Chapter 14

I quickly racked my brain, picking out an excuse, but then I paused.

‘No, wait. But what if… it’s not such a bad situation?’

Maybe there’s a kid around who’s a bit good at mental arithmetic, smarter than the others?

Moreover, I am even the daughter of that well-rounded superior, Enoch Rubinstein.

‘Being the daughter of the protagonist, I could be smart, right?’

I have a mountain of things to do and can’t afford to waste time memorizing multiplication tables.

I decided to quickly get through the basics and graduate.

After finishing my thoughts, I cheered.

“Teacher! I got them all right?”

“Yes, yes… How did you do it?”

“Haha! It was easy because the teacher taught me well!”

“But what did I teach you…?”

“If two apples appear three times, there will be six apples! Thank you for teaching me, teacher.”

I bowed politely from my seat.

“Well, I didn’t tell you that if nineteen apples appear nine times, there will be one hundred and seventy-one apples….”

“Teacher!”

Let’s just let it go. Just.

I rolled my short legs under the desk, pretending to want to learn more.

“After multiplication, it’s division, right! It’s super fun! Teach me quickly!”

“……”

Mrs. Lena blinked in confusion and then wiped her dry lips with excitement.

She laid out the papers she was holding and said,

“From what I can see, you are undoubtedly a once-in-a-century genius.”

Oh, no….

“Huh. Lilius?”

“What’s a once-in-a-century genius?”

Theo and Leon, chiming in one after another.

“Miss, I will do my best to educate you from now on.”

Mrs. Lena, determined.

In the midst of this, I was overwhelmed with indescribable shame after solving a few multiplication problems and being called a genius.

I never dreamed that this action would later lead to a huge disaster….

* * *

Late afternoon.

Enoch was furiously scribbling away in his office.

“Phew.”

His daughter’s guess that he would be busy was spot on.

Taking over all the duties that Nordic had been handling, he felt like he needed ten bodies.

‘No time to play with the princess….’

Adapting to the title of Duke, which he had neglected for seven years, was quite a headache, but he was enthusiastic.

If he wanted to live as Duke Enoch Rubinstein and not Mr. James Brown, returning to work was an unavoidable task.

“Alright, that’s enough!”

Despite the mountain of documents still half remaining, Enoch sprang up.

He didn’t want to be a bad father who was too busy to play.

“I need to play with the princess.”

Tossing the pen aside, Enoch quickly left the office.

Bam.

As he opened the door, the butler was standing there, apparently about to enter.

“Oh, Rem.”

“Where are you going?”

“To see my daughter.”

“But Miss is out.”

“What? With who?”

“Lady Ordia took her out. They’re getting her clothes fitted at the tailor’s and going to a dessert shop. The twin masters are also with them.”

“Wow, big sister. That’s unfair. Why leave me out?”

“Haha, is now the time for the young master to go on a leisurely stroll?”

With a grin, Rem’s pointed words made Enoch grumble as he returned to his seat.

“…Then I’ll just finish it. But why are you here?”

“I thought you might be curious, so I came to report. Miss had her first lesson today, didn’t she?”

“Right, I asked Father to assign a etiquette teacher. How was our daughter? She must have suffered through boring studies.”

“Oh, no. The teachers all left with genuine praise. The master is quite pleased after hearing the report.”

Rem gave a thumbs up.

“Indeed, the young master. You didn’t neglect the princess’s education.”

“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything. What did our daughter do? And… wait. Teachers? You said ‘teachers’?”

“Yes. Social studies, mathematics, economics, literature, history, and etiquette. Even though it was her first lesson….”

Rem’s voice trailed off.

Because of Enoch’s reaction, his jaw trembling with anger.

“Why, why are you like this? Is there a problem?”

“Move.”

“Young master? Hey?”

Pushing Rem aside, Enoch stormed out, stomping his feet.

He was heading to his father’s, Nordic Rubinstein’s, office, fuming.

“Father!”

Without knocking, Enoch burst into the room, making Nordic, who was talking to a woman with glasses, frown.

“What is it?”

“Are you kidding? I trusted you with my child, and you kept her at a desk all day?”

Bang!

“Oh my!”

