I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 33

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“We’ll start by serving the appetizer.”

The maid appeared pulling a cart and placed dishes on the table.

It was a dish of tomatoes cut in half with cream on top.

Although I had learned noble dining etiquette from Emilia… by this point, I had already forgotten it all.

Having no choice, I picked up the fork and knife in the least messy way I knew and savored the dish.

The taste was, well, quite good.

“Mr. Schlus. I want to thank you once again for saving my life.”

“No need, Madam. Once is enough.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Yes.”

“I heard you made a request to my daughter.”

“That’s right.”

“If you’re my benefactor, please make the request directly to me. It’s fine this time since it was a simple request like inviting you to a meal… but I’d prefer if you didn’t make unreasonable requests to Erica using me as an excuse.”

Madam Lichtenburg’s expression stiffened.

She was probably wary that I might demand something outrageous from Erica in exchange for saving her life.

To Madam Lichtenburg, Erica was her Achilles’ heel.

Beyond the level of doting, she was practically obsessed with Erica.

Since the count had died in the war and her second daughter Julia was suffering from an incurable illness, it was only natural that Erica was the only one left to inherit the family.

So it was inevitable for Madam to react sensitively to someone approaching Erica.

“Rest assured. I won’t make any more demands after this.”

“That’s a relief then.”

“And the reason I requested to be invited to a meal wasn’t for Erica.”

“Pardon?”

“It was to meet you, Madam. Let’s talk about that a bit later.”

“…”

An uncomfortable silence flowed between Madam and me.

Only Erica, who was sitting in the middle, looked back and forth between us in confusion, unable to grasp the situation.

“You seem to love your daughter a lot.”

“Of course.”

“You must want to stop any beggar-like fellow from approaching your daughter.”

“Is that even something to say?”

Madam’s tone had somehow turned aggressive.

It was only natural since I was deliberately asking rude questions.

How Madam would react from now on also seemed like an important point of interest.

“This is a different story, but I was actually the victim of a terror attack just before admission. Someone put poison in the water source.”

“That must have been a big deal.”

Erica, who had been called a prodigy among prodigies since a young age, practically had her advancement to the elite course set in stone.

Amidst that, the commoner who had suddenly appeared and taken the top spot from her would not have looked good in Madam’s eyes.

Not only had he snatched the top spot from Erica, but he was also an eyesore who could negatively influence her, a true thorn in her side.

And the Madam Lichtenburg I knew was someone who wouldn’t hesitate to use somewhat extreme methods for the sake of her daughter’s future.

“Yes. It was a big deal. My attendant and I both almost died.”

That’s right. I suspected Madam Lichtenburg as the mastermind behind poisoning the well.

I suspected that she had tried to eliminate me because I seemed like a dangerous person approaching her beloved daughter.

While speaking, I never took my eyes off Madam’s eyes.

But Madam only maintained an expression of displeasure without showing any signs of being flustered or agitated.

As expected, it was reckless to try and test the philosopher.

“So why did you suddenly bring up the story of the well being poisoned?”

“…”

I was caught.

I had only mentioned the water source, not specifically a well.

This terror incident had been thoroughly covered up by the Imperial Academy’s Investigation Department and had not leaked out at all.

So Madam mentioning the well was practically a confession.

Realizing that, Madam’s mouth closed tightly.

I never expected her to make a blunder in an unexpected place.

It seemed even the philosopher made mistakes.

Pressuring any further would be dangerous.

It would be troublesome if I completely turned Madam Lichtenburg into an enemy.

The fact that the assassination attempt had only happened once meant that even Madam was hesitating about whether to kill me or not.

It was enough for today that I had found out who was behind the assassination attempt.

I had also conveyed to the other party that I knew, so it served as a warning as well.

“Thank you for the meal. I’ll take my leave first.”

“Huh?”

As I pushed back my chair and stood up, Erica slammed the table and stood up with a startled face.

Erica looked at Madam, hoping she would stop me, but Madam only glared at me without a word.

“Butler. Please escort Mr. Schlus to the dormitory.”

“No need. I’ll walk.”

I left the dining room just like that.

As expected, I heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind me and the door slammed open again.

It was Erica.

“Hey! What are you doing! The main dish hasn’t even come out yet!”

“I’m full.”

“Does that make sense? Even if that’s the case, this is rude!”

Manners my ass. Go complain to your mom who put poison in people’s drinking water.

Those words kept swirling on the tip of my tongue.

“And what do you mean the reason you asked to be invited wasn’t for me but to see my mother…? What does that mean?”

“Enough. It’s already been resolved.”

“What do you mean it’s been resolved?”

“You don’t need to know the details. Thanks for inviting me to dinner today.”

“Hey! Hey! Aren’t you going to stop?”

Leaving behind Erica, who looked dumbfounded and confused, I walked down the corridor.

She tried to call out to me a few times, but when I didn’t even acknowledge her, her voice gradually became smaller. There was no physical attempt to stop me.

