75. The Despot Club (1)

“Did you hear? We’re getting a new art teacher today?”

At the informant classmate’s announcement, students settling in front of their canvases in the atelier began to murmur.

“She was supposed to start next month, but apparently she’s starting today because the current teacher gave birth earlier than expected.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“My father heard it directly from the vice principal!”

“Must be true then.”

“I heard she’s quite elite.”

“Isn’t she just the vice principal’s pick?”

At those words, the student who brought the news wagged her finger saying not to talk nonsense.

“How would the vice principal have that kind of power when she’s a commoner? She should worry about herself before placing others.”

At the word ‘commoner’, the commoner students gathered in the corner flinched and briefly glanced at where the noble young ladies were.

This was Molnitsky Girls’ Academy.

Founded as part of a national policy to nurture female talent before being privatized, the boundary between commoner and noble students had been growing wider.

Though they attended the same class and received the same lessons, they were so divided into two factions that they could hardly be called classmates.

There was no bullying, and everyone acted kind and friendly, but commoner scholarship students could never join noble young ladies’ groups, and noble young ladies never associated with commoners outside the classroom.

This was true not just for this class but for all classes throughout the school.

“Then is she the principal’s pick?”

“I don’t know about that. But one thing’s for sure. She’s Baron Lantskoĭ’s relative.”

“Oh my, the one who died tragically recently?”

The noble students all shuddered with horrified expressions.

“Isn’t the world scary? They say his assistant killed him.”

“I know right? There’s really no one you can trust.”

“They say you shouldn’t take in black-haired beasts, and look what happened.”

“Exactly. Isn’t it safer to stick with our own kind?”

The leader of the commoner scholarship students got angry and tried to stand up, but her friends pulled her back down.

“Hey, calm down.”

“They’re clearly saying that for us to hear.”

“But what can we do about it?”

“They’re so ignorant. Black-haired beasts? Where did they pick up that Eastern Continent saying to spout such nonsense.”

One of the genetic traits of the neighboring Charmente Empire’s imperial family was black hair.

Since even the Grand Ducal family of Hersen, who shared ancestors, had silver hair, jet-black hair was very rare among Western Continent people.

If they wanted to apply it here, brown hair would be more appropriate since it was common.

Therefore, it was a saying that didn’t work in the Western Continent.

“That incident was unfortunate, but anyway, the Lantskoĭ family has been an artistic family for generations. And since Baron Lantskoĭ personally recommended her to the school before he died, she must be incredibly skilled.”

“When you put it that way, I’m excited.”

At that moment, the door opened and Molnitsky Girls’ Academy’s vice principal entered the atelier.

“Now, quiet everyone, quiet.”

As she clapped her hands softly with refined gestures, the students who had been chatting comfortably straightened their backs and gracefully greeted her.

It was a posture and etiquette they had learned and refined since their lower grades, now ingrained enough to spring forth at the slightest prompt.

“This class has such a good study atmosphere. I came to tell our students something before class. The principal was going to come personally, but as you all know, she’s unwell.”

Viscountess Borodin did not reveal to the outside that she had been captured, as Nikolai had instructed.

This was to prevent Grand Duchess Oksana’s faction, including other southern nobles, from escaping or regrouping if they learned that Molnitsky Girls’ Academy would be targeted first.

In fact, even without Nikolai’s warning, Viscountess Borodin had kept quiet about being involved in the murder case, both to the school and her in-laws.

She was officially away recuperating in another provincial city due to illness.

Both the school and her in-laws believed this.

While the corruption involving other nobles might not matter since they would all go down together, the affair was a different issue.

If it became known that she had been romantically involved with Baron Lantskoĭ and nearly killed because of it, she would not only be cast out from the Borodin family but also be completely ruined in society.

In any case, Viscountess Borodin’s voluntary silence created quite an advantageous situation for Nikolai and Katya.

“So I’m doing the introduction. Please come in.”

The vice principal nodded toward the door for someone to enter.

Click, click.

With the sound of footsteps, a platinum-blonde woman walked into the atelier slowly with graceful, modest movements like a ballerina.

“Hello? I’m Alyona Lantskoĭ, and I’ll be teaching you art from today. Nice to meet you.”

Katya smiled at her juniors as she stood in front of the podium.

***

Two hours earlier.

“Ahhh! I’m late! Why didn’t you wake me?”

Screaming as she got up, Katya rushed around the room without a moment to spare.

“Calm down, Tia.”

“What kind of teacher is late on their first day?”

Nikolai caught his wife’s hand as she hurried out of the bathroom after washing up and changing, and sat her down at the dining table.

