Ignoring my reaction, Connie lifted her chin like an arrogant judge and said,
“This time, he’s not a womanizer trying to burn his youth at the academy by leaving his fiancée back home, not a playboy that the count’s wife would bet on, and definitely not a pervert.”
Connie counted out my failed love history on her fingers.
“I think this is about right.”
Connie struck her right hand, clenched into a fist, down several times onto my left palm.
Like a judge’s gavel.
Despite Connie’s friendly judgment, I hunched over, shrinking into my past black history like a passing panorama.
Connie patted my shoulder as if comforting me.
“Good luck. This time, I think he’s the best among the men you’ve chosen.”
Connie’s encouragement couldn’t reach me; my past was too dark and gloomy.
* * *
“Sis, did you have a nightmare or something?”
Anica, the youngest of the Diaz four siblings and my only sister, asked me with weary eyes as she watched me spread butter on bread.
“I must have had a rough night’s sleep,” I replied, keeping my eyes wide open to avoid worrying the child who had just entered the academy.
In fact, I had indeed had a nightmare.
Before taking my vacation and coming home, I had talked with Connie about our academy days, and my past black history appeared in my dreams.
“A nightmare where I replay my past mistakes with Ah! Aaaak! Aaaaargh!” It was a very cruel dream.
During the time I had postponed coming home a few times because I was busy, I wondered if some evil spirit had attached itself to my room.
“Should I go to the storage and get some party silverware or something?”
As I doubted the presence of a spirit while looking at the butter knife, Anica took a seat across from me.
Anica had started using adult-sized chairs after entering the academy.
However, since she was smaller than her peers, her legs still dangled under the chair.
“You didn’t overwork yourself trying to come home, did you?” Anica stretched out her hand to grab her share of the cutlery and asked.
“No, not at all.”
I moved the position of the dishes to make it easier for Anica to grab, answering.
This time, it was not an empty lie to avoid worrying her, but the truth, so I answered confidently.
“After Donovan was dragged away, the work environment has significantly improved.”
With the boss, who prioritized his own mood over work efficiency, gone, unnecessary tasks have considerably decreased.
“Arnold, who was temporarily appointed as the department head, was timid but not authoritarian, so easy to get along with.”
Moreover, somehow, the rumor that I had connections with “a high-ranking noble above” spread, so the staff were watching me more carefully than Arnold.
“No, to be precise, it is true that I have connections.”
Everett was an imperial assistant and Kyle was the emperor’s only friend.
To that extent, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were the core of power, the emperor’s closest confidants.
“In my life, which I thought was no better than an extra, I might surprisingly become an extra with a line as a diplomat?”
While I was gauging my own position, Anica shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s a relief then.”
Anica, the youngest sister who had been indifferent since birth.
With her saying she was okay, the conversation ended shortly.
After that, only the sound of eating echoed in the dining room for a while.
Work fuel was needed for both the office-dominated worker and the child.
After we were somewhat full, the conversation resumed.
“Is academy life manageable?”
It seemed like the topic she brought up was not very good.
Anica’s fork paused for a moment.
“No, I miss the days when I knew nothing.”
The twelve-year-old just shook her head and let out a deep sigh.
“How young? Eleven? Ten?”
I teased her, asking.
Anica put her fork down and buried her face into the table, her soft cheeks pressed against it.
“You don’t know anything, Sis.”
Anica’s eyes were distant, as if wandering in the past of about one or two years ago.
“There must not be anything really wrong.”
Though she was a sturdy youngest sister who could be easily found even if dropped in the middle of the market, I still worried.
“Why, do you have too much homework? Or don’t you like the kids in your class?”
If you asked a first-year academy student about their concerns, you’d expect them to talk about top priorities, but I didn’t think a kid’s head would tilt that way.
“If I have to be specific, it’s probably the second.”
The answer came just as the twins were coming downstairs to eat.
“Sis, it’s been a while.”
