Chapter 62 - Things Only You Can Do

Chapter 62. Things Only You Can Do

“Are you serious, Irene Leroy?”

After all the classes were finished, the professor was looking at the documents he had received in disbelief. He wanted her to reconsider.

Even though she knew this would be his reaction, Irene answered without changing her expression.

“Yes.”

“I want to ask the Marquis if he feels the same way.”

“….”

Irene snapped her mouth shut at those words.

The documents that Irene handed over was a letter of resignation. She didn’t want to take a leave of absence from the academy, but wanted to leave permanently.

However, the professor asked if she’d gotten permission from Marquis Leroy first. He knew better than anyone else that the Marquis wouldn’t allow Irene to drop out.

Irene quietly listened to the professor, then firmly said.

“Father’s opinion doesn’t matter.”

“Student Leroy.”

“The important thing is that I have no will to attend the academy anymore.”

The reality was that she didn’t go to the Academy of Magic because she wanted to. Just because she was talented in magic, her father decided her future for her. He ordered her to attend the Academy and become an Imperial wizard after she graduated.

Irene had no specific complaint. She thought it would be better to go to a place where she could show off her talent. It was comfortable, and as easy as walking down the street as others supported her.

She realized too late that it wasn’t necessarily correct.

[Parents should not decide their children’s goals for them, but help and support them when their children are struggling.]

Her eldest sister, who she always thought was useless and foolish, already knew the truth.

That there was no meaning in following the path that someone else has decided for you.

After secretly listening to her conversation with Marquis Leroy from the hallway, Irene had a long time to think alone.

At some point, she realized her father followed a pattern. If you aren’t recognized by him as being talented, then you’re a useless disappointment and he’ll abandon you. It wasn’t just her who felt it, her other siblings recognized it as well.

‘It was meaningless from the beginning.’

As soon as she had this crazy idea, she didn’t want to follow a path she wasn’t passionate about.

“Don’t tell my father, I’ll talk to him about it.”

“Ha… I understand what you’re saying, but there is still a period of deliberation. So one more time… please think about it…”

“Thank you, please take care of it as soon as possible.

She firmly cut off the professor’s words, as she didn’t want to hear them.

Irene went to meet Ronan immediately afterwards. She’d been afraid to see his face, so she had avoided him and hid until she finally came to the decision to visit him.

“I’m sorry for everything I put you through.”

“….”

“I’m not asking you to forgive me. I came here because I wanted to apologize to you properly.”

She could feel Ronan staring at her in shock, since he never expected her to express regret. Irene continued to clench her hands tightly because she was not confident enough to face his gaze.

“I’m sorry I blamed you for all of my mistakes and pretended not to know.”

“I’ll accept your apology.”

At his unexpected remark, Irene looked up in surprise. Ronan had a conflicted and bitter look on his face.

“It doesn’t mean I’ll forgive you.”

“Still, thank you…”

From the start she didn’t expect forgiveness when she apologized, so this was enough.

Irene returned to the Leroy mansion, leaving the glances of the other students behind. She planned to visit Emil, her most reliable sibling, and ask for advice first.

However, he had an unexpected reaction.

“Can’t you see I’m busy? If you have time for this, go study more and get good grades on your next test.”

“But Brother…”

“Don’t try to cheat like last time to get good grades.”

“….”

“Ha… The more I think about it, the more hopeless you are. Cheating because you lost a test paper. I’m so ashamed to be related to you.”

The fact that Irene had cheated had already spread through Emil’s academy.? He had to hold back the words from his seething heart, as he listened to his peers condemn him for having such a sibling.

“Please, it’ll only take a moment. I just want to ask for some advice.”

“I don’t have time to deal with you, just leave Irene Leroy.”

“….”

The moment she was about to say something else, Emil cut her off by turning away quickly. His attitude said that he didn’t want to deal with her any more, so Irene fell silent and left Emil’s room.

The same thing happened when she went to Xavier to check his reaction.

“Please pull yourself together, because I’m ashamed to even look at you.”

Irene responded sharply to the contempt they sent her way.

“Well, I’ve come to my senses about you.”

“What?”

She heard a sharp voice calling to her from behind, but she didn’t look back.

Irene had come to her senses quite late, but her brothers still had a long way to go.

‘I’ll just end up in a yelling match if I visit Diana.’

Irene knew Diana would just treat her like she was pathetic. So she didn’t visit her since she could do even less for her than her brothers.

That was when.

“The gemologist said it was as fine as a pink diamond.”

“So you think it can beat the pink diamond?”

Irene stopped in her tracks when she heard the conversation coming out of her father’s office. Marquis Leroy and Marquis El were talking with the door open.

“Soon I’ll have a jewel that can beat the pink diamond, why don’t you just wait a little bit?”

“I hope it all goes according to your plans, but I think you’re misjudging the situation.”

Marquis El was saying that the pink diamonds were still scarce and valuable. The value was probably because of the meaning behind the diamond.

