Chapter : 3
2. Still, You Have to Go — You’re the Teacher
Her platinum-blond hair rippled like waves, her skin pale as if untouched by sunlight, and her mysterious gray-blue eyes shimmered like water or starlight.
A delicate lady—frail and pure like a flower heavy with morning dew—opened her lips.
One might expect the words leaving those pale pink lips to be the beautiful language of fairies, the sweet chirping of a nightingale, but…
“Ha… I don’t want to go to the Academy…”
The day of Lucienne Filonia, eldest daughter of the Viscount Filonia household, began with that single sentence.
It had become as familiar as the morning birdsong; no one responded—the maid fixing her clothes, the family seated across the table, even the chef who brought out the food.
Leaning back in her chair, head tilted to one side like a painting, Lucienne spoke.
“Hey, in today’s paper—”
“No, there’s nothing.”
“You didn’t even open it yet!”
“I’m telling you, there’s nothing.”
Her younger brother—the Filonia family’s youngest son, Lucas Filonia—didn’t even lift his head as he answered his sister, who never failed to ask the same question every morning:
“Is there an article saying Nochtoa Academy collapsed overnight?”
‘If only she’d keep her mouth shut, she’d be perfectly fine.’
It was a thought he’d had for over twenty years, and once again, it occurred to him.
Of course, today’s newspaper was still neatly folded beside the milk bottle at the edge of the table.
“Ugh, I really don’t want to go. Isn’t there anything happening today? Some family event I can use as an excuse? Nobody’s getting married?”
“You’re not getting married; who would, then?”
Lucienne bristled at her unhelpful younger brother.
“I’m supporting myself on a tiny little salary, isn’t it fine to complain at least this much?”
“A ‘tiny little’ salary… I guess even mice go on diets these days.”
“Are you mocking me because you earn more?!”
“If you’re jealous, take the knight exam and get hazard pay. In your next life.”
The servants quietly continued their tasks while listening to the absurd conversation of these noble siblings—who had never known even the shadow of poverty, let alone a mouse tail.
Lucienne dropped her fair face onto the table again. She really, truly didn’t want to go to work.
“Hey, can you go in my place today and handle the preparations for the semester? Attend the meetings, too.”
“If you train in my place.”
“Does that sound possible?”
“I’m saying it because it’s impossible.”
Tch—
Lucienne’s eyes grew watery.
Her younger brother—two years her junior—silently pushed back his chair and stood. A large shadow fell over her.
Despite being the youngest, Lucas was the strongest among the three siblings and had brought honor to the family by entering the Imperial Knight Order as the youngest recruit ever, thanks to his natural talent.
Lucienne, on the other hand, was the only one among the three known and acknowledged by everyone as having a fragile, “glass-like” body.
Even holding the wrong book could sprain her wrist; a single misstep could twist her ankle.
“I’ve been exercising lately, you know!”
“Since when is walking considered— well, for you, I guess it counts.”
Though her body required a lifestyle where she didn’t lift anything heavier than cutlery, the Filonia household wasn’t wealthy enough to let her simply live in idle luxury.
Her eldest brother would inherit the title, her younger brother was set for a successful career as a knight…
But Lucienne, the very embodiment of “Just stay healthy, please,” could not avoid worrying about her future.
She tried her best, in her own way.
But the Imperial Administration Exam and the Tower of Magic entrance exam—both considered easy and advantageous paths—eliminated her at the basic physical fitness test.
Dreams like marrying a duke with a tragic backstory or becoming a great magician and living in luxury didn’t even happen in her dreams.
The most ordinary option—“marrying into an ordinary family”—was repeatedly ruined because of her health.
So she accepted the teaching offer from Nochtoa.
The title carried honor comparable to a decent noble rank.
Even if her elder brother kicked her out for not marrying, at least she would never starve.
“I wish someone would mark me absent…”
“You’re the teacher; who would do that for you?”
This little brat—talking to his big sister like—
Lucienne, furious, was about to grip her knife sideways when a piece of bread was shoved into her mouth.
She set down the knife in surprise. Before she could chew, Lucas neatly placed a bowl of soup—cooled to the perfect temperature—and a plate of bite-sized food in front of her.
