“Is that so?”

“I’m sorry for asking you to teach me and then deciding not to continue.”

“It’s okay. I somehow thought it might turn out this way.”

Enfrise agreed to teach me how to read, so it should be fine. When I mentioned this, Jaha instead responded with a gentle smile.

“The picture cards are here. They’re important, aren’t they?”

I had hastily put them in the drawer, but luckily, they hadn’t gotten crumpled or damaged. It was probably because the bottom drawer was empty, so nothing was there to harm them.

While I wasn’t sure how, sometimes Frii managed to get in there. If the door was just left open, I could assume he scratched his way in with his claws… but how he managed to close it behind him, I still haven’t figured out. He never went in while I was watching.

“Thank you.”

“I practiced drawing circles a lot. How does it look?”

I confidently presented the canvas. It was still a bit skewed, though Enfrise had said it seemed much improved compared to the beginning. The way he covered his mouth when he said it was a bit concerning, though.

Jaha stared at the canvas silently for a while, then burst into a bright smile.

“You’ve improved a lot.”

‘…Uh, Jaha? Are you sure you’re serious?’

The twitching at the corners of his mouth must be my imagination, right? Those cartoonish expressions couldn’t possibly exist in real life.

Right?

…Yeah, that was impossible.

“You cleaned the brush well.”

“Yes. I wiped off the clumped paint with a cloth, then rinsed it thoroughly in oil and washed it with soap on my hand until the oil was out. That’s the correct way, isn’t it?”

“When you rinse it…”

“You mean to sweep in one direction, right?”

“Yes. If you stir too vigorously, the brush bristles will spread.”

“Got it.”

Ah, the power of South Korea’s rote learning. I was pretty confident in memorizing things. It wasn’t memorizing that was the problem.

“Let’s continue practicing with circles for now. Today, I’ll also teach you a different painting technique.”

“There are other painting techniques?”

I couldn’t even draw a circle yet, and he wanted me to learn coloring techniques?

Weren’t we skipping too many steps, teacher?

“It’s not difficult. In fact, it may be easier than drawing forms since there’s no right or wrong in coloring. I’m teaching you conventional methods, but you are free to paint any way you like. Art is all about the freedom to create without constraints.”

Ah, such an artistic thing to say. Wasn’t he supposed to be a scientist, being a pharmacist?

Being good at both science and arts? He was truly a catch. If only I had a daughter to marry off to him, but alas, there were no suitable daughters nearby.

I felt like complaining to the author. Why didn’t they give me a cute daughter-like maid?

Ah, well, it might have been problematic for her, not for me and Enfrise. Our relationship was still clean(?), but originally, after the last escape drama, when Chapheril’s magic was massively overproducing due to her heightened emotions…

Ahem. Well, that.

There would have been such a scene, and if a young lady had heard it by chance, it would have been a disaster. Ahem ahem.

“I’ll ask the Grand Duke to definitely find a match for Jaha.”

“What?”

“Where would you find a groom like Jaha? You’re diligent, kind, gentle, and considerate. It’s strange that women have left him alone so far…”

“Ahem!”

….

Oh right, Enfrise was here.

“It’s strange… but I have no interest in Jaha, so I can only ask to introduce him to another woman?!”

Sorry, Jaha. This jealous guy again…

I couldn’t help it…!

“That’s fine. The only woman His Grace knows…”

Jaha glanced slyly at Enfrise, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

“…Is Chaperil, and obviously, I can’t ask him to introduce you.”

“Ahem!”

‘…You’ll tear your throat at this rate, Your Grace.’

Enfrise sighed annoyedly and tapped the arm of his chair with his fingertips. It seemed he often does that when he was thinking or feeling restless.

Even his habits were cute, Enfrise.

“So, I’m the only woman that the Grand Duke knows.”

“It’s not that other women haven’t approached. As Chaperil said, he is indeed a person of many admirable qualities. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“He would always push people away with sharp words and rude actions. So, it’s fascinating to see how His Highness is with Chaperil.”

Oh, really?

I quickly turned my head to look at Enfrise.

As if predicting my action, he was resting his chin on his hand. However, it felt rather more like covering half his face with it. Should I tell him… that tilting his head to the side made his reddened ears even more visible?

…No, why bother? It wasn’t like I was going to tease him about it, and I couldn’t give up one of my secret pleasures.

Let’s pretend I didn’t notice.

“Shall we proceed with the lesson? I need to leave soon as someone is expecting me.”

“Yes, yes. That sounds good.”

Well, this wasn’t really me teasing, right? Jaha liked Enfrise, so it was more like teasing out of affection… But considering how often BL elements were mixed into romance novels these days, could it be that Jaha had a role I hadn’t seen yet?

