Chapter 88
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: The Way to Eradicate Violence (3)
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“Now you understand my actions and words, don’t you?
That’s right. As you can see, I am a royal guest staying in the royal palace at Her Majesty the Queen’s summons.
Therefore, I must tell you that insulting someone like me is a crime equivalent to insulting Her Majesty who called me to the capital.”
“…….”
Lloyd’s clear voice echoed throughout the dining hall.
No one responded to his words.
No, they didn’t dare to contradict him.
Amid everyone’s silence, Lloyd’s words continued.
“Furthermore, I also heard a beautiful story that this academy operates under Her Majesty the Queen’s grace and patronage.
In other words, all the students here are of a status that receives Her Majesty’s patronage.
Yet I never dreamed that a student receiving Her Majesty’s patronage would dare insult a guest invited by Her Majesty, dismiss royal authority as something trivial?”
One corner of Lloyd’s lips curled upward.
As if to say, speak up if you have something to say, he cast a glance at the dormitory supervisor.
The supervisor shrank back and countered.
“But, um, isn’t that just your one-sided claim?”
“One-sided claim?”
“Is there any objective evidence that our student, Diego Racona, insulted you?”
“Evidence. Haha.”
Lloyd let out a smirk.
He shrugged his shoulders and countered.
“Of course there’s more than enough. Don’t you know it better than anyone, sir?”
“Yes? What do you mean by...”
“This guy here, Julian Frontera.”
Thud.
Lloyd’s hand shot out.
It landed on Julian’s slender shoulder.
In that instant, Julian flinched and shrank back.
But Lloyd paid it no mind.
Still casually throwing his arm over Julian’s shoulder, he looked at the supervisor and spoke.
“In case you didn’t know, let me confirm: this guy is my little brother.”
Julian flinched once more.
The supervisor’s pupils trembled faintly.
Lloyd’s words continued.
“Insulting and bullying my little brother right in front of me is the same as insulting me, and insulting me is the same as tarnishing the honor of a royal guest, and treating the honor of a royal guest lightly is the same as disregarding royal authority, isn’t it?”
“How could that be...”
“Are you perhaps trying to deny my words?”
“…….”
The supervisor’s mouth clamped shut again.
Lloyd’s biting words continued.
“And you there, sir, and all the other students behind you—you’re not going to pretend you don’t know what kind of relationship this Diego guy and my brother had, are you?”
“......”
Everyone fell silent once more.
They couldn’t respond rashly.
It was only natural.
It was public knowledge among all that Julian was bullied by Diego every single day.
No, it wasn’t just Diego.
The other high-ranking nobles were the same.
Everyone ignored Julian, discriminated against him, and insulted him.
Plenty among those now lined up behind the supervisor had bullied Julian. They had even placed bets on who could torment him in more creative ways, snickering about it.
There was only one reason for it.
Simply because Julian was from a rural baronial family. And yet, because his academic achievements were excellent and he had received praise from the professors several times.
In short, acting without knowing his place was the biggest reason for the bullying.
In that way, Julian was treated no different from public property for discrimination and contempt at this academy.
‘That’s why I’m doing this, you punk.’
Lloyd tightened his grip on his arm.
He forcibly held down Julian, who was trying to shake off his arm.
He could feel the glare Julian shot his way.
Asking why he was causing such a commotion.
Asking what good this would do.
Asking if he planned to dump all the aftermath on him.
Julian’s protesting glare stabbed into the side of his face in real time.
But Lloyd ignored the look.
The attitude of enduring unfair discrimination and violence.
He was convinced it was not the proper response to school violence.
‘Because just putting up with it solves nothing.’
It was true.
This wasn’t mere idealism.
It was practical, real, and realistic.
It was also the lesson Lloyd had learned from personally experiencing the fluorescent light incident.
‘I was scared shitless at first after beating those punks to a pulp with the fluorescent lights and chairs. But looking back, nope. Things rolled in a totally unexpected direction.’
Right after he had beaten the bullies bloody with fluorescent lights and chairs.
Naturally, the school was in an uproar.
Parents were summoned, and the school violence committee convened.
At first, things turned against him.
It only made sense.
The bullies’ wrongdoing toward him amounted to nothing more than making him run an errand to buy bread and a bit of roughhousing.
But what had he done?
He sent them to the hospital.
So he received a suspension.
