The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 31

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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 31
The scream had come from Mare. Hearing nothing but that cry, Rachel couldn’t help but wonder if something terrible had happened to her.
Rachel’s heart lurched as she cut across the Wheat Field, rushing toward Mare.
“Mare! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?!”
“A f-frog!”
“…A frog?”
Looking at the trembling tip of Mare’s finger as she clung to Rachel’s waist, there it was—a small green frog, no bigger than a thumb, resting peacefully in the wheat.
“It’s fine. As long as you don’t touch it first, it won’t bother you.”
“But… it’s still so gross…!”
“All right. I’ll send it far away for you.”
Rachel rolled up her sleeves with determination and carefully grasped the frog. The sensation of its limbs thrashing and its bulbous eyes rolling inside her palm felt unfamiliar and strange.
‘It’s just a frog. The children are watching….’
She muttered to herself that it wasn’t disgusting, but that was only true when the creature stayed still.
Suddenly gathering strength, the frog wormed its way between her fingers and slipped free from her grasp in an instant.
“Wh—what?!”
How fortunate it would have been if the frog had simply hopped into the grass and vanished.
But the creature proved far more energetic than expected. With a powerful leap, it flew directly down the front of Rachel’s loose shirt.
Cold and slippery, it slid across her collarbone and down into her abdomen.
“Aaaaah!”
Now the screaming was Rachel’s turn. The sensation of the frog in her palm was nothing compared to its writhing against her skin beneath thin cloth.
Rachel flailed about desperately, tugging at her shirt and stamping her feet.
“Rachel!”
Lucas was the first to reach her.
He had been watching the other children from a distance, and though he didn’t immediately understand what was happening, the moment he saw Rachel’s face go pale, he instinctively gripped her shoulders firmly.
“What is it? Where are you hurt?!”
“It’s… it got inside my shirt…!”
A frog.
Rachel managed to answer through tears, flinching involuntarily each time she felt the slippery sensation moving inside her clothes.
Lucas’s brow furrowed at once.
“I’ll get it out. Just stay still.”
Without hesitation, Lucas wrapped one arm around Rachel’s waist and pulled her firmly against him.
The sudden closeness made Rachel catch her breath.
Keeping one hand on her shoulder to steady her, Lucas carefully slipped his other hand past her shirt collar.
The tips of his fingers, felt through the thin fabric, were far warmer than the frog’s touch.
Lucas’s gaze remained fixed entirely on the frog’s movements beneath Rachel’s shirt.
Then—pop.
Sensing the threat, the frog launched itself outward and disappeared into the undergrowth.
The tension that had gripped them both released in an instant.
Lucas slowly withdrew his hand, though the arm still holding Rachel remained taut with tension.
“Thank goodness nothing worse happened.”
“Y-yes. Thank you for helping me, Lucas.”
Rachel bowed with a flushed face, attempting to straighten her disheveled shirt.
Then Lucas gently caught her wrist, holding it firm.
“If anything happens, come find me. Understood?”
Lucas squeezed her hand firmly before releasing it. Rachel’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
She couldn’t fathom why he held her hand, but one thing was certain.
He was on her side.
* * *
The Royal Palace had sent soldiers as a precaution. Hidden where the children couldn’t see them, the soldiers watched the princes with bated breath.
“Nothing to worry about.”
One soldier spoke casually and began smoking a cigarette, unaware that Rachel was diligently helping the children all the while.
How much time had passed?
“Come now, shall we have lunch?”
“Yes!”
“Teacher, hurry! I’m so hungry I think I might collapse!”
The children, who had been scything grain for three hours, were clamoring with hunger.
Rachel pulled out a basket she had prepared beforehand. Instead of an ornate three-tiered tray, it held sandwiches wrapped in plain paper.
Though Rachel usually paid the closest attention to aesthetics, today she wanted the children to experience a complete taste of “a commoner’s day.”
“Everyone wash your hands and gather in the Cottage.”
Though their faces were beaded with sweat and their clothes caked with dust, the children seemed delighted as they crowded cozily inside the Cottage and settled down to eat.
“Now do you understand how much sweat must be shed just to put that single slice of bread on your table?”
Rachel opened her mouth as she distributed the lunch boxes.
“A piece of bread doesn’t simply come into being. It takes someone’s precious hands to make it possible. So from today on, let’s not play with food or carelessly waste it.”
At Rachel’s measured words, the children nodded gravely.
Rachel handed out sandwiches to the children one by one. The crude bread held only jam between its slices—a meager composition—but hunger was the finest seasoning.
The children ate their sandwiches without complaint, their mouths full.