His motions as he served his lazy sister were smooth as flowing water.
“Thirty minutes left.”
“……!”
Lucienne rapidly shoved the food into her mouth—swiftly yet elegantly, her posture perfect.
Despite her delicate appearance—like someone who lived on dew—she ate very well.
It was the fruit of over twenty years of hard effort.
Even Lucas admitted that his fragile sister had the body of a glass doll, barely fit for a normal life… but her nasty temper and sheer stubbornness were inversely proportional to her terrible stamina and very useful.
“I hope I’m not assigned a homeroom this year. Please, Goddess Solenia, I’m begging you…”
“You said the same thing the year before last and last year. What happened both times?”
“Do you want to get punched?”
“Can you even punch me?”
Lucienne trembled.
Her first year of teaching, two years ago, she was suddenly forced to take over a homeroom class, and constant fighting there escalated into an attempted murder case.
Girls fighting over who was the “villainess” and who was the “heroine”… truly terrifying.
In the end, the girl claiming she would be the villainess nearly killed the girl claiming to be the heroine—but it turned out to be a false accusation, and then it became a family feud.
It was eventually resolved, but Lucienne came out of it with stress-induced gastritis and chronic migraines.
Then last year, she was assigned the class with the famously troublesome adopted daughter—later revealed to be the real daughter—of the Grand Duke Ignis.
Except later it turned out she was actually not the real daughter.
Everything was ridiculous.
Lucienne had to face a middle-aged thug of a father, who constantly threatened and intimidated anyone who bothered his precious baby girl…
She went through stomach medicine like water.
The world was truly insane.
“Please, let me get a normal class this year. Or better yet, no class at all.”
Watching Lucienne drag herself through her morning routine, Lucas clicked his tongue.
“If you hate it that much, you can quit. You won’t starve.”
“Do you think I want to work? If I could quit, I would’ve!”
Lucas shut his mouth, regretting bringing it up.
His beautiful sister suffered from chronic problems: laziness, foul temper, a mouth that brought misfortune, and—among many others—utterly useless responsibility.
Regardless of her brother’s concerns, Lucienne finished getting ready for work by swallowing a handful of nutritional supplements.
‘Please, this year… no entanglements with the imperial family, no dukes, no grand dukes… no one important, please.’
She prayed—again—knowing it would be useless as always.
* * *
In these modern days, where Nochtoa Academy was the Empire’s greatest educational institution and a breeding ground for high society connections, the authority of its Headmaster was naturally sky-high.
Yet no one actually knew who he really was.
Rumors were abundant.
Some said he was an elderly mage with snow-white hair.
Some said he was a peerless beauty.
Some said he was a child.
Everyone who had met him described him differently—no one knew his true form.
But there was one thing all faculty and students agreed on…
“Headmaster Aten!”
“Lucienne? Eyy, you should smile more often.”
“Do I look like I’m in the mood to smile?!”
“Young people should think positively. Good things happen to positive minds.”
He was an unbearable old man.
Lucienne flung open the Headmaster’s office door with all her strength, gritting her teeth as she forced a professional smile.
“I applied for the Basic Department, so why is my name on the Advanced Department staff list?”
The moment she arrived at work, she naturally checked the Basic Department assignments—but was told to go to the Advanced Department instead.
She asked the administrator about the error, but only received an awkward smile in return.
‘Headmaster said if Instructor Filonia comes, please send her to his office.’
Of course he knew she’d come arguing—so why assign her like this?!
“Well now, last year I begged and pleaded to put you in the Basic Department, but in the end, you spent the whole year cleaning up after the Grand Duke Ignis’ family, didn’t you? I hate wasting manpower.”
Aten—currently in the form of what looked like a ten-year-old child—responded casually while spinning in his chair.
His silver hair fluttered each time the chair turned.
Aten, who claimed to hate “wasting manpower,” was especially talented at grinding people to dust.
There was even a legend that if you listened to the chimes of Nochtoa’s central clocktower, you could hear the cries of exhausted teachers and researchers whispering “Nochmile, Nochmile…”
‘I should’ve known this before signing the contract…’
