The Teacher of Budding Villains Suffers Today, Too - Chapter 6
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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 6
Rachel broke into a cold sweat.
Of course she had confidence. But this depended entirely on how hard the children worked. There were too many variables to make any promises.
“Y-yes, I’ll do my best.”
In the end, that was all she could say.
With those words, Lucas left the young princes behind and returned to the Imperial Palace.
Since the night had grown late, Rachel guided the two princes to rooms six and seven respectively.
In the meantime, Colo had diligently finished tidying the rooms, and fresh bedding lay neatly arranged.
“I actually have to sleep in this dump?”
Noah exhaled deeply and grumbled.
“I’ll make sure not to say anything negative from now on.”
Rachel spoke with the clipped authority of a drill sergeant, and Noah jutted out his lip in displeasure.
“Wake-up time is seven-thirty. Breakfast on the first floor, then classes start at nine. It’s late tonight, so get some rest. I’ll explain everything in detail tomorrow morning.”
Having said this, Rachel practically shoved the princes into their rooms, closed the door, and finally exhaled long and slow.
It had been a difficult day in every way.
‘Another new chapter opening like this.’
It’ll be fine. They’re paying well enough.
She clenched her teeth like someone obsessed with paying off debt, steeling herself to endure whatever might come.
* * *
“Come on, it’s morning. Everyone up.”
Knock-knock. Rachel rapped on the door to wake her students.
The students dawdled getting up as if by agreement. She hurried them to wash and barely managed to usher them downstairs to the Dining Hall.
“Breakfast is forty minutes. Make sure you finish eating in that time.”
A child sleeping with their forehead pressed to the table, a child rattling off legal knowledge gleaned from nowhere, a child trying to solve everything with money, a child wanting to steal everything in sight, a child inventing strange contraptions.
And now two problem princes added to the mix. Every day was a battle, but this morning’s breakfast was chaos from the start.
Rachel’s eyes turned cold. In moments like these, seizing the initiative was crucial.
“To become a great knight, proper nutrition is fundamental. Without it, there’s no future.”
“Teacher. Does the Academy really have no money? Why does the menu look like this?”
She’d been wondering why Mare hadn’t mentioned money, and here it was, the first complaint about money.
“This violates food composition standards legally.”
Loca started citing laws at breakfast,
Piong.
“Oh, I thought if I made it this way it would eat itself automatically, but it’s harder than I thought.”
Kana had thrown soup into the air with some bizarre mechanical spoon contraption, expecting it to catch itself in her mouth, but instead splashed soup all over her face.
While Henry and Colo disciplined those children, Rachel turned her attention toward the princes.
Theo, with pale black hair and dark eyes, seemed uninterested in food, resting his chin in his hand and gazing blankly out the window.
Noah, with darker brown hair and brown eyes, ate with a sullen expression, stabbing at his meat repeatedly with a fork.
“Theo, Noah.”
Calling the Second and Third Princes by their first names felt a bit odd, but what else could she do? Inside the Academy, all students were equal.
“Come on, eat up. Today’s first lesson is Swordplay, so you need to have a full stomach.”
“I don’t want to.”
Noah was being difficult.
It wasn’t particularly surprising. She already knew he was rebellious.
“I don’t want to eat this garbage. I’m a Royal Family Member.”
“Here, you’re a student first. Rules must be followed.”
“This is so suffocating. Can I make it up to you later when I’m grown up?”
Rachel forced the corners of her mouth upward.
Bragging about power to an adult—it was so absurd she almost fainted.
But if she lost her composure here, she was no adult.
“This meat seems like it’s been sitting around for a while.”
Noah spat out the meat he’d been chewing. Right onto the table.
The faces of the children eating at the same table twisted in disgust.
Rachel repeated silently, ‘I’m an adult, I’m an adult,’ countless times as she handed him a towel.
“Clean up your own mess.”
Noah’s expression shifted in a subtle, nuanced way.
That was when—
“A prince, huh? He’s nothing special. I thought he’d get some kind of special treatment.”
Eckerd wasn’t one to miss an opportunity to mock.
“Right. The Imperial dignity is totally dead.”
Loca chimed in with a comment of his own.
Rachel’s vision blurred.
She could tolerate defiance toward herself, but she couldn’t allow discord between students to fester.
“I told you not to speak that way to a friend, didn’t I?”
“But he did something even a commoner wouldn’t do first.”
“Even a commoner wouldn’t do?”
The moment the word “commoner” left his lips, Noah’s mouth curved upward. Rachel’s instincts caught it at once—that smile was far from innocent.
Her instinct proved correct.
Noah hurled a towel straight into Loca’s face. More precisely, the towel he’d used to wipe the meat he’d been chewing.
“You bastard!”
Loca shot to his feet, fork still in hand. A bloody brawl could erupt at any moment.
“Both of you, sit down this instant.”
Henry stepped in, seizing Loca and swiftly wrenching the fork away. Colo joined him, and together they separated the two.
“Now, everyone else—focus on your meal.”
Rachel fought to maintain her composure. Reacting to every incident like this would never end.
Fortunately, the other students continued eating with remarkable indifference.
“Colo, Henry.”
At Rachel’s glance, Henry took Noah and Colo took Loca, both ushering them out of the Dining Hall.
Noah twisted his whole body in resistance, but before a Knight, it was merely charming struggle.
Once the two were gone, giggles erupted throughout the Dining Hall.
Apparently it had been entertaining for the others. Though hardly satisfying.
“You’ll all meet at the Training Ground in an hour. Anyone not feeling well?”
“Me.”
Aside from Theo, not a single student was healthy. An old pattern—feigning illness to skip lessons.
Theo certainly hadn’t raised his hand because he wanted to attend.
He was still gazing out the distant window, utterly indifferent to her words.
“The student who works hardest during Swordplay will receive free time, I hear.”
“I’m not sick.”
“Neither am I.”
“Wow, they’re all better.”
Breathe. Rachel clenched her fists. Expression control was everything now.
After breakfast, she made her way to the Third Floor where the students’ rooms were.
Causing trouble before even a full day had passed—in some sense, a promising student.
She decided she needed to assess Noah’s temperament properly and devise a strategy to match.
“Where is Noah?”
“Inside.”
Henry, standing in the corridor, pointed to the door. Loud, sharp cracking sounds came from within—he was breaking something.
In cases like this, provocation was the worst approach.
“Keep a close watch that he doesn’t leave.”
Rachel moved quietly down the hall. Next was Loca’s room.
Loca had calmed somewhat and was conversing with Colo through the door.
“Loca, it’s me.”
“Teacher.”
His voice through the door was thick with grievance. He’d been the one to start the quarrel, yet here he was, aggrieved.
“Are you calmer now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You need to change and get ready for Swordplay.”
“I’m sick.”
How could excuses be so identical? Identical excuses meant identical solutions.
“The student with the highest score during Swordplay today gets free time.”
“I’m not sick.”
“Glad you recovered so quickly.”
Rachel signaled with her eyes to Colo, watching him turn to look after the other students before she turned the handle and stepped into Loca’s room.
“Get changed. Now.”
“Y-yes.”
“Answer properly.”
“Yes.”
His reply held not a shred of sincerity, but it was better than before.
Choosing to think positively, she led the changed Loca back toward Noah’s room.
She handed Loca over to Henry, who needed to get to his lesson, and took Noah’s place as the one to calm him down.
The weather was clear today, so Swordplay would be held on the Garden Lawn.
And that was the beginning of misfortune.
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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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