No Reason to Protect You
Now of all times?
That dangerous stretch in the warehouse had passed, and at last we finished getting dressed.
The faint ghost of a collar still seemed to linger around my neck, but I forced myself to ignore it.
"Haa… enough with the games. Let's head out and take stock of the situation first."
Bella-senpai spoke with a deliberately stern face, though her cheeks were still faintly flushed.
The worry she felt for me hadn't completely faded, but she seemed a little calmer than before.
"Got it."
I nodded without argument.
This was no time for teasing.
The information that the houses were targeting me was serious, and with Master gone I needed to figure out how to respond—fast.
Side by side, we opened the door to Bella-senpai's quarters and stepped out.
It was late evening; the corridor was quiet, yet a tension different from usual seemed to hang in the air.
The moment we entered the central hallway of the academy's main building, an unexpected figure blocked our path.
A middle-aged man with a kindly face.
Slight paunch, always wearing that good-natured smile.
The academy's vice principal.
What's that guy doing here?
Back when I was still throwing my weight around as the Bennet duchess's daughter, he used to show his face constantly, fawning and trying to get on my good side.
But after Serena-unnie's declaration, I hadn't run into him even once.
He had thoroughly treated me like I didn't exist and kept his distance—yet here he was, at this hour, stopping me while I was with Bella-senpai.
A bad feeling settled in my gut.
Instead of his usual amiable smile, the vice principal's face wore only a stiff, businesslike expression.
He looked between me and Bella-senpai, then fixed his gaze on me and spoke.
"Student Yeon Bennet."
His voice was rather hard.
"And Professor Bella Staren is with you as well, I see."
"What is this about?"
Bella-senpai stepped forward first and asked.
"The principal is looking for Student Yeon Bennet."
The vice principal addressed me.
"You'll need to come to the principal's office for a moment."
The principal?
The principal wants me?
And he sent the vice principal in person for it?
I had a rough idea what this was about, but things were moving faster than I'd expected.
"Do I go alone?"
When I asked, the vice principal glanced at Bella-senpai for a second, then nodded.
"As for Professor Bella…"
"I'm going with her."
Bella-senpai cut him off, her tone absolute.
The vice principal looked briefly flustered, but he reluctantly nodded.
"Very well. Then let us go together."
We followed him to the principal's office.
The door was firmly shut.
The vice principal knocked and entered; the principal sat behind a massive desk.
The atmosphere felt thoroughly chaotic.
With Master gone, of course he would be swamped.
But the fact that he had called for me in the middle of all that…
He lifted his eyes from the mountain of documents and regarded us coldly.
Those eyes were nothing like his mild appearance—icy and calculating.
"Sit."
The principal spoke shortly and returned his gaze to the papers.
Bella-senpai and I sat in the chairs placed before him without a word.
The vice principal stood quietly behind us.
For a long while the only sound was the rustle of turning pages.
As if he were deliberately making us wait.
At last the principal set the documents aside and opened his mouth.
His voice was smooth, as if oiled, but the content was anything but.
"Student Yeon Bennet. I have something to convey to you."
He looked straight at me.
"At present, three houses outside the academy are strongly demanding that you be handed over. The Medici, the Lapellacia, and your own house—the Bennet."
Just as expected.
Bella-senpai had been right.
The principal paused, as if gauging my reaction.
I showed none.
"In principle, the academy has a duty to protect its enrolled students. Shielding them from external pressure is one of the reasons this institution exists."
His voice was as stiff as if he were reading from a textbook.
"However…"
He let the word hang. The next moment, what left his mouth was cold as ice.
"We have found no reason whatsoever to protect you."
"Principal!"
Bella-senpai, seated beside me, flared up and raised her voice, but the principal silenced her with a gesture.
He continued without the slightest concern.
His eyes were filled with open contempt and irritation.
"Since your enrollment you have brought the academy nothing but trouble. Your grades scrape the bottom, your relationships with classmates are the worst imaginable, and you even became entangled in an unsavory incident involving Contamination. Frankly, a student like you is nothing more than a disgrace to this academy. Why should we stand against three ducal houses for the likes of you?"
He curled his lip in a sneer.
"If Chairwoman Dorothy were here it might be different, but she is currently away, is she not?"
I said nothing.
It was the reaction I had expected.
The principal nodded as if satisfied.
