Chapter 17
Rookie Teacher
The Great Hall of the Imperial Palace.
Since the New Empire had only recently been established, the days when ministers gathered often devolved into market-like arguments, a stark contrast to the solemn majesty of the Imperial Palace.
Moreover, the same issue had been causing even more noise for the past few days.
“Your Majesty, if the child is five years old, isn’t at least one year of pregnancy a dereliction of duty? We cannot simply overlook this matter.”
The issue was Lucia’s disciplinary action regarding her childcare leave.
“That’s right. If we’re going to gloss over this, we must do the same for the official who recently neglected his duties!”
“Indeed! Childcare leave after five years is unacceptable!”
As Count Rendore opened the floodgates, officials, not wanting to miss the opportunity, shouted in unison.
“Goodness, do you truly believe that matter is the same as Captain Lucia’s case?”
Emperor Caius, listening to their complaints, picked at his ear as if bored.
It was a completely different attitude from when he was dealing with his beloved Lucia.
“Your Majesty, no matter how much of a Sword Master she is, according to the Imperial laws…”
“Yes, that Sword Master. Don’t you all know better than anyone how beneficial that is to the nation?”
He flicked the earwax from his finger and casually retorted.
The Emperor had not told anyone that Lucia was close to reaching Grand Master status.
If they knew, he feared that those who were already jealous would use their positions to burden her with tasks.
‘Tsk… If only she had accepted the title quietly when it was offered. Managing a mere territory isn’t that bothersome. Ugh, she’ll suffer until she dies.’
The Emperor liked Lucia’s unaspiring fortitude, but it was also a great source of frustration.
“Enough. I understand well enough how much animosity you hold towards Captain Lucia. Stop with the useless noise and speak of the real problem. For instance, why do I keep seeing the same tiresome faces at this meeting?”
The Emperor looked extremely displeased.
Then,
“Your Majesty, they are not yet familiar with the political landscape and require more preparation.”
As if they had rehearsed it for a long time, a majority of the ministers spoke in one voice.
It was the same opinion and strong will of the conservative nobles who had been keeping the new forces in check for the past five years.
The Emperor would no longer tolerate them.
–Bang!
“It has already been five years. If that was the problem, you should have at least allowed them to observe this meeting without the right to speak, so that petitions wouldn’t arise! Enough with the fighting over rice bowls. Enough. Tsk.”
Slamming his hand on the vast table, the Emperor finally rose, signaled the scribe to end the meeting, and left.
The sound of the door closing echoed loudly in the meeting hall, followed by silence.
“…Are you just going to stand by and watch?”
Count Rendore said, looking at the nobles he had painstakingly persuaded to join his cause.
They just rolled their eyes, avoiding his gaze, as if asking what they could do now that the Emperor had left.
“Listen to me! Are you going to let a mere knight return to duty without any punishment, just because His Majesty is protecting her!”
His flushed face was still burning, as if his argument with the Emperor had not yet relieved his anger.
“Then what do you suggest we do, Count Rendore?”
As if knowing the right moment, a low voice echoed in the brief silence.
The owner of that voice was Leon’s father, Prime Minister Federin Luwins.
“Oh, Prime Minister. As I said, we should impose a heavy punishment on this occasion to make her come to her senses.”
“That’s right. Remove her from her position as captain!”
“Indeed! We must break her haughtiness!”
As the Prime Minister, the de facto ruler of the Empire, showed interest, the majority of the nobles who had been silent finally gathered their voices to add their own words.
Prime Minister Federin nodded, then said,
“Very well. Then let us punish your feelings of inferiority.”
His tone was dry, considering he was rebuking them.
“Inferiority…! How can you say such a thing…!”
“And if she becomes angry at this treatment and defects to another kingdom, Count, you will bring in a Sword Master equal to her.”
“…Th, that!!”
As he tried to speak again, the Prime Minister, as if annoyed, put down the stack of documents he had been organizing and asked.
“Count Rendore, will you consider it for a moment? In the current situation of the Empire, what is the reason she can act so arrogantly?”
“What reason could there be other than that she is a woman who flaunts her talent and makes a mockery of those who have made real contributions! Prime Minister!”
Unlike the agitated Count, the Prime Minister quietly chuckled and shook his head.
“You are wrong. She does it because she can.”
