27 Who Says the Eldest Daughter Can’t Rebel?
In the end, Leon came up with an excellent tutoring method that perfectly suited Noia’s current situation.
The Head Maid, Anna, had just delivered a stack of books, including some past test papers from Saint His Academy.
Leon glanced over the test papers, all of which were related to knowledge about the Dragon Race.
Seeing that, Leon secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Knowing oneself and the enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles; as an elite Dragon Slayer from the Empire, Leon probably understood Dragons better than they understood themselves.
Even though his body wasn’t what it used to be (TMD, why did that line pop into my head with Roswiser’s voice?).
Still, the knowledge he acquired in the past was firmly planted in his brain.
He planned to use his understanding of the Dragon Race combined with the test papers and the books’ content to teach Noia.
Leon’s tutoring plan came together quickly.
After all, he was once a study prodigy who graduated from the Dragon Slayer Academy with top scores in both written exams and practical exercises.
“Alright, let’s get started, Noia. First up, we’re learning about how the Dragon Race uses magic.”
With that, Leon pushed a book on basic magic in front of Noia.
“This book is designed well; the table of contents is clear and concise and should cover the relevant subjects adequately.”
“My idea is this:”
“First, skim through the table of contents. Then, use green, yellow, and red pens to mark the sections according to how easy they are to understand—‘very easy’ for green, ‘barely understandable’ for yellow, and ‘completely incomprehensible’ for red.”
“I just checked last year’s records and found that to pass the entrance exam for Saint His Academy, students generally prepare a year in advance.”
“But we have only a month.”
“So we must do everything possible to improve tutoring efficiency.”
“I believe in you, Noia; you can do this.”
“Start whenever you’re ready.”
With that, Leon pushed the three colored pens and the basic magic book in front of her.
Noia showed excellent control over her emotions.
Though she was surprised by how efficient this “dad” was in teaching, she didn’t act too much like a child.
After taking the book and pens, she began marking the table of contents following Leon’s method.
Seeing his eldest daughter working seriously made Leon quite pleased.
There was no unnecessary chatter or meaningless questions; everything was geared towards efficiency.
But speaking of which, teaching a student like Noia was a bit pressuring for Leon.
Noia’s learning ability was definitely much stronger than Moon’s, and Leon, as her knowledge provider, had to stay ahead of her at all times.
Otherwise, their tutoring efficiency would suffer a significant blow.
“Ugh, looks like it’s time to burn the midnight oil starting today.”
Leon thought to himself.
Just like back in his days at the Dragon Slayer Academy, where he practically studied past midnight every day.
His roommates called him the “studying king,” and he didn’t bother to refute it.
Leon just knew if he didn’t study hard in the academy, his master would come back and smash a rock on his chest.
“I’m done marking.”
Noia’s voice pulled him back from his memories.
Leon collected his thoughts, picked up the book, and checked Noia’s marked table of contents.
“Hmm, not bad. Seven parts are marked green and yellow, only a few tougher chapters are marked red, right?”
Noia nodded.
“Good, these are just simple categorizations of our learning framework. Just because something is marked red doesn’t mean we really don’t understand it, and likewise, the yellow ones aren’t necessarily clear either. So I’ll focus on the chapters you marked yellow, and during our explanations, we can find out where the problems lie, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
Leon nodded and began explaining the sections Noia had marked yellow.
The class time flew by, and before long, three hours had passed.
Leon wrote and sketched on the book; he covered practically all the key points with Noia.
Next up was the hands-on experience.
He pulled out last year’s test papers, “Let’s do a practice test first. This way, we can intuitively check where we still fall short.”
“Let’s get started,” “our shortcomings”…
Noia noticed that Leon often referred to himself and her using collective terms like these.
He rarely asked rhetorical questions like, “Do you understand?”
Noia wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but this verbal style certainly made it easy to follow his train of thought.
She shook her head, deciding not to dwell on anything unrelated to studying.
Taking the test paper, she picked up her pencil and got to work.
The test was mostly comprehension and straightforward questions; no complex calculations involved, so Noia worked through it quickly.
She chewed on the pencil end, furrowing her brow as she patiently pondered each question.
It was hard to imagine a little over a year old could concentrate so intently.
Once she figured out an answer, her otherwise expressionless little face would involuntarily break into a grin.
However, the moment she noticed Leon watching her, she immediately turned back to her poker face.
It was actually pretty cute.
This kind of cuteness is different from Moon’s; it’s subtler, more reserved.
Twenty minutes later, she handed the paper to Leon.
He compared it to the answer key and calculated Noia’s score.
“Out of 100, guess how much you got?” Leon wanted to lighten the intense study atmosphere a bit.
“50?”
“62.”
“Oh.”
Leon put down the paper, “What’s wrong? Not satisfied?”
Noia pursed her lips, hands on her knees, and nodded silently.
“Hmm… there’s nothing wrong with having high expectations for yourself, but you need to understand that typically, a young dragon your age wouldn’t even encounter such difficult test questions. Moreover, the average score for the academy’s tests over the past decade has only been around 80. It’s pretty tough, you know?”
Leon smiled, setting down the test, “You scored 62 on your very first attempt; that’s quite impressive.”
“… Thank you.”
“What did you say?” Leon didn’t hear her clearly.
“Nothing.”
Noia rubbed her little nose and said, “Let’s continue.”
Leon chuckled and reached out as if to ruffle her hair but then remembered her previous warning about not touching her without permission.
So halfway through, he awkwardly pulled his hand back, “Let’s call it a day for now. You should go eat. After lunch, take a half-hour break, and we’ll continue.”
“Oh, okay.”
Noia hopped off the stool and walked to the door.
Seeing Leon didn’t follow her, she turned and asked, “Aren’t you coming to eat?”
Leon shrugged and joked, “Your mom grounded me. I need to complain to her later for a bit more freedom.”
Noia nodded seriously, “Sure.”
“Hey, wait a moment, Noia! Can you bring me some chili when you come back? The spicier, the better.”
Noia blinked, “Do you really like spicy food?”
“Eh, it’s not too bad; mainly, I have another use for it.”
Noia gave a soft “oh” and nodded, agreeing without asking more questions.
Noia opened the door and left.
Leon stretched, got up to loosen up a bit, then sat back down to start prepping the afternoon’s lesson.
Just as he thought, having a smart student isn’t an easy job.
He always had to stay a step ahead of Noia to guide her properly.
Of course, he also guessed that Roswiser had another reason for making him tutor Noia.
That was to give their eldest daughter a good chance to make Leon squirm a little.
While Moon naturally liked Leon and didn’t need much nurturing in terms of feelings, Noia was different.
Even at such a young age, she had her own opinions and ways of doing things. It was tough for her to accept a man who had been in a coma for two years as her dad.
Moreover, Leon vaguely felt that Noia held some resentment towards him for other reasons, too.
She was so clever; maybe she already sensed that this man, who should be called “father,” didn’t actually have a great relationship with her mother?
So… this time around, Leon wouldn’t treat the teaching lightly or see his eldest daughter as just a source of torment.
He would take it seriously, hoping to change some of Noia’s views about him.
And then—
He would win her over!
