chapter126-Alice

Lucca pov

The next day, I returned to school. Simon had arranged to meet me in the club activity room.

I handed back the club's badge and uniform, bidding him farewell in silence. Simon didn't insist on keeping me, and he even wished me well for the future.

His organization had no shortage of such talents.

I had a feeling I would witness more events like the downtown bombing soon.

However, after the death of my foster parents, I couldn't stand on a moral or righteous pedestal to judge the rightness or wrongness of these extremist actions.

I would no longer be involved.

I didn't want to associate every mission with the painful memory of that funeral. As I left the club, Ethan happened to return from outside.

"Are you okay? I heard you were sick again recently," Ethan said, looking quite surprised to see me.

"I'm fine," I coughed.

Ethan could tell that a significant change had occurred in me. I appeared more fragile and sickly on the outside, but my inner strength and determination were stronger than ever.

I was more resolute than I had ever been.

"By the way, are you going to visit the students this weekend?" I asked Ethan.

Ethan paused for a moment and replied, "I'm sorry..."

Since becoming the student council president, he had become exceptionally busy, rarely participating in club activities, let alone extra activities like "educating black-haired kids."

I smiled nonchalantly and said, "That's okay; I'll take care of the ones you're responsible for."

I turned and walked away, leaving Ethan watching my disappearing figure in the drizzling rain. I realized that planning blueprints like Ethan or being an unattached leader like Simon weren't suitable for me.

I had finally come to understand that I was an ordinary practitioner, inherently inclined towards practicality.

Rather than crafting elaborate plans or running for student council president, I was better suited for doing tangible, hands-on tasks.

Teaching black-haired kids to read, finding ways to get them vaccinated, using my own money to buy books for them—these were the things I wanted to do. Perhaps they were small, seemingly insignificant deeds, but they were actions I could convince my own conscience were meaningful.

Maybe they would create a far-reaching, butterfly effect-like impact.

"Luca, wait!" I heard a voice and turned back in the rain. Ethan was calling from the stairs. "You're already amazing!

Academically and mentally, you're incredibly strong! I truly admire you!"

I smiled at him, waved, and walked away under my umbrella. They had once been caught in a cold standoff, faced disagreements, but now, it seemed like everything had resolved itself.

As the end of the semester approached, I was almost settling into this new way of life.

With summer approaching, I tried to secure an opportunity to visit the Republic Pack for an exchange.

However, Vincent outright refused.

I felt quite unhappy. Vincent's autocratic decisions reminded me of my "rogue" status. Though I never admitted it, and Vincent rarely brought it up, in the pack, right now, being a rogue meant having no citizenship.

My "owner" could decide whether I stayed or left.

After the international exchange plan fell through, Vincent and I entered another cold war period. In early July, Rino finished school, and it seemed he had no plans to return home.

Raffle often complained to me, saying that his mother's temper had worsened because her marriage to Vincent was becoming increasingly strained, and her beloved youngest son was not coming to visit.

"She sees a psychologist every week," Raffle told me in a text.

"But I recently found out she's using the psychologist as an excuse to consult a divorce lawyer."

I felt I shouldn't breathe a sigh of relief at this news. Even if Vincent were to get a divorce, he could never marry me. It would be a complete undermining of everything I had fought for.

Stepping back even further, even if Vincent were to lose his mind and propose to me, I couldn't accept it. This kind of legal contract was simply mocking all my struggles.

I calmed my emotions and decided not to dwell on these matters of love and relationships. After the summer, I would enter the final two years of my university education, facing many important decisions. Like internships, my thesis, and what to do after graduation.

I wanted to continue my studies and become a research-oriented scholar like Gloria.

Since Vincent had rejected my summer exchange, he was now actively supporting my other plans. He said he could help arrange things with my graduate advisor.

"I can handle it myself," I refused angrily.

"I've already discussed it with Dr. Frank!"

"Are you planning to pursue a Ph.D. then? I can help with that too," Vincent tried to salvage the situation.

"I want to do my Ph.D. abroad!" I yelled at him in frustration.

"Can you make me study abroad with Rino? Obviously not!"

Vincent's reluctance wasn't about the "summer exchange" itself. He simply felt that the Republic Pack was too far away, and it would be inconvenient for him to travel abroad. Not being able to see me for two whole months was something he couldn't accept.

So, saying that I wanted to do my Ph.D. abroad was even more unacceptable to him.

Vincent continued to try to reason, "I think the educational conditions in the pack are not inferior to those abroad."

"Speaking of educational conditions," I calmed down, "Where will Alice go to school?"

Vincent advocated for homeschooling, but if he told me that "Alice will stay at home for her education," I would certainly think he disliked Alice, didn't want her to be in the public eye, and perhaps wished to hide her away from the world.

Vincent had even prepared an explanation, "Rino was homeschooled from a young age, and I believe it's the best way for his growth."

But he still didn't dare to take the risk.

So, he cautiously asked me, "What do you think?"

"I'm asking for your opinion!" I retorted angrily.

"I..." Vincent thought for a long time, almost using the same mental effort he put into solving problems when he used to eat with Shelter at the same table. "Do you think public school is better, or private school, or homeschooling?"

This time, I fell silent.

My angry tone gradually softened, "I genuinely want to know your opinion... you don't have to be so careful."

Vincent straightforwardly told me, "I hope Alice can receive homeschooling or attend a private school."

"Then let's go for a private school," I agreed, "Rino and Raffle have given me a bias against homeschooling and public schools."

During the two-month summer break, Vincent spent every spare moment poring over school guides.

He had never thought of himself as suffering from analysis paralysis before.

But after raising two less-than-successful boys, choosing the first school for a third potentially troublesome mixed-race girl became a major dilemma.

Now, members of the upper house went to the palace for small gatherings, and Vincent would attentively listen to their discussions about family matters. Who had enrolled their son in what school, who had hired which tutor for their daughter, and so on.

In the end, he decided to choose a school that was closest to home.

Alice had dyed her hair a beautiful shade of golden brown before starting school, and she liked the color a lot, so I refrained from criticizing Vincent in front of her.

Luna Nataly's maid was responsible for picking her up from school.

I also taught her a few things.

However, Alice showed no interest in my stethoscope or white coat.

She preferred learning to draw with Luna Nataly.

Apparently, she had some artistic talent, although I couldn't see it at all.