CH 20

As Taleia looked at him without saying a word, Daniel felt uneasy for no reason.

Look at how he’s keeping his mouth shut when I point out the reality.

Thinking that Taleia was just a child who didn’t know what she was thinking, Daniel looked at her with his quiet purple eyes.

“What’s your name?”

“Yes?”

“I’m asking for your name. I forgot.”

“It’s Daniel. But more importantly, Your Ladyship. Although I am of lower status than you, if you are taking my class, as a respect to the teacher…I will give you a choice.”

Taleia cut off Daniel’s words and even used informal language towards him. Although Daniel tried to raise his voice to Taleia, he stopped after seeing her unwavering eyes.

“You know you don’t have the power to solve Yan’s situation. You didn’t point out the problem without knowing that you’re just a home tutor.

So, I’ll give you a realistic solution. First, quit being the prince’s tutor and return to your own kingdom. Second, I’ll tell our parents about this, and we’ll be punished for treason against the royal family.

Which one do you prefer?”

“What…?”

“The first one should have been the action you took a long time ago if you really hated this situation and had no way out. And the second one is to solve it the way you said.

As you said, I don’t need to care about what others think of me because I have good parents. The same goes for Yan. Regardless of the queen’s pressure, he is still a prince.

Do you know that you could even be sentenced to death based on your whereabouts and status?”

“D-Death…?”

“I can teach Yan to follow your position like you said. But I don’t really want to do that. Even if you give a weapon to a child, nothing will be solved, and the same thing will happen again.

So the third option, which is the compromise, is to teach the appropriate class for a five-year-old child without condoning the abuse. What will you do?”

Taleia’s tone was cold but calm, as if she brought back the negotiating Lemetio Chancellor.

“Even if you’re the daughter of a chancellor, I can’t believe that you’re being threatened by a four-year-old child.”

Daniel couldn’t believe he was being threatened by a stubborn and innocent child he had just met yesterday.

“If you don’t answer before Ranyan comes back, I’ll choose the worst option for you. So choose quickly.”

“I-I’ll choose the third one.”

Taleia gave a wry smile at Daniel’s choice. Her eyes were filled with unmistakable disappointment.

“I certainly gave you options…”

“…It hurts.”

Talayiah’s voice, her nose wrapped in tissue, was mixed with sobs. Though the floor was covered with soft carpet, the wind was strong enough to make her nose bleed.

Seeing the blood, Rayan looked around for help and saw Daniel who quickly grabbed a handkerchief to stop the bleeding.

Her eyes, now tinged with tears and a hint of warning, locked onto Daniel’s, making her previous demeanor seem like a falsehood.

The worst part about being a child is not having control over your own body.

Today’s language class ended abruptly when their composition teacher, whose name they couldn’t even remember, grabbed her book and left as soon as the nanny arrived.

I held my nose with a cotton ball, whimpering as I was cradled in the nanny’s arms.

“Shall we see if the bleeding has stopped?”

After a while, the nanny carefully removed the cotton ball. My nose had stopped bleeding, and she warned me not to touch it for a while.

“I’ll get a small chair that’s just right for you and the prince. But in the future, you must be careful when coming down.”

“Okay.”

The nanny tied my disheveled hair again and asked if the class was fun. I made a face and said it was not.

“We’ll eat and play after this.”

“Oh, then does that mean the prince has to attend the class alone?”

“Yan will play with me.”

“Hmm…”

The nanny smiled uncomfortably and reminded me that the prince had to attend the class.

“But the teacher taught us something weird.”

“What do you mean by weird?”

“I don’t know. The teacher was bothering Yan.”

“…”

I didn’t mention that I wanted to improve Yan’s environment, not just change one teacher. Although I let it go, it was clear to the sharp-eyed aristocrats that the teachers were all doing something similar to Yan.

If I had expressed my thoughts like this, it would have been obvious that the teachers were being watched by the nobles.

I gestured to Yan to come closer as I moved away from the nurse’s embrace. When Yan approached me, I hugged him tightly.

“I will deal with the person who is bothering you, Yan.”

“Okay, I’ll tell the nurse to cancel my class today.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Can you tell me how the teacher troubled you? Did he hurt you?”

“No, he didn’t hurt me. I just said something to Yan, who works hard without teaching him anything.”

I asked Yan, who was cuddling up to me, just in case.

“Have you ever been hit by a teacher?”

