“W-Wait. You solved all of this mentally?”

“She solves even more complex problems well. It’s a bit nuanced that it’s limited to money calculation problems, though……”

“My daughter is a genius.”

Hindley’s explanation no longer reached Luke’s ears.

“My daughter is a genius……”

Hindley, who raised his head at the duke’s murmur, almost spilled the teacup he was holding when he saw Luke grinning strangely.

‘He must be feeling pleased, right?!’

For that, it was an excessively eerie face. Though he had strong features, he was clearly handsome, but it was puzzling why he only felt so frightening.

Would it be different for a woman to see?

No, it probably wouldn’t be.

After all, no matter how you think about it, the former duchess who had a romance with such a man must have been eccentric.

Hindley tightly grasped his trembling legs with his hands and continued speaking.

“For now, she has some enthusiasm for learning itself, but if you expect too much or progress too quickly right away, her interest may wane. So I plan to teach her at a level where she can enjoy it adequately for now.”

“Hmm……”

Luke, who had put away his smile, crossed his legs and placed his hands on his knees.

He was a man who truly suited an arrogant attitude. His eyes flashed.

“Alright, I’ll first have a conversation with Bonita slowly, and if lessons are decided, I’ll send you a letter. We’ll talk about the salary slowly at that time.”

“Ah, I understand!”

“Request today’s lesson fee separately from the butler. I instructed him to prepare it in advance.”

Hindley stood up and bowed his head. Luke was about to stride towards the reception room door when he paused at the sound coming from outside.

“Your Grace?”

Hindley asked in a puzzled tone.

But when the door opened, he soon understood why the duke had hesitated.

“Ah, you’ve come out!”

A woman’s cheerful exclamation was heard.

She was a splendid woman reminiscent of a yellow rose.

Although she might have looked fierce due to her sharply upturned eyes, perhaps because she was smiling as brightly as a child, she didn’t have an unapproachable atmosphere.

“Bonita. Did you wait for daddy?”

Luke grinned widely as he looked at Bonita, who was holding Aria’s hand tightly. Hindley was shocked for the second time.

It was completely different from the smile he had been giving him earlier.

“Ah, that’s not it.”

“Huh? It’s, it’s not?”

“Aria said… it would be polite to greet the teacher before he goes home. So I was waiting.”

Luke, who had ended up drinking kimchi soup for nothing, wore a shocked expression.

Whish.

His neck turned to Hindley behind him. His gaze was fierce.

Hindley smiled awkwardly while sweating profusely.

“Ha, haha. Miss Bonita is quite polite. But who is this person…?”

“I’m Aria Hilton! For now, I’m living in the duke’s household.”

Aria greeted with a bright smile.

Her sociability was so good that she even openly grabbed both of Hindley’s hands and shook them.

“You’ve worked hard ‘for today’, teacher.”

“Ah…? Miss Hilton, that, your hands……”

“Oh my! Teacher, is there some problem?”

Aria tilted her head and then smiled brightly.

“I just shook hands as a gesture of goodwill, that’s all.”

Hindley’s lips twitched.

It was an extremely bewildering welcome.

‘Is this her personality?’

After hearing various information about Aria, he thought she would be an extremely gloomy and cunning woman. An ambitious woman aiming for the empty duchess position using the young lady as an excuse.

But the expression of the woman he actually faced was so bright that it was confusing. If there were other ulterior motives in there, she would truly be an amazing person.

And in Aria’s case.

‘Is this the tutor that Oliver recommended?’

Though Hindley didn’t notice, the blue eyes hidden behind her smiling eyes were extremely cold.

‘There are roughly two possibilities I can assume.’

First, if that man is Oliver’s loyal subordinate.

Second, if he’s just being deceived and manipulated by Oliver.

She hoped it was the second case if possible.

Thinking that, Aria smiled softly and released Hindley’s hands, who was still flustered.

‘To be honest, I want to chase him out right now.’

That’s why she had particularly emphasized ‘for today’.

It meant that she didn’t want to see him much after today. A truth unknown to both the person hearing it and those around.

‘But… I’ll have to wait and see for now.’

To be honest, Aria could have made it so that man couldn’t even set foot in this mansion.

Just whispering to Bonita would be enough. Bonita, a good child who likes her mother, would ask Luke to meet another teacher, and Luke, who loves his daughter, would immediately grant that request.

But she didn’t want to use such methods.

“Bonita, how was the lesson?”

“It was fun.”

“…Really? And the teacher?”

