Most Solemn Studying

Brunia proposed the question again in an unusually loud tone, "Now, Leonora, what is 1+1?"

Leonora answered, "It's three."

Everyone in the room was slumped with despair and felt pity for their dear sister.

Licha pulled Brunia aside and spoke with anxiety, "Hang on! How can she take that test in three days, when she can't even add!? She has to score at least 60, or our cold-hearted mother would kick her out of the royal line of succession!!"

Brunia responded angrily in a whisper, "I already told you, don't speak ill of our mother!"

Professor Heidi stated, "The test consists of fundamental questions in language, arithmetic, history, and geography. The arithmetic section is worth the highest number of points. It would be challenging to pass without it."

Brunia replied, "I promised that I'd help her study, and I plan to make good out of my word. Now listen, Leonora, are you certain that 1+1 is three?"

Leonora was thinking about the answer, and Licha encouraged her, "Come on! Think harder!"

Leonora screamed with delight, "I've got it! It's 11, right?!"

Everybody thought, "Good God! We're in deep trouble!"

Professor Heidi stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry, Princess, that's not how arithmetic works. If you don't know the answer, then perhaps try counting on your fingers."

Leonora said while scratching her head, "Okay, I remember someone telling me that. Fine, let's see... 1+1... wait a minute... the answer is 2, right?"

Professor Heidi nodded her head and said, "Yes, that's correct."

Leonora spoke with pride, "Alright! Those sixty points are as good as mine!"

Professor Heidi continued, "Alright! Now for a challenge, what is four plus three?" Leonora commenced counting on her fingers, after a while, she said with despair, "Good God! I don't have enough fingers!"

Professor Heidi scoffed, "Please observe. She doesn't even think to use her other hand. This should give you an insight on what my daily struggle looks like."

Kaira proposed a notion, "It's easier to learn when you mix things you like with the ones that you don't. Leonora is a very gifted athlete. She could run until she got each answer right."

Professor Heidi added, "That would be a punishment."

Kaira sat in the gloom and responded, "I'm no good at this, either."

Licha recognized Kaira's notion and spoke, "Wait a minute... it's possible that Kaira might be on to something over here. I bet I could learn the formulas in one glance if they were written on the bouncy buttocks of a man! You admire Brunia far more than you like the Professor, right? How about you write the formulas across her bosom? You might actually like studying."

Brunia thrashed up Licha and shouted, "LICHA! DO YOU EVEN HEAR YOURSELF!? WHAT A LEWD NOTION THIS IS!"

Leonora replied with an angry pout, "Don't discount her, it seems like a good idea."

Brunia answered furiously, "Do you want some thrashing too, Leonora?! You've been spending too much time with Licha! Anyways, I couldn't possibly prove to be a better educator than Mistress. The idea is completely absurd."

Professor Heidi pointed out, "You should certainly try it. There is a chance that it might work."

Brunia turned around with a gleam in her eye and said with excitement, "Please leave it to me, Mistress! I won't let you down!"

Brunia sat down with Leonora and explained, "Straight to the point, then. Listen, Leonora, when adding, there are some cases that the sum might be two digits. We use the carry forward method. But while adding two-digit numbers, you start while adding the numbers at the right column."

Leonora was lost in her own thoughts, and she thought with a gleam in her eyes, "She's saying such complicated things! Brunia never fails to impress me with her academic prowess! Woooooow!!! She's so smart!"

Brunia noticed Leonora and asked with concern, "Are you paying attention, Leonora?"

Leonora came back to her senses and uttered, "Huh?"

Brunia continued with her explanation, and Leonora again thought, "Perfection! Dearest sister Brunia, you have my utmost respect!"

Leonora snapped back into her senses and screamed while running towards the window, "No! I cannot concentrate on my studies with my dearest sister Brunia around me! She's too amazing! Arithmetic is the last thing on my head! I can't do sums with Brunia in my head!"

Professor Heidi thought, "A love and complex reserves for Princess Brunia alone?"

Brunia approached Leonora and consoled her, "I don't understand what went wrong. I'm incredibly sorry to have failed you, dear sister."

She held the Professor's hands, and begged, "Mistress, if you have any studying methods for Leonora, I beg of you, please help her!"

Professor Heidi answered, "Well... I have made some arrangements, but I'm not sure if they would work."

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. A manservant entered and said, "I have the item you requested for, Professor Heidi." He opened up the cover to reveal Sachertorte!!!!!

Leonora squealed with delight, "SACHERTORTE!"

