My older sister is a villainous rich girl

Wayne unexpectedly refused. "I have no curiosity about secrets themselves, nor are those truths something I'm eager to know. So, to avoid unnecessary trouble, please, Chairman, take the time to get them yourself."

Harold seemed surprised by his reaction and asked in confusion, "What? We've already come this far, don't you really want to take a look?"

"No need, do whatever you want with it."

"Just give me the key to the secret room as agreed beforehand."

Wayne paused slightly, then said, "I hope you haven't lied to me, and that the secret room does indeed contain the information I need."

He wouldn't want to get involved in these complicated matters if it weren't for wanting to understand the underlying entanglements between light magic and dark magic.

Even without conclusive evidence, Wayne could glean some suspicious activity simply from the actions of those involved. Ever since that day in Marseille, Richard seemed to be constantly battling something.

He acted out of character, even to the point of being unreasonable, demanding immediate and severe punishment for the criminals. To an uninformed person, it might seem as if he had some personal grudge against those people.

However, Peggy's current fate is clearly not the result he wanted.

With the intervention of some force, not only did the situation he had initially controlled not develop as he wished, but even Bulwer and the entire city guard joined the camp that was subtly suppressing him. Richard was very unwilling to accept this, but unfortunately, he did not have a sufficiently powerful means of countermeasure.

It's actually quite easy to guess who's behind all this.

If that's the case, then there's even less reason to jump into someone else's palm and be scrutinized.

What good would knowing do? It would be better not to know.

Harold stared at him for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"Do you think that just because you don't go and see, people will believe you really know nothing?" He chuckled slyly. "From the moment you agreed to appear in my name, you were already implicitly considered someone who knew..."

Wayne: ?

"You plotted against me?" Wayne suddenly realized.

"No, no, no, how can this be called scheming? This is to lay a solid foundation for our future cooperation."

His expression looked anything but malicious.

Harold leaned on the table and stood up from behind his desk: "Come with me, I'll take you to that secret room first... Ouch~ my legs are a little numb from sitting for so long."

Watching him limp away, Wayne turned back to look at the books on his desk.

Notes on Ancient Local Legends of Lornes

After hesitating for two seconds, he followed after them.

It was currently during the school's regular class time, and there were very few teachers and staff loitering outside. Even those few people who happened to be on the street generally looked rushed and busy with their own affairs. Even if they spotted the school's chairman, they would only bow slightly in greeting from afar before continuing with their own business.

From the perspective of the school's management, it is very gratifying to see everyone working so diligently.

Prior to this, Wayne was able to escape from his homeroom teacher thanks to a leave slip approved by the chairman himself.

"What do you think of this academy?" Harold strolled leisurely along the tree-lined main road, his demeanor as relaxed and carefree as if he were taking a walk after dinner.

Wayne was caught off guard by the broad question he had suddenly posed and didn't know how to give a proper answer.

After a moment of silence, he gave a somewhat vague assessment: "It's a good place to cultivate talent."

"Is that all?" Harold pressed.

Upon hearing this, Wayne didn't want to continue the conversation and instead asked, "Isn't this enough?"

The only fundamental task of a school is to cultivate talent.

Harold shook his head.

"This might be true for a regular academy, but for Seiki Academy, it's far from enough."

He said with emotion, "Every flower, every blade of grass, every brick and stone here can be said to have been built with the combined efforts of the entire nation..."

Turning his palm down and brushing it across the branches that had begun to sprout at the top of the roadside ornamental bushes, Chairman Harold now resembled an old gardener full of pride in the plants he had cultivated.

"Although we can charge you high tuition fees as a supplement, most of the funding actually comes from the kingdom's treasury."

...Don't make it sound so obvious that you're exploiting students.

However, he could understand the implication behind Harold's words.

"Are you saying that Qingxi Academy controls too many resources, and therefore is required by the outside world to generate enough revenue?"

That makes some sense. However, even from the perspective of talent cultivation alone, the high investment in Seiki Academy has not been wasted.

Indeed, there are privileged children here who just drift through each day.

But those who leave here are more often outstanding magicians who go on to shine in all walks of life in the kingdom.

With the widespread development of the academic teaching model, other magic academies have been established within the Kingdom of Lornes, but none of them can compare with Qingxi Academy in any way.

“That’s only one aspect,” Harold tacitly agreed with his statement.

"Resources, in other words, are interests. And once interests are involved, many things become more complicated."

Following Harold into a very secluded path, even Wayne had no idea what "special" place could be in this seemingly deserted corner.

Harold stopped in front of an unassuming little house.

He took out a very ordinary key from his pocket, turned it a few times, and slowly pushed open the plain iron gate.

“The kingdom has its interests, the monarch has his interests, and our Seiki Academy—of course, also has its own interests that belong only to the academy.”

What greeted Wayne's eyes was a row of transparent display cases filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items.

Among them are books and documents, handicrafts, certificates and trophies... Some are exquisite, some are rough, and there are even strange items that look like some kind of insect specimen.

They were neatly arranged in various compartments of different sizes, crowded but not messy.

Chapter 599 Every action leaves a trace

"To be honest, you should be the first outsider invited to visit this secret room after it came into my possession."

Harold casually closed the door and said with a rather reserved air.

"...Should I feel honored?"

Looking around at the furnishings, Wayne felt that this place looked more like Harold's personal storage room than a secret room passed down through generations.

