The Radiant Young Lady of the Dark Family - Chapter 36
“True. The Cellie family’s eldest son has been a student here for several years now. If Lady Cellie had such talent, the family would have noticed it long ago.”
“When you put it that way, it makes sense.”
Seeing one or two people agreeing, Jual Mandro gave a small smile.
“Why should we just sit here discussing among ourselves?”
He called out with cold eyes.
“Summon Hartbisa Cellie right now. If there was cheating involved, we cannot let this slide.”
At Mandro’s words, the professors nodded one by one and looked at Zhao. He let out a small sigh and replied.
“We’ve already called for Lady Cellie. She’s staying near the academy, so she should arrive soon…”
Knock knock.
“Ah, that must be her.”
Before Zhao could finish speaking, an assistant opened the door after knocking. Behind them stood a woman who was nothing like the terrible rumors.
More precisely, she was the complete opposite of the rumors.
“You called for me.”
***
Back at the inn, Hasa reviewed the exam questions.
Tar, seeing Hasa’s pale complexion, must have predicted negative test results, as she left saying he would ask the inn’s chef to prepare something special.
But the truth was different from Tar’s expectations. Though the scores weren’t out yet, Hasa dared to predict she would pass. This wasn’t arrogance.
A month of studying under a good teacher had shown results. The questions were similar to the practice problems Berl had selected as likely to appear, and since she had been teaching Berl ancient languages, her own skills had improved, making it easier to solve the problems.
Hasa placed her hand on her chest, still feeling overwhelmed. She thought she would first feel joy at winning the bet with her aunt if she passed, but strangely, Berl’s face came to mind first.
She wanted to properly thank him for helping her like it was his own matter for the past month. If she said that, she knew exactly what Berl would say.
‘Well done, Hasa.’
As she imagined Berl’s characteristic painted-on smile and gentle voice, she suddenly thought his manner of speaking resembled someone’s. But whose?
As Hasa was lost in thought, trying to recall this person who seemed shrouded in a hazy fog, someone knocked on her door.
“Lady Cellie, are you there?”
It was the voice of an inn employee. Hasa opened the door to the urgent voice. A neatly dressed employee asked with an anxious face.
“Are you Lady Hartbisa Cellie?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“There’s a message for you at the lobby.”
“For me? Who…?”
“It’s from Professor Zhao of Preju Academy. He requested your presence at the academy as soon as possible.”
Hasa’s eyes widened at the unexpected name. She prepared immediately.
After arriving at the academy, Hasa sensed something was amiss from the heavy atmosphere in the conference room.
But strangely, there was a foul odor coming from the room. As Hasa slightly wrinkled her face at the inexplicable stench, a man sitting in the innermost seat stood up and began speaking.
“Are you Lady Hartbisa Cellie?”
“Yes, I came because Professor Zhao urgently requested my attendance.”
“I am Professor Tillia Zhao.”
Zhao, with his static voice, introduced himself and carefully continued.
“Thank you for coming despite the sudden request.”
“May I ask what this is about?”
Hasa got the impression that he was treating the current situation very carefully. So she asked solemnly. Zhao responded more firmly than before.
“We called you regarding some questions about the entrance exam.”
“The entrance exam? I heard results wouldn’t be out for another week.”
“An unexpected score was confirmed in the preliminary grading.”
“Is there some problem…”
“Lady Cellie, you received a perfect score.”
For a moment, Hasa’s eyes seemed to widen, but showing little agitation, she nodded.
“I see.”
Jual Mandro, who had been watching silently, snorted and spoke up.
“Not very surprised, are you?”
Hasa turned her gaze toward him as if just noticing his presence. Mandro looked at her askance and sneered.
“Well, I suppose you’re not particularly happy since it wasn’t earned through effort, Lady Cellie.”
Zhao called out to Mandro as if to cut off his aggressive tone.
“Professor Mandro.”
Zhao quietly looked down at Hasa, who stood with an innocent expression, seemingly oblivious to the heavy atmosphere.
He had seen Vanwilhelm Cellie in person before. The man with his large, solid build wrapped in a black cloak was truly intimidating. A man who made one unable to dare meet his eyes was indeed worthy of being wielded as the emperor’s sword.
Even young Duke Dayan, though not yet of age, had such a calm demeanor that people found it difficult to approach him.
In contrast, the woman standing before them looked too small and fragile. She didn’t seem capable of bearing the weight of the Cellie name.
Zhao thought Mandro must have some ulterior motive. He was known within the academy for subtly taking care of high-ranking officials’ children, driven by his thirst for power.
There must be a reason for such a person to be aggressively confronting a noble lady of the Cellie family. He was only concerned because the noble lady before him seemed too overwhelmed to deal with the snake-like Mandro.
Zhao cleared his long thoughts and began speaking.
“To be frank, the reason we called Lady Cellie is that we believe you achieved your perfect score through cheating.”
To this probing question, Hasa asked in return.
“May I ask why you think so?”
“Pardon?”
Zhao had expected to see Hasa’s flustered face denying the accusation. But Hasa maintained a calm expression.
“The reason you think I cheated. I’d like to hear why.”
“That’s…”
Zhao started to answer but closed his mouth. Before calling the noble lady, he hadn’t intended to make such definitive accusations of cheating, yet somehow those words had slipped out.
“Well, the difficulty of the exam makes it impossible to achieve a perfect score with such brief preparation. Yet you…”
Even as Zhao stumbled through his words trying to recover, he found the flaw in his own argument.
In his nearly ten years working at the academy, he had seen countless students, but perfect scores could be counted on one hand. However, such a reason wasn’t sufficient grounds to suspect a perfect scorer.
Had he perhaps been influenced by the malicious rumors about the Cellies and their noble lady, viewing her through colored glasses?
Zhao felt the rotten smell that had been present growing stronger. Hasa looked at Zhao’s clouded eyes and spoke.
“In an academy that gives everyone the freedom to take exams without limiting learning opportunities, are you saying my perfect score is strange because of rumors about me?”
Hasa neither got angry nor cried. She simply asked if that was really all there was to their certainty about cheating.
Zhao felt as if he had swallowed lava, his throat burning.
The young lady he had considered weak was closer to the academy’s ideals than he, a professor. Zhao felt deeply ashamed.
“Lady Cellie, I was short-sighted…”
Just as Zhao was about to apologize, he felt a chilling sensation behind him. He turned his head sharply, and there stood Jual Mandro. He was looking down at Hasa with snake-like narrowed eyes.
Zhao couldn’t tell when that man had started emanating such an eerie aura. He was just overwhelmed with an ominous feeling. And suddenly, he thought that perhaps he was the source of the foul odor that had been present.
Jual Mandro smiled, stretching his mouth corners wide.
“Lady Cellie, how brazen you are.”
He dropped the paper that had been on the desk onto the floor. Hasa looked down at the paper at her feet. It was her exam paper.
Red circles marking preliminary grades lined up above the question numbers. This was the result of spending nearly a month in the library with Berl.
She knew she would pass, but a perfect score was unexpected. Honestly, it would have been impossible without Berl. What would Berl say if he knew this? As Hasa was lowering her eyes at this thought, Jual Mandro slammed the desk.
“Lady Cellie. I’m not soft like Professor Zhao. To be honest, I think it was stupid of you to get right the questions that were meant to be wrong.”
Hasa met Mandro’s gaze. It was a look she hadn’t felt in a long time. The eyes of someone who dismissed and despised her.
