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“Did you come to meet Marianne?”
“No.”
When his eyes moved to the pot, the prince, Jeremy, instinctively hid the pot behind his back and spoke awkwardly.
“Ah, this. This is Adel, a kid I’m raising. She’s a good and pretty kid. She will grow to be an outstanding plant someday.”
He was fascinated yet displeased with the prince who talked even though he clearly looked frightened.
Because he was showing a side he didn’t want to show.
Surprisingly, along with the fear, there was also curiosity in the eyes of the prince looking at Zen.
It seemed like he somewhat knew that he wouldn’t hurt him.
He wondered if the faint kindness flashed in those eyes was thanks to Marianne.
Zen, who suddenly lost his strength, waved his hand.
“Go back and sleep.”
“Erm, I’ll show the night air to Adel.”
The prince hesitantly examined him.
He could see the quiet hallway began to lively again.
A knight with exceptionally good magic resistance let out a grunt sound earlier than the others.
It was time to leave.
“Forget that I came here.”
“Does Marianne also have to not know about this?”
Zen quietly nodded to Jeremy who was unexpectedly quick-witted.
As Zen disappeared without any trace, noticing the end of their conversation, only Jeremy stayed absent-mindedly in the wide hallway.
When the knight who belatedly woke up dumbfoundedly looked around, he saw Jeremy and greeted him.
“Prince, is there anything I can help you with?”
“Hello. I’m on my way to show the night air to Adel.”
The knight’s expression turned odd when he looked at the thumb-sized sprout in the pot held in Jeremy’s side.
The prince’s love for ‘Adel’ that didn’t grow but also maintained its sprout appearance was so devoted.
“That, I hope Miss Adel is always healthy.”
“It’s fine. We’ll return after staying a bit so that she won’t catch a cold.”
Plants won’t catch a cold, Your Highness.
The knight, who couldn’t say it out loud, quietly shut his mouth.
Looking at the prince who gradually disappeared beyond the hallway, the knight forgot about the weird feeling earlier, when he suddenly got sleepy.
* * *
My schedule turned out to be fairly busy the next day after I accepted the decided disciplinary action.
The disciplinary action that was close to a one sided notification was surely not of the level that could be easily carried out.
In addition, the figure attached as the supervisor raised the level of my punishment, making it difficult and challenging.
Professor Grein instructed me to do it in detail in a cold voice.
“About the products, they vary from year to year and quarter to quarter. Don’t just look at the list of items purchased, but also organize the list of reorganized damaged items.”
“Mhm.”
“If it’s needed, you naturally have to check the items’ condition by visiting the related merchant guilds.”
In short, run to check the ledger in detail.
Such a thing wasn’t listed in the notice of disciplinary action, but in the situation that depended on perspective, it was impossible for my protest to work.
If I were to remove my disciplinary action using my status, the status of Young Duke Bolton, the reason for my disciplinary action, was daunting.
In fact, I did wonder if he wasn’t interested in me getting disciplinary action, but no one knew about that.
As I blinked my protesting, numb eyes because I used it for a long time, I skilfully scanned the ledger.
The complicated calculation continued on the ledger full of numbers.
“Once you finish organizing the ledger, submit it to me, not to the student council clerk. I’ll take a look at it.”
“. . .”
His ability to stir people up was out of ordinary.
However, should I be glad that at least he wasn’t wicked enough to pick at a fault that didn’t exist?
Well, what they could do to me might be only as far as disciplinary action.
I was fairly enjoying the status of ‘young lady of the duchy’ inside this academy.
No matter how much the whispers and gazes, the animosity, there was only a little that could express it directly in front of me.
Even though they could do that, there was no one who could do proper harassment.
The most they could do was give harsh disciplinary action through the meeting of the whole professors.
“I think I have finished for today.”
It seemed that I had reached the limit from how my head muddled.
I set a pace so that I could finish the work as fast as I could, but there was a lot in my head.
Professor Grein suddenly spoke to me as I was about to stand up.
“Miller Duchy has a good reputation, if anything. Despite the high position, they have a low sense of authority and take good care of their retainers and collateral families. Because the neutral nobles have uncertainty from having no sense of belonging, the more prosperous the duchy becomes a comfort for them.”
“. . .”
“Your presence quite changed the image of Miller Duchy—in a negative way.”
I turned as I was about to walk slowly and stared at him.
“This disciplinary action must be a part of dissatisfaction towards me. I know.”
“Similar things will be repeated over and over again.”
That was if I couldn’t at least win in the power struggle in this academy.
I opened my mouth not to respond to the disapproving gaze to the seed that caused the disturbance.
“For one thing, whether I make trouble or not, they won’t like me. That will continue unless my origin can be changed.”
There were also students that showed disgraceful behavior more than this.
Everyone would agree that giving disciplinary action just because giving a few words to the professor was excessive.
Professor Grein didn’t refute.
There was no way the smart him didn’t know that I was right.