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chapter 31
“So then… you’ll be teaching Lord Damian without Miss Rose…?”
└ [Emergency! Private tutor emergency!]
He began trembling as if imagining something horrifying.
Was one-on-one tutoring really that terrifying?
It seemed Damian had been his very first student, and the shock of dealing with Damian’s first-ever unexcused absence had wounded him deeply.
“N-No, absolutely not. At least until Lord Damian’s academy entrance scores come out. No—until the first exam. Or maybe until he finishes his first year. No, better yet—just let her stay here forever…”
└ [#ObsessiveTutor]
└ [LOL is this the grad-school route?]
└ [#RunawayTA]
└ [Rose’s career options: assassin, hair-dye shop owner, saint, knight-captain, Leon’s wife, graduate student (new!)]
└ [Stop trying to sneak your stock picks into the narrative]
Ignoring the tutor who had suddenly descended into panic, Damian tilted his head.
“Why would Rose leave? She’s my subordinate No.1.”
“Right now, I belong to Zeltan Orphanage, not the knight order.”
“So you can leave and come back, right?”
“Well, yes, but… if I go back and someone adopts me, I won’t be able to come here anymore.”
If it were a small, neutral house or a pro-imperial family, she could still visit.
But Count Torto came looking for me at the orphanage just recently!
If she were adopted into a noble faction family, it would be nearly impossible to meet someone from the leading imperial faction—like anyone from House Valent—privately.
Of course, Damian didn’t understand any of these faction politics, so she explained it in the easiest possible way.
“If that happens, I won’t be able to join Lord Damian’s knight order in the future. And I won’t be able to stay as subordinate No.1.”
“What!”
“But? If the Duke says I can stay here, then I can keep being your subordinate forever.”
“Hm. Then I’ll speak to Father about it.”
└ [As expected, Rose = Subordinate No.1]
└ [Strong kid but easily persuaded]
The tutor also nodded vigorously.
“Yes, Lord Damian! Please tell His Grace that Miss Rose is a tremendous help to your academic progress!”
“Academic progress? I don’t know what that is, but okay.”
└ [Oh no this feels dangerous LOL]
└ [Are we sure we should trust him with this?]
His swordsmanship is sloppy, not his studying, Rose thought defensively.
He just asked too many questions like “why do I have to learn this?” and got physically twitchy sitting still—but he really did sit through lessons quite well.
└ [??: My kid can do it, he just doesn’t want to]
└ [She said she’d win over the parents and ended up becoming one]
The fairies seemed highly doubtful of Damian.
But since they only saw the world through Rose’s fragmented perspective, it made sense.
Show them the talent of this nation’s future genius, the Young Duke!
“Father said it’s better if you return!”
Canceled.
It was far too early to trust Damian.
He said he’d “talk to him,” so why did he come back persuaded instead?!
└ [We told you!!]
└ [He listens well but… the brain…ㅠㅠ]
Maybe the fairies were right.
Because they observed everything as third-party viewers, they often understood the surrounding people more objectively than she did.
└ [He’s dumb but cute]
└ [There there~ good effort anyway~~]
…No,
maybe they just liked Damian because he was dumb.
But that didn’t matter right now.
“Lord Damian… do you also want me to go back to the orphanage?”
“They said if you stay at the ducal estate for a while, you can find a better home later. And you can still be my subordinate No.1.”
Even if the Duke wanted to send her away, Damian should not have been swayed by that.
“There are knights who returned to their hometowns, right? If I go far away, I won’t be able to meet them easily. I’ll have to make appointments, ride a carriage for hours… so I won’t be able to see them much.”
“…That’s true.”
Damian fell deep into thought—then nodded firmly as if he’d discovered a brilliant idea.
“Then I’ll tell Father to find you a house nearby.”
“…Never mind.”
└ [LMAO she gave up]
└ [#EmptyHeaded]
└ [Harsh but fair]
She’d hoped Damian, as the young master of the estate, would balance the Duke’s opinion at least a little.
