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Chapter 2 – Let’s Solve Parent Complaints Wisely
The prestigious Nocte–Apfelrn Academy, cradle of the empire’s future talents.
The ancient laurel tree, symbol of the academy commonly called “Noctua,” was lush and green as always today.
Lucien Philonia, Noctua’s teacher of Barrier Studies, looked just as green—but from dread.
“The dean isn’t here, and all they sent is a young teacher… Ignis must think this place is a joke.”
As she met his blood-red eyes, Lucien reflexively touched her neck.
Still attached… good…
“The dean had to urgently attend a faculty meeting. My apologies on his behalf, Your Grace.”
Her polite smile quivered faintly.
A faculty meeting? What nonsense. That was a lie as red as the man’s eyes.
The terrifying middle-aged man before her was the Duke of Ignis—the #1 most powerful, #1 most infamous, and #1 most troublesome parent in the entire academy, save only the emperor. A five-star, top-tier blacklist guardian.
When news broke that he was coming, the dean and vice dean fled without a sound—not even mice would’ve noticed them escape.
Only she, the unfortunate homeroom teacher, was left behind to face this notorious parent alone.
“Well, my business is with you anyway.”
Lucien could bet her monthly vacation that whatever that business was, it wouldn’t be good.
Just a few days ago, a certain earl stormed in insisting his son’s grades were wrong and yelled for half an hour. Another baron shouted to revoke his child’s punishment until security dragged him away.
“They say you unfairly discriminate among students. Out of respect for last year’s efforts, I’ll give you a chance to explain.”
Said the duke—who held the authority for on-the-spot executions and for whom discrimination was a daily hobby.
Discrimination? Discrimination?!
She was truly wronged. No—she was insulted!
“That’s impossible!”
“Seems you don’t value your life. You think that flimsy excuse can cover the wound inflicted on my daughter?”
Lucien felt dumbfounded and speechless.
Among all the “daughter-obsessed” fathers she’d met, not a single one was normal.
And among them, the Duke of Ignis was the worst of the worst.
When his daughter once bumped into a statue and injured herself, he pulverized every statue on campus. And that was only the beginning of his disasters.
“Could you explain in more detail? If there’s been a misunderstanding—”
“A misunderstanding? Are you implying my daughter lied?”
His glare flared, pressuring the woman who wasn’t even a fistful in size.
Lucien bit her lip hard. Wronged and furious, tears pricked her eyes.
Just because he was a parent and a duke, did he think he could do anything?
Her anger and frustration fried her rationality—and her tongue moved on its own.
“If it’s a child, I dislike them all equally, so who exactly would I be discriminating against?”
The duke was too stunned to speak.
The tears that had rimmed the cheeky teacher’s eyes vanished instantly.
Her pale gray-blue eyes froze over like a foggy dawn turning to ice.
“What’s the basis of this ‘discrimination’? Number of presentations? Number of compliments? Amount of conversation? I’m human—how could I possibly keep all that perfectly equal? Do you match the number of necks you cut or the number of times you stab people with absolute precision, Your Grace?”
“…Are you that desperate to die?”
“Well, feel free to tell your daughter that her teacher upset you, so you killed me after storming the academy. I’m sure it would have a wonderfully positive effect on her emotional growth.”
“……”
An indescribable silence fell heavy in the air.
Lucien’s runaway mind returned far too quickly, and she bit her tongue, wishing she could sew her mouth shut.
Just kill me now…
At that moment, a teenage boy barged into the office so hard it seemed he would knock the door off its hinges.
Bang!!
“Your Grace! I told you not to come to the academy because it embarrasses me! What did the youngest say this time—”
The duke snorted at the boy who nearly toppled over from his own momentum.
Luckily, the boy did not end up planting his face into the floor.
“Calix, do I need to tell you not to run in the hallways? You’re not even in the lower division.”
“A—sorry! Teacher, are you okay?! You’re bleeding!”
That was because Lucien rushed forward to catch him—and being weaker than the boy, she ended up falling herself.
