Chapter 147

“G-godmother…?!”

“I-I knew she favored her, but to be her actual godmother…”

At the word “godmother,” the noblewomen paled and began stealing nervous glances at each other.

It was obvious: they might not care about offending a mere salon owner like me, but there was no way they’d dare offend a grand lady who ruled high society.

‘You lot are the ones who brought up my mother and family first.’

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

I glared at each of the boys and noblewomen one by one, sharp as a dagger.

Lady Cloud had deliberately arrived late, acting as my backup in case things turned ugly.

Of course, it was true that I had roughed up the boys — but there was no solid evidence beyond their own testimonies.

If the noblewomen had let things go gracefully, for the sake of appearances and the Duke’s dignity,

Lady Cloud would have simply told the Chancellor to “look after Belze” and quietly withdrawn.

But now…

“Why are you all just standing there like idiots?”

Lady Cloud brushed past them and effortlessly claimed the main seat, then gestured at the noblewomen.

“Sit.”

Awkwardly, the stunned women shuffled back into their seats.

“Familiar faces, all of you.”

Lady Cloud swept her sharp gaze over each one, just as I had earlier, and paused when she reached Lady Campbell.

“That one’s new… Who’s she?”

The woman, who had been glaring daggers at me a moment ago, flinched violently and quickly bowed her head.

“I-it’s an honor, Lady Cloud. I greeted you briefly at the last Imperial Banquet… I’m from the Campbell barony, related to Her Majesty the Empress…”

“Her Majesty has cousins scattered all over the place. Everyone knows the Devault family tree’s a mess.”

Lady Cloud cut her off bluntly, and the room dropped into heavy silence.

“Th-that’s…”

Lady Campbell’s face flushed beet red, and Danvers Campbell paled, desperately glancing at his friends.

‘As I thought.’

It seemed my hunch had been right — Danvers had been running wild, exploiting the absence of the Crown Prince and Second Prince from the academy.

Humiliated beyond belief, Lady Campbell trembled violently but still forced herself to speak.

“Lady Cloud, my husband, Baron Campbell, is—”

“Enough.”

Lady Cloud turned her head away, utterly bored.

Then she spoke to the rest of the women — excluding Lady Campbell.

“From what I’ve heard, Belze and Joshua were merely passing by when they witnessed a scuffle.”

“……”

“And yet, you all charge over here like this, kicking up a fuss over children’s squabbles? Shameless.”

Her sharp rebuke silenced the room.

Still, Countess Torte tried to protest with a miserable expression.

“L-Lady Cloud, but according to all our children’s testimonies, Belze used some strange magic device to attack them. We just wanted to verify—”

“So you’re saying my Belze lied to me?”

“Th-that’s not…”

“You’ve attended my tea parties for years. You’ve been coming to my salon for even longer. And yet you don’t know her character? She’s a guild representative. You think she’s the type to lie over something like this?”

“……”

Countess Torte clamped her mouth shut like a mute.

‘Lady Cloud…’

I turned to look at her, my eyes shining with emotion.

Honestly, it was already a huge favor that she dragged her ailing body here for me.

But standing up for me like this —

I hadn’t expected that at all.

Lady Cloud, glaring at the quieted Countess Torte, continued.

“I didn’t want to bring this up, but rumors are flying in every gathering — that thanks to certain households, it’s no longer safe to send children to this academy.”

“……!”

“Still, I kept silent, out of consideration for our long-standing ties and because it was children’s business… but tsk, tsk.”

The noblewomen — especially Countess Torte — bowed their heads, faces pale.

It wasn’t that they didn’t feel wronged.

But they knew: if they argued against Lady Cloud now, they wouldn’t walk away with even their bones intact.

“But Lady Cloud!”

One person, oblivious to this truth, still dared to push.

Of course — it was Lady Campbell.

“Our eldest, Hans, came back with his arms and legs broken! He’s an athlete, and his right arm was shattered!”

“…….”

“He’s no small fry who would just get beaten up! He went to study and came back a wreck! As his mother, how could I sit back—”

“Hahahaha!”

Before she could finish, Lady Cloud suddenly burst out laughing, loud and unrestrained.

Then, instantly sobering, she spoke with a cold, cutting voice.

“So what you’re saying is, your big, strapping son, who’s upposedly too tough to get beaten up, got flattened by a little girl barely up to my hip?”

“T-that’s…! According to the boys, she used some kind of weapon…!”

“I-it’s true! You have to believe us!”

At that moment, unable to bear watching his mother be crushed, Danvers Campbell shouted.

“She really did it! She used some evil-possessed teddy bear to beat us all up!”

“Fine. Let’s say you’re right,”

Lady Cloud replied coolly, her voice utterly unimpressed.

