The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 34
Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳
(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 4/4 🎉)
♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*
“Dayan, to be honest, I’m disappointed in you. How long have you, I and our family suffered from baseless rumors that weren’t even true? I thought you knew you had to be careful with your words because of that, but I guess not.”
“That’s not it, I hate just going by rumors too. I’ve seen things with my own eyes. He’s just wagging his tail in front of you, sister. You didn’t see him during the match. His true nature is actually pitch black…!”
“Dayan, bringing up painful family matters to someone’s face is a very low thing to do.”
At Hasa’s reprimand, Dayan suddenly remembered those who had carelessly gossiped about their late mother, calling her a woman of unknown origins who didn’t even know her birthplace.
Only then realizing his rashness, Dayan fell silent. Hasa quietly asked the now somber Dayan.
“Dayan, are you a child who only knows his own wounds and not others’?”
Dayan shook his head while meeting Hasa’s eyes.
“No.”
“Then make sure to apologize next time you meet him. Otherwise, I’ll really get angry.”
“Okay… I just felt like you were taking care of that man too much. I felt left out.”
“….”
“I’ll definitely apologize next time I see him.”
Looking at Dayan’s tender expression that finally matched his age, she relaxed her shoulders and replied.
“When we meet Berl next time, you’ll make sure to tell him. Thank you for saying you’ll apologize to him, Dayan.”
At those words, Dayan’s eyes reddened as if he might cry. When surprised Hasa asked if he was crying, Dayan turned his head sharply and said it was just dust in his eyes.
Hasa smiled, finding her brother endearing.
The meal ended quickly. Back in her inn room upstairs, Hasa was checking her books when she found a bundle of papers between them. They were the practice questions Berl had prepared.
“Making me feel bad by giving me all this.”
As she muttered this, she noticed a small note attached to the practice questions.
[These are just collected past exam patterns from previous years, so don’t feel too sorry about it. I figured Hasa would think that way.]
He was truly a strange man. Though they were meeting for the first time both in her previous life and this one, he seemed to know her well as if they’d known each other for a long time, and she too felt unusually comfortable and familiar with him.
Hasa recalled how Berl’s expression had hardened, if only for a moment when Dayan spoke about his past. She thought she should apologize first when she saw him tomorrow.
But the next day, Berl didn’t appear at the library.
***
Seven full professors of Preju Academy sat around a circular table. Every year, professors from each department created questions for the entrance exam.
Professor Zhao of the Special Abilities Department, who was in charge of overseeing the entrance exam, looked over the Ancient Languages Department’s exam questions again before speaking.
“No matter how I look at it, I think the difficulty level is too high for an entrance exam.”
The adult division entrance exam typically had questions at an upper-grade level. However, what the Ancient Languages Department had prepared seemed solvable by only a select few among adult division students.
When Professor Zhao pointed this out, Jual Mandro, who had been leisurely drinking tea, spoke up.
“Well…”
Jual Mandro stroked his scraggly chin beard as he continued.
“Recently, there was an upper-grade assignment presentation and a visitor there easily interpreted the ancient language that was given as an upper-grade assignment.”
“Yes, I heard there was such an impressive person.”
“Impressive? Well, the general public might think so, but in my view, it made me question whether our upper-grade standards haven’t become too low.”
Professor Zhao raised one eyebrow. Undeterred by this reaction, Jual pushed up his thin silver-framed glasses with his middle finger and said.
“Of course, if it were just my concerns, I could work on adjusting my mindset, but the problem is that we keep getting inquiries from parents. They say the standards of the Empire’s top academy are questionable.”
Several professors around him nodded in apparent agreement.
Seemingly encouraged by this, Jual Mandro smiled.
“For the sake of the academy’s prestige, I think there’s sufficient reason to raise the difficulty of this ancient language exam.”
“Still, there should be limits, this is…”
Cutting off Professor Zhao’s concerns, Jual raised one hand.
“Couldn’t we adjust our standards based on this exam? Doesn’t our academy hold entrance exams twice a year with the purpose of always welcoming talented students?”
The surrounding professors looked at Zhao as if agreeing with Professor Jual Mandro’s proposal. Zhao had no choice but to nod.
“Very well.”
After the faculty meeting, Jual Mandro entered his private office. He put a cigarette in his mouth while humming a small tune.
White smoke rose from the tip of the cigarette. As he flicked his finger while smoking, a crystal in front of him soon flashed.
It was a communication device using special abilities. When Jual snapped his fingers, the crystal flashed and someone appeared in its opaque interior. Though the features of the person wearing a purple veil weren’t clearly visible, a seductive female voice flowed out.
-The exam is already the day after tomorrow, I trust everything is prepared?
“Of course, madam. Everything is proceeding without issues. They won’t even be able to touch the ancient language questions. However, I cannot control the difficulty of other subjects with my authority……”
-That’s enough. It seems that wench, despite being stupid, has a talent for ancient language interpretation. Well, never mind that, just make sure to handle everything properly until the day of. Only then will there be a next time.
“Of course.”
Right after his confident reply, Jual Mandro spoke as if testing the waters.
“If I complete this task well, will you take me to the association again?”
-Not just accompanying you to the association, if this goes well, I’ll put in a good word with that person.
At the woman’s words, Jual Mandro’s mouth stretched into a wide grin. He quickly composed himself and, setting down his nearly finished cigarette, asked.
“Madam, where can I get more of these cigarettes? I’m almost out.”
At those words, the woman in the crystal suddenly froze as if surprised.
-You’ve used that much already?
“Is there a problem?”
The woman, adjusting her veil with hands adorned with multiple rings, replied as if it didn’t matter.
-No, it’s nothing. I’ll send you more soon.
Afterward, the crystal flickered before becoming opaque again. Only then did he mutter what he’d been holding back.
“What a gloomy woman. Going to such lengths to fail her own niece. Well, it’s good for me to get such an opportunity, khuhuhu.”
Jual Mandro was chuckling gleefully to himself when he noticed his cigarette had burned out completely and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The special cigarettes he’d received as a gift after visiting the association with the woman might have looked like regular ones, but their contents were entirely different.
The first time he smoked one, his mind expanded so suddenly that he wet himself right there. He’d been smoking them habitually for the incredible high, but the problem was that without them, his throat would get dry and the unpleasant feeling wouldn’t go away.
The man leaned back in his chair and laughed for a while, thinking about getting more cigarettes once this troublesome matter was dealt with.
At that moment, something pitch black stirred within Jual Mandro’s elongated shadow in the professor’s office.
***
On the day of the exam, before getting out of the carriage, Hasa reviewed the practice questions in her hand one last time.
After dinner the previous evening, Berl hadn’t appeared at the library again. Since he had never been late to their appointments before, she worried if something had happened to him, or if he had been hurt by Dayan’s words that day.
Hasa shook her head vigorously and decided to focus on the exam before her. After all, she needed to pass to see him again.
Knock knock.
The coachman tapped on the window urgently. Hasa took a small deep breath and stepped out of the carriage.
***
“Did you hear? Cellie is here as an examinee?”
“Cellie? Dayan Cellie is already a student here, what examinee?”
“No, his sister. You know, the one they say went crazy and was locked up in the mansion.”
“Ah, I think I’ve heard about that.”
The man continued as if reminiscing.
“I saw her when my parents dragged me to help at last year’s charity party.”
The man smirked.
“Is she pretty?”
“I thought she was a maid. Standing there in shabby clothes with a ghost-like face, whoever ends up with her is going to have their work cut out for them.”
