Chapter 47
Leponea bit her dry lips. Her eyes trembled.
“What do I do?”
Across from her, Havelian took out his pocket watch, checked the time, and snapped it shut with a sharp click.
“Since the time is almost up and you’re still not even reading the question, am I to assume you’re feeling confident?”
Leponea swallowed hard.
Why am I even here doing this?
Havelian had approached Leponea while she was playing in the garden. She thought he was coming to bully her again—but instead, he sat down beside her and began showing her a study book.
Caught off guard by the sudden situation, Leponea read aloud every letter he pointed to.
At first, Havelian slowly mouthed the word “cotton puff” to her, but then as if sensing something odd, he gradually increased the difficulty of the words.
Yet Leponea read every single one correctly without a mistake.
Havelian abruptly jumped to his feet, scooped her up, and carried her straight to the library.
Fellens, who had been practicing swordsmanship nearby, startled and followed them, but Havelian didn’t care.
Havelian sat Leponea in a library chair, fetched an extremely thick book, and told her to read it.
Feeling the situation had taken a strange turn, Leponea considered pretending she didn’t know how to read—but unfortunately, the book he brought was the exact one she had read in front of Fellens before.
It was the book she had used back when she pretended to study like a proper noble lady to figure out the location of the family heirloom.
And since Fellens was now glaring sharply, worried Havelian might be up to something bad, she couldn’t suddenly pretend not to read.
If she was caught lying over something so small, she’d never gain the Krytan family’s trust afterward.
In the end, Leponea read the thick book word for word. Once she began reading fluently, Havelian sat down and watched.
He occasionally asked her to explain difficult vocabulary or summarize the sentences in easy terms.
At this point, even Fellens, who had been watching with arms crossed and a fierce glare, stealthily approached from behind her.
After she finished everything, Havelian—visibly shocked—flung the book aside and began writing out a test himself.
And that was how she ended up here now.
“The time is almost up. Just do what you can. At least read the questions first.”
Leponea slowly picked up the pen. Neat handwriting—much like its writer—filled the page.
This… is a test for a five-year-old?
Her eyes trembled. The questions Havelian wrote were things Leponea didn’t learn until she was over ten years old.
The teacher the Pope had hired to educate children never let her eat or sleep until she perfectly memorized and understood everything. Even then, ten-year-old Leponea found it unbearably difficult.
She had studied crying while being hit.
And now he was asking five-year-old Leponea these things?
Havelian might be a more ruthless guy than I thought.
Although, of course—she knew all the material easily.
Should I solve this… or pretend I can’t?
Leponea faced the greatest dilemma of her life.
She already knew what the heirloom was and where it was, so she no longer needed to pretend to study.
She couldn’t take it out right now anyway.
And if a five-year-old solved all these perfectly, it would definitely look suspicious.
Suspicion builds upon suspicion, and even if not right away, it might someday become the trigger that destroys their trust in her.
I’ll get a few wrong. Just a few.
She gripped the pen. She tried to write an incorrect answer—but her hand wouldn’t move.
Years of ingrained fear clawed its way up.
…If I get something wrong, will the Duke of Krytan call me useless and stupid like the Pope did?
Her palm grew clammy.
Maybe not now, but what if the duke regretted adopting her?
The image of the Duke of Krytan, face cold and accusing her of being dumb and worthless, dropped into her chest like a heavy stone.
Then she imagined Fellens turning away coldly—and her hand moved reflexively.
No.
She knew a day would come when trust would shatter, but she wanted to delay that day—even a little.
Even if this became the catalyst for losing their trust someday… just a little longer…
With steady strokes, Leponea solved every question Havelian had written.
Her fingers trembled, struggling even to hold the pen properly, yet she continued writing.
It took her only a few minutes to read and answer everything.
Behind her, Fellens gasped. Havelian shot Fellens a glare and pressed a finger to his lips, signaling silence.
Havelian tucked away his pocket watch. Time no longer mattered.
“…Here.”
Leponea set down the pen and handed him the test. Havelian didn’t even bother checking it.
He no longer needed to.
Without a word, he stood and walked to the bookshelves.
What is he doing?
Leponea tilted her head. She’d worked up all that determination to solve it—but he didn’t even look at the answers.
“What the—? Cotton Puff worked so hard, and he’s not even saying anything?”
Fellens grumbled, resting his hand on her head. When she looked up, he gave a tiny amused smile.
“Cotton Puff, you’re really smart. Even when I was older than you, I struggled with those kinds of questions. But you just solved them straight through.”
His hand patting her head was awkward and clumsy, like someone who’d never done it before—maybe that made it feel even nicer.
“I only solved them because I’d already read about it.”
“Yeah. You might be a genius. I’ve only ever met one person in my life who deserved to be called a genius.”
He tapped his chin toward Havelian, who was pulling books from the shelf.
“Though that was when he was little.”
They were a strange pair. They acted like they hated each other, but Fellens admitted Havelian was a genius without hesitation.
And Havelian, though he sometimes treated Fellens like a fool, never actually scolded him with real malice.
“But today, I think I saw a real genius. I kinda suspected it already when you were holding a book you didn’t even understand the title of.”
Hm.
Apparently, Fellens had paid absolutely no attention to whether Leponea could read or write.
Havelian returned with several books from the shelves, then swatted Fellens’s hand away.
“Stop bothering us and go practice your aura control.”
“And why should I leave Cotton Puff alone with you?”
“When I carried her to the library earlier, you already left us alone. Just go train.”
Havelian placed the books in front of Leponea.
“Judging by the schedule, you don’t have a tutor.”
Leponea looked up at him.
“When you leave here someday, you’ll need a way to make a living. Even if not, knowing more means you won’t starve even if you have to live outside the estate.”
“Hey. Why are you talking like that again—”
“Starting today, I’ll teach you.”
“…Huh?”
“You called me ‘teacher,’ remember.”
“……”
“Being called teacher when I’ve done nothing makes me feel like I’m receiving a full salary I wasn’t hired for because of an accounting error.”
Sounds like a great feeling.
“Hey, she’s five. Five-year-olds don’t study. They’re supposed to run around and play.”
“Even five-year-olds should learn something. I’m not telling her to study all day.”
“I didn’t study at five.”
“Fellens, at five you were barely done babbling.”
Havelian sat across from her and neatly folded the test paper she had handed him, tucking it away.
“Even among the military academy cadets, no one at five could do what you just did.”
“That doesn’t mean she should study!”
“Fine. You decide then.”
Havelian turned to Leponea.
“If you learn from me, it won’t hurt you. Even if you leave the estate one day, you might get a job in the palace or in a noble household. Do you have something in mind? If you do, you can study for that—it’ll help you a lot later.”
He spoke of Leponea’s future—something no one else had ever mentioned.
The duke had never talked about what came after.
Fellens, when trying to kick her out at first, only said he’d support her until adulthood or help her find a residence.
“If you don’t want to, you can just keep playing with Fellens.”
A future after being disowned.
Did something like that even exist for her?
Even I’ve never imagined such a thing.
Life after escaping the Pope.
A normal future.
For the first time, she envisioned one.
Leponea placed a hand on her chest. Brilliant colors shimmered inside her heart.
“…Okay.”
She nodded.
“I’ll learn.”
