Chapter 44
‘Ah… ah…’
Sial thought.
Of everything he had ever seen, she was the most beautiful.
And the artist’s intuition inside him whispered:
That person would only grow more beautiful in the future.
‘If only I could become her friend. No, even just talking to her once would be nice.’
But he didn’t have the courage to approach her.
Still, even being able to look at her from a distance… no, simply existing in the same academy as her…
‘I’m glad I entered the academy.’
Sial silently gave thanks to his sponsor—and beyond that, to God—for sending him here.
‘What a hassle.’
Up until a moment ago, Estelle had felt pleased about becoming a top student scholarship recipient.
After all, being a scholarship student meant she could ease Reyna’s burden of tuition fees.
‘That’s why I studied so hard.’
To earn high marks on the entrance exam.
‘Though… I didn’t expect the exam to be that easy.’
On the day of the test, she had actually been worried.
What if she slipped in rank and lost her scholarship spot?
Luckily, she had made no mistakes and got the score she expected.
‘But to receive this kind of public attention—that I hadn’t expected.’
Estelle wanted to live quietly at the academy.
Her plan was simple: gain just enough knowledge to be of help to Reyna. That was all she thought she needed.
But from the very first day, that plan fell apart.
‘…This feels unpleasant.’
From the moment she stepped up onto the podium until the moment she came down, everyone had stared at her as if judging her.
They whispered, murmured, gossiping however they pleased.
Estelle’s mood soured badly.
Especially because she had never sought attention in the first place.
By the time she stepped off the podium, she was thoroughly irritated.
Yet she couldn’t show it.
If she did, Reyna might somehow suffer for it later, and Estelle feared that.
As she forced her irritation down and headed back to her seat—
“You’ve gotten yourself tangled up in something troublesome.”
The familiar voice, with its hint of amusement, brushed her ear.
Estelle turned her head coldly.
There, instead of sitting like the other students, a boy leaned casually against a pillar of the auditorium.
“It’s been a while, Estelle.”
“…”
Black hair. Gray eyes. A face reminiscent of Claude.
Aris Zenopesia, second son of the Duke of Zenopesia.
“I’d heard from my brother that you were enrolling, but to think we’d actually meet like this. What a pleasant surprise.”
Aris pushed himself off the pillar and straightened. Slowly, he approached her and extended a hand, smiling warmly.
But Estelle’s face remained expressionless.
Neither positive nor negative emotion touched her features. Only emptiness.
“Still cold as ever, I see. The servants back at the estate said your attitude had changed. Guess that was a lie.”
Aris let out a sigh, withdrawing the hand he had offered.
His face showed disappointment, as though he had hoped for some reaction from her.
But Estelle couldn’t understand that disappointment.
She had merely stayed briefly at his estate.
Unlike with Reyna, there had never been any emotional exchange between them.
‘Still… should I say something?’
Because Reyna would have.
Estelle blinked slowly, then opened her eyes again.
This time, a spark of life appeared in her once empty gaze.
“It’s been a while, Aris. How have you been?”
“Ugh. Isn’t that too much? I’m human too, you know. If you put on an act right in front of me, it stings. What I want is sincerity.”
Aris leaned back, unsettled by her sudden shift, then curved his brows in a rueful smile.
‘And here I went out of my way…’
Estelle erased her faint smile and shot him an irritable look.
Her face was full of weariness.
“Well, anyway. It really is good to see you. I hope you’ve been well. My brother even asked me to look after you.”
Shaking his head, Aris tapped his chest twice.
“If you run into any trouble with academy life, you can ask me.”
Then, smiling faintly, he lightly lifted her right hand.
“And you’re still a guest of the Duke of Zenopesia. I should treat you accordingly.”
Smooch.
His lips brushed against the back of her hand.
Aris looked up at her with the same smile still on his face. Estelle, however, looked down at him with thinly veiled annoyance.
“Estelle… she’ll do well, right?”
As I left the academy after dropping Estelle off, I muttered to myself.
Truthfully, I hadn’t wanted to leave her there.
I couldn’t stop thinking of all the things she would face.
But the academy was an essential step in Estelle’s journey to become emperor.
It was her first exposure to noble society.
There, she would learn to read the psychology of nobles—and how to use that knowledge.
Moreover, the children of nobility she’d meet there were all around her age.
Which meant they were the very people who, once Estelle became emperor, would govern the nation alongside her.
If she could form good connections there and start shaping her future, nothing could be better.
“…But still, I can’t help feeling wronged.”
Because unlike in the game, I wouldn’t be able to see Estelle grow.
In Raise Your Daughter, I could watch her academy life in real time.
What she studied, what friends she made, what events occurred—I knew all of it.
“There was real joy in watching her grow.”
In the game, when Estelle entered the academy, the parameters on either side of the screen showed which stats rose or fell.
But my favorite part wasn’t the stats.
It was the center of the screen, where a little pixel-art Estelle busied herself.
“Just watching, you’d see her appearance change bit by bit.”
Not just her clothes with the seasons—during swordsmanship class she wore armor and carried a blade, during magic class a hat and spellbook, during painting class a brush and canvas.
Year by year her hairstyle changed, her uniform style shifted.
“And now, I don’t get to see any of that with my own eyes…”
Not as pixels, but in reality—cute, pretty, everything!
It’s killing me with regret.
‘Should I just sneak into the academy? Climb a tree, scale the walls…’
Then I could watch Estelle grow, and if anything happened, I could step in to help.
“Of course, I can’t really do that…”
I sighed heavily.
I guess this is what it means to be family: wanting to watch every little step and help along the way.
‘But no, she needs to stand on her own to become a fine adult.’
“Ah—come to think of it, the kids needed practice paper.”
I’d almost forgotten.
Yesterday, the children had asked me to get paper so they could practice folding paper flowers.
‘Good grief. I let myself get so distracted thinking of Estelle.’
I shook my head.
That could’ve been a disaster.
Especially after seeing with my own eyes the strange tension between Estelle and the kids.
If I came home today and said I hadn’t bought the paper because of her enrollment, they’d definitely scold me resentfully.
“Thank goodness I remembered just in time.”
I slapped my cheeks with both hands, then quickened my steps across the plaza toward the bustling shopping district.
Ding-ling.
“Thank you! Please come again!”
The clear sound of the shop bell was followed by the clerk’s cheerful voice.
And cheerful she had every right to be.
“Ugh—so heavy.”
After all, I had bought this much paper.
The children had only needed practice sheets…
But the more I looked, the more I thought, “This one looks nice… that one too… maybe the paper should match the type of flower?”
They say practice should be like the real thing, and the real thing like practice. So why settle for cheap practice paper?
As the saying goes, human greed knows no end.
In the end, after agonizing over it, I just tossed anything that looked good into the pile.
And now, both my arms were completely full of paper bundles.