Emmett waved his hand indifferently.
“Hi.”
Jaden stuck his face cheekily over Emmett’s right shoulder.
Even though they were identical twins, their strikingly similar faces side by side looked like Cerberus.
“You’re out of your mind, so come and sit down first.”
Thinking that it was a relief they weren’t triplets, I checked the time as Jaden and Emmett quickly approached and sat down.
“It was a close call, gentlemen.”
Emma, the cook and cleaner, placed food in front of the two and smiled.
“Emmett was tardy.”
“You also woke up late.”
Emmett and Jaden started fussing, picking up forks and knives.
The brief sniping faded as we started eating.
It was almost the end of breakfast time.
In the Diaz household, there was no rule that all family members must gather during meal times.
“If you don’t want to eat, you can skip.”
But to have a meal, you had to come to the dining room within the set time.
“If you miss meal times, you have to make do with leftover bread or skip eating.”
This rule, designed to reduce the workload of the only three employees and correct the irregular habits of the family members with a hardcore personality, was maintained under the support of the matriarch, the mother, who was the true authority of the house.
“Even when the parents are out.”
Moreover, Emmett and Jaden were at the age where they should be eating properly, not just making do.
“By the way, what do you mean by the second thing?”
Emmett, diligently eating his food, added a bit of his previous answer to explain.
“I’m sad because I’m in a different class from Nathan.”
Nathan was Anica’s childhood friend with cute curly blond hair.
Perhaps because Emmett’s words were correct, Anica’s cheeks pressed down a bit flatter.
“So, she begged to transfer to the Knightry Department but failed.”
Jaden added with a snicker.
“I didn’t pressure him. I just politely asked if a transfer was possible.”
Anica’s lips pointed like a chick’s beak.
“But you can’t even wield a wooden sword.”
Jaden’s ruthless confirmation shot, Anica pretended she didn’t hear.
“The academy separated Nathan and me.”
It was like a monologue of a tragic heroine in a play.
Emmett and Jaden, having gotten into the fun of teasing their younger sister, got even more excited.
“Lately, Nathan seems to be in a really good mood.”
“Yeah, he was.”
The twins were enrolled in the Department of Magic, which was the complete opposite of the Department of Knightry.
Also, since there was no overlap between the schedules of the new student Nathan and the graduating-year twins, it was a made-up story to tease Anica.
“Really?”
However, Anica, who was engrossed in playing the tragic heroine, momentarily lost her judgment.
When she asked back with her eyes wide open, Emmett and Jaden flinched.
It was an unbelievable force for a twelve-year-old.
Seeing Emmett and Jaden unable to respond properly and stammering, Anica’s purple eyes, having taken the lack of response as silent affirmation, became a bit moist.
I exchanged glances with Emmett and Jaden alternately.
“If Anica cries, you two are both in for it.”
In the end, Emmett let out his confession.
“No, I was just kidding.”
“I haven’t seen Nathan except on the day of the entrance ceremony.”
As Jaden finished speaking, Anica realized she was being teased and let out a roar.
“Liars! You brothers are goblin boogers! Orkish tartar!”
It was a tailored insult for the twins who had entered the Department of Magic, despite being interested in monster studies with no mana.
“Emmett, do you want to be the Orkish tartar?”
“No, I’ll just take the goblin booger in order.”
So, it hit even harder.
Those two had spent their lives studying monsters like orcs and goblins that others would shun.
“Still, being tartar or boogers is a bit much.”
Seeing Emmett and Jaden rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be the goblin booger, Anica puffed up her cheeks and asked me for help.
“Sis! The brothers are teasing me.”
“So, you need to moderate it a bit.”
I reached out and gently stroked Anica’s hair.
Then, I spoke loudly enough for Emmett and Jaden to hear.
“Would kind Anica forgive you? I can’t make the students plagiarize the scriptures.”
Now, Emmett and Jaden’s cheeks were puffed up.
