Chapter 17

Honestly, when he'd come at her about her parenting being all wrong, she'd thought the man had lost his mind—but now she could sort of see where it came from.

Probably because that's how he'd been raised himself.

"…More to the point, the things I'm curious about—His Highness must've been educated too, right?"

"Yes. But around then, I'd already gone up to the capital. I didn't see much of it firsthand."

"What kind of person came as his tutor back then?"

"A scholar of high reputation, just like now. According to my father, he just taught and went back without any issue."

"Really?"

Iberin tilted her head, but eventually decided she was probably just being oversensitive.

---

The lesson ran about two hours.

Iberin timed her arrival for when Ether's lesson would be wrapping up.

She caught Ether coming out just then, a book hugged tight against his chest, with Elvin right behind him.

Iberin broke into a wide smile and scooped him into a hug.

"How was your lesson, Ether?"

"It was fuuun!"

Whatever she'd been worried about, none of it seemed to have happened—his face was bright.

"What'd you learn?"

"Umm, vance stuff."

"Advanced?"

"Yes! Teachuh said Ether's gonna grow up big!"

"You must've loved that, huh?"

"I loved it so much!"

Ether grabbed at her thigh like he was angling for cuddles, rubbing his cheek against her.

Iberin smiled warmly and turned to Elvin.

"The young master is a genius. We should be through Imperial language quickly. Once that's done, he'll move on to a variety of disciplines."

"Good work today. Would you care to join us for tea?"

"No, thank you. I should organize tomorrow's material for the young master. His pace is faster than I'd anticipated, so I'll need to rework the plan a bit."

"I see. Of course."

Elvin gave a small bow and cut across the corridor.

"Mommy, are we gonna have a snack?"

"Yes. Let's go have Ether's favorite snack."

"Yaaay! I wanna eat cake too!"

"You worked hard, so eat all you want."

Ether answered loudly and slipped his hand into hers.

---

She kept a close eye on Elvin and Ether for several days, but nothing struck her as off, so she let her guard down completely.

So the imperials aren't automatically bad after all!

He was giving Ether a proper education, at least.

Whether that was actually a good thing or a bad thing, she honestly couldn't say.

Maybe living like an idiot who didn't know a thing and just guarded the Forest of the World Tree would be the easier road.

But what bothered her was how the whole system had managed to hold together this long when people clearly weren't stupid.

That was the thing about educated people.

Anyone with brains and the power to grab more than what they already had—of course they'd reach for it.

And yet the Lecashe had quietly sat penned up in this corner for generations.

That was exactly why she'd been so on edge about education being used as cover for something else. But Ether had taken to Elvin and genuinely loved studying.

"Your Highness."

In the middle of all that, Lyssel came back.

A full week after Elvin had arrived, no less.

Two weeks in the forest meant another mountain of monsters hauled back, and the servants were swamped again.

"…What is it."

"A tutor has arrived to educate Ether."

"I see. I'll leave it in your hands."

The instant he was back, Lyssel had shut himself in the east wing as usual, and Iberin had gone to find him.

"Baron Elvin Pletanin would like to greet you, Your Highness."

"That's not necessary."

"I'll let the baron know."

"Are you finished?"

"Yes."

She finished speaking but didn't get up to leave, and a small silence stretched between them.

"……Why aren't you going?"

"So, um. Your Highness."

"…."

Lyssel shot her a wary look.

Iberin shot one hand straight up and called out.

"I'm taking it back!"

His pupils were already shaking from the sheer force of her raising her hand, and now they went into overdrive.

Don't ask.

Don't ask what she's taking back.

That's the safer path.

His instincts kicked in and he kept his mouth firmly shut, but Iberin was happy to do the talking for him.

"I don't care if I make you uncomfortable—you're going to deal with it!"

"……."

"I really do want to get close to you, Your Highness."

She slowly lowered her hand once she'd said it.

"Why, exactly."

"Hm?"

"Why are you going this far?"

Lyssel asked it like none of this made any sense.

"Why do I need a reason?"

"…It's not as if you don't know. I'm a cursed being. Because of me, your death is already on the calendar."

"Mm."

"You resented me. You found me revolting."

"Sorry about that. That was something I did before I lost my memory, but I'll apologize on her behalf."

"Ha… that's not what I meant—"

"Can I be straight with you?"

"…Yes."

Iberin wasn't from this world, so for all she knew, dying might just send her right back where she'd come from.

Or maybe that'd be the end of her, full stop.

Either way, her original world hadn't exactly been a kind place to her either.

A violent father. A mother too fragile to protect her own child.

And everyone around them who knew exactly what was going on and chose to look the other way.

So books had become her one escape.

And then somehow—she had no idea how—she'd ended up living inside one.

The book she'd loved most, no less.

"I want Lecashe to be happy."

She wanted to protect Ether, whose situation mirrored her own so closely.

And while she hadn't given Lyssel much thought before, hearing that he'd lived a life so much like hers, she couldn't bring herself to ignore him either.

"What does that have to do with getting close to me?"

