SRC 41

Chapter 41

As a harsh voice rang out, someone appeared and blocked the fist that had been swung at me.

Just by seeing that familiar back, I felt reassured.
Even from his back alone, I could tell who it was.

“Senior Liam!”

Siana had called Liam over at just the right moment.
I sent a grateful look toward Siana, who was watching us from afar.

“Y-You are…”

Naturally, those boys recognized Liam’s face at once.

If someone at our academy didn’t know Liam’s face, they were probably a fake academy student.

“How could several healthy male students think of bullying a single female student?”

“We didn’t do anything. We were just trying to greet her…”

“With a fist?”

Since Liam had witnessed the scene himself, the boys had no way out.
Frightened, they all stepped back from him.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“I saw it with my own eyes. What misunderstanding?”

“We were only trying to build friendship.”

Watching the three stubbornly deny it to the end, Liam let out a sigh.

Hiding behind him, I pointed at the boys and spoke up.

“That’s all a lie. I saw them trying to bully this friend myself. And they even tried to hit me.”

Liam turned his head and looked at the male student standing behind me.
With that and my explanation, he seemed to understand the situation.

“Even so, why step in yourself?”

“I couldn’t just stand by in a crisis.”

“You really…”

He seemed about to say something more but stopped and faced forward again.

“You were caught at the scene, so you’ll have to go to the student council room. You’d better put all your effort into explaining yourselves.”

“Your Highness! It really wasn’t us!”

“That doesn’t seem to be for you to decide.”

At Liam’s gesture, the boys approached the rooftop door with wronged expressions.

Just before going down, Liam turned and asked the male student behind me,

“It may be difficult to fully prove the charges with just them. Will you come along as well?”

Gathering his courage, the male student stepped fully into view before Liam.
After hesitating, he nodded.

“Go back to class carefully, Kong Kong.”

“Please take care of it, Senior.”

Liam smiled and placed his hand on top of my head.

“I’m glad I asked you for help. You did really well.”

“Hehe.”

Normally I would have been annoyed that my hair got messed up, but the praise didn’t feel bad at all right now.

Liam led the boys down from the rooftop.

Siana, who had been hiding to the side and watching, stepped out.

“Are you okay, Olivia?”

“Thank you, Siana. You called Senior Liam at just the right time.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help directly.”

“No. If you’d come out with me, we both might have gotten into serious trouble. It was a wise decision.”

Feeling proud that we had found the bullied student and saved him in time, Siana and I hugged each other.

“You were amazing, Siana.”

“You were amazing too, Olivia.”

Drunk on the joy of victory, we even forgot that the class bell had already rung and just jumped around in place.

The place Liam took the male students to was not the student council room.

When the direction seemed strange, the uneasy students asked him,

“W-Where are we going?”

“The principal’s office.”

“Excuse me? Why not the student council room?”

“There are people waiting for you.”

“People…?”

While they were still confused, their steps faithfully followed Liam to the door of the principal’s office.

When one frightened student tried to run away, Liam lightly grabbed him.

“Go in.”

They were given no choice.

The secretary guarding beside the office informed the principal through a communication device that guests had arrived.

Soon, with a voice telling them to enter, the office door opened slightly on its own.

After knocking, Liam led the students inside.

There sat the principal of this academy—Teacher Saint.

“Teacher Saint?”

The students, who did not know the principal’s true identity, looked flustered and confused.

Instead of explaining in detail, Liam stepped forward and described the situation.

“I’ve brought them. The group that does not treat a friend as a friend and bullies him.”

“That’s not true. It’s a misunderstanding.”

“Is that so? We’ll find out whether it’s a misunderstanding after hearing that student’s story.”

Teacher Saint pointed to the male student who stood there shrinking.

“Everything he says is a lie. He’s not trustworthy!”

“That’s right. He only talks nonsense.”

“We did nothing wrong.”

Though the three denied it, Teacher Saint did not listen.

With a slight movement of his finger, their mouths closed.

“Go out quietly. I will hear your side after listening to this student.”

At Teacher Saint’s glance, Liam took the three boys outside the office.

Even if they wanted to run, they didn’t dare with Liam’s eyes on them.

Left in the office, the student sat on the sofa at Teacher Saint’s gesture.

A teapot and teacup moved on their own, brewing warm black tea and placing it before him.

“Do you like tea?”

“Y-Yes. I do.”

The boy awkwardly accepted the cup.

After drinking the gently warmed tea, his anxious heart seemed to calm a little.

Teacher Saint rose from the desk and sat at the head of the sofa.

“Are you the one who put an anonymous note in the mailbox?”

“…Yes. That’s right. How do you know? Could it be that the person who said they would help anyone in trouble…?”

“Half right and half wrong, but the exact answer isn’t important.”

Teacher Saint elegantly took a sip from the teacup that had floated over to him.

“Anyway, I want to praise you for having the courage to ask for help. Now, can you gather a bit more courage and tell me in detail what those students did to you?”

“Yes… yes.”

With a face close to tears, the boy began explaining.

At first, it clearly started with a simple invitation to be friends.

Because he had been weak since childhood and had little interaction with other nobles, he had no close friends and gladly accepted their offer.

But their definition of “friend” was different from what he knew.

The three were clearly equals, yet he never felt like he truly belonged among them.

So he had only asked out of curiosity.

“I’m your friend too, right?”

Was that question so wrong?

From the moment mocking smiles appeared on their lips, a different level of hell began.

As he finished explaining everything, hot tears welled in his eyes.

“I see. Thank you for telling me.”

Teacher Saint let out a deep sigh after hearing his story.

If they had failed to find him even now, he might have been bullied for as long as he attended the academy.

The students who bullied him acted like close friends in front of others. He was afraid that reporting them openly might worsen the situation, so he couldn’t say he was being bullied.

He also couldn’t confide in other students, worrying they might be harmed too.

So he chose to write his story and put it in an old, absurd mailbox he had heard about by chance.

However, he lacked the final courage to write his name on the note.

“Thank you for finding me. Thank you…”

“Don’t worry. From now on, I will protect you.”

Teacher Saint spoke firmly.

He approached and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“May I ask your name now?”

“Jun Rubelln.”

“Jun, you’ve endured a lot.”

At last, they learned the name of the note’s owner.

Comforted by Teacher Saint, the boy finally burst into tears.

Teacher Saint hugged him and patted his back as he cried.

Fortunately, the principal’s office was well soundproofed, so the sound did not leak outside.

The boys waiting outside still had their mouths sealed and showed their discomfort with their whole bodies.

But Liam, who was watching over them, only crossed his arms and glared, offering no help.

Meanwhile, other members of ‘Dul-Sa-Mo’ arrived all at once after hearing the news.

“Wow, Liam. You really did something big.”

“Noah, there’s a way to tell whether these kids are lying, right?”

“Of course. If we use Noah’s Confession Crystal Orb, we can quickly determine whether it’s a lie or the truth.”

As the heir to the Magic Tower’s master, there was no way Noah’s invention would fail.

The boys’ faces darkened.

“There will also be disciplinary action from the student council.”

Aiden declared coldly, unlike his usual self.

Not knowing what punishment they would receive, the students’ complexions grew pale.

“How pathetic.”

Lucas muttered lowly while looking at them.

Though they wanted to protest Lucas’s words—since he was in the same grade—they still could not speak.

“Bullying a friend? Does that even make sense?”

Emma added angrily, glaring at them.

The three boys, still feeling wronged, turned their eyes toward Emma.

But the person they were recalling was not Emma.

It was someone else who looked like her.