Episode 64. I am innocent! (2)
The next most powerful people after the emperor are the nobles, and the most powerful of these nobles are the dukes. Among them, the Chainsilver family is so large that it boasts extraordinary influence even among the ducal families.
A single word from the Lord can wipe mountains off the map, and you must be prepared to be like a moth to a flame, jumping to the flame at the first touch.
Even if the reasons are not good, it is a great honor for a mere cadet to welcome the highest authority in the empire.
You should be polite when meeting someone of high rank, but if you are not, even if they are your daughter’s friend, you will fall out of favor with your husband.
Although it would be more than enough to kneel before him as he was in the position of having caused a major accident, Gerard is generous enough to give up his seat considering that they are Jenny’s friend’s family.
This is evident from the fact that he gave our family a chance to explain themselves right away.
But even for such a great man… I wonder how he would view the act of messing around in his own room. I am prepared to take that risk.
“It’s because of the curse! It’s because of the liar’s curse!”
“…??”
“The reason my family became conmen… is because we were all cursed.”
The group tilted their heads when they heard my shout. And even I, who had shouted, was surprised. The words that should have been muted originally… were all heard perfectly.
The reason was simple. He had touched the Eternal Flame embedded in his diploma before being captured by the attendants.
“I can finally explain it.”
As I spoke with earnest eyes, Gerard made a complicated expression as if he was thinking back on the situation.
The Crowler couple’s slurred speech. And the fact that he had damaged one of his wife’s belongings, a diploma.
Of course, it is a situation that cannot be passed over favorably.
“Does that mean… that you can explain the rudeness you just caused?”
Gerard’s words carried weight. If he had not been his daughter’s friend, he would have been sent to prison immediately.
Giving him another chance to explain like this means he cares a lot, because he’s such a nice person.
“Yes, now you can say anything!”
“….”
But Gerard was taken aback by my unexpectedly confident answer. Jenny and her parents were completely dumbfounded and just stood there.
At that moment, there were people gathered here who had many questions about my lies. I didn’t miss the opportunity and explained everything in detail.
What curse is currently upon the Crowler family, why are they pretending to be con artists, and what is their purpose in enrolling here?
The fact that all of this was an injustice caused by one curse… was drilled right into their ears.
“Then you touched the diploma a little while ago too….”
“That’s right. It was something I did reluctantly, because I desperately needed the Eternal Flame.”
Even the reason for the stir in Gaju’s room was naturally explained. Thanks to this, Gerard’s accumulated distrust toward Crowler was somewhat relieved.
“To sum it up in one word… is it all because of a curse?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… That’s a curse I’ve never heard of.”
That goes for me too. If you don’t even know the main characters of this world, then what the hell is going on?
Is it because it’s a curse that’s been around for 300 years?
“And I heard a little about you from Jenny. I heard you weren’t on good terms at first?”
“Yes.”
“If only I had explained earlier that I was cursed, everything would have been resolved….”
Because that was impossible, it escalated to the point where Jenny’s ribs were broken and she fell into the lake. Gerard also figured out the cause, so he didn’t say anything.
“If what you’re saying is true, then that’s enough of an explanation. It explains everything I couldn’t understand until now.”
The one who caused the destruction of Jenny’s precious pendant… even helped control the Silver Age.
He even risked his life to catch the wolves’ ankles during the lycanthropy incident. He doesn’t seem like a petty swindler.
His parents are the same. The husband is a 6th circle and the wife is a high-ranking spirit sorcerer.
If a couple applies to an organization as a pair, the head of the organization will easily give them an OK and hire them, and they are the kind of people who have the qualifications to do so.
It makes no sense for them to live as vagabonds in the middle of the mountains. It’s fortunate that they aren’t suspected of being a secret black magic group.
“So, is that something similar to selling sleeping pills to my daughter to reduce that erosion rate?”
“It’s been quite a while.”
Here, my father explained.
The couple, fearful of how much the erosion rate had eroded, even went to work at a newspaper company.
It’s in the same context as my belonging to a club with a certain identity.
