Chapter 016
Lately, Shaila had begun teaching Calion how to read and write in earnest. Calion, who had quickly mastered the alphabet using flashcards, was now memorizing words.
‘Is this boy a genius?’
The thought crossed her mind because his learning speed was incredibly fast. Since she had taught Laila before, the difference was even more stark.
“Could it be that you already knew everything and were just pretending to be ignorant in front of me?”
“No, I really didn’t know.”
Calion suddenly raised his head, holding a letter card in his mouth, trying to match the words Shaila was displaying.
“Thanks to Shasha, I learned quickly.”
Could you believe that a dog—no, a wolf—memorized the entire alphabet in just one day?
On the second day, he understood the difference between vowels and consonants and began forming words.
And on the morning of the third day, he realized Shaila’s name on his own without her even teaching him.
He came to her carrying a piece of paper in his mouth, upon which Shaila’s name was written with ink from his front paw.
Shaila nearly fainted from the surprise.
It had taken two full months to teach Laila the alphabet, even though her will to learn was much stronger.
It wasn’t her intention to belittle her sister, but she thought this level of intelligence was amazing for a rabbit’s body.
“No matter how I look at it, this doesn’t make sense…”
As she looked at him with eyes full of suspicion, Calion tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s so strange? Shasha taught me easily.”
His paws, soft as cotton, tapped the letter cards one by one.
“The small letters in books are hard to distinguish. But what Shasha made was easy like this.”
‘My older sister took two months to learn something this easy!’
Even Shaila herself took more than two weeks to fully memorize the alphabet. That was when she was four years old, writing for five hours a day to learn it with difficulty.
‘At this rate, he’ll catch up to me soon, won’t he?’
Even though she acted like an adult in front of him, Shaila was only a nine-year-old girl. She couldn’t teach him grammar rules that she didn’t even know herself.
“Why are you so smart?”
“Is that a compliment?”
Calion replied to her muttering, pushed the cards aside, and jumped into Shaila’s lap. He no longer hesitated to roll over onto his back.
“Praise me, quickly.”
Between her thighs, his white tail wagged left and right.
‘What a cute creature…’
Shaila’s hand moved automatically to stroke his neck and belly.
“What a wonderful boy! You did great!”
After being cleaned up, Calion’s beauty was at its peak. His white fur, soft as cotton, wrapped around her hand, and the fragrant scent of herbal soap drifted from his body.
His confident eyes sparkled with affection, and he was now a smart boy who knew how to write his own name.
‘At this level, he can attend the Hunting Festival banquet with pride, right?’
* * *
After days of inspecting the lands, the Duke of Graywolf returned to the castle and immediately began processing the accumulated paperwork.
Antonio watched his master’s mood, waiting for the right moment.
“For this year’s Hunting Festival, I am thinking of preparing a grand banquet.”
“…”
“With the Young Duke in attendance as well.”
Silence filled the quiet office, accompanied only by the sound of turning pages.
Finally, the expected words came from the Duke’s mouth.
“Will he even come?”
“That is…”
“If he were the type to show up when called, his wedding wouldn’t have turned out like that.”
The Duke didn’t state it explicitly, but he was frustrated by his son’s actions, who had intentionally missed such an important event as his own wedding.
The choice of bride wasn’t ideal by the Duke’s standards, but she was, nonetheless, the girl Calion had wanted.
Between the ages of five and ten, the Duke had collected portraits of all the noble girls in the capital from Calion’s generation.
Through Henry, he had secretly shown twelve portraits to Calion, and ‘Shaila Lexie’ was the only one who caught his eye.
Of course, Calion didn’t know he would actually marry that girl.
It was natural that a recluse like Calion wouldn’t welcome a wedding ceremony.
“However, they seem to be getting along well. Much of the credit goes to the Little Lady.”
Honestly, the Duke was not satisfied with the Lexie family.
‘A shameless rabbit… or something like that.’
The rumors weren’t the main issue. In his current state, his son didn’t have the luxury of choosing a bride from a prestigious family.
Calion had to get married.
But there were no noble girls his age from prestigious families equal to the Duke’s.
If Count Lexie had rejected the marriage proposal, the Duke would have had to search for another family, putting Calion’s secret at risk.
So, a rumor like ‘the shameless rabbit’ was relatively acceptable, even if it was annoying.
That was his feeling until he met Count Lexie and spoke with him.
“My daughter Shaila is a top-tier product. She is a very useful piece.”
Did he have to make it so obvious that he came from a merchant background by using such vulgar vocabulary?
Even thinking about it again left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“At the moment, she is teaching the Young Duke how to read.”
“Reading?”
Contrary to Shaila’s guess, the Duke had not completely given up on Calion’s education.
He had gathered the best tutors in the North and tried to teach him, but…
“Yes. After what happened with the private tutors, no one dared to try again. Fortunately, this is wonderful.”
Calion was extremely fierce, biting people easily.
It was lucky if he only bit them; one servant had nearly lost an ankle.
However, as a nobleman of the wolf family, he never bit women. He would simply bare his fangs and drive them out of his bedroom in a terrifying manner.
For a long time, Antonio suffered from paying compensation to the tutors and servants who were bitten or traumatized.
“The Little Lady, despite coming from the capital, is very humble, frank, and wise, which makes me feel very reassured.”
He had already heard the story of the ‘internal ledger.’ Antonio was very pleased with it, but the Duke had a different opinion.
Lace and buying dresses were natural expenses for a lady of the Duke’s family. Weren’t these the minimum costs to maintain dignity as the mistress of the house?
‘A nine-year-old girl keeping double-entry books…’
In the Duke’s eyes, she was a genius by all accounts, from a logical perspective.
It made no sense for a girl as smart as her to be ignorant of what a budget for maintaining a noble lady’s dignity entailed, especially if she was from the Graywolf family.
But he was shocked to learn she was so careful that she showed the ledger to the butler.
Of course, the fact that Shaila was born a shifter and still occasionally turned into a rabbit was a major flaw…
‘But my son…’
He was a troublemaker who bit people, a recluse who refused to interact with society, locked in his room.
In comparison, the herbs left in the library books seemed quite cute.
“Just as the Count said.”
“Pardon?”
“She is indeed a good product.”
“…”
Antonio didn’t know how to respond, so he kept his mouth shut.
It seemed his praise for the Little Lady’s humility didn’t please the Duke.
But Antonio truly believed that a smart girl like Shaila coming to the Duke’s castle was a great blessing. Humility was just one of the minor merits that was easy to boast about to others.
“Proceed with the banquet preparations as planned.”
“Understood. Should an invitation be sent to Miss Blanche as well?”
Blanche, the Duke’s adopted daughter, had married the year Calion was born and was now outside the family.
“That girl is no longer of the Graywolf family.”
The Duke firmly rejected the idea. There had been no contact with Blanche since she left the house.
But since someone new had joined the family, Antonio had to ask.
“Make sure that boy attends.”
“Yes, sir.”
Despite his answer, Calion’s attendance depended entirely on Shaila.
In five years, not a single family gathering had been successful. But Antonio was confident.
‘If it’s the Little Lady…’
She would be able to do it. She must be able to.
The Duke’s serious expression became even firmer.
“There is a matter that must be confirmed.”
After the Hunting Festival, Calion would turn eight years old.
The age of the ‘Call of the Moon.’
It was the most important matter for the men of the North.
