My Black History Is Too Dark
I ignored my reaction as Connie lifted her chin like an arrogant judge and spoke.
“This time, it’s not some playboy who left his fiancée back home and is trying to burn through his youth at the Academy. It’s not some gambler betting on the slim chance that you’ll inherit a count title. And it’s definitely not a pervert.”
Connie counted off my failed dating history on her fingers.
“This seems fine, right?”
She thumped her clenched right fist against her open left palm several times.
Like a judge’s gavel.
Even with Connie’s favorable verdict, I shriveled up as my dark history flashed before my eyes like a panorama.
Connie patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
“Do your best. This guy seems like the best one you’ve picked so far.”
Her encouragement couldn’t reach me. My black history was far too pitch-black.
“Sister, did you have a nightmare?”
Anika, the youngest of the four Diaz siblings and my one and only little sister, asked as she watched me spreading butter on bread with hollow eyes.
“I guess I didn’t sleep very well.”
I opened my eyes as wide as possible so I wouldn’t worry the child who had only just entered the Academy.
In truth, I really had had a nightmare.
Before I got leave and came home, I’d talked with Connie about our Academy days, and my dark history had appeared in my dreams.
‘A dream where I have to watch myself screaming “Ew!” “Euuugh!” “Euuuuuuuugh!” with a perfectly clear mind… How cruel.’
It was far too brutal a dream.
After putting off coming home several times because I was busy, I was starting to wonder if some evil spirit had attached itself to my room.
‘Maybe I should go to the storage room and bring out the silverware we use for parties.’
While I was staring at the butter knife and seriously doubting the existence of a ghost, Anika took the seat across from me.
Ever since entering the Academy, she had started using an adult-sized chair.
But since she was still shorter than her peers, her legs dangled beneath it.
“You didn’t overwork yourself just to come home, right?”
Anika asked as she stretched out her hand to grab her own utensils.
“It wasn’t like that.”
I moved the bowl closer to make it easier for her to reach and answered.
This time it wasn’t an empty reassurance to avoid worrying her—it was the truth, so I could say it with confidence.
‘Ever since Donovan was dragged away, the work environment has improved dramatically.’
Once the superior who cared more about his own mood than work efficiency disappeared, a lot of pointless tasks had vanished.
‘Arnold, who’s temporarily acting as department head, is timid but not authoritarian, so he’s easy to work with.’
On top of that, for some reason the rumor that I had “connections with someone very high up” had spread, so the staff were watching my mood more than Arnold’s.
‘Well, if we’re being technical… I guess I do have connections.’
After all, Everett was the Emperor’s aide, and Kyle was the Emperor’s only friend.
That was enough to say they were at the very center of power, the Emperor’s closest associates.
‘I thought I was nothing more than an extra who didn’t even get a line… but maybe I’ve at least become an extra with one line of dialogue?’
While I was gauging my own position, Anika shrugged.
“Then that’s good.”
She had always been the mature, expressionless type, like a little old lady, ever since she was born.
Once her sister said she was fine, the conversation ended there.
After that, the only sounds in the dining room for a while were those of people eating.
A worn-out office worker and a child both needed fuel, after all.
Only after we were somewhat full did conversation resume.
“How’s Academy life treating you?”
The topic I chose seemed to be a bad one.
Anika’s fork stopped mid-air for a moment.
“I miss when I was little and didn’t know anything.”
The twelve-year-old shook her head vigorously and let out a huge sigh.
“How little? Eleven? Ten?”
When I teased her, Anika set down her fork and buried her face on the table like she was collapsing.
Her soft cheeks squished against the wood.
“Sister, you don’t understand anything.”
Her eyes looked distant, as if wandering through the distant past of about a year or two ago.
‘There’s nothing seriously wrong, right?’
She was such a capable youngest child that she could be dropped in the middle of the market and still find her way home, but I couldn’t help worrying.
“Is it because there’s too much homework? Or maybe you don’t like your classmates?”
These were the top two questions anyone would ask a first-year Academy student about their troubles, yet the little one’s head showed no sign of lifting.
“If I had to pick, it’d be the second one.”
The answer came from the twins, who had just come downstairs for breakfast.
“Long time no see, sis.”
Emmett waved his hand half-heartedly.
