I think I’ve been just sitting quietly and taking deep breaths for about 10 minutes.
As soon as I arrived at the palace, I suddenly felt nauseous, and my head started to throb…
No matter how hard I tried to calm down, things didn’t seem to improve; I decided to go out.
“Coachman. I’m getting off now.”
Clunk.
The door opened, and light poured into the carriage.
The majestic view of the palace, which never fails to take my breath away, unfolded before me.
I closed my eyes tightly for a moment and clasped the pendant around my neck.
“Thank you, coachman. Go have a meal somewhere. It seems like it will take quite a long time.”
“No, I’ll wait right here in front of the main gate.”
“…”
It felt a little burdensome.
Does that mean he’ll wait while starving?
I wonder if he brought anything like rice balls.
‘Let’s go.’
It wasn’t the time to worry about others.
I released my grip on the pendant and stepped forward.
My legs were no longer trembling.
At least, from the outside, I must have looked like I wasn’t nervous at all.
“I am Julia.”
“Are you His Highness the Prince’s tutor?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh dear. Another new one. Please take your ID. You may pass.”
The guard returned my ID, looking at me with pity.
I was puzzled by his behavior but decided not to think too much about it.
This was my second visit to the palace, but it felt even more unfamiliar than the first time.
Maybe it was because I had just followed the Duke around the first time.
Now that I was alone, I was worried about whether to walk to the right or the left, whether to greet everyone I passed or not, and so on. It was driving me crazy.
Of course, I had learned some basic court etiquette from the Duke, but when I actually arrived here, I couldn’t remember any of it.
‘Is this it?’
The prince’s classroom.
I had somehow made it to my destination without any major incidents.
I stood in front of the door and sighed again before knocking.
Being the tutor for the prince…
How did I end up with this job…?
Still, it should be an easy lesson suitable for an elementary student, so I decided to take that as comfort.
Just as I was about to mentally prepare myself and knock on the door…
“Your Highness! You’ve already arrived?!”
“Ugh!”
Bang.
The door swung open violently, striking my face.
I flew backward and fell on my butt.
“The first lesson isn’t supposed to be anything special anyway! Let’s just consider today a lesson!”
“Ugh…”
Through my half-opened eyes, I saw the back of the boy fleeing away.
What on earth was going on?
It took me a while to understand the situation.
He summoned me out himself, but why would he skip the first day…?
“Ah.”
A clear answer came to mind.
The reason I was chosen as the prince’s tutor was not because of my good looks or superior tutoring skills.
It was because I seemed easy to handle.
He probably thought, “I can skip classes with this one,” and that’s why he picked me.
‘Wouldn’t that be convenient for me too?’
If he has no will to learn, then that’s good for me.
I could just pretend to follow the prince around and get paid while having fun.
The Duke was right.
This was a golden opportunity to make a lot of money.
I could even earn money without working.
Wasn’t this an amazing job?
“What are you doing sitting there?”
“Huh?”
“Aren’t you the tutor? Quickly fulfill your duty.”
Just as I was internally celebrating, a slightly older-looking man walked out from inside the classroom.
From his attire, he didn’t seem like a noble but more like a servant.
He looked like he had a role in supporting the prince.
I grabbed his outstretched hand and stood up, dusting off my butt.
“What do you mean duty?”
“I’m simply asking what’s obvious. You have the duty to seat His Highness at the desk and teach him.”
“Even if you say that, I don’t even know where His Highness went…”
“If you don’t know, you need to make an effort to find out. If, within the given time, His Highness does not achieve the required grades, you will bear full responsibility.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“It means if His Highness doesn’t study, you will be fired.”
“…”
Ah.
That was when I fully understood what the guard had said.
People like me must have been through here before.
Newcomers who couldn’t prevent the prince from skipping classes were dismissed, and it must have come around to me now.
I was going crazy.
Indeed, there couldn’t possibly be such a honey job as just playing around and getting paid.
For a moment, I thought about giving up right then and there.
Shouldn’t I quit a job that made me nervous and sick to my stomach every time I came in?
‘No. I won’t give up.’
I clenched my teeth.
There’s no such thing as giving up in my dictionary.
I had lived at the house of someone who assaulted me, and to give up over something like this would just make me look foolish.
“Surely you know a place where His Highness might be.”
“Of course.”
The servant replied with a faint smile.
Let’s give this a shot.
Training the little rascal.
*
“I found you! Your Highness!”
“Ugh…”
You have no idea how hard I searched through this vast palace.
From the stables to the training grounds, to the arena and even the storage room…
I thought it would be easy to find where the prince might be, but I didn’t expect there to be so many possibilities.
And of all places, he ended up being in the last one I checked; my luck was truly terrible.
However, the fact that I found him in the storage room meant there was no easy way out.
I asked the servant who followed me to block the entrance before going inside.
The prince, grasping a wooden sword tightly in his hand, backed away while aiming it at me.
Was he playing knight?
He was at that age, after all.
But even if he skipped all other classes, he must sit down and study during my lesson.
“You should give up now. There’s less than 30 minutes left in class.”
“Then how about you give up today? 30 minutes isn’t enough time to teach anything.”
