By Zephyria 
All days, all moments, flowed according to the natural order.
After languishing for a little over a week, Rubel, following Shayden’s advice to hold him close and reassure him that he was doing well, regained his senses. Only after receiving several promises of “I understand, I’ll be strong” did I stop trying to comfort Rubel.
Looking at his beet-red face, I felt an unpleasant sensation, as if I were toying with a young child, but I considered it better than his constant wilting.
For a homework assignment in Estate Management, I wrote to my father to inquire about the business status of the estate.
It felt embarrassing, as if my father’s homework had become mine, but I received an almost completed file from him and finished the report more easily than I had expected.
Calypse Agrigent stumbled occasionally, but he no longer bore the severe bruises he had previously. I wondered if that was why Walter Orgen whistled his way through every day.
Walter conveyed that he knew I was concerned about Calypse’s neck and was being careful. I had sternly warned him not to lay a hand on his beloved, no matter how angry he became.
Mage Boulder’s Golem had also created a rather plausible Dantian. Douglas and Boulder were now beginning in-depth research into Pressure Point Techniques.
I had often practiced pressing the Speechless Acupoint to silence someone or the Blood Point to put them to sleep, but I was clumsy with anything else. Once again, a laborious task had begun.
The Ranunculus egg I received as an assignment for Magical Creature Growth and Understanding did not hatch. After three weeks, when I showed the egg, swollen and bumpy with a bulging belly, Edwin let out a deep sigh.
“This is a mana overflow phenomenon.”
“Mana overflow…?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you learn how to open a Circle last time? Why are you so ignorantly pouring mana into it? This is no good; it burst and died.”
“…”
It was an egg I had nurtured for three full weeks. Even if it wasn’t a living creature, I felt sorry and regretful.
I looked enviously at the small bird perched on Edwin’s shoulder, tilting its head, and Edwin led me by the hand to Alan Lager.
Alan Lager, without showing any displeasure, exchanged the dead egg for a new bird egg.
“Twice a week… Wait, let me see the schedule.”
“Yes.”
“Tuesday and Friday would be best, but… the times don’t match. Is this time on Wednesday okay?”
“I have private tutoring after that.”
“…At this time?”
“Yes. At that time.”
“What on earth are you doing with your life…? Then let’s just do Tuesday and Friday. Take a little time during lunch. I’ll help you.”
“Hmm.”
“What do you mean ‘hmm’ and end it! Say thank you!”
“Ah. Yes, thank you.”
Edwin grumbled for a long time, but he helped me overlay mana onto the Ranunculus egg twice a week.
The problem was that I, having become accustomed to my Internal energy cultivation method, couldn’t gauge the amount of mana passing through my body at once, so I learned to draw mana thinly and finely, as if creating a Magic Formula.
And so, August passed.
❖ ❖ ❖
In September, Marianne became the most famous child at Shierun Academy.
It was a Thursday afternoon in the last week after the exams.
Today, I was exhausted from holding onto Douglas and Boulder, explaining the Acupoints I knew and their functions, and was trudging back to the dormitory. The whispers of passing children reached me unusually loudly.
“Young Lady Philodendor was too much. She could have refused more calmly.”
“If it were me, I would have slapped her right there. What was that in front of everyone?”
“Is that so? Wow, but what will happen now? Young Master Glotin Tenner…”
I usually enjoyed hearing and seeing about various happenings at Shierun. But today was different. I felt a sense of unease, unable to understand what had happened to that child.
As I approached to speak to them, the whispering children bowed quickly and darted away. I was stunned, not knowing why. This happened several times.
When I caught one child who didn’t run away and asked, I was told that everyone at the academy knew I was close with Marianne, so it would be best to ask her directly.
Thinking about it, the child was right. I turned my steps and headed towards the second-year girls’ dormitory.
Fortunately, Marianne was out in the garden in front of the dormitory. After a few words with a strange girl, Marianne’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw me, and she strode over, grabbing my wrist.
It made me recall the day she first grabbed my sleeve. We must have become quite close since then. There was no hesitation in her rough grip.
“Mikael, let’s talk for a moment.”
“…Let’s.”
Although I was taken aback, I let her be, knowing she was looking for someone to listen to her. I followed Marianne obediently.
However, after visiting several places and finding them occupied, I realized the child couldn’t bring herself to speak, so I led the way. It was a small Martial arts training ground I always went to when training with Wilton Roberts.
It was a desolate space where not a single blade of grass remained, worn down by countless steps from Wilton and me. Marianne stood in the center of it before her face contorted, and she spewed out her anger.
