On the day of Larisa’s first exam, Siod was unknowingly nervous while waiting after handing out the test paper.

As the exam time was almost up, Larisa kept holding onto her test paper. What if I failed to adjust the difficulty? What if the questions are too hard and she becomes disappointed in herself?

Embracing such worries, Siod checked the clock.

“Time’s up.”

Larisa had finished long ago but held her pencil until the end with her tiny hand. Even as the test papers were being collected, she kept looking at it with regretful eyes.

Wondering if the questions were that difficult, Siod checked the test paper and swallowed a sigh of relief.

‘Thank goodness.’

Siod quickly finished grading and returned the test paper to Larisa, who was waiting eagerly.

“Wow, did I get everything right?”

“Yes.”

Seeing Larisa so overjoyed, Siod realized that Guinevere had been right.

Larisa no longer looked at him with eyes seeking praise. Instead, she was staring at the test paper with sparkling eyes.

It was good that he had scared her in advance, saying it was a difficult exam only taken by royalty. Larisa seemed genuinely satisfied with the test results.

This time, Siod could also comfortably praise her.

“You worked hard on a difficult exam.”

Larisa didn’t care about Siod’s praise. Hugging the test paper tightly, Larisa quickly asked.

“Can I go to the 4th floor for a moment?”

Guinevere’s lab is on the 4th floor.

‘Is she going to show off to Guinevere?’

As soon as Siod nodded, Larisa ran off with the test paper clutched to her chest.

“Mother! It’s Larisa!”

As soon as she knocked, Guinevere opened the door as if she had been waiting.

“Look at this!”

Guinevere knew Larisa was taking an exam today. And she clearly thought Larisa would come to her. It was intuition.

“You took an exam.”

“Yes, I got everything right.”

“I see.”

Her expression was clearly hoping for praise, so Guinevere hesitated for a moment. It’s not difficult to give praise.

But the lines from a parenting book that unconditional praise can be poison to a child kept coming to mind.

So this question came first.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to become a noble?”

Larisa was startled and her eyes widened. She even stammered.

“Who, who said that?”

“Siod did.”

Larisa felt betrayed. By both William and Siod.

Seeing Larisa’s expression harden, Guinevere crouched down in front of her and asked.

“If you’re not going to become a noble anyway, why are you studying etiquette so hard?”

Larisa couldn’t say anything.

“Lara?”

“…”

“Don’t want to answer?”

With her lips pressed together, Larisa didn’t seem to want to answer. After a long silence, Guinevere brought up what she had intended to say today.

“As I said before, you don’t have to marry William if you don’t want to. You don’t have to become a noble. I swore to your mother that I would do my best to raise you, and that oath alone gives you the right to be here.”

Then tears began to form in Larisa’s eyes. Guinevere thought.

‘Is she moved?’

It wasn’t certain, but if there were tears at this timing, it seemed she was moved. Guinevere reached out to hug her.

But Larisa took a step back and avoided her hand.

“Lara?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

Larisa ran away quickly. It was a completely unexpected reaction.

Guinevere got up from her seat with a creak.

*

Larisa ran straight to find William. After running for a while, Larisa caught her breath and asked.

“Why did you tell?”

“What?”

William had a clueless expression. But Larisa couldn’t hold back the rising sense of betrayal.

“You’re bad. William is a bad guy!”

William was shocked. The angelic Larisa…

“W-why are you suddenly acting like this?”

William picked up Larisa as she was about to run away. Then Larisa began to kick and hit William’s head wildly.

“Bad guy! Bad guy!”

“No, please explain what you mean first…”

It didn’t hurt, but he was completely confused. Larisa shouted while sobbing.

“Why did you tell the witch? That I don’t want to marry you, sob.”

Finally unable to hold it in, Larisa began to cry loudly. William explained in a flustered manner.

“No, I only told the professor?”

“That kind of thing is a secret!”

“You didn’t say it was a secret.”

“Stupid! Idiot!”

William put Larisa back down on the floor, afraid he might drop her. Then Larisa lay spread-eagled on the carpet floor and began to wail.

“Wait, Lara. Be good, okay?”

“No! I won’t be good!”

William had never seen a child throw a tantrum lying on the floor in his life, so he didn’t know what to do.

“Let’s get up first. Let’s sit in a chair and talk.”

“No! William stupid! Idiot!”