“If there’s a will to learn, then it’s enough time for anything. Quickly come with me, Your Highness.”
“I don’t want to! Why are you so eager to disrupt my personal time?!”
“It’s not personal time; it’s study time, Your Highness…”
“That damned study! Study! Study! If I sit all day, my butt is going to rot! I should at least have some time to rest in between! What do you think I am?!”
“Someone who can lead the nation. You’re suitable to lead the empire. That’s how I see it.”
Of course, that was a lie.
From what I’ve heard, the emperor’s first daughter has talent and is already managing a duchy.
The next emperor is practically chosen to be her, and only a handful of nobles are pushing for this kid to become the next emperor.
I didn’t care if he became emperor or not; I just needed him to sit and study quietly so that my salary would keep coming in.
To do that, I needed to persuade him.
“What could math possibly do for you? Isn’t it a subject only for lowly craftsmen to study?”
“Uh…?”
He was instantly at a loss for words.
So, when the question came up about how math could be applied, it became quite awkward.
I truly had no words at that moment.
I began to understand a little of the struggles math teachers face.
“See? Math isn’t a useless subject! It’s difficult, it’s boring, and you don’t see much improvement in your grades from studying it! It’s not efficient! Therefore, it’s far more reasonable to spend that time studying other subjects or practicing swordsmanship to manage stress! If you can contradict me, go ahead!”
“…”
This was the mindset typical of someone who had given up on math.
Fools who believe that if they give up math, they can rapidly improve in all other subjects.
The problem is that there’s no way to counter that.
Since he already believed he was right, reasonable, and rational, anything I said would probably go in one ear and out the other.
It was inevitable.
I had no choice but to use a somewhat underhanded tactic.
“Your Highness, I have a proposal.”
“Don’t interrupt. I’ve made it clear that I won’t study math.”
The prince promptly turned his back on me and began swinging his wooden sword at the air.
My teeth ground, but I managed to suppress my anger.
He was still a child and a royal.
I should never lose my temper.
“I will give a test every week. It will consist of problems that can only be solved if you diligently attend the weekly classes. If you score full marks even once on that test…”
“Ugh! I said I’m not interested!”
“I will arrange for you to have a personal meeting with Duke Dragania.”
“What?!”
The prince’s eyes widened.
He hurriedly tried to mask his expression, but I didn’t miss that brief moment of excitement.
Indeed, the prince idolized Duke Dragania.
No, it was more than idolizing.
It would be fair to call it fanaticism.
From what I’ve heard from the prince’s servant, he practices swordsmanship every day, even skipping meals.
He doesn’t have anyone teaching him, nor is he having sword fights with friends; he diligently swings his sword all by himself…
It’s hard to develop an interest in swordsmanship in a setting like his, but the fact that he’s obsessed like that means he had a role model.
And that role model is undoubtedly Duke Dragania.
I noticed that the previous time I visited with the duke, he was constantly whining to be taken to the border area.
“Perhaps he might even provide you with swordsmanship guidance as well.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You think you can control the duke at your will?!”
“The duke owes me a debt, so he has an obligation to grant my one request. So, what do you think? Will you accept my proposal?”
It was a lie.
The duke had no obligation to grant any of my requests.
But if I made sure he would never get full marks on the test, that would never come to light.
I was just satisfied with the prince studying hard.
“Very well… I’ll accept.”
“Great! Shall we proceed to the classroom right away?”
“You plan on doing it even though there’s barely any time left?”
“There’s just enough time for a simple test.”
“Ugh…”
The prince dragged the wooden sword on the ground while following me.
I never expected it to work, but somehow I succeeded in persuading him.
A die-hard fan willing to study math, even if it’s something he hates, just to meet the duke.
What part of that brat is worth anything…?
I couldn’t understand it at all.
“A personal meeting with Schwarz, huh? I’m very much looking forward to it. No matter how much I call for him, he doesn’t flinch. Such a rude kid.”
“Why are you so eager to meet the duke?”
“He’s an expert on magical beasts. He’s faced many magical beasts, so he knows all their weaknesses and how to kill them. If he wrote a book on that, it would sell like hotcakes, but he seems too foolish to do that. So, I have no choice but to learn directly from him. If I get close to him and absorb the knowledge he has about magical beasts, I could reduce the number of people who die from them each year.”
“…”
I was rendered speechless.
I thought he was just a rude and absent-minded brat.
He actually had some commendable qualities.
Perhaps he even seemed a bit cute.
“The class shouldn’t be that difficult. As long as you focus, with just the once-a-week lesson…”
“Oh.”
As I fiddled with the pendant, I accidentally pressed a button, causing the lid to open, and a picture fell out.
The prince picked it up from the floor.
However, a bright smile spread across his face as he examined the picture.
“Who is this tiny girl? She’s quite pretty! Bring her along to the palace next time! I want to meet her!”
“How dare you, you rude brat, talk about someone else’s precious daughter like that…”
“What did you just mumble?!”
“Nothing at all…”
In that moment, I couldn’t help but freeze my expression.
Anger surged up within me.
He truly was a rude little brat.
