Chapter 29
The sentence Benen had said appeared on the paper. Yes, “appeared” was the right word—it was closer to drawing than writing.
The finished writing couldn’t be called neat, but at least it was legible. Sol’s eyes sparkled.
“All done, right?”
Benen pouted, then spoke the second sentence.
“Try this one too: ‘There’s a storm coming tomorrow. Beware of flooding.’”
“There’s a storm coming tomorrow. Beware of flooding…”
Sol moved her pen over the second sheet of paper. She hesitated a little at the word ‘flooding,’ but the sentence was completed. Benen grumbled.
“Your handwriting’s really terrible.”
“Well, we never used pens at the orphanage. It was always rocks on dirt. If we were lucky, charcoal.”
“Enough. One more sentence! A cat says meow, a goat says baa!”
Judging by the childishness of the sentence, Benen was getting impatient. Sol let out a little laugh and wrote that one too.
Just as she set the pen down with a confident smile, Benen jumped up from his seat.
“You’re from an orphanage—so where’d you learn to write?”
“Well, you can find a way to learn, you know.”
“I don’t buy it! One more sentence—!”
“That’s enough.”
It was the Duke who stopped Benen. He firmly pressed down on Benen’s shoulder to seat him again and locked eyes with him.
“This should be enough. At this rate, it’s like you’re trying to test Sol until she gets kicked out.”
“That’s not what I—”
“Enough. Sol is a child our family has accepted. As her older brother, treat her kindly.”
“…Yes, understood.”
Benen backed off quietly, and Sol let out a breath of relief.
“Phew, thank goodness… I mean, it’s not like I’d lie to you, Father. I’d be dead if I got caught!”
“I’m not sure why you’re so convinced I’d kill you over a lie.”
“O-of course you wouldn’t! Because you’re so gentle!”
From her desperate tone, it sounded more like she believed he’d offer her a painless death, gently.
Rattiger resisted the urge to ask Sol how she really viewed him. There was something more pressing at hand.
“Very well. It’s time the Viscountess of Gracia learns what baseless slander leads to.”
“Oh…”
“Did you have anything left unsaid to the Viscountess?”
“N-nope!”
“Understood. Another tutor will come from now on.”
Leaving those cold words behind, Rattiger exited Sol’s room.
Once his heavy footsteps had faded into the distance, Sol and Benen—without anyone suggesting it—instinctively high-fived.
“We pulled it off!”
“Thanks, Benen-oppa! You acted so well!”
“You too—you ‘drew’ those letters pretty decently for a crash course.”
“Hey! It looked like real writing, didn’t it?”
Sol giggled and pointed at the spelling test sheets on the table.
After Gracia stormed out earlier, Sol had confessed to Benen that she was actually illiterate.
She did feel guilty about telling someone else after promising Elver it would be their secret, but the situation had been urgent.
“But I lied to Father and told him I could write.”
“…You’ve got guts.”
“Yeah, well. What’s done is done! I’ve got to try now.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
Sol’s plan was this:
If Gracia tattled to the Duke that Sol was illiterate, he would come to check for himself.
At that point, Benen would casually “step in” and offer to quiz Sol with a dictation test, reciting a few pre-memorized sentences. Sol would just write those down from memory.
“Besides, Benen-oppa was always uncomfortable around me, right?”
“…True.”
“So when you quiz me, act like you really want me kicked out. That way, the Duke won’t suspect we’re working together!”
“Great idea. Wait—what’s ‘Go-Stop’?”
“Never mind that.”
And so the two of them selected a few appropriate sentences, and Sol quickly practiced drawing the letters until the Duke arrived.
Benen examined the answer sheets.
“You know this was just a temporary fix, right? You need to actually learn.”
“Oh, Elver-oppa said he’d teach me! He’s the only one who knew I couldn’t read.”
“Learn from me too.”
“Huh?”
“I said learn. Leave two hours free after dinner.”
Throwing out that bomb of a statement, Benen was already smiling slyly with fox-like eyes.
Overwhelmed by the pressure, Sol nodded.
“O-okay!”
“Good. You’re smart, so you’ll learn fast.”
“That’s not really a good thing in this case…”
“You memorized those sentences really quickly. I mean, it was life or death… Wait a sec?”
As he reviewed the papers, Benen looked confused.
“Where’s the third sheet?”
“Huh? You mean the cat meows, dog barks one?”
“The goat says baa! Whatever. That one—you wrote something weird on it, and it’s been bothering me…”
Sol helped him search the desk, but they couldn’t find the final page. It wasn’t under the table either.
“Maybe it slid under the furniture?”
“…Maybe.”
“Don’t worry so much. Worst case, I get kicked out barefoot, right?”
Was that supposed to be optimistic or pessimistic?
Benen looked at his sister with a baffled expression.
