TNDM 06

Chapter : 06

‘Sigh.’

In the end, Cecilia stood in front of the little opening at the base of the wall, her brows furrowed deeply.

“Charles! I’ll give you a treat when you come back!”

“……”

“Charles?”

The novice maid called out from atop the wall, but the haughty cat did not make even a single sound.

Cecilia would have bet her wrist that, despite hearing the maid’s desperate pleas, he was stubbornly ignoring her.

‘If I just leave him there, he’ll probably wreck the garden again.’

Charles had already made quite the name for himself on the very first day he entered the marquis’s residence, when he destroyed a topiary that the gardener had spent an entire month painstakingly creating.

The gardener had collapsed in tears, but after Cecilia had given him the financial equivalent of medical treatment, he recovered quickly enough……

However, that method clearly wouldn’t work on Rien, who seemed to regard gardening as a hobby.

Resigned to her fate, Cecilia squeezed herself into the opening, which seemed unusually narrow today.

And, surprisingly, she couldn’t get through.

‘Wow. I’m actually stuck.’

Whether it was because she had just finished eating, or because the clothes she was wearing today had an unusually large amount of lace and fabric, she had gotten stuck around her waist and hips and couldn’t move.

Whatever the reason, cold sweat broke out as she panicked at the embarrassing situation.

Then, suddenly, a large hand grabbed Cecilia around the ribs and effortlessly lifted her up as though pulling a radish from the ground.

“Are you, um, all right?”

Startled by how suddenly she had been lifted so high, Cecilia placed a hand on his shoulder.

It was Rien, the robe enthusiast who was still wearing his robe over his head today.

‘Holy crap.’

She had never imagined she would meet him while in a situation like this.

No matter how shameless she was, being rescued after getting stuck in a hole in the wall was embarrassing.

Cecilia’s face flushed bright red, and she made excuses in a much smaller voice.

“I-It’s because Charles came over here again……”

“Ah, I suppose he likes my garden. I saw him playing around in there again.”

Perhaps her suggestion that they become friends had really worked, because he answered without stammering and even smiled naturally.

……Though she couldn’t see it because of the robe.

Still, she could tell from the corners of his mouth curving upward and his voice carrying a hint of laughter.

Worried that he might notice how flustered she was, Cecilia subtly averted her gaze and spoke as casually as possible.

“But could you put me down now?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

At her pointed remark, Rien immediately returned to his usual awkward self and hurriedly lowered her to the ground.

“I-I’ll go get Charles!”

“Why don’t we go together?”

And the moment Cecilia’s feet touched the ground, she immediately started pulling another little scheme.

‘I definitely wasn’t planning to do this…….’

Muttering an excuse to no one in particular, Cecilia casually brushed the dirt off her clothes and stood beside him.

“Is that all right?”

“Pardon? Yes! Of course!”

Accepting his stiff escort, they made their way toward the western garden.

As before, Cecilia kept up a stream of trivial conversation with him.

“I think I really should block up that opening. It’s useful because it lets me leave the estate without my father’s permission, but someone like Charles—or even an actual trespasser like me—could just sneak in whenever they want……”

“Lady Cecilia.”

Suddenly, Rien cautiously interrupted her.

“This may be presumptuous of me to ask, but…… are you troubled by something?”

It was a surprisingly perceptive question, and Cecilia turned her head toward him.

She had thought she was hiding it well.

Apparently, the complicated thoughts weighing on her mind had given away her gloomy mood.

Cecilia cast her gaze toward the white flower garden they had reached.

She couldn’t exactly tell him every detail of her circumstances, but neither did she want to lie to him or brush the matter aside.

Without much hesitation, Cecilia opened her mouth.

“Something has come up, so I think I’ll have to go to the capital soon. But I’ve never been outside my territory before. Thinking about all the things I’ll need to learn has me a little worried.”

“The capital?”

Rien stopped for a moment before asking again.

“Oh, right. You said you came from the capital too, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

He nodded readily.

Cecilia quietly gazed at the enormous mansion that, despite being quite a distance away, seemed almost close enough to touch because of its immense size.

She had heard that this mansion, located directly beside the Marquis of Weberdin’s residence, had once been built by one of the Weberdin ancestors for a dear friend.

As time passed, its owners changed, and because it was in such a remote location despite being ridiculously expensive, it eventually became little more than a vacation home for wealthy nobles.

Anyone wealthy enough to purchase such a mansion either had a high-ranking title or belonged to an extremely affluent family.

‘And he’s a noble from the capital, too.’

