Chapter 123.2 (1/2)

(3)

Hugo rummaged through his drawer looking for something then he found an envelope deep inside his bottom drawer. It was something he had kept for safe-keeping, but he couldn’t remember what it was, so he took out the envelope and brought out the document inside. On the signature panel, was his wife’s penmanship, renouncing her parental right.

Hugo looked at the document with an odd expression and laughed. Even thought it seemed like a long time ago, the events of that day flashed through his mind, vividly, as if it were an event from yesterday.

Among the documents he had received in exchange for establishing the contract, was the consent form that was used when Damian was being processed into the family register. When they were rushing to the North the next day after their bridal night, Hugo had only handed Jerome the documents for entering Damian into the family registry.

And so, since that day, the document where she renounced her parental right had remained untouched in his office drawer in the capital.

‘I wonder why I didn’t take this.’

The parental right renouncement document was more important that the consent form for the family register. Without a renouncement of custody, Damian’s mother on paper would be able to exercise full rights to the child after he was entered into the registry.

He didn’t know why he didn’t take it at the time and hand it over to Jerome to take to Roam. It was something he had done but he couldn’t remember what he was thinking when he did it.

Hugo put the document back into the envelope. The document wasn’t needed anymore. Damian and Evangeline were both her children, entirely. He couldn’t take the rights to her children away from her, for any reason.

He thought about tearing it then he heard Fabian’s voice from outside the door and pushed it to the side of his desk.

Fabian came in, submitted his report and began to report on some unique matters.

“Young master Damian departs in three days.”

“And how are we with putting his name on the list of those boarding the gate?”

There were three gates in the city-state of Philarch, where the Academy was located, and compared to the number of students at the Academy, they were very few people that were able to board them. Due to this, when royal descendants or high-ranking nobles enrolled in the school, they also purchased the right to utilize the gate.

The Academy sold the passes for utilizing the gate at an enormous price, but they were still swamped with applicants, so they held lotteries.

In the middle of the semester, there was less personnel boarding the gates so one was able to go through without purchasing a pass. However, at the start of the vacation which was flooded with users, only those on the boarding list could use the gates.

Most students left Philarch for the nearest country and boarded the gate there. With that method, it took at least three days to get to the gate.

When Damian enrolled in the Academy, he did not apply for a pass to use the gate. He assumed that there wouldn’t be any reason for him to go home until graduation. However, the situation had changed.

Lucia was frequently thinking of calling Damian home during vacation. Since he could only go out for limited number of days out of year, it was easier for him use the gate than going back and forth. Fortunately, even if a student was boarding at the dorms, it wasn’t mandatory to take a session during vacation.

“The passes will be sold next year, after the new school year starts so I will send in an application.” (Fabian)

Although it was said to be a lottery, there were dealing behind the door. In fact, it was almost no different from an auction. You just had to call out a high price and buy it.

“And concerning what Your Grace mentioned before, we have finished talks with the Count about enrolling Bruno Matin, the youngest son of Count Matin in the Academy.”

After Lucia asked him for a favor, Hugo looked into getting the divorced Countess of Matin to take her son, Bruno, back with her. The eldest son, who succeeded the Count of Matin, had no objections to his youngest brother being taken away by his biological mother. The problem was the Countess.

The Countess had chosen remarriage over her son. Hugo didn’t want bother Lucia so he didn’t tell her that the Countess had remarried when she got back to her parent’s home.

In his own way, Hugo did as much as he could. However, Bruno was his wife’s benefactor, even if that was just in the dream, so he felt uncomfortable not repaying the favor.

He wondered what he could help with and as he was investigating here and there, he remembered his wife saying that in her dream, Bruno had been kicked out of the Academy.

That fact was strange. The Academy’s tuition cost an arm and a leg. It was not likely for the Count of Matin to cough up such a huge sum to get his rebellious son out of his sight. After investigating, Hugo found out an interesting fact.

The father of the late Count Matin had invested into the establishment of the Academy and obtained the right to full scholarship for the next three generations of his family.