…Yeah, sister. The girl who boldly stood up to Gracia and said her older brothers were cool even as children.
“Sol, you’re not getting kicked out.”
“Huh? Benen-oppa?”
“I mean it.”
Benen finally smiled sincerely at her.
“I’ll make sure you stay.”
Meanwhile, far from Sol’s room, Rattiger pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper from his coat.
It was the final answer sheet, which he’d stealthily pocketed earlier under the guise of reviewing the test. In shaky handwriting, it read:
The cat says baa, the goat says meow
If a five-year-old just learning to write had written this, it might be forgivable. But coming from a ten-year-old, most parents would sigh.
Strangely, Rattiger couldn’t stop the small smile tugging at his lips.
She used her wits, even in such a short time.
The letters weren’t so much written as drawn. It was obvious she’d pulled some kind of trick. Most likely, she’d roped Benen into staging a fake test.
The whole “neutral third party actually working with the subject” is a common ruse—but effective.
That a ten-year-old had come up with that was impressive, but what Rattiger really admired was something else.
How did she persuade Benen?
Unlike Elver, who had always relied on Sol since their orphanage days, Benen had clearly been uncomfortable around her.
He used to fumble even pretending to be a kind brother. And yet, in just a few minutes, she’d convinced him to help her…
I don’t know what kind of deal she made, but it’s remarkable.
Even though he’d been deceived by his own children, Rattiger felt no anger. Rather, he looked forward to seeing what Sol would show him next.
If she has the skills to back up her bluff, she won’t bring shame to this house.
Learning to write should come quickly.
So in a few months, he’d never again see a crooked sentence like “The cat says baa, the goat says meow.”
Feeling as if he’d found a treasure, Rattiger tucked the paper back into his coat.
As he neared the tearoom, his expression cooled. So the maid waiting outside didn’t catch the smile that had just left his face.
“Your Grace, Viscountess Gracia is waiting inside.”
“Very well. I’ll be holding a polite ten-minute conversation. No matter how much someone screams inside, do not enter.”
“Shall I bring tea and refreshments?”
“No.”
As he grasped the doorknob, Rattiger spoke coldly.
“From this moment on, Viscountess Gracia is no longer a ‘guest’ of the ducal estate.”
The final test sheet was never found. I had to stop Benen, who looked ready to flip the entire bed.
“Come on, let it go—it’s just trash!”
“But it’s bugging me! What if you wrote the wrong answer, and Father noticed and took it…”
“If he’d noticed, wouldn’t he have said something? He’s not the type to hold back what he wants to say.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yup. Don’t worry about it. Nothing we can do now anyway.”
“Wise words.”
Was that sarcasm? No—he was smiling, so maybe not?
But that wasn’t the real issue.
“Why haven’t you left my room yet?!”
After finishing his investigation, Benen had casually sat down across from me. And that wasn’t even the most awkward part.
“Is there a problem with a big brother liking his little sister?”
He rested his chin on his hand and stared at me as he said it.
“…Did you eat something weird for lunch? Or are your eyes failing?”
“Everything’s fine. Besides, my little sister said I was cool—I should return the favor.”
Wow, that really stuck with him? Ugh, I’m not used to this.
I touched my forehead, and Benen replied more seriously.
“Anyway, if I’m going to follow your plan, I need to act like I adore you.”
“That’s true.”
“Isn’t this better, though? My attitude’s not as weird as it was before.”
“Yeah… I guess?”
“Then we’re good.”
Finally standing up, Benen gave me a meaningful smile.
“Don’t worry too much. You’re not going to change my attitude back anyway.”
…It felt like he was teasing me, but strangely, I didn’t feel annoyed. It was more like seeing a mischievous kid finally open up.
After Benen left, it seemed the Duke had a little “chat” with Gracia—the one who slandered me (though she wasn’t wrong). Who knows what they talked about, but she left the manor pale-faced and barefoot.
Just as she reached the gate, the Duke said to me:
“If you wish, I’ll have that woman crawl back and apologize on her knees.”
He waited until she reached the gate, didn’t he? But I had no use for an apology from someone who preyed on children’s self-worth.
“It’s fine.”
“Understood. She will be prosecuted for slandering the Duke’s daughter. If you wish to attend the trial, let me know.”
“…No thanks.”
Lady Gracia, you messed with the wrong family.
But I had something more urgent to deal with: I’d come up with a way to fix the Duke family’s “concept.”
Before dinner, I gathered the Duke, Benen, and Elver in the tutoring room.
“Thank you all for enduring your roles as daughter-fool and brother-fools.”
“‘Enduring’…?”
“However! Based on your natural personalities, I’ve concluded we need to reassign some roles.”
Previously, it was just a setting where I was unconditionally loved. But the balance between the three of them felt awkward. Even with Benen’s attitude change, there were limits.
So, the conclusion I came to was—
“Elver, you need to change.”
