Chapter 09
‘How did she know that!’
Hesper was truly shocked by the name Adeline had mentioned.
Because unless one had read absolutely everything — even the footnotes — and remembered them, it was impossible to know that name.
‘S–She really read all of that?’
While he was momentarily flustered, Adeline reached toward the table and pulled the book back toward herself.
Then she placed both hands together on top of the book and looked at Hesper with sparkling, eager eyes.
“It’s my turn now, right?”
“What? Uh, yes?”
“It’s a game where we take turns asking questions.”
With an innocent expression, Adeline hopped down from the chair.
Jumping off the large chair that was not designed for a child’s comfort, she walked toward the window and struggled to pull open the closed curtains.
The garden that had welcomed spring had more servants moving about than yesterday.
Glancing outside through the wide-open curtain, Hesper snorted openly.
‘What, does she think she won’t get hit if people are watching?’
There were children like this sometimes.
Some proud nobles avoided striking children when there were many eyes around, and children who instinctively sensed that sometimes acted this way.
Hesper casually replied while assessing whether Adeline was one of those types.
“Oh, yes. It’s your turn now, so go ahead and ask a question.”
“Yay, I’m excited!”
A sneer rose on his face.
Of course. What could this little brat possibly be thinking? She probably didn’t even properly understand lessons and thought of it as just a game.
And right then—
“Hehe.”
Adeline’s smile, sparkling like sunlight scattering, suddenly approached the defenseless Hesper.
“Cough!”
He reflexively cleared his throat when his mouth, which had unknowingly fallen slightly open, needed to be closed.
“Who was the 32nd eldest daughter of the Lanche Count family?”
“…The 32nd eldest daughter?”
Ah, does she really think this is a game?
‘Stupid.’
Well, it was somewhat fun. She was a student who at least looked childlike for once.
Thinking about crushing the seedling slowly made his body itch.
“32nd eldest daughter, huh…”
Hesper didn’t answer and hesitated. He had no intention of playing a real game, and he wasn’t even interested in who the 32nd daughter of Lanche was.
“Page 326, sixth line. It was written there. Looks like the teacher didn’t know.”
At the child’s remark, a faint crack appeared on Hesper’s face.
“Haha, you may not have learned enough yet, but information has importance. So old records like that are hardly worth looking at…”
“Christine Lanche.”
Adeline cut off Hesper’s words mercilessly.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, I see. You said you didn’t know.”
She muttered as if she didn’t care about Hesper’s reaction, and his face gradually stiffened.
But Adeline’s words didn’t stop there.
“Then….”
The girl, who had already climbed back onto the chair, placed both arms on the desk and supported her chin.
From the small, adorable mouth of the child came a clear voice.
“Do you know the deceased Viscountess Claudius?”
Adeline stretched out her hand and slowly picked up the whip that Hesper had carelessly left on the table.
Hesper unconsciously followed the slow movement with his eyes.
‘What is she doing?’
As the whip held in the tiny hand shone with a strangely sharp light—
“Or…”
Adeline’s ruby eyes suddenly approached, piercing through Hesper.
“The real owner of the money in your pocket?”
The momentum instantly shifted to the little young lady.
Overwhelmed by the noble aura naturally radiating from her, Hesper’s brain began searching for thoughts.
This child in front of him knew that her parents had been the masters of this family.
‘How…?’
Before Hesper could think further, Adeline urged him.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Lift your trousers.”
‘What is this brat!’
Something felt wrong.
Hesper’s instincts, honed from wandering like a bat among various places to satisfy his greed, were telling him—
Leave this place immediately.
“Haha, what a joke. Let’s stop the game here. I’ll see you next time—”
Though he usually personally wielded the whip to maintain discipline, he had learned in this world that when something felt suspicious, he should not act directly.
In any case, the child before him was a noble, and he was a commoner.
The nobles who had entrusted this child to him were not necessarily always on his side either.
“Punishment is necessary, teacher.”
“I–I am the teacher!”
When Hesper was about to speak, thinking he had to say something while looking at those intensely burning red eyes—
“Lift it. The owner of that money is me now.”
Adeline cut off his stammering words cleanly, and his bead-like eyes blinked rapidly.
‘Hah, the money of this family is hers? How naïve and reckless.’
He didn’t even have time to think about using informal speech. It was that shocking a statement.
While he replayed Adeline’s shocking words in his mind and froze, Adeline waved the whip in front of his eyes.
“Hm? What’s wrong? Don’t you know how to lift your trousers?”
