I Need the True Ending to Graduate - Chapter 90

【 The Beginning of Revenge 】

“How is it, boss? Do you like it?”

The man asked Evan, who was silently staring at the completed Bell Restaurant building.

The man’s name was Henry. He was someone who’d worked together with Evan to bring Bell Restaurant and the magic shop into the Academy, and this time, he’d been in charge of the overall interior decoration of the store. In addition, he was Evan’s secretary and also a partner who had built the business together with him.

Evan quietly nodded in response to his question.

“It seems fine.”

“For someone who wanted to enter the Academy so badly, isn’t that reaction a bit too flat? I thought you’d be happier.”

Henry put both hands behind his head in a casual manner and showed a hint of disappointment.

At a young age, the man who had practically scraped together almost all the money circulating in the Empire was Evan. He was a famous figure counted among the top in the Empire, and also the person whose next move drew the most attention.

Just when his business and investments had more or less settled into place and people wondered what method he would use next to rake in more money, he suddenly declared that he would enter the Academy.

Henry had opposed his decision. There was no apparent benefit.

“What’s with this sudden talk about the Academy, boss? That place is just where nobles go to study. Even if you open a shop there, how much profit could you possibly make?”

“….”

“And nobles aside, ordinary people can’t even enter there. That means you’d have to get separate permits and coordinate everything. It won’t be easy. How are you even planning to handle employees commuting in and out?”

They were valid points, but Evan didn’t listen.

“…Even so, I have to do it.”

Then, after keeping silent for a moment, he continued, his deep blue eyes gleaming coldly.

“I’ve come this far for that alone. So I have to do it, no matter what.”

“…….”

After he went that far, even Henry found it hard to oppose him any longer. He’d seen Evan since the days when he was nothing more than a man who barely had the capital to start a business, but this was the first time he had seen such a terrifying and resolute expression on his face.

And just as he wished, Evan succeeded in bringing his shop into the Academy.

He pushed through everyone’s opposition and opened a shop at the Academy as he wanted, and now only the opening remained. Yet contrary to expectations, Evan’s face didn’t look particularly happy.

That was why Henry found it strange and asked Evan about it.

Evan glanced at Henry and then muttered in an indifferent tone.

“From here on is the real beginning.”

“…?”

Henry, who had no idea what exactly was supposed to be the real beginning, looked at Evan with a face full of question marks.

But Evan’s lips were tightly sealed.

Knowing that no matter how much he asked, Evan wouldn’t explain at times like this, Henry straightened his posture and changed the subject.

“By the way, I heard reporters recently asked for an interview about your entry into the Academy, and you turned them down.”

“….”

“Even if you don’t tell the reporters, shouldn’t it be about time you told me, your secretary, why you’re insisting so much on entering the Academy?”

Evan seemed to ponder for a moment, then answered carefully, “It’s just that… there’s someone I need to meet.”

“At the Academy? Do you have a noble you admire or something? Is that why you’ve avoided marriage all this time?”

Having heard something he’d never heard before despite spending a considerable amount of time together, Henry grew excited and fired off questions one after another.

From the time Evan had amassed a certain amount of assets and gradually made a name for himself in the Empire as a wealthy man, women’s marriage proposals had lined up.

However, Evan didn’t spare a glance for any of them.

Rejecting them simply because he hated people who approached him for his money didn’t fully add up. Although not many, there had certainly been women who genuinely loved Evan as well.

But Evan rejected even women like that.

Among them were women so beautiful that they made people gasp in shock, to the point that other men wondered whether he was impotent.

If Evan’s fastidiousness and iron fortress-like personality were because he already had a woman he loved, then many things were explained.

Even the reason he’d deliberately expanded his business into the Academy made sense.

‘He earned a ton of money and came all the way to the Academy just to meet the woman he loves…. The boss is more romantic than he looks.’

While Henry was inwardly offering that ignorant admiration, Evan shot him a glare with eyes that had gone cold and said, “I don’t know what nonsense you’re thinking, but it’s nothing like what you’re imagining, so don’t think useless thoughts.”

“Yes….”

“And after the shop opens, I’ll personally handle the overall operations for a while, so keep that in mind.”

“You’ll handle operations yourself? You’re already busy, there’s no need for you to go that far….”

Before Henry could finish trying to dissuade him, Evan immediately shot back.

“At most, it’ll be one or two years. I’ll operate it myself just for that long, and after that, even if you don’t want to, I’ll hand it over to someone else, so there’s no need to worry.”

“Yes…. Understood….”

“Anyway, you worked hard preparing everything up to this point, Henry. I’m glad I have you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s not like this is the first or second day we’ve worked.”

Henry, who had been answering gloomily with his shoulders drooping at Evan’s sharp responses, immediately perked up at the praise and replied proudly.

With his chest puffed out and his chin lifted, his nose was clearly up in the air.

