Chapter 86. I Wish They Would All Go Away (1)

Patrick♥Isabella.

This rumor disheartened the many young men who secretly admired Isabella, but there was one person who was expressing not just disappointment but outrage.

“Anyway, you can’t just leave men be. When their backs are warm and their bellies are full, they forget the gratitude they owe their woman and let their eyes wander.”

It was none other than the daughter of Count Parmas, Marianne Parmas, known as the Flower of the East.

She ground her teeth and spoke to her personal maid, Emily, who was beside her.

“You think so too, don’t you?”

“Would it… be okay if I didn’t?”

“And you still call yourself my personal maid? If your master’s man is having an affair, shouldn’t you be angry with me and think of a plan?”

Me? Am I supposed to?

Emily let out a deep sigh.

“My lady, about that.”

Emily thought.

To unravel this tangled mess of a situation, she first needed to realize that Young Master Schneider was not her man…

“Just you wait…. Just let me get my hands on him. I’ll just… smack…”

Emily, the personal maid, thought.

It seemed that proper reasoning wouldn’t get through to Marianne, who was blinded by jealousy and anger.

So, Emily spoke in the kindest possible words to resolve this situation.

“Well… what can you do? That’s the kind of man he was from the beginning.”

“You think he’s in the wrong too, right?”

“Yes. I am always on your side, my lady.”

‘As long as I’m getting paid.’

“Right. Right. You’re the only one I have, Emily.”

As Marianne’s anger seemed to subside a little, Emily said.

“Then, you see, my lady.”

“What?”

“In any case, if he’s that kind of man, you are far too good for him, so why don’t you just cleanly ignore him and forget about it?”

“What?”

“Isn’t that right? Why should someone as beautiful, wise, and from a good family as you have to date a trashy man who cheats?”

They never even dated in the first place.

It wasn't that Emily didn't know that.

But if they broke up here, this whole affair could be concluded as if it never happened, in the best possible way with minimal fuss. Wouldn't that be great?

Such hopes of Emily’s were…

“No, but breaking up is a bit…”

Ah…. It was a lost cause.

Watching Marianne twirling her finger in her hair and trying to look away, Emily thought.

Her lady would absolutely not break up with Young Master Schneider.

“Well, a man can have his eyes wander for a moment when he’s young. I can understand that much with a generous heart. Don’t you think?”

“……”

I don’t think so?

“Maybe it’s my misunderstanding. They say Princess Isabella is the one passionately chasing Patrick, and Patrick is just busy running away, right? So… strictly speaking, it’s not an affair. Well. Right?”

“Oh, my head.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“No. I was just thinking how nice it would be if you were my little sister, my lady.”

“Hohoho, you want a cute little sister like me?”

“……”

‘If she were my little sister, I could have broken her legs into 36 pieces….’

Ah, the lamentable, insurmountable wall of social status.

Marianne was a woman of action.

The very next day, she went to the Knight Faculty.

She knew Patrick had come to the Academy all this time, but her pride kept her from visiting him first.

‘In a relationship, there has to be the fun of having the man cling to you.’

It was a push-and-pull she was playing all by herself in a situation where a relationship hadn't even been established, but her head was still filled with sweet and sour thoughts.

‘Well, well? You’re holding back, are you?’

‘You’re holding out quite well.’

‘Should I send a letter first? No. If I send something like this first, I lose.’

Stop, please just stop….

I feel like crying.

Anyway, deciding to lose this round of the push-and-pull, she went to meet Patrick.

“Excuse me. May I ask you something?”

Entering the Knight Faculty, she stopped a passing student and spoke.

“Yes. Please speak, my lady.”

“Where are the first-year students of the Knight Faculty?”

“The first-years should be in the first-floor lecture hall for their liberal arts class right now.”

“Thank you.”

Marianne gave a gentle smile.

Her mind was a mess, but on the outside, she was the famed beauty of the East. As she smiled, the eyes of the person who gave her directions glazed over.

“Um, if you don’t mind, may I guide you there myself?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Marianne readily accepted his kindness.

Since she was on her way to meet Patrick, she had thought about refusing for a moment, but…

‘No, this is actually better.’

An attractive person who is popular with both men and women is an appealing advantage in itself.

The sense of accomplishment, that feeling of superiority, when you make someone desired and admired by many your own lover.

That would surely work.

Besides, if she played her cards right, she might even be able to make Patrick jealous of her.

Isn't jealousy also an indispensable spice in a relationship?

‘You shall become my prop.’

“Shall we go then? Sir Knight.”

“Yes. I will guide you, my lady.”

And so, Marianne headed to the first-year lecture hall with an unnamed, pitiful prop in tow.

“Truly, a knight’s loyalty is like the green pine tree that does not change its color even in the dead of winter. Loyalty that changes because the situation is difficult is not loyalty. An anecdote that teaches this lesson is the story of the past Kingdom of Alphrein…”

Watching the professor on the podium passionately explaining a historical event and what loyalty means to a knight, Patrick thought.

‘Ah, this is boring. And useless.’

Unlike the relatively free practical classes, this kind of liberal arts lecture was a penance that was difficult for Patrick's twisted personality to endure.

What is the loyalty of chivalry?

How could he prattle on and on without a break about such a simple topic?

Loyalty?

