Duke Regenstadt agonized over the decision.

The insane claim that Adeline was also in on it wasn’t worth listening to, but there was room to reconsider the woman named Anna and Belliche. Even if his son was worthless, he was still his child, so he needed to investigate properly and reach an accurate conclusion.

Moreover, even if his son’s claims were false, having two commoners to pin things on was a fortunate turn of events.

The Duke soon made his judgment. It was already too late to quietly cover things up, and it was better to divert the attention focused on Regenstadt by creating some pretext.

Belliche’s *ssault became the first justification.

Matteo’s broken teeth and nose bridge were evidence of excessive defense, and this wasn’t something that could be passed off as a spontaneous quarrel. The ducal house’s lawyers worked hard to flip the structure of perpetrator and victim.

During this time, Adeline didn’t step a single foot outside the dormitory, but she received news from the academy through Therese.

And just yesterday, after hearing Therese mention that Regenstadt’s lawyers were busily coming and going from the academy, she sat down with pen and paper.

After chewing the pen tip for a while with furrowed brows, Adeline put strength into her hand.

To His Grace, Duke Regenstadt.

I imagine Your Grace is greatly troubled by the unfortunate incident that occurred in Aurelia.

Therefore, I wish to clearly convey my intentions to avoid escalating this situation further, in writing.

I believe Your Grace is also aware that the series of actions Matteo von Regenstadt committed within the academy cannot be dismissed as mere rudeness or recklessness.

Nevertheless, I believe it would be best for everyone to conclude this matter here. I trust Your Grace shares my opinion on this point.

However, to do so, the following conditions must be met.

First.

Anna Roche’s choice must be left entirely to her will, and regardless of the outcome of that choice, her personal safety, appropriate compensation, and future livelihood must be guaranteed.

This is not a matter of sympathy or mercy, but of responsibility that any human being should bear.

Second.

Regarding this matter, I ask that you clearly pledge not to impose any form of threat, pressure, or disadvantage on Kailen Belliche or the Belliche family.

He is not the cause of this situation.

If even a single disadvantage befalls the above two individuals in the future due to this matter, I clearly state that I will stake my honor on publicly exposing all the molestation and violence Matteo von Regenstadt inflicted upon me, as well as all circumstances before and after, without omission.

Surely Your Grace does not believe that I would be unable to reveal the full story of this incident out of fear of the stigma of having my honor as a woman damaged.

If you have made such a judgment, I recommend you proceed officially with disciplinary action against Belliche. If you do so, you will immediately confirm that every sentence in this letter is not empty words.

I hope this matter can be concluded with dignity without further disturbance, and I await Your Grace’s wise judgment.

—Adeline Rosenthal von Krauben.

Adeline judged she shouldn’t send this letter through official channels. It contained only things her mother shouldn’t know about. So she borrowed the hand of Therese, the precious youngest daughter of the Marquis of Rothmann household.

And a few days later, the flood of outsiders on academy grounds ceased like a lie. Only then did Adeline feel relieved. Her letter seemed to have successfully tied Duke Regenstadt’s hands and feet.

That night, Adeline slept with her legs stretched out for the first time in a while, worrying about nothing.

* * *

After class ended and she left the lecture hall, Adeline hugged her books to her chest. Therese, standing beside her with arms crossed, followed along.

And taking advantage of the thinning crowd of students around them, Therese tilted her head and whispered.

“I guess it wasn’t your letter that worked.”

“What?”

“Looks like money did the trick.”

Therese leaned her head even closer.

“My brother says the foundation chairman and the Belliche side are pretty tight. They’ve been making big donations for a while, and most of the academy scholarship students’ tuition comes from them too.”

Therese’s older brother was in the academy’s graduating class. It was because of his existence that her father had permitted Therese’s mid-year transfer.

“Well, it seems like there’s something more behind it… but my brother suddenly said he had business and left, so I only heard part of the story.”

“…I see.”

She felt embarrassed for having been so conceited about successfully persuading the Duke. Adeline pretended to tuck stray hair behind her ear while secretly touching her heated earlobe.

“That’s a relief. I was a bit scared things might get difficult because of me.”

She knew Belliche had businesses in various countries. But she hadn’t expected him to have connections rivaling a ducal house. It was unexpected. She realized it really wasn’t easy to abandon arrogant prejudices.

“Forget it. Don’t worry about it anymore. It’ll just make you feel worse.”

“Okay.”

Therese glanced sideways.

“But honestly speaking, you did react a bit excessively to the Belliche issue all this time.”

“Me? No. I was just really sorry. What if he got expelled? It was because of me.”

“Well… if that’s the only reason, then it’s fine.”

She clearly felt Therese’s gaze scanning her profile, but Adeline had no choice but to maintain an indifferent expression.

〈That face is just asking for trouble if you get involved.〉

〈We’re from different worlds anyway, so what’s the point of looking?〉

One wrong move and Therese would probably come over tonight and lecture her all night long.

* * *

After receiving a letter from Anna, who’d returned to her family back home, saying she was doing well, it truly felt like everything had been wrapped up.

She threw herself into attending girls’ school classes diligently like before. Even though she didn’t deliberately avoid routes that overlapped with the advanced academy, she never ran into Kailen.

The two felt each other’s presence again, even if only over their shoulders, in early July during the Aurelia joint academic event period.

11:30 AM, after the special lecture by the former Deputy Finance Minister of the Allied Territories ended. As soon as she came out of the building, after walking just ten minutes, she couldn’t breathe.

She hadn’t known Aurelia’s summer would be this sweltering. In the muggy heat, Adeline naturally headed toward the shaded tree-lined street.

The academy grounds, landscaped like a park, presented a completely different scene from usual. Students could be seen taking free rest anywhere in the shade of the wide lawn—lying down reading books or napping.

“It’s hot enough to die…”

During the academic period when the usual dress code allowing only achromatic colors disappeared and one only needed to avoid excessive exposure, Adeline dressed in a fresh outfit similar to last spring.

A summer blouse allowing free movement with a light purple silk skirt. For jewelry, she chose pieces her mother Luise had worn as an unmarried woman—a necklace that had been disassembled and reset into a brooch and earrings respectively.

The female students gathered in groups of three or four around round tables under the lawn’s shade, chattering away, were all wearing lovely pastel-toned thin dresses revealing their shoulders and arm lines.

As the chiffon skirts like candy wrappers rustled lightly in the wind, the jeweled decorations on the naturally revealed satin shoes sparkled.

Before leaving the dormitory, she’d thought her high-quality material and neat, formal attire was appropriate. 

But looking around, only she had her shoulders and arms tightly wrapped up stuffily. She really felt like a lady who’d jumped out of a painting from decades ago, all by herself.

“Should I change even now?”

But thinking about it, all the summer dresses in her dormitory wardrobe had sleeves. Because the girls’ school dress code was strict, she hadn’t thought it particularly necessary and hadn’t prepared new clothes separately before the season changed.

“…I should go out this weekend.”

For now, she felt like she needed to drink at least a cold beverage. Fortunately, there was a public rest hall not far on foot. Just thinking about buying and drinking the summer limited menu iced tea from the café on the first floor made her mouth water.

That’s when she hurried her steps.

Thwack!

“Out, that’s out!”

“Where are you looking, are your eyes just decorations?”

On the grass court adjacent to the path toward the café, several male students were hitting a ball back and forth across a net.

Thwack!

Along with the sound of the ball hitting the racket and crossing the net, a familiar name reached Adeline’s ears.

“I heard Regenstadt’s coming back next week?”