10 - Another Grueling Day for the Aristocratic Kindergarten Teacher
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"The villain's family from the original story!""
The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning.
Banteid Hildebon. The villain from the original story.
What was Banteid like in the original story?
"Are they stupid? Everyone's alive until they die."
"It would be more efficient to beg for death. Even for that bastard's sake."
"The appearance is unpleasant. So pathetic it's boring."
'Every line...'
Every line is a masterpiece. No wonder Banteid was called the 'mouth of terror' by the readers.
Ephna turned her head again to look at the angelic face of Yohan.
"Hyung-ah... I'm hungry."
"I'll prepare your favorite scallop dish when we get back. Just bear with it a little."
"Okay. I'll bear with it."
Where did the original story go wrong? She seriously questioned it.
'That lovely child is the same person as the Banteid from the original story. What on earth happened to him as he grew up?'
As Ephna pondered seriously, the affectionate conversation between the two brothers reached her ears again.
"Hyung-ah. Someone fell over there."
Yohan pointed at someone with his index finger. There was a man who had fallen while dancing, perhaps because his foot had been stepped on by a heel.
Kayden indifferently grabbed Yohan's arm and pulled it down.
"It's none of your business."
"Shouldn't we help them?"
"It's even less my business."
The line was familiar.
'I think there was a similar line in the original story.'
Surely, Banteid, who became the guild leader... Yes, that's right.
"It's not something you can solve just by knowing."
"Please reconsider. You'll be completely at odds with the Empire!"
"That's not something I need to solve."
The flow and tone of the lines were excessively similar.
'He learned from him...'
Ephna realized. Yohan's textbook for learning was his hyung-ah.
Her eyes narrowed involuntarily. The Grand Duke Hildebon was the culprit behind the original Banteid's 'destructive personality'. She couldn't help but feel impure.
"..."
No, on second thought, she felt like she could bear it.
Look at the man approaching her steadily, meeting her gaze head-on. She hated to admit it, but she was intimidated. She decided to bear it.
Instead, she would just say this.
"I'm glad things worked out well. If you don't mind, may I add one thing?"
Ephna originally had a strange personality, always saying what she wanted to say despite being terrified.
The man rubbed Yohan's cheek with his thumb and replied.
"I don't mind."
"You shouldn't leave the child alone. You might think it's okay because it's indoors, but that's why it's more dangerous. If the child goes outside, it will be even harder to find him. Especially at the age of five, attention and interest are quickly drawn to stimulating things, so you need to be especially careful."
She dared to give Grand Duke Kayden Hildebon a lecture that was more than five lines long. With a quite resolute expression.
Kayden's face looked slightly dazed. It certainly wasn't an expression he often wore.
After turning his head for a moment, he soon met her gaze again and smiled faintly.
The smoothly curved corners of his mouth were relaxed, unlike someone who had just been lectured. Annoyingly so.
"I will be careful."
"Yes, then I'll be on my way... Goodbye, Yohan, too. You ate a lot of chocolate today, so make sure to brush your teeth before you sleep!"
"H-How..."
Yohan looked at Ephna with a face of utter shock.
'Right, he must be wondering how I know about the chocolate he ate secretly from his hyung-ah.'
Watching his pupils tremble as if an earthquake had struck, she smiled subtly. As if the teacher knew everything.
Kayden frowned slightly and opened his mouth.
"Yohan. Did you perhaps eat sweets again..."
"N-No."
"If you lie, there will be no snacks next time. I told you that you can't have sweets for a while because your cavities are getting worse."
So, there was such a pitiful situation.
But a fight between brothers is like cutting water with a knife.
Ephna left the banquet hall, leaving behind Yohan with a devastated expression.
It was as if she had left behind a burden called 'older brother', but she confidently returned home alone in a carriage.
Unaware that Grand Duke Hildebon's gaze was fixed on her.
* * *
And the next day, Ephna regretted it as soon as she put her work bag down in the kindergarten staff room.
'Why didn't I stick around and have more conversations!'