“…!!”
It was an answer that explained everything and contained much meaning.
As Count Rendore could no longer speak due to the sharp retort, he rose from his seat.
“Then, at the next meeting, let us discuss the participation of all nobles. It is time for that, is it not?”
With those words, the Prime Minister left the meeting hall.
As he left, the nobles, who had been murmuring, began to rise slowly, watching each other’s reactions.
“……”
Watching them, who were like reeds despite the lavish treatment they had received in the past, Count Rendore clenched his fist tightly, as if swallowing his anger.
“I heard your son has long desired the position of captain.”
Someone who remained in the meeting hall spoke to him as if offering comfort.
It was Duke Anton Kilgis, who had been silent since the beginning of the meeting.
“Good things are good. The Empire must not lack talent. Thanks to her, we can live with more peace of mind, can’t we?”
Count Rendore felt a slight chill at his words.
Perhaps it was due to the cold climate of the Kilgis Duchy where he had grown up, but he felt a somewhat alien temperature difference in his aura.
“…Duke Anton. Do you think it makes sense for a woman to represent the Empire? Even if my son had been given a training period, he would have been the same…!”
Count Rendore was wealthy and did not hesitate to spend a large amount of military supplies to secure the position of captain of the royal guard for his son during the war.
But when Lucia took that position, he became angry at her for no reason.
“Stop thinking about the past. As you said, she is a knight. Sharp and dangerous, but just a mere weapon that someone must handle.”
Duke Anton unhesitatingly uttered cold and heartless words to refer to a person, and patted the shoulder of the Count, who had shrunk at his aura.
*
Eldarion Academy Affiliated Kindergarten.
There is someone who opened the door of the faculty room there wide.
“I’m Emily Tangst. Please take care of me!”
Smiling brightly as she greeted, she had soft blonde hair falling on her shoulders, a plain blouse and skirt without decorations, and a slightly worn bag with a neat design.
The faculty members, who had simply nodded at her energetic greeting, soon began to whisper.
“Is that woman the teacher who was supposed to come this time?”
“Oh my, that’s right. They say she’s the daughter of the Tangst Count family…”
“What daughter of a Count family, they say she lost even the ruined territory burdened with debt and was kicked out. Well.”
“…Hehe. Um, where is my seat?”
She pretended not to hear the whispers that everyone could hear and smiled brightly.
At that smile, the kindergarten teachers, with awkward faces, pointed to the edge of the many desks and began to do their own work.
Emily Tangst, a rookie kindergarten teacher on her first day of work.
Noble aristocratic family background, good education, kind and gentle smile.
Her appearance would make no one doubt that being a kindergarten teacher was her calling.
But.
‘Those bastards! I’ll see you later in the social circles. I’ll make sure the mouths you used to make fun of me today will be used to fawn over me!’
That’s right. She had a bad personality.
No, rather than bad, she was closer to a pure ambitious person.
Emily Tangst.
She was the daughter of a ruined Count family, and one of the ordinary aristocratic daughters who was accustomed to looking down on people while associating with daughters of similar status to herself during her Academy days.
But as her family fortunes declined and the daughters who had been with her left, she became a pitiful figure who had even lost a good marriage prospect.
But she could not give up like this.
A way to find a good marriage prospect with her family fortune lowered to almost commoner level.
That was a bright, kind, good at raising children, and wise support, the most popular job among men these days.
That was to become a teacher at the Empire’s only kindergarten.
‘Hehe, just you wait. How far I’ll go….’
“Teacher. Teacher Emily?”
“Yes!? Yes! How far will I go!?”
She, who was dreaming of revenge with a scary face, was startled by the sound of someone calling her and blurted out nonsense.
“U, up to the principal’s office. The principal wants to see you.”
The teacher, who was rather surprised by Emily’s reaction, quickly left the spot.
Emily, who was almost bowing to the back of the middle-aged teacher, was somehow lacking to be called ruthless.
As she closed the door of the faculty room, the gossip about Emily began to be heard openly over the door.
‘…Tsk. At best, they’re from Baron or Viscount families. If it were like before, they would have been crawling under my feet, but they’re so full of themselves.’
Is it an illusion that one can feel the force of spitting from her kind and rabbit-like face?
She seemed unable to forget the days when she was a queen bee at the Academy.