But before she could grab the plate, Professor Heidi snatched it away, which evidently angered Leonora. Professor Heidi asked, "Now, there are six slices of torte, if each of us took one, how many there would be left?"

Leonora yelled, "Why, any fool could see that there would be one slice left!"

Everybody in the room gasped with surprise! Brunia complimented, "You did it, Leonora! You subtracted five from six in an instant!"

Leonora responded in realization, "Hold on... did I just do accidental math?"

Professor Heidi pointed out, "I believe that you are overly conscious of your difficulties with studying, and that has led you to panic when confronted with a problem. You'll be fine as long as you slowly accustom yourself to overcome this fear."

Leonora admitted, "If I can think calculations in terms of torte, it would seem less intimidating."

She then posed, "Now imagine that there are 30 slices of torte if 5 people take one each, how many would be left?"

Leonora thought and answered, "25? I think that's right?"

Professor Heidi nodded and posed another question, "Good. Say there are 250 pieces of torte..."

Licha asked in perplexion, "How much torte does someone need?-"

Brunia covered in mouth and whispered, "Hey! It's finally working! We're finally getting somewhere so keep your comments to yourself!"

And that was how Leonora threw herself into her studies. Two days later, Leonora gave many practice tests and scored 15 points on her latest one.

She squealed with delight, "I have taken a lot of tests, but I've never scored this high before!" The Professor reminded, "Your Highness, that's still short of the benchmark."

Leonora replied, "Yes, you're absolutely right! We need 60 points to satisfy the Queen, so that means, I still need 27 marks!?"

Professor Heidi corrected her, "You need 45 points, Your Highness."

Leonora slammed her head on the desk and spoke with hopelessness, "The test is tomorrow morning, this is impossible! I knew it! My mother is going to abandon me forever, and I will be called as the stray Princess by all the commoners!"

Professor Heidi slid the paper in front of Leonora, who raised her head to find her eyes flashing red with tears overflowing. The Professor continued, "IT'S TIME FOR A LESSON! Did you learn something after taking this test?"

Leonora yelled, "Yeah! That I cannot do better than 15 points!"

Professor rebutted, "Well... you did learn that studying is an incredibly arduous task for you, right? You can learn once you understand how little you know. You cannot grow from a test with perfect marks. But with this score of 15, you still have the opportunity to progress by another 85 points. If you think of it that way, then the motivation inside you encourages you to try harder. We all have that within us if we genuinely have the desire to grow and achieve our goals."

Leonora's anger motivated her, and she commenced studying.

Professor Heidi said, "Hmm... so you aren't giving up?"

Leonora answered, "Well... I know that my learning ability isn't that bad to be excited about something like this! Guess what? I'm going to study all night and score 60 points tomorrow just to rub it in your face!"

Professor Heidi reminded, "Your Highness, for the sake of your health, I suggest you get some sleep, truth be told I'm tired myself."

Leonora grabbed the Professor's hand and screamed, "I'm not giving up that easily! Nor am I letting you go anywhere!"

The next morning, all the sisters, Leonora, and the imperial mentor gathered in the Queen's study to commence Leonora's retest.

The Queen announced, "You will have one hour to complete the examination, my Princess. If you match Licha's score of 60 points, you may maintain your claim to the throne....... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand begin!"

As Leonora was writing the test, Professor Heidi thought, "Once the questionnaire has begun, no one can come to her aid. A teacher can only believe in her student."

As the clock struck 11, the Queen proclaimed, "Your time is up, Princess. Imperial mentor, would you do the honors?"

Professor Heidi took a seat, graded the test, and handed it to the Queen.

The Queen spoke, "Hmm... well... this is interesting. Princess Leonora, you scored 59 points."

All the sisters gasped with surprise. Leonora screamed with joy, "YES! I just scored 59 points!"

Licha squealed, "Seriously, Leo!?"

Brunia complimented, "Incredible! You answered more than half of the questions on the examination correctly!"

Kaira shrieked, "Great job!"

Professor Heidi recalled, "Ahem. Your Highness that is still below the requisite sixty."

Everybody, including Leonora's expressions, faltered, and she thought as she swung her head in shame, "From my mother's perspective, I am a fool celebrating an unacceptable grade! This is precisely the reason she wants to abandon me!"

Professor Heidi closed her eyes and couldn't help but feel the pain that her student was going through until the Queen recalled, "However, it appears that this test is graded incorrectly, imperial mentor."

Professor Heidi turned out bewildered by what the Queen said. The Queen then continued, "Based on your grading methods, don't you add one point for spelling the name correctly?"

