Noble Kindergarten Teacher’s Daily Struggles
Episode 001
“Your Maj—no, elder brother. This is a log of Maxion’s speech habits. Would you care to read it?”
Efna slid the Student Development Journal across the table to the man seated opposite her—Maxion’s older brother.
The man squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his face. The bronze-toned hand that accepted the paper trembled faintly.
“And as for your younger sibling as well—if you’ll read here, you’ll see that Mayrin has already struck a boy ten times this month alone.”
This time she respectfully indicated Mayrin’s behavioral record.
Another man—this time Mayrin’s elder brother—smiled faintly, as though trying to conceal his dismay.
“We’re ashamed, Teacher.”
It wasn’t even the regularly scheduled parent–teacher conference day, yet two guardians had been summoned. To be precise, the elder brother and the older brother.
The two most exalted men of the Empire: the Emperor himself, and the Captain of the Grand Temple’s Knight Order.
“Mayrin has certainly lived… energetically this month as well.”
“Looks like we’ll have to replace her Imperial etiquette instructor again.”
Yes—the two men the Empire revered most were sitting across from Efna, flipping through papers with weary expressions.
She was used to it. After all, just thirty-four days earlier, the very same pair had sat in this consultation room for much the same reason.
‘Was that already the fifth time? Or the sixth?’
Indeed.
One of the guardians was the elder brother of the story’s original male protagonist, Maxion. The other was the older brother of the story’s original female protagonist, Mayrin.
And Efna herself?
“Gentlemen, please raise your heads.”
She was simply the kindergarten teacher tasked with educating the original protagonists.
Efna smiled serenely at the two men.
“Is this really the enrollment list for this year’s five-year-old class?”
“Yes. I was just as shocked when I saw it. Looks like it hasn’t been announced anywhere yet.”
Efna’s hands trembled violently, and the enrollment documents in her grasp fluttered along with them.
Her feelings could be summed up in a single word: appalled. She barely managed to stifle the scream rising in her throat.
Her voice came out in broken whispers.
“This… this can’t be real. How is this possible…?”
“It’s such a shame the entrance ceremony was canceled this year. That man still hasn’t been caught, right? The one who threatened to blow up Avils Street.”
“……”
“At this rate, not just the entrance ceremony but every other event is going to be canceled too!”
Her colleague’s complaints went unheard by Efna.
‘Why? How? For what reason? How is this even allowed?’
Why are my beloved protagonists here?
“…Hah.”
Her incredulous laugh slipped out.
The original story wasn’t supposed to begin for another decade. The protagonists should still be living their own childhoods, far away.
Yet here they were—their names written plainly in the five-year-old class enrollment list.
Right in the middle of the page stood a name every citizen of the Empire would recognize:
Maxion Gidhyde, Crown Prince of the Empire.
‘The male protagonist…’
And above that, another name she knew all too well:
Mayrin Deisat, the beloved youngest daughter of the High Priest.
‘The female protagonist…’
Was that the end? No—among her “cuties” was another.
Aristia Hesban, second daughter of the Duke of Hesban, one of the Empire’s founding houses.
‘Even the story’s villainess…’
How could they all end up gathered together, as though painted into place?
Efna recalled the opening lines of the novel she had read three or four times. The first sentence went like this:
The debutante ball at eighteen was dull. Mayrin loosened her pinned-up hair and stepped out onto the terrace. There stood Maxion.
At eighteen.
That was supposed to be the day Mayrin and Maxion met for the first time. At eighteen—not at five!
‘Damn it.’
This wasn’t a “twist” on the original story—it was a total wrecking of it.
“It’s ruined…”
“Shocking, isn’t it? I was floored too at first. But doesn’t this mean our kindergarten has basically been recognized as the best in the Empire?”
“…Right. Yes.”
Of course it was the best. It had to be.
The Empire was in the grip of an education boom, fueled by a new age of magic academia that valued numbers, logic, and scholarship.
Efna, with her past-life experience, had quickly grasped the need.
