Raising a Wolf in the Academy

“Uh…”
A sound that couldn’t be formed into words escaped my mouth.
“Miss Liannes. What do you mean by that?”
“I know it’s an impolite question. But…”
I barely restrain myself from saying ‘If you know it’s impolite, shouldn’t you just not ask it?’
People can’t always say what they want to say in life.
Especially when the person knows about your dark history.

It was good that I brought Whitey out.
Perhaps excited about the first walk since bringing it from the pet store.
The prancing creature following behind gave me peace of mind just by looking at it.
Thinking things like ‘This is why people keep pets,’ I walked along the initially empty, quiet corridor for a while.
Soon after, we arrived at a garden that could only be described as majestic.
Flowers of various colors shining in the moonlight and trees standing tall among them.
Even the garden of the empire’s top academy was extraordinary.
When this never-before-seen sight unfolded before its eyes, Whitey’s head shook left and right relentlessly, as if wanting to take in even a little more of it.
Thinking I did well to bring it along, as it looked just like me in my early days of appointment, I moved my feet.
Before I knew it, I had reached my intended destination.
It was time to head back.
Of course, I desperately wanted to walk more with Whitey.
But if I wasted any more time, it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to finish my work today.
‘Sorry, Whitey. Let’s come for a walk again next time.’
As I was about to lightly pull Whitey’s leash to signal the end of the walk, while deciding to set a date for another walk later.
“…Professor?”
I couldn’t help but stop at the familiar voice coming from far away.
“Miss Liannes? What brings you here at this late hour?”
As I was hurriedly trying to hide Whitey behind me in case she was surprised to see it.
I remembered that I had cast an invisibility spell on the creature.
If I hadn’t, it would have been chaos by now.
‘If she tries to pet it thinking it’s cute and an excited Whitey pounces on her…’
No matter how much I’ve put on a leash and muzzle, a wolf is still a wolf.
Regardless of how gentle and obedient our Whitey is, there’s still a difference between species.
Sharp claws and superior physical abilities could easily injure a fragile academy student even without malice.
No matter how renowned the nobles are for not discriminating based on background or status.
If they found out that a mere beast had injured their daughter, they wouldn’t sit idly by.
If this actually happened, poor Whitey’s fate would be—
Let’s end it here as I don’t even want to imagine it.
‘Anyway, why is she really in the garden at this hour?’
This isn’t a restricted area for students.
It’s just strange that she’s out for a walk before an exam.
She doesn’t look like she came out to clear her head like me…
‘Could it be?’
At that moment. Yesterday’s lecture came to mind.
More precisely, her figure asking a question at the end of the lecture.
I’m sure I said… I’d answer separately later because time was short.
‘Wow… Did she come looking for me now to hear that answer?’
Even though teachers welcome students who are sincere about their studies, this level of sincerity is burdensome.
But.
I can’t ignore a student’s request either.
Let’s see, the question Liannes asked yesterday was…
“The conversation might take a while. Shall we go to my office?”
“Pardon? No, the reason I’m here now isn’t to hear the answer to yesterday’s question.”
“While having a warm cup of tea— What did you say?”
My steps towards the office stop at this unexpected response.
‘She didn’t come to hear the answer?’
Then why did she come to the garden at this late hour? Did she want to see the flowers?
With such thoughts, I look at her, and after a moment of silence, she opens her mouth.
“I was on my way to your office because I had something I wanted to ask you, Professor.”
“A question?”
“Yes…”
After finishing her words, Liannes looked around and then came close to me and whispered.
“How can I find ancient artifacts or the entrance to secret dungeons?”
“….!!!”
The biggest blemish and dark history of my teaching career.
“No, how did you… know about that?”
In such a vast and majestic place, there are bound to be rumors.
For example.
‘There are hidden ancient artifacts here.’
‘There’s an entrance to a secret dungeon.’
Such rumors.
I too could easily come across these rumors.
The problem is that I heard these not long after I was appointed.
And the fact that I was obsessed with developments similar to the academy stories I had seen in my previous life.
Following those unverified rumors…
‘I searched the garden thoroughly.’
I was reported by a student who hadn’t memorized my face yet and almost got fired before even a month of teaching.
The next day after that incident, I was called to the principal’s office and severely reprimanded.
For a while, I was teased by other professors asking, ‘Did you really believe that?’ A dark history.
‘I’m sure I erased it.’
I should have disposed of all related materials at the cost of burning half of my annual salary for that year.
No matter how renowned the noble family’s daughter is, it should have been impossible to find non-existent materials—
“My older sister told me.”
“…Come to think of it, the one who reported it back then was Miss Liannes’ sister.”
Damn, I should have used memory erasure magic on the students too.
It’s too late to regret now, you can’t unspill milk.
I put on what’s commonly called a business smile and opened my mouth.
“Alright. What do you want?”
It was also because I thought it would be better to negotiate quickly.
And it was based on the belief that she wouldn’t make unreasonable demands.
“I just… want one honest answer from you, Professor.”
“I trust the question isn’t about the location of ancient artifacts or dungeon entrances.”
“It’s not that.”
In reality, it didn’t seem like a difficult request.
If I could erase my dark history with just one question, well…
As long as she wasn’t asking whether this exam would be practical or written, I could answer.
But still…
“Professor, do you perhaps have a lover?”
I didn’t expect her to ask something like this.
If this creates a dark history later, we’ll see about that.

