Rose Bly was an outstanding editorial writer, and the skill she had once used to verbally thrash Josephine before was now fully displayed on the manuscript pages.
If this piece went to print as it was, the public would almost instantly view Bernard, the Academy’s student council president, as nothing more than garbage.
And of course, it was true.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then I’ll make a few tweaks and send it to the press. It’ll be in tomorrow’s morning edition.”
After handing the draft back, I asked Rose,
“You do realize this means a small newspaper is going after the scandal of a powerful noble family. Aren’t you worried?”
“Oh my, are you concerned about me?”
“Think what you like.”
“As I said earlier, I’m on your side. If it’s something you want, I don’t care what it is… though I suppose that’s not the answer you were expecting, is it?”
I gave a short, mocking chuckle, and Rose Bly laughed as well.
It was a villain’s smile. One perfectly suited to Winter Winslet’s mistress.
“Of course, I have my own reasons.”
“Let’s hear them.”
“Bernard’s father, Count Ordogne, just so happens to be in Lambart. It seems he’s been up to some amusing business at court, and naturally, the opposing faction is itching to bring him down.”
“I see.”
“If the son is making a mess at one of the crown’s key institutions like the Academy, it’s bound to cause trouble for the count’s ventures as well. The rival faction nobles will pay handsomely for the information I have. And in return, they’ll shield me from any political fallout.”
“You even plan to make money off this?”
“In politics, free favors are what make people suspicious. Call it mutually beneficial. And if Count Ordogne tries to hold me accountable, I can simply claim I was commissioned to publish the story.”
It was a solid plan.
“But I need to be able to stop the attack on Bernard anytime I choose.”
“Ah, so your goal isn’t simply to drag that kid into ruin, is it?”
“Right. If you suddenly change your stance, the opposing faction you sold the information to might see you as a traitor and retaliate.”
“In that case, I’ll just play the victim without hesitation. For example, someone could throw a rock through the beautiful editor-in-chief’s office window late at night.”
“You mean you’d stage an incident to win sympathy?”
“Exactly. They don’t say a beautiful woman’s tears for nothing.”
With that, Rose Bly slowly removed her glasses and lightly brushed a fingertip beneath her eye.
Her lips curled into an evil smile.
“Crocodile tears, huh?”
“And yet men always fall for them.”
Rose Bly was a woman who knew how to use her beauty.
A clever one.
Truly fitting as Winter Winslet’s chosen mistress.
Slipping the finished manuscript into a file folder, Rose Bly asked,
“Darling, what time will you be here in the afternoon?”
“In the afternoon?”
“Of course. You don’t think we’ll just stop at the initial report, do you? That foolish young master surely has more misdeeds under his belt than just this one. If we want to really give him a taste of hell, we’ll need follow-up stories. The more fuel for the fire, the better.”
“You want me to gather material.”
“Exactly. If you dig around the Academy, you’ll find people willing to testify about his disgraceful antics. They’ve probably been silenced already, but once they know you are involved, they’ll open up easily. Everyone knows who’s king inside the Academy.”
“That makes sense.”
“Bring me as much as you can. I’ll do the cooking. Feels a bit like being a wife asking her husband to go grocery shopping. Kind of exciting, actually.”
***
On Wednesday evening, when Jacqueline returned to the dormitory after finishing her day’s work, someone was waiting for her.
Under the glow of the streetlamp in front of the dorm’s main entrance, Jacqueline caught sight of the person’s face and her eyes went wide.
“Christopher! What’s going on?”
“I have something to apologize to you for.”
“Apologize? Out of the blue? What are you talking about? And what happened to your face?”
Christopher’s left eye was swollen and bruised a deep shade of blue.
“Did you not get treatment for what happened yesterday with that upperclassman?”
“This one’s new. Happened today.”
“What?”
“Remember yesterday, when I told you I’d try to find something I could do about Daniel’s case?”
“Yeah, you did say that.”
“So today, whenever I had free time, I went around meeting people.”
“And? How did it go?”
Christopher let out a deep sigh.
“Got nothing.”
“I see…”
“Even classmates I usually get along with avoided getting involved in something they thought looked dangerous. The same went for the instructors and professors.”
“Don’t be too discouraged.”
“I get why they’d react that way… but still, it stings.”
“So what about that injury?”
“After meeting with professors, I went back to the dormitory. A few upperclassmen were waiting for me. They grabbed me and roughed me up. I guess word got back to them that I’d been talking about the student council president.”
“That’s not just ‘roughed up’! That’s seriously dangerous! Especially after what happened yesterday!”
“There wasn’t any other way.”
Jacqueline was furious.
“Monsters… How could they do this to someone living under the same roof as them?”
“This time, I really thought I might die… but then Professor Winslet showed up, and I barely made it out alive.”
“Professor Winslet?”
The unexpected name made Jacqueline doubt her own ears.
“Yeah. He seemed interested in Daniel’s case. He pulled me out from the middle of those upperclassmen and basically saved my life.”