“The teacher is good too. I want to learn letters and read books too.”

What more could be said?

She was as much of a daughter-idiot as Luke.

If Bonita wanted to do something, she had no intention of taking the lead in stopping it.

Not until anything became certain.

‘Eek.’

Hindley, who suddenly found himself under the sharp gazes of both spouses—though one side was unaware of the fact—wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.

He felt somewhat uneasy.

As he walked out the main gate, finally left alone, Hindley muttered in a low voice.

“Did I do the right thing…?”

Ambition or whatever, maybe it would have been better to just teach the children of humble families in a rural estate.

There was no one to answer his empty question. He scratched the back of his head.

At that moment, a gentleman dressed in black approached.

“Lord Rotern, here is today’s lesson fee.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

He received the pouch handed by the butler with indifferent eyes.

It was quite heavy, which was unexpected, but it was just a test lesson fee after all.

It would probably be an amount not even worth mentioning…

“Huh?”

Or so he thought?!

Hindley, who opened the sack, rubbed his eyes. However, the amount inside didn’t change.

“Huh?”

Is this real?

Are they really giving all this money?

Just for a test lesson fee, this much?

Hindley gaped at the butler.

The butler, who had been watching him, stroked his chin and asked as if troubled.

“Is it perhaps not enough? We did add a bit more than the basic market rate.”

“Not at all!”

Hindley quickly exclaimed, bowing his head.

“Please tell His Grace that I will work hard! Thank you!”

Hindley Rotern was a man who had as much greed for money as he did for power.

At this moment, he swore allegiance to the Lisianthus ducal family. He was even praying with both hands clasped, begging them to employ him.

Oliver’s request had already been completely forgotten in his mind.

……It was Oliver’s mistake for trying to use someone without paying.

While Bonita was building blocks with the maids in the playroom, Luke and Aria were sitting in the next room basking in the warmth of a fireplace.

The topic of conversation was, of course, Bonita.

“What did Bonita say?”

“Well… It seems she likes him. She said she wants to continue with the lessons.”

Regardless of her own lukewarm feelings, Aria relayed Bonita’s words as they were. A child’s likes and dislikes were not something that could be hidden, nor should they be.

“Is that so.”

“How do you feel about it, Your Grace?”

You had a separate conversation with Lord Rotern, Aria added.

Luke took a sip of hot milk from a teddy bear mug. His red eyes gazed at the fireplace for a moment, lost in thought.

“He’s not bad.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Hearing his brief answer, Aria slightly opened her mouth.

It was because of something that had been bothering her since earlier.

“By the way, Your Grace.”

“What is it?”

“Your taste is quite cute.”

Aria pointed at the mug in Luke’s hand. It was a cup with a cute bear face drawn on a white background.

It was a gift Elodie had given him when they hadn’t been dating for long.

“……”

Luke looked down at the cup in his hand after hearing Aria’s words.

He said in a low voice.

“This is not an ordinary cup.”

“……Then?”

Aria asked with a bit of expectation. She wanted to hear something like it being a precious item, or something along those lines.

However, the answer that came back was a little different from what she expected.

“It’s a family heirloom of our ducal house.”

“……What?”

Aria asked back with a dumbfounded expression. Then Luke raised one eyebrow and said.

“Didn’t you hear? I said it’s our family heirloom.”

“No, how could that……”

Even if it was a gift he liked, isn’t that too much?

As Aria was thinking this, a past conversation flashed through her mind.

It was 8 years ago in winter.

With Christmas approaching, Elodie was troubled.

‘Isn’t there some special gift?’

Both of them had more money than they knew what to do with. Something that could be bought with just money couldn’t be called a special gift.

“Hazel, what should I give Luke? I’m worried because Luke has too much money too. It would be fine if he were a bit poorer.”

“Don’t people usually make something as a gift? Like a scarf?”

“That’s a good idea!”

But knitting wasn’t Elodie’s forte.

After barely managing to knit a scarf more suitable for a Chihuahua than a person and getting tired of it, Elodie immediately gave up on the work.

And what she chose instead was drawing on an empty mug.

After sacrificing about fifty mugs, a somewhat presentable work came out. Elodie ran up to Luke holding the beautifully wrapped cup.

“Look at this, Luke. I drew it myself. Isn’t it cute?”

“I’ll keep it as a family heirloom.”

“Hehe, it feels good even if it’s a joke.”

“Does it sound like a joke?”

“……Huh?”

At that time, she just thought it was a serious joke.

……Who would have thought it was serious?