Perhaps sensing his inner grumbling, Harold cleared his throat.

As the saying goes, the most ordinary and common things are the easiest to deceive people.

He stepped forward and touched the outer frame of the display case, his tone self-assured: "It's precisely because I've added many personal items here that no one will suspect anything even if others find out I'm always here."

Hey, this is just a smokescreen.

Wayne glanced at him with a hint of suspicion.

Perhaps because he finally had someone to share his enjoyment with, Harold enthusiastically introduced his collection.

"Look! This is the certificate I received when I led the club to first place in the school council."

He pointed to the exhibits on the top floor, his usual languid demeanor completely gone, replaced by a spirited air. "Back then, I was also the president of the Lily Society."

Wayne was taken aback by what he heard. He had never heard anyone mention that the chairman was his senior.

Although the basic information of each Lily Festival is recorded and archived, it is highly unlikely that anyone would be so idle as to consult the almanac.

But after thinking it over carefully, he felt relieved.

The Lily Club at the academy is actually a club formed by the heirs of the kingdom's top noble families. For ordinary students, joining is extremely difficult, but for those who meet certain standards, becoming a member of the Lily Club is a natural thing.

Although I haven't specifically looked into Harold's background, given that he gained recognition from all sides and successfully took over as the head of the academy's board of directors, he certainly couldn't be that bad.

Therefore, it's not hard to imagine that he was very prominent in his youth.

As he recalled those past events, Harold seemed to fall into a reverie.

"Back then, your teacher Conley and I were both taken in as disciples by the previous chairman because we had some talent in magical research."

Wayne: !

No wonder these two always seemed to be colluding in private; Harold's words cleared up a long-standing question in Wayne's mind.

So it turns out you two are fellow disciples?

“In many ways, Conley and I are quite similar. But there is one thing I have to admit: in terms of talent and unwavering passion for the study of magic, I am far inferior to him.”

He sighed, “Perhaps this is why my teacher appointed me to take over as chairman of the board.”

"With me handling the school's affairs... Conley won't be burdened by those chores and worries, and can concentrate on his hobbies."

Wayne fell silent.

This statement seemed to carry a hint of complaint, yet Harold's expression showed no sign of dejection.

Out of respect for the other party, who could be considered his elder, Wayne gently comforted him, "Could it be that the previous chairman simply thought you were better at handling school affairs than Professor Conley?"

Given Conley's condition...

If he really becomes the chairman of the school's board of directors, he might be able to secretly sell off school assets and use the ill-gotten gains for research and invention.

—Tsk, that kind of assumption is terrifying.

Harold tilted his head and looked at him with some surprise: "So that's what you think?"

He then laughed and said, "But those things are all in the past now. I only feel a little resentful when I bring them up now."

"As you know, Qingxi Academy is a very special place for the Kingdom of Lornes."

As he spoke, Harold's expression became a little more serious.

"—In this small area, neither His Majesty the King nor any law in the world shall yield to us."

Wayne's eyebrows twitched.

The word "we" feels ambiguous here.

“This is the inherent right of Qingxi Academy, it is a matter of course.” He looked at Wayne with a deep gaze.

"It was like this before. It will always be like this in the future."

For a moment, everything went quiet.

But in the end, Wayne couldn't help but argue, "You shouldn't be saying these things to me."

He never intended to deprive people of these so-called "inherent rights".

Rather, he didn't actually approve of this kind of exceptionalism; however, history proved that something that could endure must have its own rationality, and the privileges enjoyed by the academy did indeed bring many benefits to the kingdom in a certain sense.

Even if it were to be abolished someday, it wouldn't seem to concern him. After all, he wasn't the king, and it wasn't his place to worry about it.

The chairman smiled, seemingly unconcerned by his detached tone.

“You are the current president of the Lily Society, and your interests are deeply intertwined with those of the academy.” He turned around and walked along the horizontally arranged counter to the other side.

This transparent display case, which resembles a wall, effectively separates the inner and outer spaces of this "secret room".

Inside the room, light and shadow are projected through several skylights covered with stained glass, creating a unique and interesting visual experience.

"Besides, you're Conley's disciple, which is practically the same as being half a disciple of mine..."

“Wait a minute, this equation is clearly invalid, isn’t it?” Wayne protested.

Harold said slyly, "Why can't it work? I haven't taken on any disciples."

"Besides, didn't I tell you before that what you think about some things isn't important? What matters most is how others see them."

He continued to deduce this robber's logic: "By this logic, protecting the academy's interests is naturally protecting your own interests—therefore, you should help me."

Wayne's lips twitched.

Good grief, you've gone through all that trouble. You might as well have just said, "Please help me."

Seeing that Wayne had nothing to say, Harold plopped down on the deck chair by the window, the chair swaying back and forth due to gravity and inertia.

“I need to get the evidence,” he said. “And I also need to use this to warn some people that this kind of thing is absolutely not allowed to happen, no matter what the purpose is.”

"So you knew what was going on from the beginning, didn't you?" Wayne couldn't help but ask.

It seems my investigation at the city guard station was just a formality, merely Harold's way of sending certain signals...

“Yes,” Harold said, as if joking or self-deprecatingly. “I’m not a fool who’s blind and deaf. Anyone who’s paying attention can notice the shifts in the wind in the capital.”

"Every action leaves a trace."

Chapter 600 Grabbing Someone's Lack of Wisdom