Early February, KY411.
When Roxy woke up that morning, she felt something subtly off.
Could it be… they were planning to celebrate her one-month anniversary as a teacher?
Was it something good?
In any case, perhaps because her mood was so low, even Rudeus didn’t avoid her.
Instead, he greeted her cheerfully:
“Good morning.
Did you sleep well last night, Teacher Roxy?”
Roxy, who had already convinced herself she would be dismissed today, forced a small smile and replied politely:
“Good morning, Rudeus.
Thank you for your concern.”
She had no energy left to entertain hopeful possibilities.
She dragged herself to the table, absentmindedly thinking about how she could leave later—with dignity, with grace.
At that moment, Zenith came over, carrying breakfast soup, her face full of cheer as she greeted her warmly:
“Then, Gawain… not telling me in advance about the move—was that just so you could watch me make a fool of myself?”
Roxy finally blurted it out.
Her voice wavered at the end, somewhere between anger and embarrassment, as if even she couldn’t fully commit to the accusation.
Gawain looked at her, his expression as flat as ever.
“No.”
A simple, immediate denial.
“There was no such intent.
I assumed the adults had already informed you.”
He paused slightly, then added with the same calm tone:
“Given the level of coordination displayed so far, that assumption was evidently incorrect.”
Rudeus immediately covered his face.
Yeah… that tracks.
Roxy froze.
“…So that’s it?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No guilt.
No attempt to soften it.
Just a clean, clinical answer.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to be angry or relieved.
Then—
“Pfft…”
A small sound slipped out.
Roxy hurriedly covered her mouth, but it was too late.
It started as a faint chuckle… then another… and before long, she was laughing outright.
Not the restrained, polite kind.
A genuine, slightly messy laugh.
“…What am I even doing…”
She muttered between breaths, shoulders trembling.
All that spiraling.
All that overthinking.
All that despair—
And the truth was this simple?
Rudeus scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Yeah… you kinda went full self-destruct mode there, sensei.”
“Don’t say it like that!”
Roxy shot back reflexively, but there was no real bite to it anymore.
She exhaled slowly, the tension in her body finally loosening.
“…I really was just overthinking everything.”
“No,” Gawain corrected.
“You were attempting to solve a problem beyond your current capacity while lacking sufficient information, then constructing conclusions based on incomplete premises.”
Rudeus groaned.
“Can you not turn emotional breakdowns into research papers?!”
But Roxy didn’t argue this time.
Instead, she lowered her gaze slightly, then straightened her posture.
“…Still.”
Her voice was quieter now, but steadier.
“I was wrong.”
She looked at Gawain directly.
“For taking out my frustration on you.”
Gawain tilted his head slightly.
“I was not affected.”
“That’s not the point!”
Roxy snapped instinctively—then stopped, took a breath, and corrected herself.
“…Whether you were affected or not doesn’t change the fact that I did it.”
There was a brief silence.
Then Gawain nodded.
“…Understood.”
That was it.
No grand acceptance.
No dramatic resolution.
Just acknowledgment.
Strangely enough, that felt… sufficient.
Roxy let out another breath, this time lighter.
“…Then, I’ll continue.”
“Continue?” Rudeus blinked.
“As your teacher.”
She placed a hand on her chest, as if reaffirming it to herself.
“I may not have all the answers.
I may not be able to solve those problems right now.”
“But I can still teach what I do know.”
“And… I can learn the rest alongside you.”
There was no arrogance in her voice this time.
Just quiet resolve.
Gawain studied her for a moment, then gave a small nod.
“That is acceptable.”
Rudeus grinned.
“Welcome back, sensei.”
Roxy clicked her tongue lightly, but a faint smile tugged at her lips.
“…Don’t get too smug.”
The wind passed over the open field, gentle and steady.
For the first time in days—
No, in weeks—
Roxy felt like she could finally breathe.
“Good morning, Roxy-sensei, how is your luggage packing going?
Do you need Lilia and me to help?”
Lug… luggage…!
So everyone already knows I’m about to be kicked out?!
Ugh, at least don’t look so happy about it!
I clearly felt that everyone in the Greyrat household had been very friendly and tolerant lately.
Even Lady Zenith, a follower of Millis, never excluded or discriminated against me as a demon, and I even felt honored and at ease because of it…
So… so it turns out!
Lady Zenith, are you the type who acts?!
The first time someone I myself thought was amazing acknowledged me, the first time I was accepted and treated warmly by such a gentle family.
Why… did it end up like this…
Roxy almost wanted to die, but she still politely and with difficulty declined:
”It’s fine… it’s fine, I don’t have much, I can pack it up right away.”