Everyone knew their meaning was ‘Forever Young and Beautiful’ and ‘Making your wish come true’, but most people didn’t actually believe that.

Irene had hidden herself behind a pillar, and glanced at the office again after Marquis El had left.

“Pink diamonds! I should give meaning to my ore!”

A sprout will appear after a drought.

Marquis Leroy grinned for a moment, then slammed his fists on the desk in annoyance.

“No, no.”

He thought it might be easier to change the meaning than to insert a new one.

Irene watched Marquis Leroy, who started to hum before she knew it.

She was thinking that her father was the most distracted out of all of them.

***

As soon as she woke up the next morning, Leticia left to tell Enoch what happened the previous day.

When Leticia woke up in the morning, she saw the book lying on her desk and her heart went cold. It was placed in such a way to be noticed, and that gave her goosebumps. The part she was going to look at yesterday was torn out of the book.

‘Is someone aiming for me?’

The book had returned, so there was no damage except for the one page.

When Leticia had left her room yesterday, she hinted to Elle and Ian that something had happened. Fortunately, there was no reaction from them.

Leticia wasn’t feeling safe and immediately tried to visit Enoch. She wasn’t able to talk to him though, because he was busy and left for the Palace early.

“What’s wrong?”

Elle carefully asked after she noticed that she was looking unusual. Leticia shook her head quickly.

“It’s nothing.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Ian also noticed and asked. Leticia smiled calmly at their worried questions.

“I was thinking about hiring a servant.”

“No way. Now that our financial condition is better, we’d better get one.”

Ian’s face relaxed after listening to Leticia and nodded in sympathy.

She decided to talk properly to Enoch about it when he came home. Ian returned to his room to study for the final interview. Leticia watched Ian leave, then took Elle’s hand.

“Elle, are you busy today?”

“I’m not busy. Even if I was, you come first.”

“Then, can you go to the plaza with me?”

“Do you have something you want to buy?”

Elle looked at her strangely when she saw Leticia verifying that Ian had returned to his room.

“I want to buy some gold thread.”

“What? Oh, because of Ian’s test?”

“Yes, I ordered it in advance.”

Now that they had some extra income, she was able to reserve some gold thread. It cost quite a bit, but it was worth it.

“Ian will like that.”

“I know. Let’s split the cost for the bracelet 50/50.”

“Sounds great! I can’t make it very well, is that ok?”

When Elle suddenly looked worried, Leticia smiled gently and said.

“It’s okay, because I’m not very good at it either.”

Now that Ian’s third exam was just around the corner, she felt a pressing need to get the gold thread and make it quickly.

Elle was dragged away by Leticia without much of a fight.

***

As soon as they arrived at the square, they retrieved the gold thread from the jeweler and tried to return to the Achilles Mansion. On the way back, they ran into the owner of Pegasus, so Elle apologized to Leticia and left with him. It seemed that they were going to discuss which accessory to release next.

“It’s okay, you’re just getting started.”

It had been a while since she’d released her very successful wishing bracelet, so it was time to prepare a new accessory.

Leticia looked excited for Elle, who she could see conversing in the distance. Elle always looked cute despite her young age, but today she looked impressive.

At that time, she felt someone approach her from behind.

“Hi.”

It was the first time she’d seen her since the Swordsmanship Tournament.

Since they didn’t part on the best of terms, Leticia didn’t greet her. Keena, however, spoke to her without any signs of discomfort.

“Your expression is full of worries.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I’ll feel sad if you say that.”

Leticia turned away with the clear message that she didn’t want to talk anymore. Even though she knew that was her intention, Keena followed Leticia around.

“Is it because of your father’s mine?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re still slow with getting news.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Leticia opened her eyes in surprise at her words, Keena just casually shrugged.

“The rumors are clamouring about which is more valuable, the ore from Marquis Leroy’s mine or the pink diamonds.”

While the color wasn’t close enough to say they were similar, the ore came out much more frequently than the pink diamonds. More and more people began to prefer the ore extracted from Marquis Leroy’s mine. On the other hand, some people said it was too early to judge the value of the ore that had just come out.

Keena told an unexpected story and raised concerns, but there was another problem that bothered Leticia more.

“It’s not that.”

Someone broke into the Achilles mansion with impunity. Took the book lying on her desk, it seemed to say that the intruder could come and go whenever they wanted. They only broke into her room, but there was a good chance that they could invade Elle’s, Ian’s or Enoch’s room silently.

“Yeah, then there’s only one explanation.”

“….?”

Keena smiled calmly as she casually said something disturbing.

“Is it because I took the book? I put it back in the morning.”

“….”

At that, Leticia closed her mouth in shock.

Keena continued to stare at Leticia with a smile on her face. For Leticia, it was like everything felt distant, as if time had stopped.

“No way…”

Leticia faltered and widened the distance between them. However, Keena didn’t even give her a chance to escape and stepped forward as much as Leticia moved away.

“Yes, it was me.”