Episode 142

Joshua’s words meant that Danvers Campbell wasn’t acting out simply because he was a royal relative.

‘It’s like being the younger sibling of a school gang boss or something.’

It made sense why it would be overwhelming for Joshua to handle it alone.

He’d probably get beaten up before he even had a chance to ask for help.

‘And to make matters worse, he’s some sports star that even the adults secretly protect…’

If slipping a few jewels lying around the room into his hand could help avoid the situation, I probably would’ve done the same.

Though, stealing even the late Duchess’s heirlooms was absolutely unforgivable.

‘…Seriously, Ismail, why didn’t you tell me this properly?’

I grumbled to myself, directing my dissatisfaction toward Ismail, who had only half-heartedly done the background check.

But when I thought about how I could use this as a convenient excuse to get something useful out of him later, I quickly calmed down.

“Mm…”

I swallowed down everything I’d been chewing in my mouth and spoke up.

“You’ve got a brother too, Joshua.”

“…Huh?”

“I’m talking about Edwin. If you’d told him, he would’ve sorted it out somehow.”

And he would’ve found a smarter and more gentlemanly way to handle it than I could.

As I casually added that, Joshua hesitated.

“My brother…”

He mumbled with a somewhat gloomy look.

“He’s really busy, you know.”

“……”

“With the family’s affairs, hunting down monsters… It’s rare to even run into him at home, so how could I even tell him?”

Since that was true, I didn’t know what to say.

Just like Joshua said, Edwin had been extremely busy lately.

Still, compared to my previous life where he’d suddenly disappeared without a word and hadn’t returned for over a month, this was much better.

At least now, he regularly came home and made sure to attend important events.

Maybe that’s why I hadn’t really felt his absence much.

Feeling flustered by Joshua’s downcast expression, I stammered before carefully asking,

“…What about His Grace?”

“Father?”

Joshua snorted and answered dryly,

“If I’d told Father, he would’ve just assigned me a private tutor and ordered me to drop out of the academy.”

“Well, that’s…”

Since that was also true, I quietly closed my mouth.

The academy, for nobles, was pretty much another form of high society that started at an early age.

That’s why, even if one dropped out halfway through, most nobles still enrolled at least once.

Though, it wasn’t exactly mandatory either.

Guys like Danvers Campbell, who have shaky standing, probably find the connections and power they build here all the sweeter.

For someone like Kallios, who was already born with everything, it was a completely unnecessary process.

Which meant the Duke’s solution must have been the simplest and most straightforward answer.

‘But still…’

I couldn’t bring myself to say any of that out loud.

I’d seen firsthand how much Joshua had dreamed of enrolling at the academy, especially since he’d had almost no interaction with kids his own age when he was younger.

I quietly folded away the question about why he hadn’t told the Duke and changed the subject.

“Then…”

“You were busy until just a few days ago too.”

But before I could even finish speaking, Joshua jumped in first.

“Did you already forget how you were breathing fire at me the moment we met, saying some crazy jerk had stolen your interior designs and business ideas?”

“……”

“And then you started rushing out at the crack of dawn every day to mess with their construction.”

Faced with Joshua’s coldly logical rebuttal, I was completely KO’d.

Embarrassingly enough, everything he said was true.

‘When you say it like that, it sounds like I was some villain…’

It was nothing serious — just small things, like showing up early and gluing shut the doors of Adolf’s building, or putting out drinks spiked with laxatives for the workers of that damned interior company.

Of course, I knew perfectly well that none of that would actually stop Adolf’s construction.

Still, I put in the effort purely out of spite.

‘No wonder Josh felt like he couldn’t talk to anyone…’

His brother was off hunting monsters, nowhere to be seen. His father was completely impossible to talk to.

And the only person living with him was too busy chasing revenge, running off at dawn every day.

Who was he supposed to open up to and ask for help?

As I let out a small sigh, sympathizing with Joshua’s situation—

“…Can’t you just pretend you don’t know, sis?”

Joshua suddenly pleaded in a desperate voice.

“I want to keep attending the academy. It’s not like Danvers only picked on me… If I just let him squeeze a few coins or jewels out of me a few more times, he’ll lose interest and move on to someone else.”

“…Josh.”

“I’m solving it with money because I was told to solve it with money. What’s the problem?”

Joshua stared at me with eyes full of frustrated resentment.

