IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 20

When Thalia stared at him without saying anything, Daniel felt smug. Look how she shut her mouth when reality was pointed out.

Daniel didn't know what those quiet purple eyes were thinking and thought she was just a child after all.

"What's your name?"

"Pardon?"

"What's your name? I forgot."

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

"I'll give you choices."

Thalia not only spoke informally to Daniel but cut off his words. Daniel tried to raise his voice at Thalia, but stopped 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 parents about this and you get punished for insulting royalty

Which do you prefer?"

"What does that......"

"The first is an action you should have taken long ago if you really disliked this situation and had no choice. The second is resolving it the way you suggested.

As you said, I have good parents so I don't need to worry about others' reactions. And that's the same 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 suppress people with position as you said.

But I don't really want to. Even if you give a weapon to a young child, nothing gets resolved and the same things just repeat.

So the third option I'm giving as a compromise is to stop participating in abuse from now on and conduct lessons appropriate for a five-year-old. What will you do?"

Thalia's tone was cold but calm. It was like bringing Minister Remetio from negotiations and placing him right here.

'Even if she's the minister's daughter.'

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

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

"I-I'll go with the third option."

"......"

At Daniel's choice, Thalia chuckled. Her eyes held undisguisable disappointment.

"I clearly gave you choices, and you taught me this method of resolution, so I won't accept excuses about having no choice. I'll be attending lessons too, so if you bring this kind of garbage again, I'll take the second option anytime. Oh, and one more thing. Don't tell others, especially my parents, that I threatened you. It's bothersome."

"......"

"Answer."

"Understood."

Thalia smiled satisfactorily. Seeing her return to a child's appearance, Daniel sighed in relief. Just then, Rayan returned from the bathroom.

Thalia hurried to get down from her chair but got her foot caught on the chair leg, which was rather high for a young child, and tumbled down. Rayan was startled and helped Thalia up.

"Are you okay?"

"......It hurts."

Thalia's voice, covering her nose, was mixed with tears. Though there was soft carpet on the floor, she hit face-first and blood began flowing from her nose.

Seeing the blood, Rayan panicked and looked at Daniel for help. Daniel hurriedly took out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding.

Looking at the tear-filled deep purple eyes, the earlier scene seemed like a lie, but the moment their eyes met, her gaze turned cold again as if warning him not to forget.

The worst thing about being a young child is that you can't control your own body.

Though unintended, today's common language lesson ended there. The writing teacher, whose name I couldn't remember despite her self-introduction, hurriedly packed her books and returned to the annex when the nanny entered.

I sat in the nanny's arms with cotton stuffed in my nose, whining.

"Shall we see if the bleeding stopped?"

After comforting me, when some time had passed, the nanny carefully removed the cotton. The nosebleed had stopped, and after gently cleaning my nose, the nanny told me not to touch it for a while.

"I'll get small chairs that fit Miss and His Highness's height. But from now on, you must be careful getting down."

"Okay."

The nanny retied my disheveled hair and asked if the lesson was fun. I scrunched up my face and said it wasn't fun.

"I want to eat and play."

"Oh my, then His Highness will have to attend lessons alone?"

"Yan will play with me too."

"Hmm......"

The nanny smiled awkwardly and said His Highness needed to attend 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 improvement of Yan's environment. Though I said I'd let it slide, I hadn't told him that was limited only to Daniel.

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

If I brought this up this way, the sharp-witted people of the ducal house would naturally watch the teachers.

I broke away from the nanny's embrace and gestured for Yan to come closer. When Yan approached me, I hugged him tightly.

"I'll scold anyone who bullies Yan."

"......Understood. I'll speak well with His Highness's nanny to cancel today's lessons."

"Really?"

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

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

I asked Yan, who was quietly hugged in my arms, just in case.

"Has a teacher ever hit you?"

Yan hesitated for a moment, then said in a small voice.

"Not that teacher, but......"

"Another teacher?"

"......Yes. I took a test but couldn't get any right."

"So how many did you get?"

"As many as the questions. 30 hits."

At the mention of 30 hits, the nanny's expression hardened. I was angry again too, but rather than expressing rage, I hugged Yan tighter.

"Tilly."

"Why?"

"Are you angry?"

Seeing Yan watching my mood, I smiled brightly.

Seeing his slightly upturned eyes carefully watching my mood up close made it hard to breathe. I wondered whether I should look away for my own safety or stare with wide eyes to burn this image into my retinas.

'How can he be this cute?'

Ash was cute too, and Royna was equally cute, but Yan had something that really hit my heart.

'As expected, my type, *pine tree-like taste.'

"Tilly?"

"I'm not angry."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm not angry."

At my answer, Yan smiled as if relieved. 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 blood comes out."

'Wow, really......'

Really, I want to bite him just once. But if I bit Yan now, the nanny would think I was bullying him and separate me from him.

How could I bite Yan without the nanny seeing? While I was seriously contemplating this, the nanny called me first.

"Miss, I'll go see the butler for a moment. Call a maid if anything happens."

"See you later."

After waving to the nanny leaving the study, once the door was completely closed, I let go of 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 was revealed.

"Yan! Let's go play."

"Where to?"

"Anywhere!"

"......"

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

"Won't we get in trouble?"

"The nanny won't scold us for playing briefly and coming back before lunch."

"Still......"

"Then I'm going alone."

When I left first, Yan hurriedly followed me. Since I'd memorized this passage route long ago, I could safely exit to the forest behind the mansion.

Yan, who followed me out of the passage, coughed from the dust. I patted the dust off his clothes.

Somehow feeling like a sister taking care of her younger brother, I naturally smiled.

"Hold hands and let's go there and back."

"What's there?"

"Flowers!"

"Flowers?"

"Yes, flowers!"

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

Being a good spot for sunlight, various types of wildflowers bloomed there, with flowers that had yellow centers and white petals mainly blooming from summer to fall.

Arriving at the small flower garden, I let go of Yan's hand and ran toward where there were many flowers.

They looked similar to flowers I called egg flowers when I was young, though I didn't know if they were the same species.

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 picking flowers suitable for making flower crowns.

"What are you doing?"

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

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

I was surprised by his question about what a flower crown was and looked back at him. He didn't know what a flower crown was?

"Well, it's a crown made of flowers."

"You can make such things?"

"Of course. Wait a little. I'll make one for 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.

'As expected, my old skills haven't died.'

"Yan, come here."

I placed the flower crown on Yan's head as he approached, then stepped back a few steps to admire his appearance.

'As expected, he's cute.'

Yan tilted his head curiously, and when the flower crown started to fall, he frantically straightened his head again. It would be fine to just put it back on if it fell.

But since Yan's flustered appearance was cute, I said I'd make another one if he didn't drop it.

Starting with Yan's, I needed to move busily to make ones for Roxana, Julian, and the nanny too.

If I didn't make one for even one of the three, they'd be disappointed. Unlike Yan's, I needed twice as many flowers to fit adult sizes.

"Tilly."

"Why?"

"Do you like flowers?"

"Hmm..., I do."

"Why?"

"They're pretty."

"Do you like pretty things?"

"Of course."

"Me too."

"Hm?"

"I like pretty things too."

A pretty child saying he likes pretty things.

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

Right now, this moment, that I was in front of him was something unscheduled in his life - I completely forgot that for the moment.

Translator Note:The phrase "pine tree-like preference/taste" (소나무 같은 취향) is a Korean expression that refers to having a consistent, unchanging preference/attraction for a certain type. Pine trees are evergreen - they stay the same throughout all seasons, never changing.