Chapter 32
“The training yard sounds noisy today.”
Eloise closed her book and turned her head toward the direction of the training yard. The faint voices of a man and a woman drifted all the way across the garden.
“Well, obviously. Riena’s there. But I think I hear Uncle’s voice, too?”
“The Duke? You must’ve heard wrong. He always goes straight to his office after breakfast.”
Eloise replied as if the idea was absurd.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Kylian nodded in agreement. The training yard wasn’t exactly close by; it was quite a walk. The thought of his uncle shouting so loudly that his voice could be heard even from the garden was hard to imagine.
“Have you met the Swinton family who’s coming this time?”
“They used to visit often when I was at the palace, so yes, a few times.”
“What kind of people are they?”
“Hmm… honestly, I don’t remember clearly.”
The truth was, she remembered vividly. It wasn’t even that long ago. But because of all the watchful eyes around her, she hadn’t been able to talk freely even when they met.
“Really?”
“They used to come often with Rian, so I met him a few times. That’s about it.”
She mentioned Rian — someone her age who drew less suspicion than the adults. They had often sneaked away to play and had grown fairly close. But Kylian, worried she might take an interest in Rian, gave a short answer.
“Rian… what kind of boy is he?”
When Eloise repeated the name with curiosity, Kylian frowned.
“Rian’s boring. But his little sister’s coming too! I’ve never met her because she didn’t visit the palace, but I bet she’s more interesting.”
Kylian hurriedly diverted her attention from Rian, dredging up the faint memory of Rian’s younger sister — someone he’d barely heard of.
“Hee… I hope you two can become good friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah. You haven’t really had the chance to make any, have you?”
“What about that guy you mentioned before — Rick?”
“Rick feels more like an older brother…”
Rick had always looked after her like family, so it was hard to think of him as just a friend.
‘I wonder where Rick is now…’
As Eloise’s expression began to darken at the thought of her missing companion, Kylian suddenly asked,
“What about me?”
“Huh?”
“What am I to you?”
He looked straight into her eyes as he asked.
‘If Rian’s sister will be her first “friend,” then what am I?’
The calm, easy balance between them rippled at Kylian’s unexpected question.
“Uh… um…”
Eloise’s eyes trembled, flustered.
‘Our relationship? I’ve never really thought about it…’
He felt like a friend most of the time — but who would share such words and feelings with just a friend? Eloise suddenly recalled waking up that morning, the strange warmth that had spread through her chest.
“A vow! Right — we’re bound by a vow!”
Blurted out in panic, her answer hung awkwardly in the air.
“I asked what kind of relationship we have.”
“I mean, uh…”
Before she could finish, a dry, steady voice sliced through the tension.
“A relationship where you take lessons together, I’d say.”
Adjusting his glasses, Cain stood there, making both Eloise and Kylian jump in surprise.
“C-Cain! What are you doing here?!”
“I thought you left earlier!”
Ignoring their protests, Cain glanced briefly toward the training yard — from which he’d clearly escaped — and replied,
“I remembered something from our breakfast conversation.”
“…What do you mean?”
Eloise threw a questioning look at Kylian, but he looked just as lost as she did.
“What were we talking about again?”
She muttered more to herself than to him, but Cain nodded as if she’d asked.
“You both showed such promising progress at the breakfast discussion. I thought it might be a good time to see the results of that.”
At those words, both their faces went pale. That could only mean one thing—
“You mean we’re taking a test now?”
“You can’t be serious! You can’t just spring a test on us like that!”
But Cain, unmoved by their protests, simply gestured toward the mansion.
“Come to the main building. See that window in the center on the third floor? We’ll hold it there.”
After giving that merciless instruction, he walked briskly past the stunned children toward the house.
“This is tyranny! You can’t just move up a test date like that — that’s breaking a promise with your students!”
Eloise muttered as she dragged her tired body toward the door. Beside her, Kylian looked completely drained.
“Ugh… I’d rather spend the whole day doing sword training.”
Ryan nodded in miserable agreement.
“Exactly. Swinging a sword is way easier. Or even continuing the warehouse cleaning I helped with this morning.”
Kylian snapped at him, offended.
“What are you talking about? You ran away after ten minutes!”
Ryan had burst into the classroom shouting, ‘Young master, I’m here!’ — but ten minutes later, crushed by the endless lines of text on the board, he’d quietly snuck out.
“Those ten minutes felt like a whole day to me, young master!”
“If you’re my personal attendant, you’re supposed to stay by my side!”
That was true — but probably not something Kylian should be scolding him for. Eloise narrowed her eyes.
“I only left because you seemed uncomfortable having me there, young master! I didn’t run away!”
“So you’re saying you were being considerate?”
“Of course!”
Ryan nodded eagerly — but then Kylian’s next words froze him in place.
“From today on, you’re never leaving my side.”
“What?”
“I said, you’ll stay next to me — during class, too.”
“What?!”
Ryan’s face drained of color. He turned desperately toward Eloise.
“Miss Eloise!”
But this time, Eloise didn’t come to his rescue.
“Ryan, a personal attendant is supposed to stay by their master’s side at all times.”
With even Eloise siding against him, Ryan’s shoulders slumped in despair.
“Is it really such a problem to attend class?”
Asked Bella calmly — the same Bella who always stood silently beside Eloise through every lesson.
“It’s a huge problem!”
Ryan shouted in protest, turning back to Kylian.
“Young master! A commoner like me can’t even breathe in that kind of atmosphere!”
“If you leave my side again, you’ll regret it!”
Kylian ignored his pleas and glared.
“Don’t worry, Ryan! You’ll be fine — you can breathe perfectly well in the classroom!”
Eloise patted his shoulder encouragingly, delighted to have found a comrade to suffer through lessons with.
“Nooo!”
Ryan’s anguished cry echoed through the mansion — but it changed nothing. Kylian had already gone inside.
“Come on, Ryan! He said ‘from now on,’ so you’d better hurry! Fighting!”
“…Miss Eloise is scary now…”
Ryan muttered gloomily as Eloise cheerfully pumped her fists in encouragement.
“Bella, let’s go in too.”
Eloise smiled brightly, feeling oddly refreshed after venting all her stress from the test and the lessons.
