A Different Kind of Bastard
They were the kind of bastards I couldn’t stand.
The morning had returned, and it was time once again to head to the research institute. Thinking about yesterday’s events made me worry about how I should look at the people there. Evelyn would be feeling the same way, I was sure.
“You didn’t eat breakfast? It’s fine. I’ll be home late anyway, so we can grab dinner when I get back.”
“I wasn’t the type who always made sure I ate properly anyway. I’m used to it. And when I get home today, let’s move to a better room. The one with the good hot water supply.”
“Okay.”
After seeing Yuria off, I headed to the institute. Just as I expected.
“Can you believe what the deputy said? He sat on the floor with his ass on the ground and was bawling his eyes out.”
“What the hell is that nonsense? I went on an overnight trip yesterday. Why are you suddenly making all that noise? Why is the woman crying?”
“The director probably did something. He told us not to meddle in the love lives of the staff.”
“Hey, that’s what you’d like to believe. You’re the one who got caught by that woman. But if there really was a problem, why didn’t the director get involved with her? Honestly, I don’t think the deputy, that woman, can even handle a real night properly.”
“Tch. She keeps that face, and who does she think she’s meeting?”
“That’s true, but that’s just talk when things get heated, right?”
At the exact moment I opened the door and stepped inside, everyone fell silent. I didn’t know exactly what they were talking about, but it clearly involved me.
Of course, given what had happened yesterday, I expected it. Still, an uneasy feeling lingered deep inside me.
I managed my expression and got to work. There wasn’t much of it.
Everyone kept their mouths shut and focused on their own tasks, watching my every move. For some reason, the institute’s office felt emptier than usual. Everyone seemed to have moved to the labs or gone outside, probably afraid I’d yell at them if they got caught slacking.
I couldn’t shake the worry that Evelyn might show up again. For now, I wanted to avoid her as much as possible.
Is it really that shocking that I cheated on her?
Evelyn wasn’t thinking straight right now. She had forgotten why she married me. Wasn’t it all because of the Jeremiah family’s magic crystal research institute?
The shares in the institute were spread among the family members, but the position of director carried immense symbolic weight. For Evelyn to achieve what she wanted, it was more than enough.
Once I get my head straight, I’ll accept the divorce.
I wanted to put off meeting her until that point. Luckily, she hadn’t shown up at the institute office today.
She seemed busy with something else.
Evelyn had given instructions for a few urgent tasks in the lab, then left right after. The moment she got home, she pulled out the liquor bottle, drank straight from it, and checked the clock.
Only six hours until Zach got home.
She sighed, calling her own shitty life what it was while wondering if he would even show up.
Why am I a commoner? Why couldn’t I even become a gentri?
She had endured the worst crap from bastards thanks to her striking looks, surviving her childhood years. When her classmates yanked her hair just for fun, she wanted to kill them.
When the older ones grabbed her ear and stole glances at her secretly, she wanted to kill them too.
It was the same when she finally took control of her own body. She had been selected as a scholarship student through sheer talent, despite her poor background, and entered magic school.
She lived like a beast.
She squeezed every ounce of skill, talent, and effort into herself and always came out on top in competition. When she wanted something, she fought until she broke everything she needed.
“That commoner girl keeps acting so arrogant. Terrible at theory, yet she brags about a bit of mana sensitivity.”
“Haha, I’ll cuff her nose in today’s class.”
The shock came when she realized they weren’t even fellow students, but professors. When she received an unfair B on a test, Evelyn made a vow.
I’ll become a noble.
There was no way she could beat nobles in competition. So she had to join them. She realized it in school and eventually beat the professors who said commoners could never top the class, graduating as valedictorian.
Evelyn had assumed her elite path would continue without issue.
-Red Tower Entry Application.
Hello. I am James, the hiring representative for the Red Tower. Thank you sincerely for your application to the Red Tower. We have sought out a path that suits your exceptional abilities, but unfortunately, we determined that accepting a commoner mage is too radical a decision internally. Though we haven’t had a chance to meet yet, we look forward to meeting you again at a better opportunity. Thank you.
Most other prestigious magic towers sent similar responses.
She didn’t hide her commoner origin and stated her situation honestly.
It’s better that I’m honest.
Aside from the handful of top magic towers in the empire, she could go anywhere. But that wasn’t what she wanted.
What should I do?
She could keep honing her magic and eventually reach the 6th Circle or 7th Circle. But that was far in the future. Becoming a noble would speed things up dramatically.
I need to become a noble. How?
The easiest way was to marry a man who was already a noble. Evelyn stared at herself in the mirror. She was stunning. It wasn’t just her eyes. How many times had this face caused her trouble?
It was her time to shine.
She was a genius mage who had reached the 4th Circle in her twenties. The consensus was that she would reach the 5th Circle within a few years. She was more than qualified to become a noble’s wife.
She scanned the list of nobles whose conditions matched hers. Even if her parents were nobles, only the eldest son inherited the land and title.
She also wanted to avoid the hassle of having to marry a commoner. She didn’t feel like meeting men just to discuss “maybe.”
That was how she found Zach Jeremiah. She knew his name. He was a year ahead of her in magic school and the top performer that year.
But there was more to why she remembered him.
He was famous… those two.
Zach was a good marriage prospect on paper. So was his lover, Yuria. She wasn’t a noble, but a gentri, from a great family, with top-tier magic skills.
They always bragged about marrying right after graduation, and Evelyn had heard about it even without a single friend in school. It was widely known.
So what? They ended up breaking up anyway.
An odd laugh escaped her. Back in school she had thought the two would never stay together, and it turned out she was right.
Curious, she dug up details about Zach. She learned that his wife Yuria had died, and he had fallen into a drunken mess. His father had handed him the director position, but he left everything to the deputy director and simply drank his days away.
This will do.
No matter how Zach was living now, the Jeremiah name carried enough value. And the Zach she met during magic school wasn’t a bad person.
He was the most decent man she had encountered in school.
He was different from those bastards.
Thanks to her looks during her time at magic school, several men had thrown extreme affections her way. Endless gifts and empty flattery had grown tiresome.
She also found the commoners trying to turn her into a weapon against the nobles uncomfortable. They started from a weak position and used her overwhelming talent to crush nobles, but their real goal was often to use her for political gain.
Zach was different. The way he looked at her saw only a talented mage. Her beauty and her commoner status meant nothing to him.
Because of that, they rarely clashed.
They both sat at the top of their year, competing, but she always won. Zach didn’t even try; he seemed to sense he was inferior.
He felt human affection, but Evelyn wasn’t the type to initiate conversation either. She stayed neutral while Zach graduated first.
Thanks to that, in her memories of him, Zach was the best human she had met during magic school. That was why she had first considered him as a marriage prospect.
Anyone who had accepted her marriage proposal after seeing her face would cause trouble every single night. And even if not, she wanted someone decent enough to spend years looking at her face.
She had considered marrying a noble and checked the list, but she hadn’t been serious. If no suitable partner appeared, she would simply give up. She could wait until she reached the 5th Circle; no noble magic tower would reject her then.
She had executed her plan to the end because the partner turned out to be Zach.
He had been fine after the wedding. At least, they had worked to help each other’s growth within the framework of loyalty and partnership.
And then she had been betrayed.
She had never believed anyone before. The first time she did, she had been betrayed.
It felt as if every bone in her body was being ripped apart, her blood boiling over.
I want to kill Yuria.