Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Even Duke Seymour had been stunned by the speed at which I was able to solve formulas. No doubt it had seemed even stranger to the professor. I could somewhat understand his reasoning, but I wasn’t happy that he was accusing me of not only cheating but threatening the other students to do it.

“You have no evidence of that so how did you come to that conclusion?” I asked with a disdainful laugh. The professor stiffened.

“You seem very confident there will be no consequences for your actions. Duke Seymour might be on your side, but you’d be making an arrogant mistake to assume that the Academy and the Magic Tower are similarly favorably disposed toward you,” the professor said. “Many people are unhappy that you were accepted not by merit of your skills but rather because of your father. Given your situation, to think you would go on to cheat! You know, anyone else in your position would be on their knees begging for forgiveness right now, with no hope of receiving it. You get what I mean, right?”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“I was made aware that you are criminally slow on the uptake, but this is absurd. All of you women are the same—obsessed with your pretty trinkets and dresses. You’re not a child, my lady. I find it shocking that I must teach you something so basic as the importance of honesty.”

This professor was really something else. Not only did he shirk his teaching duties, but he was also apparently fearless as hell.

“You’ve gone too far,” I glared at him.

“And what will you do about it? There’s nobody around to hear us. If I’ve offended you, why don’t you do what you always do? If you want to hit me, do it. With your connections, I’m sure you can get away with anything you like.”

I began to smile as he continued to spew this drivel. I’d wondered why a nobody like him was being so rude. He wanted to rile me up and watch as the rumor spread that I’d gotten into a fight with one of the professors. My reputation was terrible since I’d only gotten in thanks to my father’s influence. Not only that, but I’d infamously thrown a mana stone at a fellow student in the past. Professor Kyle was confident that he could turn public sentiment even further against me. So he plans to let me slap him so he can crush me for it.

“Lady Deborah. Why do you insist on staying on in the Department of Magic like a leech? You’re ruining student morale. Consider your family’s reputation. I think it would be best if you just left—”

Instead of losing my temper or causing a scene, as was his desire, I smirked viciously at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve done nothing to ruin anyone’s morale. And, despite your bold accusations, I’ve also never cheated, Professor.”

“Are you being this obstinate because you think Duke Seymour will come to your defense again? Remember, Academy affairs do not fall under the Magic Tower’s jurisdiction. If you continue in this manner, I will speak with the dean.”

The dean was my uncle, wasn’t he? Of course, he and I were not particularly close. My father had become the family heir instead of my uncle and he’d lost his surname as a result. Marquess Vert wasn’t on very good terms with his younger brother, Duke Seymour.

I stared at the professor. “You’ve concluded without evidence that I’ve been threatening the students and cheating on my tests. I have nothing more to say to you.”

“Ha!”

“Bring me the testimony of any one student who’s shown me the answers and I’ll admit you’re right. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“You are one very rude lady! Tsk! That’s no way to speak to your professor!”

Leaving the huffing teacher behind, I exited the classroom room, tapping my fan against my palm. Things might just go easier than I expected them to. Who could have known Professor Kyle would end up being so obliging? Just you wait. I’ll show you.

Making a tactical retreat for now, I met with the formula-obsessed Duke Seymour for a lesson in the evening.

As I wrote out the mathematical working out I’d needed to memorize for a test in the past, my father quietly said, “Deborah.”

“Yes?”

“About that technique you came up with… Why don’t you present it to the academic circles yourself? This is an accomplishment that will go down in imperial magical history, I’m sure of it.” His usually cold eyes were glowing with excitement. “It’s also an opportunity to prove how truly deserving of the Seymour name you are. I’ve never been this excited about anything in my life. It would be truly a waste to keep this knowledge to ourselves. Let’s tell the world about it—”

“Please wait for just a little while, Father.”

“Wait?”

“All you women are the same—obsessed with your pretty trinkets and dresses.”

My red eyes gleamed as I recalled Professor Kyle’s spat insults. “Yes. I have a plan.”

* * *

From then on, I began to wear even prettier trinkets and dresses just to spite the professor. The jewels in my earrings were so big they were intimidating in sheer size, and I chose only the most formal and glamorous of my many dresses. The other students would openly gape when I walked past.

Sitting in class with my legs arrogantly crossed, I’d solve any problem I was given with my fancy pink feather quill and turn it in before anyone else.

I’m an engineering student. This stuff is child’s play. Even though we’d been given two hours, I was done in only thirty minutes. I could practically see the teacher’s assistant thinking, Huh? Surely she didn’t finish the test already?