Evan let out a small laugh at that reaction, then quickly cooled his expression and took in the sight of the Academy spread out before his shop.

‘So Lucia is here….’

Only after three years had passed since he decided on revenge did Evan finally arrive at the Academy.

The place where Lucia Even was, the woman who had abandoned him, her family, and the village as the price of enrolling here.

Now it was time to finally face the woman whose face he’d longed to see so desperately over the years, the woman who had thrown him away.

His vivid blue eyes, gazing at the antique Academy buildings, burned coldly with revenge and resentment.

***

After Bell Restaurant opened to coincide with the start of the semester, it was packed with customers.

Since there had never been a shop of this kind inside the Academy before, it naturally drew enormous attention.

Most people came out of curiosity at the novelty of a shop opening, but even that pleased Evan.

Because it meant it would surely become a topic of conversation, and he was convinced that Lucia would come here before long.

However, strangely, Lucia did not visit the shop. No matter how long he waited, he didn’t catch sight of the face he hadn’t forgotten for even a moment since she left the village.

‘Why?’

Evan wondered why Lucia wasn’t coming, then soon realized one thing he’d overlooked.

Just as much as he wanted to see Lucia, Lucia had no reason to want to see him.

‘Right. Since the me she abandoned chased her all the way here, she’d rather die than want to see me.’

To Lucia, he was nothing more than a shabby, discarded connection from her past that she had to throw away.

He wanted to scour the entire Academy like he was turning it upside down, but he was only permitted to engage in commercial activity within the Academy and wasn’t allowed to enter the Academy buildings.

Of course, finding information about Lucia wasn’t particularly difficult. If he wanted to, he could obtain the address of the dormitory she was living in, send a threatening letter, and force her to visit the shop.

However, Evan didn’t want to do that.

He didn’t want to take in any information beyond her address that he would obtain by digging into her background.

He was afraid that the three years of life she’d lived after abandoning him might not be so different from the glamorous and comfortable life he’d imagined while dreaming of revenge. Afraid that his resolve for revenge might waver, he had deliberately chosen not to look into it.

He didn’t want to break that ironclad rule now.

In the end, there was only one way. To make Lucia herself, unavoidably, come to this shop.

One day, as he was pondering that method, luck walked in on its own feet.

As usual, he was watching over Bell Restaurant while waiting for Lucia to visit, when long after lunchtime had passed, customers entered the shop.

“Ah, this must be the newly opened place….”

A stern-looking man in his forties and another man who appeared to be around the same age entered the shop while conversing with each other.

Evan stopped talking with the store manager and stared intently at the face of one man who had taken a seat in a corner of the shop.

He had a face that carried a sense of dignity, yet somehow gave off an unpleasant impression.

‘I’ve never seen that face before, so why does it feel so unpleasant?’

As he unconsciously frowned at the inexplicable sense of discomfort, the man called over a staff member to the table and seemed to have a brief exchange, after which the staff member approached Evan with a troubled expression.

“Boss.”

“What is it?”

“Um… the people at that table over there say they’d like to have a word with you.”

It was something that happened often when dealing with nobles.

Curious about how a commoner like him had managed to make such a large fortune, yet at the same time summoning people with the arrogant chin jutting typical of nobles.

Dealing with them usually only led to annoyance, so he rejected most requests to join tables, but this time, for some reason, it piqued his interest. In a negative way.

“What are their names?”

“The one on the left is Andrew Burnett, and the one on the right is Karl Evenhart. They’re both professors here.”

“Karl Evenhart….”

The moment he heard the name, Evan’s eyes flashed viciously. It was the gaze of a predator, like a lion that had spotted its prey.

Caught off guard by such an unexpected reaction, the staff member grew frightened, wondering if he’d misspoken.

“Boss…?”

Snapping back to his senses at the staff member’s call, Evan handed the documents he was holding to the manager and said, “Let’s discuss the rest later. Store the documents somewhere appropriate.”

“Understood.”

“And go back to the table and tell them I’ll join them.”

“You’ll join them?”

Startled by Evan’s completely unexpected answer, the staff asked again. He’d worked with Evan for quite a long time, and this was the first time he’d ever seen him accept a request to join a table.

However, Evan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

“Normally, joining tables isn’t allowed, but tell them I have a special interest in education and would like to have a conversation.”

“Ah, understood. I’ll pass that along.”

The staff, though bewildered, returned to the table and relayed Evan’s words exactly as instructed.

In the meantime, Evan made one more request of the manager.

“Ah, and at the right moment, bring out one of the wines we’ve been saving in the storage and take it to the table.”

The manager looked at Evan in brief surprise, then quietly nodded at Evan’s serious expression, which held not a trace of a smile.

“Ah… understood. I’ll do that.”

“Good… if things go according to plan….”

This time, I’ll be able to meet Lucia.

Evan’s eyes, fixed on Karl Evenhart, shone a vivid blue.