The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 13

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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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Episode 13
While Maré was away, the Classroom was in uproar.
The children grabbed chalk and scribbled sentences here and there, or joked around with their neighbors.
Rachel gently dissuaded them from letting the play turn into a fight and waited, but Maré never returned to the Classroom.
“By the way, what’s wrong with Noah? She’s not usually the type to get sick.”
Theo approached and asked with concern. Since they’d told the children that Noah was feeling unwell and would rest, it made sense that he’d worry about his sister.
“Don’t worry too much about it. The doctor said she just needs a little rest.”
Even at Rachel’s words, Theo didn’t seem reassured.
“But what in the world is Maré doing in the Restroom?”
When Maré still didn’t return, Loka’s face darkened. It was clear he believed that while he was trapped in the Classroom, Maré alone had managed to escape.
“Then I’ll go find Maré. In the meantime, you children can have your etiquette lesson with Colo.”
“Ugh! We hate that!”
Colo’s etiquette lessons were what the children disliked most.
The children had been hoping to enjoy their freedom while the teacher was gone, but their faces fell, and Rachel smiled sweetly as she called Colo and slipped out of the Classroom.
‘He deliberately refused to write with his left hand.’
Rachel’s eyes gleamed. Now it was time for the ‘real’ game of tag. And it was a very important one at that.
She headed to the Restroom first. She knew it was more likely he wasn’t there, but she needed to check the basics first.
“Maré, are you in there?”
As expected, there was no answer from the Restroom.
That meant he’d most likely run to his room. It was actually better that way—she’d have time alone with him.
Knock-knock.
When she rapped on the door to Maré’s Room, she felt the faintest sign of movement from inside.
“Maré? You’re in there, right? I’m coming in?”
Rachel called out in as bright a voice as she could manage and turned the doorknob.
But the door wouldn’t open easily. It was clear that Maré was pushing against it from inside.
“I got worried because you seemed unwell.”
At her words, the door opened a crack, and Maré’s face appeared in the gap.
“I’m not sick.”
“Oh? Well, that’s a relief then.”
Rachel smiled warmly. Maré seemed to be watching Rachel’s expression and reaction carefully.
“I was actually worried that two students would fall ill at the Academy on the same day.”
“Two?”
“Like I mentioned before class, Noah isn’t feeling well right now.”
“…Oh.”
“I’m quite worried about her. She won’t say what’s wrong, but something’s clearly bothering her.”
……
“Did she perhaps tell you, her friend? Sometimes children tell their friends things they won’t tell their teachers.”
When Rachel probed gently, Maré’s brow furrowed and he turned his head sharply away.
“I don’t know anything.”
“Is that so? Then do you know anything about this Note?”
When Rachel showed him the folded Note through the crack in the door, Maré’s face went rigid.
“Are you suspecting me of writing that Note?”
“Not at all.”
“Then why are you showing it to me?”
Maré’s reaction was remarkably oversensitive.
Recognizing immediately that this was no ordinary response, Rachel smiled warmly and gently pulled the doorknob. Caught off guard, Maré had no choice but to let the door open.
“I never blamed Noah over something like this.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did you know this Note contains criticism of Noah? You haven’t even opened it.”
Panicked and absorbed in self-defense, Maré had fallen perfectly into her trap. His face was filled with dismay.
“Tell me honestly. I already know everything. Even why you’re reluctant to write with your left hand.”
……
“If you don’t admit it, things may get worse. Let’s settle this here, together.”
“I… I…”
Maré could only mumble and shed tears. Rachel waited patiently.
When the tears had subsided, she asked again, and Maré roughly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and mumbled.
“…They look down on me.”
“Look down on you?”
“Because I’m a Commoner. They said I stink of lowness, that I’m so base they can’t even breathe in the same space as me.”
The moment the word “ignore” came up, Rachel understood the reason behind it.
