.｡.:✧ Chapter 10 ✧:.｡.

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

 
Staring blankly at Rin, who was gazing at me, I wondered how I could possibly explain this situation. To address the current state of affairs, I’d have to discuss the allegations of sexual harassment.

But wait a moment.

“Are you saying it doesn’t matter to you that I’ve been falsely accused of sexual harassment?”

Upon reflection, if Rin had jumped to such conclusions about who I was dating, it meant that rumors about sexual harassment must have spread far and wide. There was no way I could just stay silent.

“You wouldn’t do that.”

Rin, her voice steady and clear, assured me even as she wiped away her tears.

“I’ve already told my friends. You’re not that kind of person.”

“…..”

“And I wrote a letter to Diana unnie.” [T/N: Unnie is a way for girls to refer to like an older sister of sorts lemme know if you guys prefer it like this or for me to change it]

“What? To my sister?”

“Yeah.”

Handing a tissue to Rin, who sniffled, I tried to calm my confused thoughts. In my past life, I hadn’t been able to defend myself and I escaped the Academy unnoticed. I never expected Rin to go to such lengths for me.

‘She even sent a letter to my sister.’

Diana, my fifth-year sister at the Academy, was now in a different region, attending practical classes. We had never met at the Academy, and few people even knew that I was her younger sibling.

After all, I wasn’t the type of student who stood out.

“Just hold on a little longer. When Diana unnie arrives, she’ll resolve this quickly.”

“…..”

Bitter emotions welled up in my throat once again.
Back then, I had run away from everyone as if I were the tragic protagonist, never confiding in anyone about my unjust predicament.

“You don’t need to worry about the sexual harassment case.”

“Huh?”

I decided to explain the current situation and what was happening among the girls on our floor to Rin, thinking I should talk to her. Considering the commotion from the upper floor, it seemed like Eve and Tana had handled things well, so there was no need to rush.

“So, you pretended to be a fake lover on purpose to catch the real culprit?”

“Yeah, and they’ve probably caught him by now.”

Upon hearing this, Rin brightened up, patted her cheek to snap out of it, and returned to her usual self.

“Oh, I misunderstood. Sorry. But you could have told me about it beforehand, you know.”

“…..”

It would have been difficult to do that in the past, but it was even harder now. To be honest, just being in the same room with her made me nauseous, and I was barely holding it together.

“But it seems like I’m slowly getting used to it.”

At least I didn’t have headaches or dizziness like when we first met.

“So, is the misunderstanding cleared up now?”

“Yeah.”

Rin seemed to be missing something as she fidgeted with her fingers, but I slowly opened the door.

“There’s a lot of noise upstairs right now, so you should be able to go back to your room naturally.”

“Alright.”

We had made it to the stairs leading up to the fourth floor when Eve and Tana descended right on cue.

At first, both of them were smiling, but their expressions subtly changed when they saw Rin next to me.

“Are you okay?”

Of course, there was no time to worry about that, so I asked if Eve was feeling okay, and she nodded, saying she was fine.

“But where are you going now?”

“To the first floor. We’re calling in other professors for a detailed explanation.”

“That’s good. Polymorph being released in front of everyone will clear your name quickly. Congratulations, Daniel.”

“Really, that’s great.”

Tana and Eve congratulated me, but their tone was insincere. Suddenly, Rin grabbed my hand tightly and spoke to the two of them.

“Thank you so much. I wanted to help Daniel clear his name too.”

“It’s okay; we’ve handled it.”

“Let’s go.”

The two of them descended the stairs, and Rin’s tightly held hand slipped away.
“Let it go.”

“…You used to hold it a lot.”

“When are you talking about?”

It had been almost a decade since the days when we used to hold hands and play together as kids. We knew nothing back then, and playing with Rin and Ares had been so enjoyable.

“Just go. Hanging around here will only lead to more misunderstandings.”

“Alright.”

It was only after watching Rin climb the stairs that I returned to my room.

***

“I will revoke the expulsion.”

Watching the Dean speak in a manner that seemed to hide his frustration, it was hard not to feel a sense of satisfaction.

He didn’t admit his mistake but instead tried to brush it off as an accident caused by other professors not investigating properly. But it was because sexual harassment had played a pivotal role in the expulsion, and this decision to cancel it was a form of consolation for the injustice I suffered.

“What a relief.”

Honestly, I didn’t expect the cancellation to be this easy, so I felt somewhat bewildered.

