“Mom!”

Eriel turned her head at Lucy’s voice.

“Our Lucy, you’re back?”

Eriel held Lucy’s hand as she approached and walked forward.

“Yes. Oh, Mom… Can I help choose the tutor too?”

“You too, Lucy?”

“Yes. I want to see them together!”

Recalling the two tutors who had come to the Duke’s residence, Eriel slowly nodded.

“Alright. It would be good if Lucy joined in choosing too. Shall we decide together with Mom tomorrow?”

“Yes yes! …Oh? Come to think of it, Benjamin has a tutor too! Should I ask what kind of tutor Benjamin is learning from?”

With that, Lucy called out to Benjamin who was walking ahead.

Eriel smiled contentedly as she watched Lucy’s back as she ran off.

“Benjamin! What kind of tutor do you learn from?”

One of Benjamin’s eyebrows raised in a frown at Lucy’s question.

“What kind of tutor? Tutors are all the same. More importantly, are you going to learn from a tutor now too?”

“Yes! Two tutors came to our house a few days ago.”

Benjamin’s face fell into despair.

“Ah…! Lucy, you beat Derek without a tutor so our mom said she would reconsider the tutor issue…. Hah…. Tell the Duchess you do well without a tutor. At least you should survive.”

“Huh? I was the one who said to hire a tutor?”

Benjamin’s eyes widened.

“…Why?”

“There’s a lot I want to learn, but it’s hard to do it alone.”

“No. Please reconsider. They give homework four days a week! Have you ever done homework?”

“Homework? No… I haven’t done it since I don’t have a tutor. Why? Is the homework very difficult?”

“You’ve never done it? Wow… I’m jealous. It’s super hard! So don’t do it. This kind of thing.”

“Really? Is the homework that difficult? Then I want to try it too!”

Benjamin stepped back hesitantly and furrowed his brow at Lucy.

“Why do you want to do something difficult?”

“It’s not fun if it’s easy.”

Eriel, who had been listening to the two children’s conversation, burst out laughing, while the Marchioness touched her forehead as she looked at her son.

*

As Lucy had said, Lizzy, who had informed Bruno that the job was well done, visited Bruno’s mansion again after a week.

With each step, her breath caught in her throat, but it was best to avoid any actions that could arouse suspicion.

Lizzy took a deep breath and entered Bruno’s study.

For now, deceiving Bruno and having things go as the young lady wanted was the best course of action.

“Daniel? You hired Daniel as a tutor?”

Bruno, upon hearing Lizzy’s story, scrunched up his face and spun around once on the spot.

Cupping his chin with his hand, he tapped his fingers and tilted his head.

“Hah… Of all people, it had to be Daniel. That guy isn’t someone who can be bought with just money… No. This might actually be good.”

After spinning around twice more on the spot, Bruno stopped.

Without even looking at Lizzy, he waved his hand dismissively.

As Lizzy inwardly sighed with relief and bowed her head, just as she grabbed the door handle…

“…Wait.”

“Yes?”

“You. You’ll need to help deceive that guy.”

Bruno rolled his eyes in the air and then raised the corner of his mouth with a sneer.

Lizzy’s heart dropped and then rose again with a sigh of relief as she took a step towards Bruno.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing that daughter come to hate her mother.”

Bruno continued his monologue and flicked his finger.

“Listen carefully. Now you go and spill to that tutor exactly as I tell you. … That way, Daniel will completely believe your words.”

“…Pardon?”

“Yes, yes! Moreover, once he confirms that you’re a maid working at that Duke’s residence, he’ll completely be on our side, and even if we’re caught by the other party at that moment, only that guy will be seen as the crazy one.”

Without even listening to Lizzy’s response, Bruno slammed his hand on the table and burst into a vile laugh.

“Kuhahaha! That one tutor will bring that household crashing down!”

*

“Hello. I’m Daniel, who has come as a tutor.”

After greeting the Duchess, Daniel unconsciously gulped.

He had only heard rumors about the Duchess’s beauty, but had never actually met her in person, so he had just assumed it was an exaggeration.

However, seeing the Duchess in person, Daniel realized that those rumors were actually understated.

At the same time, he could fully understand the words of the person who had hired him the previous evening.

‘The Duke is actually being deceived by the Duchess.’

He had thought that no matter how pretty a woman was, there was no way Duke Jenova would make such an irrational judgment, but upon facing the Duchess, he thought that person’s words might be true.