Everyone in the room gasped as the Queen corrected the mark up to 60 points. The Queen spoke as she handed the test back to Leonora, "60 points. Congratulations, my girl!"

Leonora pointed out, "But mother, in truth, I only scored 59! Are you sure about this?"

The Queen reminded, "I only followed Heidi's grading method. After all, you are her student now. Do you not wish to be her pupil?"

Leonora confessed, "The truth is, I really do hate teachers, but not Heidi. I don't hate her at all! I don't think I would have scored 59 points without her. She even stood up for me when she heard about how violent the first imperial mentor was."

The Queen responded, "Then continue to pay attention to her lessons and study hard. Do that, and I have no doubt that you will be fit for the throne. Do you promise to do as I say, daughter?" Leonora nodded with approval, and the Queen said that she wanted her to promise the same to her imperial mentor.

She walked over to the Professor and spoke while extending her hand, "Thank you, Professor. I'll keep trying, so umm... keep teaching me okay? As long as you never give up on me, like you always did."

Professor Heidi was deeply touched, but she didn't let that reflect on her face. She replied, "Of course, I look forward to our future lessons together, Princess Leonora." Professor Heidi extended her hand as well but caught only one of Leonora's fingers!

Leonora asked in perplexion, "What's this?"

Professor Heidi reminded, "I have a feeling that you may well burst in tears were I to clasp your hand firmly."

Leonora yelled, "Wha...! I-I wouldn't...!"

Professor Heidi added, "Honestly, this is all rather late in coming. As a teacher, I plan for my student's coming day and night. You may be adequately asking me to teach you now, but I have already done quite a lot of fretting over you."

Leonora screamed at the top of her voice, "WHAT'S WITH THE COLD REACTION!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD WAS IT FOR ME TO SAY THAT?! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Licha tried to calm her down by saying, "Relax, Leo. She's just shy."

Leonora squealed in anger, "HOW IS THAT SHY?"

Brunia complimented, "Wonderful, Leonora. You've protected your claim to the throne, and you've come to appreciate Mistress's brilliance. All those who are lost on the path to knowledge will be enveloped by the ocean known as Mistress."

Leonora asked in bewilderment, "Is that a metaphor, I can't quite tell."

She then continued to shout, "Well...yeah? I don't think you are brilliant, you nasty teacher!!!"

Professor Heidi acknowledged, "I may not be brilliant, but I'm nothing if not honest."

The Queen looked at them and thought, "I see they've already become such close friends. Study well and with joy under a teacher whom we can trust. Enjoy this gift, my children."

In the middle of the night, the Queen was writing a letter to her correspondence to the Granzreich kingdom about a private business affair when an attendant knocked on the door and said that there was a request from an audience.

The Queen said, "The allotted time to entertain audiences was hours ago. Send them away."

The manservant countered, "Yes, sir, but the request is from the imperial mentor."

On hearing that, the Queen granted permission to send her in.

As Heidi entered, the Queen asked, "What brings you to my study, Ms. Witzenberg?"

Professor Heidi revealed a basket of white wine and answered, "I thought you might enjoy a brief respite from your duties."

The Queen looked over and replied with a smile, "It's quite an inappropriate gift for a child, isn't it?"

Heidi glared at her and elucidated angrily, "That joke has never been funny! I'm quite tired of it!"

The Queen argued, "You must let me joke once in a while, considering you telling that awful lie that you and I have never met before."

Professor Heidi asked furiously, "Well... what else was I to say?!"

She then composed herself and proceeded, "I have the NicheVermillion white wine you love so much, but it's not to curry your favor. Come sit with me, let us drink into the night like we used to, Viktoria."

After pouring the wine, they clinked their glasses and began conversing.

Heidi acknowledged, "Thank you for pushing Princess Leonora, Viktoria. Had you not given her an ultimatum, she may never have been motivated to study."

Viktoria smiled and responded, "I only wish for my children to be happy, and to build a bright future for the kingdom after I resign from my duties. Obviously, my youngest son Adam will take over the throne, but until he would come of age, there should be a qualified candidate to substitute me; also this would be an excellent experience for them."

Heidi replied, "Yes, I'm well aware. For I am here to grant that wish. You haven't forgotten our promise, yes? That if my past ever comes to light..." She trailed away mid-sentence and looked at Viktoria deep in the eye.

Viktoria continued, "Yes, I remember. How can I forget the one condition for you becoming the imperial mentor?"