“I like it better here. There’s more sunlight too.”
At my answer, one of Cesare’s eyebrows twisted slightly. Seeing that made the corners of my mouth rise in a smile. Because even though his face became displeased, rather than feeling anxious, I felt good.
‘In the old days, I would have unconditionally sat next to him and fiddled with his hand while buttering him up about why his lifeline and wealth line were so long!’
What lifeline—thinking that I hoped he’d live a long life plagued by illness and grumbling made my heart race quickly, as if the addiction had really been lifted. Then Cesare gathered his bag and stood up, moving his textbook next to me.
“The sunlight is good today. I should sit here too.”
Watching Cesare stubbornly come and sit next to me, I had an intuition. He had no intention of letting me go easily. Because he couldn’t give up the money source called Mellans Trading Company.
‘Well, yeah. Just looking at how he showered me with kisses even though he doesn’t like me shows what a real snake he is.’
I rested my chin on my hand while glancing sideways at his profile as he opened his textbook and prepared for class. Should I spare or kill this guy whose handsomeness and personality are inversely proportional?
However, even though it was infuriating that he had cast the addiction, I didn’t have the strength to confront him about it right now, and if I confronted him directly, it would become even harder to escape from his grasp. Besides, if he had already gathered troops, even if not execution, I would also have difficulty avoiding a serious crime.
‘Then there’s only one method.’
When the price of a desired product is too high, people tend to look for substitutes. In Cesare’s case, he’s obsessed with me because there’s no substitute for his money source.
So I needed to find a substitute and put it in his hands.
‘For me to get out, I need to make him stick his straw into others besides me.’
As I was looking at his nose bridge shining dazzlingly under the sunlight, Cesare glanced this way as if noticing my gaze.
When I casually winked one eye, Cesare immediately turned his head away sharply as if he found it disgusting. How dare you, a trash personality, be disgusted by my wink? When your lips were smacking against mine so much? What do you think you are? Ah, right, you’re the Young Duke.
‘Dirty, so dirty.’
It’s a morning where I want to punch him hard.
* * *
“That’s the end of this book.”
Professor Peter laughed heartily and tossed the economics textbook onto the podium with a thud. Most of the students in the lecture hall looked at the professor with dead eyes, completely exhausted.
They were tired from Professor Peter’s insane teaching power, having just gone through all the remaining chapters. I also put down my pen with the same blank eyes as them.
It wasn’t because the lecture was difficult. Rather, Professor Peter’s lecture was close to a practical business lecture for how much I’d worried about it, so the content was familiar to me. It was just fast.
I was just more depressed than usual because Mitche, who usually acted cute here and there, wasn’t around.
“Now that I’ve taught the theory, it’s time for practice. Now, I’ll introduce the project that will determine the success or failure of this class. The good news is that after today, there will be absolutely no lectures or assignments.”
The sound of students swallowing dry saliva could be heard loudly. The papers piled on Professor Peter’s desk flew over one by one and were placed in front of us.
I also received it and read the beginning.
<Midsummer Project>
<On Midsummer Day, directly or indirectly perform economic activities to generate profit.>
<Participation possible individually or in groups.>
*The student with the best performance will be separately selected and, at the professor’s discretion, will host a tea time with His Majesty the Emperor.
“Midsummer? What is there to do here…?”
The Royal Academy’s Midsummer wasn’t as big an event as Homecoming. This was just a day for potential customers who would become future parents to tour the academy—if compared to modern times, it felt like ‘the day the school inspector comes.’ We didn’t even need to clean the school, so it was just a period when only the student council guys were busy helping with various events.
‘Come to think of it, in the original work, wasn’t there a part where Cedric prepared a makeshift tea house with the female lead at this time and had skinship?’
I remembered the chapter where Cedric’s amazing chest was fully revealed after he poured water on himself under the moonlight, saying his heart was burning because of the female lead who was following Cesare around due to addiction.
‘Seeing that, the female lead, who had been under addiction, came to her senses for a moment and had her first kiss.’
That section was a frustrating section where the female lead’s ego and the addiction magic collided. The female lead whose head was filled only with Cesare and couldn’t focus on anything else. Along with descriptions of being dazed, she would only think of Cesare and forgot an important shrine event, causing Cedric, who had recommended her, to suffer humiliation.
I secretly let out a sigh of relief thinking that would have been me if the addiction removal had been just a little later. Then Cedric raised his hand.
“Does profit mean things like donations or proceeds?”
Professor Peter nodded and said.
“I taught everything in the lecture. Of course, ‘those are included too.’ None of you here have ever performed economic activities with your own hands. It would be absurd if the sprouts who will lead the empire in the future don’t even know what coins look like.”
‘Ha. So that’s why you desperately went through 30 chapters!’
