Chapter 125: The Cub's Roar
Olivia and Lucy's lessons proceeded as scheduled. Lucy was truly earnest in her studies.
"Yes, Your Highness! Yes!... I understand this, but I'm not sure about this part."
Her answers were clear, and she clearly distinguished between what she knew and what she didn't. In particular, the aspiration in the girl's blue eyes was fully conveyed to Olivia.
Olivia, who had been sitting across from Lucy, moved to sit next to her.
"Okay, let me explain it again."
The sound of the two teaching and learning echoed steadily from the Princess's room.
This news naturally reached Beatrix.
The Queen Consort, who was attending to her morning duties, stealthily headed towards Lucy's room and stopped at the sound of Olivia and Lucy's voices coming from outside the door.
"Heehee! Your Highness! I understand so quickly when you teach me like this!"
Beatrix's lips curved upward at the sound of Lucy's excited voice.
"Right? I explained it in a way that you understand."
Olivia's kind voice followed.
"It seems Her Highness the Princess consort is conducting the lessons well," the Head Maid said slyly, and Beatrix nodded with a smile.
If it weren't for the Pulder aristocratic alliance's influence, she might be working as a professor at Herollington University by now."
"Yes. She was also the valedictorian."
Beatrix paused in silence for a moment, feeling a strange bitterness, before changing the subject.
"I'm grateful to Olivia in many ways. What should I do for her?"
As Beatrix turned around and murmured, the Head Maid joked with a smile.
"There are rumors that Duke Rosemond is buying up all sorts of luxury goods in the capital these days."
"That Noah."
"Ah, and I heard that Princess Lucy's classmates are scheduled to visit her this afternoon."
"Really? That's commendable. Prepare some refreshments and light gifts."
"Understood."
Beatrix returned to her office, listening to Olivia's voice from behind.
The lesson was peaceful. It was an enjoyable time for both of them, so the lesson passed in the blink of an eye. As Lucy's friends were about to arrive, Olivia also prepared to leave.
While packing her books, Olivia casually asked Lucy.
"Princess, what do you like about school?"
Lucy tapped her chin with the end of her pen and replied.
"Hmm... First of all, they don't teach embroidery or flower arranging, which I really don't want to do. But most of all, the best thing is..."
"Hmm?"
"The teachers at school say, 'Do it on your own.'"
Olivia's eyes widened at the unexpected words as she looked at Lucy.
"That was the best thing?"
"I heard that for the first time at school. In the Royal Palace, I'm just a doll, but at school, I'm not a doll."
"……?!"
Olivia was shocked by Lucy's words. She had never imagined that Lucy, who looked like a character in a masterpiece, would call herself a doll.
When Olivia didn't say anything, Lucy quickly whispered.
"It's a secret, Your Highness!"
"I never imagined you'd think that way," Olivia whispered softly, and Lucy chuckled. But the laugh was not one that a ten-year-old girl would make. There was weariness mixed in the girl's laughter.
Lucy shrugged and said as if muttering to herself.
"My father always tells me, 'Just grow up to be pretty.' But to my ears, it sounds like, 'Become a pretty doll.' I've actually known for a long time that people call me the Thumbelina Princess."
Olivia felt a tightness in her chest at Lucy's words.
She was reminded of the saying that every path has its own pain. Olivia forced a smile and whispered.
"Once you get better, you'll be able to go to school."
"I guess so?"
Lucy smiled back, and Mrs. Lehman came in to announce the arrival of her friends.
As Lucy shrugged her shoulders in delight, Olivia picked up her bag and said goodbye.
"Then, I'll see you again tomorrow."
"Wait! Don't do that, why don't you stay a little longer before you leave? I want to introduce Your Highness to my friends."
No sooner had Lucy's words left her mouth than four girls rushed in and politely greeted her.
"Wow, everyone!"
As Lucy cheered and ran to them, the girls, who had been gathering their hands politely, also raised their heads with sparkling eyes.
"Lucy, no, Princess. This is a get-well present... no, ......"
"Anyway, thank you!"
The girls surrounded Lucy, chattering and glancing at Olivia. Then they whispered to each other.
"She's so pretty."
"Really. Even more than in the newspaper."
"I told you, didn't I?"
"She's prettier than the actors."
Lucy, hearing her friends' whispers, puffed out her chest with a triumphant look and approached Olivia as if showing off, gently taking her hand.
"She's my sister-in-law."
Olivia held back a laugh at how cute the fingers were, fidgeting and holding her hand with a face flushed red.
Olivia greeted Lucy's friends, who were staring intently at her face.
"Nice to meet you."
Olivia's friendly greeting became the starting point for the girls' social gathering.
