Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 190

Extran 10. True Revenge (190/200)

2024.02.06.

Terun pondered for a long time without answering. Sarah swallowed hard, waiting for him to speak.

“Sarah, of course, I’ll help. But I think someone else would be more helpful than I would.”

“Who?”

As Sarah asked, Terun pulled the bell cord, and James appeared instantly.

“James, bring Oliver here.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“I gave Oliver some life advice yesterday.”

“Pfft!”

Leah spat out her tea, startled.

It wasn’t that she was disregarding Terun, but the fact that he had given life advice was simply amusing. He was, after all, still competing with Emperor Karl over cars like a child.

“L.E.A.H.”

Terun glared at Leah with a cold, stern face. Leah quickly put down her teacup and waved her hand.

“No, I just choked.”

“Really?”

“Y-Yes. Don’t misunderstand.”

Leah made excuses with great difficulty. Fortunately, Oliver appeared just in time, and Terun’s attention shifted.

“You called, Your Grace?”

“Yes, about the story you told me yesterday. Tell it again.”

At Terun’s words, Oliver looked around, a troubled expression on his face.

“There are ladies present, so I’m not sure about such harsh stories…”

“Oh my! Our Oliver is so cute!”

Leah was proud that Oliver was considerate of her and Sarah.

*When did he grow up to be such a sturdy young man? Is this how parents feel when they see their grown-up son?*

On the other hand, Sarah was looking forward to what Oliver would say. There must be a good reason why Terun was so insistent.

“Oliver, sit here and talk.”

Sarah pointed to the chair opposite her and placed a teacup in front of it.

Oliver sat down, took a sip of tea, and cleared his throat.

“Actually, I’ve been volunteering. Currently, I’m teaching children in a rural school in Galdenia how to read, but there are quite a few problems.”

It might not seem like a big deal to the adults, but Oliver’s expression was very serious.

“There are children ranging from five to fifteen years old. Being orphans is a given, and they also steal, pickpocket, set fires, and fight. In severe cases, some have even killed people. Of course, it wasn’t intentional; it happened while trying to escape parental abuse.”

At Oliver’s words, Sarah’s expressionless face became wet with tears.

Just hearing his words, she could vividly picture how those unfortunate children were living. Leah handed Sarah a handkerchief.

“Thank you, Miss.”

“Are you alright?”

Oliver asked worriedly, concerned that Sarah was crying.

“Keep going, Oliver.”

“The problem is that no teacher wants to stay at that reformatory [a type of school for young offenders]. Even the students who occasionally volunteer can’t last a day and run away.”

“Is it because the children are rough and wild?”

Sarah spoke as if she understood the situation well.

“Yes, that’s right. So, the children who don’t receive proper education go out into society at the age of sixteen and repeat the vicious cycle of committing crimes again.”

Only then did Sarah realize why Terun had told her to listen to Oliver’s story.

Above all, she herself was from an orphanage, so she knew all too well how miserable those young children’s lives were.

“I also used to pickpocket before I met my master.”

Sarah began to tell her story in a calm tone.

If she hadn’t had a savior named Richard Hamilton, she would have been wandering the bottom rungs of society by now.

That’s why she knew that learning and relationships were the most important things for people.

Sarah quietly turned her head and looked at Terun.

He unfolded his crossed legs and said with a serious expression.

“It’s also a way to have bad guys teach bad kids.”

“I would oppose immoral people teaching children.”

Leah was willing to grant Sarah’s requests as much as possible from the beginning, but entrusting the lives of children to Allen…

“Miss, he is repenting. He is not the Allen McDowell of the past. And I think it would be a great gain even if he only taught the children how to read.”

“Grace, I agree with Sarah. He’s been down the wrong path before, so he knows well how miserable the end of that life is.”

“Yes, from my experience, I think it will be a learning process for Allen as well.”

“Then, we need to have someone monitor him by his side.”

“That’s obvious, Grace.”

Leah seemed relieved only after hearing Terun’s words. At that time, Oliver brought up words that drove a wedge into the controversy.

“Those children need anyone. Someone to teach them how to read, not the reformatory staff who abuse them and don’t treat them like human beings, so that the children can read books and newspapers themselves and develop the ability to judge what is right and wrong. It’s not a problem that can be solved by volunteers like me who come and go for a month or two.”