He thought that would be the end of it.
But it wasn’t.
‘Turns out that bully punk had a ton of dirt from before.’
About three days after the incident, another parent from the class called his father. They said their son seemed to have been bullied a lot by that bully student up until then. But seeing what he had done gave them courage, and for the first time, the son had told his parents about it.
That was the beginning.
Similar reports came pouring in one after another.
The bully’s misdeeds were laid bare one by one.
From small items like bags, clothes, hats, and shoes.
To big ones like game consoles, cash, bicycles, cell phones, and laptops.
As little as a couple hundred thousand won.
As much as two or three million won or more.
When the reports were tallied, the scale of extortion and exploitation from other kids over time was shockingly massive.
In the end, that bully faced a full backlash.
The parents banded together, filed lawsuits, and dragged him to juvenile court. It was the victims uniting to show him that ‘life is combat, asshole.’
‘So yeah. When dealing with stuff like this, you can’t hush it up. If you’re gonna touch it, blow it up big.’
You can’t just rely on the school.
You have to bring the law, police, and media to your side.
To do that, you have to escalate the incident first.
The bigger the playing field, the more it favors the victims.
That was why, after calculating it all, he had acted.
He had properly crushed Diego.
Now it was time to crush the school side.
“So, sir, please say something. Are you still thinking of making an issue of my behavior?”
“......”
Lloyd tilted his head to one side.
The supervisor felt his mind growing complicated.
‘This is tricky.’
The supervisor furrowed his brow.
Of course, the supervisor knew that Julian was usually picked on by the other students.
But he had turned a blind eye. He hadn’t paid it any mind.
He didn’t feel particularly sorry about it, either.
He viewed such phenomena as a natural tradition.
‘He’s just a kid from some backwater baronial family.’
That was why he was ignored by the scions of the capital’s high houses. Why he was sometimes despised and even subjected to physical lynchings.
But he didn’t consider it wrong. It was something that had commonly happened at the academy for decades now. A natural occurrence.
He had no intention of correcting it.
He didn’t want to get involved in such matters.
Making enemies of high noble scions would be a loss. Especially when he considered the illustrious families standing behind them.
So he had stood by and watched.
There had been no problems.
But now was different.
If the brother of the bullied student was a royal guest, the story changed entirely.
“Make an issue of it? Heaven forbid.”
The supervisor smiled with his mouth only.
He swiftly changed his attitude according to his quick calculations.
“As you know, I am the one who manages and takes responsibility for this dormitory. Confirming the truth of any unseemly disturbances within the dorm is also part of my duties.”
“So what is it you want to say?”
“If you find yourself caught up in any disputes in the future, rather than going to the trouble of handling it yourself, how about calling for me instead?”
“Aha. You’ll provide mediation—an excellent method for resolving disputes—as a complimentary service?”
“I’m glad you understand my intent.”
He was a dormitory supervisor seasoned in the noble-scion-infested academy dorms.
Seeing the supervisor’s smile, Lloyd thought to himself.
‘Slippery snake of a guy.’
In the blink of an eye, he had subtly abandoned Diego.
He was attempting to quietly hop aboard this side’s ship.
Lloyd could even sense that he wanted to build a connection with them through this incident.
A snort escaped him involuntarily.
In the meantime, the supervisor, who had bowed politely toward them, withdrew.
The students who had gathered while whispering dispersed.
Even until then, Lloyd had clearly noted and memorized every single one of their faces.
‘I’ll send you all straight to hell. Definitely.’
He vowed inwardly.
If they hadn’t gotten involved, it would have been one thing, but they already had.
If he stopped halfway now, it would cost him and his family face. Sticking him with a pushover image would bring endless losses down the line.
‘So I need to wrap this up properly while I’m at it.’
Lloyd tucked away his dark scheme to take them all down as a set menu, pressing it firmly into his black heart.
Then he turned to Julian.
“The food’s gone to shit. Let’s go.”
“What?”
Julian had still been glaring daggers at him.
He was also the one who had been struggling and grunting to shake off the arm slung over his shoulder.
One of Julian’s eyebrows shot up.
“Let’s go? Where to?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
With his arm still around him, he started moving.
He exited the dining hall, half-escorting—or rather, dragging—Julian along.
Whispers and murmurs rose from both sides of the corridor.
He ignored them all.
He ignored Julian’s flailing struggles as well.
