The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 27

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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 27
“Bishon?”
“Yes. This is a matter for adults, so would you mind waiting outside for a moment, Ello?”
Rachel ushered Ello out of the house as naturally as she could manage. She couldn’t bear to thrust news of his brother’s death upon him so suddenly. He was still just a child, after all.
“Has something happened to our son?”
Ello’s father sensed the ill omen. Rachel found herself unable to speak. His intuition was far too accurate.
“I do not fail to understand that the contents of this letter will bring great sorrow upon you. Yet on this one matter I give you my word: I shall spare no effort in extending every support until your grief has washed away.”
Lucas spoke first. It was the best he could offer in his position. What more could one do beyond this?
Yet a family had lost their life. For them, a son’s death could never be replaced by anything else. Both Rachel and Lucas knew this truth.
“Could it be that our Bishon has been injured?”
The worst scenario they could imagine seemed to be their son’s wounding. That realization struck Rachel with particular force.
They were a couple who could not read. Even with the letter before them, they could not fathom its meaning—how frustrating that must have been. And when they came to understand it, how crushing the blow would be.
“He was attacked by monsters… Your firstborn son, Bishon, has lost his life.”
“I… beg your pardon?”
“What… what did you say?!”
Upon Lucas’s measured words, the reaction they had braced for erupted. Both parents collapsed where they stood.
Parents bereaved of their child, and those who must bear witness to their grief. Everything became hopelessly tangled.
* * *
Bishon’s death left Rachel with a heavy question to carry.
Unable to read the warning sign marking the Monster-infested Zone, Bishon had ventured there with a companion and met catastrophe in an instant.
‘If only he had known his letters, things might have ended differently.’
Bishon’s parents, grieving as they were, spoke those very words to Rachel. They tormented themselves endlessly, saying that what they had failed to learn, what they had failed to teach, was their sin. Hearing their lament, Rachel’s heart could find no lightness.
Not long after, soldiers dispatched under Lucas’s orders came to Bishon’s home. With utmost courtesy, they offered his parents every comfort. Yet such courtesy could not lighten the wound carved into their chests.
A war with no end in sight. And countless more to be sacrificed in the days ahead. All of it weighed heavily on Rachel’s mind.
“Rachel.”
After leaving Ello’s home, Lucas called her name. Rachel, who had been staring blankly into space, came back to herself belatedly.
“I will arrange for Ello’s family to receive a sum sufficient to sustain them for life.”
“……”
“So that the family left behind might find the strength to rise again, their sorrow overcome.”
Lucas’s comfort, delivered with gentle indifference, warmed the hollow ache in Rachel’s chest.
Thanks to that kindness, Rachel was able to ease the guilt that had pressed down upon her, finding some measure of solace.
“But we still have our original purpose—we ought to find gifts for the children.”
That was true. There had been a reason the two of them came here. To purchase Children’s Day gifts for the children. Moved by Lucas’s considerate attempt to clear the heavy air, Rachel managed a fragile smile.
“Yes, that’s right. We should go find gifts for them.”
Though sorrow had touched them, she did not wish to abandon their purpose. So Rachel made every effort to compose her expression.
“Do you intend to purchase different gifts for each of the children?”
“I’m trying to. Each of them has such a strong personality, after all.”
These were children whose individuality bordered on the excessive. Choosing gifts to suit each of their temperaments was no simple task.
That was why Rachel had spent night after sleepless night deliberating over a gift list, hoping earnestly that the children would delight in what she had chosen.
“There’s a General Store near here that should have just about anything. I have a regular merchant there—shall we go?”
Believing herself better acquainted with the marketplace than the Crown Prince himself, Rachel spoke of the General Store with confidence.
Though called a general store, it was in function rather like a department store. Many noblewomen purchased both necessities and luxuries there.
Rachel and Lucas made their way toward the General Store. The sight of children lingering on the streets, not attending school and simply passing the hours, troubled her deeply.
‘So many children across the Empire left to languish like this. Even in a class society, can this truly be right?’
Rachel cautiously studied Lucas’s expression, wishing to divine his thoughts. But reading the mind of one whose face showed so little change was far from easy.
‘Should I speak first?’
In the end, Rachel was the one who broke the silence.
“Lucas.”
Rachel looked up at him.
“Hmm? I think I already know what you’re about to say.”
“You do?”
“You’re thinking about what would happen if the children—if the people of the Empire—knew how to read.”
Lucas had read Rachel’s thoughts with precision. Caught off guard, Rachel’s eyes widened.
“You see, when I was young…”
Lucas spoke slowly.
“I happened to discover a passage that led out beyond the Imperial Palace walls. After that, I mingled with countless commoners.”
Lucas had revealed a piece of his past.
“Because of that, my thoughts differ from other nobles and members of the royal family. I believe literacy should not be the exclusive privilege of the nobility.”
For a Crown Prince, Lucas’s thinking was remarkably progressive.
Generally speaking, those with knowledge of letters possessed information and power, and at the center of that hierarchy stood the royal family.
That everyone knows how to read means precious information—that is, the distribution of power. If information and power are dispersed, the very dignity of the Imperial throne might be shaken.
But Lucas’s thinking was resolute.
“I believe the day must come when everyone in this world knows how to read.”
So saying, Lucas gazed at Rachel. His eyes held a gravity she had never seen before.
“Lucas, I think the same. No matter what anyone says, if the Empire’s people learn to read, the Empire’s gain will only grow. And incidents like what happened to Bishon wouldn’t occur.”
Rachel spoke her thoughts without hesitation.
What was obvious in some worlds was not obvious in this one. That was what made it frustrating, what gnawed at her heart. Especially after what had happened to Bishon.
“I think there need to be more places like the Swan Knight Academy. Not just knight schools, but places where children can learn to read, to gain knowledge. I want to end this world where only those with wealth and high rank study.”
The need for universal education was immense. Yet in an empire centered on nobility, such thinking would never take root.
To build schools on such a scale would require the consent of the aristocrats.
But those who saw writing as their exclusive possession would never cast a vote in favor.
“I don’t know what I can do.”
She was merely a minor supporting character running a small school. By chance she had become entangled with the Crown Prince, but changing the world was another matter entirely.
“I hope Your Highness will realize what you’re thinking. If there’s anything I can help with, I will.”
“To hear you say such things brings me no small joy.”
Lucas smiled softly and gently tidied a strand of Rachel’s hair.
“…Thank you.”
She found herself thanking him every time. Why was her hair always such a mess? Flushed with embarrassment, Rachel took in the sight of Lucas with both eyes.
“Shall we go inside?”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
They had arrived at the General Store before she knew it. Rachel stepped ahead and opened the door.
“Welcome!”
A greeting of welcome came the moment the door opened. And that was only the beginning—countless goods lay wrapped, waiting for customers.
“What are you looking for?”
“I’ve come to choose Children’s Day gifts for the children.”
“Ah, well then, we have plenty of those.”
“Please check if you have anything matching the list I’ve brought. If possible, I’d prefer quality items.”
When Rachel let on that she had some money to spend, the General Store’s owner broke into a broad grin and began pulling out goods.
“Well now. But who might that gentleman be, standing in the back?”
“Oh, the…, the man standing behind us?”
Rachel, who had unconsciously been about to mention the Crown Prince, hastily corrected herself.
“No matter how I look at him, his face seems familiar. Has he been here before?”
“Never once.”
Lucas answered with complete composure.
“Then is he the lady’s lover?”
The General Store owner asked, eyes glimmering with curiosity. Rachel was about to wave her hand in denial when—
“I have my thoughts on the matter, but I cannot divine what the lady intends.”

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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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