Chapter 8
Rote learning, by nature, begins with repetitive study.
“Your Highness, when you need physical contact with someone, you must politely ask for the other person’s consent.”
“I forgot.”
I swallowed a sigh while looking at Seion Fernandi answering as though it were no big deal. There was no way a capable Grand Duke like him had forgotten something that had happened just yesterday.
“Ask politely, and control your strength. Write that down.”
Without much complaint, Seion picked up his pen. Ask politely, and control your strength. The elegant handwriting did not match the content at all.
“Your Highness. Since we’re reviewing, I’ll give you homework so that you never forget again.”
I smiled while looking at Seion’s questioning expression. I’ll make sure you can never say you forgot again.
“By tomorrow, write this sentence one hundred times.”
“…….”
“If you still can’t memorize it, then the next day two hundred times, and the day after that three hundred times. If you keep writing it, you’ll naturally memorize it.”
When I smiled brightly, Seion tightly shut his mouth. He clearly did not like the homework I assigned, yet seemed unable to argue against it.
“Now then, today’s lesson will begin with corrections.”
“Corrections?”
“Yes. We’re going to look over the things Your Highness got wrong on yesterday’s test.”
From the stack of papers I brought, I pulled out his test sheet. It was not even monsoon season, yet heavy rain had poured all over his test paper.
“Let’s start with the first question. Your Highness, why exactly would you suddenly duel with someone who confessed love at first sight?”
What you received was a confession, not a duel request.
“Doesn’t love at first sight make no sense? How could I simply leave someone alone after they blatantly lied to me?”
“And if you don’t leave them alone? You punish them through a duel?”
“I do not know whether ‘punish’ is the appropriate expression, but they would likely never be able to say such ridiculous things again.”
Seion answered as though it were only natural. It was a response I had never expected.
Had he never once considered that the person confessing to him might be a delicately raised noble lady……?
“Your Highness……. Well, love at first sight may not be common, but that does not guarantee it’s a lie.”
“It seems strange to claim affection when you possess no information whatsoever about the other person.”
Seion’s face, which had remained expressionless the entire time, furrowed with confusion. In his world, there was no such romance as love at first sight. At least, not until now.
“Your Highness, they say it only takes a few seconds to fall for someone.”
I smiled while staring directly into Seion’s crimson eyes.
“Just by holding each other completely within your gaze like this.”
After conducting several lessons with him, I realized one thing.
“If there’s someone you fall for just from briefly facing them, wouldn’t that be fate?”
Romance lessons were all about momentum. If I did not want to get swept away by Seion’s logic, I had to be shamelessly stubborn.
“I haven’t experienced it myself yet either. But they say when you meet your destined person, it feels as though time has stopped.”
“Time cannot physically stop.”
“……It means it feels that way. Not that time literally stops.”
Seion slightly tilted his head. His entire body openly conveyed how incomprehensible he found it.
“Of course, there are also many cases where people spend time together and gradually build feelings while getting to know one another.”
“How long does it take to build feelings?”
“Your Highness, there’s no fixed answer to that. What’s important here is that the amount of time it takes to hold someone in your heart differs from person to person.”
At my words, Seion slowly blinked. He seemed to be trying to understand in his own way.
“Whether it was love at first sight, or feelings that grew over time, the fact that they like someone does not change.”
“You mean I should not doubt the other person’s feelings.”
“That’s right. Understand— no. You can memorize that, right?”
After staring intently at my face, Seion scribbled on the paper.
[The amount of time it takes to hold someone in your heart differs for every person.]
My words were recorded in neat handwriting. At the very least, it seemed he had learned that he should write things down when told to memorize them.
“Wait, you wrote that down on your own even though I didn’t tell you to?”
I covered my lips with both hands in emotion. I had thought he would ask another bizarre question again.
“Didn’t Annette say I should write down important things?”
“That’s right!”
“Although I still do not understand why dueling is wrong.”
I skillfully ignored Seion’s last comment. Right now, I was too busy admiring what he had done. I could correct the smaller things later.
“The basics of rote learning, and you’ve already realized the importance of note-taking.”
While facing Seion’s expressionless face, I clapped my hands. Since I deliberately exaggerated my applause, his eyebrows subtly twisted.
“Our Highness, your learning ability is insane!”
I swallowed back the urge to say, “Someone lock our Grand Duke in the prison of compliments immediately!” More precisely, the moment I saw Seion’s expression, the rest of my words naturally disappeared.
“…….”
They say praise can make even whales dance, but apparently that did not apply to Seion.
Clap clap clap, clap clap, clap, claaap…….
The sound of my applause gradually weakened. The atmosphere radiating from Seion, whose neat brows had twisted, felt different from before.
D-Did I get too carried away and make it sound like I was mocking him?
“Annette.”
“Y-Yes!”
Just like when we first met, Seion was cold. His crimson eyes, sunken into icy stillness, looked devoid of any emotion. It felt as though I were facing a doll.
The Seion who had seemed like a tragic man suffering from unrequited love disappeared, and the cold ruler of the Fernandi Grand Duchy examined me instead.
To the point where it felt like today might finally be the day I get thrown out. His sharp gaze felt chilling somehow.
“Y-Your Highness. I wasn’t trying to mock you, I was genuinely praising you…….”
