TPOVF 15

Chapter 15

“Teacher, let’s wear the same thing! That, that… couple look! Couple look!”

Behind Kailus, the employee was smiling warmly. It seemed she had taught him about ‘couple look.’

Eurenia gave up thinking further and stroked Kailus’s head.

“Shall we?”

“Yeah!”

Kailus answered with a bright smile. Then, among the ribbons hanging around his neck, he chose a light green one and held it out to Eurenia.

“This is the same color as my eyes.”

“Indeed it is! Shall we do a couple look in this color?”

“Hehe. Yeah!”

Kailus answered energetically. It was good to see him having become noticeably brighter after the nanny disappeared.

And so, Eurenia spent a while in the reception room fitting dozens of outfits with the child.

It was a day that flowed smoothly, just like any other.

“I don’t want to!”

She had thought it would be smooth.

She should have known things were going too easily.

“I said I won’t do it! No! I said no!”

Kailus’s firm cry struck down like a bolt of lightning.

Bang!

He even slammed the door shut.

“Oh dear…”

Eurenia, staring at the closed door before her, let out a deep sigh.

Rewinding a little.

Before Eurenia was struck by Kailus’s lightning bolt, at the manor’s training ground.

“A new tutor?”

Kieran, who was organizing wooden swords at the training ground, said to his friend.

Because he had sparred with the head of the household since dawn, the knight commander’s sturdy upper body was glistening with sweat.

“How many is this now? The twentieth?”

“The sixteenth.”

Enzo replied nonchalantly to Kieran, who was wiping off his sweat with a towel. There was no point in telling him again, since he would just forget soon enough anyway.

“Whether it’s the twentieth or sixteenth, what does it matter. She’ll be fired soon enough anyway, so.”

“This time is different, I’m telling you. It’s already been nearly a month.”

“She has been lasting quite a while. So?”

“The Duke is acting strange.”

At Enzo’s meaningful words, Kieran, who had been shaking his sweat-dampened hair with a towel, chuckled.

“He seems the same as always.”

“That’s because you’re dense.”

“What do you mean I’m dense?”

Kieran, suddenly turned into a dense man, shouted indignantly. But Enzo ignored him and continued seriously.

“Chasing out the nanny at the tutor’s suggestion, and completely redecorating the young master’s room—that much I can understand. He also bought a bunch of new clothes. He personally asked Madam Prudence for them.”

“And what of it? What’s the big deal about buying a few outfits for his nephew.”

“I’m saying this because he bought some for the tutor too.”

“What?”

Kieran, who had been brushing off Enzo’s news as nothing important, paused.

He put down the towel and leaned against the fence of the training ground.

“The Duke himself? Are you sure?”

“Do you think I’ve ever been confused about anything?”

“Your memory is annoyingly accurate. Hmm, that is certainly unlike the Duke. Personally contacting the dress shop, of all things.”

The Duke of Chester is not stingy with his people.

But that only means he allocates generous budgets.

He has never personally taken care of someone. Such delicate actions were far from his character.

And on top of that, the other party was a woman.

Kieran folded his arms and said.

“I hear this tutor is a woman. He bought clothes for a woman? Our Duke? That’s strange.”

“My point exactly.”

It was, indeed, strange.

Because Chester Valerio, the Duke, abhors women.

It was a well-known story in high society that the handsome, capable young Duke treated women with care.

He even steadfastly attended banquets—where bringing a partner was mandatory—alone. And he never danced with anyone.

The Duke’s reason for attending banquets was solely to fulfill his duty as a member of the nobility.

No matter who tempted him with what, he paid them no attention.

At last year’s imperial banquet, he even committed the atrocity of trampling over a handkerchief that Lady Lennox had deliberately dropped.

Because of that, gossip magazines had spread rumors that the Duke of Valerio was impotent for a while.

The Duke, who was so ascetic that rumors of impotence circulated about him, had bought clothes for a woman.

It was hard to believe.

“Why would he do that?”

After pondering for a long while, Kieran muttered seriously.

“Did the tutor not have any clothes?”

“You look like you have even fewer clothes. By the way, aren’t you cold? Why are you always half-naked? Put something on.”

“I’m hot because of the mana. Do you think just anyone can shoot fire arrows?”

Kieran answered his friend’s sarcasm with a cheeky grin. Enzo clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Enzo, the brain, and Kieran, the brawn.

The two had been famous for their opposing personalities since their academy days.

But perhaps because they were different, they could understand each other well, and they became inseparable friends.

It was perhaps only natural that they ended up serving the same master after graduation.

“Still, it’s embarrassing. With the commander looking like this, no wonder all the knights are walking around half-naked too.”

“The Duke doesn’t say anything about it either. If you’re jealous of my physique, just say so, Enzo.”

“Who’s…!”

Clang!

Just as Enzo was retorting to Kieran. The sound of a window shattering somewhere in the manor rang out loudly.

The two exchanged glances and ran toward the source of the sound.

It wasn’t hard to find the origin.

As soon as they entered the east wing, the boy’s loud shouts spread out.

The second floor of the east wing, the room right next to the head of household’s bedroom.

The place where the window was broken was precisely—

“No!”

Kailus’s room.

It was a day like any other.

Eurenia woke before dawn and headed to the nursery.

Because the child struggled to be alone in a dark room. Even with a nightlight on, he said he was scared.

It seemed the memories of being abused by the nanny clung to him tenaciously.

The adults had easily resolved the situation, but for the child, they weren’t memories that could be erased so easily.

So every night, Eurenia read storybooks to Kailus until he fell asleep, and every morning, she went to his room to wake him.

Today, too, Eurenia quietly opened the child’s door.

Through the half-drawn curtains, the warm morning sunlight was spreading through the cozy room.

Kailus’s new room was decorated in harmony with light green and ivory.

The furniture, made to match the child’s height, had rounded edges, and a plush rug was laid on the floor.

It was a nursery decorated much more delicately than what she had asked the Duke for.

Entering the room, Eurenia gazed intently at the deeply sleeping child’s face.

‘Should I start lessons soon?’

She had been putting off lessons while waiting for Kailus to adjust to his new environment.

Before she knew it, nearly a month had passed since she came here. In that time, Kailus had opened up quite a bit.

She had come as a tutor, so shouldn’t she do a tutor’s work?

Still, if she suddenly announced lessons, he might feel resistant. So today, she’d just do a light level test.

…That’s what she had thought, easily.

“I don’t want to.”

Until she heard Kailus’s firm refusal.

After breakfast, Kailus, who had returned to the nursery, threw a tantrum at the mention of lessons.

“I won’t study. I’m not going to!”

If a child raised in a harmonious home throws a stubborn tantrum, you should discipline them strictly.

But Kailus’s case was different.

The problem of the abusive nanny had been resolved. But the child still believed he had been abandoned by his mother.

The Duke’s explanation was insufficient to make the child understand.

He had only said no, without giving a reason. So how could a child, not even an adult, believe that?

Even Eurenia wouldn’t have believed it. She would have thought her mother had abandoned her.

So she had to treat Kailus with care.

“Why don’t you want to study? May I ask why?”

At the kind teacher’s question, the child lowered his head. And stubbornly said.

“Because I don’t want to.”

“I see…”

Eurenia answered seriously. She thought for a moment, then calmly soothed the child.

“Young master, if you want to become a fine adult, you must study. Your mother would want that too.”

“Mom…?”

At the mention of his mother, the child perked up with interest.