The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 85
Originally, Katrine would have struggled alone in isolation, eventually awakening to her true aptitude through despair.
But now, because I’ve become her support, she hasn’t had to experience that loneliness and failure.
‘Though honestly, I’m not sure I’ve done anything particularly remarkable for her.’
I made an uncomfortable face.
Then came a passing remark.
—You’d do well to keep some distance from that girl. Half-hearted pity will only poison her.
Perhaps the Duke Alfonso had sensed Katrine’s situation and was warning me.
‘What should I do?’
Just then, I spotted Katrine passing in the distance.
Our eyes met, and she frowned sharply, turning her head away.
The reaction was curt, but there was no hostility in it—more like she was embarrassed and avoiding my gaze.
‘At this point in the story, Katrine should be filled with anger and venom.’
It was a serious problem.
And then a crisis erupted.
The Magic House demanded that Katrine withdraw from the academy.
It was the beginning of Katrine’s personal character scenario, “The Hero’s Despair.”
* * *
Two-thirty in the morning. The dormitory.
In the sleeping hours when all the students were asleep, there was a room with dim light seeping from beneath the door.
It was Katrine’s room.
“Miss Katrine? Mmm, you’re still not asleep?”
Katrine’s roommate grimaced at the light still burning beside her.
For context, Katrine received no support from her family and lived in the Commoner Quarters—specifically in the cheapest six-person shared room.
Her roommates knew she was a disgraced illegitimate daughter of her house and subtly looked down on her.
“What time is it anyway? Get some sleep.”
At the irritated reproach, Katrine reluctantly closed her book.
“…Sorry. The library closed today for construction.”
‘I still haven’t grasped everything from today’s lesson.’
Katrine swallowed a sigh.
The material itself wasn’t that difficult.
After all, they were still in the early weeks of the new term.
The other Magic students grasped it easily and moved on, but she alone was struggling like this.
‘It’s fine. If there’s something I don’t understand, I can just go over it more times.’
She knew well that she had no talent.
She’d been called the worst dullard throughout her time in the Magic House.
But coming here to the academy, she’d learned something.
That she was the worst dullard not just in the Magic House, but in this academy as well.
‘Stop thinking useless thoughts. Better to read one more line in that time.’
She was lying on her bed, reading by moonlight, when it happened.
Drip.
‘Ah.’
Her nose had started bleeding, perhaps from lack of sleep lately.
‘If it gets on the book…’
Then came another jab from her roommate.
“Good grief, what a fuss. Anyone watching would think she’s the only one studying in this academy.”
“And yet she’s still a lady of the Magic House. Though looking at her abilities, I guess I see why they cast her out.”
“How’d she even manage top marks on the entrance exam? Wasn’t it fraud?”
“Bet she just memorized the test material. That’s why she’s making such a fuss about it now.”
It was mockery meant for her to hear, but Katrine showed no reaction.
She was used to it.
—Why were you even born?
—Why did the previous lord bother to take in something like you?
—Vermin like you don’t deserve to live.
She’d lived her whole life hearing such things, so her roommates’ reproaches now barely registered.
‘So it’s fine.’
But in that moment, her chest tightened painfully.
Was it really fine?
‘…Maybe it’s better to just give up.’
She had been striving so desperately for one single purpose.
She was determined to become a great mage and crush the arrogance of the Magic House that had once despised her.
She shook her head firmly, steeling her resolve.
‘Don’t entertain weak thoughts. I can do this. I will succeed.’
But why was it that—
a single voice suddenly surfaced in her mind?
“You have me.”
Ban.
‘…That professor I don’t care for.’
Katrine sighed.
Honestly, Ban wasn’t a teacher she meshed well with.
His lectures were so dense that Katrine struggled to keep pace.
‘Not kind either. Sharp-tongued, always putting on airs.’
And yet.
‘…He’s always there for everyone when it matters. It’s infuriating.’
That was why.
She’d begun to rely on Ban without even realizing it.
It was unsettling, a feeling she’d never experienced before.
‘Get a grip, Katrine. Relying on someone only makes you weaker.’
Katrine hardened her heart and turned her attention back to her books.
Blood trickled from her nose again, but she plugged it with cloth and ignored it.
* * *
The exam results came back.
‘Thank goodness—first place.’
Katrine exhaled slowly.
All those hours spent agonizing over incomprehensible material had paid off.
‘I need to get back and review again.’
As she walked down the corridor, someone’s shoulder slammed into hers with a bang.
It was deliberate provocation.
“Hey! Who do you think you are? Got a death wish?”
She flared up—but the response that came was slick and familiar.
“Long time no see. How’ve you been?”
“You are…?”
Katrine’s face went rigid.
The person wore a second-year badge, and she recognized him.
“Shouldn’t you greet your cousin properly?”
David.
A son of a cadet branch of the Magic House.
“Shut up. I don’t want to acknowledge you. Get lost right now.”
Katrine’s teeth ground together.
During her years in the Magic House, it wasn’t her stepmother Duchess Bes or Joanna who had tormented her most relentlessly.
Shockingly, it had been the elders around her and the cadet-branch members and retainers.