“Then tell me — why would Belze assault you?”

“…..Huh?”

“Surely she didn’t just beat you up for no reason, did she?”

Caught completely off guard by the question, Danvers froze, his face twisting in panic.

“T-that’s, um…”

The other boys were just as lost, casting uneasy glances at one another.

Clearly, they’d been so focused on dragging me through the mud with their parents’ backing that they hadn’t even thought of crafting a proper reason for the “incident.”

‘Idiots.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly, watching them.

After all, what could they expect?

A frail heir without a proper guardian, and a commoner orphan girl.

They must have thought they’d steamroll us without a hitch.

They had no idea that the “pitiful orphan girl” would turn into a mad dog that bites back the second someone touched the Duke’s house.

‘This, children, is how you scheme.’

Since the fools couldn’t even open their mouths, I took it upon myself to answer brightly.

“Danvers Campbell and his gang were extorting money and jewelry from other students. Joshua’s possessions were among them.”

“E-extorting?!”

The adults’ eyes all widened in shock.

Flustered, the boys immediately began waving their hands in denial.

“N-no! It wasn’t like that! We just borrowed them! Joshua, come on! Tell them — you said we could borrow them!”

Danvers desperately tried to drag Joshua into it.

Pathetic.

Because that was the last half-truth they could cling to.

Ignoring the growing commotion, I continued casually.

“I found out and chased them to the junkyard to get the stolen items back. That’s when I saw them handing everything over to Hans Campbell.”

“……!”

“Hans senior got mad, saying it wasn’t nearly enough.

Then he started hitting them — even when some of them passed out after just one hit.”

“……”

“After that, he got so worked up that he tried to rip up one of the wooden planks stacked there — but the boxes collapsed instead.”

“W-what the…!”

“And as you can imagine, Hans senior ended up buried underneath the pile.”

Everyone — the noblewomen, the boys — froze with their mouths hanging open, staring at me like I’d just grown two heads.

“Gael! I-is that true…?”

“R-Robert Quirel—!”

Pale-faced noblewomen spun around to glare at their sons.

“Explain yourself! What’s the meaning of this?!”

“It’s a lie! It’s not true, Mom!”

“N-no, I swear!”

The boys shook their heads furiously, their faces crumbling.

I simply shrugged and added nonchalantly,

“My only mistake was not reporting it to an adult immediately.

I was scared, and… I was angry because they even took something that belonged to the late Duchess.”

“W-what…!”

“But since someone got hurt, Joshua and I tried to report it later — but all the faculty had already left.

We barely managed to find a security guard and explained everything to him.

That’s all that really happened that day.”

“H-huff…”

The noblewomen, hearing a story so completely different from what their sons had claimed, were left gasping like fish out of water.

“Tsk. Useless brats,”

Lady Cloud sneered with clear disdain.

Then she turned her sharp gaze back toward the noblewomen.

“Anything else you’d like to say?”

“N-no! No, nothing!”

“P-please believe me, Mother! We did take the stuff, but we meant to give it back!”

The room erupted into chaos — noblewomen clutching their heads, sons groveling at their feet, the Chancellor looking like he might faint.

And then—

“Don’t fuck with me, you crazy bitch!”

Danvers Campbell suddenly exploded, pointing a trembling finger at me.

“How dare you spin such ridiculous lies?! You think we’re going to believe that?! You’re the one who beat us! With that crazy teddy bear of yours—!”

I stared at his tantrum with a thin smile.

Tilting my head slightly, I asked mockingly,

“And if you don’t believe me, what exactly are you going to do about it?”

“Y-you…!”

Danvers’ face flushed crimson as he clenched both fists, shaking violently.

It looked like he might actually lunge at me.

Right at that moment—

SLAM!

The door to the Chancellor’s Office burst open with a loud crash, and another figure entered.

“Enough, Mom! Danvers!”

A huge figure, wrapped in bandages from head to toe, marched in.

“Didn’t I tell you this morning?! It’s nothing! Leave it alone!”

“H-Hans!”

It was Hans Campbell.

He stormed over to his mother and brother, his face twisted in disgust, then pulled something from his pocket.

A handful of jewelry clattered onto the table.

“Here!”

Clatter!

He threw them down angrily and shouted,

“She’s telling the truth! Those punks have been stealing money and jewelry all along! The bracelet I gave you, Mom — that was Joshua’s!”

“Hans! W-what are you—?!”

“Bro!”

Both Lady Campbell and Danvers screamed at him in panic.

But Hans ignored them, yelling as if possessed.

“Got it now?! So knock it off already! This is humiliating!”

I watched him, smiling brightly inside.

‘Nice timing, Ismail.’