…Didn’t she say she hates all children?
The duke frowned at her contradictory behavior.
Lucien hastily hid her scraped, bleeding hand behind her back and sighed.
“Calix, I’m in the middle of a conference with your father. Please wait outside.”
“Teacher, His Grace lacks basic decency, so being alone with him is dangerous.”
Better a pot leaking inside than one leaking outside—but the duke growled anyway.
“Shut up and get out.”
“How dare you tell a student to get lost? The one who shouldn’t be here is you, Your Grace.”
The duke slammed to his feet, unable to endure his son publicly humiliating him.
Lucien, startled by the aggression in his movement, instinctively stepped in front of the boy.
“Teacher?”
“…What are you doing?”
The hulking father and son stared at her in disbelief.
To anyone watching, she was clearly shielding the student from danger—even though the boy was built like a young bear and much bigger than her, and the “danger” was his own father.
“…Calix, return to class. Your Grace, let’s finish our discussion.”
Lucien forced a polite smile back onto her face.
Damn it… I thought he was going to hit him…
She turned to her former student with a stiff jerk of her head.
Go.
No!
Go.
…Yes.
The boy trudged out miserably. Lucien let out a sigh of relief.
The Duke of Ignis finally spoke.
“I do not understand.”
That he could swiftly subdue his disobedient second son, or that the boy obeyed this teacher so readily—those he could overlook.
But her behavior, that he couldn’t grasp.
“Didn’t you say you hated all children?”
“…I did.”
“Your actions say otherwise.”
“…Excuse me?”
“When Calix first entered. And just now.”
Lucien, too, couldn’t understand him.
“Even if I dislike them, how could I allow a student to get hurt right in front of me?”
“Why not? You dislike them.”
Lucien sputtered in disbelief.
“I dislike them equally. It’s not that I hate Calix more. And even if I did, how could I let a child be injured right before my eyes?”
“……”
“And this may be presumptuous, but please refrain from telling your child to ‘get lost’ or threatening him. Calix was rude, yes, but you’re the adult. And the parent. Especially in front of others, like me.”
“……”
No, seriously—didn’t she say she hated kids?
And how was disliking them the same as allowing harm to come to them?
The two, who could never understand each other, stared for a while, but understanding did not magically appear.
“…Right. My main concern is about Lylie. She’s very upset, saying her teacher hates only her. Are you saying that’s a misunderstanding?”
Of course it was.
If there was one thing Lucien could say with absolute clarity, it was this:
Even hatred requires interest and energy.
“I don’t know what made the young lady feel that way, but I’m not kind to any of my students. If you’d like, you’re welcome to observe my class personally.”
“A teacher saying that proudly hardly seems appropriate.”
As if you aren’t telling your own kid to get lost in public…
Seeing how he ignored the academy entirely when it came to his sons, yet had visited multiple times over his youngest daughter’s issues, she wanted to ask who was really doing the discriminating here.
“If she felt hurt, I will apologize. But I swear I have never treated her differently from any other student, nor will I in the future.”
From her perspective, this child or that child—they were all simply children she was responsible for protecting and teaching.
Which is exactly why she disliked them—they couldn’t be left alone like adults.
“…I’ll let it pass this once. You may apologize to Lylie directly.”
The duke spoke with a displeased expression.
He didn’t fully trust the teacher’s words—but her actions didn’t appear harmful to the children.
“If you ever need to discuss anything about your daughter again, please feel free to contact me.”
Translation: Don’t contact me.
“I hope such need does not arise.”
Translation: If it does, I’ll storm in again and ruin your day.
Blacklisted Parent #1 vanished just as stormily as he had arrived.
Lucien collapsed onto the table.
“Hhhhg… I told them I didn’t want to be a homeroom teacher…”
They’d promised she only needed to teach one course…!
The scammed mage-teacher of Noctua prayed desperately yet again.
She wished the academy would burn down.
She wished the world would burn down.
Then she wouldn’t have to go to work tomorrow…