“No.”

“What?”

“Whatever it is, stop looking at me with such suspicious eyes…. That kind of look is more than enough from His Highness alone.”

…Oh, did I really look at him that strangely? Sorry.

Wow. I was just thinking of it, but he realized it already? I thought I had a good poker face.

Ahem.

“First, I’ll teach you about a technique called glazing.”

“Hih? Glazing?”

That was something I often hear illustrators talk about in tutorials. Could you do that with oil painting as well? But what exactly was glazing?

“Do you know about it?”

“Not really… it just sounds familiar.”

“Ah, glazing involves laying down a base color and then applying another color over it transparently to create layers of color.”

“Transparently? But aren’t paints usually very opaque?”

“I’ve mentioned before how mixing in oil can change that, right? If you mix in just enough oil…”

Oh. The color really did apply transparently.

“You see how the blue underneath shows through lightly? That’s because the gesso underneath is visible. Let’s try layering another color on top.”

To paint a lighter shade of yellow over blue. Then…

“Indeed, it turns green, but it’s a fascinating shade of green, isn’t it?”

“Yes, you could simply mix green on the palette if you want, but this glazing technique offers a unique charm. Chaperil, would you like to try?”

“Yes!”

I wondered if I could apply this technique to nail polish later? If I used enough glue to make it slightly transparent, it could work for a glazing effect on nails.

I should try it on Enfrise’s nails later.

Despite being distracted, I caught Enfrise glancing at me, and we locked eyes just as I smiled at him.

* * *

“The Imperial language has ambiguous breaks that make it quite difficult to learn from picture cards alone. If he managed to learn writing by himself with these…Sir Jaha must be more of a genius than I thought.”

It was wrong of me to even attempt to follow the path of a genius. No wonder I couldn’t memorize it for the life of me.

“Would you sit here for a moment?”

Tap tap.

Enfrise patted the space in front of him. It barely looked like there was room.

Did he think I was some sort of small doll?

“Where should I sit? There’s no space….”

Kuhum. Enfrise moved back a bit more, slightly enlarging the small space in front. Still, sitting there would practically mean being pressed up against him. He talked about me as if he was a man, yet he was suggesting such a risky posture?!

“The Imperial language… where a single dot or the direction of a stroke can change a consonant, is best learned by writing it out.”

“But why do I need to sit on your lap? This clearly has personal motives…”

“Of course, I can’t say there are no personal feelings involved. But it is indeed the most efficient way.”

…Wow. Since he had said it so honestly, I have nothing left to say.

Well, if it was the most efficient way…. and I’ve already….hugged him several times….

…But this was the first time in this position? This was almost like putting my body under Enfrise, turning him into something like a blanket. And then, that, uh…?

Like the perfect skill of all romance male leads? We were way too close there.

‘…This isn’t right.’

“Can’t we just face each other and do it?”

“Do you not trust me?”

Yes.

I never trust the male-lead of R-rated, depraved, male-oriented novel—especially not in situations like these. I trusted Enfrise, but I couldn’t trust the beast below. It didn’t have eyes or reason! And especially with the woman he liked?! Sitting right in front of him?! How could he be fine?!

If that didn’t trouble his pride, then what would?

“…Is there really no other way?”

“Not exactly, but it seemed like you wanted to learn quickly.”

Haa.

Fine. I genuinely wanted to start reading books about Flea and maybe delve into some novels or fairy tales. Plus, not knowing how to read meant things could be happening right under my nose, written in text, without my knowledge.

Being a romance-fantasy lead is more stressful than I thought.

“Then, ‘those things’ are absolutely out of the question.”

“What do you mean by ‘those things’?”

….

Was he asking because he didn’t know, or could it be a form of retaliation for last time?

“Just… something like that. Not happening. We’re just here to study, okay? Understood?!”

“Of course.”

His bright smile seemed so natural now, it was almost unnerving.

Well, nothing to be done about it. I hesitantly sat on the edge of the sofa. Enfrise then wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in close.

“Grand Duke!”

“You’ll fall if you sit like that.”

Aahhh!

His voice is right by my ear! His breath reaches my ears. It tickled! I wanted to say something but held back, not wanting to provoke Enfrise.

“Just… don’t shake.”

Aaaahhh.

Stop speaking so softly, and stop trying to set the mood. We were here to study!

“Let’s just get on with the writing!”

“…Yes. We better hurry. I…”

His muttered words trailed off, but for some reason, I heard ‘perhaps my self-control is thinner than I thought.’

….It must be my imagination.

Please, let it be my imagination.

__