Maré, the only Commoner in this school, harbored an unspoken inferiority complex among the Nobles. Pride kept him from showing it outwardly, but his pride must have been wounded all the same.
“I know I was wrong too. But my birth and my parents aren’t things I can change, are they? Noah needs to be attacked once too, and then he’ll come to his senses.”
Rachel saw the savage glint that entered Maré’s eyes and understood that the rift between them ran far deeper than she’d thought.
“Then how do you propose to resolve the conflict between you and Noah?”
……
“You’re going to keep seeing each other at school. You can’t go on like this.”
“…I suppose not.”
“Would it help if I stepped in?”
Rachel smiled warmly and stroked Maré’s hair.
* * *
Rachel made her way to Noah’s Room with her face set firm.
Henry was already waiting outside Noah’s door, exhaling a shallow sigh and shaking his head slowly. It seemed his attempt at conversation had failed.
Knock, knock.
“Noah, it’s your teacher Rachel.”
She forced brightness into her voice, but there was no answer. Rachel knocked again.
“May I come in?”
“No.”
Rachel hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. If the girl didn’t want her inside, forcing the door open would only make things worse.
‘What would the department head have done?’
The image of the department head, who had always smiled at her with such kindness, rose in her mind.
That man had guided even the most wayward students onto the right path. What would he do in a situation like this?
‘Whatever happens, he would never give up.’
Rachel bit her lower lip firmly, then spoke quietly.
“Misunderstanding and conflict are like boiling oil. When they’re heated, they can still be shaped, however difficult—but once time passes, they harden into something solid and immobile.”
She spoke on, desperately hoping Noah could hear her.
“Right now, the misunderstanding and conflict between you two are at a boiling point. If time passes without proper direction, they’ll harden into something broken beyond repair.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
It was a negative response, but at least there was a response. Rachel took hope in the fact that Noah hadn’t shut her out entirely and pressed forward.
“Why would it not concern me? You’re my student, and my desire to help you is this strong.”
……
“I’m coming in now.”
She turned the doorknob. Thankfully, there was no resistance from inside—no hand blocking it, no lock. That small mercy was everything, and she stepped into the room.
Noah was lying on the bed. The moment Rachel entered, she whirled toward the wall and pulled the blanket up over her head.
“You haven’t eaten breakfast, have you? Your favorite Truffle Soup came out.”
“…I don’t want any.”
Noah didn’t show her face once. Yet the fact that she answered Rachel’s question at all suggested she hadn’t completely closed herself off.
‘Once it hardens, nothing will move it anymore.’
Every crisis has a Golden Time. For this incident, that moment was now—right now. Rachel intended to seize the instant when Noah had at last opened her lips to speak.
“I know who wrote that Note.”
“Who?! Who would do such a thing?!”
Noah shot upright immediately, then irritably hurled a Cushion to the floor.
Rachel said nothing and picked up the Cushion, returning it to its place. She felt Noah’s gaze fixed on her, watching.
“I know you’ve been deeply hurt. I cannot even begin to imagine how much shock this incident has caused you.”
“Then tell me who it was!”
Noah’s agitation did not subside. But as her student’s emotion rose, Rachel’s own remained perfectly calm.
An agitated student and an unshaken teacher—the gap between them seemed unbridgeable.
“I will never take the side of the student who wrote such a Note. What they did was wrong. But.”
At the word “but,” Noah’s teeth ground together. What came next would be the pivot point of this entire affair. Rachel held her composure and continued.
“I want you to understand that there is a friend who was deeply wounded by words you spoke carelessly.”
“What?”
It was clearly not what Noah had expected. Her face hardened, scowling.
“Now that you’ve entered this school, everyone is equal. Outside these walls, whatever status you may hold—but before the lectern of Swan Knights Academy, Commoner and Noble and Royalty alike are all simply students.”
It was a dangerous thing to say.
The empire had a rigid Class System.
Rachel was well aware that such words could, taken broadly, carry the taint of sedition.

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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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