* * *

After about ten minutes, Rizriel Youssef returned.

Philip nodded when he saw the scarf made of fox tail hair and the silk dress that came close to his body. It was the Rizriel Youssef he knew.

Before sitting across from Philip, she bowed deeply, covering her exposed breastbone with her right hand.

“First of all, I apologize for my rudeness. Confucius.”

“I will forgive that. And keep that in mind.”

Philip waved the ring on her finger so that she could see it before he hurried off.

“I know very well the value of this object. What this means for Yousef Sanghoe and what we can do with it. So, let’s stop fussing over each other and have a little constructive conversation.”

‘Does this f*cking asshole dare to look down on me?’

Thinking that, Rizriel grinned.

“Okay. Confucius. Thank you for finding me first.”

If it hadn’t been for the ring on that finger, she would have called all the city guards and kicked Philip out at once.

‘As long as he has the seal, that idiot will become a special member of the store. I have to get him on my side no matter what. Otherwise I… .’

She was currently competing fiercely for succession.

There were a total of three direct descendants of Yousef Company, and Rizriel was the youngest among them.

Unlike the first and second, who had different foundations, she would fall into the abyss as soon as she was eliminated from the succession competition.

The special members of the Chamber of Commerce have the same level of voting rights as the members of the Association at the ‘General Assembly’ held once a year. He was a member only by name, but in fact he was in a position that was no different from that of his master.

The reason was something that only the owner of the club, Oslei Youssef, would know, and it was not important right now.

It was important that by simply getting Philip on his side, he might be one step ahead of his brothers who were far ahead.

Lizriel, who was vigorously shaking her head, heard Philip’s pleasant bass tone in her ears.

“First of all, I request that you treat me as a special member of the Chamber from this moment on.”

“It is natural. Confucius.”

“And Lizriel, I want you to be in charge of me.”

Lizriel also flinched at that demand.

“… yes?”

‘What are you trying to do with me?’

She blushed and glanced sideways at Philip.

… To be honest, it didn’t seem too bad. That wasn’t good either, but if he wanted it anyway, Rizriel had no choice but to listen.

At most, it would be best to set a few conditions.

‘It looks like he’s misunderstanding something.’

Philip thought as he looked at her flushed cheeks. It was unbelievable that he was a direct descendant of a giant trading company.

“I… If you want me, I am willing to do as you wish. But the condition… .”

A determined Lizriel opened her mouth, but Philip raised a hand to cut her off.

“Whatever you were thinking, please listen to me first.”

“… .”

“First of all, I will strongly support you, Miss Youssef, as the official successor of the Chamber of Commerce. The voting rights I will have are the same as those of the shareholders, so if I don’t withdraw my support and you are not as incompetent as I expected, you can become the next president.”

The moment she heard those words, Rizriel felt her mind go blank. Philip’s offer just now meant that she had to give Philip everything but her life to get it.

However, Philip first put out the best hand he could.

“No, why?”

When negotiating contracts between merchants, the reason for the offer is usually not asked.

The moment he asked the question, it was no different than naturally admitting that he had a lower number than the other person.

But Lizriel was genuinely curious. As she saw it, Philip wasn’t stupid enough to make such a suggestion.

If I was really stupid, I wouldn’t even be able to talk to her.

“Aren’t you running two orphanages? They donated scholarships to the academy and sold books cheaply for poor commoner students.”

Lizriel nodded at his question.

“yes. I don’t know how you know that.”

Philip said with a grin.

“Of all the Youssefs I know, only you know how to help others unconditionally. Do you need any other reason than that?”

It was a smile that shook people’s hearts. Even though Lizriel knew full well that he was an incorrigible scum, she felt her hostility and wariness towards Philip melt away like snow.

‘Anyone who can say such a thing is crazy? I can’t… .’

She couldn’t look straight into Philip’s face.

‘ah. Why am I like this?’

My heart was pounding like crazy, and blood rushed to my face.

Rizriel desperately adjusted her breathing and expression and lowered her head.

“… I will gratefully accept the favor bestowed by Confucius. We will do our best to serve you in the future.”

Philip shook his head.

“I don’t want that vertical relationship. We’ll have to see each other for a long time, but I hope we can get along a little more comfortably. If possible, from now.”

Lizriel swallowed her saliva. She made up her mind and parted her lips.

From noble mtl dot com

“… Yeheh.”

And what came out was the most stupid voice I had ever spat out in my life.

* * *

After returning to the academy, Philip headed straight to the faculty dormitory.

As soon as he opened his door, he found Lua sleeping on the bed.

It was quite pitiful to see her breathing loudly with her eyes closed. A few hours of sound sleep only partially relieved the fatigue accumulated over the past few days.

“I know everything that happened.”

As Philip said, Lua slowly opened her eyes.

“… sorry. Instructor.”

“Sorry? what?”

“Because I acted like an idiot… You suffered because of me.”

She muttered without making eye contact with Philip. Philip laughed.

“If it is wrong for a child to act like a child, then who in the world is without sin? Wake up. I have somewhere to go.”

“… yes?”

Philip held out his hand without waiting for her to rise on her own.

