I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 6

6. Starting Class for the Future Heir!

December 20, 2022

‘Sigh. My dad must have been incredibly kind. To be such an unprecedented person in this villainous family!’

I tried to sort out my thoughts before the lesson, but that kid in the mask kept talking to me, so I failed. Still, there were some gains.

After hearing what the masked boy said, I was completely convinced.

My dad must have been an angel.

‘He was kicked out of the family, barely managed to return, and now his and my deaths are already considered a foregone conclusion, even known to that little kid.’

Sigh. It’s one mountain after another.

I had intended to ask the boy his name and subtly dig up some information, but I decided to hold back for now.

Because my heart hurt.

‘It’s upsetting, really.’

It saddened me that Dad’s kindness was unprecedented in the family’s history.

How alone must Dad have been?

You, bad people…….

‘How hard must it have been for Dad to protect his kind heart in this villainous family all this time? It’s making me so upset.’

I clutched my heart.

The boy, who looked about ten years old and had been watching me, tapped my shoulder and asked curiously,

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

“It feels like there’s a thorn stuck here.”

Thinking about how Dad suffered alone among those bad people made my heart prickle as if a fishbone was stuck in it. He’s such a sweet dad who picks out fishbones for me every day…….

At my words, he muttered to himself,

“……Did I make you think of a difficult past?”

The boy, who still hadn’t revealed his name, murmured softly, almost inaudibly.

But I had no time to pay attention to his words.

‘It’s okay, Dad. I can protect you now.’

I clenched my fists, which looked like balls of white cotton, and puffed out my cheeks, like a pufferfish inflating its body and powerfully spewing out its poison.

Just then, the sound of footsteps stopped in front of the door.

The teachers had arrived.

***

“Nice to meet you. I am the Education Officer. Please, feel free to call me that.”

“I am the family’s Discipline Officer.”

The Education Officer had a lanky body and a long face, while the Discipline Officer had a broad body and a wide face.

I nodded, looking at them.

“I am Sien, daughter of Matthias, ahem, I mean, Matthias. What are your names?”

Unlike the Discipline Officer, who openly showed a displeased expression, the Education Officer rubbed his hands together with an apologetic look.

“I am sorry. We cannot accurately disclose our positions and names to you, as there may be concerns about future issues.”

“I see. I understand.”

I readily agreed.

But, wait a minute…….

‘Hold on. There’s a problem I didn’t anticipate.’

I had to moderately conceal my skills from my second life and act like an ordinary kid during the lessons. Only by pretending to be an inconspicuous, ordinary kid could I reassure everyone!

‘I don’t know what the level of kids in this world is.’

There were hardly any kids in the rural village where I used to live. So, it didn’t matter if I acted like I was in my second life.

But it’s not the same here.

‘No, what’s the skill level of an average child?’

I raised my round eyes and looked at the Education Officer standing in front of me, thinking I should test the teacher first.

“What are we going to do today, Teach-y?”

I smiled slightly, revealing my small, rabbit-like front teeth.

The teachers may not know it, but this is, like, totally.

A Sien special that Dad loves.

A smile that says, I’m a very, very ordinary baby!

‘I’m good at pretending to be an ordinary baby so that my ordinary and innocent Dad won’t be surprised!’

Of course, it was a secret that there was a very wicked intention hidden inside.

I blinked my eyes cutely, looking at them with sparkling eyes.

At my question, ‘What are we doing today,’ the Education Officer, with a gentle impression, opened his mouth kindly.

“Lady Sien is still young and hasn’t been here long since coming from the countryside, has she?”

I nodded my round head vigorously and answered energetically.

“That’s right!”

He rummaged through the books he had brought in and said affectionately,

“Then shall we start by reading fairy tales for 4-5 year olds?”

“Gwood, I mean, good!”

I clapped my hands lightly. Reading fairy tales is like lying down and eating cake. It’ll be super easy!

“Then now-.”

“Does that make sense?”

At that moment, the Discipline Officer’s roar was heard. It was such a loud noise that my little baby ears couldn’t handle it, so I abruptly covered my ears. The Education Officer looked at my ears worriedly and asked,

“Lady Sien was surprised. What doesn’t make sense?”

The Discipline Officer frowned, his face like a distorted potato, and said,

“A daughter of the Mirmord family reading mere fairy tales at the age of five? You need to make sense.”

“That’s not right. Lady Sien hasn’t been here long since coming from the countryside.”

