Chapter 1. I was abandoned by my family
“I failed.”
Ian immediately told Enoch and Elle his results upon arriving at the Achilles’ mansion. Leticia opened her eyes wide in surprise, she never expected for him to announce it so bluntly.
Elle, who was sitting and drinking tea, suddenly jolted up with a look of shock.
“What happened to their eyes? How can they miss such talent?”
“It’s because I didn’t do well on the test.”
“Whatever it is!”
Elle trembled in anger and looked at Ian.
“Are you okay?”
She belatedly worried about Ian.
Ian replied meekly.
“Just… It’s a bit of a shame.”
He said this with an indifferent expression, but the way he rubbed his neck looked like he was more than a little disappointed. Enoch had been quietly watching the scene, then he reached out to pat Ian’s head.
“Good job.”
He didn’t say much.
However, Ian felt great comfort from those words, and smiled happily.
“I’ll do better next time.”
His pride did not allow him to give up like this.
Enoch smiled lightly at Ian, then turned his eyes slowly to Leticia with a serious expression.
“Oh, you have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
Leticia tilted her head slightly and pointed to herself. Did he mean that she had a guest?
Enoch gave a slight nod to her question. As he gestured towards her room, Leticia followed him with a curious look on her face.
‘My lord?’
Was there anyone who would come to see her?
She grabbed the doorknob while trying to think about who it could be, but no one came to mind.
‘No way….’
Leticia opened the door wide with a pounding heart. As soon as she recognized the person standing in the middle of the room, her voice rose in surprise.
“Mary!”
“My lady!”
With an expected face, Leticia quickly approached and held Mary’s hand tightly.
“Why did you come here?”
“I heard you were staying here.”
“Mary…”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come to you sooner.”
Mary bowed her head in shame, Leticia waved her hand and denied it.
“Thank you so much for coming. Did you come here because you were worried about me?”
“Yes, I’m here to work for the Achilles’ family.”
“What do you mean?”
She blinked at the first word, Mary smiled softly and recalled the past.
After Leticia was ousted, the atmosphere around the Leroy home was good at first. It was as if they were drowning in happiness, and they began to party and live lavishly. Not only that, they began to indulge in their vices.
Dealing with Diana’s evil was not hard, because she was used to it. What bothered Mary was the scornful gazes of the other servants.
[She was right next to the Eldest daughter, right?]
[Be careful when you’re going together with her. What if our luck disappears?]
[If it’s like that, I’m going to avoid them.]
As they began to brazenly exclude them, the maidservants who had been taking care of Leticia began to leave, one or two at a time. A few of them tried to make a good impression on Diana, and a few left the Leroy residence on their own.
Mary wanted to quit, but she wasn’t in a position to do so.
“My brother entered the Academy of Magic.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it turns out that the reason he was sick so much was because he couldn’t control his mana.”
She happened to meet a professor from the Academy of Magic while walking along the street with her brother. The professor immediately recognized her brother’s talent and suggested he attend the academy. Unlike Mary, who was worried about being separated from her brother for the first time in their life, her younger brother accepted the professor’s proposal with a solemn expression.
Mary wanted her brother to get along well at the Academy because there was no better opportunity for him.
She still needed to pay for her brother’s tuition to the academy. Luckily her brother was healthy now and she didn’t need to spend money on medicine for him.
In the end, Mary needed to earn money to pay for the tuition, so she had to stick it out at the Leroy mansion.
She hoped to work for Leticia again someday.
Finally, the moment she was able to see her again had finally arrived.
“What about the tuition?”
Leticia always worried when she was having a hard time.
She’d noticed immediately and nodded her head that it was okay.
“Yes, there is someone who wants to sponsor my brother.”
“Really?”
“They’ve already paid for my brother’s tuition.”
Mary wanted to express her gratitude to the sponsor, but she had no way of knowing who the person was since the donation was given anonymously.
She decided to wait quietly, thinking that one day she might meet the person by chance.
“I’d love to meet them and thank them when I get the chance.”
She said this with a smile. Leticia held Mary’s hand and nodded like it would definitely happen.
“I’ll be right back, I need to quickly go talk to someone.”
“What?”
“Wait a moment, please.”
She left the room right away, telling her to sit comfortably in the chair.
Mary’s words made her realize belatedly that she had someone she needed to thank as well. She wanted to see them right now.
Leticia visited the person immediately, and knocked as soon as she arrived to visit.
“Come in.”
A low, but firm voice.
Leticia opened the door and almost jumped in. As soon as she saw Enoch, she rushed over to him.
“Why didn’t you tell me beforehand!”
He told her there was a guest waiting for her in her room, so she was surprised when she opened the door.
As soon as their eyes met, it was immediately obvious that Leticia was upset. Enoch, on the other hand, his facial expression didn’t change as he said.
“I did it on purpose to surprise you.”
“That’s too much.”
