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 2/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

“…We don’t need such compensation.”

Louis rejected it first. His slightly trembling voice even carried discomfort.

“Ha, it’s not an amount a commoner can easily possess. Don’t put on unnecessary airs and just take it.”

Aer was greatly irritated by the Countess’s words. Even for a commoner, this wasn’t how one should treat a benefactor.

She was also genuinely angry at Anna for trying to brush off the favor of being saved with money.

“May I have it for a moment?”

At Aer’s words, Louis turned his gaze to her, while Anna and Countess Gonzalo handed over the pouch with an ‘Of course, naturally’ expression.

“Here, it should be a satisfactory amount even for a noble like you.”

Aer stared at their utterly confident expressions for a moment before opening the pouch right there to check its contents.

Anna and the Countess shuddered at her behavior as if they had been insulted.

“How utterly vulgar. A noble young lady behaving like a merchant!”

“Mom, I told you so.”

While Anna was whispering something to her mother, Aer finished counting the money.

“I don’t want to stay here any longer. Let’s go, Anna.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Just as the two were about to leave after glaring with contempt-filled eyes, Aer spoke while tightening the strings of the coin pouch.

“It seems the Gonzalo County’s financial situation isn’t very good.”

“…What did you say?”

At Aer’s words, the Countess trembled again.

“Are you insulting our family now!”

To the Countess who burst out shouting, Aer replied calmly.

“That’s how it seems. Just 30 gold coins?”

“You’ve become quite greedy. Your dignity is worse than that commoner over there.”

“Haha.”

Aer was disgusted by their attitude of trying to return the insult at all costs. Not just them, but most nobles were like this.

They seemed desperate to bite and chew on her father, herself, and their entire family.

Aer had no intention of giving up her flesh to take their bones.

Why should she painfully give up her precious flesh?

She simply didn’t want to be passively excluded if they intended to ostracize her.

‘No, I’ll be the one to exclude you.’

She broadened her shoulders that had been momentarily curled inward. Aer spoke as she threw the pouch to the ground.

“You clearly said this was the price for Anna’s life, didn’t you?”

“…What?”

“I’m wondering if Anna’s life is worth just 30 gold coins.”

Aer scanned the Countess’s adorned dress and accessories. Her eyes rolled blatantly.

Even without explicitly saying it, Countess Gonzalo understood the meaning of what Aer was trying to convey.

“Just the dress you’re wearing, hmm… would it be about 20 gold coins? Including the accessories, it would be at least 200 gold coins… Hmm, the price of your daughter’s life is less than the luxuries you’ve adorned for a single day.”

“…Excessive greed leads to trouble. And 30 gold coins per person is not a small amount!”

“So, I’m asking what standard you used to determine that.”

“…What?”

It seemed that both mother and daughter could only say “What?” when they had nothing else to say. Aer took a deep breath before speaking.

“From my perspective, it seems you’ve failed to meet two standards.”

“……”

“Sigh, you shouldn’t need me to explain all this, should you?”

“Wh-what are you saying?”

“Oh, you seemed not to understand.”

“That can’t be!”

“Ah, so you’re saying that someone who knows better acted this way?”

“……”

“Sigh, since you don’t seem to understand, I’ll explain it directly. Not knowing isn’t shameful. So, I meant that it’s insufficient both as the price for Anna’s life and as compensation for insulting the academy’s education.”

“…What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Countess, you’ve just insulted our academy. Louis and I protected Anna, the healer, as we were taught by Professor Habier. It’s something we should be proud of. Risking one’s life to protect a healer isn’t an easy task, is it?”

As Aer’s words lengthened, the Countess’s complexion gradually paled.

“Especially Louis, who received an award from Professor Habier, the main professor of the activity class. Giving an award to a commoner who protected a healer in front of everyone was likely meant to encourage other commoners to act like us in the future. But Countess, you tried to pay us for this. This is clearly an act of insulting the academy and Professor Habier.”

Aer noticed the crowd around them gradually increasing. People were eavesdropping on their conversation with curious eyes, holding their breath.