While watching the two men arguing, I glanced at the boy sitting next to me. He was watching the situation with great interest, without saying a word. He didn’t seem to be on anyone’s side.

So, I had no choice but to wonder.

‘What’s the average level in this family anyway? And there’s no one to ask.’

As I tilted my head slightly to the side with a puzzled look, my chubby cheeks fluttered.

“Then what shouwd I do?”

The Education Officer, who had been staring blankly at me, clutched his heart and muttered,

“Cute……. Those tiny baby-like cheeks…….”

Has someone finally appeared within Mirmord who is susceptible to my cuteness! I tilted my head coquettishly and made a flower-like gesture towards him.

“Woong?”

Then the Education Officer, who had been dazed, opened his eyes wide and shouted,

“No, let’s quickly, quickly read fairy tales!”

It was then.

“Do not involve personal feelings in your work.”

The Discipline Officer, holding a large book, quietly took out the book he had been carrying under his arm and declared,

“Lady Sien. Originally, fairy tales are for two-year-old children.”

“Two years old?”

“Yes. I believe Lady Sien is five years old this year. She is not at an age to read trivial fairy tales.”

He looked down at me coldly. His eyes were frozen.

‘My cuteness attack doesn’t work on this person.’

The Discipline Officer was clearly ignoring me.

It’s understandable. In his eyes, I’m just a country bumpkin like a loaf of white bread. To me, any kindness would seem strange.

‘Still, that guy is being too openly dismissive of me, which is annoying.’

“Since you came from the countryside and know nothing about the family laws, it would be best to start by reading this book.”

Looking at the cover of the thick hardcover book with gold leaf that he handed me, I narrowed my eyes.

“What’s this?”

“It is a basic book of etiquette for the Empire.”

“No, that’s too-.”

“No. Lord Ired did it all.”

“He did, but unlike Lord Ired, Lady Sien is still-.”

“Are you ignoring Lady Sien right now?”

“Wouldn’t it be right to help her read it once and then adjust the difficulty?”

It seemed that the gentle Education Officer was losing ground.

‘I should act like an ordinary child who can blend well into this family. It’s troublesome to be seen as too easy or to stand out too much.’

The Discipline Officer, one. The Education Officer, one. And the unknown boy wearing a mask next to me, who keeps looking at my profile, one.

After several back-and-forths, the Discipline Officer finally wore a victorious smile.

He handed me the large book and smiled, only raising the corners of his mouth.

“Here you are, Lady Sien. Please, read it.”

“Woong.”

I tilted my head, looking at the book on the desk. The Education Officer handed me a small pencil and muttered softly,

“You can solve just the first page with this pencil. You don’t have to solve it if it’s too difficult.”

“Of course, she will solve it all.”

“Woong, it seems like it will be very difficult.”

Solving only half would satisfy both sides’ expectations.

I hummed and scribbled down the answers.

***

The Discipline Officer, Lilmi, looked down at Sien, the child who had recently had her expulsion order lifted and entered the family, and sneered.

Like the consistently bad expression, he was secretly ignoring Sien.

‘Damn it. I thought I would be teaching the children of powerful people!’

He was from an authoritative scholar from the academy.

When he first heard that he had been invited as the Discipline Officer of the Duke’s family, he was filled with ambition for power. He thought he would be teaching young masters who were at least fifteen years old.

‘But one is the daughter of a former heir who has lost his backing, and the other is an adopted child wearing a mask who could die at any moment. Seriously, only losers.’

At least he thought he would be teaching the young masters and young ladies who were closest to the line of succession!

He was angry that he had to teach such shabby children.

So, it was safe to say that choosing a difficult book that even adults could not properly decipher was a deliberate act of spite. He would ridicule them to his heart’s content if they couldn’t solve it properly.

‘It’s not their fault, but it’s quite irritating.’

The most powerful people in the current Mirmord family were Axel and Delphia Mirmord, who were considered strong candidates for the Duke.

He had to flatter and suck up to the children who were emotionally close to those powerful people, but he could harass a lowly adopted child and a stupid country bumpkin.

‘That’s the law of the jungle.’

Looking down at Sien’s round head, he decided to vent his anger.

‘……But, wait a minute.’

However, at that moment, he was slightly startled by the adopted child’s gaze, which seemed to pierce his face.

Leonhardt or Reinhardt, whatever. It was a boy with a subtle name. He had heard that he was gloomy and quiet.

‘A private gaze resembling a snake.’

How dare an adopted child be so arrogant.

