“Get out of the way!”

Frustrated by repeated failed attempts to go out, Ren finally shouted angrily.

The dormitory where he lived was a mansion that had been home for generations to a select few of high status among the students of Kartak One Theological School.

As such, it was luxurious – antique and in temple style – that is, not overtly flashy, but very high-class upon closer inspection.

This meant that some people had been confined to this building following changes in popes throughout history. Just as Ren was now unable to leave through the mansion’s front gate.

“Go back inside and focus on your studies.”

The white-robed teacher and priest who had been guarding the gate to prevent the boy from going out tonight spoke indifferently. Ren shouted again.

“Ah! You don’t care at all normally! What are you trying to do!”

“If you’re bored, why don’t you engage in a leisure activity you enjoy? To clear your mind.”

I think I knew what he was implying. Ren’s eyes twitched.

There were mainly two people from the Theology Department who came to look after Ren. The kind Priest Birk and this stiff Priest Adams.

The servant who took care of household chores was from the Feyel family, and Priest Birk had pretended not to see the fezalcho he had smuggled in with a smile.

But to think that even Priest Adams knew about it! This rigid person would surely report it to his superiors!

After hearing from Neris before the semester started that there would be good days if he kept on living, Ren was able to significantly reduce his habit of chewing fezalcho.

However, he still hadn’t quit completely, and there were days when he would chew several in a row when he got irritated.

Because it was too hard and lonely. At least when chewing fezalcho, his complicated mind seemed to empty. On such days, he deliberately left the window open for a long time to avoid being caught by Priest Adams, but to think he already knew.

…Wait.

Ren, who was about to threaten to report this to the student council, suddenly closed his mouth. And quietly fell into thought. Priest Adams looked at such a Ren stoically.

After a while, Ren looked at Priest Adams as if he couldn’t believe the conclusion he had reached.

“…That…”

While it might sound like descendants of a prestigious family that produced several popes would have led pious lives, the pinnacle of power was always dirtier than one could imagine.

Ren had heard about it when he was young. The method of making those who were once prominent figures in the papal state die as pathetic invalids as soon as they lost power.

The upper class’s way of making them addicted to all sorts of poisons without realizing they were harming themselves.

‘Introduce it through the hands of someone they trust…’

The watcher generously pretends to turn a blind eye, as if it were originally strictly forbidden. The victim thinks they’ve found a breathing space and indulges.

Continuously.

Until death.

It’s a simple trick, but the higher one’s position was originally, the less likely they were to realize they had fallen into a trap. They tend to have strong self-belief, and their vision narrows while struggling in despair.

Ren continued speaking in a dazed state. How was it when he first started chewing fezalcho? Surely there was someone who casually suggested that a little bit would be fine.

“It was that guy Dogon…”

The name of the servant who had faithfully stood by Ren’s side after the previous pope, that is, Ren’s elder brother, died, saying that now it seemed only the two of them were left in the world, came up. Of course, the one Ren ‘trusted’.

Ren uses what Dogon gives him, and Priest Birk pretends to turn a blind eye. Now that he said it out loud, it was exactly ‘that method’, almost too obvious.

Then does that mean Dogon was deliberately addicting Ren to fezalcho in collusion with Priest Birk? That he was a traitor?

Ren’s eyes trembled as if begging for him to say that at least wasn’t true. Priest Adams spoke coldly.

“Don’t shift the responsibility for violating school rules onto the servant. And here I thought you had reduced it somewhat.”

Oddly enough, Ren didn’t feel bad about that cold remark. Even though he had always thought just seeing this stiff fellow’s face was irritating until now.

So isn’t this what Priest Adams is saying? ‘Don’t stupidly trust the people around you blindly. In the end, you’re the one who will be held responsible.’

Dogon was a servant of the Feyel family and had served Ren since he was young. And he, following his uncle, betrayed Ren.

Moreover, it wasn’t simply leaving, but actively trying to harm Ren’s health.

Come to think of it now, there was no way a servant like Dogon could easily get his hands on fezalcho in the first place. The mastermind was clear.

‘Omnitus.’

Did they have to go this far? Wasn’t destroying the family enough?

Seeing Ren’s gloomy face, Priest Adams twitched an eyebrow. And after a moment, he spoke as if scolding.

“If you feel your life has no value, it means you haven’t properly studied God’s words. What are you going to do if you go out now?”

Right, Ren was currently trying to go out and was getting angry, blocked in front of the house for no apparent reason. He suspiciously stated his goal.

“I’m going to apologize to that kid who got into trouble because of me, and tell her I’ll perform the punishment…”

Mahradi Ennim might dislike Neris too, but he wasn’t stupid enough to start an argument with a freshman in front of other senior students for that reason alone.

It was probably a ploy to try to raise his own stock by taking down Ren, who was famous for being arrogant.

“That’s a foolish action.”

Priest Adams cut him off really firmly. Ren forgot that he had just been thinking he should listen to his words well and rolled his eyes.

“Why!”

“Would Henri Volter transfer the punishment he imposed to someone else just because of a request? He’s not that kind of person. Also, the content of Miss Trude’s punishment has already been taken over by the student council. There’s no need for you to go and interfere when Mr. Elandria will protect his family member.”

Protect? Ren slightly opened his mouth at the unexpected words.

He knew Nelrysion’s personality to some extent. That guy pretended to be kind and fair, but in reality, he didn’t care about anyone except useful students.

He himself was one of the living proofs. Nelrysion, who used to act overly friendly when Ren’s elder brother was the pope, was now completely indifferent to him.

There was no way people in the Theology Department hadn’t noticed Nelrysion’s attitude. So this was kind advice.