Lyssel looked at her like he genuinely couldn't follow.

He didn't know what happiness was, and he'd never thought about wanting to know, never been curious about it.

So why was Iberin sitting here talking about happiness?

"Um, Your Highness, do you have any friends?"

"……"

"Didn't think so. Anyone you like?"

"……"

"Yeah, didn't think so. Any memories of smiling because someone crossed your mind? Of feeling a little flutter in your chest?"

Lyssel's body twitched.

"Huh, that one you've got."

"I don't."

The second Iberin's eyes narrowed at him, Lyssel shot it down hard.

She wasn't going to get a real answer right now anyway, so she let it slide.

"Anyway, happiness is unbelievably great."

"The dictionary definition of happiness is good fortune, or feeling content and pleased with enough satisfaction in life. Love is the feeling of cherishing and valuing some existence deeply. The two seem similar—am I right?"

"You're right! When you know love, you'll know happiness too."

"That can't happen. A Lecashe can't be allowed to know love."

"…Ha. You said the same thing last time. Why, though? Why can't you know it?"

"There's no reason for me to explain that to you."

Iberin let out a flat little laugh and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"Either way, I told you I'm going to get close to you, and I'm going to keep coming."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"That's on you. I'll do my part."

"Part refers to an allocated portion, so dividing one's heart…"

"Whatever, the point is I'm doing what I want!"

Lyssel gave up on the conversation and closed his eyes.

A man with a locked door for a heart, and a woman who, for the first time in her life, had set herself the goal of someone else's happiness.

Neither of them was about to back down. The start of a contest, maybe.

Probably.

---

Iberin had started chasing Lyssel around, but she hadn't been neglecting Ether either.

They still made plenty of trips to the west tower to paint and play together.

The west tower wasn't an eyesore anymore.

The bright, colorful coat of paint on the outside helped, but inside, the once-dingy gray walls were packed end to end with drawings from the child and the servants. It had its own kind of charm now.

"Ether, want to take a walk with Mommy to the west tower today?"

"No. Ether has to study."

It was the last answer she'd expected.

Ether normally said yes to anything Iberin suggested, no questions asked—the no came as a real shock.

Lately he'd been turning her down more and more often with I have to study, and now he wouldn't even look up from his book.

"Do you really like studying that much?"

Something was off. She could feel it.

"I like it."

The words came out without an ounce of joy in them.

Iberin's brow furrowed.

"Is the homework that much?"

"No. Ether just likes to study."

"More than Mommy?"

"…That's not it…"

"Then how come you won't even look at Mommy and just stare at the book? You're hurting Mommy's feelings."

Ether reluctantly lifted his head.

"But teachuh said if I study really hard, I'll be a—um, a real fine person. Ether's gonna be a real fine person."

"So a Mommy who doesn't study isn't a fine person, then."

"!"

His eyes went huge.

He shook his head fast, fast, and pushed the book away from him.

"No! Mommy doesn't study and Mommy's fine!"

"Same goes for Ether."

"……Mmm. Okay. Then let's go on a walk!"

Only then did Ether's smile come back and he hopped up.

Iberin's gaze cooled as it dropped to the book he'd just been hunched over, and her mind went straight to Baron Elvin.

The lesson itself wasn't wrong—but how hard had the man pushed it, for Ether to turn down playing with her in favor of a book?

"What else did the baron say?"

"Um, nothing special!"

After a beat of consideration, Ether just shook his head and clamped his mouth shut.

She was pretty sure he'd said something…

"It's a secret?"

"Yeah!"

Ether let out a little hehe and gave her the most innocent answer in the world.

"I see. A secret between teacher and pupil, huh."

It bothered her. What kind of snake-tongued whispers had that man been pouring into his ear?

And then it hit her.

The imperial family wouldn't have sent someone over for nothing.

---

From the moment Iberin started feeling uneasy, Ether started to change—visibly.

Like a kid hitting some kind of premature adolescence, he kept his distance from her, insisting he could do things on his own, and the smiles stopped.

"Ether."

She called his name with a strained smile and reached out to pull him in.

But Ether took a small step back, glancing at her face, and said,

"Good morning."

"…Since when do you and I do greetings?"

"It's a mornin' gweeting…"

"You don't have to do that, Ether."

"I'm gonna go study now."

All this time, she'd been making a point of touching Ether constantly, telling him she loved him, doing everything she could to fill in all the affection he'd missed out on.

And now it felt like every bit of that effort had been wiped out in one swing.

Ether gave her a small bow and shut himself in his room.

Two weeks. That was all it had taken since Elvin's lessons started.

How was this even possible?

It wasn't just Iberin. Their darling Ether had stopped smiling and stopped running around outside, and the whole Grand Ducal Estate started to feel heavy.

Even the servants were walking on eggshells around Ether.

And around Iberin, whose mood had plummeted the moment Ether's had.

"Lady Iberin."

"Yeah. What happened?"

"I don't know what he's done, but apparently you can't make out a word of what's being said inside."