TNDM 07

Chapter : 07

As a result, Rien was hired as Cecilia’s etiquette tutor.

And then came the long-awaited day of their first lesson.

Cecilia, sitting upright at her desk like any ordinary student, raised her hand toward Rien, who was holding the textbook.

“Teacher, I have a question before we start.”

“T-Teacher…? You can just call me Rien.”

“Yes, Rien. Do you happen to have a sun allergy?”

Cecilia asked while coldly staring at the robe he had painstakingly pulled over what appeared to be an otherwise perfectly respectable outfit.

During the interview, Cecilia had even gone so far as to fantasize about the possibility that he might be some kind of clone, but she had eventually been forced to accept that the person standing before her really was Rien.

After all, the man who had conducted the interview so flawlessly had come outside, taken a robe out of a handbag barely the size of his palm, and proceeded to pull it over himself.

‘It’s not like he’s a college engineering student wearing a checkered shirt. Why is he so obsessed with that robe?’

Cecilia was reminded of the classmates she had known at university who, despite all manner of persuasion, had stubbornly refused to give up their checkered shirts and hoodies.

She was thoroughly fed up.

Apparently completely oblivious to her overwhelming urge to tear that rag off him right then and there, Rien answered brightly.

“No.”

“Then do you have some sort of illness where you’ll die if you take off your robe?”

“That’s not it either.”

“Then could you take it off while we’re indoors? It looks like it would be uncomfortable.”

She thought she had made the suggestion as gently as possible, careful not to frighten him.

But Rien hesitantly clutched the hem of his robe and answered in a timid voice.

“C-Could I… not take it off? I’m embarrassed to show my face…”

Cecilia couldn’t understand even one nanogram of what there was to be embarrassed about when his face was good enough to be proudly displayed all over town.

Still, it wasn’t as though she could forcibly strip him.

Suppressing her impulse, Cecilia spoke a little more gently.

“Then at least push back your hood during lessons. A teacher covering his face excessively makes the student feel uneasy.”

It was purely a request made for the sake of her own eyes, but Rien seemed to take her nonsense surprisingly seriously.

“I-I didn’t realize that would be the case… I’ll keep it in mind.”

Cecilia didn’t correct his misunderstanding.

After all, the startled man eventually pushed his hood back slightly.

Under his long eyelashes, jewel-like violet eyes were revealed. The faint blush spreading across his cheeks, as though he really was embarrassed, suited them so perfectly.

‘My eyes have been blessed.’

Wasn’t this exactly the kind of welfare a student deserved?

She had no way of knowing whether he had gone around the academy wearing a robe as well, but if he hadn’t, she could confidently say that the attendance rate and satisfaction of the students who took his classes must have been 100 percent.

Finally satisfied, Cecilia openly admired—or rather, observed—him.

Unable to properly meet her direct gaze, Rien fumbled around before tightly gripping his textbook.

“T-Then, let’s begin the lesson.”

“Come on, it’s our first day. Are we really going straight into class like this?”

Although the textbook was already open, Cecilia raised one hand high and asked mischievously.

“Oh, then what would you like to do on the first day…?”

“Tell me about your first love, Teacher!”

Surely that was the sort of first question one was supposed to ask a handsome trainee teacher.

At the same time, she planned to find out what Rien’s ideal type was.

His eyes widened, then began trembling violently.

“I…”

His gaze dropped sorrowfully. His lips pressed tightly together, and even the corners of his eyes reddened.

As bitterness spread across his expression like ink, Cecilia sighed inwardly.

‘I was thinking of some innocent academy crush or unrequited love.’

Apparently, there had been someone whose memory was painful enough to make him sad just by thinking of them.

‘Ah, male leads with a true love from the past can be pretty divisive.’

She was firmly on the dislike side.

Still, she decided she could overlook a future lover’s old, serious love.

It wasn’t as though she would be spending the rest of her life with him here.

And if that was the case, he might eventually come to regard her as his true love in the future.

Having unexpectedly stepped on a landmine, Cecilia hurriedly changed the subject.

“Now that I think about it, I think we should get to the lesson right away! Shall we open the book?”

“…Yes.”

Rien fidgeted as he pulled his robe back over himself and finally began the lesson.

“Um, before that, may I ask you something? Is the reason you need to go to the capital because you need His Majesty the Emperor’s approval to become a Saintess?”

“That’s right.”

Although it wasn’t official, even little children on the streets knew that the eldest daughter of House Weberdin was essentially a Saintess.

So it wasn’t particularly strange that he had figured out the reason she was going to the capital.

“Speaking of which, could you teach me the basics before etiquette?”

“The basics…?”

“Hmm, things like the relationship between the Temple and the Imperial Family. I already know about it, but I’d like to hear it once from someone in a neutral position.”