But the curse was unexpectedly powerful. He used the method of writing his opinion in an official document and spreading a little lie… but when he came to his senses, the lie that crossed the line was already written in an official document and spread.
“Sometimes, my body becomes so consumed by the ■week that it doesn’t listen to me.”
Some of his father’s words seemed muted, but Gerard understood them more or less.
‘I don’t think that’s ever happened to me… .’
It doesn’t apply to me that my body doesn’t listen to me because of the curse.
Is the curse on them particularly severe? Or is it that I was possessed and mutated?
I don’t know about that.
“I thought about joining the social movement… but I couldn’t do it because I was raising a child.”
“You’ve thought it through well. At first, I was thinking about punishing you because you didn’t say anything, but now everything has been resolved. Right now, I’m thinking about whether or not to let you live in Silvertown.”
“Really?”
The couple were moved by Gerard’s words, as the explanation gave them some leniency in the case of the sleeping pill fraud.
“But it would be bad if you got too excited. After all, my purpose is to observe your movements.”
“I would be truly grateful if you could do that, Your Highness!”
“I will not forget this favor.”
Mother and Father bowed their heads respectfully. The fact that they were constantly being watched meant, in other words, that they would protect them.
If you live in Silvertown, you don’t have to live in a remote area to avoid the eyes of the branch family. It was a good thing, since the hut you had built was in a bad state.
It wasn’t a bad suggestion from Gerard’s perspective either. Even if the children don’t know, considering the couple’s specs, the gains outweigh the losses.
And I could sense that the couple were quite witty people.
When a family falls, its children are bound to be sold into slavery. Given the nature of branching off families, it is inevitable that there will be more than that.
But not only did they keep their children safe, they also took enough money to pay for Radon’s academy tuition.
Harnessing their power might be able to speed up the construction of the railway.
“But what was the name of that curse?”
“It’s the Liar’s Curse.”
“Yeah! La■er’s ■ju… Huh?”
Suddenly, Gaju’s words sounded irregular. Judging from the tone, it seemed like he was trying to spit out the name of the curse, but it was silenced.
“Hahaha, is this guy making even people who aren’t even caught weird?”
Gerard laughed bitterly.
Even people who weren’t particularly caught couldn’t carelessly reveal it. Today, when I first learned about this, not only I, but even my parents were shocked.
“I don’t know the principle, but I think I can understand that it goes beyond the normal category. I will cooperate as much as I can.”
“thank you.”
“By the way, do I have to keep my diploma?”
“Excuse me.”
I returned my wife’s diploma to Gerard. But Gerard frowned as if there was a change in the diploma.
“The spark has gone out.”
The Eternal Flame that had been burning for a long time was no longer burning. I had a rough idea what the problem was, but I said it just to confirm.
“La■er’s ■■.”
“what?”
“It’s me, La■■… As expected.”
I was left clicking my tongue at the fact that the fireworks had lost all their effectiveness.
* * * * *
I apologized profusely for tampering with my wife’s diploma. I knew how sensitive it was and couldn’t let it slide.
Gerard was generous and forgiving, since the unavoidable circumstances of our family had been fully explained. After that, the blue flames disappeared… but it wasn’t a big deal, since the diploma itself was safe.
“I’m so sorry about earlier. I knew it was something your mother left behind, but… I couldn’t help it, to clear my name.”
I sat down in the middle of the garden with Jenny. It felt like a heavy burden had been lifted, as I was able to reveal the truth about the fraud I had committed against Jenny.
I felt relieved, but I had to apologize for damaging her diploma, because I knew how much she treasured her mother’s belongings.
“… .”
Perhaps because her mind was so complicated, Jenny had a deep expression on her face and couldn’t open her mouth.
It was a quiet space where we sat and chatted while drinking tea. I was about to turn my head away because it was so awkward.
“in fact….”
It was Jenny who broke the silence.
“I used to think I was pitiful. There were times when I even mocked myself for living a miserable life.”
“…?”
I tilted my head as if to ask what she was talking about, but Jenny, who had expected that reaction, smiled bitterly.
“Do you know what kind of ability this is?”