“We cannot tolerate such filth tainting the bloodline of the great Magic House.”
David shrugged.
“You’re as arrogant as ever after all this time. Though you should be grateful to stay in my good graces—unless you want to keep attending the academy, that is.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you hear? The Elder Council has decided to send you to the Magic Monastery.”
!!
It was an institution of “magical monks”—men and women who severed all contact with the outside world and devoted themselves solely to the study of magic.
Noble families sometimes used it as a place of exile for members who had committed crimes or fallen into disgrace.
“A dullard like you studying at the academy—what good would that do? You should enter the monastery, spend your whole life researching magic without seeing daylight, and maybe—just maybe—contribute something to our Magic House.”
“What?! Who decided this?! You think I’m actually going?!”
“If you refuse? The Elder Council made this decision. Do you really think you can defy them?”
Katrine’s words caught in her throat.
She had no one to protect her.
Her father, Duke Alfonso, was probably praying for her to vanish this very moment.
“I don’t know. If you manage to impress the elders during the Exchange Meeting this weekend, they might reconsider. Though that’s hardly likely, is it? Ha.”
Katrine stood motionless, watching David disappear down the corridor.
‘How could I possibly distinguish myself at the Exchange Meeting?’
Compared to before she’d enrolled at the academy, her abilities hadn’t improved one bit.
As helplessness washed over her, her fists clenched tight.
Trust me.
Ban’s voice echoed in her mind.
‘No. I can’t rely on that.’
She understood precisely why she was stalling.
Her resolve had weakened.
It wasn’t Ban’s fault—not at all.
She could only regret her own frailty.
‘I have to become harder. Like before.’
There were still several days before the Exchange Meeting would take place that weekend.
She’d find a way through them somehow.
But then—
“Is something the matter?”
She stiffened.
It was Ban.
His gaze, which always looked down on others with that irritating glint, somehow made her defenses crumble.
Why did her heart weaken again?
“A problem? What are you talking about? Did I eat something wrong this morning? I’m fine.”
“Katrine.”
Ban looked directly at her.
As though he could see straight through her.
“I’ll ask once more. Are you truly all right?”
She caught her breath.
Katrine realized that Ban already knew everything about her situation.
Of course—as her homeroom instructor, he would have heard first.
‘Should I ask for his help?’
Katrine understood now.
That insufferable-looking professor actually possessed a warmer heart than anyone else.
If she merely reached out her hand, he would move heaven and earth to solve her problem.
But.
‘I can’t.’
It wasn’t stubborn pride for its own sake.
She was afraid.
Afraid that her weakness would end in collapse.
Afraid that she would never rise again.
“I told you—nothing’s wrong. Don’t bother me with your meddling. Go where you need to go.”
“…Very well. I understand.”
Fortunately, Ban pressed no further.
Instead, he said something else.
“Katrine, what did I tell you at the beginning?”
She said nothing.
“You are my student, and I am your professor. So no matter what happens, never forget that. Remember that you are my student.”
Something caught in Katrine’s throat without warning.
Perhaps all the sorrow she’d been carrying finally broke through.
“Professor, what you’re doing is just needless meddling.”
Afraid her emotions would shatter completely, Katrine bit her lip hard and turned on her heel, fleeing before Ban could respond.
‘This is the worst.’
She had no idea how three days passed after that.
The day of the Exchange Meeting arrived, and as always, Katrine found herself caged like a monkey for the crowd’s amusement.
Everyone laughed at her and treated her with contempt.
The Final Touch was a magical duel between the scions of noble houses.
“Lady Katrine has lost!”
“Lady Katrine has lost!”
“Lady Katrine has lost!”
She faced opponent after opponent across multiple events, yet never won a single match.
‘…I don’t know what to do anymore.’
She listened numbly to the murmuring around her.
They said a family disgrace like her should be sent to the Magic Monastery at once.
It was just before her dispatch there would be finalized.
“Isn’t that decision rather hasty? The family head hasn’t even approved it yet.”
It was Bes, the duchess—wholly unexpected!
“We’ll hold the second Exchange Meeting of the first half next weekend, so let’s decide then.”
“If that is what you wish, madam, I shall defer to your judgment.”
Katrine stared at the Duchess in astonishment.
“Don’t misunderstand. This isn’t my will. I’ve merely been asked to relay a message.”
“…Who asked you, Mother?”
“Who else would make such a request? I’ve no desire to discuss it further—ask him yourself. It seems he’s waiting outside.”
Alfonso!
Katrine spun on her heel and bolted from the academy hall.
Outside, a figure stood behind one of the mansion’s columns.
Elegant as a masterwork painting.
She’d always thought his bearing affected, but not now. The thought never crossed her mind.
Her chest only tightened.
To suppress the surge of feeling, she spoke with deliberate harshness.
“Y-you said unnecessary help was a burden. I don’t need the Professor’s assistance….”
“You can cry, if you need to.”

Only then did Katrine realize she was trembling on the edge of tears.
“It’s natural for a student to grow emotional with her professor. So cry, if you must. There’s no shame in it.”
His words cracked the wall that had been splintering inside her all along.
Tears began to fall without restraint.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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