“I, I’m so angry!”
“What happened, exactly?”
“No, no…”
Marianne burst into tears.
She was a child who laughed and chattered easily, but I had never seen her cry. Flustered, I didn’t pull away as she clung to my chest.
Marianne cried for a long time.
I patted Marianne’s back a few times. With her eyes swollen and red from crying, I spread her outer garment on the ground and sat her down, as she seemed weak. Marianne cried her heart out for a long time before speaking as if spitting out words.
“Oliver, that bastard, he’s a truly disgusting scumbag.”
Oliver Combine was said to be a close friend of Marianne’s lover, Glotin Tenner. I waited silently, allowing the child to pour out her feelings without adding any words.
Marianne unburdened herself without hesitation.
“Today, that scumbag proposed to me.”
“…Combine? No, where is Glotin Tenner?”
“Exactly! That’s what’s so absurd. This happened once last semester too.”
It seemed Oliver Combine had spoken to Marianne just as he had spoken to me, sharing his thoughts about Glotin. He had apparently told her to reconsider her feelings, suggesting he could treat her better, by listing what he considered Glotin Tenner’s wrongdoings.
However, at first, she hadn’t been greatly moved, as the so-called wrongdoings were merely stories of Oliver losing everything to Glotin. She had intended to ask Glotin about it later and tell him to apologize.
“But he said, ‘Glee Oppa doesn’t like me. He just likes me because I like him, and he’s just a guy who’s desperate to take what’s mine’…”
“…”
“Hearing that made me so sad, angry, and resentful that I couldn’t sleep for a while. After enduring it for about three days, I grabbed Glee Oppa and asked him. I asked if it was true, if he was dating me because he liked me. And then he said this. He admitted he had wronged Oliver greatly, but…”
“Yes, but?”
“…He said he likes me and loves me too.”
Marianne gasped for breath. I listened quietly.
“Glee Oppa hated the fate that was decided for him from birth. He was so tired and annoyed by hearing that he had to serve Oliver Combine, who was only his age. So, he thought if their relationship soured, he could just quit being a retainer or whatever.”
What followed were words that seemed to have been mulled over and thought about many times, spoken without pause.
Glotin Tenner said he hated the fact that as he grew up, he had no time to look at anything else, and that he had to serve and uphold Oliver Combine, who was merely his age.
So, he threw tantrums and acted out in an attempt to escape that position. These were actions taken while knowing he was behaving wrongly, trying hard not to displease Count Combine.
However, Count Combine indulged all of the child’s tantrums. This was because Glotin’s father was a capable retainer.
Therefore, Glotin, though angry, had no recourse. If there were to be a dispute, one must clash, but how could there be a fight when one side indulged the other with “yes, yes”?
So, later, he began coveting Oliver’s possessions. Believing that if their relationship soured, he could escape his responsibilities, he snatched up anything that belonged to Oliver.
Then, Oliver began to want things that Glotin couldn’t take. Expensive jewels, live animals… And Glotin took them all.
When Glotin ended up taking care of over a dozen types of pets, Oliver no longer desired animals, and they were able to catch their breath.
But this time, it was different. He knew Oliver liked Marianne, but he also liked Marianne, and couldn’t help but like her… He had apparently rambled on with such sweet words.
“…He was afraid that if I saw such a pathetic side of him, I would stop liking him because I liked him too much. I used to gush about how Glee Oppa was like a fairy, an angel, a spirit, and so incredibly beautiful. He was scared because he wasn’t a fairy, an angel, or a spirit.”
“…”
I thought that was a little scary. I listened in silence.
“But damn it, this summer vacation, Count Combine called me. Not Oliver Combine, but his father! Are you crazy?”
“What are you saying?”
“Yes, if, by some chance, I found Glotin Oppa’s actions unbearable and decided to break up with him. But that didn’t mean I would date Oliver Combine. But even in front of the Count, I refused Oliver, so behind my back, he called Glotin Oppa. That damned rich man.”
“…And then?”
“He told Oppa that since he had received many concessions up until now, he should concede this time. How dare he tell me to concede, to bargain over me. Who does he think he is?”
Marianne began to cry again, letting out a wail of frustration. I, too, was dumbfounded, sitting there in a daze. It was not uncommon for adults to interfere in children’s squabbles, but how could their methods be so barbaric?
“After that, Glee Oppa started acting very strangely towards me. I didn’t know why and just thought he was upset because I had spoken with Count Combine, but today.”
“…”
“Today, when Oliver Combine proposed to me, he told me about that incident. That I was destined not to be with Glotin.”