“Tsk….”
She naturally stuck to the window in the hallway and stretched her philtrum as if to relax the muscles in her face.
Then, she clicked her tongue as if something was stuck in her teeth, and thickly wiped the corners of her lips with her fingers, where lipstick was smeared.
As someone closed the window, the sunlight reflected in the glass disappeared, and the inside of the classroom was clearly visible.
And the children there who made eye contact.
“……Monkey!”
“……!!!”
They were pointing at her while calling her that.
The children soon began to laugh cheerfully.
Surprised by this, she composed her expression and hurriedly checked the classroom, but fortunately, there were no adults, perhaps because it was break time.
That’s a relief.
Children can tease.
They can.
They can…….
Already drained of a large amount of energy, she staggered towards the principal’s office amidst the children’s teasing.
“Welcome.”
The principal’s office was a cozy place with warm sunlight streaming in.
Norzia Ponte Luwins.
Unlike the wife of the Prime Minister, who was said to be the de facto ruler of this Empire, there were only a few simple furniture and a small bookshelf.
She, who was unadorned with any jewelry, wore small glasses on her silver hair, like her angelic son of the Empire, and greeted Emily with a benevolent smile.
“I, it’s an honor. Marquess, no, I mean, Principal. I’m starting work today.”
She deliberately stammered, as if playing the role of a pure and innocent maiden in front of the principal.
The hidden true intentions of an ambitious person who seemed to have only a good marriage prospect as her goal.
The greatest revenge she could take against those who looked down on her and avoided her, as if showing off.
That was a marriage proposal with Leon Luwins, the son of the woman in front of her and the Empire’s number one groom.
Of course, catching a mythical unicorn is a difficult task.
Leon had not entered the Academy, and had never appeared in social circles since he first appeared like a shooting star at his coming-of-age ceremony.
In other words, he seemed to have the widest network, but he did not interact with people at all.
It was unexpected, but the real problem was different.
The black monster.
Even though it was difficult to meet him, the woman he had in his heart was that scary woman, Lucia.
As the rumor spread, the competitors, who thought that if Leon, the Empire’s number one groom, had marked her, it was naturally Lucia’s, began to give up.
Of course, Emily was also scared, but what was even more terrifying was the fact that she had bullied Lucia during her queen bee days.
‘I had the power of my family back then. If I met her now, someone like me would be….’
Emily once swept her cool neck.
As in her recollection, it was a major obstacle that Emily had to avoid in particular, but for her, an ambitious person, there was a way to avoid Lucia’s eyes.
The only way was to target Leon’s mother.
It may seem like an easy method to come up with, but in fact, no woman had been accepted into this kindergarten at the young age of 25.
Although there was no mention of age in the selection criteria, usually, only women in their 30s and 40s with experience with children were given acceptance notices.
However, those who jump in with their lives on the line will do anything.
Although she was only the daughter of a Count in name, and she had desperately taken interviews and exams for five years, they had no choice but to give her an acceptance notice in the end.
“Yes. Congratulations. I’ve been seeing you every year and wondering when we’d get to work together.”
“Oh, oh my. Oh my gosh. I’m so touched! You remembered me…!”
“Hoho, I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good thing. There are many guests today, so would you like to help?”
“Of course! I, Emily Tangst! I’ll put my heart and soul into helping!”
In front of the mother of her prey, she was Emily, an enthusiastic novice teacher with a heartwarming atmosphere that anyone could see.
–Knock knock.
It was then.
A job applicant knocking on the door with that enthusiastic determination.
The principal, who had an unknown smile at the sound, said quietly.
“It seems they’ve arrived. Then shall we welcome them? Hoho….”
She was lucky.
From the beginning, she was in sync with the Marchioness.
Emily, a rookie teacher who would not be assigned to a class for a year because she had just joined the company.
For her to make an impression on the principal like this was no different from taking a step towards guaranteeing her future as a teacher.
However. Is that really the case?
The door opened and what was visible there was a mother and daughter with long ebony hair.
This path she had returned to, avoiding her biggest obstacle.
On that path, she was walking in, holding the hand of a child who looked just like her, not a girl, but a grown woman.
“……Hiii………!”
The rookie teacher’s vast plan was brought down in an instant with a scream of terror as soon as the curtain was raised.