The excuse spilling from my mouth was abruptly cut off.
“I like you.”
“……What?”
Did I just get challenged to a duel? My thoughts moved on their own in the completely unexpected situation.
“The moment our eyes met, Annette, I realized it.”
Cold sweat ran down my back at Seion’s calm words. What he was whispering to me was not a confession at all.
“W-What exactly did you realize……?”
His low voice was soaked with faint killing intent. Within those endlessly emotionless, cold eyes, there was no affection or excitement whatsoever.
“If I were to date someone, I would want it to be Annette.”
I’m getting eaten alive. No, I’m going to die. My breathing caught instantly. Faced with the danger my instincts sensed, I forgot how to breathe.
“It was love at first sight, Annette.”
It was a murderous declaration of affection unlike anything I had ever heard before.
Keeping my gaze fixed on Seion, I held my breath. The atmosphere was such that it would not have been strange at all if he suddenly took my life.
Amid the taut tension, Seion continued speaking.
“Will you not accept it?”
Seion asked while tilting his head slightly. Thanks to that, the sharp atmosphere he had created shattered in an instant.
“What?”
“Did I not confess? Did it feel as though time stopped?”
His tone sounded genuinely curious. So then, just now. That terrifying atmosphere he created had been…….
“Your Highness, a new rule has just been added to our lessons.”
Swallowing a sigh, I spoke as seriously as possible.
Following “Respect your teacher” and “If you do not understand it, memorize it,” this was the newest rule.
“No confessions during class from now on. Don’t skip ahead in the curriculum on your own.”
“Yet just moments ago, you praised me for learning quickly.”
“I’ll temporarily confiscate that praise.”
Seion furrowed his brows. Normally I would have been cautious of his mood, but perhaps because I had already seen his extremely sharp expression earlier, it did not affect me as much.
“Let us return to the main topic, Your Highness.”
I firmly shook my head at Seion, who looked as though he wanted to say something more. When I lightly tapped the test paper, his gaze moved toward it.
“Anyway, answering a confession with a duel is generally the wrong answer. Even the books Your Highness read did not contain scenes like that, right?”
I asked while recalling the obsessive tragic romance novels he had read. No matter how tragic they were, surely there had not been an episode where the male lead challenged the heroine to a duel after her confession.
Seion obediently nodded. Just as I expected.
“You do not have to accept everyone’s confession. Romance is about exchanging affection mutually, so Your Highness’s feelings matter too.”
“Then…….”
“So! The correct answers would either be politely rejecting them, or accepting their feelings. One of those two, right?”
I hurriedly finished speaking before he could give another bizarre answer.
As though deeply contemplating my words, Seion remained silent for a moment before picking up his pen once more and writing something down.
[Reject confessions.]
It was a sentence that completely drained my energy.
Good thing I confiscated that praise back.
☆☆☆
The sound of knocking that woke me from my sweet sleep completely shattered my assumption that it would naturally be a maid.
“Your Highness?”
Why had he come here at dawn……? Before I could even ask, Seion abruptly held out a sheet of paper toward me.
[Politely ask Annette, and control my strength. Politely ask Annette…….]
I swallowed a yawn while looking at the page densely filled with neat handwriting. Seion was far more diligent than expected— no, excessively diligent.
“Your Highness, you can hand in homework during class.”
As I rubbed my eyes that kept trying to close again, my half-asleep pronunciation came out clumsy and slurred.
“You never specified a separate deadline.”
“Normally, people don’t assume it means by this early morning…….”
I blinked my blurry vision a couple of times. Then, despite the fact that the sun had only just risen, I clearly saw Seion standing there impeccably dressed.
“Wow, an early morning face attack…… no, wait. Anyway, good morning, Your Highness.”
“Yes. Good morning.”
“You finished your homework earlier than expected, and so diligently too. You must be very busy.”
I raised my hand and rubbed my face dryly. Facing someone whose face shone flawlessly without the slightest humiliation made embarrassment wash over me.
Holding back a yawn caused tears to gather in my eyes. Pretending to wipe them away, I brushed around my eyes and removed what might have been eye crust.
At this rate, the little authority I already lacked as a teacher felt like it would completely fall to the ground.
“Is that all?”
Just as I was thinking I should send Seion back, he suddenly asked.
He came all the way here early in the morning to deliver his homework, and I received it properly.
……Was there something else?
Seion stared down at my puzzled face. As always, my messy appearance reflected in his calm crimson eyes.
“Are you not giving the praise back?”
“What?”
“Do you not remember confiscating it yesterday?”
I blinked a few times while retracing my memory. Ah, right. I confiscated his praise yesterday. The moment I remembered that, laughter suddenly burst out.
“I’ll cancel the confiscation of your praise! You even did your homework this diligently. That’s amazing!”
“…….”
“Wow, our Highness. You’re seriously the best! The most beautiful person in the world, wow you’re really handsome, truly the greatest student!”
Along with slightly exaggerated applause, I showered him with praise. My true thoughts slipped in midway, but regardless, it was still praise.
Even though he was the one who wanted praise first, Seion did not show much reaction. He merely quietly watched me as though observing me ramble on with compliments about him.
Normally, that look would have made me uncomfortable, but because the Seion who had asked for his confiscated praise back was rather cute, I trapped him in an endless prison of compliments until a maid discovered us.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
