Chapter 68
* * *
Translated by Sylph
Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
* * *
As soon as Seraphina entered, Clois snatched the letter held in her hand.
“No, Your Majesty. Couldn’t you at least say a word of ‘good work’ to your loyal subject?”
“Sure. Good work.”
“I have well heard the words of commendation that contained absolutely no sincerity.”
When Seraphina looked at him with an exasperated face, the chief butler smiled and also offered her tea.
Whether Seraphina said anything or not, absolutely nothing reached Clois’s ears.
Hurriedly opening the envelope, he smiled at the round handwriting seen immediately. It was Evi’s handwriting.
[Hello, Professor! It’s Evi! I, there is something I want to ask of you, Professor.]
“A request?”
He muttered at the unexpected content of the letter.
At those words, Seraphina also picked up her teacup and came to his side.
“A request? Is there some trouble?”
She had already instructed Evi that if there was anything she wanted to ask of Professor Sian, she should tell her first.
Since she was a smart child, she wouldn’t have forgotten those words, yet she went to the trouble of asking him a favor through a letter.
Clois and Seraphina both hardened their expressions, wondering if there was some serious worry or problem.
Clois hurriedly read the rest of the letter.
[The midterm exam starts next week, and I chose the Resid and Arsis languages for the foreign language class. But there are many parts I don’t know well. I’m asking the foreign language professor many questions, but…]
Did she worry for a long time while writing? There were ink marks that occur when a pen stays in one place for a long time.
[I think I could work harder if I learned from you, Professor.]
At the end of the letter written like that, for some reason, a drawing of a gloomy-looking squirrel was drawn.
“The squirrel is cute.”
“It is cute.”
“I agree.”
This time, even the chief butler approached and looked at the drawing Evi had drawn with a gratified look.
Then Clois came to his senses first.
“But why foreign languages to me… Ah, the setting was a foreign language professor.”
Having belatedly recalled the setting of Professor Sian Roshen, he let out an exclamation.
Seraphina was the same.
She held her head with both hands as if she had never thought such a thing would happen.
“Seeing the books in the professor’s office, she seems to think Your Majesty can speak all four foreign languages.”
“That’s why, how could you bring and place everything like that!”
“I’m really busy, but I even decorated the whole professor’s office for you! It’s truly disappointing that you scold this loyalty like that!”
Seraphina made a motion of wiping away tears as if it were unfair, then answered.
“It can’t be helped. Since Your Majesty can’t teach her, just as if a reply didn’t come…”
“Why can’t I teach her?”
“Why? First of all, you don’t know the Resid and Arsis languages well, do you?”
“What are you talking about. Have you forgotten that I too was a student of the Gifted Center? And at that time, I learned all four languages.”
It wasn’t that he particularly had an interest in foreign languages.
It was because of the strong recommendation of his mother that he, as the next Emperor, had to master everything he could master without lack.
“But you haven’t used them much recently.”
“Not used them? I’m doing diplomatic documents without translation.”
“Even so, it doesn’t seem like enough to teach a student…”
“Director Seraphina, I don’t know why you’re talking back to me on every single thing these days.”
That’s because these days Your Majesty has become much softer like when Lilian was alive.
…Since she couldn’t answer that, Seraphina gave an ambiguous smile and stepped back.
“Please do as you wish.”
Who would stop the Emperor when he said he would do it.
“When does the midterm exam start?”
“Starting from one week later.”
“One week later…”
Lost in thought for a moment, Clois returned to the desk and wrote a short letter.
Then he handed it to Seraphina.
“Deliver this to Evi.”
“I don’t know since when the Dean’s job included mail delivery, but if you want to use a high-level talent like me, just one more loan of a mana stone… I understand. I’m going, I’m going.”
At Clois’s gaze glaring at her, Seraphina gulped down the tea the chief butler had poured for her all at once, then turned around with slumped shoulders.
After she returned, Clois immediately went back to the desk.
‘The exam is in a week.’
If so, he must organize these matters as quickly as possible and go.
