HDGD 7

Chapter: 7

The next day.

When Sia entered the lecture hall, the entire room suddenly fell silent.

She hesitated for a brief moment at the unfamiliar atmosphere, but soon regained her composure and calmly took her seat.

A moment later, someone tapped her shoulder.

Noel, who often talked to her, was looking at her with an excited expression.

“Did you cause some huge incident yesterday without me knowing? I heard you left Kryon standing there in nothing but his underwear?”

“Well… I think that rumor got a bit exaggerated.”

“Noel, you should’ve seen Sia in action. Seriously, what on earth happened? Did you secretly go train in some kind of Room of Spirit and Time while you were confined?”

Liana, who had taken the seat beside her at some point, chimed in.

Feeling awkward, Sia turned her head—and at that moment, her eyes met Kryon’s as he entered the classroom.

His face was badly swollen. The instant he saw Sia, he flinched and hurried to the farthest corner seat.

The group trailing behind him also shrank back, quickly taking their seats with hunched shoulders.

Seeing that, Liana let out a small, delighted cry.

“Ahh—this must be what they call catharsis. Noel, you’d better be careful too. Otherwise, Sia might strip you down to your underwear as well.”

“W-What… stop it. That doesn’t even sound like a joke anymore. You wouldn’t do that to me, right, Sia?”

“I wouldn’t. Don’t worry.”

Noel was one of the very few male classmates who had spoken to Sia first on the day they entered the academy.

While most people looked at her through the lens of her gender, he always treated her as just another fellow cadet.

She had no intention of it—but a playful impulse suddenly crept up on her.

“Still, if you build a nice six-pack, I might help tear your shirt off naturally in front of someone you like.”

“…Guess I’ll have to train even harder from now on.”

While they were exchanging silly jokes, the door slid open with a rattling sound and Gilliard entered.

All the cadets’ eyes immediately focused on the wound on his face.

Liana muttered in a hushed voice, full of regret,

“Oh no… a scar on such a handsome face…”

Gilliard strode up to the podium and placed the book he was carrying down with a dull thud.

Then he slowly swept his gaze across the room.

For a fleeting moment, his eyes met Sia’s—but he passed over her without pause.

In his usual low voice, he spoke.

“I’ll say this in advance. I will not entertain any questions regarding yesterday’s disturbance or this injury.”

Disappointed murmurs rippled through the cadets as Gilliard continued scanning the classroom.

His expression looked no different than usual, but just as Sia realized that his gaze had grown sharper—

“And I’ve come to realize, thanks to this incident, just how eager you all are to use real swords. So, I’ve decided to give you a special opportunity.”

At the unexpected offer, the cadets exchanged glances.

Gilliard walked between the desks with heavy, deliberate steps. His destination was Kryon’s desk.

Not understanding why the instructor had come all the way over, Kryon stared blankly as something fell onto his desk with a loud thud.

Gilliard had practically thrown a sword down in front of him.

In a flat, emotionless voice, he said,

“Cadet Drake. Starting today, I will personally serve as your sparring partner.”

“…Pardon?”

“I can’t very well ignore such overflowing enthusiasm from my disciple. After today’s schedule is complete, we’ll hold a special session in the training hall. I’ll take great care of you—from head to toe—so feel free to come with peace of mind.”

There wasn’t a single harsh word in his tone.

Yet the atmosphere in the classroom froze instantly.

Gilliard, unfazed, turned and strode back to the front of the room.

When Sia glanced back, she saw Kryon’s hands trembling violently.

Closing her eyes, Sia slowly shook her head.

It seemed her “Get Gilliard’s Recommendation” project would have to turn into a long-term battle.

He was never a man associated with warmth or humanity in the first place—why would this life be any different?

Lost in thought, Sia soon came to a conclusion.

“…I’ll have to threaten him.”

To Sia—no, probably to everyone around him—Gilliard was a perfect man.

Threatening the invincible duke who seemingly had no weaknesses would have been unthinkable in the past.

But that didn’t apply to a regressor who knew the future.

When was it again? Probably around the first semester of her second year, before her regression.

“This month I got a bonus, so I sent extra money to my parents back in the countryside. Every time I send some, they’re so happy and say it really helps.”

At her classmate Louis’s words, a long-forgotten, dearly missed name surfaced in Sia’s mind.

Mrs. Harrington—no, the Harrington couple.

Sia hadn’t always been lonely in the Kingdom of Rivendel.

Before going off to war, Gilliard had placed thirteen-year-old Sia with a farming family on the outskirts of town.