I let out a laugh in disbelief. However, groans and moans continued in various places along with sighs. I also saw the troubled face of Thompson, who had been running errands while taking the same class as me. William, who had boldly challenged after hearing it was an unconditional 70% pass, also quietly cursed from the row behind me.
“Damn it. I thought it would just be an assignment summarizing the textbook!”
“Lionel-sunbae. What should I do…? I’m screwed.”
I quietly looked at the given paper and underlined key words.
<Direct and indirect participation. Profit generation.>
And I looked around the lecture hall at the students filled with shock. Then I made eye contact with Cedric. He smiled at me.
‘Is he planning to open a tea house this time too?’
Well yeah. If the Crown Prince served customers directly wearing the academy uniform, the tea house would definitely prosper. It won’t happen, but giving up on tea time with His Majesty the Emperor….
‘Wait, this.’
Suddenly having ideas that came to mind, I quietly muttered. I felt a strange confidence in the things gradually connecting in my head.
‘I might be able to find a substitute with this?’
“What. This is too easy! Not 70%, but top 1% is possible.”
As I exclaimed while giggling, the students silently focused on me. Professor Peter looked at me with a satisfied smile.
“Someone has already started the project. Good. That’s all for the lecture. If you want advice or have questions, my office is always open!”
When Professor Peter left, Thompson and William slid next to me with sparkling eyes.
“Lionel! You cute bastard. Since you’re from a trading company, this kind of thing is a piece of cake for you, right? Help me out! We live in the same dormitory building!”
“Sunbae….”
Other students also glanced at me from the side. I looked at them and said confidently.
“Phew. Alright. If you need my help, see me in our dormitory lounge on Saturday afternoon. I have to go to the next class now!”
What I was seeing now in my eyes wasn’t William Colt and Thompson Devier, but House Colt and House Devier.
* * *
House Cicero as darkness began to fall. It was the time when maids busily moved around lighting candles and preparing dinner. However, the study where Priest Heiss and the Count were located was still dim.
“So, Priest Heiss, what you’re saying is that the priests’ divine power is currently decreasing and… you need my nephew-in-law?”
“Yes. Although Mellans doesn’t possess divine power itself, he has the power to amplify divine power. But the problem is….”
“The problem is?”
Heiss looked at Lionel’s uncle-in-law, Count Cicero, with a deliberately troubled expression. The Count was treating the priest with an extremely humble attitude, as if he were someone of even higher status than himself.
“The Yanox Ducal Family is clinging to him and interfering with Mellans’s entry into the priesthood.”
“…….”
“To put it bluntly, Mellans’s entry into the priesthood doesn’t actually matter. What we want is just for Mellans’s body, which amplifies divine power, to fall into our hands.”
Count Cicero swallowed dry saliva and looked at the straw-like thing that was about to crumble, which Priest Heiss had shown him a moment ago. He said it was Lionel’s hair that had fallen after amplifying divine power.
“If we have the main body, we can have an even more powerful and sustained energy source—oops, slip of the tongue. It could be a ‘great power’ for the shrine.”
“Priest. My wife also….”
“Count Cicero. I’m always grateful that you cherish and devote yourself to our Grand Shrine so much, but when I looked into it separately, I found that you were the second son of Cicero in the past.”
The Count’s eyes began to tremble as he gasped and swallowed his breath. On the other hand, Heiss continued with a grinning face.
“Your wife lost her voice in the Mellans mansion fire 13 years ago, didn’t she? They said it was an arson accident…. After that, your older brother died in a horse-riding accident? It seems people who lost family members met and blossomed love. After that, you married the Mellans woman and ascended to Count Cicero along with enormous wealth.”
“……!”
“Right now, the High Priest’s mind is coming and going, but previously, he shared many stories with me. At that time, the treatment of the eldest son of House Cicero, who was brought to the shrine, was delayed for some reason, and he eventually died.”
“I, I have been paying for the sins of that time…!”
“I know. You’ve devoted yourself to the Saint harder than anyone to receive salvation. But is money really what the Saint wants?”
The Count trembled as he gripped the desk. The things he had committed in the past flashed before his eyes like a panorama. That day when he locked the Mellans couple’s bedroom and set fire to the mansion. And the days when he frantically devoted himself to religion to repent for it.
“If you received the shrine’s grace, you must repay it, Count Cicero. If you and your wife call for Mellans, he will come to the Grand Shrine without suspicion, leaving the Young Duke of Yanox behind. I’ll be the one to hold him.”
“Hold him, then what happens to that child… what happens to Lionel?”
“Sacrificing one’s life for the Grand Shrine is a noble honor. And it’s not a bad story. If there’s no Mellans, who will inherit all that wealth, Count?”
– Crash!
“……!”
At that moment, both men jumped up in surprise at the sound of something breaking in front of the study and rushed out the door.
