Chapter 36
Seian, who had turned around, looked at me as if asking what was wrong.
I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Please don’t tell Father that I asked about the duchy.”
“Why?”
“……”
There was no way I could answer. If I explained, I would have to admit that I secretly listened to their conversation yesterday.
When I kept my mouth shut, Seian stared at me with his clear, water-colored eyes.
“What on earth are you thinking about in that tiny little head of yours…?”
His voice was so quiet that I wondered if I had heard him correctly.
It wasn’t mocking. It sounded like pure curiosity, so this time I didn’t feel offended.
After staring at me for quite a while, Seian pursed his lips and shrugged.
“Well, it’s not such a difficult request. I won’t report today’s lesson in detail.”
“Thank you.”
“Alright, now let go. It’s long past the time I should be sleeping. Haaam.”
Yawning widely like a lion, Seian quickly slipped out of the room before I could grab him again.
As soon as the door closed, Pepe—who had been hiding inside the little house Elly made and hadn’t come out—peeked out.
“Did he leave?”
“Yeah.”
“Phew……”
With a deep sigh, Pepe ran toward me and jumped onto my lap. He rubbed his face hard with his front paws.
“I feel like my face got stiff from staying still.”
“It’s fine. You’re a squirrel. No one can really see your expressions.”
“Hey! Are you looking down on squirrels again?”
“You look down on humans too.”
“Oh? Looks like you’re feeling better. You answered back right away.”
I let out a small laugh.
It wasn’t that I felt happy. But solving some of my curiosity did make me feel a little lighter.
“If something’s bothering you, you can tell me anytime. We’re roommates sharing a room. I can at least do that.”
“You’re not my roommate. I’m your owner. You didn’t get kicked out because of me.”
“What?!”
Pepe stomped his feet angrily, and I burst out laughing.
Still, thanks to Pepe, my gloomy mood seemed to fade a little.
Standing in front of a heavy, solid-looking door, Seian knocked lightly.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Come in.”
At the voice from inside, Seian turned the handle without hesitation.
“It’s been a while, Your Grace.”
“You’re here.”
Though Seian bowed politely, Herald kept his eyes fixed on the documents in front of him.
As if used to this, Seian walked to the sofa and threw himself onto it.
He draped one arm over the backrest and stretched his legs slightly. His posture clearly showed how lazy he felt.
He even tilted his head back against the sofa and let out a long groan.
Despite his lack of manners, Herald didn’t seem bothered.
“How was the lesson?”
“It went well. She’s different from what I heard.”
Only then did Herald lift his head.
Seian was still staring at the ceiling as he spoke.
“She can read and write. When solving math problems, she seems to do everything in her head. It looks like she understands the rules of calculation. She’s also quite curious… Teaching her shouldn’t be difficult.”
Though his tone was lazy, his words were full of praise for Chloe.
Herald raised his hand to cover the corner of his mouth that was twitching upward.
Of course. She was his and Adeline’s child. He had expected her to be smart.
Even if she struggled a little with ability training, that would naturally improve over time.
“So, you’ll continue as her tutor?”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem tiring to teach her, and I also—”
“You also?”
When Herald raised an eyebrow, Seian flinched and shook his head with an awkward smile.
‘That fool, Lennon. He said the Duke doesn’t care about his daughter at all… but he clearly treasures her.’
When Seian had been thinking about whether to accept the tutor position, he had asked his younger brother, Lennon, one important question.
Did the Duke care about his daughter?
The most troublesome thing for a tutor was overly involved parents.
Especially those who interfered with every detail of the child’s education.
Back when Seian was studying at the academy, he had quit tutoring a noble child like that after just two days. The memory was still very clear.
So when Lennon brought him the Duke’s letter, Seian had asked the most important question.
And the answer he got had been very satisfying.
‘No? Not at all. From what I see, he doesn’t have any fatherly love.’
Lennon had even added that the Duke seemed too cold.
But now, seeing Herald’s reaction…
‘Lennon still has no sense. Idiot.’
With a complicated expression, Seian sighed inwardly and coldly judged his brother.
Meanwhile, Herald observed Seian with a tilted gaze.
“By the way, you still look messy. Don’t tell me you haven’t washed?”
“I washed thoroughly the moment I arrived in the Empire this morning. I didn’t even sleep because I was busy washing.”
At Seian’s indignant complaint, Herald looked away awkwardly.
“And you, Your Grace… You like things neat and clean, so why are you growing your hair so long? You used to nag me to cut mine.”
“Are we the same? I told you to look tidy. You cover half your face with your hair.”
At the cold reply, Seian fiddled with the sofa and pretended not to hear. Watching him with a faint look of disbelief, Herald finally stood up.
He sat on a single sofa, crossed his legs, and rested one arm on the armrest.
Every movement of his was calm and elegant.
As he ran his fingers over the soft leather, he spoke in a low voice.
“What about the investigation of the triangular zone?”
At that question, Seian’s eyes sharpened.
The triangular zone of the continent.
The place where the borders of the Arsenia Empire, the Ferdiell Duchy, and the Kingdom of Nordens met. It was also suspected to be the source of monsters.
The reason the three countries suspected this area was because an excessive amount of dark energy had been flowing from there.
Dark energy was the poisonous aura emitted by monsters.
A large river flowed through the triangular zone. Recently, its pollution had grown so severe that several priests from the Holy Nation had been dispatched.
For now, the priests were taking turns blocking the dark energy, but no one knew how long that method would last.
Because of this, the Holy Nation had strictly forbidden entry to the area except for its officials.
However, about a month ago, Seian had gone to investigate the triangular zone under Herald’s secret order.
It was a confidential mission that even Lennon did not know about.
Straightening his posture, Seian reported what he had seen.
“There are no clear results yet. However, inside the white cave of the triangular zone, a fragment of the World Tree’s root was discovered.”
