Episode 145

Joshua and I left the junkyard, leaving the collapsed thugs behind without a second glance.

He kept glancing nervously over his shoulder, clearly uneasy.

“Is it really okay… just to leave them like that?”

“Of course. We’re already late getting home. If we wait any longer, the butler’s going to come looking for us.”

“…Shouldn’t we at least call a professor or something?”

“You’re joking, right? You want us dragged into a school violence investigation too?”

I gave Joshua a pat on the shoulder and started walking toward where the carriage was waiting.

Tap, tap, tap.

After a moment, I heard the sound of hurried footsteps catching up behind me.

“Haa…”

Followed by a deep, heavy sigh.

Glancing back, I saw Joshua looking completely defeated, letting out a long sigh with a miserable expression.

He must’ve been overwhelmed, realizing just how much trouble we had stirred up.

Unlike him, though, I felt nothing but pure satisfaction and glee.

Sure, there had been some terrifying “watermelon-splitting” sounds earlier, but Danvers Campbell and the rest had only fainted.

They’d probably wake up in a few hours.

Maybe sooner if someone found them.

The only one in real bad shape was Hans Campbell…

I thought back to how Teddy Bear had neatly fractured Hans’s right arm.

It would be a rough, painful recovery.

Honestly, it was intentional.

Breaking the arm he used most often — not the left, but the dominant right — was deliberate.

‘He must’ve loved using that arm to bully kids younger and weaker than him. Throwing shot puts and acting all high and mighty too.’

It had always annoyed me how the academy secretly gave him special treatment just because he was a rising sports star.

‘Those perks are supposed to be for me, Uncle Chancellor.’

That’s what all the money was for, after all.

Sure, his arm would heal eventually.

But picturing Hans Campbell hobbling around with a cast for months brought a satisfying warmth to my chest.

“I should’ve just wrecked him completely…”

I muttered to myself without even realizing it.

Joshua, walking beside me, turned to stare at me in horror.

“How can you even say that…! What if Father finds out?!”

“You mean if the Duke finds out?”

“Yeah! This isn’t why he gave you that thing!”

Joshua pointed accusingly at the teddy bear cuddled in my arms.

Following his gaze, I noticed a few tiny drops of blood spattered across Teddy Bear’s brown fur.

Unfortunately, they were near his mouth, making it look extremely disturbing.

I shrugged and answered casually.

“I’ll just wash it.”

“Are you kidding me?! You think they’re going to keep quiet? They’re going to run straight home screaming that a giant teddy bear beat them up!”

Worked up, Joshua shouted — then suddenly deflated, mumbling with a miserable face.

“Even if you’re rich, sis, school violence gets you at least a suspension. But we broke Hans Campbell’s arm too, so… we’re definitely getting expelled…”

“You’re worried about the Duke scolding you?”

I stopped walking and turned to face him, widening my eyes in mock surprise.

“Don’t worry. The Duke isn’t the kind of man who’d tell you to just sit there and take it.”

“That’s easy for you to say, sis!”

Out of nowhere, Joshua suddenly shouted.

“Father always praises you no matter what you do!”

“Josh.”

Startled by his sudden outburst, I widened my eyes and stared at him.

“But what about me? I was sick all my life, barely hanging on, and now that I’ve finally started to feel normal at the academy…”

“……”

“I’m terrible at studying, and now I’m about to get expelled for beating someone up!”

“……”

“How do you think Father’s going to see me? As a useless idiot, that’s how!”

“You know the Duke isn’t that kind of person, Joshua.”

“Yeah, what would you know? You, who can do anything perfectly — you’d never understand how miserable I feel!”

“……”

“The only person who ever understood me… was Grandpa…”

Muttering with a twisted expression, Joshua stormed past me, heading quickly toward the carriage.

I stood frozen, my mouth hanging open, stunned by what I had just heard.

I had never realized Joshua felt that way about me.

Or that he had been so close to the Marquis of Tebron, either.

At the Duke’s estate, no one had ever forced Joshua to do anything.

The Duke, Edwin, and even the entire household staff were simply grateful that Joshua was alive and breathing.

And me — I had stayed by his side even more closely.

I had doted on him like a little prince, proud that he had overcome his sickness.

Whatever he wanted to do, I supported it. I even slipped him extra allowance money behind the Duke’s back now and then.

‘But Joshua says he felt miserable because of me…’

I couldn’t fully understand it — and yet, at the same time, a part of me somehow felt like I knew why.

 

“Wow! Diana came first again! Diana’s good at everything! I really want to be friends with her!”

“Did you hear? Diana healed Her Majesty the Empress’s wound! Meanwhile, Belze…”

Suddenly, distant memories from my past life flashed before my eyes.

All those countless miserable moments — being endlessly compared to Diana, who was admired by everyone.

At the same time, a wave of fear crept over me.

‘What if… I’m the Diana in Joshua’s life?’

I still had so much to do — uncover the connection between the cultists and Diana, find the heart, protect the Duke’s family from ruin…

There were mountains of tasks left unfinished, but now it struck me:
Maybe I’d have to leave the Duke’s estate much sooner than I thought.

Because among the people I wanted to protect — the ones I wanted to make happy — was Joshua too.

If I was the reason he was suffering, then I was willing to disappear anytime.

But the moment I actually imagined leaving the Duke’s house, tears welled up and my chest grew heavy.

It was then—

“Ugh, why are you just standing there again?! Hurry up and get in!”