“Hi.”
Jaden peeked his face out from behind Emmett’s right shoulder.
The identical twins looked so alike that seeing their faces side by side made them resemble some kind of Cerberus.
“It’s chaotic enough already, so come sit down first.”
I jerked my chin at them, thinking it was a relief they weren’t triplets, and after checking the time, Jaden and Emmett quickly approached and sat down.
“You two cut it pretty close, young masters.”
Emma, who served as both cook and housekeeper, smiled as she set food down in front of them as well.
“Emmett was dawdling.”
“You woke up late too.”
Emmett and Jaden bickered as they picked up their forks and knives.
The brief war of nerves died down once they started eating.
It was almost time for breakfast to end anyway.
The Diaz family had no rule that the entire family had to gather at mealtimes.
‘If you don’t want to eat, you don’t have to.’
However, if you wanted to eat, you had to come to the dining room within the set time.
‘If you miss the window, you’re stuck making do with leftover bread or going hungry.’
This rule had been created to reduce the workload on their mere three servants and to correct the irregular lifestyles of the family’s stubborn members. It was maintained under the support of Mother, who held the highest authority in the house.
‘Even when our parents are out.’
And Emmett and Jaden were at the age where they ate heartily; skipping meals wasn’t an option for them.
“So what did you mean by ‘the second one’?”
Emmett, who had been diligently eating, belatedly explained the answer from earlier.
“She’s sad because she ended up in a different class from Nathan.”
Nathan was Anika’s childhood friend, the one with the cute curly blond hair.
Apparently that was the correct answer, because Anika’s cheeks pressed even flatter against the table.
“She even begged to transfer to the Knight Department but failed, apparently.”
Jaden added with a smirk.
“I didn’t beg. I just politely asked if transferring was possible.”
Anika’s lips sharpened like a baby chick’s beak.
“But you can’t even hold a wooden sword.”
Anika pretended not to hear Jaden’s merciless confirmation shot.
“The Academy tore me and Nathan apart.”
It was a monologue worthy of the tragic heroine in some play.
Emmett and Jaden, who were thoroughly enjoying teasing their little sister, grew even more excited.
“Lately Nathan looks like he’s in an incredibly good mood.”
“He really does.”
The Magic Department where the twins were enrolled was located on the exact opposite side of the Knight Department.
There was no way their paths would overlap with a new student like Nathan and two seniors, so it was obviously a made-up story just to tease Anika.
“Really?”
However, Anika, who was completely immersed in her role as the tragic heroine, had momentarily lost her sense of judgment.
When she looked up with wide eyes and asked again, Emmett and Jaden flinched.
It was a forcefulness you wouldn’t expect from a twelve-year-old.
When Emmett and Jaden hesitated and mumbled without giving a proper answer, Anika took it as silent confirmation. Her purple eyes grew slightly moist.
I shot warning glances back and forth between Emmett and Jaden.
‘If Anika cries, you two are dead.’
In the end, the confession slipped from Emmett’s mouth.
“No. It was a joke.”
“We haven’t even seen Nathan except on the entrance ceremony day.”
The moment Jaden finished speaking, a lion’s roar burst from Anika, who had finally realized she’d been teased.
“Liars! You guys are goblin boogers! Orc tusk plaque!”
It was a custom insult tailored for the twins, who had enrolled in the Magic Department despite having zero mana because they were obsessed with monster studies.
“Emmett, do you want to be the orc tusk plaque?”
“Nah, I’ll just take goblin booger in the proper order.”
That was why it didn’t hurt them at all.
Those two dreamed of spending their entire lives researching monsters like orcs and goblins that most people found repulsive.
‘Still, tusk plaque and boogers are a bit much, aren’t they?’
When Anika saw Emmett and Jaden playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be the goblin booger, she puffed out her cheeks and turned to me for support.
“Sister! The brothers are making fun of me.”
‘Then maybe you should’ve stopped at a reasonable level.’
I reached out and gently stroked Anika’s hair.
Then I spoke loud enough for Emmett and Jaden to hear clearly.
“Should your kind sister overlook it? I can’t exactly make exam students copy out the holy scriptures as punishment.”
Now it was Emmett and Jaden’s turn to puff out their cheeks.