely remembered what I had generally said.
Perhaps the next words were—
'With other men—'
"You said you wanted to start earning money with other men, not me."
"···············"
As expected, my uneasy feelings were never wrong.
I wish something like this would be wrong for once.
"The condition of the final oath is, 'I shall not lay my hands on your body.' ·····In return, you must sell your experience for 10 gold, not 200 gold."
"··········Don't talk bullshit—"
"The period is two months, until graduation."
It felt as if shackles had been locked around my neck.
It was as if God himself had directly decided my fate.
And just as that feeling settled, Jerad showed me a tiny glimmer of light.
"··········If you admit that you will become my concubine, or become mine·········· I'll terminate the oath right then and there."
Just like that, my neck was placed on the guillotine.
Although it was merely an illusion lasting only two months.