I guess targeting only the young lord isn’t very efficient.
Maybe in the future, but not now.
Once Damian entered the academy, he wouldn’t be home often, which meant Rose’s own workload—and influence—would decrease.
Feels like I’m back to square one.
Appealing to the parent: failed.
Appealing as a pitiful child with nowhere to go: failed.
Damian route: unclear.
Then starting tomorrow… I’ll stick to Nella and find work to do around the estate again.
Nella, Rose’s roommate, was one of the busiest maids in the ducal estate.
Not because of bullying or seniority—because she wanted to work more.
“My little sister gets sick often. Medicine costs money. If I take on more jobs here, the pay goes up.”
└ [Great labor policy]
└ [A world with no overtime exploitation? Heaven.]
└ [Even being a servant is better in a big noble house…]
The fairies, who hated studying and working equally, evaluated the ducal estate’s working conditions with great interest.
Rose, however, was interested in something else.
If Nella has lots of work, that means there must be jobs I can take over too.
Since the Duke had only recently inherited his title, the estate was still chaotic.
The garden needed arranging, buildings were being refurbished—there was plenty to clean and sort.
“I want to help with cleaning!”
“Really? Let’s see… what can Rose clean~”
With a playful smile, Nella handed her a small task.
Rose wasn’t an official employee, so helping wouldn’t lower Nella’s pay. In other words—free labor.
She probably doesn’t expect much from me, but despite being five, I’ve got pretty nimble hands!
Granted, her short arms meant she could only clean things near the floor.
“Can you wipe the dust off these picture frames? You do the bottom, I’ll do the top.”
There were several unused frames propped up in the storage room.
As Rose approached with her cloth, her eyes naturally drifted to the painting inside.
Huh? A family portrait?
Why would they store something like this in a storeroom?
She lifted her head to study each person in the painting.
A younger Damian, the Duke… and—
“Nella, who is this lady?”
“Ah, you’ve never seen her, have you? Hmm, how should I explain… that’s Lord Damian’s mother.”
So that meant—the Duchess?
Currently, the ducal estate had only two residents: the Duke and Damian. There was no Duchess.
Rose looked up again at the woman with long silver hair—so opposite of the black-haired father and son.
She’d been to many noble social events in her previous life, but had never once seen this woman’s face.
“I’ve never seen her myself, only heard from the head maid. When His Grace went off to war, Lord Damian apparently spent a lot of time with his mother.”
Nella’s words were all in past tense.
Even in high society, nobody had information about the Duchess. The prevailing rumor was that she passed away.
The Duke had married before becoming Captain of the Imperial Knights, so the marriage wasn’t a widely publicized affair.
And Damian resembled the Duke so much that the mysterious Duchess felt even more invisible.
Come to think of it, Duke Clark and Count Torto don’t have wives either…
It wasn’t common for high noble houses to have their mistress seat empty.
└ [Mothers never exist in romance fantasy novels]
└ [I know that’s not what it means but it feels like an insult]
└ [No seriously, they’re always deadㅠㅠㅠ]
…So it’s just… a genre convention?
└ [Please spare the mothers]
Every house she’d gone to—or almost gone to—was missing its lady.
It felt like a ghost story.
Shivering at the uncanny realization, Rose carefully wiped the dust from the frame.
Rose had decided not to rely too heavily on the “babysitting Damian” route, but her morning routine remained unchanged.
She headed to the annex as always—only to find Damian, who had been attending lessons fairly well lately, attempting an unapproved early dismissal again.
“So I’ll be skipping today’s lesson.”
“What?! But skipping class is— Oh, Miss Rose is here!”
“Lord Damian, where are you going?”
Had his concentration reached its limit now that lessons were progressing faster?
Rose stepped in to persuade him again—but Damian already had a reason.
“Today is the day Mother is coming!”
└ [Oh?? She’s alive??]