My body felt hot at the thought of doing the hyeonjil.

“Today will be treated as sick, so don’t worry about class… hmm?”

At that time, I felt a presence outside the door. And the thumping footsteps got closer and closer. Someone was coming to his room.

Soon the door burst open and someone entered.

It was Professor Felicia Oswald.

“Instructor Philip Oswald.”

She rolled her eyes, took stock of the situation, and let out a sigh of relief when I confirmed that nothing to worry about had happened.

“Ah, Professor. hello.”

“What on earth were you thinking about letting a female student sleep in your room?”

“I’m going to take it well and eat it right away.”

Felicia was furious at his joke.

“… you really.”

“My child hasn’t eaten properly for several days and hasn’t slept properly. The children who shared the same room had a hard time because of the child’s crying. I couldn’t come up with a particularly sharp way.”

In fact, Philip did nothing wrong. Felicia, too, had no idea what Philip would do to the little girl.

It was just to be wary of useless rumors spreading.

“What’s wrong?”

“… no.”

“Then would you please leave now? No matter how much you missed me all night, it would be difficult if you came to me like this in the morning… Huh!”

Philip avoided Felicia’s front kick with superhuman reflexes. She screamed in anger.

“Do you really want to die?”

He broke into a cold sweat and persuaded Felicia.

“No, sister. calm down. It’s my fault. It is in front of the students.”

Felicia, who had lost her temper for a while due to anger, suddenly felt a sense of incongruity.

‘Wait, did I do something wrong?’

It was something anyone could say, but at least it was something Philip had never heard before. She stared at Philip in disbelief, then turned her head away at the giggle.

“oh.”

The young freshman was laughing at Philip and her quarrel.

“You are smiling now.”

Philip said and nodded his head in satisfaction.

Felicia couldn’t possibly adapt to such a Philip. He was a completely different person from the brother she knew.

“I plan to take this child outside the academy for a while. professor.”

“Do you think I will allow it?”

“I’m telling you in advance, if you don’t allow me, I’ll secretly kidnap you and take you away.”

At Philip’s answer, Felicia felt a headache and had to fix her temples.

“What are you going to do?”

“There are many things to do. Would you follow me if you were curious?”

“… all right. I’ll supervise it myself. Instructor.”

I was afraid of what rumors would spread the next day if Philip had taken a young schoolgirl out alone. Besides, they said they would kidnap her if they didn’t allow it, but it was unavoidable.

Felicia sighed and nodded.

“How are you? I won’t force you if you want to rest. Would you like to go out with the teachers for a while? It will be pretty fun.”

At Philip’s question, Lua nodded without worrying.

“yes. Okay.”

In her eyes, Philip was a good man. She didn’t know why he took care of her even though they had only met a few days ago, but she noticed that Philip liked her quite a bit with the instinct of a child.

‘It’s like an uncle.’

Lua remembered the days she lived in the mountains before coming to the academy. The days spent with Uncle and Luen.

When the sun was up, I played with Ruen and the whole mountain, and when the sun went down, I lay on my uncle’s knee and listened to the old stories he told me.

The way Philip looked at her was very similar to that ‘uncle’.

* * *

‘Something’s wrong.’

Philip found himself walking the same path a third time.

Near lunchtime, the shopping district was quite lively.

It was because the maids, servants, and guards who worked in the mansion were spending time in the shopping district while waiting for the young man or lady they were supposed to serve.

Philip took Felicia and Lua for a walk in the shopping district.

“Instructor. I don’t know what the hell you want to do Why are you here?”

Felicia asked. Philip silently pointed to the building in the best spot. It was the building of Yousef Corporation.

“It’s the Yousef Company building. Why are you there?”

“I am going to see a friend. We dated a while ago, and I would like to introduce you to the professor.”

Felicia opened her mouth slightly at Philip’s answer. Then, she put her lips to his ear so Lua couldn’t hear it.

“Are you out of your mind? Are you going to meet a friend at the only merchant on the continent that trades with elves and dwarves? If you get into an accident over there, you’re done. Philip.”

“Sister, are you worried about me now?”

“I’m not worried about you, I’m worried about the swordsmanship department. If you get kicked out, you’ll have to find a new instructor, do you think that’s easy?”

“When are you going to kick me out no matter what?”

“… .”

Come to think of it, it seemed like she had said that, so Felicia shut her mouth. Philip watched her pouting lips and suppressed the urge to pull them.

Felicia, who arrived at Yousef store following Philip, found a woman standing in front of the front door.

A tight-fitting red silk dress and a scarf made of red fox tail hair.

She had seen that woman once.

‘That person… ?’

Rizriel Youssef, Youssef Chamber of Freevia branch manager.

She was a woman who donated enough gold coins to buy a mansion to the academy every year, and was hard to see except for the dean or head professor.

“Oh, Prince Philip. You came quickly.”

When Lizriel Youssef found Philip, she approached with a smile on her eyes. Philip smiled friendly and put his arm around her shoulder.

“Because Gongja-nim will take it out. Aren’t we supposed to be friends now?”

“Look at my mind. Did you?”

Seeing this, Felicia felt that her mind was getting confused and closed her eyes tightly.

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