He strode straight through the corridor without hesitation and headed to the opposite side of the lobby.
There was the dormitory office he had eyed earlier.
It was something like the school’s administrative office.
With that thought, he flung open the door.
“I’m here on business.”
It was already too late to turn back.
The office staff widened their eyes at the group barging straight in. The clerks stammered, unable to quickly ask what the matter was.
Lloyd spoke to one of the clerks.
“I’d like to process a leave of absence. Name’s Julian Frontera. Duration: one year.”
At his bombshell declaration, Julian’s eyes went wide.
♣
“What the hell are you doing? Are you insane?”
In front of the academy’s main gate in midwinter.
Julian’s voice grew rough as he stood there.
He had no choice.
It was absurd.
He was so flabbergasted he felt like he might faint.
“What right do you have to cause a scene in the dorm? Huh? What right do you have to arbitrarily halt my studies and force me on leave?”
He recalled what had just happened.
Lloyd barging into the dormitory office.
Demanding his leave of absence processing on the spot.
There hadn’t even been a chance to stop him.
Just like that, he was suddenly in a position where his academy studies would be suspended for a whole year.
‘This makes no sense!’
He was furious.
He couldn’t comprehend Lloyd’s actions.
They seemed utterly reckless and irresponsible.
‘And utterly thoughtless too!’
He had no idea how shocked he’d been when Lloyd had suddenly assaulted Diego.
Of course, part of him had felt refreshed too.
Diego was the one who had tormented him relentlessly day after day.
Seeing that guy get beaten by someone was undoubtedly a massive sense of satisfaction.
When his brother pulled out the royal guest token, it had even been thrilling.
‘But so what? A momentary good feeling—what good is that?’
It was useless.
It meant nothing.
The refreshing pleasure was only temporary.
What about afterward?
After Lloyd left?
If he was the only one left here?
He would have to bear the full brunt of the aftermath from the mess his brother had caused. He would definitely face retaliation. The bullying would be several times worse than before.
Even if his brother had shown the royal guest token?
It wouldn’t change reality much.
‘They just have to bully without getting caught.’
From the perspective of the other noble scions, there were more than enough ways to torment one person without getting caught.
The thought alone made him dizzy already.
He had no confidence he could endure it.
And yet Lloyd, not content with that, had even arbitrarily forced him to take a leave from the academy!
“Say it. Are you telling me to run away? Huh? You stirred up trouble, but since you don’t have the guts to take responsibility, you rashly yanked me out of the academy? Huh?”
He hated that.
He wanted to stay at the academy, no matter how painful.
No matter how hard or infuriating, he wanted to keep studying.
Because he believed that was the only way he could help his family.
‘If I don’t study, our family will definitely go under. That thoughtless wastrel punk will ruin the house.’
He would have to clean up after it for the rest of his life.
To do that, he needed to build knowledge and connections.
Julian had already steeled himself for it.
Yet this sudden forced leave.
He was beyond furious.
It felt like nothing but an act of trampling his hard-held resolve.
Perhaps that was why.
A wry smile crept across Lloyd’s lips.
“Ha. You think I’m doing all this without any plan?”
“......What?”
Isn’t it obvious?
That was what Julian wanted to snap back.
But Lloyd’s declaration reached his ears first.
“For starters, you need to clear up your misunderstanding and get some hardcore training.”
“What do you mean right now... Misunderstanding? Training?”
“Yeah.”
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?”
“First: that I’m acting recklessly. Second: that if you get some training, you’ll be able to handle punks like that Diego guy just fine.”
“......”
Julian swallowed the retort he had been about to make.
Lloyd was now facing him directly as he spoke.
His brother’s eyes looked utterly serious.
There was no trace of joking, deception, or slickness.
It was a bit unexpected.
It was a gaze he’d never seen before.
Perhaps that was why he was unconsciously persuaded by it.
Or maybe he was tempted by the words that he could handle Diego.
“Training... What kind of training? Where? Swordsmanship or something?”
Unwittingly, Julian stammered the question.
A cryptic smile tugged at Lloyd’s lips.
He revealed the prescription to temper his frail little brother’s body and mind.
“What kind? On a construction site. Shovel work.”
And so, suddenly, the delicate, bright-eyed pretty boy Julian Frontera found himself roped into the suspension bridge construction project as a day laborer—a fate entirely unasked for.