Chapter 38

* * *

A season passed, and summer arrived. The liberal arts classes, which had always felt difficult, had become somewhat familiar.

“That’s ridiculous!”

Izeline rose from her desk, pounding it in disbelief. Robert opened his eyes wide.

“What’s so surprising?”

On the other hand, the one who surprised the two children looked calm. Gerald frowned and responded casually.

“When I reached that age, I was greater than that old man.”

“Even so, the Tower Lord is the teacher of your teacher!”

“He’s not that great of a person to be so admired.”

It seemed that he had a great deal of dissatisfaction with the Tower Lord, Ezekiel, and his expression was filled with deep distrust.

“He received so much gold from the duke, and who knows how much he skimmed off the top. He’s not a Tower Lord, he’s a common thief, a common thief.”

It was enough to make one shudder.

Gerald narrowed his eyes and emphasized his words as if he were still angry when he considered it.

“No one understands the ways of the world as deeply as a mage. It means that they are expensive beings who do not move lightly.”

The thought of it still disgusted him.

Gerald was present at the negotiating table with Duke Brioche, and Ezekiel raised the price of the tutor’s services with his plausible words. The boy, who was fourteen at the time, had kept his chin up and obeyed his teacher’s orders, expecting to receive a reward, but to his disappointment, he received nothing.

Dissatisfied with this, Gerald resisted, making excuses about research and other things, though in the end, he succumbed to power and was demoted to Souvri after three years.

“My money…”

He sighed deeply, still depressed by the thought.

Regardless, Izeline was excited by the fact that she was only one step away from meeting the Tower Lord.

He was a fascinating character who had appeared in the original story as a one-time cheat key.

[ Ezekiel glanced at the sacred sword, Caliburnus, with a sharp gaze. He ran his long fingers along the sharp blade and opened his mouth to Arsen, looking intrigued.

“You’ve brought a sword belonging to the temple.”

“I know that you are more capable than the high priest.”

“I am honored that you think so.”

Arsen stared at the Tower Lord with a calm face. Beneath the calm lake-like surface, a fierce beast seemed to be growling.

Ezekiel, who saw through it, waved his hand as if he had no intention of competing with the crown prince.

“I will gladly help you.”

As he let the blood flowing down his finger drip to the floor, a magic circle appeared on the floor by magic. ]

Izeline was surprised to recall so vividly the contents of the book she had read long ago. She had thought that it had faded a lot…

“How much did he rip you off?”

Robert’s voice broke her reverie. She noticed that he was looking at Gerald with sparkling eyes, and it seemed that he was impressed by the Tower Lord’s ability to rip people off.

Gerald’s eyes narrowed.

“You seem to be enjoying this a little too much.”

“No, I, uh, no…?”

The price of failing to hide his true feelings was severe.

Snap!

As Gerald flicked his fingers, a thick book appeared out of thin air and landed on the desk with a thud.

“Homework.”

“T-Teacher?”

Izeline’s voice trembled.

“Read and summarize it all by next week.”

She looked quietly at the seat next to her, her homework load heavier than usual. Robert looked as if he was sitting on a bed of thorns, his eyes darting around and his forehead dripping with cold sweat.

* * *

“What is this.”

Izeline muttered dully, her chin resting in her hand.

Robert, who had been unnecessarily flustered and had been concentrating even harder on his homework, stopped his quill and looked up at her words.

“I envy Michael…”

“What?”

“He’s not stuck in homework hell.”

Scratch, scratch.

As she kept her quill moving as she made her snide remark, Robert watched her silently and opened his mouth.

“He’ll have to catch up to us eventually anyway.”

“But he’s having fun right now.”

“You look like you’re having fun as well.”

“….”

Izeline paused, stung by his words. Unlike him, who was diligently filling his notebook with homework, she was drawing meaningless doodles—rabbits, lions, elephants, and so on…

“Why are you drawing those?”

Robert tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand why she was wasting her time.

Yeah.

What would he, a genius, know? That was what kids who couldn’t study do.

Izeline, who had once prided herself on being average, looked at the thick book in front of her with a depressed expression. It seemed that she had gotten herself into an educational system that was too advanced for her.

Boo hoo. What was this?

Give her back her childhood. All the good times would be over since she studied.

Gerald’s cruel amount of homework kept the two of them trapped in the study for an entire week.

The Souvri mansion had two study rooms. One was where the Duke of Brioche worked when he visited, and the other had been prepared for the children’s studies, though it was unclear when it had been furnished.

Thanks to this, the study had an adequate number of books for children to acquire knowledge, though they did not reach the level of a library. It was the perfect place to be locked away under the pretense of studying.

“Ugh…”

She let out a sigh as she watched Robert, who had begun to concentrate once more.

“I don’t want to study.”

“Even Michael, whom you envy, must have acquired this much knowledge, right?”

“….”

With her eyes narrowed, she glared at her sly friend. Though he must have felt her piercing gaze, Robert pretended not to notice and continued to focus on his studies. He seemed rather hardened.

It was a side of him that she had become accustomed to over the past three months.

“Knowledge and information are money.”

As if he had taken Gerald’s words from their first meeting to heart, Robert took his liberal arts lessons as seriously as his swordsmanship training. Why would he do that when he had so much money? They say that those who have it, always want more.

She clicked her tongue softly and began to move her quill pen again with a sullen expression.

Scratch, scratch.

The sound of the pen nib scratching against the paper gently permeated the quiet air.

How much time had passed? Robert discreetly glanced up at her when his childhood friend, who had been muttering to herself, became quiet for a long time.

“….”

It was a very ordinary moment. Yet, it was a moment that was slowly imprinted on his mind. Her appearance, with her chin slightly tilted up in the bright summer sun, was strangely charming.

‘…She looks like a painting.’

It was true. Her beautiful, auburn hair that fell just past her shoulders was like the luxurious silk that was delivered to the royal family, and her focused face was so cute that he wanted to preserve it as a statue. Furthermore, her flawless, clear skin aroused a strange feeling in him.

He wanted to torment her by roughly rubbing her with both hands until she whined.

As he stared at her in a trance for a long time, Robert lowered his gaze unintentionally when he discovered something and blinked.

Oh my…

“Do you want to visit the capital?”

She used to say that she liked being there with him.

Izeline raised her head at the sudden question. He had been wondering why she had been concentrating for so long, but in truth, she had been doodling all over her notebook.

“Oh…”

Her eyes widened in embarrassment. She had been idly drawing while thinking about visiting the Capital, but she had not expected him to notice it from the spires and buildings she had drawn piled up below them. It was a drawing that could only be identified as a ‘big city.’

“Of course.”

Robert read her expression and replied.

Izeline looked away in embarrassment, surprised by how he knew about that. She recalled how she had pretended to be uninterested in the Capital the other day.

“Izeline.”

At that moment, he put down his quill pen and called out to her quietly. Izeline unconsciously held her breath at the sound of his serious voice.

“You…”

His voice was filled with anxiety. She felt her fingertips stiffen as she watched Robert swallow dryly, nervous about what he was going to say.

He continued with difficulty.

“What are you going to do next year?”

“Huh?”

“Next spring, I’ll be eight years old, too.”

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