Three days had passed since Lynn regained his freedom from Princess Ivyst's hands.
During these three days, he moved about the manor as if nothing had happened.
While the Princess no longer restricted his freedom, that was all there was to it.
According to Aphia, ever since that night, Her Highness seemed to have become reclusive, locking herself in her study all day.
It was hard to say whether this change was good or bad.
Due to the aftermath of the disaster in Orn City, and with Duke Tierus busy with official duties, reportedly because of frequent invasions from the Demon Clan at the border, Lynn actually found himself with some free time.
Apart from him, the entire manor was immersed in the hustle and bustle of wrapping up the city's reconstruction work.
As a result, the Augusta Family's standing in the city council had received an unprecedented boost, and perhaps before long, they might move up from the Baron's position.
Thus, everyone in the family was deeply grateful for Lynn's kindness.
At present, aside from Princess Ivyst, his status within the manor even surpassed Baron Augusta himself, with everyone showing him sincere admiration.
However, Lynn had no idle time to lead these people.
Though he seemed to be doing nothing, he was actually feeling a bit restless inside, waiting for a response from Ivyst.
Whether his stagnated fate could start moving again hinged on her decision.
Although he was eager to return to the Imperial Capital, Lynn knew that Princess's health was the priority for now.
Therefore, like always, he spent his day in Augusta Manor's library, listlessly flipping through books.
However, sitting opposite him was a blond youth diligently devouring a pile of thick alchemy theories: Glaya Augusta.
"Such great knowledge, makes my ass spin round, abba abba abba..."
Mumbling nonsensical words, he flipped through the pages with a dazed expression.
Seeing this, Lynn gave him a thumbs-up: "I'm really envious of you, making the most of your prime years fighting for your education and knowledge. Go for it, young man."
Glaya's face turned dark: "How about we switch? You want to try this damned Royal Transcendent Academy entrance exam?"
"Forget about it." While picking up a book, Lynn propped his boots on the table and leisurely reclined in his chair, "Dude, I've been kicked out of the academy already; going back would be harder than ascending to heaven."
"Speaking of which, is the stuff you're studying really that hard?"
"Hell yeah!" Glaya nearly lost it, "Not to mention anything else, just take the written exam. They actually demand you write an essay of no less than a thousand words in an hour and a half! I'd rather be eaten by a shark!"
"Are all you people from the Imperial Capital this terrifying?"
Scratching his head, Lynn seemed to be recalling his own illustrious past: "Well, I remember I got hung up on that too, and in the end, I only got in through special admissions."
"How many points did you get on your paper?"
Lynn glanced at him: "Zero."
"What?!" Glaya was shocked, "What on earth did you write?!"
At that, Lynn pondered, "I vaguely remember the topic of that term's paper was 'How to Eliminate Racial Discrimination', and it turns out I misread the prompt."
"What did you read it as?"
"I missed the 'discrimination' part."
Glaya broke out in a cold sweat.
He hesitated to press further, wondering what content had allowed Lynn to fill up those thousand words and just how powerful the Bartleion family's connections were to get a guy with such antisocial tendencies admitted.
So he tried to awkwardly change the subject: "Speaking of which, that family teacher my father hired these past few days is really terrible, always teaching the most useless stuff..."
"Don't talk about yourself like that."
Lynn looked at him, somewhat concerned.
Glaya took a deep breath.
Before he could retort, Lynn seemed to remember something suddenly and casually opened the system.
[Character Name: Glaya Augusta]
[Plot Deviation: 0.00%]
"I take back what I just said," Lynn inhaled sharply after seeing his plot level, "you are indeed useless."
After a bout of frolicking, Lynn successfully made Glaya forget all the alchemy knowledge he had just managed to cram into his head.
Upon realizing this, another round of wailing ensued.
"I shouldn't have studied at the same table with you!" Glaya angrily picked up his books, stood up to leave, and muttered, "Let's end this, no more contact."
"Wait a second." Just then, Lynn called out to him, "The letters I asked you to find, did you get them?"
"I found them, but it looks like your servants all opened and read them."
Mentioning this, Glaya suddenly became serious, and then took out a thick stack of envelopes from his bosom, placing them in front of Lynn.
"OK, now you can scram."
"Is that it—use and discard, huh?"
Once Glaya had left, Lynn finally regained his composure and solemnly looked at the opened envelopes.
Those treacherous servants had all been tortured to death by the exceedingly angry Princess, a pity he wasn't there at the time to extract information about the family.
And with the competence of Ivyst's remaining dimwitted subordinates left in the Imperial Capital, they probably couldn't find out anything too secretive.
Checking the dates, Lynn opened the earliest envelope.
Gazing at the delicate handwriting, he fell silent.