After Lilia finished assigning everyone their tableware, the knight returned from the yard with his sword on his shoulder.
Usually frivolous, when he saw her, he actually showed a very serious and regretful expression:
”Come to think of it, Roxy-sensei is moving out today, right?
It’s all because that brat Gawain keeps messing around.
I’ll definitely help you teach him a lesson later.”
S-So in the end, I didn’t even make it to the execution ground before the executioner dealt with me on his own?!
At least listen to my defense!
Roxy’s face turned pitch-black, like an unfortunate graduate student whose thesis was rejected in internal review before even entering the defense stage.
She could only operate on instinct:
”No need for that, thank you for your concern, Sir Knight.”
At this point, everyone could tell that Roxy-sensei was in a very bad state.
Zenith, who had been in a great mood since morning, immediately came out of the kitchen again and asked worriedly:
”Roxy-sensei, are you feeling unwell?
Why not skip today’s lesson?
Eat something and I’ll take you to the clinic, how about that?”
Roxy’s face grew even worse.
What?
You won’t even let me teach on my last day?
Rudeus had been observing the whole time.
He put the ball he had barely played with back in place, washed his hands, and sat down at his seat.
After giving his worried parents a look, he looked toward the blue-haired girl with the braid across from him and comforted gently:
”Although I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, Roxy-sensei, it’s definitely not what you’re imagining.”
Hearing Rudeus’s voice, Roxy instinctively raised her volume:
”What do you understand?”
Rudeus immediately shrank back as if suppressed by bloodline.
As expected, when it’s a teacher, it just doesn’t work!
Damn it, if I keep staying under the same roof as this person, my puberty development won’t even arrive, will it?!
But after avoiding it for a moment, Rudeus still decided to stand up for Gawain, at least for a little while.
When Roxy-sensei first moved into the house, Rudeus had no intention of getting along with her.
After all, even if she looked cute, she was still an invading enemy—who told her to look so arrogant and dissatisfied with Gawain.
Even though Rudeus didn’t have the courage to directly clash with Roxy-sensei, he still insisted on showing a bad attitude, not giving way when passing by, and ignoring her in private encounters.
However, these things seemed to have no effect on Roxy-sensei at all.
But Rudeus wasn’t a bad person after all.
Even though he didn’t see any results and didn’t know whether he had conveyed his intent to the invader, he didn’t escalate his hostility.
Until Roxy-sensei started actively attacking him, even attacking Gawain.
To be honest, at first Rudeus didn’t know whether he should fight back.
After all, he had started it, even if it was more like childish sulking.
But he knew himself—he had the soul of an adult.
But gradually, Rudeus also clearly understood that Roxy-sensei was just venting her anger on him, even venting it on Gawain.
That kind of behavior—attacking others to protect oneself—was something Rudeus, a former shut-in, was all too familiar with.
So, he got angry.
‘You’re stronger than me, right?
Stronger than my past self, right?
Then why are you being so pathetic?’
That was one reason.
‘Taking it out on me is one thing, but why take it out on Gawain?
He’s really just a child under five years old!’
That was another reason.
Thus, Rudeus argued with Roxy-sensei several times at home, but his parents would always intervene, causing him to quickly lose the courage to resist again.
‘Paul and Zenith intervening, and what they said, weren’t wrong.
The one in the wrong is me, because I’m a worthless NEET who forcibly entered this body.
They don’t know my true nature, so of course they can’t understand why I’m arguing with Roxy-sensei.’
’But in the end, Roxy-sensei and I are the same age, we’re peers!
Yet sometimes she’s even more childish than me, a worthless NEET.
Maybe it’s due to her race, giving her a kind of anime girl charm, but this is the real world after all!
Any “charm point” just becomes troublesome.’
Rudeus no longer had the courage to educate Roxy-sensei, and he also figured it out—this wasn’t his responsibility.
He was just a bystander who happened to understand the cause and effect.
Although earlier, he had subconsciously wanted to help Roxy-sensei, like how he once tried to save someone from a runaway truck.
But Rudeus also understood—he couldn’t help her.
Just like himself, what she desired was Gawain’s recognition, so all he could do was point out the direction for her to step out of her self-imposed room:
”I of course understand what you’re thinking.
Go talk to Gawain later, and you’ll understand.
Roxy-sensei, you’re just drilling into a dead end by yourself.”
Roxy wanted to slam the table and scold him again.
Point at Rudeus’s nose and call him self-righteous.
But that was only in her imagination.
She sat there, saying nothing.
She didn’t eat breakfast either.