5 - Another Grueling Day for the Aristocratic Kindergarten Teacher
“What are you even saying, so annoying. Go inside, young lady. You’re just getting in the way.”
It was an impudent attitude that didn’t seem to consider her as the family’s young lady. The other maids giggled along.
Ephna, who had been silently watching, snatched the broom from the maid and swept the trash that had rolled to her feet.
“You fear your master, which is to say, my father, but you don’t fear me.”
“Wh, what are you saying…! Miss, did you eat something wrong?”
“That must be because I have no ‘talent,’ right?”
No one answered. The maids were busy glancing at each other, trying to read the room. It was a silent affirmation.
Ephna nonchalantly wrote something fluently in her purple notebook.
“You said earlier. That I’m a disgrace to the family, a fake bloodline.”
“That’s…!”
“Yes, maybe so. But you know, I can’t stand to let impolite children get away with things. It’s a kind of occupational hazard. So, you’d better behave while I’m still real, don’t you think?”
At her words, the maid swallowed hard.
Clearly, Miss Ephna couldn’t do anything to her. She was in a position where she couldn’t even control a single servant. That was Ephna’s place in this mansion.
Yet, why did her warning feel so chilling?
Her simple attire and dry skin. She didn’t look like a precious young lady at all. No, to be precise, she looked worse than a commoner.
But there was a strange aura about the young lady that made it impossible to treat her carelessly. Like a kind but strict teacher.
“Behave, wh, what does that mean…”
The maid barely managed to shake off the cold sweat that kept trickling down. The more she did, the gentler Ephna’s smile became.
“Thanks for the information. My half-sister Lilien will soon be formally registered in the family, huh… That’s quite the celebration.”
“Hu…! Are you really crazy?”
“I’m right before it. I think I chose the wrong web novel.”
“Web, web what?”
Her voice, asking blankly, was full of bewilderment. But Ephna didn’t even glance at the maid and turned away, disappearing.
What on earth just swept through here?
The maids who were left behind could only gape. Among them, the maid who fortunately came to her senses first muttered blankly.
“She’s changed. She’s different. It’s like she’s become a different person… Was Miss Ephna always like that?”
“Is that the same Miss Ephna who wouldn’t say a word even if you spilled a drink on her dress?”
“I saw that professor in Miss Ephna. You know, the scariest one when we were at the maid academy…!”
Along with their horrified voices, a huge rumor quickly spread throughout the Count Windister’s household.
The core of the rumor was this.
Miss Ephna has changed. Like a different person.
* * *
The Windister family is special.
The bloodline of the Windister family was born with a rather outstanding talent.
Some with beautiful looks.
Some with outstanding physical abilities.
Some with the aptitude of a businessman.
Some with genius artistry.
The Windister family, with its somewhat lacking history, was able to squeeze into the ranks of the central nobles thanks to their talents.
But, for the first time in the family’s history, a child was born without any talent.
“That’s me, isn’t it?”
Ephna, who had returned to her room, sat on the bed and muttered. Creak. The bed, with its half-collapsed support, tilted with a creaking sound.
Drip, drip. Looking at the leaking ceiling, she suddenly had a thought.
‘This possession was a mistake after all.’
That’s right. She had possessed this body three weeks ago. The body of a seventeen-year-old noble girl.
Moreover, the original story was a whopping 20 years away from starting.
The main characters weren’t even born yet. She had possessed this body without any connection to the original story.
Ephna pressed her throbbing forehead and closed the notebook where she had written down the information.
It was then. The tightly closed door opened without warning.
“Ephna, sister, you were here!”
It was a light step. Lilien, with her braided pink hair, entered with a bright smile.
Behind her, her two older brothers stood with unpleasant expressions. As if even facing Ephna was uncomfortable.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
“Lilien? What’s wrong?”
Ephna had barely spoken to Lilien properly in the past three weeks. That was because Ephna was always alone.
Waking up in the old room, eating a meager meal, and adapting to this world was all she did every day.
Lilien linked arms with Ephna and said.
“Let’s go out to eat together! Father said he’ll buy us something delicious.”
“Me too?”
“Of course! Oh, how about your fiancé, Marquess Hardness Vilchen, joins us?”
“Hardness Vilchen went down to his territory yesterday.”
“Ah… I see.”
Lilien’s shoulders drooped. She looked quite disappointed. Unable to bear seeing Lilien like that, her second older brother strode up to Ephna.
A large height. Red hair and a moderately muscular body.
Thanks to being born with ‘physical talent,’ he easily became a knight, and he looked at his younger sister Ephna threateningly.
“Hey. Do you have to say it like that and disappoint her?”
“What’s…”
“Just make something up. I was trying to take you along, even though it’s embarrassing, but you’re really annoying.”
What did she even do wrong just now?
It was a forced outburst of anger. But no one pointed it out.
The eldest brother wasn’t even paying attention to this side and was just looking over a business plan. Ephna replied in a calm voice.
“Whether my fiancé is doing something somewhere, I don’t have to explain it to anyone, even by making something up, brother.”
“What? I heard rumors that you’re half-crazy, but are you really crazy? Are you talking back to me now?”
Swish. A large hand went up without hesitation. He was skilled at hitting. Someone blocked the arm of the second older brother.
“Stop it. In front of the servants.”
It was the father. The father, Count Windister. He pushed his second son aside and then,
“Ephna, you ill-mannered thing.”
Slapped Ephna’s cheek as it was.
Smack! A chilling sound of friction filled the narrow, old room.
‘I got hit? On the cheek, too?’
The face turning slowly towards her father was blank. The Count looked at Ephna with disgust.
“You dare talk back to your brother. I told you so many times to stay quiet and out of sight.”
“Father…”
“Lilien has manifested another ‘talent.’ She hit nearly 6 out of 10 shots close to the center in her first time learning to shoot. A definite physical talent. With this, it has become clear that Lilien has the same talent as the first Count Windister. Today, we are going out to celebrate that.”
Count Windister shook off the hand that had slapped Ephna’s cheek as if brushing off a bug.
“But you dare ruin Lilien’s mood? Today it ends with just one slap, but if you get in the way of my daughter’s future, I won’t let it go.”
If Lilien is ‘my daughter,’ then what am I, no, what is Ephna, Father?
The words rose to the tip of her throat. But she didn’t spit them out. No, she couldn’t.
Because her family had all left the room, leaving Ephna staggering with a ringing head.
Are they even family?
‘The maids’ words that I’m a fake might be true.’
Bang! The old door slammed shut violently. Looking at the door, she realized. Her situation.
‘In this mansion, I am an existence they want to erase…’
It was a miserable situation. She felt like she would feel better if she got some fresh air.
Ephna opened the door and wandered aimlessly. Before she knew it, she was at the training grounds.
A gun came into view in the quiet gaze. The gun that Lilien had used.
White hands gripped the gun. They say that firing something like this in dramas makes you feel better. Is that really true?
“It’s my first time shooting, but…”
Ephna pulled the trigger with both hands, pouring in her frustrated feelings.
Bang!
The bullet fired from the muzzle pierced the center of the target exactly.
“…Was that a coincidence?”
Beginner’s luck. Something like that?
Blink, blink. The neatly raised eyes blinked slowly in embarrassment.
She was puzzled, but she couldn’t shoot any more. If someone saw her, they would spread rumors that she had touched Lilien’s things without permission.
Ephna left the training grounds, and the target that Lilien had used swayed in the wind.
Traces of six shots hitting. But not a single bullet had pierced through the very center. Unlike Ephna.
