Ch#68
The moment Seraphina entered, Clois snatched the letter from her hand.
“Come on, Your Majesty. Can't you at least say a word of thanks to your loyal servant?”
“Yes. Good work.”
“I heard that praise with not a shred of sincerity.”
As Seraphina looked at him with a weary face, the chief attendant smiled and offered her tea as well.
No matter what Seraphina said, nothing reached Clois's ears at all.
He hastily tore open the envelope and smiled at the round, chubby handwriting visible right away. It was Ibi's writing.
[Hello, Professor! It's Ibi! Um, I have a favor to ask you.]
“A favor?”
He muttered at the unexpected content of the letter.
At his words, Seraphina also came over to his side with her teacup.
“A favor? What is it?”
She had instructed Ibi that if she had any favors to ask Professor Sian, she should tell Seraphina first.
The smart child wouldn't have forgotten, so for her to write a letter with a request to him directly...
Worried that perhaps there was some serious trouble or problem, both Clois and Seraphina hardened their expressions.
Clois hurriedly read the rest of the letter.
[Next week the midterms start, and I chose Reshid and Arsis in the foreign language class. But there are many parts I don't know well. I've asked the foreign language professor a lot too, but...]
Did she ponder that part for a long time while writing? There were ink marks where the pen had lingered.
[I think I can study harder if you teach me, Professor.]
At the end of the letter written like that, there was a somehow dejected-looking drawing of a Squirrel Doll.
“The squirrel is cute.”
“It is cute.”
“I agree.”
This time, even the chief attendant came over and gazed fondly at the picture Ibi had drawn.
Then Clois came to his senses first.
“But why ask me for foreign languages... Ah, right, the setting was that I'm a foreign language professor.”
Remembering Professor Sian Rosen's cover story late, he let out a sigh.
Seraphina was the same.
As if she hadn't anticipated something like this at all, she clutched her head with both hands.
“She must have seen the books in the professor's office and thought Your Majesty knows all four foreign languages.”
“That's why I said not to bring them all there!”
“I was really busy, but I even decorated the professor's office for you! Scolding my loyalty like that really hurts!”
Seraphina pretended to wipe away tears as if wronged, then answered.
“No choice then. Since Your Majesty can't teach her, just pretend there's no reply...”
“Why can't I teach her?”
“Why? You don't know Reshid or Arsis well, for starters.”
“What are you talking about? Did you forget I was a Yeongjae Academy student too? And back then, I learned all four languages.”
He hadn't been particularly interested in foreign languages.
It was due to his mother's strong insistence that as the next emperor, he had to master everything available to him without shortcomings.
“But you haven't used them much lately.”
“Not using them? I handle diplomatic documents without translation.”
“Still, not enough to teach a student...”
“Dean Seraphina, I don't know why you're nitpicking everything I say lately.”
It's because Your Majesty has become much softer lately, like when Lilian was alive.
...She couldn't say that, so Seraphina gave an awkward smile and stepped back.
“Please do as you wish.”
Who would stop the emperor if he insisted?
“When do the midterms start?”
“A week from now.”
“A week from now...”
Clois pondered for a moment, then returned to his desk and wrote a short letter.
He handed it to Seraphina.
“Deliver this to Ibi.”
“I don't know when the dean's duties started including mail delivery, but if you're going to use a high-class talent like me, lend me the Mana Stone one more time... Understood. I'm going.”
Seraphina downed the tea the chief attendant had given her at once under Clois's glaring gaze, then turned with slumped shoulders.
After she left, Clois immediately returned to his desk.
‘Midterms in a week.’
Then he had to wrap up these matters as quickly as possible and go see her.
That way, he could teach her at least one more thing before the exam.
‘What was the difficulty level of Yeongjae Academy's first exam?’
Already, Clois's mind was filled only with thoughts of what to teach the child.
* * *
“The professor said he'll teach me!”
Ibi said joyfully, raising a spoon full of chickpeas in one hand.
“The professor?”
Ruska, across from her, asked while elegantly tearing into a chicken leg.
“Sian Rosen. Ibi's guardian professor.”
As Arcel answered for her, Ruska nodded as if remembering.
“Right. You said you went out to the festival with him last time.”
“Yes! It was so much fun that day. I won a wooden Squirrel Doll from the draw... I even drew it in the letter...”
Ibi chattered nonstop while eating.
In fact, all three had heard the story of that day multiple times already, but they didn't point it out.
Ibi's face looked so happy when talking about the outing.
After listening to Ibi's story for a long while, Airin asked curiously.
“Come to think of it, what does Professor Sian look like? I've never met him, so I'm curious.”
“First, he's suuuper tall.”
Ibi raised her hand as high as she could and shook it. Even so, with her small stature, it barely reached Airin's head.
“And he's suuuuper handsome.”
At those words, Ruska, tearing into his second chicken leg, asked.
“How handsome? As handsome as me?”
At Ruska's cheeky question, Airin made a disgusted face, and Arcel piled a huge serving of cucumber salad—the one Ruska hated most—onto his personal plate.
“No. Professor Sian is waaay more handsome.”
“Huh.”
Ruska stopped eating at Ibi's reply.
Until now, when asked like this, Ibi had always immediately said Ruska was the best.
But this time, she answered without hesitation.
Even emphasizing that Professor Sian was overwhelmingly more handsome.
“Th-then, more handsome than Arcel too?”
For some reason fired up, Ruska pointed at Arcel, who was quietly buttering his bread.
At that, unlike her firm answer moments ago, Ibi pondered a bit before speaking.
“Lord Arcel is pretty, but Professor Sian is handsome.”
Clink.
At that answer, Arcel set down his butter knife and smiled brightly.
Ruska clutched his forehead at Arcel's expression.
Ibi's evaluation wasn't wrong.
The still 13-year-old Arcel was seen by people as a beautiful boy.
With his unique cool and cold aura, the word ‘pretty’ that Ibi used suited him even now.
The problem was that Arcel didn't like such descriptions.
Once, Ruska had met Arcel after a long time and said, ‘Haven't you gotten even prettier?’
That day, Arcel pushed Ruska in the training hall until he drew blood.
Since then, he had been careful with his words...
‘He won't do that to Ibi, though.’
Still, seeing him smile meant he was definitely annoyed.
Then Arcel spoke.
“Ibi, you know, I really want to meet that Professor Sian and see just how handsome he is.”
At Arcel's response, Ruska tilted his head.
He seemed more annoyed at hearing that Professor Sian was handsome than at being called pretty himself.
“Um, I'll ask the professor later and introduce you all! And Professor Sian knows all four foreign languages, and he's going to teach me Reshid and Arsis.”
Ibi, unaware of the meaning behind Arcel's smile, continued excitedly talking about Professor Sian.
And at a table a little away from the four, Izriella covered her mouth with her hand.
‘It's a lie!’
Her brother's letter had clearly stated that Professor Sian Rosen's specialty was ‘geology.’
Foreign languages?
‘Just who...’
Who was this Professor Sian that Ibi Alden was talking about?
A smile crept onto Izriella's surprised face.
No matter who Professor Sian was, Ibi Alden would have to pay the price for that lie.