However, at this point, the Dean’s attitude suddenly changed, and he locked eyes with me.

“But, Daniel, you’re aware that you found yourself in this situation due to your misconduct, right? Incidents of violence and missing exams are evidence of that. In the future, you should strive to…”

“What are you talking about? The incident of violence was a misunderstanding, and I couldn’t take the exams because other students hindered me.”

“Sigh, all you do is make excuses…”

“To begin with, the reason I became a target for Charlie’s first crime was simply because he found my cut nails in the dormitory trash can. He didn’t even know who I was. The second time, he used me again because I was close to Eve.”

I spoke somewhat angrily while looking down at the Dean, who was sitting in a chair.

“Is it because of misconduct? Please don’t shift the blame onto the victim with strange logic.”

“Daniel, have you ever thought your language was too harsh? Even though you’re from a commoner background, you don’t even have basic manners.”

“Even though I’m a commoner, I know how to admit my mistakes and apologize. But right now, aren’t you blaming me for your own misjudgment? I could have been expelled at the age of 18 just because I was falsely accused of sexual harassment.”

The Dean gestured for me to leave with an irritated cough. His hand contained mana, so my body naturally moved backward, but I responded firmly.

“I will clear my name from the false accusation of violence, and I will show you the results of the exams.”

“In your dreams.”

As soon as the door opened for me to leave, it slammed shut with a force that seemed to want to shatter it. It looked like the Dean was quite angry, but I had more to say.

I thought about returning to the classroom right away, but it was already time for the first class to end. Going to the classroom now would only lead to a break, so I decided to cool off my head on the rooftop.

An empty rooftop.

The view of the city beyond the railing.
The strong wind blowing at this height had a cooling effect on my overheated head.

I could see graffiti from unruly students here and there, and even some cigarette butts scattered around. While Aeos Academy was a prestigious institution recognized on the continent, at times like these, its reputation seemed to be tarnished.

Although it attracted talented students who had received early education from high-ranking nobles, the intense focus on academics had led to a lack of proper character education and etiquette.

“So, that’s how I managed to get in.”

With various reasons circulating, commoner students were slowly gaining some acceptance, serving as a kind of buffer against public opinion.

I knew nothing about Aeos Academy in my past life. I deliberately ignored information about that time.

“Sigh, the incident with violence…”

I had already thought about that part as well. Even though I didn’t need to clear up the misunderstanding now that the expulsion was canceled, I still didn’t want to carry that false accusation.

In my previous life, I had been timid and misunderstood, leading to a sense of injustice, but this time, I didn’t want to live that way.

I saw some of the students that May was using against me the other day who knew about my violence, so I’m assuming that something will come out of them., so I was planning to confront them first.

“Hmm?”

I felt a presence behind me.

I swiftly turned and grabbed the attacker’s throat, immobilizing their weapon by holding their wrist, then brought them down to the ground.

“Cough, ack!”

“Ah…”

A white-haired girl.

Like me, she was wearing a school uniform and looked at me with surprise. In her hand, she held a simple stick.

“Sorry, you approached so suddenly.”

“Ugh…Huff.”

She seemed to breathe heavily as she continued to glare at me.

“You…!”

Frowning, she seemed about to say something.

But more importantly, I wondered where I had seen her before, and it finally came to me.

‘She’s one of the girls who follows Ares around, right?’

Among Ares’s exceptional followers, who could be considered his fish, she was certainly one of them. She had reacted promptly to my attack, And if it was another student she would have succeeded, but because it was me she did not. Clearly, Ares’s fish were highly skilled.

‘In the Demon’s Forest, ambushes were a daily occurrence.’

In that environment, ambushes didn’t just happen on the ground but could also come from underground or the sky, so sensing such threats had become second nature to me.
“I may have overreacted, but you’re at fault for suddenly ambushing me.”

“…”

“So, why did you do that? Let’s hear your reason.”

After gesturing with a fist, waiting for her to speak up, she pursed her lips and scratched the back of her head with her finger, glancing at me.

I had been trying to put some pressure on her, keeping my eyes wide open, and under the force of my stare, she finally spilled the beans.

“Well, I mean, I wanted to test your skills since you’re friends with Ares.”

“Just for that?”

“But you didn’t get hurt, did you? Besides, you’re amazing. Even Ares couldn’t stop my ambush.”

That made sense.

The size of the situation was clear now.

A girl with snowy white hair who was skilled in ambushes.

“Are you from the Chokugen faction?”

Ares sure had an interesting group of girls around him, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