They quickly graded my paper and I was given back a perfect score. A few of the young men who glanced at the test paper I’d left on my desk scowled.

You’d better work harder, children, I thought, walking out of the lecture room.

* * *

“She’s cheating. That’s for sure. It’s impossible to solve the problems that fast.”

“Her only interests are luxury items and playing about. It makes no sense that such an air-headed lady would be capable of solving them so quickly. No sense at all.”

“The professor must be telling her the answers!”

A few of the young nobles who also attended Kyle’s class seemed certain that the professor was giving Deborah an unfair advantage. Whenever there was a test, she whizzed through the problems like she knew the answers in advance. Her name had never once appeared on the list of students required to retake the test, either, and everyone agreed that this wasn’t possible unless she was being favored by the professor.

“This simply isn’t fair,” one of them complained, banging their fist on the table. “She doesn’t even bother to hide it. Just goes to show how much she looks down on us.”

“She’s only so brave because her father is the master of the Magic Tower. As if it wasn’t already strange enough that she got into the Department of Magic without being able to manipulate one iota of mana! And now she’s mocking us. She’s taken it too far.”

“Rumors say Duke Seymour will do anything to please his daughter. I hear the pink diamond he bought her cost more than an entire townhouse. It’s largely his fault that she’s grown so spoiled.”

They were even going so far as to drag Duke Seymour’s name through the mud, criticizing him. It was the third son of Marquess Lemont who had said this, William Lemont.

“Once I graduate, I’ll be working at the Magic Tower and will have to serve under the current master. I’m starting to become concerned,” he grumbled, bringing up the master of the Magic Tower very intentionally.

Seven elders served below the master and many of them were eager to take the master’s place for their own. One person with such desires was Marquess Lemont. He deeply resented that the emperor only ever allowed a Seymour to be in charge of the Magic Tower. Unlike the House of Seymour, which had always worked to strengthen imperial authority since the founding days of the empire, the House of Lemont belonged to the Senate, which sought to empower the nobility.

Since the two houses had been in direct opposition to one another for so long, William was trying to rile up the young nobles over the current issue and deal damage to House Semyour’s reputation. What was more, Marquess Lemont’s sons were far inferior to the Seymour twins in skill.

We’re always compared to those two. This was enough motivation for William to want to slander all the children of the Seymour family. “The master of the Magic Tower should be wise and logical. I’m starting to doubt he is qualified for the position seeing as he allows his emotions to sway his actions!”

“Look here, William. That’s probably taking things too far, don’t you think? Duke Seymour is the only class seven grand mage in the entire empire. He is unmatched in skill…” Someone pointed out William’s rash words cautiously.

William only scoffed in response, however. “Seymour or not, I will say what needs to be said. Should I remain silent in the face of injustice? It’s the duty of every noble to speak up for the sake of fairness.”

“Hmm...”

“I plan to submit a petition demanding that Lady Deborah be expelled from the department.”

“What! A petition?”

“That’s right! I can’t allow her to enjoy unfair benefits on the merit of her blood alone any longer. That girl doesn’t even possess any mana. She should have kept quiet and stayed out of sight since she got in so unethically, not cause all this trouble.”

“I agree with William! She is all that as well as being a violent woman. I can’t allow someone like her to remain in our department,” said George, the young man whom Deborah had slapped so many times with her fan. They began putting together the petition where they were seated in the back of the classroom.

On the other hand, Kyle, the magic formula professor, was nearly at his wit’s end and deeply offended to boot. He hadn’t taken any bribes or promises of promotion from Duke Seymour, but now they were accusing him of being a corrupt faculty member giving Lady Deborah benefits.

F*ck! I wouldn’t be so outraged if I’d actually gotten something from the Seymours! The stress was causing his hair to fall out. “Hey! Assistant!” Kyle shouted.

“Yes, Professor.”

“Have you still found no evidence that Lady Deborah threatened the other students in order to cheat?”

“No, sir. In fact, she seems to hardly interact with any of the other students at all. She’s always alone, and—”

“That makes no sense! There must be someone she’s sweet-talked into giving her the answers!”

The assistant sighed. There was absolutely no evidence at all of foul play, no matter how closely he watched her. Frankly, the assistant also suspected that someone had to be giving her the answers in advance.

“Whoever is helping her must be responsible for accusing me of corruption!” Kyle shouted angrily.

Someone had to be helping her, but he had no idea who it could be. He only needed a single clue to point him in the right direction if he wanted to question the young men, and his inability to find one was driving him nuts.

“Goddamn it. I’ll go down for all of this at this rate.”

Then it happened.