Ch#79
The items spilled on the floor were literally junk.
Lead-broken pencils, snapped pen shafts, half-filled notebooks, and so on.
They were things so close to trash that calling them junk was almost embarrassing.
As something completely different from their expectations poured out, all the students surrounding them were taken aback.
Among them, the most flustered was Izriella.
“Th-this isn't it……”
The moment Ibi opened the box, she had inwardly cheered in triumph.
She thought the girl had finally given up and was showing the stolen items.
But the box contained nothing stolen—only things no one would take even if offered for free.
“No way!”
Izriella rummaged through the items on the floor.
But no matter how she searched, her friends' bracelets or other valuables she had imagined weren't there.
Then, amid the items, she spotted a paper bag rolled up and neatly folded at the top.
Unlike the others just tossed in, it was carefully hidden.
‘This is it!’
Izriella snatched the bag and roughly tore open the top.
Then the contents inside scattered onto the floor with a rustle.
“Those are……”
People's bewildered voices rose again, just as shocked as before.
“Cookies?”
“And other pastries too.”
Crumbled cookie pieces scattered everywhere, releasing a savory, sweet aroma.
Izriella, in disbelief, checked inside her own bag. But only cookie crumbs remained.
“Th-this can't be……”
Izriella reached out and snatched the box still in Ibi's hand.
She shook it desperately, but nothing else came out.
Her confident demeanor vanished in an instant.
As Izriella turned around, the students who had beaten Ibi alongside her had already backed away far.
Terror-filled faces came into view.
Izriella felt her mouth go dry.
Just moments ago, the students who had watched excitedly, cheering her on, now wore expressions that clearly said, ‘You got it wrong, didn't you?’
Clois stood up, lifting Ibi into his arms.
The false theft accusation was cleared now. It was time to treat her injuries.
“Wait! Where do you think you're going!”
Izriella, desperate, momentarily forgot her fear and grabbed Clois's clothes.
She quickly let go when he glared, but she didn't fully retreat.
“Ibi Alden isn't the only liar!”
It was too late to frame Ibi as a thief. But it was clear this man wasn't Professor Sian Rosen.
Her brother had confirmed it multiple times.
She pointed at Clois.
“You! You're a fake!”
At Izriella's words and actions, Arcel and Ruska could no longer hold back and moved to rush forward.
Clois shook his head. He grew curious about how much Izriella had investigated.
“My family looked into everything. Professor Sian Rosen is a geology professor over 70 years old! He returned to his hometown and has been staying there due to poor health! So why are you pretending to be Sian Rosen? Tell me! Are you really Professor Sian Rosen?”
To Izriella screaming madly, Clois replied calmly.
“Yes. As you said, I am not Sian Rosen.”
At those words, people buzzed in confusion.
‘Finally!’
Izriella breathed a sigh of relief. She had gone so far as to hit Ibi while accusing her of theft, but nothing had come of it, leaving her flustered.
So this man being a fake had to be real—and more readily than she expected, he admitted he wasn't the professor.
‘He can't run now anyway.’
The area was already surrounded by students. Yeongjae Academy staff had arrived and were standing in the hallway.
At that moment, Ibi, trembling in Clois's arms, asked him.
“Professor, you're not?”
“Ibi, I……”
Was she disappointed that the person she trusted had lied?
As Clois hurriedly tried to explain, Ibi spoke again.
“Then we can't meet anymore?”
“……”
At that question, Clois felt his throat tighten.
Ibi wasn't resenting him for lying. She was afraid that since he wasn't a professor—and now that fact was exposed—she wouldn't be able to see him anymore. Her green eyes trembled finely.
“Everyone, make way!”
Just then, Yeongjae Academy staff began entering.
Izriella straightened her chest and pointed at Clois.
“Catch this fraud! He's colluding with Ibi, that lowly thing, impersonating a professor……”
“Why call Ibi lowly?”
“Because she's from the Orphanage!”
“That's why I'm asking—why is someone from the Orphanage lowly?”
“Uh, that's……”
At Clois's question, Izriella was at a loss for words.
Why was the Orphanage lowly? Wasn't that obvious?
“It's just……”
Izriella hesitated without an answer. Then, looking at the items still scattered on the floor, her face lit up as if she found her response.
“Look at this! Picking up and taking what others threw away, eating scraps! If you look closely, there must be things secretly stolen from others too!”
At that moment, the trembling Ibi finally spoke.
“No! Nothing was stolen!”
Still shaken, her body trembled, making her voice pitifully quaver.
“I just picked up what people discarded. Here, everyone just throws them away…… I thought it would be okay to take them…… So I collected them……”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller.
Yeongjae Academy students were either from noble families or, if commoners, mostly from wealthy ones.
It was inevitable that children from such homes had the leisure for education.
Naturally, most didn't cherish their belongings much.
They'd throw away broken pencils, or even toss half-used notebooks after a bit of scribbling if they looked messy.
Ibi had gathered those.
How mortifying must it have been to admit in front of other students that she collected their discards?
Clois felt bitter at the cookie scent filling the room.
Things others discarded without eating more of—she had wrapped them carefully multiple times in paper bags and stored them preciously in the box.
For her friends far away at the Orphanage.
‘Now I understand why she didn't want to show the box's contents.’
Even a child has pride.
She wouldn't want others knowing she collected and used discarded items.
Especially since she planned to send them as ‘gifts’ to her Orphanage friends.
As Clois felt sorry for hurting Ibi's pride, she looked at the scattered items on the floor.
Since coming to Yeongjae Academy, good things had filled her days.
Of course, there were occasional people like Rimora who made things hard, but still—Professor Sian, Airin, Arcel, Ruska, Professor Males, and more had been kind to her.
Not just people. She slept every night in a warm, fluffy bed and ate as much delicious food as she wanted.
Her curiosities were kindly answered, and she could read any books she desired.
Was heaven like this? Overjoyed, Ibi wrote letters to the Orphanage every day.
About what she saw, what she learned, who she spent time with, what she ate.
But midway through writing, her hand would stop.
‘I'm the only one doing well.’
Her Orphanage friends still had to eat a set number of potatoes and fought over worn-out books.
Yet she alone was living dream-like days here.
Feeling guilty, Ibi wanted to share even one of the things she enjoyed with her distant friends.
Then she noticed pencils rolling on the classroom floor.
Just lead-broken at the tip—things students discarded as unusable.
She gathered those. And on days pastries were thrown out at the cafeteria, she took handfuls from what was set aside outside.
It wasn't stealing.
She had only taken what they discarded……
At that moment, a loud voice came from the door.
“What is all this commotion?”
It was Seraphina. Pushing through the crowd, she spotted Clois in the center and cried out in surprise.
“Your Majesty! What is going on?”
Your Majesty?
At Seraphina's words, people momentarily failed to comprehend, looking baffled.
And shortly after.
“……!!!”
Shock incomparable to before spread through the crowd.