What's so special about it? If you don't backstab them and stick with them until you die, that's loyalty.

Seeing him try to fill the lecture time by explaining that simple thing in difficult words to make it sound plausible, it naturally occurred to him that the profession of a professor was not an easy one.

In fact, most of the other students besides Patrick also had expressions that said they were bored to death.

Since they were basically people who were used to using their bodies, liberal arts classes were their poison.

Ding dong, ding dong.

When the bell rang, the expressions of all the first-year students became as if they had been saved from hell.

“Ahem, that's all for today. And for students who write a report on Knight Ricardo, I will give extra credit.”

I guarantee no one will write it.

As soon as the lecture was over, the first one to get up quickly among all the students was Patrick.

And Patrick stood up quickly as if to run away from something and was about to go outside, but…

“Where are you going?”

“Aaaah!”

As soon as he stepped out of the lecture hall, he was immediately caught by Isabella, who had been lying in wait.

“Don’t you have classes, Senior?”

“Third-years have a lot of self-study classes.”

“Ah, is that so. That must be nice. Then I’ll be on my way…”

Isabella grabbed Patrick tightly, as if she wouldn't let him slip away, and said.

“Today’s the day you do it.”

“Do what!?”

“The duel.”

“So why should I do that? And I already did it once for you.”

“What happened before is invalid. Let’s do it again.”

“Why should I!?”

This squabble between Patrick and Isabella was now a fairly familiar sight.

The first-years still saw Patrick as a guy wallowing in luck, but the situation had improved a bit after it was revealed that what Isabella wanted was a duel.

‘A guy sick with luck.’

‘If I ever get a chance to duel with Princess Isabella, I’d do it even if I got cut by a real sword.’

‘Should I really ask her for one?’

While the first-years were envious, Patrick tried to somehow shake off Isabella, who was clinging to his arm.

‘Agh, if only she weren’t a princess, I could just beat her up.’

If he had known she was this much of a leech, he shouldn't have gotten involved with her from the beginning.

To the deeply regretful Patrick, someone’s voice was heard.

“It’s been a while, Young Master Schneider.”

“Huh?”

When Patrick turned his head, he saw a female student wearing clothes different from the Knight Faculty uniform.

The moment he saw her in a practical, checkered dress, Patrick thought.

‘That girl…. Come to think of it, she said she was a student here?’

“Lady of Count Parmas.”

“Huhu. Here, you can just call me Senior Marianne.”

With a male student who looked to be a second-year from the Knight Faculty by her side, she said with a smile.

“Congratulations on your admission to the Academy. It was worth asking my father.”

“A request? Did you, my lady, recommend me for admission to the Academy?”

“That’s right.”

“……”

“You don’t have to thank me. It was nothing, really.”

“Thankful, my ass…”

“Pardon?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

Patrick let out a deep sigh.

In truth, he hadn’t even wanted to enter the Academy.

But now that he was here, there were a few advantages.

Like eating and sleeping for free?

Or it being a good place to go out drinking?

And crucially, becoming friends with Matthew, the son of the Elbador Merchant Guild, was quite a good thing from Patrick’s perspective.

But was he grateful to Marianne?

‘Absolutely not, right?’

He had gotten into trouble as soon as he arrived and had already caused two incidents for no reason.

On top of that, the liberal arts lecture he had just attended was so boring that he wanted to run out in the middle, grab the professor by the collar, and shake him.

And crucially, the leech currently hanging from his left arm.

‘I’m going crazy. Really.’

There were good points and bad points.

So, if he had to say, it was something he could just see as a plus-minus zero and let it be.

‘Well, whatever the case…’

“Then I understand. I’ll see you next time, Senior Marianne.”

“Ah, before that…”

Marianne approached Patrick, glanced at Isabella and deliberately ignored her, then clung to Patrick’s opposite arm.

Much more deeply than Isabella.

And in that state, she said with a smile.

“It’s mealtime, so why don’t we go have a meal together?”

At that moment, a small sigh escaped.

It was a sigh from the second-year senior who had escorted Marianne all the way here.

‘I thought she came to see her family…’

The second-year was crestfallen.

And Patrick spoke with a face full of reluctance, showing that he was truly not keen on it at all.

“…Doesn’t the Administration Faculty also have a dining hall?”

“I’m curious about the Knight Faculty’s dining hall menu, you see.”

“It’s just a lot of meat and doesn’t taste good.”

“Oh my, then shall we go to the Administration Faculty’s dining hall? They have pumpkin pie for dessert today, and it’s quite good.”

“No.”

At that moment, Isabella interjected from Patrick’s other side.

She looked at Marianne with a frown and said.

“Patrick has to duel with me. There’s no time to go to the Administration Faculty.”

“Oh my, Princess. Inside the Academy, even a princess doesn’t have the authority to give orders to another student, does she?”

“That’s…”

“Is there any reason for you to restrict where we eat, Princess?”

“…Anyway, no. You’re going to duel with me.”

“No. You’re going to have a meal with me.”

“Duel!”

“Meal!”

Watching the two women chattering from his left and right, Patrick thought to himself.

One is the kingdom’s princess.

The other is the daughter of the highest noble in the East.

Unfortunately, neither of them were people he could solve this with by beating them up.

‘I wish they would all go away.’

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