Chapter 34: The Lady of The Duke Red grave.

Four days had already elapsed since the scholarship girl had graced the presence of Angelica of House Redgrave.

Angelica herself had expressed her desire to accompany the currently famous knight—the boy of their year who had single-handedly subdued the Winged Shark Groups—on the forthcoming dungeon expedition.

Although, a week and a half remained still before the official commencement of the dungeon class.

Though she deemed it to be overly inquisitive, and perhaps too nosy to involve herself just yet, because of the many rumors surrounding the boy, Angelica decided it has finally come the time to speak to him directly.

The situation itself was quite intricate from the outset.

Initially, she knew of the boy as the third son of Baron Bartfort, and the story, all of them, she heard painted him in a most unfavorable light.

This, she however decided to ignore, since she could not trust the blabber mouth womens of the academy.

Even if that is the case, her first encounter with him was nothing short of catastrophic.

A month ago, she had, as a girl in love, eagerly anticipated a visit to the school, hoping to exchange a few pleasantries with her beloved.

But when she approached the gates, an ugly incident sullied the name of the third son of Baron Bartfort, an event she witnessed firsthand.

Despite recognizing that, in his position, if she were to replace him, she would have acted similarly, she rather hypocritically believed—as a woman—that the boy could have handled the affair more gracefully and maturely.

As you might have realize, she is also, like the other girls, conveniently ignoring the fact that the person on the other side was a few years older.

Consequently, the third son of the rural baron was branded a "violent brute" and was deleted promptly from her memory.

That is until not even a month later, an incident transformed this "violent countryside aristocrat" into "a dark knight who rescued the princess," through the gossip she had herd from her vassal.

This, of course, referred to his solo subjugation of the bandit group.

Initially, she choses to wait, and so she waited and she waited.

That is, until the scholarship girl visited her, and she find out who send her actually. Using the girl, conveniently, she successfully deliverher intention to the boy.

And, today, Angelica decided the moment had come to evaluate the boy personally.

She had numerous insiders who provided detailed accounts of the events surrounding the incident, suggesting that the knight in question might not be entirely sane.

After all who would believe a boy, still not even a graduate of the academy could be so violent.

Even if she reasoned that adrenaline could explain his ferocity toward the pirates, given the feudal lords' deep-seated hatred for them, she, multiple times, questioned, "Wasn't it overly done?"

She also recalled what had happened to the pirates after the royal knights took them in, noting their symptoms and erratic behavior, which as the pirates themselves claimed to be excrutiating pain.

As the Knights claimed, 'claimed' because Angelica could not fully trust them, no pain relievers or healing magic could alleviate them of their suffering the whole time.

Within hours, the violent agony claimed their lives, or so it was reported.

But, this information was not infallible, as traces of poison were found in their stomachs, suggesting an insider's silencing.

There were murmurs implicating the boy who had rescued the abducted ladies, but this opinion was swiftly dismissed, and no substantial information about why it was dismissed could be gathered by Angelica's spies.

As a lady of one of the great houses, Angelica comprehended the situation perfectly.

This, if you could assess, was one reason she decided to meet the boy personally, though she had no interest in the case itself.

In sum, the baron remained deeply suspicious in her eyes.

Yet, contradicting her suspicions, the few people tasked with observing the boy within the school reported his unusual kindness towards the scholarship students.

"Why?" one might ask. Which Angelica could not fathom the "Why" Herself.

He was exceedingly cordial to the girl, and the commoner in question is reported to be remarkably attached to him.

Due to this peculiar behavior, Angelica decided to speak with him in person.

Accompanied by her 'loyal' entourage, she headed to the library, where the boy had frequented this week.

Upon entering the school library, many curious eyes were drawn to her, which she accepted as a natural occurrence very simply.

Her gaze swept the room for a bit, until Jenny, from her vassal Viscount, approached and guided them to the boy's location.

Leon Bartfort and Olivia, the scholarship girl, were seated in a quiet corner.

From a distance, Angelica observed Leon seriously instructing Olivia, which she find to be particularly hilarious, considering he was last on the test last week, while Olivia had entered the school through her skills, allegedly.

Angelica squinted slightly, 'Perhaps she truly could not study.'

Her appearance had improved markedly compared to a few days prior.

Recalling the exaggerated rumors about Olivia she heard back then, and comparing them to her previous disheveled state, Angelica now found them to be quite plausible.

'I wonder if she truly did sold herself to him.' She glanced at Leon with a frown.

'While it's not my concern...' Her thoughts were interrupted since Leon, who was immersed in his explanation to whatever the subject was, noticed her gaze.

Releasing her frown, Angelica offered a thin smile and greeted him formally as she approach.

"Good day, Lord Bartfort."

Though his expression was languid and sleepy, he rose slowly, perhaps out of respect.

Lowering his back slightly in a dignified manner, he returned the courtesy.

"Good day."

He sat down while gesturing for Angelica to take the free chair, all while Olivia, perplexed and unsure, remained silent.

'He does seem to cherish her quite a bit,' Angelica thought.

Taking her seat, Angelica, with a formal smile, greeted Olivia, who had failed to greet her.

"Hello, Miss Olivia. It has been a while."

"Uh, um, yeah... Hel, hello," Olivia stammered, fumbling her fingers.

'Hmm?' Angelica pondered, but the answer came swiftly.

She glanced back at her entourage, who cast a harsh, scolding eyes at Olivia.

Sighing lightly, she gestured them, "Leave us. I wish to speak with them alone."

There were protests, or rather quizzical glances, sent her way.

But, her gentle(?) smile was too domineering to question, as they departed immediately.

Author's Note: I finally became motivated again, the views for my other novel was so few I was not motivated to write anything.

Go and read the new one, I'll drop a long chapter tommorrow if you do.