Chap 6

After the next lesson ended, I asked the count to take a walk. To the garden.

Seeing the scene from afar, the count covered my eyes with his palm, and then, setting me back from it, stared into my eyes.

He shook his head repeatedly, took my hand, and returned the way we came. The count seemed to understand my intention.

"Please get rid of that person," was my meaning.

After that, there was no home tutor. Teria took care of me, and I spent my time reading the books that the count gave me. I felt as if I were finally enjoying complete freedom.

But my happiness always ended in an instant.

The next person the countess sent to me was her daughter, Misha Loar. That girl… was difficult for me to deal with as well.

Because not only was Misha Loar the count's daughter, but she was also a noble daughter of the Loar family, who I, a bastard, could not challenge.

The countess began to torment me through Misha when she realized I was conscious of this. First with words, then physically.

I was losing for a while, but soon I found a way.

To put it simply, Misha Loar was a greenhouse flower. In terms of intelligence, she was also close to a plant.

How burdensome it must be for such a child to take the entrance exam for the academy meant for the empire's brightest.

But to me, it was an opportunity that had finally come. A miraclelike opportunity that I could achieve through my efforts, not like the miraculous count father.

The academy had dormitories. If I got in there, I would leave this house and be free from the count's protection and influence.

I was truly grateful for what the count had given me over the years, but I had never felt this mansion was my home.

The countess's abuse and Misha's torment sometimes made me tired and weary, but I couldn't say I didn't understand their position.

I was an intruder in this house.

But if I graduated from the academy, I could become a welcomed home tutor in a noble family. Then, like Teacher Julia, I could live alone without marriage.

I was really doing my best. Even though I didn't have the five home tutors, I studied as if waging war with Teacher Julia.

Though she didn't say it, the countess was very nervous that I might surpass Misha and pass.

My notes were found as ashes in the fireplace or books disappeared. It was a common occurrence. So I chose to memorize everything I studied that day.

When the Earl tried to bring in Miss Julia, the Countess limited my lesson time to two hours a day, worrying that too many outsiders would be coming into the mansion.

So I prepared the night before to make the most of those two hours, and showered prepared questions when the teacher came.

During class time, I organized the teacher's answers and insights, solved any questions by looking through books, and spent the afternoon memorizing what I had studied. I also began to prepare again at night.

Fortunately, the Earl had a very fine library, and allowed his daughters to borrow books as they pleased.

I heard that Misha's private tutors were specialized in preparing for the academy. There were even rumors that they knew the test questions in advance. That's why their services were so expensive.

But I did not believe that. If they knew the test questions, they would just have Misha memorize them, killing time.

Yet, they often emerged into the corridor with bewildered faces when the lessons were over. It meant that if Misha didn't study, it could tarnish their careers.

Mocking Misha in such a spectacle was a playful thing I did during my leisure time.

I can now speak both Imperial and Agaelic at an advanced level. My Smailanese skills from across the sea aren't too bad either.

The various complex vulgarities I used as a child are dormant within me, but in daily life, I spoke refined standard Imperial as if it were a foreign language.

Living with nobles, I didn't have much occasion to use coarse or rude language, and their verbal battles were highly sophisticated and biting. It was a fight of malice rather than momentum.

Occasionally I'd zone out and get lost in thought, but now I know it's much better to use my time for myself rather than harboring resentment about the past.

I'm going to enter the Imperial Academy. That will solve everything. It will save me and honor the Earl as well.