For Brantley, beating up Jacob seemed a happy memory.
“We can go back to how it was,” I whispered to Brantley.
He stopped fiddling with the leaves and asked, ‘’Do you miss that time too?”
“A little.”
“I guess you don’t like who I am now,” Brantley muttered to himself.
The corners of his mouth drooped beneath his mask.
Realizing my mistake, I quickly shook my head.
“N-no, it’s not like that. It’s because I enjoyed being with you back then… I like you now too! I mean it!”
As I stumbled through my explanation, Brantley’s lips twitched, as if struggling to suppress laughter…
“Pfft!”
A laughter escaped his lips. Why was he suddenly laughing?
I was confused at first, but soon realized the truth.
“You’re not… teasing me, are you?”
I glared at him, feeling betrayed. Even though my gaze was sharp and intimidating, Brantley remained unfazed.
‘Is it because of his experience as a mercenary? He seems like a tough nut to crack.’
I rested my hand on my hip, preparing for a verbal battle.
But instead of flinching, Brantley leaned casually against the tree with crossed arms and asked, “Who is worse, the old me or the current one?”
I furrowed my brow, “Instead of ‘worse’ can’t you ask ‘who is better’?”
I grinned brightly as I replied, “I like both.”
“What a cliche answer.”
“But I think the current Brantley is more interesting.”
“More… interesting?”
Brantley frowned as he didn’t understand.
“Yeah. When you were younger, I liked that you were a good listener. But now you don’t listen to me at all.”
“It hurts when you say that, even after I came to the capital listening to you.”
“You keep saying that you’re different from the past, but you’re still the same Brantley to me.”
“….…”
“Now that you’re disobedient. It’s like a challenge to make you agree.”
“Sounds like you’re planning on conquering me.”
“Yes. I’m going to conquer you. Completely!”
I poked his handsome cheek and jaw with my index finger.
When he brushed away my finger with his hand, golden flower petals fluttered above us.
‘So pretty! Where did it come from..?.’
I looked up and nearly fainted seeing the scenery.
A woman made of golden vines stood on the tree, cupping her cheeks. The happy woman sprinkling flower petals on us was Aite.
– “Sharing the same memory with each other, that’s love.”
She whispered sweetly, her face lost in a reverie.
“How long have you been there?”
Goosebumps ran down my spine. She should have been at the Foundation with Todd and Natu and the believers.
They were looking for Grouser.
‘Although I did hear Aite could travel anywhere through the soil.’
Brantley and I took a step away from each other. Aite was very disappointed and stretched out vines to pull me and Brantley closer.
But we weren’t going to fall for it twice.
“Dream on.”
Brantley said sarcastically while dodging the vines. I jumped and dodged the vines, too.
– “Oh! Both of you are equally adept at dodging my vines. Truly a match made in heaven!”
Because of Aite’s excitement flowers started to bloom.
‘Why are the gods of this world so clueless? Was it right to try to break their seals?’
I was questioning myself.
“Hanelope, I heard you became an assistant professor.”
Suddenly I heard a crooked voice. Aite was startled and hid behind the branches.
Brantley and I looked in the direction of the voice. Jacob stood there, with hands casually tucked into his trouser pockets, exuding an air of arrogance. His face was even grumpier compared to when he was younger.
He was a tall man, but he was really skinny. The expensive clothes he was wearing didn’t go with his body type.
He smirked as he approached us, then frowned when he spotted Brantley, “What is that?”
“Stop objectifying people. He’s my escort knight.”
“Why is he wearing a mask?” A nasty curiosity flickered across Jacob’s face, “Why not take it off?”
Brantley’s silver eyes turned sharp at his words.
“Stop it, Jacob. My knight wears a mask to cover the scars on his face.”
“Scars on his face? Did he live doing meddlesome things?”
Jacob approached and got close to Brantley. I had to divert his attention.
“But what are you doing here?”
“A distant relative entered the academy, so I came to cheer him on. As it’s a support from the future Duke Eisen, it should be quite noticeable.”
