Replaced

"Theron, you were amazing!" Sadie's little head bobbed up and down. Her eyes lit up like lanterns as she grabbed onto Theron's sleeve, waving it about.

The reply was the same gentle smile.

Sadie reminded Theron a lot of his little sister, so lively and full of joy. The little girl didn't realize how much trouble Theron had gotten himself into today, and it was probably for the best that she didn't know.

"That's right, I almost forgot." Sadie pressed a palm against her forehead. "Big Sis Thessa wanted me to invite you to have food with us because we let out early today. Yes, yes, Flora is coming too."

Flora and Sadie were usually attached at the hip, though Flora was the much quieter of the two. It was almost comical how opposing the two were.

Sadie had red hair, Flora had black. Sadie was lively, and Flora was practically a mute. Sadie had a twin pair of pigtails, and Flora had just one ponytail.

Theron made it his business to learn as much about the people around him as he could, but he didn't know much about Sadie. What was interesting was what she had said about her relation to Thessa, though. Maybe he would learn more about that today.

"Okay, I'll go with you."

"Really?!" Sadie's eyes went wide. Theron almost always said no, save for a few times. This was unexpected.

Theron smiled. "Let's go."

The trio headed toward the exit, Theron seemingly oblivious to the number of eyes on him.

"Theron, a—" Teacher Fern's voice called out, but Theron had already turned to her and gave her a polite bow.

"Apologies, Teacher Fern. I have an engagement with Sadie and Flora that's a bit time-sensitive. Maybe another day."

Teacher Fern was a bit stunned, but she didn't get the chance to say anything else. Between the sea of students trying to exit and Theron's swift departure, there wasn't another chance at all.

…

"Where is he?"

Dean Grey looked up from his desk to find Teacher Fern standing without the student he had asked to see.

Exhaling, Teacher Fern shook her head. "I will take full responsibility for this, Dean. I'll have him come by and see you tomorrow."

"Hm?"

Dean Grey wasn't sure what to think at first, but seeing the conflicting emotions on this usually valiant housewife, he made some guesses.

Teacher Fern's personality was well known. It wasn't the first time she had bumped heads with a student, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"What happened this time?"

"Nothing happened!" Teacher Fern said defensively.

The dean didn't reply, sitting back in his chair and waiting. Teacher Fern had no choice but to give him the cliff notes.

Though prepared, the truth still surprised him. It felt mostly benign. Was Teacher Fern thinking too much? Or did this child really have somewhere he urgently needed to be?

Instead of concluding, he reached for a file drawer in his desk and quickly found Theron's. There weren't many students enrolled at the Imperial Academy at any given time; having a file on them all wasn't an issue.

"Theron Galethunder… peculiar last name… only 14 years old, just recently turned…. He passed the exam at 13… his family…"

The dean frowned, and his expression became more solemn. After a while, he tossed the file onto his desk, allowing it to slide toward Teacher Fern.

"Read it."

She did as she was told. Soon, her face was flickering with shock and horror as well.

"An entire city? Who would do such a thing?!"

"Calm down and think about the meaning. You took a boy that doesn't want to be in the spotlight and thrust him into it. He had a perfect score in his Imperial Exam. Do you know what that means?"

How could she not? The Imperial Exam didn't separate the streams. Getting just 20% right was already considered very good.

Getting a perfect score meant that you could already finish the first five basic classes of both the military and political streams with an S grade. That put you just three credits from graduating, three credits that Theron had just earned.

If his goal was to be in the spotlight, he would have long since been.

"This is a silly complaint. How is he going to succeed in the future if he can't handle the spotlight? It's best we get him used to it now."

The dean gave Teacher Fern a level glance, and she seemed to only now realize that she was talking to an expert far beyond her.

"Can you not see something a child can?"

"The academy is perfectly safe!" she defended.

"Is it?"

"Yes!"

The dean shook his head. This woman was too stubborn.

"Not every child needs to have their hand held, Teacher Fern. Micromanaging their every step will only stifle them, and in this case, it will lose you the right to mold them at all.

"This child lost his family and friends in a single tragic accident. Do you think that lightning can strike that many times in one location? Can it even do so twice, let alone thousands of times?

"You've seen how smart this child is. Do you think that he cannot see this? All he knows is that someone powerful is the reason he is now an orphan, and the empire and its nobles have done nothing about it.

"And this is the child you want to trust the system?"

This was the first time that the dean had heard of this incident, and that was a problem that weighed heavily on his chest as well. With his standing in the empire, how could he be out of the loop? Even the details in the report were so vague he could only draw loose, overarching conclusions.

But unlike them, Theron had been there. No obfuscation was going to make him forget.

And from what the dean had heard in today's exchange, he was smart enough to draw even sharper conclusions.

Teacher Fern was at a loss for words as Dean Grey stood to his feet.

"Dean Vermouth has been replaced by a Thistle."

The words seemed to have nothing to do with his first tirade, but they were still enough to make Teacher Fern react as though she had been struck by lightning.

"That's impossible. The Imperial Court would never allow a marquisate to have such power in government and in the academy!"

Thistle Brook was the marquisate of the Thistle Clan. For them to control both the city and the academy was too much. The Nightingale Imperial Family had never allowed such a thing before.

The dean gave her a look that said it had already happened.

"You look at the world from a privileged lens and you've gotten used to it. Not every student here is of great and noble birth. The more you act like they are, the less equal they become.

"You've brought a lot of trouble to the doorstep of this child. I would suggest you keep that in mind and proceed as such."

Teacher Fern fell into silence.