“Moreover, the amount being just 30 gold coins is really too much. Please don’t insult us, the academy, and Professor Habier!”

Aer emphasized the last part of her words even more. Those listening from afar might have only heard ‘academy’, ‘Professor Habier’, and ‘insult’.

At her words, Anna and the Countess shouted in shrill voices.

“30 gold coins should be enough for someone of your status! What kind of absurd conjecture is this!”

“They say Bestias don’t know their place. That’s exactly right!”

Aer replied coldly, looking at Anna and the Countess who were still insisting:

“Yes, 30 gold coins is enough for someone of my status? Well, that’s fine. If Anna wishes to represent healers like that…”

Anna was afraid of what would come out of that girl’s mouth. Already in a state of panic from the words so far, she wanted to cover Aer’s mouth. She reached out roughly, but Aer was faster.

“I understand well that you want to establish a custom where healers pay those who save them. And at a cheap price at that. Then, will there be any commoners willing to risk their lives to save healers?”

“You, you! Detestable Bestia!”

Anna shouted with her eyes rolled back, and like a wildcat with claws out, she tried to scratch Aer’s face. She couldn’t hold back her anger any longer.

But Anna couldn’t do as she wished. Someone had grabbed her arm.

“I simply cannot listen to this any longer.”

Daniel, one of the teaching assistants for the activity class, intervened with a face red with anger.

He continued speaking, looking at Anna and Countess Gonzalo with contemptuous eyes.

“Aer’s words are correct. We cannot put a price on the act of willingly risking one’s life for a healer! This is an insult to our academy’s education!”

At his resounding words, even the onlookers nodded. He shouted with a face unable to contain his anger:

“I will report this to the Dean and Professor Habier immediately! No one can tarnish the sacred educational principles of the academy! This is something even His Majesty the Emperor cannot do!”

At Daniel’s outcry, Anna and the Countess’s faces turned pale. Only then did they look around and were startled.

Most of those who had been in the auditorium were now in the corridor. Among them, the academy students were looking coldly at Anna and the Countess.

Even their parents couldn’t hide their displeasure. Among them, nobles who had commoner children like Aer didn’t hide their contempt.

The Countess hadn’t thought the situation would come to this.

She hadn’t even expected so many people to gather in such a short time.

“Ah, aah…”

She couldn’t utter a word. How could she say anything when even the Emperor had been mentioned?

A man with broad shoulders and wearing elaborate attire stood before Anna and Countess Gonzalo, who wore expressions of dismay.

Aer looked up at Knox de Raymond, the original male lead who had entered middle age but still exuded an incredible presence, and the father of Ian and Pamela, the protagonist of the spin-off.

He spoke to Daniel in a low voice.

“The closing ceremony seems to have become too noisy.”

“…I apologize, Your Grace.”

“Is there a need to cause misunderstandings while the students are watching?”

“What do you mean…”

“I’m saying, did you have to mention His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Ah…”

“Tsk, a noble lady might not know the ways of the world. Is that something to attack so vehemently?”

Aer realized that Raymond Duke was speaking to her, not Daniel. Because his gaze was directed at her.

Yet, he continued speaking while standing in front of Daniel.

“The ways nobles repay favors aren’t all the same, are they? They probably intended to be generous because they have much, but what can be done if the receiving side sees it as charity?”

At this blatant disregard, Aer gritted her teeth and tightly gripped Louis’s hand.

She knew the Duke couldn’t be favorable to her because of her father, but his words were extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant.

“But we can’t let this slide. This is not only an issue for our students but also for our educators.”

“That’s why I’m saying to resolve such matters quietly. Should we ruin everyone’s mood because of just a few people?”

“Ah… I apologize.”

Daniel bowed his head. Duke Raymond scanned Aer and Louis in turn. It felt as if a snake had just slithered past them.

Aer felt her body stiffen under his cold, venomous gaze.

Before turning away, he murmured very quietly so that only Aer could hear:

“Like father, like daughter, quite troublesome.”