The woman standing next to him jumped as Enoch slammed his fist on the desk.

“I clearly asked for an etiquette teacher.”

“Lower your voice.”

“You locked a mere seven-year-old in a study room all day except for meal times?”

I only asked for basic etiquette, which is necessary for nobles.

Social studies, economics… and what else? After hearing Rem’s absurd report, Enoch’s eyes were wide with shock.

Nordic calmly countered.

“She carries the name Rubinstein. Can she afford to lack education?”

“My daughter is seven. She still wants to play. And you said you would only teach basic etiquette before she enters the academy. I’ll take care of it when she comes back…!”

“Enough. I only asked the teachers to introduce themselves today. Lilius wanted to take lessons.”

“Father.”

Enoch, breathing heavily with anger, ran his hand through his hair.

“Lilius is a mature child. She’s already reading your mood. She couldn’t just send the teachers away after a mere introduction, so she must have endured the lessons.”

“Is that so? The reports I received were different. They all said Lilius has been receiving education beyond her age.”

“I didn’t teach her anything specific. She’s just smart.”

Enoch gritted his teeth.

“Fine, dismiss all the teachers except the etiquette teacher. And Father, stay out of my daughter’s education. I’ll handle the rest myself after she comes back from the academy.”

After warning, Enoch turned to leave but then noticed the woman standing next to him and glared.

“Who are you?”

“I, I’m the math teacher….”

Enoch closed his eyes tightly, gathering his anger.

“Duke, please? Can you hear me out for a moment?”

“Stop being angry and listen to the teacher. This is Mrs. Lena, the math teacher.”

“I don’t need to listen.”

Enoch glanced at Mrs. Lena with a displeased look and added,

“You don’t need to come back from tomorrow.”

“No, Duke.”

“What?”

“Miss has a natural talent for mathematics. She’s also passionate about learning. She needs to be taught more.”

“I’ll handle it. I’m not saying I won’t teach her. Just at a pace suitable for her age….”

Swish.

As Enoch spoke, Mrs. Lena unfolded a long piece of paper she had been holding.

The crooked handwriting was Lilius’s.

Enoch, looking at the paper, gritted his teeth.

“…You taught a seven-year-old multiplication. Up to 19 times 9….”

“This is not all!”

“I only taught her addition and subtraction….”

“Yes, yes! When I asked about her progress, she said she had learned subtraction from you and wanted to learn multiplication. I only taught her the principle that 2 times 3 equals 6. But….”

Mrs. Lena unfolded a few more sheets of paper she had been holding, showing division, arithmetic operations, and even fractions and decimals.

Enoch’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you kidding? What did you make a seven-year-old do?”

“Calm down. I only planned to teach up to division, thinking it might be too difficult. But Miss found it so interesting and asked for more.”

Mrs. Lena pointed to the problem sheets calmly.

“Moreover, look. She didn’t make a single mistake. I knew she was special from the moment she mentally calculated 19 times 9.”

Mrs. Lena added in a serious tone.

“Miss is a genius. A once-in-a-century mathematical genius.”

“……”

“One lesson teaches ten. When I taught her division, she immediately grasped the concept of fractions. She even started exploring decimals on her own, curious about numbers between 0 and 1.”

“That’s….”

“I really didn’t do anything. I was curious if this was the level of a seven-year-old, so I asked the other teachers.”

“Look.”

Nordic, picking up on Mrs. Lena’s words, took out the results of today’s lessons from a drawer.

“The other teachers only planned to meet Miss. It was Miss who insisted on having lessons. When I checked, there was no sign of her being forced to do something she didn’t want to do.”

Enoch quietly scanned his daughter’s crooked handwriting.

Social studies, economics, literature, history….

Despite being the first time she learned these subjects, they were neatly organized.

“Duke.”

Mrs. Lena, adjusting her glasses, said,

“Miss is undoubtedly a genius. And you said she was reading your mood. No, the joy of learning cannot be faked.”

“……”

“Genius.”

Enoch’s eyes slowly blinked.

“Real genius.”

Mrs. Lena’s voice, whispering in his ear like a demon.

“Complete genius.”

Enoch’s lips twitched, almost curling into a smile.