Only then can he teach Evi even one thing more before the exam, right?
‘Just how high was the difficulty level of the first exam of the Gifted Center?’
Already, Clois’s head was filled only with thoughts of what to teach the child.
* * *
“The professor says he will teach me!”
Evi said as if she were joyful while lifting a spoon filled with chickpeas in one hand.
“The professor?”
Ruska, who was tearing a chicken leg quickly and elegantly from the opposite side, asked back.
“Sian Roshen. The professor who is Evi’s guardian.”
When Arcel answered instead, Ruska nodded as if he remembered.
“Right. You said you went out to play with him during the seasonal festival last time.”
“Yes. That day was really fun. On that day, I drew a wooden squirrel doll in the drawing… I even drew that in the letter…”
Evi continued to chatter incessantly while eating.
Actually, all three of them had heard the story of that day several times, but they didn’t particularly point out that fact.
Because Evi’s expression while talking about the outing looked so happy.
Irene, who had been listening to Evi’s story for a long time, asked a question as if she were curious.
“Come to think of it, what kind of person is Professor Sian? I’m curious because I haven’t been able to meet him even once yet.”
“First of all, his height is reaaaaally tall.”
Evi raised her hand as high as she could and waved it. Even so, since she was still of a small height, reaching Irene’s head was the most she could do.
“And he is reaaaaally handsome.”
At those words, Ruska, who was tearing at the second chicken leg, asked.
“How much? As much as me?”
At Ruska’s sly question, Irene made an expression as if her stomach were uncomfortable, and Arcel scooped a huge amount of cucumber salad, which Ruska hated the most, onto his personal plate.
“No. Professor Sian is faaaaaar more handsome.”
“Eh.”
At Evi’s answer, Ruska stopped what he was eating.
Until now, if he asked this kind of question to Evi, Evi would immediately answer that Ruska was the best.
However, this time, without even hesitating, she gave a flat answer.
That too, as if Professor Sian were overwhelmingly handsome, while even stretching out her words.
“Th-then, is he even more handsome than Arcel?”
Ruska, who for some reason felt a competitive spirit, pointed at Arcel who was quietly spreading butter on bread.
Then Evi, unlike a moment ago when she spoke firmly, thought for a moment and then spoke.
“Lord Arcel is pretty, and Professor Sian is handsome.”
Clack.
At that answer, Arcel set down the butter knife he was holding and gave a thin smile.
At Arcel’s expression, Ruska touched his forehead.
Evi’s evaluation is not wrong.
The 13-year-old Arcel is still evaluated as a beautiful boy by people.
On top of that, since he has a unique cool and cold feeling, the expression ‘pretty’ as Evi said still suited him more.
The problem was that Arcel did not like such words.
Once, when Ruska met Arcel after a long time and said ‘Haven’t you become prettier?’, on that day, Arcel pushed Ruska in the sparring arena until they finally saw blood.
Ever since then, he has been constantly watching his words…
‘He wouldn’t act that way toward Evi, though.’
Still, seeing him smiling, there was no mistake that he was angry.
At that time, Arcel spoke.
“Evi, you know. That person called Professor Sian, I really want to see how handsome he is?”
At Arcel’s answer, Ruska tilted his head.
Rather than having heard that he was pretty, he seemed for some reason to be more angry at the fact that he was hearing that the person called Professor Sian was handsome.
“Mmm, I’ll ask the professor later and introduce you all! And Professor Sian can do all four foreign languages, and he said he would teach me the Resid and Arsis languages.”
Evi continued talking about Professor Sian with excitement, without even knowing what the meaning of Arcel’s smile was.
And at a table a little distance away from the four, Ezriella covered her mouth with her hand.
‘It’s a lie!’
In the letter her brother sent, it was clearly written that Professor Sian Roshen’s major was ‘geology.’
Yet, foreign languages.
‘Just what…’
Just who is the Professor Sian that Evi Alden is talking about?
A smile hung on the face of the surprised Ezriella.
Whoever Professor Sian is, Evi Alden will have to pay the price for that lie.