“No matter what, aren’t you being too mean?”

“Too mean, huh?”

“……”

Cairn fell silent.

He didn’t want to be a model for a blood relative, but he couldn’t deny that he felt bitter about not being considered for the job.

This was because Violet’s sincerity was coming through.

Suddenly irritated, Violet furrowed her brows. And, sensitive to her reactions, Aldin slightly flinched.

“Oh, that pose is excellent right now. Can you hold it for a moment?”

“…Sure.”

Shhk. Aldin complied, adjusting his pose as directed by Violet. Violet’s sketching session was nearly finished.

After changing back into his clothes, Aldin sighed in relief. Violet herself knew how big of a favor she had asked from Aldin, and so she paid more attention and care to him while he was here.

Thus, Violet made sure to offer him scrumptious, colorful desserts for him to eat. Aldin himself was shocked to see them, refusing to accept.

However, Violet said, “Just be at ease. You don’t have to be so stiff.”

Then, the conversation soon flowed.

“Right, I heard that you graduated from the academy as the top of your class, Sir.”

“That’s right.”

“Were you way above this idiot over here?”

“What’s with the insults so suddenly!”

“I just happened to be lucky.”

“For a while, it became a topic of discomfort among the people in the duchy. It was really amusing, honestly,” Violet recounted.

“It’s a matter of reputation, of course,” Aldin replied.

“Oh my, you’re downplaying being the top of your class? Be proud of your talents, Sir. It’s through your own efforts that you earned that spot.”

Violet smiled cheerfully.

Every time the news arrived at the Everett estate that Cairn had taken second place in the academy, there would be a strange tension in the air.

Mikhail would express his anger about how Cairn was losing to a mere illegitimate bastard, and Aileen would try to calm him down.

Thinking back, Aileen must have gotten quite annoyed by the way ‘peerage’ or ‘pedigree’ was always emphasized. And Mikhail probably never noticed that fact.

These brief moments of levity were enjoyable to Violet as she sipped her tea. Cairn, who was second in place and hadn’t even graduated, looked displeased, but no one paid much attention to his complaints.

Violet’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“I wonder if I can hear about Cairn’s time at the academy.”

“Cairn’s academy life?”

“Yes.”

“Why me?!”

Cairn was taken aback. He looked both pleased and anxious at suddenly becoming the topic of conversation.

Violet flashed a smile more brilliant, reminiscent of Roen’s.

“I’m not asking because I’m curious about my little brother. This idiot— I mean, about Cairn. I’m just curious about the kind of trouble he had gotten into.”

That’s right. Violet wasn’t interested in Cairn’s past. She was asking about his dark history.

“Ah. Well, to be honest, there’s not much to tell. Cairn was more popular than you’d think.”

“Hey!”

Cairn shouted when Aldin answered so easily. He turned bright red, as if he might explode at any moment.

“He received several confessions of love. He rejected all of them, but at one point, he got a bit excited and did some strange things.”

“Oho. Can I hear more details about that?”

“It’s really nothing. He made a grand public confession to a female student he’d been taking care of…”

“Stop! Stop! Please, just stop!”

“But then he got rejected. He spent seven days without sleeping, dedicating himself to training day and night. He wasn’t in his right mind, and we all just let him be.”

Cairn’s face showed that he was about to cry as his embarrassing history was unveiled. Violet thoroughly enjoyed his reaction.

Aldin had come to the Everett mansion as a model for Violet’s paintings, but he was officially invited as Cairn’s close friend. This was to avoid any potential scandals.

While Roen was playing the role of the overly protective older brother, he imposed various restrictions on Violet’s activities, including her interactions with male friends. Violet found his attempts to be annoying.

Cairn wouldn’t have been at this gathering if it weren’t for this reason. Violet glanced at her younger brother and then back at Aldin.

Violet and Aldin’s areas of expertise didn’t provide many common conversation topics. Cairn had grievances about his friend and sister’s secret conversations but refrained from speaking on it more.

Thus, his dark history was further brought to light.

“He once sent a professor to the infirmary. To be honest, the professor wasn’t a good person, but Cairn went too far.”

“I’ve heard about that before. Wasn’t he considered ‘fitting’ though?”

“That professor was someone who showed a lot of discrimination based on lineage. Strangely, even though Cairn was in the ‘fitting’ category, that just seemed to make him dislike it more. There were occasional conflicts between students and professors, but this guy just…”

Violet was now openly snickering at Cairn. Simultaneously, his face turned progressively redder.

He was always treated as pathetic, but never had he been so embarrassed as now that his dark history was exposed. He looked like he wanted to run away from this place right this instant.

“By the way, Ducal Lady, you didn’t attend the academy, did you? Is there a reason for that?”

Now, the topic shifted back to Violet. Hearing the question, she let out a brief sigh.

All three of the Everett sons, Roen, Cairn, and even the person Violet despised most, Mikhail, attended the academy. Moreover, they had achieved top ranks.

Violet, too, could have attended the academy if she had wanted. She might have even achieved at least the second rank. But she had chosen to learn from a private tutor instead.

After a short contemplation, Violet smiled gently.

“There are several reasons, but if I had to pick one…”

“If you had to pick one?”

“I didn’t want to breathe the same air as that fool.”