Title: A Concerned Teacher

Summary: In which a student's suffering was not ignored.

Note: Bit short since I'm a bit short on time.

I had initially planned on approaching Livia and my nephew in hopes of providing my former apprentice any means of assistance. Her grades had not been keeping up with my expectations given what I knew of the girl.

It was not difficult to determine the cause of her underperformance. She was a commoner in a school where one's status dictated everything. Many of the female students had taken her attendance as a slight. Foolish children taking actions against the girl the royal family selected. They had no idea how close they were to committing treason.

Unfortunately, the children were wise enough to never escalate the situation beyond basic harassment or do so in front of me. As a result of their caution, I could not discipline them properly.

I felt my jaw tighten as I recalled how when caught, the girls had been left to their mischief in the girl's dorm. I lost more faith in my female colleagues for being corrupt enough to allow such behavior run rampant.

But I resolved myself to fix the situation. Beyond doing my part as a teacher in ensuring her success and beyond alleviating the guilt I felt for recommending her, she was my apprentice.

As I drew closer, I noticed something peculiar. Livia, despite being in the presence of her friend, seemed tense. It was as if she found his very presence distressing.

Could Julius have... No. It wasn't in his nature. Looking at him, he seemed too naive. He wasn't aware of his effect on the girl. It was likely he was an imposition due to his status but too uncaring not to be considerate to others who may care.

I needed to speak to them to divine more information, but if my suspicions are correct, Livia might not be forthcoming with information so long as Julius is present. I would need to speak to Livia privately.

Fortunately, I had the perfect excuse to create such a scenario.

I heard a knock on my door. Livia had arrived exactly on time.

"Professor, I'm here for my detention," Livia said with a forlorn tone.

"Come in, Livia. I've brewed a fresh pot of tea," I said as I opened the door.

When the girl walked in, she developed a shocked expression.

"A tea party?"

"Yes, please take a seat while I bring out a cup for you."

"But I thought I was serving detention."

"Merely a pretense. Truthfully, I wanted to speak to my old apprentice," I said with a chuckle.

"... Professor Lucas?" she said with a trembling voice.

"Yes, Livia. It's good to see you again. I'm sorry I have not been able to you sooner," I said gently as the girl gave me a tearful hug.

I sat in my office alone after Livia had left. It took an insurmountable amount of self control not to outwardly express my anger. Livia had divulged everything. She spoke of how the girls had made it their mission to destroy all her belongings, physically abused her, and threatened her entire village if she spoke out. She broke down as she fearfully spoke of her friends.

Livia did not want to spend time with the boys, but she feared the repercussions from denying a noble what they desired. It would at the very minimum strip her of any semblance of a shield against the harassment, at worst she feared they would react violently. She also feared that inevitably they would demand something precious of her.

I felt a well of deep regret for ever recommending her. I had thought that I was granting the wish of a bright young woman. All I did was condemn her to her own personal hell.

That changed starting now.

I neatly collected all the material that would be covered in the curriculum. If her materials were to be destroyed, I would safeguard a copy of them in my office.

I cleared my afternoon schedule. If the boys were intent on occupying her study time, I would lock them out of her daily detentions.

I began drafting letters to Mylene. If heiresses had the audacity to commit treason, it was high time for Mylene to take her meritocracy plan seriously.

I refused to let my charge suffer any further.

AN

1) In the previous chapter, people mentioned it didn't make sense for a) Olivia to go for all five if she wanted an easy life, b) why not go for Leon instead since he would fit the bill more, and c) why not brainwash Angelica and/or Clarice for an easy power grab. To this I say that I think there is an inherent misunderstanding of what that version of Olivia is (mainly because I gave up trying to write a proper chapter explaining things). She's not a mastermind.

1a) Going for the five in the first place has more to do that she something people found desirable. She just some opportunistic manipulator keeping her options open who happens to have the magic of suggestion. Like I said in my notes on the previous chapter, she's basically Marie but playing the field in hope of one succeeding rather than trying to get a harem. If the opportunity arises, she'll take it. She'd also be relatively short sighted.

1b) Leon is not desirable. We as the reader know how valuable he is, but the majority of people don't have the same information as we do. To the rest of the cast, he really is a nobody. Sure he had success as an adventurer before school but chances are that promotion from baronet to baron is probably not noteworthy in-universe. What's more, he does have a baron for a father so his promotion seems less impressive. Add in that he does legitimately act like a mob in the first semester, why would anyone consider him a catch. Even if Olivia had started with him, I sincerely doubt Leon would ever entertain the idea of committing to Villain Olivia.

1c) At the time, I was thinking of making Olivia some shortsighted gold digger who didn't think beyond her greed. Politics isn't her interest. So long as she is taken care of, she's happy. She would be fine as a concubine. Given her basic understanding of nobles, she doesn't realize upper nobility play by a different set of rules. As for the brainwashing bit, I mentioned in a previous section, it's more the power of suggestion otherwise she would steamroll most situations.

2) For this chapter, I thought about how the etiquette teacher approached Olivia in the Marie Route. How much could have changed had he simply been more proactive in helping his apprentice?

3) I might make a second part detailing a few of the ripple effects. It would be interesting to consider how everyone will react thinking that the etiquette teacher is a route.

4) My next update will probably be for my actual stories since I'll be on break soon.