Neris Trude was already being targeted by the Elandria family, so don’t even try to get involved.

The power of the Elandria ducal family was enormous. To the extent that a young boy who was now being betrayed even by his last remaining servant couldn’t possibly stand against it. But.

“Hmph!”

Who would back down after hearing such words! What, are you saying I should just sit in class without talking to anyone?

Then what about her? Are you saying to leave her alone because it’s her fate to be used by Nelrysion?

Ren snorted derisively. In his mind, he recalled Neris from the day they first met.

In fact, he had already thought about his encounter with her that very day many times.

To him, who had come to think he had no one to rely on in the world, her words were the warmest he had heard in a very long time. Although her attitude was cold, there was no doubt that the content was comforting.

And look at what she did today. The son of the Feyel family still had places where he could show his face.

But what did the daughter of the Trude family have?

Yet she, that young freshman, crushed Mahradi Ennim among much older senior students. It would be an unsightly thing if Ren, who was taller and older, couldn’t muster even that much courage.

Priest Adams, who heard the boy’s snort head-on, raised one eyebrow. Ren frowned as much as he could and muttered.

“Fine, I’ll go in, so go do your job! Don’t stand in front of someone else’s house like some gatekeeper!”

Ren knew he had nothing left for himself. If anything, just his holy power. But… he didn’t think Adams’ advice stemmed from mere sympathy.

He had a feeling that there was something more he could do.

However, that task would not be completed today at least. Ren closed the mansion door and deliberately crossed the corridor making loud noises. Dogon poked his head out.

“Young master, did something happen?”

The sight of him only now showing his face even though Ren had been shouting and causing a commotion until just now. Ren couldn’t understand why he hadn’t realized Dogon’s betrayal until now.

Ren wanted to punch him in the face. He also wanted to kick him. Isn’t it cheap for a servant who tried to kill his master?

But what’s the point in doing that?

Ren succeeded in feigning calmness for perhaps the first time in his life, despite his anger not having subsided yet. That calmness was only on the surface, but that was precisely what mattered.

“Dogon.”

“Yes, young master.”

Dogon smiled the kind smile that Ren had seen since he was very young. Ren stared at him for a while and then casually tossed out words.

“Go to my uncle for a bit.”

The road to Berlen’s uncle was treacherous. There was no guarantee that Dogon wouldn’t fall into Omnitus’s hands on the way. And then Dogon would be asked, ‘What is your young master Ren trying to do by sending you to Berlen?’

Ren planned to prepare a ‘list of traitors helping Ren Feyel’ that Omnitus would like to hear at that time. Including Priest Birk’s name.

For the boy, it was his first experience of choosing to break away from what had been with him from the past.

In his affluent childhood, Ren Feyel had never thought he would achieve such painful growth in this way. However, his great brother was now gone, and he had to accept that fact.

Just to be able to walk that path strongly, proudly like that girl.

Recalling the girl with purple eyes he first saw under the white pergola, Ren muttered inwardly.

While studying for the outdoor tea party, the freshmen enjoyed the sight of autumn settling into the academy.

The summer flowers had all fallen now, and the autumn leaves burned the water’s surface. Steel-colored migratory birds found the lake and floated their sleek bodies, and the wind grew colder. The children filled their stomachs with tea foods and hot tea prepared at the lakeside pavilion, and admired the white daisies and marguerites.

“It smells nice.”

Megara was wearing a cape with gold embroidery today and had a yellow chrysanthemum in her buttonhole.

The honey blonde strands flowing down her fair, fluffy cheeks matched that outfit very well. Indeed, the children attending the social studies class couldn’t take their eyes off her.

The one who gracefully complimented the flower’s scent was Idalia.

Idalia knew well that her ash beige hair didn’t attract as much attention as Megara’s honey blonde. And trying hard to be more popular than her friend was not a good thing in her opinion.

Yes, a ‘graceful’ person like her shouldn’t struggle to gain popularity from others. Megara isn’t particularly popular because she tries either. It’s because she’s naturally outstanding that friends approach her on their own.

After thinking that far, Idalia glanced at a child alone in the corner.

Usually, the least popular child in the class was Angarad Nine, but recently Rhiannon Berta had also joined that category.

It was the price for aiming at one of the most popular boys in school without knowing her place. The children thought Rhiannon was vulgar, including the fact that she persisted in pretending not to know about that letter.

“Dali, don’t look.”

Megara cautioned. Idalia followed her words, but the ill feelings hadn’t disappeared. A boy sitting at the same table clasped his hands behind his head.

“She acts like she’s so much better than Angarad Nine. When her father doesn’t even have a title. This is why low nobility doesn’t work.”

“Nick.”

Megara cautioned the boy as well. Nicholas Yende pushed out his lips and shrugged his shoulders.

When the generally soft atmosphere of the party was in full swing, Lord Sheridan walked to a noticeable spot to draw attention.

“As I mentioned earlier, we’re going to do a recitation today. Recitation is indispensable in indoor gatherings these days because it can entertain people and reveal the reciter’s individuality. Especially classical poetry, you need to memorize several pieces to engage in smooth social activities.”

Lord Sheridan didn’t explain why recitation is popular these days, or why classical poetry specifically should be memorized. However, Neris knew that the empress was so interested in classical poetry that she created and sponsored an association.

Neris remembered attending a party celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Classical Poetry Association when she was the crown princess, so the association must have been established around this time.

“Real classical poetry is complex and long, so I’ve prepared a short piece suitable for your age today. It’s a fourteen-line poem written by a friend of mine in the classical style. We’ll leave things like rhyme schemes and interpretation of poetic diction to your literature teacher, and today, let’s have a time to recite poetry gracefully and stylishly.”