Lilmi decided to properly educate Sien to lower her self-esteem and then target Leonhardt as well.

But something was strange.

Sien shook the book with a bright and cheerful voice, smiling as if showing off her rabbit teeth.

“I’m done.”

He glanced down, preparing to sneer to his heart’s content.

That’s what he was clearly doing.

***

In fact, the book he handed me was not that difficult for me, a reincarnator, to read.

As I reincarnated with my memories, I had been reading with the god who sent me to this world for a very long time. So that I could naturally blend into this world.

But I couldn’t reveal all the knowledge I had, so I decided to only show half of it.

“No-.”

The two who were looking at the book I handed them were speechless.

‘What, ominous?’

I bit my lip slightly.

“Did you……. Solve all of this?”

“No. There were things I didn’t know.”

Actually, there’s nothing I don’t know here. I’m in my second life, and I received the merit of knowing the settings in the book along with the penalty from the god.

-But I can’t say that.

“It’s amazing that you solved even this, this much.”

“How could something like this happen.”

“If we had read fairy tales, we wouldn’t have been able to see such a precious sight. If you were really alone in the countryside, with this level, could you possibly be a genius?”

The Education Officer was looking at me with wide eyes.

‘A genius? Something’s going wrong?’

I hurriedly opened my mouth and denied it.

“No, not smaht at all [not smart at all].”

“You’re really bright.”

I decided to add denial to denial.

“I guessed it all.”

At my words, the kind Education Officer shook his head.

“Yes? How can you guess multiple-choice questions correctly? You’re so modest.”

His eyes are sparkling!

He’s smiling so brightly that his mouth is torn like Jaws!

That guy is kind, but he’s overwhelming!

‘I’m in a dilemma? Should I have been prepared to be ignored as a fool and pretended not to know how to read?’

Sweat was dripping down my back due to the unexpected situation, but I tried to act calm and pulled up the corners of my mouth.

“How happy Duchess Lucrezia will be when she finds out about this!”

The Discipline Officer, Lilmi, who had come to his senses, opened his mouth, snorting.

“Hmph, even if the Duchess finds out, she’s already in the back room-.”

“Already what?”

Was he itching to say that the Duchess was already an old woman in the back room?

But even if the Duchess was an old woman in the back room of a villainous family, she could easily throw away someone like the heir’s Discipline Officer, right?

Perhaps realizing that fact belatedly, Lilmi coughed a couple of times and said,

“Th-……That is, isn’t that too much praise? After all, other people, even Lord Ired, have solved this problem. I’ll have to bring a more difficult book tomorrow.”

“What, isn’t Lord Ired a genius who appears once every thousand years?”

It was good that I had suppressed the nose of that person called the Discipline Officer, but I was slightly embarrassed to see the blush on their faces.

‘I was trying to hide my strength, but did I stand out too much?’

The boy, who had been silently watching this situation, tapped my desk next to me.

“Chestnut.”

I glanced at him and paused.

His eyes were quite fiery.

I think I’m being checked by this villain-.

“That’s so cool.”

He handed me a small notebook and a pen and smiled.

“Sign [autograph].”

Cancel what I said earlier.

I think I’ve gotten on the wrong side of someone.

While the two middle-aged men called Education Officers were looking at each other with surprised eyes, the boy, who didn’t even know my heart, smiled brilliantly at me and said,

“You. Let’s talk for a bit later. I have something to do.”

I stared at him blankly.

“No. I won’t.”

“I’ll give you something good.”

Leonhardt’s beautiful lips curved slightly upwards.

‘……What is that smile?’

I swear, this is the first time I’ve felt so uneasy about the smile of a kid whose name I don’t even know yet.

***

Several hours later. Duchess Lucrezia was receiving reports on the every move of the children of the direct bloodline family. Her son, Matthias, was also there.

The Duchess pushed up her glasses and muttered softly,

“The honey jar wrapped in cloth said that I was her favorite?”

Matthias’s expression twisted.

He opened his mouth.

“There must be a misunderstanding in those words. Butler.”

“Th-……Lady Sien clearly defended the Duchess-.”

It was the Duchess’s soft voice that stopped the butler, who was about to open his mouth hesitantly.

“So, that honey jar was so worried about me?”

“Yes. Moreover, she has shown amazing achievements in the education she received for the first time this time.”

“I see.”

Duchess Lucrezia glanced at her son, Matthias. Matthias had no expression. But a subtle tremor could be felt in his voice.

“Because she’s my daughter.”