‘An education craze? Ha. I survived four years in Daechi-dong, Gangnam—the fiercest school district in Korea. Watch me flex that résumé.’
She had poured everything into raising Roendel into the Empire’s premier kindergarten: introducing school uniforms, implementing a daily communication log system unheard of in this world, handling admissions seminars, parent relations, and endless student management.
She had worked overtime every single day for a year.
Thanks to those efforts, Roendel had already sent dozens of students into the Academy.
Yes—Roendel had become a first-class private kindergarten only because of that.
“And the result is…”
Story destruction!
Of course, she had once or twice dreamed of seeing the protagonists with her own eyes. But not like this. Not in their toddler years.
‘Wait… actually, this isn’t so bad?’
“Miss Efna, I’m jealous. I should’ve taken the five-year-old class instead!”
“They’re all mine…”
Yes. Not bad at all.
Rubbing her chin, Efna nodded to herself.
On the day before the children’s entrance, she still couldn’t fathom the storm about to come.
The storm made landfall at the kindergarten exactly two weeks later.
“Woooow, Teacher, you’re sooo prettyyy!”
Sky-blue eyes sparkling like the summer sea looked up at her.
The little female protagonist, Mayrin, clasped her hands tightly as she gazed up at Efna.
‘Too cute!’
So this was what Mayrin looked like as a child.
Short legs. Plump sausage-like arms. Flowing pink hair curling at her waist. She was nothing short of an angel.
Efna smiled warmly at the wide-eyed children.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Efna. Now, what’s my name?”
“Epna Teacher!”
“Very good! Since we’re meeting for the first time, let’s greet each other properly. Watch me and repeat. Hello!”
“Helloo!”
“HELLOOO!!!”
The first voice belonged to the other children; the second, booming one was Mayrin’s. Who knew she had been so spirited at five?
Her loud voice impressed Efna—and she wasn’t the only one.
“Hey. Shut up. No manners.”
“Was that to me?”
“Yes. You.”
The male protagonist, Maxion, pointed at her arrogantly.
…What was this?
‘Wait… my sweet little angels are fighting? At their very first meeting?’
“What? You ugly! How much goyang do you even have?”
“It’s manners, not cats.”
“Yeah, goyang, cats.”
“Idiot. I said manners!”
“I’m not an idiot!!!”
Smack.
Her stubby little fist punched him square in the face.
……
The heroine had hit the hero.
But that was only the beginning. In the thirteen days since the children’s entrance, Sunbeam Class had descended into utter chaos.
“Let me go!”
Mayrin’s kick sent a yellow chair flying across the room.
“You first, you idiot!”
With Maxion’s shove, the toy elephant on the desk toppled off.
Oh heavens above.
These tiny children—were tearing each other’s hair out more efficiently than adults.
“You’re dead meat!”
“Takes one to know one!”
While teachers desperately tried to pry the two apart, Efna quietly pulled out the daily communication log.
[We request the guardian’s visit to the kindergarten.]
Scratch, scratch. She pressed the pen firmly, pouring her weary heart into each word.
And the very next day, the male protagonist’s elder brother and the female protagonist’s older brother walked through the kindergarten doors.
First, she saw strong bronze skin and straight, steady hands. Amber eyes gleamed sharply as the man surveyed the kindergarten with calm authority.
“Not bad.”
Yes—he was none other than Maxion’s elder brother, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.
Beside him, another man was idly inspecting Mayrin’s cubby.
Sensing her gaze, he turned. The man’s expressionless eyes melted into a gentle smile as soon as they met Efna’s.
“Good day, Teacher.”
He was Mayrin’s older brother—the renowned Captain of the Grand Temple’s Knights.
“…Y-yes. Hello, Guardian.”
They looked like they’d stepped out of a magazine spread. From the very moment of their entrance, they were extraordinary.
‘Maybe summoning them wasn’t such a good idea. Did I make a terrible mistake?’
This was supposed to be a sweet and adorable kindergarten… but it was already warping.
Pushing aside her unease, Efna smiled politely.
“Thank you for agreeing to this consultation. I’m Efna, the children’s homeroom teacher.”