Larisa cried while kicking. She felt frustrated about all her hard work, and she was angry at William for tattling about their conversation.

Soon Guinevere and Siod appeared. Both of them were shocked to see Larisa lying on the floor and asked William.

“Why is she acting like this?”

“Ah, well…”

William was at a loss. For a moment, feeling somewhat wronged, William confronted Siod.

“Did you tell Mother? About what I said with Larisa?”

“What?”

“How could you tell Mother about that?”

“You didn’t say it was a secret.”

Damn. William swallowed a curse as he received the exact words he had said back. This time Siod looked at Guinevere and asked.

“What did you say to Lara?”

“I didn’t say much.”

From Guinevere’s perspective it wasn’t much, but it could have sounded harsh to the child. Siod doubted her.

“Tell me exactly what you said.”

“I asked why she’s studying so hard when she’s not going to become a noble anyway?”

“Ah, never mind. Then what?”

“When she didn’t answer, I said she doesn’t have to do anything. That she doesn’t have to get married or become a noble.”

Larisa cried loudly as if heartbroken.

‘It really doesn’t seem like she said much.’

Siod scratched his chin in bewilderment. The three exchanged glances, but no one could understand why Larisa was crying.

William asked first.

“Lara, are you upset that I didn’t keep our conversation secret?”

Only sobbing sounds continued. Guinevere apologized too.

“I’m sorry if I spoke too harshly earlier. You seem to have misunderstood something, but that wasn’t my intention.”

“Yes, calm down and if you have something you’re upset about, let’s talk it out. Come on, be good? Let’s stop crying now, okay?”

But Larisa’s crying didn’t stop. No amount of coaxing worked.

Sighing, Siod recalled Dr. O’Hara’s parenting methods. Larisa had always been a good child, but it seemed time to use the discipline he had learned.

Clearing his throat, he spoke in a deliberately stern voice.

“Larisa, stop crying and speak properly.”

Then Larisa’s crying stopped abruptly.

Before the three could look relieved, Larisa got up as if rolling and confronted them.

“You don’t need me anymore, right?”

“What?”

“You brought me because I was William’s destiny, but now that he’s not marrying me, you’re going to throw me away, right?”

“No!”

Guinevere jumped up.

“Why are you saying such things? I told you earlier. I swore to your mother…”

“I don’t believe in oaths. You’ll throw me away if I’m useless, right?”

Guinevere felt wronged. But explaining to a child what a wizard’s oath meant gave her a headache.

“I can’t throw you away. As I said earlier, you can just do nothing and play around your whole life if you want.”

“Liar! There’s no such thing as a free lunch!”

Although Larisa was sniffling, her eyes were filled with resentment. The three who had only seen her angelic smiling face until now were taken aback by Larisa’s true colors.

Siod sighed as he looked at the mother and son who couldn’t say anything and were dumbfounded.

“So, *sigh*. To summarize, Larisa wanted to look good to Guinevere, but got angry because her true feelings were revealed.”

Guinevere said as if she couldn’t understand.

“She wanted to look good to me?”

“I guess so. She must have been worried about being abandoned if she displeased you since you’re her guardian…”

At Siod’s explanation, Guinevere leaned down and said firmly.

“Listen carefully, Larisa. I don’t tell lies. Everything I said is true, and I don’t care whether you’re stupid or smart.”

“Vera!”

Siod grabbed Guinevere’s wrist to stop her. But Guinevere coldly shook him off and continued.

“I don’t care if you’re from the slums or royalty, I don’t care if you’re stupid or smart, I don’t care if you’re good or rotten. Do you understand?”

She meant it. What mattered was that Larisa was the person William loved, not whether Guinevere liked Larisa or not.

“So you don’t have to try so hard, you can live however you want.”

Siod and William watched the two females nervously, wondering if they should intervene or not. Larisa, who had been listening quietly, asked.

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

The three inwardly sighed in relief. Just the fact that Larisa’s crying had stopped made it feel like the situation was over.

But Larisa’s sulking wasn’t over.

“You don’t care even if I’m really a bad child?”

“That’s right.”

“You don’t care if I don’t study and just play around all day?”

“Yes.”

“And I don’t have to marry William?”

“Yes!”

“Siod is William’s father, right?”

“That’s ri… Huh?”

A smirk spread across Larisa’s tiny face.

“You really don’t lie.”

After freezing the three in place, Larisa trudged back to her room alone.