Opening the door at the end of the corridor, a light rain was drizzling outside.

While passing through the garden in the rain, I felt a gaze from behind.

“…”

The moment I turned around, the curtains of a window were hurriedly drawn.

Was it one of the mansion’s servants?

Or was it Julia?

Who knows? I’m not sure.

One unexpected encounter.

And one harvest I had reaped beyond expectations.

Although it could definitely be called a success, this evening.

Strangely enough, my mood was gloomy beyond words.

***

“Wow. This jerk, really. He was the one who asked to be invited…”

Walking back to the dining room, Erica stomped on the ground, feeling her irritation rising.

The words she should have said to the back of Schlus’ head kept coming to mind.

When Schlus was in front of her, her lips wouldn’t move, but as soon as he left, they kept popping up like crazy.

That made it even more irritating and suffocating, driving Erica crazy.

“What were those two talking about…?”

Recalling the brief conversation between Madam Lichtenburg and Schlus, Erica tilted her head.

No matter how much she thought about it, the two of them seemed to be having a meaningless conversation.

It was an incoherent and illogical conversation, but one thing was certain – Madam looked quite displeased.

It didn’t seem to be simply because of Schlus’ rude way of speaking.

There was no basis, but Erica’s intuition was telling her that.

“Uh…!”

Erica, who was about to open the dining room door while calling for her mother, froze.

Through the narrow gap in the door, Madam Lichtenburg’s figure could be seen.

Despite the main dish, the steak, being served, she was biting her nails with an anxious expression without even thinking of picking up the fork.

It was Madam’s human side that she never showed in front of guests who weren’t family.

By the way, for Mother to be this anxious.

Just what kind of meaning did Schlus’ words have…?

“Ugh…”

No matter how much she pondered, she couldn’t find the answer alone.

She couldn’t understand at all the reason why the conversation went from the love for a daughter to suddenly talking about a terror attack.

And what did it mean that the reason for requesting the invitation wasn’t her but Mother?

“Ah!”

Erica, who had an absurd thought, clapped her hands softly.

Schlus had said he knew Julia von Iceburg.

In other words, he had come here not to eat dinner, not to see me, not to see Madam, but to see Julia.

But when Julia didn’t come to the dining room, he got upset and left just like that.

“That’s right. It makes sense!”

Erica felt a refreshing sensation as if a puzzle had fallen into place.

Schlus was definitely overlapping the distant, already deceased Julia with her little sister Julia.

Perhaps with eyes of lust…

With that thought, Erica felt goosebumps all over her body.

‘I have to protect Julia…!’

A sense of mission she had never felt before was welling up like a fountain.

[T/N: -_-… ]

*

Tap… Tap…

A periodic tapping sound echoed in the quiet dining room.

Crack…

And at one point, Madam’s fingernail broke.

Blood was welling up at the tip of the split nail.

Madam put the blood from her finger in her mouth and narrowed her brows.

‘How on earth did he find out…?’

Schlus suspected her as the mastermind behind the terror attack.

No, it wasn’t suspicion but at the level of certainty.

Was there any clue for him to figure this out?

No matter how much she thought about it, the answer to this was ‘no’.

The one Madam had hired was a man called the strongest crow in the business.

It was hard to believe that someone who had gained that level of trust would betray her and spill everything to Schlus.

So there was absolutely no basis for Schlus to find out about this.

‘Could it be that he only had circumstantial evidence…?’

What if Schlus wasn’t actually certain?

What if he was only pretending to be certain?

What if he had set a trap to provoke her irritation with his rude tone and make her slip up in the process?

In fact, the moment Madam was checkmated was when she made the mistake of mentioning the ‘well’ that Schlus hadn’t even spoken of.

Before that, it was only suspicion, but after hearing Madam’s confession that wasn’t a confession, he might have become certain.

If that was the case, it meant Schlus had been so rude to the head of the Lichtenburg family, one of the most influential families, just to turn a suspicion that might or might not be true into certainty.

“Ha…”

He wasn’t an ordinary cheeky young man.

At this point, this was practically a provocation.

‘I know you sent the assassin. If you’re upset, send another one.’

That kind of provocation.

‘In that case, I’ll grant your wish.’

Madam Lichtenburg took out a piece of paper and a pen from her bosom and began scribbling something.

It was a letter, no, an order.

An order to be given to Henderson, the strongest crow.

‘Kill Schlus Hainkel. By any means necessary. Definitely.’

It was a short and concise order.

With Henderson’s skills, it would be more than enough to carry out.

Moreover, since he would be launching a surprise attack, no matter how extraordinary Schlus was, it was obvious he would die without even being able to let out a scream.

“This… Tsk.”

About to call the butler and hand over the note, Madam put it back in her bosom.

Come to think of it, it was better to give this directly to that guy for security reasons.

Now that Schlus had caught on to something that shouldn’t have been caught, she had to be even more careful about security.

But the thought of hearing that crow’s vile and unpleasant laughter again made her stomach churn.

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