Chapter 47
Fortunately, the head teacher seemed to consider it a trivial matter that could be easily forgotten by personal standards and taught us kindly.
“It was an earring. Wilhelmina received it as a birthday gift and was planning to wear it to her social debut party at the end of this year…”
“Ugh.”
Irix touched his forehead again. This time, I also opened my mouth in disbelief.
“That’s a lie!”
“Of course! Why didn’t you know at the time, senpai?”
“I didn’t know either!”
First of all, there’s no way someone would receive a gift a whole year in advance to show off at this year’s party.
Besides, why bring such an expensive item to school? It would go straight to the home safe.
“Senpai, are you stupid? Why did you just take the blame?”
“Don’t ask more since I don’t remember. And don’t call me stupid.”
“Is there anyone here who doesn’t know you’re stupid? Failing every subject and still…”
“Shut your mouth.”
Teacher Tolte closed the document.
“So that matter is settled. Now, we need to deal with the violence Irix and Elpini inflicted on Paltis. Paltis, do you want punishment?”
Before Paltis could answer, Irix interrupted.
“The paperwork isn’t even finished! I want to change the reason.”
“Yes, understood. Go ahead.”
“I hit him because I was angry that only Paltis Hinesman refused to admit that he falsely accused my friend last year.”
What the…?
Irix glared at Paltis.
“If you don’t apologize for that, I’ll tell your father!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think the duke would listen to you?”
Paltis himself seemed unsure, stammering.
“Who said I’d ask my father? I’ll tell him myself! I’ll do it personally!”
“My father’s busy!”
“What does that matter? He’s somewhere! And if his own son got beaten by a common schoolboy, would he just stay calm?”
“No! Then I’d die!”
It’s not the one who hits who dies, but the one who gets hit.
I understood that clearly.
This is a fantasy world, a violent world. The more violent take the place of the virtuous.
“Then I must tell him even more! I’ll find him and tell him!”
And Irix seemed determined to find Paltis’ father even if he were in the bathroom.
Paltis, flustered, said,
“Wilhelmina lied, not me! I didn’t do anything wrong. It was all Wilhelmina’s doing!”
“Oh, so you knew.”
Paltis flinched.
“What did Wilhelmina do? Tell me everything.”
“She… she put the earring in Elpini’s jacket pocket and then made a fuss that it disappeared.”
Irix looked at me.
“Senpai, you didn’t notice something went into your pocket? Didn’t you?”
“Sorry. That was stupid of me.”
“Does saying sorry fix it? You’ve already gotten penalty points!”
Teacher Tolte raised his hand.
“They say the earring was found in Wilhelmina’s bag.”
“Then it wasn’t stolen, senpai!”
It was just me getting scolded.
“Did you really get blamed because you fell for such an obvious trick?”
“Well… I still don’t remember.”
“What exactly do you remember?”
“You.”
“Huh?”
“All I remember is you.”
Irix’s face darkened.
“Why do you remember such useless things?”
“Well… there’s a reason, but I don’t remember it.”
“Senpai.”
His voice softened slightly.
“Can’t you just say it’s because it’s an important or precious memory?”
“The guy who started yelling as soon as we met has no conscience.”
“…”
Seeing the veins in Irix’s neck bulge, I regretted it. A guy who acts like that at first meeting could explode anytime.
Still, Irix held back and spoke to Teacher Tolte.
“Then, there’s no theft at all! It’s their own item in their own bag. Why is senpai being treated as a thief?”
“Right.”
I said it without realizing.
“Senpai, this is your problem. Don’t act like it’s someone else’s. Defend yourself actively!”
But it is someone else’s problem. I got caught up while catching Elpini’s body.
“I don’t remember.”
“Oh, please. Remember!”
“Can I just remember by will?”
“Ugh.”
Now both of us were silent. I looked at the ceiling, the floor, the walls, and finally at Irix.
“Sorry.”
Irix was crouched, tearing at his hair.
“Should we just leave it like this?” Teacher Tolte asked quietly. Irix grabbed the papers.
“Read the incident report! Immediately! From start to finish!”
And Irix glared at everyone, ready to make trouble if the reason wasn’t proper.
“Wilhelmina saw her earring in Elpini’s jacket pocket, but claimed it was in her bag, insisting Elpini secretly put it back there.”
“What?” I asked.
“How did Wilhelmina know where the earring went?”
Irix looked at me with wide eyes. Surprised I stepped in. No, touched even. Finally motivated, he said,
“I don’t know. I was on sabbatical at the time.”
“Wow, quite the escape route.”
I relaxed my crossed leg and looked at the teacher.
Finally, the moment of confrontation, when suddenly Irix jumped in.
“Wait.”
Why now?
I was finally getting angry.
“I’ll explain the reason.” Irix said quickly.
“I hit Hinesman because he falsely accused my friend.”
“What?”
“That’s the reason.”
Paltis protested.
“I said I didn’t do it! And you didn’t hit me, and I wasn’t hit!”
“Shut up. If you feel wronged, you can hit properly!”
Irix raised his fist; Paltis flinched back.
“I like that too,” I said.
“And Paltis, if Wilhelmina did it, you’re responsible too. She’s your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend!”
Paltis said it more indignantly.
“Why would I date such an ignorant, loud, gossipy, scheming, stupid girl?”
“Paltis Hinesman!”
Suddenly another voice intervened. Irix turned quickly. I peeked over the chair back to see who it was.
One of their group, the one always causing trouble aggressively. His arm was bandaged. He was indeed injured.
I asked Irix quickly,
“Why didn’t Maimon speak up?”
“You only asked if they were alive. So Maimon only checked that.”
Ah, right. Maimon was like that.
Zephyr does nothing, Maimon does something but never properly.
Putting those two together was a true duke’s decision.
Pairing an incompetent one with a one who doesn’t try, like a big chihuahua.
Then a woman appeared behind Wilhelmina, raising her head high. Who was this now?
She looked around the academic office and shouted,
“So it’s you!” pointing at me.
“Me?”
Irix looked at me. Who is this? I shook my head. I didn’t know. I wished she’d remember I was amnesiac. Why do they keep forgetting?
The woman yelled,
“You wretched person who hit our Willy!”
“Yes, mom! It’s him!” said Wilhelmina.
“He came back to school, I was so happy I went to visit home, and he suddenly hit me and pushed me down the stairs! How could he? I thought he was my friend even if he always stole my things!”
“That never happened,” Irix stepped in.
“What never happened?”
“All of it, everything.”
The woman glared at Irix.
“What are you doing?”
Wilhelmina intervened.
“He’s just a commoner playing with Elpini.”
“He hit you too?”
“Yes! He did!”
My head hurt. Irix grabbed my shoulder. Ah, okay. Calm down, Aither.
This time, the snake climbed on my shoulder, triangular eyes glaring at the woman. I pressed its head down. A violent god and a poisonous snake—a combination that shouldn’t exist in the office.
The woman continued,
“The problem started when you let a commoner into this school, which only noble children attended! So don’t think commoners and nobles are equal!”
Paltis’ eyes wavered.
He wasn’t scared of her anger—he was scared he’d be blamed for letting Irix say such things.
Wait, madam. You say only nobles attend. But this school has accepted commoners since it opened a thousand years ago. Actually, there were more commoners. Why?
If only nobles were admitted, there would be too few students.