There, Sia lived for three years with the Harrington couple and their son, Derek—the four of them together.

The couple had been endlessly kind and gentle.

Mrs. Harrington, in particular, had been even more affectionate than Sia’s own birth mother.

Thanks to them, Sia had been able—if only for a while—to forget the word “revenge” and live in peace.

Until the day Gilliard suddenly appeared and forcibly took her away.

‘Ma’am… sir… and Derek too… I wonder if you’re all doing well.’

Having lived with her nerves constantly on edge over the word “revenge,” memories of that beloved family made the bridge of her nose sting.

She had a great goal in life—but surely expressing gratitude to people she had once been thankful to wouldn’t affect that goal too much.

“Louis. If you ever come across any good work, could you introduce me?”

Louis’s expression turned strange. He glanced around, then lowered his voice and asked carefully,

“You’re talking about earning money? Where did all your salary go that you’d say that? The academy pays knight cadets a monthly stipend, you know.”

All spent? The money from the academy was barely pocket change.

At best, it was enough to buy a few books and some snacks.

She’d been grateful just to receive an allowance since food and lodging were covered—but a salary?

As their conversation kept missing each other’s point, Sia finally asked,

“Louis… how much did you get this month?”

“Three hundred thousand. Including the bonus.”

Only then did Sia realize just how absurdly little she had been receiving all this time.

And, just as she suspected, she knew exactly who the culprit was.

Who would’ve imagined that a war hero revered like the heavens would stoop to such petty behavior—skimming money from a mere knight cadet?

Furious, Sia had confronted Gilliard, but he responded as if some dog were barking at him.

She’d even tried reporting it to the other instructors, but no one believed that such a revered war hero would do something like that.

In the end, Sia’s counterattack came to nothing, and she never got her money back.

A confident smile spread across her lips as she recalled those memories.

‘But not this time.’

Just wait, Gilliard. Your past sins will become the shackles that bind you.

Let’s see if you can still ignore me this time.

In her previous life, she had only suffered in silence—but now, it was Sia’s turn to strike back.

* * *

After quickly finishing dinner, Sia quietly slipped out the back of the cafeteria.

Her destination was the staff break room used by the cafeteria employees.

Approaching the door silently, she flung it open as if launching a surprise attack.

“Cador!”

“Gah!—What the hell? Oh, it’s you, Sia! At least knock before coming in!”

Head chef Cador flung his hat up to cover his eyes.

Despite his complaints, his eyes sparkled with mischief—no different from his days back in the Ryglarus territory.

When Sia handed the hat back, he grumbled but took it anyway.

“So? You’ve eaten, haven’t you? You should be heading back to the dorms on your own. What are you doing here? Got business with me?”

“Well… actually. The cat that lives behind the dorm had four kittens. I wanted to bring it some food.”

“What? The mama cat must be in terrible shape…! Wait here! I’ll pack something up!”

Cador rushed out of the break room.

From far away, she heard him shout, “I didn’t have a cat before! I didn’t! But now I do!”

Relieved that he still loved cats, Sia quickly scanned the room.

If someone were hiding documents here, where would they be?

Thinking that, she opened each drawer of Cador’s desk one by one.

Then she noticed that the second drawer was slightly shallower than the others.

Carefully using a hairpin as a lever, she lifted the bottom panel.

A hidden compartment was revealed.

“Here’s to your unchanged carelessness, Cador.”

As expected, beneath the false bottom lay a thick stack of payroll statements.

The recipient was Sia herself—and the amount…

‘You really started skimming it from the moment I enrolled?’

And all this time, you pretended not to know anything?

Grinding her teeth, she gathered the documents and was about to return the drawer to its original state—

When she noticed several other envelopes inside the hidden compartment.

She was about to ignore them as unrelated, but the name written on one of them made her mind go blank.

Emma Harrington

Why would her foster mother’s name be here?

‘Don’t tell me… you intercepted letters sent to me too?’

Sia hurriedly opened the envelope and read its contents.

If things went wrong, she planned to use this as evidence to threaten Gilliard as well.

But what was written inside was nothing like she had expected.

“To Duke Ryglarus. How long do you intend to ignore us? We are more than entitled to proper compensation.”

Ignore? Compensation?

The letter was filled with demands, urging Gilliard to respond.

As it went on, it only sank deeper into mystery—ending with a demand for money.

“If you do not deliver the promised payment, we will not remain silent.”

Sia lifted her head and stared at the remaining stack of letters.

Faced with this unexpected situation, her eyes trembled.

“…What is going on here?”