Pendleton Revolution - Chapter 1.7

Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,

I originally thought the Academy was where the precious progeny of cultured families gathered, so I wasn’t confident I would be able to adapt to the environment. However, was school always this kind of place? Or did I select my major incorrectly?

This is Andie Julinas, who, due to various circumstances, has beaten up thirty-four people in the last fortnight. You know, these bastards must have found me easy because they would mock me every time we met. While it is disrespectful for me to talk in this manner about my peers, there isn’t a single bastard worth something amongst them. Every morning when I head to class and every night when I return to the dorms, wherever I go, people line up to challenge me.

Since it has come to this, I intend to reach fifty and become famous. Of course, I’ve restrained myself from killing in order not to stain your honor, so please watch over me and rest easy.

***

Andie Julinas was one of the few orphans who knew who her parents were. She had entered the orphanage in a slightly different manner than most children, abandoned at the orphanage door or wandering about, lost, after the death of their parents from either famine or disease. Even then, she was not some tragic aristocrat’s bastard or something of that manner.

It was said that her unnamed father was a pirate. He appeared to have been rather infamous in his prime. While it was uncertain just how great of a pirate he was, he was an infamous villain known for receiving the death sentence in the Krembell Empire, whose upper brass tended to avoid handing out executions. For a long while, it was even rumored that he was able to break bones with his bare hands. At this point, it would be reasonable for him to star in horror stories. Andie did not wish to pry into the details of her father’s past.

Her unnamed mother was also a ruffian that held the Capital within her hands. While the sisters did not speak of Andie’s parents much, considering that there was not a single person within the Royal Palace who wouldn’t recognize her mother’s name, it was thought that her mother was something like the former boss of the underground world.

From what she had heard, her mother appeared to have been a master of guns, swords, and the production of poisons and drugs. However, in her late years, she received a life sentence and was imprisoned in the isolated penitentiary of Castle Musula, where the worst of the worst criminals were sent. The reason her mother had not been sentenced to death was due to lack of solid evidence of her cruel and base methods. Just as with her father, Andie did not wish to pry into the details of her mother’s past.

Castle Musula was an island prison that contained only the most vicious criminals. Only one or two ships would visit the island per week, and the place was infamous, for while one could enter, they could never leave the prison. While it was hard to ascertain how one possibly could have gotten pregnant in such a place, the villain of the century met yet another villain of the century at Castle Musula, fell in love, and gave birth to a child.

That very child was Andie Julinas. Since her mother was serving a life sentence, and her father had been given a death sentence, the child became an orphan with no place to stay. Even the fact that she was easily accepted into the Capital’s best orphanage, Calabastas, was not merely the result of good fortune. All those who knew Andie Julinas’s parents proposed that raising this child properly would be the biggest accomplishment that modern educational institutions could hope to achieve, and between the Great Agneta Abbey and Sister Agneta, the Calabastas Home was selected after a series of strict screenings.

If this could be counted as a relief, it was certainly a relief. Andie Julinas grew up into a healthy, youthful girl without a wrinkle of darkness. But her bloodline didn’t fool anyone, as she was gifted with a large, strong build, but, as she used her strength to help out with labor-intensive work around the orphanage, no one complained. Be it from her father or perhaps her mother, her personality was impatient and fiery, but it was within the limits of permissibility. Only after watching over Andie Julinas till her sixteenth birthday, did the head of the orphanage, Martina, let out a sigh of relief and wipe her sweat.

In any case, Andie Julinas, who had grown up in such an environment, held onto three values: first, be virtuous; second, abide by the law; and third, adhere to justice. In conclusion, she grew up into a sort of chivalrous knight that only appeared in novels.

Every knight had a lady. In Andy Julinas’s case, her lady was her childhood friend Maria Hellegen. That very lady was a child with the most unique status and story amongst all of the children of the Calabastas Home.

Maria was a beautiful girl with exquisite, doll-like features and long, wavy hair that rippled down her shoulders. The distinct mole upon her perfect nose only served to further highlight her beauty. While she had porcelain skin, slim arms and legs, and a face that unconsciously exuded a sexy aura, Maria had a grace and dignity that was difficult to express about her. Her jewel-like blue eyes often shone with an odd sense of loneliness.

According to rumors, 19 years ago, an unnamed, unidentified aristocratic lady, who was entirely covered up by some higher power, was suddenly sent to and locked up at the Agneta Abbey. The child that lady gave birth to in the abbey was Maria Hellegen. After Maria was born, her mother suffered before succumbing to illness while imprisoned in the high towers of the abbey.

The Kingpin Sister…… no, the head of the orphanage had let it slip only to Andie Julinas, and according to her words, it was said that the aristocrat abandoned at Agneta Abbey had been sexually assaulted which led to an unwanted pregnancy, but there were too many suspicious points in her story for Andie to believe the sister’s explanation word-for-word. And considering some unknown higher power had imprisoned people in order to keep it a secret, and even that person’s identity couldn’t be confirmed, then how could it be of normal circumstances?

Not only did the head of the orphanage prevent Maria from straying from the village like the other children without permission, but also when guests arrived at the orphanage, she would hide Maria in some hidden room far inside the building. Whenever prospective patrons came to receive a list of children for their secret patron play, she always only took out Maria’s information before handing it over. No matter how one looked at it, it was truly suspicious.

That wasn’t the end of it. Unlike the other children, Maria grew up almost imprisoned in a tower deep and high in the orphanage. Until her request to share a room with Andie Julinas after her sixteenth birthday had passed and she received the stamp of approval (or in other words, she’d grown up ‘well,’) only Maria had her own room.

Naturally, the children, who were about the same age and remained at the orphanage, came to put forth several hypotheses concerning Maria’s identity. While it wasn’t something Maria minded, it was expected for young children to be well-versed in understanding and being mindful of another’s circumstances, situations, and emotions. The amount of difficulties and grief that she had to suffer in her early years was something only Maria herself knew.

Just then, a shining knight atop a white horse arrived. “Maria’s Prince,” who quickly subdued the older children, younger children, and her peers, dealing punishment in forehead flicks for gossiping about Maria, was none other than Andie Julinas.

To the young Maria, she appeared more handsome and cool than anybody else in the entire world. The incredibly shy and vigilant Maria followed Andie from that point onwards, and Andie became proud, thanks to Maria’s unwavering trust. Naturally, they developed a close bond, and now they were best friends, often teasing each other and laying in bed together to chat all night.

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