An irritable voice snapped me back to reality.

Startled, I lifted my head — and there, just a few steps ahead, stood Joshua, glaring at me.

I thought he had already gone ahead.

“Ah, yeah! I’m coming!”

I ran over to him without hesitation.

Soon, the two of us climbed into the Duke’s carriage together.

Even after the carriage started moving, Joshua stayed silent for a long time.

Then, after quite a while, he finally spoke.

“…If I get expelled, I’m going to work at your salon.”

“…?”

“I’ll sell accessories and dresses too. And I’ll ban some of those annoying old ladies from coming in — so don’t stop me.”

His voice was full of sulky mischief, but I could tell — this was his way of offering peace.

“…Don’t worry, Josh.”

Relieved, I smiled softly.

“You’re not going to get expelled.”

“……”

“And the Marquis of Tebron will get better soon too.”

At my words, Joshua huffed and sharply turned his head away.

He didn’t look like he believed me at all.

But, as always, I knew — everything would go exactly the way I planned.

* * *

Fortunately, the next day was the weekend — no academy.

Despite all of Joshua’s worrying, the Duke never found out about the bloodbath at the academy during the entire weekend.

It helped that the whole mess had happened after classes ended, meaning there were barely any witnesses.

Besides, there was an unspoken rule at the academy:
All problems that happened inside had to be handled internally.

So even if those brats ran home and tattled to their parents, they wouldn’t dare send a private complaint to the Duke’s household.

Finally, the weekend ended, and the day to return to school arrived.

“Josh, Belze.”

Just as Joshua and I were leaving the house early in the morning, we ran into the Duke at the front entrance.

Since he’d been inspecting the territory all weekend, it had been three days since we last saw him.

“Good morning, Your Grace!”

“Good morning, Father.”

“Mm.”

The Duke nodded lightly and then looked between the two of us.

“How’s the academy? Are you settling in well?”

“Well…”

“Yes!”

I quickly jumped in, looping my arm through Joshua’s and cutting him off before he could start stammering and looking guilty.

“Thanks to Josh, I didn’t feel lonely at all! It’s so much fun! The classes are amazing too!”

“That’s good to hear.”

The Duke smiled in satisfaction at my answer and then pulled something from his coat, holding it out to Joshua.

“Here.”

“What’s this… Father?”

“When I went down to Babelon territory, Viscount Babelon gave me this gift to celebrate your recovery.”

What the Duke handed over was a green-tinted crystal orb, about the size of a ping-pong ball.

“It’s an emerald from the Harun mines, enchanted with high-grade communication magic.”

“Communication magic…? So this is a communication tool?”

“Exactly. If you tap it twice, it’ll send a signal directly to me.”

To demonstrate, the Duke tapped the crystal orb twice in his hand.

Wuuuuuung—

Immediately, the green brooch on his cravat lit up and started vibrating.

It looked like the two items were a matching pair.

‘That looks insanely expensive.’

The Duke pressed the emerald orb into Joshua’s hands and added seriously,

“If anything happens, contact me immediately. You never know what could happen in a place full of kids.”

“Ah…”

At those words, Joshua’s shoulders twitched nervously.

I, too, barely managed to keep a straight face.

It felt suspicious — like way too meaningful timing for just a ‘congratulatory gift.’

“Thank you, Father.”

Joshua accepted it with trembling hands, and thankfully, the Duke turned his attention to me next.

“Unfortunately, because it’s so difficult and time-consuming to make, yours is still in production, Belze. Don’t be too disappointed.”

“I’m fine without one!”

“No can do. Well then, I’ll be off.”

Ignoring my protests completely, the Duke turned to leave, his aide following closely behind.

“I’ll be home early today. See you at dinner.”

“Yes! Have a good day!”

“Goodbye, Father.”

We watched the Duke’s figure grow smaller in the distance.

Joshua muttered anxiously,

“…You don’t think he knows, do you?”

“Who knows.”

“I want to leave this thing behind.”

He glanced warily down at the crystal orb in his hand.

Honestly, I agreed — who knew if it had some sneaky recording magic embedded in it?

“Good idea. Then I’ll leave Teddy Bear at home today too!”

“You still haven’t washed it?! You said you would!”

“……”

* * *

Even when we arrived at the academy, nothing happened.

“They’re not here.”

I glanced around the business department classroom while dropping Joshua off, wearing a puzzled expression.

The seats belonging to Danvers Campbell and his gang were all completely empty.

Seeing this, Joshua whispered nervously,

“…You don’t think they’re dead, right?”

“They’re not.”

Honestly, I had been a little spooked too the moment I saw those empty seats.

‘No. I definitely checked. They were breathing.’

Suppressing the creeping anxiety, I patted Joshua on the shoulder encouragingly.

“Good luck with your class.”

“…Yeah.”

“Even if something happens, it’ll be fine.”

“You’re making it sound like I should prepare myself for the worst.”

Joshua gave a weak laugh at my words.

Thankfully, it seemed that over the weekend, he had cooled off a lot since that emotional outburst a few days ago.

After parting ways with him, I headed straight to the theology department.

I had already finished exchanging letters with Ismail over the weekend, but just to be safe — and also to sit in on the heresy lectures — I decided to check things out in person.

Everything was going peacefully.

About two hours had passed since classes started when suddenly,
an announcement echoed through the entire building.

— Attention please.
Joshua Kallios of the Business Department, and Belze of the Theology Department,
please report to the Chancellor’s Office immediately.