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Chapter 06.
Bang.
Without a knock, the previously quiet door suddenly swung open.
Even though it was startling, Cyrille was no longer surprised. After enduring countless such incidents during the month spent in Cassinel, she had grown accustomed.
Adrien must be here again.
Thinking this casually, Cyrille set the book she had been reading onto the bed and lifted her head.
“…Why… why are you like that?”
She was so startled that, unusually, she stammered.
“N-nu… uh… uh…”
“What? No… your blood… are you bleeding…?”
Adrien had cotton soaked in blood in his mouth. Even as he muttered something, a thin rivulet ran down his chin, making the sight even more terrifying.
“N-nu… uh… uh…”
“What are you saying…? I said you’re bleeding!”
The moment a drop of blood fell to the floor, Cyrille couldn’t hold back and stepped down from the bed.
Swiftly grabbing a neatly placed handkerchief from the small console, Cyrille pressed it under Adrien’s chin to stop the flowing blood.
Adrien, who had been mumbling incomprehensible words, finally fell silent under Cyrille’s sharp gaze.
“Miss!”
A high-pitched voice rang out.
Quick footsteps approached, and a maid who had noticed Adrien hurried over.
“I was wondering where you were running off to…! You’ll have to wait a moment until the bleeding stops. Look at this! It’s already all over! Oh, our young lady, really!”
Despite the reprimanding tone, warmth seeped through her words.
Adrien, aware of this, remained nonchalant even as he was scolded.
The maid replaced the bloodied cotton in his mouth, laughing as if he couldn’t be helped.
Cyrille watched quietly, slightly taken aback by the scene.
The two looked astonishingly close.
“Here, now. Try it. That’s right. You need to stay like that. Don’t run.”
Thinking back, everyone Cyrille had encountered in Cassinel had been like this. Their tone was gentle, and their voices carried a trace of laughter. Even the count, who usually seemed stern, was the same around Adrien.
Was it because of the much warmer climate than Tezar?
Cyrille still found all of this a little unfamiliar.
“Sir, my apologies. I was rude. Miss ran off so suddenly…”
“It’s fine. More importantly, what’s wrong with him?”
“He had a tooth pulled. It’s proof that he’s become more mature.”
“I’m an adult now, you know.”
Adrien, quietly stopping the bleeding as instructed, chimed in proudly at just the right moment.
Only then did Cyrille realize what Adrien had been mumbling all along.
‘I am an adult now….’
Bleeding heavily yet insisting on saying it, it turned out to be nothing remarkable. Cyrille sighed at the absurdity, but as she lowered the cotton, her eyes were drawn to Adrien’s mouth.
Two of his front teeth were missing. No wonder his voice sounded so strange—the spaces where his teeth should have been were completely empty.
“Pfft.”
The sight was somewhat, no—honestly, very funny.
With the large cotton between his missing front teeth, he looked like a rabbit.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you look silly.”
“I’m an adult…”
“Don’t talk. You really do look silly.”
Adrien shot an indignant look at the maid. But the maid, who should have taken Adrien’s side, was laughing too, so there was no help there.
“N-nu… uh…”
Looking dejected, Adrien mumbled while holding the cotton in his mouth.
Smaller than me?
Oddly, Cyrille immediately understood that line and frowned.
“You’re toothless?”
“N-nu… uh…”
“I didn’t say you’re short!”
A little runt…!
Cyrille paused before correcting Adrien. Why should she admit with her own mouth that he was smaller?
“If you’re done, get out! Don’t come to my room!”
Cyrille shouted coldly in a huff and turned away. She ignored the murmuring behind her.
A rabbit, really. At least rabbits are cute. What an annoying little brat.
Cyrille muttered as she hid under the covers.
In the Empire, the children of nobles began their education around the age of seven, preparing to fulfill their future roles as aristocrats.
Cyrille was supposed to take knightly lessons as well, but since she wasn’t in a condition to do so, she would first receive etiquette lessons alongside Adrien.
“Don’t hunch your back; just lower your posture.”
“I’m doing that.”
“You are hunching.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Really…?”
Adrien answered vaguely, tilting his head in confusion. Even on the third lesson, he kept getting the same thing mixed up.
So foolish…
Cyrille clicked her tongue at Adrien.
What good is being tall if your head isn’t growing too?
“Let’s continue. Mademoiselle Cassinel, I’ll explain again.”
The Marchioness of Parte, acting as the tutor for Adrien and Cyrille, intervened as if it were second nature.
She pressed down on Adrien’s shoulders firmly to keep his back straight, just as Cyrille had instructed.
“See?”
“Sir Tezar, I already told you not to treat women that way.”
Cyrille’s sarcastic remark was met with a short “Apologies.”
Meanwhile, Adrien finally adopted a proper posture and stared at Cyrille.
“You should apologize to Mademoiselle Cassinel, not me.”
“…Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
As Adrien smiled, the gap in his front teeth was visible. His voice still leaked air through the missing teeth.
Even though he looked silly, Cyrille held back a laugh. She already had enough embarrassment from Adrien alone.
With the distractions gone, the lesson resumed.
For Cyrille, the lessons were more about practicing what she had learned from books than anything else.
In other words, it was fairly dull, but she followed the tutor’s instructions diligently.
Seeing herself learning, Cyrille could imagine the adult she would someday become.
With a bow from the Marchioness of Parte, the lesson ended.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
Cyrille scolded Adrien, who stayed even after the Marchioness left.
“Are you bored?”
“I keep saying I’m not bored.”
“I’m a little bored, though.”
Figures.
Cyrille shrugged and gestured.
Delighted, Adrien picked something up and naturally climbed onto the bed.
“Read it to me.”
“Alright.”
That ‘something’ was a book.
Cyrille confirmed Adrien was seated beside her and began reading.
Even at the Duke’s castle, Cyrille always read. Having someone next to her didn’t change that.
So this wasn’t really a big deal, Cyrille told herself.
She just felt like she should.
“…Thus, the witch was executed for kidnapping the princess. The princess, returned to the kingdom…”
“What’s executed?”
“Dying.”
“The witch died?”
“You just read that.”
Despite his irritated voice, Adrien was undeterred.
Flipping back to the start of the book, he pointed to a paragraph.
“But it’s the king who broke his promise.”
“The problem was taking revenge through kidnapping.”
“What’s revenge?”
“Retaliation.”
“Ret…”
“If you ask ‘What’s revenge?’ again, go away.”
Adrien, caught off guard, had no response.
Truly foolish…
Cyrille thought once more.
