There’s Something Special About Her – Chapter 36

Author: Asternkm

Flip, flip!

“Whoa, whoooa!”

Every time a test paper was turned over, Noah Benton let out an exclamation as if cheering me on.

“Not a single wrong answer! Rookie, you’re amazing!”

“Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Benton.”

“You’re really, really amazing! Taking the test after just one week is incredible enough, but you got every single answer right!”

“Luckily, a lot of the questions were about the parts I had memorized intensively.”

I smiled, pretending to be humble.

With that, I had passed the test Gisella Roth had given me.

It was only natural.

The only new information I had to memorize about Knox this time was about the distant branches of the family tree, which could hardly even be considered part of the same clan.

So the only thing I really had to consider was how many questions I should get wrong.

For a while, I even wondered if I should fail on my first attempt.

After all, that would probably seem the most natural.

But I soon changed my mind.

I decided I needed one powerful move to show Gisella Roth, who still hadn’t fully acknowledged me.

“Mmm, I know it wasn’t luck. Look at this!”

Noah Benton pointed at a question where I had written an especially long answer.

“You didn’t just give a clear explanation of the complicated succession line of the Duke of Knox from 160 years ago. You even pointed out an error in the question Senior Gisella gave you!”

“I thought it was a trick question, not an error.”

It was an error.

The Duke of Knox from several generations ago had an extremely scandalous private life and countless lovers.

Among them, shockingly, was a woman who was already married. It was only discovered later that the daughter she had given birth to was actually the Duke of Knox’s child, not that of her legal husband, a viscount.

After a thorough investigation, the Duke of Knox acknowledged that the child was his daughter, but he couldn’t add her to the Knox family genealogy.

That was because the poor, clueless viscount had beaten him to it.

As a result, the family tree from that generation recorded only two daughters, even though there were actually three.

“I especially love this part. ‘Although she was never added to the Knox family lineage, there are several records of the duke referring to Ayla as his daughter at official functions. Nothing in Knox can take precedence over the duke himself. Therefore, it is correct to state that Mikelan Knox had four sons and three daughters.’”

“Haha. Hearing someone else read it aloud makes it sound a little rude. What if Lord Roth was offended by it?”

“Huh? Senior Gisella?”

Noah Benton widened his eyes, then let out a soft laugh.

“No way. Senior Gisella doesn’t hold grudges, surprisingly. She probably found it funny instead!”

“What exactly did I find funny?”

“Senior Gisella!”

Gisella Roth returned after briefly leaving the nest once she had finished grading the test papers.

Noah Benton hurried over to her like a well-behaved puppy.

“I read Rookie’s answer sheet! He got everything right!”

“So he did.”

“I had to retake the test so many times, but Rookie is really smart! Isn’t he the first person to get a perfect score on a test you made, Senior?”

“It’s only the first two volumes, though.”

Gisella Roth snorted and shot me a sidelong glance.

I met her gaze with an unbothered expression as I thought to myself.

‘Ah, I just want to hit her once.’

Why did Gisella Roth have to be my mentor, of all people?

I should have been Gisella Roth’s mentor instead.

There would have been so many things I could have done under the pretext of training my apprentice.

Making her climb a cliff in the name of physical training had worked wonders. And forcing her to find her way back to the mansion alone from deep in the mountains, armed with nothing but a book on survival techniques and a single dagger, had been pretty effective, too.

Just imagining how satisfying it would be to see her sobbing with a filthy face made me feel better already.

“Oh, come on! Rookie did so well! You should praise him!”

When Noah Benton stomped his feet in frustration and shouted, Gisella Roth reluctantly opened her mouth.

“You’re smarter than you look. Good job.”

“……Thank you, Lady Roth.”

Was that a compliment or an insult?

As I gave her a slight bow anyway, she spoke as if she were doing me a favor.

“You passed the test, so you can leave early today.”

“Thank you!”

I could leave work!

Early!

Her attitude was a little irritating, but who cared?

She was letting me leave early.

As I happily gathered my belongings, Gisella Roth asked me a question.

“What are you doing? Why are you packing your things?”

“Didn’t you just tell me I could leave early?”

You can’t give someone something just to take it back!

When I flared up in indignation, she pointed at the empty room where I’d been confined for the past week.

“You need to clean up the storage room you were using before you leave. Do you expect me to clean it?”

*****

“Ugh, my whole body aches.”

Gisella Roth really was a vicious mentor.

She’d told me I could leave early, only to make me do a full-scale cleanup.

After all that hard labor, dusting off layers of old grime that barely came off and even scrubbing the floor, my entire body was sore.

I even got off work later than usual!

“And it really was a storage room.”

Every time I called it a storage room, she’d stubbornly insisted it was an empty room.

Rolling my stiff shoulders, I finally arrived at the dormitory where the action squad stayed.

All I wanted to do was wash up and become one with my bed.

I dragged my tired feet up the stairs one step at a time when something felt strange.

“Rookie’s here!”

“Oooh, you little rascal!”

“So you’re a man after all, even if you’re young?”

The action squad members, who usually treated me like I wasn’t even there, each made a comment as they passed by and patted my shoulder.

“Why are you all acting like this all of a sudden?”

“Don’t play dumb!”

“Must be nice to be in love!”

No matter how much I asked what was going on, those were the only answers I got.

Had everyone eaten something bad together at the mess hall?

Or had they heard another ridiculous rumor somewhere?

I didn’t even have the energy to be curious. But when I finally reached my room, I understood why the seniors had been grinning at me.

“……What is this?”

A small pouch was hanging from the doorknob of my room.

Not only was it made of pink fabric, but there was also a note dangling from it that read, ‘Only Rookie may open!’

Just then, the senior who used the room across from mine happened to come out. He looked back and forth between me and the pouch, then flashed an unpleasant grin.

“Quite the popular guy, aren’t you, Rookie?”

“Do you know who left this pouch here?”

“Nope. It was already hanging there a few hours ago, too. Hey, Albert!”

The senior across the hall called out to another squad member passing by.

“Did you see who left this pouch here?”

“No, sir. It was already there when I came back after my shift, too.”

“See?”

“Hmm, I understand.”

I didn’t know who had left such a cute little pouch, but I had a pretty good idea what was inside.

A rich, sweet smell was wafting out from within.

“Thanks for your hard wor—”

“What? Don’t tell me there are more than one or two of them?”