My Stepmom is Too Pretty, and It’s Troubling Me – Chapter 125

“…Hey.”

“What’s up? It’s rare for you to talk to me first.”

“…What, is that a problem?”

“Just surprised, I guess. It’s not often Lady Grace talks to me first like this?”

I was a bit flustered inside. It really was a rare occasion for Grace to approach me first, especially in the classroom like this.

It felt like the first time since she started a fuss with me.

“So, what do you want?”

“I’m just saying. So can I ask why you’re talking to me now?”

Given how unusual it was for Grace to address me first, it definitely piqued my curiosity.

She probably didn’t just come over because she was bored; there had to be a special reason for her to speak to me in class.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have initiated the conversation at all…right?

“What’s up?”

“…After academy today, help me study for the test.”

“…Huh?”

“You heard me…! Why are you pretending not to know…!”

“No… I… honestly, I was just a bit surprised. I didn’t think Lady Grace would ask me something like that.”

Grace was softly angry, but I really didn’t expect her to ask me this.

Of all people… Grace?

She had always disliked me, avoided me, and growled at me whenever I talked to her, so I had no idea why she was asking me for help with studying.

Sure, she learned about my study skills not too long ago, but that didn’t exactly clarify the situation.

“…So, are you going to help, or not?”

“Should I help you?”

“…What?”

“Since Lady Grace asked me this nicely, isn’t it rude to just refuse?”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“…It’s nothing, really?”

After saying that, Grace just turned back to her seat. Watching her back, I thought for a moment.

Maybe I agreed too easily?

I usually toyed around with Grace a lot, but this time I just accepted her request lightly without any teasing, so maybe that’s why she seemed a bit flustered.

“Hmm… what is it?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I really didn’t expect Grace to suddenly ask me to teach her something.”

“Ah, well, you did tease her quite a bit.”

“Tease? Me? When?”

“…?”

I had never harbored any ill thoughts towards Grace until now, so this felt a bit unfair.

*

“Shall we start with some easy problems? Literature is just about memorizing, so I think we should focus on History and Mana Studies for now.”

“……..”

In the club room, first-years were huddled together.

Actually, originally, it was just going to be Grace and me studying, and the others were meant to handle their own stuff, but…

“Lady Nordal, which parts are you struggling with?”

“Nothing.”

“…Huh?”

“But I’ll try to solve it.”

“Uh… okay, let’s go with that.”

Out of nowhere, Ivana Nordal joined our study session.

Seriously, what a coincidence.

While I was preparing and chatting with Grace, it seemed Nordal suddenly got interested in our studies.

“…Well then, let’s start with the basics. Can you try solving the problems from the Mana Studies textbook, page 73?”

“Aren’t you solving them?”

“I’m in the teacher position right now, you see? I already solved all the problems in the textbook, so I don’t need to do it again.”

“…When did you do that while napping?”

“I solved them when I was bored in the dormitory.”

Saying this, I started rolling around on the bed, urging Ella to get on with solving the problems.

Even though it turned into a gathering of just first-years studying together, I felt this was quite a unique experience.

Honestly, I didn’t have to study, but with midterm exams coming up in just a few weeks, and since Ella and Grace seemed pretty serious about their academy grades, it felt like a good opportunity.

As for Ivana Nordal? Who knows?

“Ahhh…”

The three of them were busily solving problems, and I was still lounging on the bed, stretching and waiting for them.

I thought they would finish in less than five minutes, but seeing them still hard at work, I figured I’d need to wait a bit longer.

As I lay there watching them solve problems, I noticed one thing: it was indeed strange, but Nordal was Nordal.

While Grace and Ella would stop and ponder, Nordal kept her pen moving and eyes glued to the problems and textbook, solving them quickly.

Maybe a bit slower than expected, but still, she was the representative of this year’s academy newcomers.

“Hmm… Is that enough?”

“What?”

“Wait, you… it hasn’t even been ten minutes yet…!”

“Test time isn’t unlimited, you know.”

“That’s true, but…”

“It’s fine. I’ll walk you through it one by one. Let’s just check how you solved it first… then I’ll teach you the concepts and methods.”

With that, I began checking how they had solved the problems.

Honestly, given the difficulty of the problems I assigned… they were probably among the tougher ones in the test.

Especially since they were on the last page of the textbook chapter.