‘The truth is, I’m asking because I don’t really know.’

Cecilia knew only that the Temple and the Imperial Family didn’t have a particularly good relationship. Even when it came to this matter of her “approval,” she was completely ignorant.

For the real Cecilia, who had been born into House Weberdin and lived her entire life as a Weberdin, this was knowledge she could never have lacked.

But apparently her excuse sounded plausible enough to Rien.

He calmly began explaining.

“Then I’ll start with the history of the Empire. You probably know that, in the past, the Empire was a theocratic society where religion and government were unified. More precisely, the representative of God ruled the Empire.”

Cecilia had learned while investigating this world that, according to the founding myth, God Himself had founded and ruled the country.

‘Melanie was so proud that House Weberdin was the family that had served that god for all those countless years.’

“As time passed, religious authority and imperial authority naturally became separated, but because of that history, they have still been unable to escape their antagonistic relationship.”

Cecilia obediently nodded.

Since the traditional Temple possessed power rivaling that of the Imperial Family, it was only natural that the two sides would have a poor relationship.

“The two groups needed a means of keeping each other in check. One such means is the successor’s ‘blessing’ and ‘approval.’”

Rien went on to explain that this was why the Emperor’s approval was required when appointing a Saintess, while the Pope’s blessing was required when determining the Crown Prince.

So that was the reason Knox had deliberately gone all the way to the capital.

‘I don’t know why the Emperor is personally summoning the Saintess to the capital, though…’

One thing was certain: her trip to the capital was going to be quite difficult.

After all, the capital was bound to be the stronghold of the Imperial Family’s power.

‘House Weberdin is one of the pillars of the Temple, and on top of that, the Saintess candidate will probably be even more of an eyesore.’

Just imagining all the people who would watch her with narrowed, hostile eyes, trying to keep her in check or look down on her, made her feel utterly exhausted.

‘I hate this. Seriously.’

With absolutely no motivation whatsoever, Cecilia let her shoulders droop.

For what was probably the hundred and forty-fifth time already, she thought about how desperately she wanted to go home.

After the first lesson ended.

Rien returned to the mansion and crossed the empty hallway.

Tap. Tap.

The mansion was so quiet that there wasn’t even a trace of the servants.

Only the sound of his footsteps echoed hollowly through the emptiness.

He stopped at a small room at the end of the hallway.

Rien plopped down onto a worn-out sofa, the only place in the mansion that showed any signs of being lived in.

Then he quietly stared at the fireplace, where embers were burning despite the season.

“I-I told you not to follow me.”

“……”

No sooner had Rien finished speaking than the flames suddenly surged upward, and someone emerged from within them.

It was a young man with long, sunset-colored hair neatly tied back.

“I apologize. You weren’t answering any of my messages, so I thought you might have thrown away your communication orb.”

The man bowed politely, then glanced at the orb sitting perfectly intact on the desk.

“…I forgot.”

When Rien answered hesitantly, a crack appeared across the previously impassive man’s face.

“May I ask how long you intend to continue this… concept? I mean, this appearance?”

“D-Does it look strange?”

“Yes. A little. No, extremely disgusting.”

The man, Hiltein, made no attempt to hide his disgust.

If Rien stopped acting and returned to his true appearance, there was no doubt that some part of Hiltein’s body would be cut off for his insolence.

But apparently, the sight of his superior putting on this act was disgusting enough for Hiltein to consider the risk worthwhile.

Unfortunately, his superior had no intention of stopping this ridiculous performance.

“A-Ah, no.”

“…Pardon?”

“I have no choice if I want to stay by that person’s side.”

‘Fuck.’

Hiltein barely managed to swallow the curse.

Did his superior realize that the little mutter he had added afterward was even more disgusting?

‘What the hell is he doing, pretending to be some innocent little boy?’

A lion would probably do a better job pretending to be a herbivore.

Hiltein recalled the moment he had first met his superior.

[Get lost.]

That was all the man had said after spending quite some time reading with several renowned high-ranking mages standing behind him like decorative screens.

The faces of the high-ranking mages who had come to pay their respects to the new Tower Master turned bright red.

[No matter how much of a Tower Master you are, this kind of attitude is…!]

[I dislike inefficient things.]

The emotion reflected in that exquisitely sculpted, frighteningly beautiful face was nothing more than boredom.

Yet the moment his gaze fell upon them, every single one of them was forced to shut their mouths.

A chilling killing intent that made them feel as though their heads might be severed at any moment.

Even the high-ranking mages, who had always been the strong ones, were nothing more than prey in front of him.

[For example, making me say something twice.]

Thus, as Hiltein watched the man elegantly imply that they should leave without making him repeat himself, he instinctively realized something.

Surviving under his superior was going to be extraordinarily difficult.