IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 20

When Thaleia stared at him without saying anything, Daniel felt oddly pleased with himself.

Look at her shutting up after he'd pointed out reality.

Daniel thought the quiet purple eyes couldn't be thinking much—she was just a child after all—and didn't know what she was thinking.

"What's your name?"

"Pardon?"

"What's your name? I forgot."

"It's Daniel. But Princess, though I may be lower in status than you, as long as you're attending my class, out of respect for your teacher—"

"I'll give you a choice."

Thaleia not only used informal speech with Daniel but cut off his words mid-sentence. Daniel tried to raise his voice at Thaleia, but hesitated when he saw her unwavering eyes.

"I know you don't have the power to resolve Yan's situation. I didn't point out the problem without knowing you're just a tutor.

So I'll give you a realistic solution. First, quit being the Prince's tutor and return to the Kingdom. Second, I tell my mom and dad about this and you get punished for royal disrespect.

Which do you prefer?"

"What kind of—"

"The first option is what you should have done already if you truly hated this situation and had no choice. The second is resolving it the way you suggested.

As you said, I have good parents and don't need to worry about others' opinions. And the same goes for Yan. Even with pressure from the Queen, a prince is still a prince.

You know that depending on your actions and status, you could face up to execution, right?"

"E-execution?"

"I can teach Yan that I can crush people with my position, as you said.

But I don't really want to. Giving a weapon to a young child won't solve anything—the same thing will just repeat.

So the third option I'm offering as a compromise is to stop enabling abuse and teach lessons appropriate for a five-year-old. What will you do?"

Thaleia's tone was cold but calm. It was like they'd brought the Remetio Chancellor from negotiations and placed him right here.

'Even if she is the Chancellor's daughter.'

He couldn't believe he was being threatened by a mere four-year-old child. When he'd first seen her yesterday, she'd seemed like just a stubborn but innocent and willful child.

"If you don't answer before Rayan returns, I'll choose the worst option for you. So choose quickly."

"The... the third option."

"..."

At Daniel's choice, Thaleia smirked. Her eyes held unconcealed disappointment.

"I clearly gave you choices and resolved this the way you taught me, so I won't accept any excuses about having no choice. I'll be taking classes too, so if you bring this garbage again, I'll take the second option anytime. Oh, and one more thing. Don't tell anyone, especially my mom and dad, that I threatened you. It'll be annoying."

"..."

"Answer."

"Understood."

Thaleia smiled with satisfaction. As she seemed to return to being a child again, Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, Rayan returned from the bathroom and entered the study.

Thaleia hurried to get down from her chair but caught her foot on the chair leg, which was rather high for a young child, and tumbled forward.

Thud.

Rayan jumped in surprise and helped Thaleia up.

"Are you okay?"

"...It hurts."

Thaleia's voice holding her nose was mixed with tears. Though soft carpet covered the floor, her face had hit first and her nose began bleeding.

Seeing the blood, Rayan panicked and looked at Daniel for help. Daniel quickly pulled out a handkerchief and blocked her nose.

Seeing the purple eyes welling with tears, her previous appearance seemed like a lie, but the moment her eyes met Daniel's, her gaze turned cold again, warning him not to forget.

The worst thing about being a young child is not having control over your own body.

Though I hadn't intended it, today's Common Language class ended there. The composition teacher whose name I still couldn't remember despite his self-introduction hurriedly packed his books and returned to the annex when Nanny entered.

I held cotton against my nose and whined in Nanny's arms.

"Shall we see if the bleeding stopped?"

After comforting me for a while, Nanny carefully removed the cotton. The nosebleed had stopped, and after gently wiping my nose, she warned me not to touch it for a while.

"I'll get smaller chairs that fit the Young Miss and His Highness's height. But you must be careful climbing down from now on."

"Okay."

Nanny retied my disheveled hair and asked if the class had been fun. I scrunched up my face and said it wasn't fun.

"I'm going to play after lunch."

"Oh my, but then His Highness will have to take class alone?"

"Yan will play with me too."

"Well..."

Nanny smiled awkwardly and said His Highness needed to attend his lessons.

"But they're teaching weird things."

"Weird things?"

"I don't know. The teacher is bullying Yan."

"..."

What I wanted wasn't just one teacher's change but an improvement in Yan's entire environment.

Though I'd let it slide, I hadn't told him that only applied to Daniel.

Yan had more than one or two tutors, and it was obvious they all bullied Yan in similar ways.

If I brought it up like this, the perceptive people of the ducal household would naturally keep watch over the teachers.

I left Nanny's arms and gestured for Yan to come closer. When Yan approached, I hugged him tightly.

"I'll punish anyone who bullies Yan."

"...Understood. I'll speak with His Highness's nanny about canceling today's lessons."

"Really?"

"Really. But can you tell me how the teacher bullied His Highness? Did they hurt him?"