“Hmm… umm… ugh.”

I figured out roughly where everyone got stuck and why they found it difficult.

It wasn’t just a simple calculation; this was an application problem, so it made sense they were struggling.

“Anyway, Lady Nordal got the answer right. There was a slight mistake in the solution midway, but an answer is still an answer.”

“…Mistake?”

“Yeah, you were wrong.”

“…Oh.”

She looked surprised, eyes widening as if she hadn’t realized she made a mistake. It was quite a sight since Nordal usually had a poker face.

What wouldn’t change, however, was the fact that she got the answer wrong.

“As for Lady Grace… well, there’s an error at the very start of your working. Seems like you didn’t quite grasp the concept.”

“……..”

“If you understand the concept, you’re likely to get it right. And Ella… you had one error in your solution, which made everything go sideways from there.”

Anyway, I had identified the problems and now I just needed to teach the three students.

It felt a bit strange taking on this teacher-like role out of nowhere.

“Basically, the contents in the basic Mana Studies textbook aren’t too difficult. The laws and formulas might be a bit tricky, but it’s not impossible.”

I pulled out a mobile blackboard and started preparing.

It felt awkward playing teacher in a club meant purely for fun, but since my friends wanted to, and that grumpy Grace proposed it first…

Having agreed to help, it made sense to give it my all.

“When studying Mana Studies, you start by drawing a magic circle, and you need to input the right amount of numbers into the circle. The method differs from one magic circle to another, which makes it challenging.”

While I sketched out the magic circles mentioned in the problems on the board, I reflected that while I usually only had to visualize the circles in my head when using magic… in Mana Studies, they were completely different.

It wasn’t just about pouring magic but required meticulous adjustments… quite a tedious genre, really.

“This problem is one of the intermediate-level spells, and the magic circle is somewhat sketched out, so it’s a fairly challenging one among the basic Mana Studies problems. Typically, you deal with low-level magic…”

And so I continued explaining.

I detailed the method of solving the problems, presented the necessary concepts, and went through the solutions… while it wasn’t many problems, since they were in the midterm scope, I covered them quite in-depth.

Ivana Nordal took detailed notes of what I said, nodding, while Ella seemed to struggle a bit, a frown evident on her face.

And finally… the one who first asked me to teach her, Grace…

“Ugh…!”

With the long, monotonous explanations, she kept dozing off and waking up halfway through.

Hmm… it might be better to start Grace with medium-level problems instead of the hard ones…

In fact, I had deliberately chosen the hardest problems from the textbook to check her skills and show that I could handle this level too.

“Alright… I’ve explained the problems on page 73. What do you think?”

I wrapped up the problem-solving session.

Starting from the concepts, I carefully walked them through each step. This was the hardest question, and as long as you grasped the concept well, they would likely manage this type of problem in the future.

Of course, with Grace, I felt I’d need to start with easier problems.

“If you all are okay with it, it might be a good idea to form a small study group when we have free days like this.”

“…That sounds like a great idea!”

“Ugh…!”

With Ella nodding and looking at me with admiration, and Grace suddenly waking up with a startled expression, there was just one more question left.

“So, Lady Nordal, what do you think?”

“……..”

“Of course, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. It’s just a suggestion, and I only proposed it for the sake of the upcoming midterms.”

Honestly, what could I do since everyone else in the club was studying diligently except me?

I felt almost like I was being left out.

“We should also study for practical tests.”

“Huh?”

“The academy tests aren’t just written exams; I think it would be good to study the practical subjects too. What do you think, Lady Nordal?”

“Um… practical?”

“Yes.”

…That came a bit out of the blue.

I had just suggested studying for the written exams, and suddenly talking about practicality seemed off.

And for Nordal, who had been nodding in silence until now, to suddenly propose this—it caught me a little off guard.

“What do you think, both of you? If you’re both okay with it, we can go ahead.”

In situations where I wasn’t sure how to decide solo, passing the responsibility to others was always the best course of action.

By the way, why was Nordal bringing up practical exams when she clearly had no issues with that subject?

Could it be for Grace and Ella, fellow club members?

If that were the case… this Ivana Nordal might be a nicer person than I had previously thought.

Since she usually kept a poker face, I hadn’t thought so before, but judging people without knowing isn’t something I should do.