“Sit down first. You need to eat.”

“Huaaa. Grand Duke, breakfast isn’t the issue right now!”

“What could be more important than this? I can’t watch you go hungry.”

He said as he placed a spoon in Katya’s hand.

The table had been fully set with a meal.

He had ordered it in advance from the hotel.

“No matter how busy, I’m sending you off fed.”

“My hair is a mess right now too!”

Then Nikolai grabbed a hairbrush and stood behind her.

“I’ll brush your hair, so eat first.”

“Do you know how?”

“What’s so hard about it? You just brush, right?”

“Ow!”

When the firmly drawn brush got stuck halfway, Katya turned around with glaring eyes after letting out a short scream.

Nikolai had unconsciously started brushing from the scalp. While that might work for Bianca with her naturally good hair, it wasn’t suitable for Katya’s thick and coarse curly hair.

Moreover, she had dyed her natural strawberry blonde hair to hide it, making it even stiffer.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“Sorry. Did it hurt a lot?”

He answered with embarrassment.

While Alyona would have brushed skillfully, for Nikolai, this was his first attempt at women’s hair care, and he had encountered a particularly difficult type of hair.

It would have been good to bring Alyona, but Katya had deliberately left her safely at the Duke’s residence as she was frantically searching for the assassin who had sabotaged the carriage.

After trying various methods while pondering how to brush without causing pain, Nikolai figured out that he should start from the bottom and work his way up through the tangles bit by bit.

Thanks to this, Katya could finish her breakfast in the meantime.

“Grand Duke, you’re more talented at this than me, huh?”

Nikolai reached forward and placed his hand on her forehead as she looked in the mirror with amazement.

Touching his own forehead with his other hand, he tilted his head before turning her around and pressing their foreheads together.

Surprised by his approaching face, Katya squeezed her eyes shut then opened them.

At that moment, their foreheads and nose bridges briefly touched before separating.

“You still have a slight fever.”

“No! The fever’s gone!”

Nikolai went into the bedroom with fierce determination as she strongly denied it.

Katya tried to escape through the entrance but was quickly caught by the nape of her neck.

“Ah, really, I said I’m all better!”

“What do you mean better? See, I told you the medicine works better.”

Saying that, he quickly poured medicine into a deep spoon like a ladle and swiftly inserted it into Katya’s mouth.

Caught off guard by his swift movement, she swallowed it and stuck out her tongue with a grimace.

The day they arrived in Vasnetsov, when her fever wouldn’t break after getting caught in the rain, Nikolai bought the medicine, but Katya ran away saying it was bitter.

So they had agreed she would take the medicine today if her fever hadn’t gone down.

“Ugh, I said I wouldn’t take it!”

Nikolai put a cookie in his suffering wife’s mouth, and she who had been thrashing like a dragon immediately calmed down.

“Well done.”

He gently patted her head as she became docile.

“Grand Duke, I notice you are subtly treating me like a child?”

“How are you a child? I couldn’t sleep with a child.”

“No, how can you say such things? People might misunderstand! We only held hands yesterday!”

“If just holding hands felt erotic enough to stir my body and heart, whose fault is that?”

“It’s the fault of the perverted Grand Duke.”

Nikolai burst out laughing at her impudent and brazen retort.

Until recently, she had kept her distance because he was the Grand Duke, but whenever she acted provocatively against etiquette like this, it made him happy.

Because it felt like they had grown closer.

“Let’s go. We’ll be there quickly if we ride. I’ll take you.”

Katya took the mischievous husband’s outstretched hand, pretending to give in.

“The principal’s recommendation?”

The vice principal blinked at the unexpected visitor.

Lowering her glasses to her nose tip to examine the letter of recommendation, she looked up again with wide eyes.

It was unmistakably Viscountess Borodin’s handwriting.

“Yes. Haven’t you received word yet? I came thinking today was my start date. I should tell my great-uncle there was a misunderstanding.”

Katya said naturally.

Baron Lantskoĭ’s father, Viscount Lantskoĭ, was a boyar and major figure in the southern merchant world.

The character in Katya’s forged resume was set up as this Viscount Lantskoĭ’s granddaughter.

Of course, Viscountess Borodin’s recommendation letter was real.

She had written and sent it from prison under Nikolai’s not-quite-threatening threat.

“Oh my, is that necessary? Please start teaching today as planned. I apologize for my rudeness.”

Worried about offending a boyar, the vice principal immediately backed down.

That’s how Katya infiltrated Molnitsky Girls’ Academy as a teacher.

To stop and properly punish these damned young masters’ outrageous behavior, whether it was the Despot Club or whatever.