Is it okay to let the villain from the original story go like that? Who knows when I'll see him again?
She didn't realize she was such an unpractical person. Ephna clutched her head in frustration.
A fellow teacher, who was used to seeing her like this, handed her a book.
"Teacher, please take a look at this. I found it while organizing the library this morning, but it's in a language I've never seen before. Have you ever seen it before? What does it even say... Is it ancient?"
"A book?"
Did the kindergarten have an ancient original text? Our children are that smart?
Ephna received the book with a puzzled expression. Her eyes popped out as she read the incomprehensible squiggles.
"T-T-Teacher. Where did this come from? The library?"
"Yes. Why? Do you know the language? Is it not ancient?"
"Am I seeing things?"
Why does it look like I'm seeing Korean?
'No, it's not just that it looks like...'
It's really Korean!
It was the first time she had seen the script in five years. King Sejong's legacy, the proud Korean language, was plastered on the old leather cover.
[Past Side Story]
Past Side Story?
A trembling voice flowed from Ephna's mouth.
"T-Teacher. I'll take this book for a moment. I'll be back before the staff meeting."
"Ah, yes! Go ahead!"
Gulp. The sound of swallowing dry saliva was loud. Ephna hid the book in her arms like a thief and quickly left the classroom.
Only after arriving at the empty teacher's on-call room did she carefully open the book.
'Korean. Why is this in our library... No, why is it even in this world in the first place?'
After experiencing possession and regression, she thought there would be nothing more to be surprised about.
She calmed her surprised heart and read the book.
Ephna Windister. She was an unapproachable villainess.
"Huh?"
Are my eyes failing me these days? I'm seeing strange things. She blinked her eyes once and then read again carefully.
Ephna Windister. She was an unapproachable villainess.
It was the same. She touched the book with a bewildered face.
"I didn't see it wrong."
Her name was written in the book. And as an unapproachable villainess.
Besides, there was no end to listing Ephna's misdeeds.
She always said as a habit. That she would kill the Saintess.
"What?"
I just thought it was a strange book, but the genre is, well, a crime novel.
Kill the Saintess. I'm about to die from working like an ant every day, who's going to kill who...
She quickly turned the pages.
A chilling wind swept through the execution ground. Ephna's neck was placed on the guillotine.
Thud.
People gathered to see the end of the infamous villainess Ephna. The Saintess, who had always been threatened by her, was also looking at her with an uneasy face.
Soon, the judge shouted in a booming voice.
"For the crime of causing enormous damage to the Empire with black magic strictly prohibited in this Empire! For the crime of daring to harm the Saintess, Ephna Windister is sentenced to death!"
"Ha, haha... You fools."
"In addition, the Imperial royal guard will be dispatched to the Hildebon Grand Duchy, which cooperated with her!"
"Wait, wait."
Execution? Black magic?
'I use black magic?'
Everything was full of things that didn't make sense. Black magic. I can't even use the talents I have now, so what black magic am I going to learn.
Besides, why did the Hildebon Grand Duchy suddenly appear?
She retraced the sentences with a confused face. She retraced them about three times.
"..."
Thud. The old book fell unceremoniously from Ephna's hand. Her already white skin turned pale.
"I remember..."
The Imperial royal guard will be dispatched to the Hildebon Grand Duchy.
This sentence, I've seen it before. In my past life.
The original novel that she possessed was quite popular, so the side stories were also quite substantial.
Among them, the 'Past Side Story' dealt with why Yohan became a villain.
The reason why she, who had read the main story ten times, didn't remember the past side story was nothing special.
She was only faithful to romance and the main story.
She bought the last volume for 3,500 won, and it was full of the past side stories of the characters. She roughly read it and coolly closed the e-book.
"That means that's this now."
Ephna's gaze looking down at the book was endlessly ominous.
I don't know why it's placed here like an ancient book, but let's move on for now. Because there was something more important right now.
According to her memory.
'Surely, the reason why Yohan becomes a villain is...'
