Chapter 583

The Story of the Noble School
With Amira’s greeting finished, the tea party began, and the tea was brought out.
Today’s tea leaves were a special product.

“Delicious. Where are these tea leaves from?”

“They come from a place called Luimiama Village. Unlike ordinary tea leaves, these use unique tree leaves that only grow in that village.”

“Luimiama Village… I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of such a village.”

“It’s no wonder, Lady Conniette. It’s a remote mountain village where the Saltas Company does its traveling trade.”

Luimiama Village really is tucked deep in the mountains.
Even our Saltas Company didn’t know it existed at first.
But villagers, having heard rumors of our company, came and introduced their home to us.
Now we’ve built such good relations that they share these rare tea leaves with us.

“More importantly, Lady Conniette, Young Lady Bern. How is the noble school?”

“The noble school… it’s rather troublesome.”

“Mm… it’s tiring.”

Oh? And what do they mean by that?
Listening closer, it seems there are factions even within the noble school, and naturally a child belongs to the same faction as their parents.
In other words, since Lady Conniette and Little Bern are part of the Marquis Vardmoi faction, they too inevitably fall under it.
Moreover, Little Bern, being the second daughter of Marquis Vardmoi and the only one currently enrolled, automatically becomes the leader of the children’s faction.
That’s certainly troublesome.

“To be honest, I always knew that noble politics worked like this. But to think even the noble school would force us to experience a miniature version of it… I never imagined. For Young Lady Bern, it’s even harder.”

“Harder for Young Lady Bern?”

“Young Lady Bern is still among the youngest group and doesn’t yet understand the ways of the school. She also doesn’t remember exactly which teachers belong to which faction. Some have taken advantage of that, scheming to manipulate her for their own convenience…”

Ugh, so even the teachers are divided into factions.
As for them, the Vardmoi faction is about middle-sized.
But because their economic and political influence is so strong, if they were also to dominate education, it would look like open defiance against the royal house—or so one faction has claimed.
Naturally, that faction belongs to a marquis house hostile to Marquis Vardmoi, and they hold key posts in the noble school.
Other houses don’t want Vardmoi’s faction growing any stronger, so they’ve kept quiet.
In short, the school has become a perfect miniature of faction politics.

“Have you not petitioned His Majesty the King about this?”

“The royal house has declared it will not interfere in the noble school. And because of that, the ugliest sides of noble politics are showing themselves even more.”

That’s seriously troublesome.
Now then, for Young Lady Bern… ah, yes.

“Young Lady Bern, how about I lend you one of the Kiblinki Saltas?”

“Eh? Really, Lady Lily?”

“I’ll speak with them later. Those little ones think looking after children is even more important than farm work, so it’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Big sis Lily!”

Oh—her old way of calling me slipped out.
But I suppose it shows just how hard this has been on her.
She only started attending in the spring, and not even half a year has passed, and already this much…
It’s not a problem I can meddle in myself, but the Kiblinki Saltas are good at reading minds and will protect her without fail. Best to rely on them.

What do you think about this chapter?