Liannes waited anxiously for the professor to open his mouth.
It was good that she tried to lighten the mood with a light joke.
The professor smiled slightly at the story from the past he heard after a long time and asked what she wanted.
To this, when she said she wanted an answer to one question, he readily agreed.
She thought that if it wasn’t a question crossing the line, she could easily get an answer.
Of course, if asked ‘Is asking about the presence of a lover not crossing the line?’, she couldn’t easily answer. But hesitating won’t get you what you want.
To keep her promise with her friend, she steeled herself.
And now we’re here.
“…..”
“…..”
Her face, red in contrast to her blue hair, was burning hot.
But because of the promise she made with her friend. She had to hear the answer no matter what.
“…..”
“…..”
A terrible silence that seemed like it would never end began.
‘Was it too rude a question after all?’
Just as Liannes was about to lower her head to apologize, thinking this.
The professor opened his mouth.
“…Is there a reason you asked that question?”
It wasn’t even a refusal to answer.
Even for a professor, he might not have expected such a question, his usually composed voice was trembling a bit.
He asked for the ‘reason for the question’, not saying ‘I can’t answer’.
This meant that he could answer if there was a valid reason.
‘But…’
Encouraged by the professor’s positive response, there was one thing that bothered her about answering.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t her who was curious about the professor’s relationship status, but Aisha.
But if she said ‘I’m asking this question at Aisha’s request.’
The professor would surely say something like ‘Why didn’t she come herself?’
This would be tantamount to conveying Aisha’s feelings for the professor on her behalf.
‘I can’t do that.’
Liannes chose to sacrifice herself for her friend.
Knowing that the professor wasn’t the type to make an issue of this, and thinking she could reveal the truth later.
“It’s embarrassing to say, but. I made a bet with my friends.”
“…Can I assume that the content of the bet was guessing whether I have a lover or not?”
“That’s right.”

‘Wow, I didn’t see her like this.’
I had been evaluating Liannes as ‘A child who seems cold on the outside but is considerate’ and ‘A model student sincere about her studies.’
I guess I was wrong.
First she blackmails me with my dark history, and now she suddenly asks if I have a lover.
And when I ask why she’s asking such a thing…
‘She made a bet?’
It’s sad enough that I don’t have one, but the students I teach are making bets about it.
At this point, I wonder if I’ve done something wrong.
Maybe I unknowingly took some kind of hate potion.
Otherwise, why would they have such a grudge against me?
“…I don’t have one.”
“Pardon?”
“A lover, I don’t have one…”
I chose to answer obediently because it was obvious she would spread my dark history throughout the school if I refused to answer.
But still…
Now I’m starting to feel like the villain from an academy story.