Chapter 15 - Am I Allowed?

Kim Su Won pouted fiercely hearing that she did not have access to the library. Why? Why did this original Emmeline have to go to such lengths to try to gain attention of her family? Why could she not be self sufficient?

'Kim Su Won ah! Are you forgetting this is a twelve year old we are talking about?' The miss hit her head, she had gone mad to be scolding a little kid for acting like a kid.

She had to think of another way. There should be something else. Some other way that she could access children's books. It was imperative that she had them. Kim Su Won was basically going to apply the way she had learned English, thanks to her mother. Her mother had learned the language herself to teach her daughter, just so that her daughter could keep her top position in the school. Her original mother was just so dedicated to her studies that she was ready to put in the hard work herself.

Well, at least something good came out of it. She now knew absolute way to learn a language that had different alphabet than what she knew.

"Elder sister!" a cute voice called out to Kim Su Won who was still deep in thought. Her heart immediately brightened when she heard the familiar voice. Chris had come to meet her, he buried his face in the girl's lap as soon as he entered the room.

"Are you okay, Chris?" Kim Su Won could sense that there was something wrong. She ran her hand through his hair, slowly patting him.

Chris shook his head and then looked upwards with a silly smile on his face. "I saw you, I am alright now."

Kim Su Won noticed that the kid's clothes were dirty and his face was full of scratched. He was even missing a tooth! Was this kid bullied again? Over the past week, since she had started paying attention to this 'motherless' child, other kids from her dad's concubine had started bullying him for gaining attentions from the child of legitimate bloodline. They were probably taking out their anger that it was not them and believed Chris's life was set now. Who would tell them that this kid from the legitimate bloodline was herself out of favor and it didn't mean shit for Chris?

"Ah! Is that so? Anna, go help Chris in washing his face. Check for any wounds and dress them, if any," Kim Su Won instantly issued orders to her aid. Chris was just someone she considered equivalent of her lovely sister from her past life. She missed her. And Chris was a pure kid too, he did not seem to have any ill intentions or any schemes in his mind nor did he have anyone to teach him all this. His affection stemmed from pure love for his sister and Kim Su Won loved it.

She did not ask anything because she did not want to hurt the kid's pride. She had wished she could deal with the other kids personally but that would only mean helping her mother accelerate her plans for the ducal family. What could she do to protect Chris though?

Her father, although kind, was also lustful. He had so many concubines and kids now. Whittemore family must really be swimming in unlimited wealth to take care of so many people. Kim Su Won tried to count everyday expense for each member, and this was just from the number she knew from the novel. There must definitely be more servants here. Her head hurt just thinking about daily expense for each person.

She had to find a way. Did her dad not love all his children regardless of their status? She remembered Harold Whittemore lamenting once how he knew all the schemes of his wife and how it was such a waste to lose the kids just because he was powerless in front of his wife who had grown too powerful with all the support from her family.

That meant that he would not say no if she were to put forward the idea of getting Chris educated. She could sneak in the lessons herself since Chris would be learning from scratch too. It might be slow for her for the time being but that was the easiest solution. It would certainly gain ire from her mother but right now, her dad was in charge, so she was good.

"Anna, help me draft a letter," she ordered as soon as Anna entered with young master who had been bathed and dressed in new clothes. Chris ran towards his sister once again, thankful for her consideration towards him.

"Say Chris, do you want to study?" Kim Su Won helped him seat in the sofa and asked tenderly. Chris looked at her his big, cute eyes opened widely. Was she for real? He had never thought about it because he had taken for granted that he was going to be sent as a soldier to the army, an illiterate soldier, just like how his other brothers were sent to the army as soon as they hit twelve years of age, of course, apart from the first young master, Ivan Whittemore.

"But sister, am I allowed?" he asked innocently.