“The orphanage staff who beat me every day when I was young were not criminals, but they were very cruel to the orphanage children.”

Sarah choked up, caught up in old memories.

“I’m sorry that I can’t fully understand your feelings. Thinking about it again, I think Allen, who has the stigma of being a criminal, will do better for the children. I would want to erase the scarlet letter [a mark of shame] engraved on my heart, even if it were me.”

Sarah stopped crying and smiled brightly.

* * *

After a long discussion with Charles, Sarah decided to take Allen to Bak, a provincial city in Galdenia.

The reformatory there needed a teacher, and Sarah thought Allen was the right person. Of course, Charles’ advice played a big role.

Although his addiction was completely cured, he said that subsequent management was very important, and there was a risk of recurrence if he returned to prison.

And thanks to Terun’s direct visit to the Galdenia Imperial Family to persuade the Emperor, things could proceed in the direction of serving the remaining sentence at the reformatory.

“So this is what a car is.”

Allen was amazed by the car he was riding in for the first time.

“It would have taken a whole day to travel from Brussels to Bak by carriage, but now it only takes half a day.”

Charles drove and talked excitedly about the car.

It seems that cars are mostly a man’s interest. Fortunately, the long journey was not boring.

Sarah recalled the process Allen had gone through to obtain the qualifications to be a teacher at the Bak Reformatory.

She called a current teacher from the College of Education and taught Allen how to teach students. This included how to use textbooks and level-specific learning methods.

But a very surprising thing happened. Allen seemed like a completely different person.

“[The students are all different ages, so how should I make the schedule?]”

He asked the teacher many questions first.

“[Don’t base it on age, base it on learning ability. There will be students who don’t even know their names even if they are old.]”

Seeing Allen writing down everything the teacher said in his notebook, she felt a mix of emotions.

In the past, he was seething with desire for success, but now, he looked like a student burning with academic passion, or like an enthusiastic new teacher.

*What am I thinking!*

Sarah shook her head roughly, feeling uncomfortable with her softened heart. It was still too early to forgive Allen.

“The children at the Bak Reformatory are very rough. They won’t be easy to handle.”

“I’m prepared for that, Mrs. Fleming.”

*He’s calling me that again. Well, it doesn’t sound bad.*

Allen had been using honorifics to Sarah for a few days after leaving Leaf Island. It was awkward at first, but it was easier to define the relationship that way.

“There will be a supervisor at the reformatory who will report McDowell’s work status to the Imperial Family on a quarterly basis.”

Charles said.

“Why would you report to the Imperial Family about me?”

Allen laughed humorlessly. Then the supervisor was the same as Empress Theresa’s eyes.

The prison guard on Leaf Island was cruel, but the supervisor at the Bak Reformatory would be harsh. Still, it was a grateful opportunity for me.

*It’s not good to get out of hard labor,* I thought about it every time on Leaf Island.

*If I could go back to the past, I would make a different choice and live a righteous life.* Of course, I know it’s impossible.

So when Sarah asked if I would like to spend the rest of my sentence as a teacher at the reformatory, I had hope that maybe my wish could come true.

Although my future is determined, I can correct the children in the reformatory so that they don’t live the same life as me.

Wouldn’t that be true repentance? Allen was grateful to Sarah for giving him such an opportunity.

Before he knew it, the car arrived in front of the Bak Reformatory. Teachers in black clothes and stiff faces greeted them.

“This is where Mr. McDowell will live from now on.”

Charles said, looking at the building covered with dense vines.

The air was good and the weather was clear, unlike the capital, but the reformatory building itself was as damp as another prison.

In particular, the eyes of the people looking at the unfamiliar visitors were fierce.

Sarah quickly headed to Charles.

“Charles, I’d like to talk to Mr. McDowell for a moment.”

“Okay. I’ll tell the head of the reformatory.”

“Thank you, Charles.”

“Finish it well and come, Sarah.”

“Yes.”

Sarah was so grateful to Charles for being so considerate of her. Soon, Sarah took Allen to a place a little away from the building.

“I packed a suit and a few necessary clothes in the suitcase.”

“You didn’t have to do that… Thank you, Mrs.”

“A teacher should be like a teacher, both in appearance and in mind.”

“Mrs. Sarah Fleming, I won’t… disappoint you. So now, erase someone like me from your mind.”

He was sincere. Whatever emotions she had, he wished Sarah’s future would be filled with happiness.