“Tell me more about the professor. What happened after that?”
When Jacqueline asked, Christopher let out a second, weary sigh.
“At first, I thought he might help us… but it didn’t go well.”
“What do you mean, it didn’t go well?”
“I told him everything I knew. But he just said he already knew about it and told me to go back. Other professors said the same thing. They all know what the student council president’s been doing, but they act like there’s nothing they can do.”
“No… I don’t think that’s what Professor Winslet meant.”
Since he had already heard about the situation from Jacqueline the day before, there was no need for him to listen to it all over again.
Unaware of that, Christopher ran both hands over his face and apologized.
“Sorry. I boasted in front of you that I’d find a way, but in the end I couldn’t do anything. I can’t even face you.”
“Don’t say that. You don’t know yet how things might turn out.”
“Honestly… it feels hopeless.”
“No! It’s hopeful!”
Jacqueline raised her voice.
Christopher fell silent and just looked at her.
It was the look of someone wanting to ask how she could possibly smile so brightly in a situation like this.
Since it wasn’t the right time to explain, Jacqueline could only reassure him.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be resolved.”
“You really think so?”
“Trust me.”
“I don’t know what makes you so confident… but fine, I’ll trust you.”
Seeing Christopher’s doubtful expression, Jacqueline swallowed the words she had been about to say.
And if you trust me, you can trust Professor Winslet too.
***
<Rising number of violent crimes and missing citizens. Public Safety Department suspects possibility of organized crime.>
<At 11 a.m. today, King Richard to meet with Alain Lafestein, representative of the Exiled Nobles Association, during the 50th anniversary ceremony marking the end of the Lebron Civil War.>
<Murder without punishment? Royal Academy Student Council President claims, “Commoner students are livestock.”>
Thursday morning.
The Lambart Daily was selling like wildfire just as it had yesterday, and the day before that, and likely would tomorrow. It didn’t take long for the entire capital to learn of Royal Academy Student Council President Bernard’s disgraceful conduct.
The story was sensational, and paired with equally sensational writing, public criticism of Bernard had grown beyond questions of right or wrong into an unstoppable wave.
But there was one person who remained completely unaware of it all. It was Bernard himself who, after days of heavy drinking, was still sprawled in bed well past noon.
The day before yesterday, Bernard had been harshly scolded by Professor Winslet for being drunk beyond reason, but in order to forget that nightmare of an experience, he had only clung to alcohol all the more.
Even today, as soon as he could get himself together, he was planning to round up his usual gang, find some women, and drink again.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, clutching his throbbing head, he saw a maid enter with tea.
“You’re awake? Please drink this first. It’s an herbal tea that’s good for easing hangovers. I’ve mixed in plenty of honey so it won’t taste bitter.”
Bernard frowned.
The servants were under strict orders from the Count who was Bernard’s father to ensure his son lived diligently while away from home. Normally, they would scold him relentlessly for even the slightest tardiness in the morning, much to Bernard’s irritation. But today, strangely enough, they were unusually quiet.
If yelling doesn’t work on me, usually a good kick will make me behave. What’s going on today?
It was already past noon, and he had missed several academy lectures. Like other noble students, Bernard lived in his family’s townhouse outside the academy grounds, so he ordered that a carriage be prepared to take him there.
Yet, on the way to the academy in the family carriage, he noticed an unusual commotion.
Today, the streets seemed far more crowded than usual. That alone would have been fine, but most of the passersby who recognized his carriage frowned at the sight, and some even pointed fingers or hurled insults.
Bernard barked an order at the coachman.
“Run over one or two if you have to; just drive faster! Damn commoner filth… even just looking at them makes my soul feel sullied. This weekend, I’ll have to summon a priest from the Church to pray for me.”
In fact, he already needed a healer for the injury to his leg, thanks to what Professor Winslet had done to him.
The gash in his skin had been hastily treated that night by a healer summoned in a rush, but it had left a faint scar.
The healer claimed that the slow recovery was because the wound had been caused by powerful magic.
But to Bernard, that sounded like nothing more than the excuse of an incompetent healer.
If he donated a few gold coins to the Church and brought in a proper healer, the matter would be resolved easily.
“Damn it! Of all people, why did I have to get tangled up with him?”
Professor Winslet was someone his father, the Count, had repeatedly warned him never to provoke.
But what was done was done. There was no undoing it now.
Bernard admitted to himself that he had made a small mistake, but since it had happened while he was drunk, he believed there was room for leniency.
Alcohol clouded the mind.
And actions committed in such a state were beyond one’s control. Surely people could be a little more forgiving, couldn’t they?
I’m already in a foul mood… I’ll need a drink again today.
With that thought, Bernard arrived at the Student Council office and opened the door.
But something about the scene was off.
None of his usual noble friends were there.
Instead, the only person waiting for him was Sean, a commoner whom Bernard bossed around like a servant at the academy and who acted as his right-hand man.
Moments later, Bernard realized he had a much bigger problem on his hands.
“What? I’m in the newspaper?”
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