The girls, who were relatively free from the conventions and customs of aristocratic society, clung to the Princess consort, and eventually Olivia had no choice but to put down the bag she was holding.
The girls' social gathering was amicable.
It was so until the mothers who had brought the girls took their daughters away after having a meeting with the Queen Consort.
While Beatrix went out to see them off, Olivia also got up to leave for real.
"Then, Princess, I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you off!"
"No, let's say goodbye here."
However, Lucy was unyielding. She insisted on holding Olivia's hand tightly.
In the end, as she was about to leave the room with Lucy, the door opened with an unexpected knock.
Was the ability to overwhelm a space with one's mere presence a trait of the royal family?
Olivia quickly bent her knees to greet King Leonard, who had suddenly appeared.
"Your Majesty, good afternoon."
Leonard nodded, facing Olivia.
"Yes, you've done a great job today."
Then he rolled his eyes and looked at his daughter. The girl was keeping her mouth shut, and surprisingly, Marguerite could be seen in that appearance.
"Lucy."
Olivia tried to step back from the father-daughter conversation, but Lucy desperately held onto her hand as if it were her last resort.
Lucy took a breath and said earnestly.
"Father, my shoulder doesn't hurt."
"……."
"The scar on my forehead doesn't hinder my activities at all."
"Lucy."
"I want to go to school starting tomorrow."
The ten-year-old girl was impatient. She felt that if she didn't go to school tomorrow, she would never be able to go to school again, and that anxiety was gnawing at her small heart. It was even more so after seeing her friends.
Leonard sighed deeply and said.
"Let's think about it a little more. But not tomorrow."
Lucy screamed at her father's roundabout refusal.
"You're not going to let me go! You've hated me going to school from the beginning!!"
"Princess..."
Olivia tried to calm the child, but Lucy was not easily calmed.
"Promise me you'll let me go!!!"
And Leonard's mood, which had been sensitive due to several things, was ruined by Lucy's extreme reaction.
"Even after that dangerous accident, you still want to go outside the Royal Palace!!"
"My brothers even participated in the war, so what's the big deal about a carriage accident!!"
"What's the big deal about a carriage accident?! Do you even know you almost died?!"
"I didn't die!!"
Even a lion cub was still a lion.
Olivia was startled by Lucy's appearance, baring her teeth and growling, and even more surprised by the sight of the King arguing with his ten-year-old daughter, raising his voice.
The ten-year-old girl's heart was also filled with resentment. The child poured out words that she had never dared to say before.
"My brothers can, so why can't I?!!"
Leonard was dumbfounded by his daughter's intense rebellion, to whom he had given endless love, and blinked his eyes before muttering in vain.
"You, what are you lacking so much that..."
Lucy's eyes turned red at her father's words.
"I wish I had been born a man like my brothers."
Lucy's words unexpectedly stabbed Olivia's heart.
'How much better would it have been if I had been born a man.'
How much had she thought about that when she was going to school, being called a commoner girl. She had been thinking about it since she was about this child's age.
Lucy looked at her father with tearful eyes, let go of Olivia's hand, and ran to her bedroom.
As the door slammed shut, Leonard slowly let out a sigh like a lament and said to Olivia.
"I'm showing you an unsightly sight. You must have had a hard day today, so go back and rest."
His tone was full of fatigue.
Olivia, who had been looking at the place where Lucy had disappeared, quickly turned her head, but Leonard had already turned away.
"…H……."
Olivia couldn't bring herself to call him. The King disappeared without regret, but Olivia couldn't move from that spot.
"……."
Those who have do not know the hardships of those who do not.
They don't even think about it.
Old emotions that had been pressed down with a heavy stone deep in her heart resurfaced. As moments of having to hold her head up alone amidst all kinds of discrimination flashed through her mind like a lantern, her chest grew hot as if someone had poured oil on a small spark.
'Why can't I do it?!'
Lucy's words touched the young Olivia. It was a word that she had to swallow inside without ever saying it to anyone.
Olivia wanted to follow King Leonard and dare to tell him.
If you truly love Lucy, you should send her to school as she wishes.
But she was not in a position to follow King Leonard and ask him to send Lucy to school. She was not in a position to express that Lucy was no different from the princes and to take Lucy's side.
Olivia's black eyes sank deeply.
"...To do that, I have to do my part too."
The principle of life that she had engraved in her bones while spending days of struggle was that she had no choice but to do her part in order to gain the right to speak.
Then, one thing flashed through her mind. The task at hand was clearly visible. There was no reason to hesitate since it was something she had to do someday anyway.
Olivia sat back down and took out paper and a pen from her bag. Then, recalling the contents of the newspaper article and information about the establishment of the Royal School, she calmly began to write something down.
She was calm, but there was no hesitation, as if it were something she had been thinking about all along.