"No, they didn't do that, but they didn't teach letters and scolded Yan for working hard for no reason."

A thought occurred to me, so I asked Yan, who was quietly nestled in my arms.

"Has a teacher ever hit you?"

Yan hesitated, moving his lips, then said in a small voice.

"Not that teacher..."

"A different teacher?"

"...Yeah. I took a test but didn't get anything right."

"So how many did you get hit?"

"As many as there were questions. Thirty times."

At the mention of thirty times, Nanny's expression hardened. I was angry again too, but rather than expressing my rage, I hugged Yan tighter.

"Tilly."

"Why?"

"Are you angry?"

Seeing Yan reading my mood, I smiled brightly. Watching his slightly upturned eyes carefully gauge my reaction up close made it hard to breathe. I debated whether to look away to preserve my well-being or keep my eyes wide open to burn this image into my retinas.

'How can he be this cute?'

Asher had been cute, and Royna was cute too, but Yan had something that truly struck my heart.

'As expected, my type. Pine tree type preference.'

"Tilly?"

"I'm not angry."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm not angry."

At my answer, Yan smiled with relief. Then he rubbed his head against my shoulder.

At his cat-like behavior, I felt like my nose might bleed again and covered it with my hand.

Fortunately, no blood came out. Yan urgently grabbed my hand and pulled it down.

"Don't touch your nose. It hurts when it bleeds."

'Wow, really...'

I really wanted to bite him just once. But if I bit Yan now, Nanny would think I was bullying him and separate us.

I was seriously contemplating how to bite Yan without Nanny noticing when Nanny called me first.

"Young Miss, I'll go see the head butler briefly. If anything happens, call a maid."

"Come back soon."

I waved at Nanny as she left the study, and once the door closed completely, I released Yan and jumped down from the sofa.

Though I didn't come to the study often, I knew where the secret passage was.

I opened the decorative cabinet at the bottom of the bookshelf against the wall. A passage barely wide enough for an adult to squeeze through appeared.

"Yan! Let's go play."

"Where?"

"Anywhere!"

"..."

"Don't worry. I know everywhere in the ducal estate. I won't get lost."

"Won't we get in trouble?"

"Nanny won't scold us if we say we played for a bit before lunch."

"Still..."

"Then I'm going alone."

When I went ahead first, Yan hurriedly followed. Since I'd memorized this passage long ago, I safely emerged into the forest behind the mansion.

Yan, who came out of the passage after me, coughed from the dust. I brushed off the dust covering his clothes.

Pat, pat.

Somehow feeling like a sister taking care of her younger sibling made me smile naturally.

"We're going to hold hands and go there and back."

"What's there?"

"Flowers!"

"Flowers?"

"Yeah, flowers!"

I smiled brightly and headed toward a small flower garden in the forest. It was a place I sometimes used as a napping spot after escaping from the maids.

It was a good spot for sunlight, so various wildflowers bloomed there. From summer to fall, flowers with yellow centers and white petals mainly bloomed.

When we arrived at the small flower garden, I released Yan's hand and ran toward where the flowers were abundant.

They looked similar to the flowers I'd called "egg flowers" when I was young, but whether they were the same type wasn't my concern.

Anyway, the good thing about these flowers was that they were perfect for making flower crowns.

'Good for making flower rings too, and bracelets.'

I started snapping off flowers suitable for making a flower crown.

Snap, snap.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to make a flower crown."

"A flower crown? What's a flower crown?"

I was shocked at his question and turned to look at him. How could he not know what a flower crown was?

"Uh, well. It's a crown made of flowers."

"You can make something like that?"

"Of course. Just wait a bit. I'll make one for you, Yan. Wait there."

Yan plopped down on the grass and watched me busily moving around.

Once I'd gathered enough flowers, I trimmed the stems and quickly crafted a small flower crown.

'My old skills haven't died.'

"Yan, come here."

When he came close, I placed the flower crown on his head, then stepped back a few steps to admire his appearance.

'As expected, cute.'

Yan tilted his head, and when the flower crown started to slip, he hurriedly straightened his head again. He could just put it back on if it fell.

But Yan's flustered appearance was so cute that I told him I'd make another one next time if he didn't drop this one.

Starting with Yan's, I'd have to work quickly to make ones for Roxana, Julian, and Nanny too.

If I didn't make one for even one of the three, they'd be disappointed. Unlike Yan's, I had to size them for adults, so I needed twice as many flowers.

"Tilly."

"Why?"

"Do you like flowers?"

"Mm... yeah, I do."

"Why?"

"They're pretty."

"You like pretty things?"

"Of course."

"Me too."

"Huh?"

"I like pretty things too."

A pretty kid saying they like pretty things.

I laughed out loud while continuing to pick flowers. Too absorbed in the flowers, I didn't see what expression he was making.

I completely forgot in this moment that this instant, my presence before him, was something unscheduled in his life.