Chapter 17
When Solphy finished brushing her teeth and returned to her room, Marcelo was waiting, holding a hat.
“My baby lion. Are you ready?”
“Yes! I just need to put on the hat.”
Marcelo eagerly put the hat on her head.
Holding hands as they walked to the kindergarten, Solphy glanced at him.
“Dad, today Teacher Serena is going to the knight order for parent education, right?”
“Yes. But how did you know? Did I tell you?”
He hadn’t. Marcelo muttered to himself.
“Someone always knows everything!”
Solphy winked. On the way, she noticed that Marcelo looked unusually nice today. Maybe he’d done some skin care—his face was smoother, and his silver hair looked neatly arranged, almost cared for by a gentle hand.
“Don’t work too hard today. If you smell sweaty, you won’t be popular.”
“What are you saying?”
“Hehe.”
Solphy giggled.
“Don’t worry. I’ll help with all my strength.”
“Help with what?”
“Hehehe.”
“……You’re laughing so strangely today, Solphy.”
“Giraffe Class, go!”
“Hedgehog Class, win!”
During morning PE, the palace kindergarten hall was noisier than usual. Giraffe Class and Hedgehog Class were competing in an obstacle relay.
‘Lunch first’ was at stake, so the children ran with fierce determination.
Giraffe Class was almost half a lap behind.
“Solphy, I’m counting on you!”
“Leave it to me.”
Solphy took the baton from Lycoris, who was panting from running.
“Alright!”
She ran with energy, faster than anyone, skillfully avoiding obstacles, bouncing on trampolines, even catching star-shaped candies in her mouth mid-mission.
She kept focus until the very end and passed the baton to the next runner.
“Wow! That was close!”
“What? The Giraffe Class was behind!”
The Hedgehog Class, who had been confident of victory, murmured in surprise.
“Win! Go!”
Lariet, the fastest runner in Giraffe Class, overtook the competition, and calm Joshua finished the race. The obstacle relay ended in a Giraffe Class victory.
“We won!”
The Giraffe Class beamed, while the Hedgehog Class pouted.
“Applause for the Giraffe Class for doing their best!”
“And applause for the Hedgehog Class for trying until the end!”
Clap clap clap!
In the end, everyone enjoyed it together.
“This is all thanks to Solphy!”
“Not really. We all ran hard together. Lunch will be early today, right?”
Solphy shrugged.
But she wasn’t just good at PE. She excelled in art class, tea ceremony lessons, and other elite studies of the Giraffe Class.
‘Cooking class… I did burn the bread, though.’
Anyway, Solphy was recognized as an elite in her class. Her mailbox was always full of letters.
Even without trying, friends came to play with her.
“Solphy, let’s play Magical Princess!”
“Do you want to make a palace out of clay with me?”
As friends crowded around, wanting to play with her, Solphy felt proud.
‘See? Everyone likes me more than Joshua.’
But what could she do so everyone could play together? Solphy pondered, when she noticed Joshua approaching Teacher Serena.
“My father sent these flowers.”
“Oh my.”
Recently, Giraffe Class had been full of flowers because Joshua brought them every day.
Serena buried her face in the flowers, enjoying the scent.
“Joshua, does your father like flowers?”
“Yes.”
He nodded and continued, “He says beautiful, fragrant flowers are perfect as they are.”
Solphy frowned. That grim man could think so sentimentally? No way!
‘Wait a second.’
She recalled what Joshua had said about his mother.
[She liked growing plants. She said plants are nice because they don’t talk. Humans talk too much and are annoying.]
Maybe it wasn’t Silas who said that just now, but his mother, who loved plants.
‘Joshua really misses his mom too.’
The thought made Solphy feel a little bitter. But the teacher they were competing over was only one person. Their suggestion to play together had already been rejected.
‘Ah, now’s not the time!’
Solphy snapped back to focus. Joshua was steadily leaving his mark with flowers to appeal to his father. She couldn’t fall behind!
“My dad likes flowers too~”
Solphy deliberately walked around Serena, mumbling this. Serena, holding a vase of flowers, approached her.
“Oh my. Shall I guess which flowers your father likes?”
“Yes! Please guess.”
“Well…!”
Serena paused, then suddenly lifted Solphy up. The sudden height made Solphy shout, “Waaah!”
“Solphy Flower!”
Serena twirled with Solphy in her arms, spinning quickly like a ride.
“I really like Solphy Flower too.”
Serena whispered and set her down—or at least tried to.
“Once Solphy Flower sticks, it won’t come off!”
Solphy clung with all her arms and legs.
“Oh my, maybe I should carry Solphy Flower everywhere?”
“Hehe.”
Solphy rested her face on Serena’s shoulder. The teacher always smelled sweet, like flowers.
‘Even bees might mistake her for a flower.’
Solphy and Joshua’s competition to make Serena their “mom” was slow because chances to meet her and their dads were rare.
Even just at drop-off and pick-up, it wasn’t easy.
The Giraffe Class was on the third floor, so Serena couldn’t always come down. Usually, an assistant or a teacher on the first floor greeted them.
‘If there wasn’t parent education today, I couldn’t have started.’
Luckily, Serena was going to the knight order as an extension of parent education, but what about next time?
Solphy thought of the future she had peeked at, seeing the two laughing and chatting warmly.
‘Dad’s doing his part, so I’ll do mine too!’
If there’s no chance, you make one.
Solphy followed Serena closely, wide-eyed and listening carefully.
In the future she peeked at, Solphy didn’t have much to do, so she planned to gather information herself.
Solphy got some useful information around lunchtime.
Lunch was in the dining hall with another class. Since they had won the obstacle relay, Giraffe Class ate first today.
“Yummy, hehe.”
Solphy dipped soft bread into rich meat stew while watching Hedgehog Class fill the tables across from her.
“Hmm? Angela’s not here.”
She had wondered during PE, and indeed, Angela was absent.
Angela, the girl who teased Solphy by calling her dad fake and caused trouble by pulling hair, hadn’t been seen since then.
‘That’s strange.’
As Solphy ate, the Hedgehog Class teacher peeked over.
“Oh, Solphy. Angela’s family moved. Far away~”
“Really?”
[We’re moving the kindergarten! We’ll never stand out again! Please forgive us!]
Her father had bowed deeply and said it like that.
Solphy thought he was exaggerating, but apparently, they really had moved.
Suddenly the surroundings became noisy, and Solphy looked around. The children were giggling.
“Her dad was so scary, they ran away!”
“Did you hear? Solphy’s dad is taller than a giraffe!”
“They say he breathes fire too!”
The kids were excitedly making up ridiculous stories.
‘What do they think of my dad?’
When someone claimed Marcelo could even defeat dragons alone, Solphy shook her head.
After finishing her bread, the teachers who ate early chatted over coffee.
“Teacher Serena~ Are you free Saturday? The seven-year-old teachers are getting together~”
“Oh, I signed up for the Early Education Exhibition. Want to come?”
“Oh~ there’s nothing to see there.”
The Hedgehog Class teacher grimaced at the mention of the exhibition.
‘Wait, my teacher is going to the exhibition on Saturday?’
Yes! This was exactly the information Solphy wanted.
If chances to meet at kindergarten were rare, she could meet her outside.
“Hehe…”
Solphy smiled and started making her plan.
“Miss!”
Solphy was on the swings when a maid waved at her. Marcelo was busy today, so the maid had come to pick her up.
But Lariet, swinging with her, was wary of the maid.
“Who’s that? She’s huge…”
“She’s the maid who came to get me.”
“Why is a maid so big? She’s stronger than my bodyguard knight.”
