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Chapter 25
“Your Excellency, sometimes it’s necessary to be like that when you’re with the young lady.”
Rickson spoke up, watching the argument between Caine and Liena.
“You’re telling me to fight like those two with that little girl? I’d be lucky if she didn’t get shocked and collapse from it.”
Alec’s face contorted as if he had heard something absurd. He let out a deep sigh as he recalled the child’s image once more.
“That child is very delicate, so I have to be very careful. I don’t even know how to treat her.”
It wasn’t easy to even touch her or speak to her. If only that were the only problem. But in front of her, he only ended up acting foolishly…
“The young lady is not as weak and fragile as you think, Your Excellency. Rather, she is strong.”
Rickson said in a firm tone.
“Strong?”
Alec’s eyes, tinged with bewilderment, turned towards Rickson. The first image Rickson had seen of her was trembling as she set foot in Reston Manor for the first time. He recalled the memory of watching over her from afar, worried about that very sight.
“She carries many worries and concerns in her heart, but she never avoids them. Despite being someone who can’t even properly face her own emotional wounds, she looks around and reaches out to others. It is not easy for someone carrying many wounds in their heart to also hold space for the wounds of others.”
A gentle smile spread across Rickson’s wrinkled face.
“Because she is that kind of person, even if a great storm later rages and she falls, she will possess the strength to rise again.”
“I see.”
A child who seems weak and fragile. But a strong child…
“Your Excellency, how about taking a cue from them?”
“From those two?”
Alec frowned, looking at Liena and Caine, who were still arguing in the corner.
“Creating a natural and soft atmosphere, rather than a stiff one, is important. Since they are on good terms, it should be very helpful for you.”
Wasn’t this the complete opposite situation? They were fighting, creating a rigid, almost murderous atmosphere. And on top of that, to say they were on good terms… Alec began to doubt if Rickson was seeing the same thing he was.
“I believe family is about sharing bonds formed through accumulated memories of fighting, laughing, and talking together. Not just the blood flowing in one’s veins.”
Bonds… A bitter smile formed on Alec’s lips as something familiar came to mind.
“Right. If sharing blood alone makes one family, then I’d have to put the Emperor in that category.”
“Speaking from my experience raising children, there is no such thing as a perfect parent. If you try to only show such a perfect image, the distance between you two will not narrow. If you reach out first with an honest heart, the young lady will open hers.”
“Even though I look like a fool right now.”
“To be a bit impertinent, speaking from the position of having watched over Your Excellency’s childhood… I find your current state, which you call foolish, rather pleasing to see.”
The butler’s wrinkled face creased into a warm smile.
“Is that so.”
Alec laughed lightly. Then, pointing his chin towards the door where the two were still fighting, he said,
“If you plan on continuing like that, get out.”
“No! It’s him, he keeps-!”
“Your Grace, it’s not that!”
The excited Liena and Caine raised their voices.
“I have some separate matters to think about for now, so step out.”
At Alec’s words, they seemed to guess something, exchanged glances, and nodded.
“Then I’ll leave! No, I shall take my leave. And thoughts aren’t meant to be kept locked away, but revealed.”
“Then I shall take my leave as well. Since Your Grace is a perfect and great man, you will surely resolve your concerns quickly.”
As the two bowed and left, Alec held his forehead.
“If I’ve been acting in a way that even worries those rascals, I must have really been acting like a fool.”
“Are you planning to check on the young lady at dawn?”
When the butler mentioned the newly changed morning routine, Alec looked back, seemingly surprised, and shook his head vigorously.
“You know me too well.”
“How could I not? Don’t you always check on the two of them before going for your dawn training?”
At the butler’s words, Alec smiled and brought the chamomile tea to his lips.
“Just greedily filling their bellies… Tch, most of those sorts are empty-headed too.”
Eloise looked at Caine with a vacant expression. The hour-long monologue was tedious, but more troubling was its content.
“Um… Teacher?”
At the word ‘Teacher’ used to address him, Caine adjusted his glasses with a start.
“Teacher?”
“Is that not correct?”
“Well, since I am in the position of teaching the young lady, ‘teacher’ is correct! But! The young lady is the daughter of the great His Grace! The daughter of His Grace cannot be addressed by the respectful title ‘Teacher’! Using honorifics is only natural!”
“Yes, I understand…”
Eloise, who had been trying to stop him, nodded with a dazed look in her eyes.
“His Highness is perfection! Incarnate! How lamentable it is that such a His Highness became a noble and not the Crown Prince… He cannot stand on the same level as the nobles, most of whom are incompetent parasites!”
She let Caine’s words, passionately proclaiming his belief that nobles are trash and Alec is perfect, wash over her. In a situation that showed no signs of ending easily, Eloise tried to escape by recalling how this all started.
‘By His Highness’s command, I am Caine Wesley, who will be teaching the young lady this time.’
Seeing Caine’s perfectly straight posture, as if measured by a ruler, Eloise bowed her head in greeting. She had already guessed the reason for his visit.
‘But I never expected this.’
“Worthless scoundrels!”
As Caine’s voice rose again, she fixed her gaze back forward, having been lost in thought. Unsurprisingly, the topic was not about magic.
“I remember the day I first saw His Highness at the academy. Among the stupid nobles born with the right connections, he shone brilliantly.”
Somehow, this topic seemed like it would be bad if others heard it… Especially those labeled as nobles.
“Thinking about it now, I even feel fortunate that I am a fallen noble. The thought of having been in a similar position to them is utterly dreadful.”
Her head tilted at the mention of ‘fallen noble.’ In the original story, didn’t Caine hold a baronet title?
“Caine, aren’t you a noble?”
“My status is of no concern to me! Because I have this brain! One must pioneer their own path in the world! That is why I follow His Highness! That ability!”
Caine, unable to hide his excitement, clenched his fist tightly.
“He pushed me, the academy’s top student, aside and effortlessly seized the highest position, yet his face remained bland, as if it were boring, that arrogant expression! Meeting him at the academy was such a blessing!”
Caine, who had been excitedly exclaiming, twisted his face as if an unpleasant memory surfaced.
“He, who rightfully possesses the qualifications, is a fitting person for the position of Emperor. Where does that guy, stubbornly clinging to the Emperor’s seat with his pathetic ability, get off! That bastard deserves to be killed!”
Eloise, who had been quietly listening until now, flinched at the mention of another character.
“The person you just said deserves to be killed, no, that person, don’t tell me it’s…”
Eloise’s face turned pale. Having diligently followed dramas in her previous life, Eloise knew all too well. That kind of talk is extremely dangerous. In historical dramas, that’s nothing less than treason!
“Magic! Instead of that talk, we need to learn magic!”
At Eloise’s hastily spoken words, Caine pushed his glasses up with his finger.
“Are you speaking of magic?”
Eloise nodded and said,
“Isn’t this time for learning magic?”
“Well…”
Caine lowered his head and dragged out the end of his word.
“Hmm, to answer that, we must first touch upon history. Do you know about the Age of Magic?”
“No, not really.”
“The Age of Magic refers to an era when magic flourished. And that era collapsed a thousand years ago.”
“Then that means…”
Caine drove the point home as if hammering a nail.
“The lineage of Mages has been severed.”
“But I crossed the mountains using magic when I came north. I saw a magic stone last time, too.”
The red magic stone that crossed the snowy mountains. And the magic stone named ‘Snow Crystal.’ Both were products of magic that Eloise had seen.
