The Duty Of An Academy Student Should Be To Study - Chapter 75
Episode 75
Rose hesitated at her toes. The atmosphere was too hostile to approach Jasper and stop him right away.
Blood was flowing from Khan’s nose, who was lying on the ground. Khan’s comrades struggled to get up, but they seemed incapable of stopping Jasper.
Rose tried to overcome her fear and approached Jasper, grabbing one of his arms.
Jasper, who was about to strike Khan’s face, hesitated in the air.
Rose couldn’t stand the cruelty at all, and her mind went blank with Khan’s moans and the smell of blood. Still, she shouted with her eyes tightly closed.
“He’s going to die…!”
Jasper could easily push Rose away with his strength, but he could only look at her, unable to do so. Rose’s closed, trembling eyes showed fear. Her chest heaved as she clutched at Jasper’s forearms.
Jasper spoke in a cold, enraged voice.
“Tell him to die. Do you know what could have happened to you just now? It’s not just empty words; that’s a slave contract.”
“I know… I know too! I’m not doing this for him, Jasper. You’ll get into trouble at this rate.”
If rumors spread that the son of Duke Conway nearly beat someone to death, it would surely cause controversy. Rose didn’t want Jasper to get into trouble because of her.
‘He shouldn’t go this far.’
Was Jasper Conway always this emotional? A sound of tears seemed to escape involuntarily from Rose’s lips.
“Ugh, Jasper… Please, calm down.”
Rose stammered, opening her swollen eyes to look at Jasper. She met Jasper’s eyes, which were a mix of various emotions. The once blurry gaze, as if losing the strings of reason, seemed a bit clearer.
Still, Jasper’s breathing was rough, and his clenched fist was trembling. Without properly containing his emotions, Jasper spoke.
“Calm down? Is this a situation to calm down in? You got hurt.”
“It’s just bruised on my wrist.”
“If I hadn’t found you in time, something worse might have happened.”
“But that doesn’t mean you should…kill a person…”
“Why not?”
Rose slightly parted her lips and froze for a moment, not immediately coming up with an answer due to the unexpected counter-question. No matter what answer she could give, it seemed it wouldn’t calm Jasper down.
In her confusion, as the strength in her grip on Jasper’s arm weakened, a familiar voice from outside broke in.
“Jasper! Are you here by any chance?”
It was Caleb who had forcibly broken the lock and entered through the visibly damaged door.
“Hey? What’s this, Rose Bell is here too…”
Caleb, panting, stepped into the inn, and for a moment, he was speechless at the sight before him.
One person was lying, so beaten that it was hard to recognize their original features, and the other two looked heavily frightened and in a bad state. And dangling from one of Jasper’s arms was Rose Bell.
“What’s going on here… What happened?”
Caleb discovered his friend’s fist smeared with blood and was taken aback by the horrifying sight.
With a bewildered expression, Rose sent Caleb a desperate look with half-teary eyes.
“Caleb. Come here and help calm Jasper….”
Since words wouldn’t work, the only option was to use physical force to separate Jasper from Khan. It was an impossible task for Rose alone.
Caleb, who appeared at just the right moment, was the only hope to handle this situation.
* * *
After several minutes, Rose sat at the table, pressing her throbbing forehead with her fingertips.
On either side of Rose, Jasper and Caleb sat with stern expressions, while Khan, across from them, had an ice pack pressed to his nose to alleviate the heat and inflammation.
Khan, who had momentarily lost consciousness and then regained it, stiffened his shoulders just by locking eyes with Jasper. It seemed more like a scene at an interrogation than a conversation.
Khan muttered with a greatly weakened voice.
“W-We are not in the business of digging the ground. We need to recover the lent money to sustain the upper… “
Jasper sharply interrupted Khan’s words.
“So, you forced her to sign the contract?”
“Ah, n-no…. No, I didn’t. I was planning to have a conversation with the young lady first. Yes…”
Jasper had regained some composure due to Caleb’s objections.
Khan, with his swollen face, had to force himself to sit and answer several questions in an atmosphere resembling an interrogation room.
Looking at Khan slouched on the chair, Rose’s emotions became complicated.
The man, once fierce and assertive towards her, couldn’t even move a muscle in front of Jasper. Perhaps it was natural considering her position—being a commoner and the daughter of a debtor—in contrast to how he interacted with the aristocrat’s son.
