When Chedman called his full name in warning, his face became even colder than before.
“Watch your words properly.”
Chedman stepped closer to the now-frozen Renzard.
“As you said, she was our mother. Not just your mother.”
Renzard’s body began trembling uncontrollably.
Chedman’s eyes curved pleasantly, as if he found the sight amusing.
“And yet you casually say things like that?”
Seeing Renzard look ready to run back to his room at any second, Chedman lightly patted his shoulder.
“Be careful. Understood?”
“…Yeah.”
Even after Chedman left, Renzard remained standing there for quite a while.
Although I had collapsed from getting injured in front of the office, Heinox never came to visit me.
Anne looked oddly disappointed by that, but I already knew he wouldn’t come, so I wasn’t particularly upset.
Well… maybe I’d held onto a tiny bit of hope.
But thanks to Renzard, I was reminded again how meaningless that hope was.
“The Duke is really so cold-hearted. Would it hurt him to stop by at least once…?”
“Anne.”
“Yes?”
Anne looked even more upset than I was.
I was grateful that she worried over my problems as if they were her own—especially considering we had only known each other for a week.
Though, of course, the real Roxina and Anne must have shared much more history together.
“I wanna eat cookies.”
“Yes…”
Anne stared at me with wavering eyes before eventually heading down toward the kitchen.
“Ha…”
I closed my eyes from exhaustion.
It became even clearer to me that gaining financial independence and leaving this family behind would lead to a far better life than trying to become a true member of this household.
“Mmmgh…”
“Miss, you have to wake up. Today is the day you’ll meet your teacher for the first time.”
Before I knew it, nearly two weeks had passed since I entered this novel.
Apparently Heinox hadn’t lied when he said he’d hire a tutor for me—he had truly brought in a private teacher.
As Anne gently woke my drowsy self, her 모습 strangely overlapped with the moment I had first become Roxina.
“Mmm…”
The only difference was that I’d gotten somewhat used to being cared for by maids.
“The Duke apparently invited a professor from the Academy! It’s even Lord Dikal—the author of On the History of the Great Luent Empire and Its Lands!”
“Dikal?”
In the original story, Dikal was famous for being extremely strict and stubborn.
And understandably so—he was recognized as the greatest authority in geography after creating maps that organized not only the empire, but even neighboring nations.
‘Isn’t he way too important just to tutor a single noble girl?’
As I wondered about Dikal’s appearance, Anne continued speaking.
“Thankfully, Lord Dikal is currently taking a break from his Academy position!”
“Ah!”
Dikal only became incredibly famous after the original story began.
That would be more than ten years from now—after I became an adult.
‘So he’s still working as an Academy professor right now.’
Remembering that he had once taught at the Academy before becoming famous, and that his books were even used as textbooks, I couldn’t hide my excitement.
‘This is seriously amazing…!’
If I could build connections with him before he became overly difficult, it would definitely benefit me later.
“But… I still don’t know how to write…”
Having Dikal as my personal tutor was great, but there was one problem—my actual level.
Today was my first lesson, and I still didn’t even know basic words.
Yet my first teacher was already Dikal.
What on earth was Heinox thinking?
‘No consideration whatsoever.’
I nodded to myself, thinking that this really was typical Heinox—completely oblivious to practical circumstances.
“Ah! Miss, please don’t move. I haven’t secured the pin yet, so everything keeps coming loose.”
“Okaaay.”
I could see Anne’s focused expression reflected in the mirror.
‘Anne really is kind.’
During the past few days together, Anne had proven herself to be an incredibly diligent person.
By the time I barely dragged myself awake, rubbing my heavy eyelids like waterlogged cotton, Anne had already finished changing clothes and opened the curtains.
And even when I buried my face into the blanket every morning because I didn’t want to get up, she never showed even the slightest irritation as she gently coaxed me awake.
Even though she came from a small viscount family in the frontier, a noble was still a noble.
Anne rarely raised her voice, and even in the smallest gestures—like carrying my snacks—there was a natural elegance she couldn’t hide.
Since Anne was the one who taught me the most about this world at close range, it wouldn’t be wrong to call her my very first teacher.
“Anne is amazin’…”
“Yes?”
Anne tilted her head as though she didn’t understand what I meant.
“Anne’s pwetty… an’ kind… an’ smart too…”
At this point, I felt so attached to her that when the day came for me to leave this mansion, Anne might be the one person I’d miss the most.
“Th-Thank you.”
Perhaps embarrassed by receiving praise from the young lady she served, Anne’s cheeks flushed pink.
“But Young Lady, you’re far prettier.”
“Me?”
“Of course! There’s no one else in this world who could suit silky hair and eyes like sapphire jewels as perfectly as you!”
‘Well, that’s true.’
Even in the original novel, Roxina’s beauty was said to surpass even the heroine, Bebera.