Regardless of his gentle personality, he probably had plenty of authority as well as an impressive network of connections.

As Cecilia continued making all sorts of shallow assumptions, a good idea suddenly flashed through her mind.

“Um, Rien. If you don’t mind, could you recommend a good etiquette teacher? I need someone who’s well versed in etiquette lessons.”

It wasn’t that she genuinely wanted an introduction to an exceptionally competent teacher.

She was simply thinking that, if possible, she could become acquainted with the person who had taught him and thereby strengthen Plan D.

‘I really wasn’t in the mood to pull schemes like this.’

But what could she do?

When an opportunity came rolling right up to you, you had to seize it.

However, the request seemed rather difficult for him, because he couldn’t answer right away.

Just as Cecilia was about to withdraw the question, thinking perhaps she had made him too uncomfortable, he seemed to make up his mind.

And then, quite willingly, he offered to recommend a teacher.

“W-Would it be all right if I became your teacher, Lady Cecilia?”

He meant himself.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the room.

More precisely, this was the interview room where Cecilia was selecting her etiquette teacher.

Cecilia was desperately trying not to space out, gape at him, or make some strange sound of amazement.

There was only one reason.

‘What happened to his looks?!’

The very same Rien who had acted as though he would die if deprived of his robe was now standing before her in a perfectly tailored suit.

Of course, his thick silver-rimmed glasses were still there.

But even so……

‘I’ve lived a good life.’

Perhaps all the hardships and tribulations of being transmigrated into this world had been created solely to bring her to this very moment.

However, the other person observing the exact same subject in the same room seemed to have an entirely different opinion.

Perhaps he lacked the aesthetic sense that an ordinary person was supposed to possess, because the marquis calmly skimmed through Rien’s résumé before finally speaking.

“You are rather young…… but you even taught as a professor at an academy. Your experience is certainly impressive.”

‘What?’

He looked about Cecilia’s age, yet he had been an academy professor.

That would have been impossible unless he were an extraordinary genius.

Still, Rien didn’t look like someone who would falsify his résumé.

The day Rien had volunteered to become her teacher, Cecilia hadn’t had time to think things through before she had nodded.

The fact that he was still hiding his identity, or that he didn’t particularly seem like an expert in etiquette, didn’t matter.

She had simply grabbed the opportunity that had fallen into her lap.

Thus, as soon as she returned home, she had emphasized to her father how much she needed a teacher.

Then, Rien had immediately applied to the job posting the marquis put out.

‘I was planning to force the issue if Father wasn’t satisfied with him.’

But who would have thought he would be this capable?

“I was fortunate.”

Rien answered modestly, causing the marquis’s eyes to narrow even further.

“However…… I can’t help but wonder why someone with this level of experience has come all the way out to such a remote region, so far from the capital.”

“It’s an ordinary reason, but I thought that if I ever had the chance to take a rest, I would have to come to Weberdin.”

“Hmm. Is there a particular reason?”

“Yes. My mother used to enjoy traveling when she was young, and she praised the Weberdin territory endlessly, saying that it was an exceptionally peaceful and beautiful place blessed by God.”

“Well…… there certainly are many beautiful places in Weberdin.”

“Yes. I’m very satisfied staying here. It’s every bit as wonderful as the stories my mother told me.”

Cecilia had been doing her best to maintain a perfectly calm expression so that her familiarity with him wouldn’t be discovered.

But as the questions and answers continued, her pupils began to tremble violently, until eventually her mouth fell slightly open as well.

‘……Who the hell is that?!’

Where had the shy gardener who easily became flustered and stammered gone?

There was no way the man displaying such polished eloquence could be ‘that Rien.’

Yes.

That had to be someone else who merely looked remarkably similar to Rien.

Or perhaps his secret twin brother.

Unlike Cecilia, who was utterly shocked, the marquis seemed to have lowered his guard after being won over by Rien’s casual compliments.

He cleared his throat and continued in a gentler tone than before.

“So, during your stay in Weberdin, you intend to teach my daughter etiquette?”

“Yes. In my opinion, Lady Weberdin already possesses a level of grace that is more than comparable to that of the nobles of the capital. However, if you would entrust her to me, I believe I could be of some small assistance.”

He had praised the marquis’s daughter to boost his pride as a father, while simultaneously emphasizing his own usefulness under the guise of humility.

If this had been twenty-first-century Korea, parents would have been shouting, “Teacher!” and entrusting him with both their children and their wallets.

And a parent’s heart was the same in every era and every world.

The tactic worked perfectly.

“Then let’s start by drawing up the contract.”