Jacob said arrogantly.
“I also made a donation while I was at it. It was just a mere change, but Professor Richter was taken aback. As an institution run by the Emperor, I didn’t think they’d be surprised with this little money. Of course, our family has quite a lot to spend. Haha.”
Duke Eisen was originally wealthy, but they multiplied their fortune several times with investments in the flower hybrids.
With that wealth as a base, they restored their plummeting position.
Lately, the Duke’s mansion was said to be overflowing with visitors to gain his favor.
Naturally, Duke Eisen and Jacob’s arrogance knew no bounds.
“I thought you hated the Academy. At least through donation, you did something good.”
“It’s just peanuts for me.”
“Well then, I should return to the professor’s office. Have a good time.”
I turned to leave with Brantley.
There was no good that could come of Jacob and Brantley being together right now.
As Brantley and I walked past Jacob, he said, “You should invest instead of acting like a useless professor. I’ll help you out generously.”
His pretentious tone elicited a snicker from me.
“I won’t do such things.’
Jacob flared up.
‘What do you mean, “such things”? You were stuck in the countryside, do you even know how the world works? Just sitting around as nobility will only get you a meager income from your estate. To truly earn ‘real’ money, you have to invest smartly.”
“I have no intention of investing in something with no substance, so mind your own business.”
“What? Without substance? That’s what people who’ve never tried to earn money think!”
“Morning glories are just flowers. Anything more is the froth created by people’s greed.”
“Are you so outdated? Morning glories are the new gold of the new era, the measure of wealth.”
Jacob rambled excitedly.
His pride in making big money from Morning Glory investments was a big feat for him.
‘It must be his first time making such a large sum so easily.’
Perhaps the only one too. But I had no intention of indulging his naive arrogance. If he wanted recognition, he should seek someone else, not me.
The moment I turned my back on him, Jacob’s resentful voice reached my ears.
“It seems you have been treating me worse ever since that b*stard died. Can you be honest?”
He approached me while mumbling.
“Do you regret it? Even a little”
“……”
“You were the only one who treated that b*stard well.”
“……”
“If you knew that bastard would die so miserably, you wouldn’t have acted like that, right? You thought he would become Duke Eisen instead of me, didn’t you?”
My steps halted involuntarily.
Jacob laughed villainously like his father, his lips clacking like a duck’s.
“But you know, that b*stard should have never existed in the first place. After he died, everything fell into place.”
I could hear my patience shattering.
“Shut up, Jacob.”
I grabbed Jacob’s chin firmly.
He, who had been arrogantly posing as a cool villain, could only flail.
“Ugh, ugh!!”
When I released him from my grip, tears welled up in his repulsive face.
“A-Are you insane?”
An alien sound invaded our heated conversation.
Brantley, covering his mouth with a fist, was laughing at Jacob. He probably didn’t do it on purpose.
‘But who wouldn’t laugh seeing Jacob like this?’
Jacob’s face turned red as a tomato.
He was making a ridiculous spectacle in front of a knight. More than the pain, the embarrassment was overwhelming.
“T-This…!”
Losing his composure, Jacob tried to hit me.
‘Let’s see what you’ve got.’
Even if he touched a single hair of mine, I thought I would counterattack with magic. But I didn’t get that chance.
Thud!
Brantley knocked Jacob down with a punch. Jacob couldn’t get up for a while due to the shock. After getting up from the ground, he went crazy with anger.
“How dare a worthless knight like you dare…!”
Thud!
As he tried to stand up, Brantley lightly knocked him down again.
“Y-You really want to…!”
Thud!
“Argh, I won’t let you…!”
Thud!
“Stop it… please!”
It was only after Jacob begged, that Brantley let him go. But it didn’t take time for Jacob to return to his previous self.
“How dare you hit the heir of Duke Eisen?”
I shrugged, “Jacob, my knight only saved his threatened master.”
“W-what did you say?”
“You know that actions taken to save a master can’t be blamed, even if the opponent is noble.”
At my words, Jacob could not help gaping.