Yan hesitated for a moment before speaking in a low voice.

“Not that teacher… another one.”

“How many questions did you get right?”

“The same number as the number of questions. 30.”

The nurse’s expression hardened at the sound of “30.” I was also angry again, but instead of expressing my anger, I hugged Yan tighter.

“Tilly.”

“What?”

“Are you mad?”

I smiled widely at Yan, who was watching me closely. When I looked closely at his slightly raised eyes, I found it hard to breathe. I wondered whether I should check my safety or open my eyes wide and engrave this sight on my retina.

“How is he so cute?”

As and Royina were cute, too, but there was something about Yan that really hit my heart.

“Of course, my type, like a pine tree.”

“Tilly?”

“I’m not mad.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’m not mad.”

Yan smiled as if he were relieved by my answer. Then he rested his head on my shoulder.

I covered my nose with my hand as I felt like I was going to sneeze because of his cat-like behavior.

Fortunately, I didn’t bleed. Yan hurriedly grabbed my hand and pulled it down.

“Don’t touch your nose. It will hurt if you bleed.”

“Oh, really…?”

I really wanted to bite Yan just once. But I knew if I did, Yumo would surely separate us, thinking that Yan was being troubled.

I was seriously considering how to bite Yan without Yumo noticing, but Yumo called me first.

“Miss, I’ll be going to the master’s room for a moment. Call the maid if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

I waved goodbye to Yumo as she left the study and as soon as the door closed, I released Yan and hopped off the sofa.

I didn’t often come to the study, but I knew where the secret passage was.

I opened the decoration cabinet under the bookshelf against the wall, revealing a narrow passage that only an adult could barely squeeze through.

“Yan! Let’s go play.”

“Where to?”

“Anywhere!”

“….”

“Don’t worry. I, the daughter of the duke, know all the ways. We won’t get lost.”

“But what if we get in trouble?”

“Yumo said she was just taking a break before lunch, so she won’t scold us.”

“Still…”

“Then I’ll go alone.”

As I left, Yan quickly followed me from behind. Since I memorized the route of the passage a long time ago, I was able to safely escape to the forest behind the mansion.

Yan, who followed me out of the passage, coughed up dust. I patted off the dust that was all over his clothes.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I felt like a sister taking care of her younger brother.

“Let’s hold hands and go there.”

“What’s over there?”

“Flowers!”

“Flowers?”

“Yeah, flowers!”

With a smile, I headed towards a small flower garden in the woods. It was a place that the maids occasionally used as a hiding spot for a nap.

It was a sunny spot, so various types of wildflowers bloomed there, mainly yellow in the center and white petals from summer to fall.

As soon as we arrived at the small flower garden, I let go of Yan’s hand and ran towards the side with more flowers.

When I was young, I called these flowers egg flowers because they looked similar, but I didn’t know if they were the same kind.

Anyway, the good thing about these flowers was that they were great for making flower crowns.

“You can make a flower crown, a bracelet, anything with these flowers.”

I started picking the flowers that were suitable for making a flower crown.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m making a floral crown.”

“A floral crown? What’s that?”

I was surprised by his question about what a floral crown was. Could it be that he didn’t know?

“Well, it’s a crown made out of flowers.”

“You can make something like that?”

“Of course. Just wait a bit. I’ll make one for you, Yan. Wait over there.”

Yan sat down in the grassy field and watched me as I busily moved around.

When I had gathered enough flowers, I quickly trimmed the stems and made a small floral crown.

“Yan, come here.”

I approached Yan and placed the floral crown on his head, then took a few steps back to admire his appearance.

“Indeed, he looks cute.”

Yan wobbled his head, and when the floral crown almost fell off, he quickly lifted his head back up. He could simply put it back on if it fell off.

But his fumbling around was so adorable that I promised to make him another one if he didn’t drop it.

I had to work quickly to make floral crowns for Loxana, Yurian, and Yumo as well, because I didn’t want any of them to feel left out. Unlike Yan’s crown, these had to be sized for adults, so I needed twice as many flowers.

“Tilly.”

“What?”

“Do you like flowers?”

“Well… I do.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re pretty.”

“You like pretty things?”

“Of course.”

“Me too.”

“Huh?”

“I also like pretty things.”

I continued to laugh while picking flowers, completely absorbed in my task and not noticing the expression on his face.

At that moment, I forgot that I was not meant to be a part of his life.