"Even so, the academy has decided to grant you a special choice."
"A choice… you say?"
I quietly echoed him.
"Yes."
He leaned back in his chair.
"You may choose for yourself which of the three houses you will go to. Well? Which would you prefer? The Medici? The Lapellacia? Or… the Bennet house, which at least is familiar?"
His tone was light and indifferent, as if he were telling me to pick something at a market stall.
A matter that decided my life, and he treated it like nothing more than disposing of bothersome trash.
Just as Bella-senpai opened her mouth again to protest the principal's detestable offer—
Bang!
The office door slammed open and an unexpected figure burst in.
Sky-blue hair flying, face flushed crimson with rage—Emilla Gale.
She glared coldly at the principal and vice principal and shouted.
"What do you think you're doing, Principal! This cannot be allowed!"
The principal made no attempt to hide his fluster at Emilla's sudden intrusion.
"E-Emilla Professor? What is the meaning of this rudeness!"
"Rudeness?"
Emilla laughed as if she could scarcely believe it.
"How long has it been since the Great Elder left Tera, and already you mean to cast aside the values she spent her entire life upholding as if they were worn-out shoes! Protecting the academy's students is our duty, is it not! And yet you would sell a student out just because a few houses applied pressure!"
Her voice trembled with fury.
"Th-that is because Student Yeon Bennet…"
The principal tried to make excuses, but Emilla cut him off as if she had no intention of listening.
"For any reason whatsoever, this is unacceptable! If the Great Elder learns of this…"
I was pretty sure she hated my guts…?
Watching Professor Emilla's heated display, I felt a flicker of strangeness.
Her opposition to the principal's decision could simply be because she valued the academy's principles.
But stepping forward this fiercely was unexpected.
Now of all times… suddenly?
Only a few days ago, when we crossed paths in front of the chairwoman's office, she had been completely different—yet now she was acting as if she meant to protect me.
Had some change of heart taken place?
Or did she have some other scheme?
I couldn't read her true intentions, and it left me unsettled.
"It's fine, Professor Emilla."
At that moment I quietly spoke up.
Emilla's gaze turned to me.
In her eyes…
strangely enough, there was worry and pity.
"I understand, Principal."
I looked at him and said,
"I'll go."
"Yeon!"
Bella-senpai and Emilla called my name at the same time, but I shook my head.
"On one condition."
I met the principal's eyes squarely.
"I'll leave after the midterm exams. Let me stay at the academy until then."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible."
A low, calm woman's voice—carrying a chill—rang out from beyond the office door.
Along with the voice, powerful, refined mana began to press down on the space.
Creeeak—
The door opened soundlessly, and a woman stepped slowly inside.
White hair fell calmly past her shoulders; deep, clear purple eyes quietly swept over everyone in the room.
Her features were startlingly similar to Elise's, yet unlike Elise's timid air, an unapproachable dignity and cold clarity radiated from her.
Looking closer, however, the rims of her eyes were faintly bloodshot, and beneath that perfectly controlled expression something like deep fatigue and anxiety seemed to hide.
Rayzel Lapellacia.
Current head of House Lapellacia, the duchess who led the wealthiest family in Tera.
I never thought that woman would come here in person.
I couldn't hide my inner surprise.
For the head of a ducal house to appear at the academy principal's office herself…
It was hard to imagine unless the matter was extraordinary.
Sera… according to the story that child should still be fine at this point, right?
Duchess Rayzel did not so much as glance at the principal; she walked straight toward me.
And then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she declared:
"This child will come with us. Immediately."
Her voice was soft, yet it carried an unyielding will that would brook no refusal.
"Wait just a moment, Your Grace! That is not allowed!"
Bella-senpai rose at once in protest.
"Even a duchess cannot simply take an academy student away as she pleases!"
Emilla likewise objected in a sharp voice.
At their resistance, Duchess Rayzel's purple eyes flashed coldly.
The gentle atmosphere vanished without a trace; the air around us turned ice-cold.
She slowly turned her gaze upon Bella and Emilla.
"…How dare you."
The low murmur of her voice carried murderous intent.
Under the overwhelming pressure of a ducal head, even Bella and Emilla momentarily caught their breath.
The principal and vice principal had already gone pale.
In an instant the situation was filled with hair-trigger tension.
The Duchess of Lapellacia clearly intended to take me with her today—by any means necessary.