🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 35
“……”
“……”
Because I had let my guard down, I forgot my setting here for a moment.
I slowly moved my stiff neck.
Seian was looking at me with a strange expression.
What should I do? Even my mom doesn’t know that I can do multiplication and division.
My heart started pounding.
While I stood there frozen, not knowing what to do, Seian rested his chin on his hand and stared at me openly.
What would be the best way to get out of this?
Scratch, scratch.
For now, I kept solving the problems while thinking hard.
It would be strange to suddenly say I couldn’t solve them now.
As I was making all kinds of excuses in my head, Seian’s calm voice suddenly dropped.
“Well, you probably have a reason for not showing everything. I don’t plan to dig into it.”
What? I was thinking of so many things, and he just says that so easily…
Seian even stretched his arms and yawned. His attitude clearly showed he wasn’t curious about me at all.
“Making secrets from a young age is a good habit. There’s no need to show everything to others. You only expose your weaknesses.”
He pushed up his glasses with his middle finger as he spoke.
Why does he have to use that finger? It just feels annoying to look at.
“Why?”
“It’s nothing.”
Ah, seriously. I want to tell Herald to change my tutor.
I didn’t like him from the first impression, and we clearly didn’t match.
“I’m done.”
“Yes, all correct.”
Seian casually drew a large circle on my paper with a black pen.
The circle was crooked like a half-moon, almost like it showed his careless personality.
“Um… should I call you Teacher?”
“Call me whatever you like, as long as it’s not an insult.”
“……”
What a strange person.
In that case…
“I’ll just call you Seian.”
“Yes, do that. Yaaawn.”
He nodded and yawned again.
“By the way, I think I need to change the lesson plan. Your level is higher than I expected… How much do you know about history?”
“I don’t know.”
I shook my head honestly.
I had knowledge of the original story in my head, but I didn’t know the full background history.
Still, it was what I wanted to know most. Especially after hearing Mom and Herald talk about the duchy yesterday.
Why did it become the reason for their conflict?
Maybe that was why my lips opened before I could stop myself.
“But I’m curious. Why is the Empire not on good terms with the Duchy…?”
“You’re asking about the Duchy… because of the Duchess?”
“……”
“Hm… It’s hard to define the relationship clearly. And to understand it properly, we’d have to go back about 200 years in history.”
Two hundred years?
I was already exhausted. I didn’t want to hear such a long story.
But I really wanted to know what kind of relationship caused Mom and Herald’s marriage to twist like that.
Seian seemed to read my hesitation and stood up. He walked toward the bookshelf filled with books.
“There are many history books here. You haven’t read them yet? Ah… was it because you couldn’t reach them?”
Why does he keep speaking in such an irritating way?
“I didn’t read them because I didn’t have time.”
“The best book to explain to you would be… this one.”
He didn’t even listen.
Seian returned with a green hardcover book, neither too thick nor too thin.
The History of Arsenia and Neighboring Nations.
The title was so honest that anyone could guess the contents immediately.
“In this book, the part about the Duchy should be… around page 68…”
He flipped through the pages quickly without hesitation.
“Ah, found it.”
When he opened page 68, the title indeed read, The Arsenia Empire and the Ferdiel Duchy.
I looked at Seian with surprise.
Remembering that it was written in this book was one thing—but knowing the exact page number…
That’s creepy.
I rubbed my arms and quietly moved a little farther away from him, just enough so he wouldn’t notice.
His finger pointed to a line in the book.
“Now, please read the third line clearly.”
“Out loud?”
“Out loud.”
Why do I have to do that?
I cleared my throat and began reading.
“The Empire, commonly known as Arsenia, and the Duchy, commonly known as Ferdiel, were originally connected as one continent. However, about 200 years ago, due to a crack in the land and changes in the sea level—”
“Sea level.”
“—changes in the sea level, the two nations were separated. As a result, present-day Ferdiel established itself as an independent country, and its first ruler, Verheil I, was officially crowned king with recognition from the Holy Kingdom.”
Oh. That was interesting. They were originally one continent.
“You read well. Except you said ‘see-shu level’ instead of ‘sea level.’”
Did he really have to point that out?
I glared at him in annoyance, but he didn’t even look at me and continued reading.
“Anyway, for that reason, Arsenia and Ferdiel share the same language and have very similar cultures. Even though the land split, the distance is still close enough to travel by small boat.”
“Then why are the Empire and the Duchy not on good terms?”
“Many citizens of the Empire still see the Duchy as part of the Empire. Also, the rare minerals that are only mined in the Duchy strengthen that belief.”
Minerals… Yesterday, Mom mentioned something about mines when she talked about the marriage.
“What kind of mineral is it?”
“Well… according to some old alchemy masters, it’s very useful for building defensive barriers. It can’t be broken by ordinary force.”
Then… was the mine Mom mentioned the one that produced that mineral?
“Now, listen carefully. This part is important.”
Seian pushed up his glasses with his middle finger again.
Please stop doing that while looking at me.
“The Duchy started trading with the Empire using that mineral. Since the Empire needed it badly, the trade terms favored the Duchy. The Empire was dissatisfied with that. After that… the Empire applied economic pressure to obtain the mines, and the Duchy gradually became poorer.”
“How… how poor did it become?”
“So poor that people say it might collapse soon. Using that as an excuse, the Empire has been trying hard to annex the Duchy.”
I took in a sharp breath.
If Herald married Mom to obtain the mineral and make annexation easier… then it was a political or contract marriage.
Come to think of it, when Herald came to take us back, Mom mentioned that the contract had ended.
“You look deep in thought.”
At Seian’s words, I quickly shook my head.
Thankfully, he didn’t ask further.
After that, I had to listen to his long explanation about the Empire’s history for over two hours.
This sudden history lesson was both interesting and boring.
But through it, I learned more about this world and could roughly guess why there was such a deep crack between Mom and Herald.
In conclusion, although the Empire and the Duchy appear friendly on the outside, in reality they are almost enemies.
And the root of the conflict is the mineral that the Duchy almost monopolizes.
And the reason people are obsessed with that mineral is because of the monsters that frequently attack humans.
That thought made my heart heavy.
“Shall we stop here for today?”
Before I could answer, Seian was already standing.
“I will report to the Duke that we studied history today. And also that your level is higher than I expected.”
“Huh? Do you have to tell Dad everything?”
“Yes. The Duke personally ordered it.”
I had expected it, but still—everything about me goes straight to Herald’s ears.
“Then I will come again at this time tomorrow.”
“W-wait!”
I quickly grabbed the edge of Seian’s clothes as he turned to leave.