I swallowed another sigh and calmly asked him,

“Then what about the sapphire ring?”

“Th-that’s…”

As expected, the moment I brought up the ring, he flinched and looked completely flustered.

“He just… asked to borrow it for a little while, so I lent it to him.”

“The late Duchess’s heirloom? And even putting that aside, that’s your most treasured item.”

“Ugh…”

Joshua bit his lower lip hard at my words, then eventually dropped his gaze and mumbled softly.

“He promised he’d definitely return it. That’s why he wears it every day… like he’s showing off.”

“……”

“He showed it to me… to prove he hadn’t pawned it…”

Trailing off, Joshua eventually fell silent.

It seemed even to him, the excuse sounded too pathetic.

‘So that’s why he came to the pawn shop.’

Now I understood exactly why Joshua had run into that alley off Main Street the other day.

Danvers Campbell must have either shown up without the ring one day or taunted him saying he’d sold it.

That’s why Joshua had ditched the rest of his classes and rushed straight to the pawn shop.

To get the ring back.

Having pieced it together, I chose not to confront him about lying that it was a half-day at school. Instead, I said something else.

“Don’t worry, Josh.”

“…?”

“I’m going to have a lot of free time from now on. Actually, I’ll probably be free until you graduate from the academy.”

Joshua tilted his head at my sudden statement.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

What else could it mean?

It meant that starting today, I was scrapping my plan to convince him to drop out of the academy with me.

* * *

After lunch, Joshua and I split up to head to our next classes.

I had offered to go with him to business class, but he firmly refused, so I couldn’t push further.

He said he didn’t want to provoke Danvers Campbell any more than necessary.

‘It’s already too late. That guy’s been itching for a fight for a while now.’

Clicking my tongue at innocent Joshua, I had no choice but to head toward the biology building.

“Welcome, Miss Belze.”

“Hello, Professor.”

It just so happened to be Professor Reina’s lecture — she was the one who had earlier recommended I sample all the classes.

True to her sharp appearance, her class was structured and engaging.

I got pretty absorbed in the lecture, but just before Joshua’s class ended, I slipped out and hurried over to his classroom.

“Huff, huff… Josh!”

Joshua, who was packing up his bag, widened his eyes at my outburst.

I rushed over and scanned him from head to toe.

“Nothing happened, right?”

“Yeah.”

Josh nodded obediently and then added with a chuckle,

“You’re acting like some crazy overprotective guardian.”

“Children of noble houses are supposed to have at least one devoted maid hovering around them, you know.”

“Are you still saying that? I told you to quit joking about that.”

Joshua cringed and furrowed his brows at my teasing.

He still got embarrassed about the time he first mistook me for a maid when we met.

Still, joking aside, I carefully grabbed his sleeve and checked him over thoroughly.

Even if there were surveillance magic tools installed in the classrooms, if someone wanted to bully him discreetly, it wouldn’t be that hard.

Like jabbing him with a pen tip or pinching him with their nails or something…

“Those guys didn’t show up for class after lunch.”

Joshua’s next words immediately swept away my worries.

“Is that okay?”

“Who knows. But if they keep racking up penalties like that, they’ll get suspended soon enough.”

Joshua shrugged, pulled his hand free from my grip, and started walking.

I trailed a step behind him, grumbling under my breath.

“Little punks these days… Do they even know how much the tuition costs? Skipping class like it’s nothing… Bunch of snot-nosed kids…”

Joshua turned around with an incredulous look.

“You know, sis, you’ve been seriously creepy lately? You sound like some old grandpa who’s lived three lives already.”

“I learned from your grandfather.”

“You barely even see him. What are you talking about…”

He gave me a look like I was completely hopeless and quickened his pace toward the exit.

‘What do you mean, don’t see him? I literally met him again just last night.’

I pouted and glared at the back of Joshua’s head, full of secrets he didn’t know.

“Hey, wait for me!”

I was just starting to dash after him when—

“Hey! Grab them!”

A bunch of boys suddenly came charging at us out of nowhere, surrounding Joshua and me in an instant.

“Joshua Kallios. I told you you were dead.”

As expected, it was Danvers Campbell’s gang.

The guy leading them looked back and forth between me and Joshua with a nasty grin.

“Let’s see if you can still mouth off about breaking fingers or whatever this time, you filthy little tramp.”

“……”

“Drag them to the junkyard!”