Chapter 115: Tristan's Obsession

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Although Aurora's actions rubbed many professors the wrong way, there was little they could do about it, and most didn't think it would end up affecting them much anyway, since they wouldn't go bothering a particular student for no reason, after all.

However, there was one professor in particular who cared about the matter very much, and on her, Aurora's 'warning' served to have the opposite effect instead.

When they first met, she had been but an average student, with her only specialty being able to get along better with beasts. And now, she was already a junior professor in the ancient academy. Donna thought that things would remain the same for the years to come, with herself growing to be a senior professor as well, and they would live happily ever after.

On the day they had been caught trying to escape, Donna had never thought that Dane would soon be getting expelled from the academy. 

Although most of his belongings that hadn't been on his person were now transferred to her, it didn't bring Donna much joy. After, all she hadn't married Dane out of greed, and they had already been companions for nearly fifty years at this point.

At first, she had thought that Aurora had been annoyed with Dane because of his 'disobedience' of her orders, and that was why he had been expelled, with the little student only being used as an excuse.

As for why Donna herself was spared, she thought that Aurora probably didn't consider her worthy of attention.

However, now that another senior professor had been expelled, and this time there was clearly no other matter except for that very same student, Donna suddenly realized that things may have been much different from what she expected at first.

"So she really did expel Dane for offending a child… seriously?!"

Even if she wanted to favor the little girl, wasn't it just as easy to just cancel whatever punishments Dane had ordered, and then just tell him not to do it again? There was absolutely no reason to do it like this! And what she did with Madam Augury was even worse!

Donna could feel a deep surge of both hatred and helplessness in her heart.

But even if she could do nothing against Aurora, it didn't mean she couldn't do anything against her student.

Of course, acting against the girl herself directly was out of the question. She would just be another fish on the chopping block once Aurora returned, and Donna didn't want that, at all.

It wasn't that she was selfish. Donna simply preferred to remain a professor and wait for her husband to contact her again. She knew he must be safe, and he must surely want revenge of his own. Only once she made sure he didn't need her to carry out any plans from the inside would she leave the academy.

But that brought forth the question… how to teach that arrogant little girl a lesson without getting directly involved?

Well, turns out that she didn't have to think about it much at all, because there was already a bunch of clowns who made their hatred of the girl all too well known, and they served as the perfect pawns for herself.

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Tristan knew that things weren't going good from the moment he returned to the academy with his friends. Although their mission had gone well, and they had earned quite a bit of contribution points, all his joy was wiped out in an instant when he heard the name of that accursed girl being mentioned with awe and fear.

But after learning the truth of the matter, Tristan almost laughed out loud. Apparently, the girl had somehow managed to get a senior professor expelled.

This was just a joke of a rumor that even an idiot wouldn't believe.

In the ancient academy, the regular students were the lowest tier of existence, like small fish in a large body of water, simply trying their best to grab as much food as they could to grow more.

Of course, this food was thrown into their 'pond' by their masters… the professors. As for prefects, they could be considered the 'favorite fish' of these masters, who would be thrown the most food, and were assured to grow faster than the other fish.

Even the smallest of these masters, the 'junior professors', were far beyond the reach of tiny fish like them. That was how Tristan understood it, and that was how everything had been from what he observed so far.

The mere thought that a fish splashing in the water could in any way hurt the master out of the pond was just hilarious to Tristan. Which idiot came up with such a thing?

'Don't tell me that stupid bitch herself tried to spread this around after the teacher got expelled, so she can be famous and get praised here too, just like in the Knox mansion?! Hah, keep dreaming.'

He couldn't wait to see her get ridiculed.

Compared to spending any effort himself, if she ended up doing it on her own, it would definitely be more satisfying.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have overestimated the intelligence of his fellow students, because he heard not a peep of ridicule about the girl, and just as he was getting impatient, what he heard was an even more ridiculous rumor.

"Madam Augury got expelled because of Evelyn?!"

"Y-Yeah, I'm not joking, Tristan. I made sure to check it with multiple people who saw it with their own eyes. Aurora expelled her personally, though what she said next isn't clear. People keep making contradictory statements about it."

Tristan furrowed his brows. "Huh? What do you mean?"

The boy sighed. He had been one of Ryan's closest followers for many years, and never thought that his friend would end up sticking him with a burden like this while leaving. 

Well, he would still be a subordinate of the Reynolds family after he graduated from the academy, so might as well complete the last task his future boss had left him with. All he had to do was assist this 'sworn brother' from time to time, easy, right?

And it really had been alright, the boy was a quick learner, and had decent social skills. Unfortunately, he was unnaturally obsessed with his younger cousin, and the moment the girl came to the academy, things seemed to have turned for the worse.

He could only shrug and repeat what he heard. "Some people say that she declared that no one is allowed to bully her student, and some say that she said she didn't care about it at all. Some others even say that she 'asked' that people bully her student. It's all a mess."

Tristan's eyes brightened as he suddenly seemed to realize the truth. "I get it now! Hah! That stupid idiot thinks she's so clever, huh?"

Obviously, what had happened was that something happened with Professor Dane and Aurora privately, which caused her to expel him from the academy, and that pink-haired idiot took advantage of that to spread rumors in her favor.

Aurora either didn't hear about it then, or didn't care.

But then, whatever the matter was, it also involved another senior professor! And once she dealt with Madam Augury and expelled her as well, Aurora must have recalled the rumors from earlier, and didn't want the situation to repeat, so she clarified that she wasn't protecting Evelyn!

It was all so simple, but the other students didn't understand at all.

'It must be because that bitch is too good at manipulating people, making her think she's better than she actually is!'

Of course, now that he knew about it, he had to expose her. And he wouldn't stop there, of course, but he still had to get the first step out first before he could take the next one.

With the help of Reynold's group of friends, Tristan didn't think it would be difficult to bring someone like Evelyn down at all.

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine, however, that a professor would approach him at this time, just as he was about to set his plan into motion.

"W-What's going on? P-Professor Donna, w-why are you here?"

After all, this was the 'Blue Note Mansion', one of the biggest boy's dormitories in the ancient academy, and a place where the presence of the opposite sex was rarer than hens' teeth.

This wasn't because of any rule from the academy, or the females disdaining the boys. Instead, it was because of the natural array below the blue note mansion, which boosted the natural growth rate of all males in the area, and reduced the same for the females.

For the boys, this was a heavenly place to cultivate in, but for the girls, every minute spent here was the same as cutting off a part of their natural growth forever.

And Professor Donna, though not a female student, was also giving up a part of her 'growth potential' simply from being here. Whatever her reason was for coming here… it couldn't be good.

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~ To be continued ~

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