But perhaps because of her personality, her sharply raised eyes and icy blue gaze often gave people an intimidating impression.
Her appearance was far from gentle.
Probably only Anne would look at the eyes I inherited from Heinox and describe them as sparkling sapphires.
‘Maybe it’s because she’s still a child, but she really is adorable.’
Her plump pale cheeks, faint rosy blush, upward-slanted eyes, and tightly pursed lips were enough to make anyone clap in admiration.
“You know how beautiful you are too, don’t you, Miss?”
Seeing my dazed expression, Anne asked teasingly.
“I… Ah, no.”
For a second, I almost agreed automatically.
I quickly put on a completely innocent expression.
“To me, Anne is muuuch prettier.”
“Miss…”
Anne covered her mouth as if she were genuinely touched.
“But… when do we go?”
“Oh my!”
Anne, who had looked seconds away from crying, suddenly snapped back to reality at my question.
“You need to go right now! Lord Dikal is already waiting in the drawing room!”
Then she hurriedly picked me up and rushed out of the room.
“A-Ah, you don’t have to carry me…”
Really…
In the end, I met my first teacher, Dikal, while being carried in Anne’s arms.
Dikal briefly frowned at my childlike appearance—though, technically, I was a child—before slowly standing from his seat.
“Dikal Pebient. Greetings to the Young Lady of House Tanzeric.”
“Hewwo, Teacher. I’m Roxina Tanzeric. Pwease be comfortable with me.”
Dikal’s eyebrows twitched slightly, as though my polite tone surprised him.
“Very well. Since this is our first lesson, we’ll simply do a basic assessment today.”
“Ah, um… about that…”
As I trailed off awkwardly, Dikal urged me to continue.
“That should be fine, yes?”
“W-Well…”
I glanced toward Anne, who stood silently near the door.
As expected, she was watching me with obvious concern.
For some reason, seeing her look even more distressed than I was gave me courage.
“I don’t know how to write!”
I don’t know. Don’t know. Don’t know…
Maybe because I was nervous, my voice came out much louder than intended.
When I carefully opened my tightly shut eyes, I saw Anne staring with her mouth hanging open.
‘And Dikal…’
I cautiously lifted my head toward him.
“Ho…”
His expression looked utterly dumbfounded.
Ah, seriously…
‘This is humiliating…’
Fortunately, Dikal quickly realized his reaction had been rude and immediately composed himself.
Though somehow his calm expression only made me feel even more embarrassed.
“Ahem. Then I suppose we must begin with writing. Surely you at least know numbers?”
“No…”
“Uh… Hmm. Numbers are essential for reading maps…”
“Then teach me numbers first.”
I decided to shamelessly push forward.
There would probably be plenty of situations like this in the future, and if I kept getting embarrassed every time, lessons would never progress.
“Very well. Then today we shall learn how to read numbers.”
Dikal pushed the thick map he’d brought for teaching beneath his chair.
“First, the number one is…”
Thankfully, the empire’s numerical symbols—taught by an Academy professor on leave—weren’t very different from Korean ones.
Since I’d be dealing with numbers often in the future, that was fortunate.
“For two-digit numbers, you write them like this. Since numbers larger than three digits are rarely used outside accounting ledgers, remembering this much should be enough…”
“No.”
What was he talking about?
The whole reason I was learning numbers was for those ledgers.
“I wanna learn more. Please teach me more.”
“Pardon? But Young Lady, you’ll likely never need to use such large numbers.”
“But I’m curious. Please teach me.”
“If you insist…”
Dikal had just closed the ink bottle lid, but reopened the lesson.
“From this point onward, whenever the number grows larger, this symbol is added. However, five-digit numbers are a special case and use this mark in the middle.”
“Mmm. I see.”
‘See? Good thing I asked. If you request it properly, they really do give it to you.’
There was no way I planned to let go easily of someone talented enough to hold a professorship at the Academy.
If he was respected in a place said to gather only the brightest minds in the Great Luent Empire, then he must possess enormous knowledge.
For someone like me, who lacked even basic understanding of this world, there could be no better source of information.
“You learn exceptionally quickly.”
Dikal remarked approvingly, watching me absorb everything like a sponge.
“We’ll end today’s lesson here. Starting next time, you’ll begin properly studying the imperial language.”
“Thank you for today, Teacheeer.”
“You worked hard as well, Young Lady. I shall see you again in two days.”
As Dikal opened the door and left, Anne—who had been waiting outside—immediately hurried over to me.
“Miss, how was your lesson? Lord Dikal looked very imposing. Weren’t you scared?”
Anne’s concern wasn’t entirely unnecessary.
Dikal really was huge.
Since he’d written what was basically the empire’s mandatory textbook, I’d imagined a frail scholar—but Dikal’s body was as solid as a knight’s.
And unlike my worries, he wasn’t arrogant or prideful either.