“…You really are stubborn.”
Lucas had drawn near without notice and stood leaning against a cottage pillar, watching the scene unfold.
“What do you mean?”
“You could teach them all this from books, yet you insist on getting these children’s hands dirty and making them eat stale bread. I wonder if it’s necessary.”
Lucas’s gaze lingered briefly on the breadcrumbs at the corner of Rachel’s mouth.
He reached out and gently brushed them away with his thumb, just below her lip. Rachel’s breath caught at the unexpected warmth of his touch, arriving without warning.
“L-Lucas….”
“Well, that stubbornness of yours does seem to have made the children rather admirable, I’ll grant you that.”
Lucas withdrew his hand with a languid smile, as if nothing had happened. Rachel turned away, trying to cool her flushed cheeks.
After the children had learned the wheat refining process right through to the harvest, they gave Brown a far more heartfelt farewell than usual.
It was the moment when their practical learning experience seemed poised to conclude perfectly.
“What?!”
Eckard suddenly touched his neck.
“What’s wrong, Eckard?”
“My necklace is gone! It was a precious gift from my mother—I think I dropped it in the wheat field earlier.”
“The necklace with the round emerald set in it, yes?”
“Yes!”
She’d been so careful to warn them to remove all jewelry before coming, lest something be lost.
Eckard, who had grown quite attached to the necklace, must have smuggled it in, hidden beneath his shirt.
But what good would it do to scold a child already frightened? Rachel grasped Eckard’s small trembling hand firmly.
“I’ll find it for you, so don’t worry and go on to school with Henry. Understood?”
“Really? You’ll really find it?”
“Of course. Now, go before the sun sets.”
Rachel quickly sent the children off in the carriage, then approached Brown, the wheat field’s owner.
“Brown, I’m terribly sorry, but would it be alright if I searched the wheat field with some soldiers? One of my students has lost a very precious necklace.”
“Of course. I do hope you’ll find it.”
The moment Brown gave his permission, Rachel entered the wheat field again. The soldiers joined her efforts, bending low and beginning to comb through the soil.
“Let me see… Eckard was working around this area.”
The low-hung sunset was staining the wheat heads crimson. As the light grew dimmer and her heart quickened, a low, familiar voice wrapped around her from behind.
“Rachel.”
“Oh, Lucas. Didn’t you go with the children?”
“Leave you here alone while I go on ahead? How cruel you think me.”
Lucas too had entered the wheat field.
“Eckard lost his necklace. It was a gift from his mother, so I couldn’t just leave.”
“Then we should find it together.”
Lucas spoke the words lightly and casually, parting the wheat heads as he stepped in.
At the sight of him examining the ground intently, indifferent to the dirt soiling his ornate uniform, Rachel’s throat tightened.
“I’m so sorry—your clothes are ruined, and I’ve caused you all this trouble.”
As Rachel bowed her head in apology, Lucas turned to face her.
“That’s not why I stayed.”
“…….”
“If you’re sorry, then make proper time for me later. Not this—rummaging about in dirt.”
Lucas turned his gaze back without waiting for her response and resumed searching for the necklace.
Rachel stared after him for a moment, stunned, then forced herself to bend down again, trying to settle her racing heart.
It was unbearable to ask such a thing of a crown prince. And yet the task remained. She searched earnestly for the necklace.
“Is this it?”
Soon after, Lucas straightened up, something in his hand.
“Yes! That’s it!”
The moment Rachel cried out with certainty and joy that it was indeed Eckard’s necklace—
“Fire! Fire!”
The wheat field was dry. A small spark starting there.
A smoldering cigarette carelessly dropped by one of the soldiers—that spark had been lying dormant before suddenly flaring into massive flames.
“Your Highness! Please stand back!”
As the flames erupted, the soldiers closed ranks around Lucas, blocking his path. Rachel too cried out in alarm toward him.
“Lucas! It’s dangerous—come out of there, quickly!”
But instead of answering, Lucas moved calmly toward the flames.
Fierce heat swept across his face, yet he didn’t so much as blink.
“Rachel, over here.”
Lucas called to her. As Rachel approached him uncertainly, he drew a stone from his chest—one that shimmered with a faint blue light.
“I have a Water Attribute Magic Stone.”
Lucas seized Rachel’s hand and drew it toward him, placing the Magic Stone into her palm.
“W-why are you—”
“Try to draw it out yourself.”
Lucas spoke in a low, steady voice.
His eyes pierced through her bewilderment, burning with an intensity she had never seen before.
“You can do it.”
As if certain of this, Lucas tightened his grip around her hand, pressing his palm firmly against hers.

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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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