Adeline was truly exasperated now.
‘Where did they even find such a useless teacher?’
If she were the ten-year-old Adeline Claudius for real, she would have been beaten without mercy.
At every lesson.
‘I should fix her mind first so she can never do such contemptuous things again.’
At least until that man paid the worth of the money he took, she wouldn’t let him quit as he pleased.
She sighed inwardly at the fact that the information source she had struggled to obtain was nothing more than this, but as always, usefulness could be created.
While Adeline comforted herself, Hesper, who had finally finished thinking, suddenly stepped in front of Adeline as if he hadn’t hesitated earlier.
‘Well, I should say something before leaving.’
He momentarily forgot that his true target was a ten-year-old child.
“I don’t know what kind of foolish people said such things, but wake up from your dream. There won’t be any money in this household that you can use, young lady.”
“Is that so….”
At Adeline’s small murmur, he was immediately consumed by a sense of superiority, and he arrogantly brushed his jacket and stood up.
“I will report those insolent words you said to Sir Jeremy. You’ll find out what happens when you act recklessly without knowing your position.”
That man was already obsessed with money, and if he learned that his niece had such thoughts, he would surely lose his temper.
While contacting him, Hesper also intended to obtain written permission regarding Adeline’s discipline.
That way, even if something happened later, he wouldn’t have to bear the blame alone.
Finally, Hesper looked down at Adeline once more and approached to retrieve the whip.
“Are you really going to tell your uncle? Wouldn’t it be better not to, teacher?”
Adeline suddenly changed her attitude and asked gently.
‘As expected, she’s a cunning child. Such a sudden change in posture, seriously.’
Hesper’s vigilance, which had been on high alert, subsided slightly.
The feeling was still not good, but judging by the situation, it seemed he could have some fun and leave. Opportunities like this didn’t come often.
“Well, bring me something at least.”
“Something…?”
Perhaps because she was still a child despite being called cunning, Adeline didn’t seem to immediately understand his meaning.
“Well, bring me a painting or something from the corridor. No one asks a favor for free.”
His true thoughts slipped out.
“Oh… so it’s not free, after all.”
“Cough!”
He was already planning to tell Jeremy and thoroughly punish her no matter what she brought, so it didn’t really matter.
As Hesper sat back in a chair as if he was willing to wait,
“Then go and tell him.”
Adeline, who had seemed obedient just moments ago, suddenly spoke an unexpectedly bold statement.
“W–What did you say?”
Hesper reflexively asked back.
“Say it. Tell him that I’m trying to drive out my uncle and properly seize my parents’ property.”
“Seize… drive out? You want to throw him out?”
Hesper’s mind grew dizzy.
Is this really a ten-year-old child?
“Tell him everything I said, word for word. Go ahead and try reporting it.”
As Adeline spoke one line at a time, his eyes filled with shock.
But for Adeline, this was only the beginning.
“Oh, this part is a bit hard to say.”
Adeline tapped the whip she held at regular intervals and turned her gaze toward the window.
“Who would believe it? That a little brat like me would say such things? Ah! Before that, our uncle…”
With her still stiff eye corners but a wide smile, she raised her left hand and made a cutting motion across her neck.
“But what can I do?”
As Hesper’s face turned increasingly pale, Adeline’s smile deepened.
“Clearly, those are not words I would say, right? Then who would have said them? It’s not like I meet many people.”
Now Hesper wanted to cover that tiny mouth with both hands.
If it weren’t for the people walking outside and glancing in through the wide-open window, he would have done it already.
‘Fine. Ignore it and leave. I stepped on dog shit, tsk!’
There was nothing to gain by staying longer.
Hesper changed his mind about trying to properly discipline her next time after coordinating with Jeremy.
A child like that time bomb was not someone he should take care of in the first place.
Just as he placed his hand on the door handle, determined to leave this place—
“Even if you run now, I’ll still tell him, Uncle.”
He thought he had misheard.
‘Is this kid really crazy?’
Moreover, he even wondered if that child actually knew who her uncle was.
Regardless, the child didn’t seem to intend to stop speaking.
“Uncl—uncle, I need to take control of the property starting now, so please leave for a while.”
“This crazy—!”
“And you’ll say this next, right?”
Somehow, he didn’t want to hear what would follow.
“In fact, I don’t really understand what this means, but the teacher said I would understand soon. He said he would help me diligently, so I should ask for a painting or something.”
“That—”
“So make a choice, teacher.”
“….”
“Whether you will continue this game with me, or escape now.”