Moreover, wasn’t the maid standing next to the Duchess the very proof?

‘I am Lizzy, working as a maid at Duke Jenova’s residence. The Duke is currently being thoroughly deceived by the Duchess.’

It was clearly initially a meeting to be introduced to someone in order to become a physician.

But then he was dragged to some suspicious place, and a masked man sat down.

And he started saying unbelievable things.

‘I am an imperial supporter like you. But the Jenova family, which can be said to be the largest force in our imperial faction, is in great crisis. The Duchess has now transformed into someone leaking information to foreign countries! Because of that, even the young lady could be in danger, so I would like you to go in as a tutor and help.’

At first, he denied it as an unbelievable fact, but when Lizzy, who claimed to be a maid of the Duke’s residence, appeared, Daniel changed his mind.

If it was the words of an actual maid in the Duke’s residence, it had credibility.

“As you may already know, I’d like to discuss a few precautions before meeting the child.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

Daniel nodded at the Duchess’s words while recalling yesterday’s events.

‘The young lady doesn’t know that the Duchess is that kind of person. Even now, specially selecting and choosing a tutor could be to give the young lady bad influence.’

Bad influence.

An accurate judgment would have to be made after hearing the precautions, but there were parts that could be predicted.

“I would like you to focus on theory and academics. …To be direct, I would prefer if you didn’t explain things like the life of a duke’s daughter. I want our Lucy to be able to think diversely and broadly on her own. I don’t want to hinder the expanding thoughts within the child, so if that’s not possible, you can refuse the tutor offer.”

…As expected!

To express what I had anticipated in such a roundabout way! Indeed, she was a woman worthy of being called the flower of high society.

With such a woman, no wonder Duke Jenova was completely deceived!

Although she spoke indirectly, what the Duchess said was ultimately about not acknowledging the empire and planning rebellion.

First, saying she would prefer not to explain the life of a duke’s daughter.

This meant she intended to instill an anti-imperial mindset in the young lady from the start.

A mindset that rejects the title bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor of the empire!

Second, wanting her to be able to think diversely and broadly.

That was the words that those plotting rebellion have been using from long ago.

…Think big. Is there any reason I can’t become emperor? To use such a sentence in this way.

“…Mr. Daniel?”

Eriel tilted her head towards Daniel, who wasn’t responding.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I fully understand what you mean. I will do so.”

When Daniel nodded, Eriel’s face brightened.

“That’s a relief. Thank you for understanding. Then, shall we go to Lucy’s playroom? I will observe just the first lesson or so before deciding.”

“Yes, understood.”

As he entered the young lady’s playroom, Daniel couldn’t help but clench his fist.

The moment the small, delicate, doll-like young lady greeted him, Daniel could not contain his rising anger.

To try to brainwash rebellion into a child only seven years old! To this beautiful young lady who resembles Duke Jenova whom I respect so much! Such, such disrespect…!

Daniel glanced sideways at the Duchess and let out a deep breath.

It was a deep breath to suppress his anger, but he spoke as if he were nervous.

“I’m quite nervous. First, is there any subject the young lady particularly wants to learn?”

Eriel liked Daniel as a tutor from the moment he uttered his first sentence.

This was because Daniel was the first tutor to inquire about Lucy’s interests or concerns.

Most would start by explaining pre-prepared materials or talking about what they considered important for a duke’s daughter.

So Eriel always had to intervene once to assist with the lesson.

Eriel would explain about the East Continent history book that Lucy had been interested in reading recently.

Then, if the tutors didn’t believe Eriel’s words, she had to make them believe it was true, and only then could they finally start the lesson, but eventually the lesson would be stopped because of the emphasis on the life of a duke’s daughter.

But this time was different!

Eriel tried not to get her hopes up too much, but she couldn’t help feeling excited.

“I’ve been reading an introduction to political science lately.”

“I see. Then what content from that would you like to discuss with me?”

Eriel was greatly surprised once that politics came out of Lucy’s mouth instead of East Continent history, and in the midst of that, she was again surprised to see Daniel calmly bringing up discussion.

“I’d like to start with the saying to govern righteously.”

“Very well. Let’s first discuss the right way.”

Eriel froze in her seat at the lesson starting so naturally.

It was a moment of witnessing both her daughter’s genius and a teacher who could support that genius at once.