Jenny immediately raised one hand and gathered her magic power. The blue magic power gathered and formed into an ice flower that floated above her hand.
It was evident that the Silver Age’s skill had grown to the point where it could shape ice.
“I once thought… that this power was a curse on my life. Everything around me would freeze regardless of my will, and there was even a time when Ray almost froze to death… and because I handled this immaturely, my mother died.”
Food that was caught to eat froze, and even entire villages turned into glaciers.
It is no exaggeration to say that she has a cursed power that could be called the Ice Witch.
“I hated the world that gave me this power. Because everyone was scared whenever they saw me… I couldn’t even make friends.”
The ice flower floating in my hand changed into a withered form. Soon, the flower withered away… and in its place, a tree of ice grew up.
There were several withered flowers in bloom on the tree. Out of all the ‘wholes’, only one had withered.
“But I had no idea. I was too busy blaming myself for not even trying to see the ‘whole’ and only focusing on the curse. What I was caught in… was not even on the curse axis.”
The Silver Age, which had been considered a curse all his life, was now at his disposal. At that point, it could no longer be called a curse.
The true curse was the Liar’s Curse, which had no means of relief, even more so than the Silver Age, where there were ways to control it.
“There was a real curse… but I didn’t know that and was too busy holding a grudge. I sharpened my sword of revenge on you, chopped down rocks and trees, and thought of you as a vile person, and I kept telling you that I couldn’t forgive you. And… and again…!”
Now that I think back to the days of Lycanthropy, I feel an explosion of shame.
The ice tree floating in his hand completely melted. Finally, he started to shed tears with a sorrowful expression.
I wanted to wipe it away because I understood how she felt. But she took out a handkerchief herself and wiped the water running down her cheek.
“So what I’m saying is…! No matter what you say, I won’t get angry anymore. If you lie, you can lie in front of me as much as you want. It doesn’t matter until the erosion rate is completely gone!”
Jenny, who was holding back her tears as she spoke, approached me with a smile. She tilted her head toward my face.
“And really…”
I felt a moist sensation on my cheek.
“I’m sorry.”
Jenny, who had parted her lips, spoke with a bright smile and an angelic face. I lost my mind for a few seconds at Jenny’s unimaginable actions.
“And by the way… Can you please move up to Class A now?”
It wasn’t just a request to be on the same level as him. It was a request he made because he wanted to spend more time with him once he was in Class A.
“What will get better if I go up?”
“You can continue training with me!”
Judging from the way his eyes sparkled as he spoke, that was definitely his goal.
“But Lyman is a little scary.”
“What’s scary? The eyes? The nose? The head?”
“….”
Jenny has never felt fear from Lyman. Why? Because he’s been her friend since the beginning of her schooling.
So, I had no choice but to act so innocently.
“After the holidays, I’ll ask Lyman to fix his appearance a bit. To be honest, Lyman’s white hair was a bit creepy.”
“No, you don’t have to do that! Just don’t do anything.”
There is a limit to being rude. If you actually ask for something, it won’t end with you getting cursed at and rejected.
‘There was no need to change it in the first place. That Lyman guy… he used to have ‘black hair’.’
* * * * *
Originally, the Chainsilver family was a relatively weak family. They were a small family that survived on the achievements of their ancestors, so they were a laughing stock to other nobles.
There are many who are jealous of Chain Silver who has grown to become a peacock.
“How long has it been since….”
While the servants were cleaning up the shelves that Radon had messed up, Gerard noticed a picture frame that had fallen over and muttered.
Inside the frame that was stuck between the books was a photograph taken using a magic spell.
The painting, set 30 years ago, shows Gerard in his younger days, with the young man next to him, Tailley Ludciel, the commander of the Baektapju. There are also many other comrades pictured below.
And at the bottom right end sat a man with ‘black hair’ and blue eyes.
“….”
Gerard closed his eyes tightly, recalling the man in the painting.
“I miss you, brother.”
And he remembered the spiritual pillar that helped him grow. If it weren’t for him, the family wouldn’t have been able to prosper to this extent.
Surviving as an Academy Fraudster
