Knock-knock.
A slow knock cut between them.
As soon as the teaching assistant opened the door, Kyle jumped up from his seat with a pale face.
The Dean of the Academy's Department of Magic.
Marquis Bert came inside.
After being defeated by Duke Seymour in the succession competition, he was invited to the academy as a professor and dedicated himself to training junior scholars.
People easily distinguished the twins, Marquis Bert and Duke Seymour.
Since Marquis Bert has a long scar on his right cheek.
"P-Professor Bert!"
"There have been some rumors in the magic theory class these days. What are you doing?"
Marquis Bert quickly threw the paper in his hand, with a displeased expression.
It was a petition submitted to the administrative office by the young men attending the Magic Formula Theory class, led by William Lemont.
They said that Professor Kyle openly leaked the answers of the formula problems to Princess Deborah and that it was clear that the Seymour family was behind this corruption case, so they asked for an investigation to find out the truth.
"This petition. Explain what it means."
"I am really sorry. Professor, I am really sorry."
With his balding hair scattered all over the place like dandelion spores, Kyle desperately appealed to the Dean.
"First, let me see the problem Princess Deborah has solved."
Bert, who received the test paper, rubbed his chin with a puzzled face.
"There are a lot of steps for calculating the total amount of mana that focuses on auxiliary magic, so even if you are a genius, it is impossible to give an answer in such a short time."
"But I have never leaked the problems. This is just my guess, but it is evident that about 3 people teamed up to tell the Princess the answers one by one."
"Ha! How can she keep herself from getting caught if she has been cheating in such a complicated way?"
"Isn't there an artifact in Seymour that can be used for cheating? Sir Belreck is an excellent artifact maker…"
"Do you have a brain? If he had created an artifact with such a great function, Belreck would have already become the head of Seymour."
Kyle's eyes distorted at Bert's scolding.
"You are making false assumptions without any evidence while asserting your frustration. Frankly, under the current circumstances, the claims made in this petition are the most credible."
Marquis Bert, who snapped with an irritated tone, held back a sigh and swept up his short silver hair.
'Whoa, things are getting serious.'
William Lemont and a few young men were making noise in every direction; and even the Marquis of Lemont came forward to question what kind of connection there is between the Academy and Seymour.
Although Seymour had already stopped paying attention to him and didn't care much about being attacked by Lemont, Dean Bert was very displeased with this situation, that even the Academy was being suspected of.
'I guess I will have to meet my niece in person.'
***
'I'm really here.'
I was walking around, provoking everyone to my heart's content, and finally, the big fish took the bait.
Dean Bert, who had the absolute authority in the Academy's Magic Department, summoned me to his office.
'Anyway, they really look the same.'
Even the elegant way of shaking off the ashes from the pipe resembles that of Duke Seymour.
While looking at his white hands, which were lined with blue veins, a fragment of an old memory flashed before my eyes.
"You're starting to look more and more like Marien, Deborah."
The man in front of me muttered in a bitter voice while gently stroking Deborah's hair, when she was a child.
Then, as a birthday present, he secretly handed her a blue-colored ring.
He probably would not have uttered such a thing if he had no feelings towards the Duchess.
'In the novel, did the previous generation also have a love triangle, like Rosad and Belreck?'
A makjang drama was portrayed in my head.(T/N: a makjang is a drama that goes way overboard.)
The desperate love story of an uncle who is willing to step down from being the Duke in order to wish happiness to the woman he loves.
One of them becomes the Lord of the Wizardry Association and the head of the Seymour family, the other is relegated to the academy, to deal with a bunch of no-good school kids like me.
'Even the person he loved was stolen from him.'
It was regrettable that the fate of twins born at the same time on the same day had been reversed with such a huge gap.
'And he even has that scar, which excites your imagination even more.'
I looked at him in a sad mood, but the man called my uncle gave off a chilly energy and started talking with a cold expression.
"This is a petition targeting you."
He handed me the paper.
"Tell me in detail how things ended like this. There shouldn't be a single lie if you want to continue attending this academy."
I wondered if he really had Seymour's blood; as expected, I couldn't find even a single trace of kindness in him.
He tapped the table like he was interrogating me and kept cornering me with his cold eyes.
"The reason I let you enter the Department of Magic was because you were so obsessed with magic. And partly because of the belief that you will bloom as a Seymour one day. I hope you give me an answer that won't disappoint me."
"I don't know what kind of answer the Professor wants, but I am outraged by this situation."
"You are outraged?"
Like Duke Seymour, his right eyebrow went up.
"Yes. I just did my best to solve the formula, but everyone is accusing me of bribing the Professor. Like I am a sinner."
"…"
"I will never forgive them for insulting me like this without any evidence."
I opened my eyes so violently that my eyelids hurt.
My cold impression will make me look really angry.
This was my concept.
A crazy person.
"Deborah, are you saying you are innocent, and this situation is unfair?"
He asked, surprised.
"Yes. So, please leave open an investigation to find out the truth. It doesn't matter who brought up the formula problem. I want to prove in front of everyone that I didn't cheat."
I purposely exaggerated as much as I could.
Because the bigger the situation got, the better it was for me.
"Hm."
Marquis Bert, who was thinking deeply at my self-confident figure, put the pipe in his mouth and made a strange expression.
"Are you telling the truth?"
The long scar on his left cheek twisted.
"Yes, Professor. This is the only way to restore my honor and reputation that have fallen to the ground."
To be honest, I was in a situation where I had no honor or reputation to lose; but I clenched my teeth and pretended to endure the humiliation.
"… Alright. I hope you will prove your innocence."
Not long after, Marquis Bert, at my request, opened an investigation on the petition, in order to find out the truth.
I was delighted to hear that the Vice Dean, who was stricter and more inflexible than anyone else, was also invited to judge the situation objectively.
***
'Is Princess Deborah's fact-finding meeting tomorrow at 5 o'clock?'
Isidor, who was fiddling with a card, unconsciously glanced at his pocket watch.
Perhaps because something fun was going to happen after a long time, time was passing slowly.
'Everything has been boring.'
"Isidor. It looks like you don't have a lot of cards today?"
"You're right, did something happen?"
Seeing Isidor unable to concentrate at all on the game, the members of Epsilon gathered at the frat house grinned.
Epsilon was one of the prestigious social clubs that have existed since the establishment of the academy; and Isidor had received the Crown Prince's baton and was now the leader.
They were gathered at the frat house over the issue of recruiting new members, while playing poker for fun.
"Ah, you guys. Did you hear?"
Suddenly, someone started talking.
"Hear what?"
"About Philap walking around the academy campus while holding Mia Vinoche in his arms like a princess."
"I know. That was ridiculous. But that's something that has passed already. Anything else fun?"
The Epsilon members didn't like the arrogant Philap at all, so when his name came out, they instantly badmouthed him.
"That's not the end."
"Is there more?"
"The fun part is that Mia Vinoche joined Omicron after that."
Gasps of surprise erupted from everywhere.
"How on earth?"
"Even if Philap is the leader of Omicron, how can a young lady from an unknown family enter the club where blood is the most important thing? It's amazing that more than three executives there agreed."