While marveling at the power and authority Jasper’s family possessed, Rose’s thoughts drifted to what might have happened if Jasper hadn’t come here. The mere thought of what could have transpired without Jasper’s intervention made her feel a sense of bleakness.
Even if she resisted, she might have been forced to sign the contract under physical pressure.
Rose tightly clenched her hand on her lap.
‘I am too weak….’
She realized that she was just an ordinary student who couldn’t boast of anything yet. She had neither the authority of a prestigious family nor exceptional strength. So, she had to struggle desperately to survive.
If she could achieve something significant that others couldn’t ignore and gain honor and wealth… At least she wouldn’t end up in such a pitiful state.
A glimmer of determination rose in Rose’s heart, which was previously tainted with misery and fear. It was a vow to succeed and not let anyone trip her up.
However, for now, she had no choice but to rely on Jasper’s help. Honestly, having Jasper by her side made her feel secure and strengthened.
‘How did he know and come to help me?’
Oddly enough, whenever Rose was at her most miserable and difficult, Jasper always appeared. Rose’s heart trembled.
Jasper, sitting beside her, continued to press Khan with an irritated expression. Khan struggled to speak carefully not to provoke Jasper.
“Your Lordship… If I return empty-handed like this, I might truly face dire consequences from the upper ranks.”
Due to missing teeth, Khan’s pronunciation was unclear.
“So you’re willing to take this contract and leave? Then you might as well die here.”
“N-no, that’s not what I mean. Your Lordship, please consider our position as well…”
“Instead of passing the debt to an innocent person, find the debtor himself. That’s it.”
“But, I don’t know where that scoundrel has gone. He vanished into thin air… He probably boarded a ship and went somewhere.”
“Then why don’t you go across the sea and find that man yourself? Why do you keep repeating the same words?”
Jasper’s face scrunched up. He seemed ready to throw a punch any moment.
Caleb reached out behind and lightly tapped Jasper’s shoulder.
“Calm down, calm down.”
Jasper looked at Caleb with narrowed eyes.
“What’s with calming down? That guy is irritating me.”
“Be calm here. Beating up these people won’t solve all the problems, my friend. Don’t you know better?”
George Bell even formalized the documents and borrowed the money.
Though the Redmarks were despicable, they still had the legal right to receive the money. Even if they beat them down and tell them to disappear, it wouldn’t nullify their rights.
No matter how noble, they couldn’t simply ignore legally binding documents. Everything was done by the law. That was the principle governing of the Empire. Even the royal family strictly adhered to established laws.
Jasper wiped the sweaty strands of hair off his forehead.
“How much is the debt? Can’t I just pay it off?”
Caleb, surprised, slapped Jasper’s back this time.
“Oh, come on.”
Jasper glared at Caleb with an irritated face. Caleb whispered, startled.
“Your brother will go crazy.”
“I can use this much money without my brother knowing. I can sell some land under my name or something.”
“What if you get caught later? What will you tell your brother?”
“I’ll spend my money as I please. Just because my brother knows doesn’t matter…”
Jasper, who was speaking roughly, suddenly shut his mouth in the middle. Then he tilted his head, let out a long sigh, and muttered.
“No, this will cause another uproar. Damn, this is annoying.”
The biggest problem was that Ethan would cause a commotion.
At that moment, in the tense atmosphere where everyone was being careful with their words, Rose, who had been trying to speak as sparingly as possible, spoke up.
“Um… you don’t need to pay on my behalf. I don’t want it.”
Jasper turned his head and looked at Rose curiously.
Rose calmly continued.
“Even if we pay off this debt… similar things will happen again. It will repeat. Because my father is that kind of person.”
Talking about her father was the most embarrassing thing for Rose. Her throat trembled as soon as she spoke, but sh e tried to maintain her composure.
“Nothing will change if my father remains the same.”
As time passed, Rose thought there was only one way to remedy the current situation. She had to bring George Bell.
It was not right for others to rectify what George had done. Rose included herself in the category of ‘others.’
In the future, she would not treat George as family like before.
The person who would be sold if the debt was not paid was not her, but George. He was the one who needed to sign the contract.
Jasper, unlike usual, looked at the resolute Rose and spoke.
“Yeah. Finding George Bell is the priority.”
Khan groaned in pain and then looked puzzled.
Finding George, who had fled to the vast seas, was not an easy task. Regardless of who the debtor was, once they could somehow recover the money, it was enough.
Jasper stared at Khan and spoke.
“Did you thoroughly search every nook and cranny? Did you come here just because it was too bothersome to search?”