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Chapter 5
And rightly so……
‘Asking them to search for something he stole himself. What kind of trouble does the staff have to go through?’
It really was a laughably absurd farce.
His fervent love for Charity Cressida was incredibly famous. Something about falling in love at first sight?
He’d passionately confessed at the end of the first-year fall semester and been spectacularly rejected.
The reason I knew this was because it had been a public confession……
Even after being rejected, Molden always hovered nearby and volunteered for menial tasks.
Cressida telling him he wasn’t a servant and to stop made no difference.
After that, he confessed his fervent love a total of four more times.
All of them were spectacularly rejected, but that only made Molden the academy’s greatest romanticist.
“I apologize. We searched the hall thoroughly, but…….”
“How on earth do you manage things? Oh, Cressida…… Don’t worry, my love. I will surely find that item for you.”
“Even though you don’t know what I lost?”
“If it’s yours, I can find anything.”
So earnest, so earnest. Anyone would think they were already lovers.
I wasn’t the only one thinking this.
“Derren Molden, you know…… isn’t he so romantic?”
“Right? They’re such a well-matched pair with Her Ladyship. Honestly, where else would you find someone who loves Her Ladyship as much as Lord Molden does?”
“Really. I wish Cressida would recognize his sincerity too.”
“Even so, isn’t it over once they graduate? I understand Lady Cressida’s feelings. The two of them are only equals while they’re students…….”
Students enrolled are all equal regardless of status.
This is the first principle established by the founding headmaster of Sainte Elle in the distant past.
Under that unconventional school rule, at least within Sainte Elle, all students could act without worrying about each other’s status.
Looking at how things actually play out, I do question whether it’s really equal. But that was the rule, anyway.
“But Derren is also from a noble family. Who knows? Maybe even the Ducal House will be moved by his devotion and give their permission?”
“The Ducal House not caring about status—does that even make sense?”
Various opinions about the two circulated.
But among them, no one doubted Molden’s love.
‘Well, that’s understandable.’
If I hadn’t overheard his scheme, I’d have thought he was a love-crazed fool too.
Suddenly, the memory of that day when I learned his true intentions and felt my head sting came back to me.
That day was a week before the sixth graduation ceremony.
I’d been confident I’d maintained a perfect school life up to then, but I wanted to wrap things up flawlessly to the very end.
So I went into the city to personally pick out a birthday gift for a close classmate.
“Damn it, I told you there’s no problem. What’s the big deal about Sparrow sending someone…….”
I never imagined I’d overhear an enormous secret on the way back.
I slowed my steps at the voice coming from inside the alley.
It was a voice quiet enough that an ordinary person would have just walked past, but somehow familiar.
I leaned lightly against the wall and listened.
“Ha, Derren-.”
What? Derren?
The Derren Molden I know?
“Don’t worry, brother. I’ve already cut the tail.”
Hearing it, it did sound like him. Much colder and more chilling than I remembered, though.
“As long as we keep our mouths shut, no one will know how that item got all the way there.”
“…….”
“That woman is completely fallen for me. Of course she should be—look how much effort I’ve put in……. Just prepare properly. I’m going to marry her right after graduation, before she changes her mind.”
Good heavens.
I couldn’t grasp the detailed circumstances, but the content was unmistakable to anyone who knew him.
Derren Molden had deliberately approached Charity Cressida.
It was a story that would shock anyone at the academy. I covered my gaping mouth with my hand and scurried away.
After returning to the academy, I agonized over it deeply.
‘If I leave things as they are, Molden and Cressida will end up married, won’t they?’
Knowing her personality, she didn’t seem like someone who’d casually date the opposite sex. There were even people who’d seen the two of them entering the Ducal House together during holidays……
‘Isn’t it, like, kind of infuriating……?’
Of course, it wasn’t mine to be infuriated about. Not my business, either.
But pretending I hadn’t heard it and letting it go……
‘This guy is way more malicious than I thought?’
The story of how the two got together was famous enough that even I knew it.
Derren, who’d been scouring every corner of the academy inside and out, finally found the item Cressida had lost at a nearby auction house.
‘Something about recognizing at a glance that it was a necklace she wore often.’
It turned out to be her mother’s keepsake, and deeply moved, Cressida eventually accepted Molden’s request to court her.
……But putting together what I’d just heard, all of this was Derren’s self-staged play.
“Hmm~. Using even your dead parents is going too far, isn’t it?”
Looking back on his misdeeds at the time, I easily reached a conclusion. And the next day, I called Cressida out immediately.
“Cressida, I have something important to tell you.”
“You? To me? ……Fine, I’ll listen. But I don’t have much time, so keep it short.”
“Break up with Molden.”
“……Are you insane?”
“He’s a fraud. He stole the necklace, planted it at the auction house, and made it look like he found it himself.”
Cressida looked at me with a shocked face.
“Properly. Say it again, at length…….”
Two days later, the rumor that the two had broken up spread like wildfire throughout the academy.
She hadn’t seemed to believe me outright, so it must have taken time to verify the truth.
That night, Cressida came to see me. Apart from the shadows under her eyes, her face was the same as always.
“I have a question, Maze. Why did you tell me this? It’s none of your concern, isn’t it?”
“I just judged that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut once I knew the truth. I felt like it would weigh on my conscience for the rest of my life if I graduated like that.”
“If I hadn’t believed you…… what would you have done?”
What do you mean, what would I have done. It’d be your own fault for kicking away your own fortune.
“Who knows. Whether you believe it or not is your freedom. I just did what I had to do.”
“…….”
Cressida just looked at me for a while, then pressed one of her brooches into my hand.
An eagle was engraved on the brooch. It was the symbol of the Cressida family.
“If you ever find yourself in difficulty after graduation, come by the Ducal House anytime.”
Come back to the capital after graduating? Are you insane?
……That thought came first, but instead of voicing it, I clutched the brooch tightly and said I would.
Of course, I had no intention of going. No, I wasn’t even given the chance to go.
Because I regressed again not long after.
And now, I found myself facing that legendary fraud once again.
And right at the moment when everything was about to begin.
‘Now…… what do I do?’
I’d repeated time seven times and still hadn’t found a clear answer.
Brooding alone again this time wouldn’t change anything, so I needed to expand the board entirely.
In that regard, Cressida was quite a useful card. She was someone who repaid favors several times over.
……It occurred to me that finding her keepsake and then using her wasn’t much different from what Molden did.
‘It’s not like I’m going to leech off her for life like someone else, and it’s only for one year.’
Cressida would probably thank me if she knew, wouldn’t she?
‘First, let me check whether the necklace has already gone to the auction house.’
I left the party hall and headed straight to the administrative office.
The staff member who’d rejected my withdrawal letter just a month ago greeted me once again.
“Hello, is Derren Molden currently at the school?”
What I wanted to confirm first was Molden’s entry and exit records.