The problem was that instead of being angry, she wanted to grin happily.
Eventually Leticia couldn’t hold back her smile and said.
“Thank you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You hired Mary.”
Thank you for accepting Mary as an employee, Leticia held onto Enoch’s sleeve tightly.
She had been worried about Mary, who was left alone at the Leroy mansion. She’d felt bad because she couldn’t afford to bring her here.
“I told you, I want you to be comfortable.”
“Lord Achilles…”
Leticia blinked briefly at his words, gently bit her lips and leaned her head against Enoch’s arm.
She was strangely touched by the words he’d said. At that time, a gentle voice washed down over her head.
“I have something to thank Leticia for as well.”
“What is it?”
“Thank you for taking care of Ian for me.”
Warm and heartfelt words, Leticia wriggled into Enoch’s arms.
“He’s my brother now.”
“….”
“Oh, of course. He’s not my real brother, but he’s as precious as a brother.”
Leticia became anxious at the lack of response and looked up slowly. As soon as they gazes met, she could see a smile begin to play across his lips.
“What about me?”
“What?”
Leticia slipped down to hide her heated face. Enoch bent down and approached her closely enough to look eye to eye with her.
“How precious am I to you?”
“That’s…”
“Hm?”
Leticia shrank away from his soothing urging, but there was nowhere for her to go to avoid his gaze.
“I’m curious.”
“Lord Achilles is…”
It was definitely a difficult relationship to define. Leticia was always happy and joyful when she was with him, and she felt a great sense of gratitude.
As she was about to answer his question while her heart pounded incessantly.
“Hey! Hey! Look at this!”
A sudden knock on the door interrupted the two. Enoch tried to ignore it but the vigorous knocking continued at the door and he sighed sadly.
“Come on in.”
As soon as he answered, the door suddenly opened and an excited Elle approached them.
“Hurry up and look at this.”
She was jumping up and down while she was talking. After receiving the letter from Elle, Enoch looked at the contents with Leticia.
‘Additional successful candidates for Imperial Official, Ian Achilles…?’
At the unexpected happy news, Leticia smiled broadly at Ian. As soon as she tried to congratulate him, she shut her mouth.
Ian’s expression didn’t look very good.
***
“I heard that you passed the first exam.”
Marquis Leroy said to Emil as they sat at the dinner table together.
Emil paused and put on a nonchalant look.
“Yes.”
“Don’t let your guard down, because the exam isn’t over yet.”
“….”
“You have to get through to the end.”
“Yes, Father.”
Emil nodded at Marquis Leroy’s words and began eating again. Strangely, his face was too gloomy for a person who had passed an important exam. Everyone looked at Emil and thought it must be because he’s tired.
Only Irene wriggled her hands with a nervous look on her face.
‘Brother Emil passed his first test.
It was definitely a good thing, something to be celebrated.
‘If I screw up this test…’
She could feel her hands shaking more and more, so she tried to squeeze them to make them stop.
“Irene.”
“What?”
“Don’t you have exams soon at the Academy?”
“Yes…”
“Are you preparing well?”
The whole family looked at Irene when Marquis Leroy began talking to her. Irene’s jaw clenched at the sudden change in conversation, and she kept hearing his words in her head.
[I don’t want to see your face right now, go back to your room.]
[I’m disappointed, Irene.]
Irene had gone completely pale, and jumped up involuntarily. As the rough sound of the chair dragging spread, the family members looked up at Irene in surprise.
“I’m a little under the weather, so I’ll be leaving first.”
Having no confidence to stand there any longer, Irene quickly left her seat as if she were running away.
She could feel everyone looking at her leaving, but she ran out of the room without looking back.
‘I feel nauseous.’
She just had to take the test as usual. It was a test she’d taken once or twice before, and she didn’t know why she was feeling so nervous and suffocated.
.
.
.
It was the first day of the exam.
She’d brought a note containing the magic formulas, but never opened it. There were only questions that she knew, so all her hard work paid off.
‘Yes, I can do this well without this paper.’
She couldn’t believe she’d brought this paper with her, just because of how nervous and anxious she had been feeling.
Determined not to make mistakes next time, Irene began to check which answers were wrong.
‘Unfortunately, I got one wrong.’
If she keeps doing this well, she’ll win first place, and that would guarantee her advancement.
She had a satisfied smile on her face, when she heard the conversation of the other students as they walked by.
“There’s a kid who got a perfect score on their magic history test.”
“Really? Who is it?”
She was sure her name would be mentioned.
But it was someone else’s name that came up.
“Ronan Hillary.”
“What? The commoner who just entered the school?”
‘“His grades were low last semester, how could he have done better this semester.”
“Did he cheat or something?”
“What? No way.”
As soon as the sound of the conversation became distant, Irene stiffened in her seat.
“That commoner got a perfect score?”
The summary book in her hand became even more crumpled.
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