“So…… just refer to this.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Neris looked at Nellusione’s thoughts and sneered coldly inside.

Pretending to be naive, pretending to be kind, pretending not to know any filth was a tactic that the adult Nellusione had taught her. And if she also maintained proper manners, she could receive affection without scorn in noble society.

Among the high nobles, this method would never work, but people in social circles harbored strange fantasies about a lower noble girl born in the countryside. They thought she might be pure.

‘She likes purity.’

Even if she was born without any shortcomings and grew up among peers much wealthier than herself, she could not avoid thinking about money. The competition for survival conditions was animal instinct.

How could a young girl, who was the poorest in the school and barely covered her tuition with loans, be truly indifferent to the mention of the royal family?

Neris thought that if a person had a brain, it should be the first thing to be suspected. But Nellusione was still young and had a biased perception of Neris.

She would be able to avoid suspicion for a while using that fact.

“So, senior, what exactly is my job?”

Nellusione, who couldn’t take his eyes off Neris for a long time, flinched at her calm voice. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat.

“Ah, right. Sorry. You need to organize the student records that the teachers gave you by grade and then by name. They’re currently sorted by subject.”

It was not a difficult task but it was timeconsuming, so it was suitable as a price for making an inappropriate remark during class time. Indeed, it was worth the punishment by Duke Volter. Neris smiled.

“Yes, I understand. Thank you for letting me know.”

“Thank you for helping me.”

Nellusione gave Neris his killer smile. Neris met his gaze for a moment and counted two beats inside before shyly raising the corners of her mouth and looking down.

She spread out the students’ attendance records for the midterm of the first semester, reflecting the individual personalities of the teachers, and slowly began to sort the papers. Nellusione lingered nearby, discreetly observing the amount of work Neris was doing, then kindly asked,

“Neris, why are you starting with the senior classes?”

Neris answered in a diligent voice,

“The list for senior classes is shorter.”

Nellusione smiled. Most freshmen took similar classes, but seniors were spread across various difficulties according to individual achievement, so Neris’s words were true. But that made the task more complicated.

To look at the thickness first, despite having good math test scores, she still seemed like an inexperienced child.

“It would be easier to start with the junior classes since you have to sort by grade first. You’re taking Berlen Language 3, aren’t you?”

“That’s true.”

Neris hesitated for a moment, then looked at Nellusione and burst into an innocent smile again.

That smile felt even more dazzling to Nellusione than before. His sister Valentin was a very pretty child, but she was wicked and arrogant, lacking any fresh charm.

He thought it would be nice if such a child were his sister. It would also help the prestige of the Jaani family.

“I was inexperienced. But since I’ve started, I want to continue this way. Otherwise, it’ll get mixed up, and I won’t know which class’s attendance has ended. Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

Nellusione nodded.

“It’s your job, so it’s up to you. I just thought it might be hard for you.”

“Thank you for teaching me, Nellusione senior.”

“Call me Nel oppa. We’re relatives, aren’t we? Our names are similar, so it feels more friendly.”

Neris had heard almost the same words in her previous life.

At that time, she had already become the adopted daughter of the Elandria family, and Valentin and the Duchess openly disliked her. So Nellusione’s kind attitude had given her great courage.

But Nellusione’s kindness was merely superficial.
When the Duchess starved Neris for committing a faux pas that disgraced the family, he did not stop her.

He did not rebuke when the maidservant did not properly attend to her. Even when she was falsely accused of stealing the Duchess’s jewels and had her hair cut off, he did not intervene.

At that time, Neris thought that Nellusion did not know about the proceedings of those events, and blamed herself for not being able to hide the wound when a regretful look and an apology came later.

But thinking about it now, Nellusion must have known. He knew but did not care.

It might have been alright anyway. As long as he appeared to be a good person.

“Call me Nell Oppa. We’re siblings now, aren’t we? Our names are similar, so it feels more familiar.”

That empty, pleasant remark echoed heavily in Neris’s stomach like a stab wound. She sneered inside but pretended to be unable to hide her joy.

“I will, Nell Oppa.”

“Alright. In return, what should I call you?”

Nellusion was being overly friendly. Was it because Neris, who had been mindlessly present in her past life, was now revealing herself?