“Princess, here’s a snack. Eat it while you work.”
Ariante’s gaze went from Mayana’s face to the plate in her hand.
After a momentary flick of her small lips, Ariante grumbled with a glum face.
“That’s not a cake.”
“Well… it’s not a cake, but it’s similar, Your Highness! Brownies are really delicious. Although I baked it, really…”
“You baked it?”
Ariante looked straight at Mayana. Her blue eyes sparkled strangely in the sunlight.
‘Oops, did I say something wrong? She’s going to nitpick and not eat it.’
Mayana thought.
But then, another unexpected thing happened. Ariante reached out for the plate. Mayana was puzzled by what was happening, but quickly set the plate down in front of Ariante. It would be nice if she were satisfied with the brownie…
It was the moment Ariante reached out to pick up the brownie.
—Snap!
A thin rod cut through the air from above to below. At the same time, a whip made a sharp sound as it fell on Ariante’s small back of the hand.
“Ouch!”
Pulling her hand back sharply, Ariante looked angrily at Ms. Bimen, clutching her hand. Mayana also stared at the teacher with wide eyes.
Ms. Bimen said in a stern voice.
“You cannot have a snack until you have finished all your work.”
Ariante’s small lips twitched, and her thin, tender skin began to swell and turn bright red.
It was the moment her little hand reached out to knock over the ink bottle.
“Her Highness didn’t eat properly this morning, ma’am. She must be very hungry, so please allow her to study while eating a snack.”
Mayana hurriedly intervened.
Ms. Bimen stared at her with wideopen eyes.
“I am the one who received a personal command from the Duke of Valterminster to properly educate the young lady. Who are you, a mere maid, to interfere?”
Mayana swallowed her rising anger and replied in the least aggressive tone she could muster.
“I know that. But the young lady didn’t even have a proper meal this morning. She has to eat something to study. How can she see letters or numbers when she’s hungry?”
At that moment, Ariante reached out for the brownie again. Teacher Bimen accurately slapped Ariante’s hand hard. This time the sound was louder, and Ariante screamed sharply.
“What are you doing? Don’t hit her!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Mayana raised her voice. She shouted so loudly that not only Teacher Bimen but even Ariante opened her lips in surprise, staring at her.
“How dare you yell at someone…”
Just as Teacher Bimen was about to step forward, frowning fiercely, Mayana quickly turned toward Ariante.
“Young lady, I’m sorry, but would you go outside for a moment? I want to talk to the teacher.”
Ariante seemed taken aback by this unexpected situation. No, she might have thought it was a good opportunity, but… that was not a significant issue for Mayana.
There was the sound of a chair being pushed back. As Ariante stood up, Teacher Bimen swung his cane and hit the large table twice.
“Where are you going, young lady! Sit back down and continue your homework!”
“Please leave, young lady. Hurry.”
Glancing between the two, Ariante stuck out her tongue at Teacher Bimen and ran out of the room.
Teacher Bimen looked at Mayana, repeatedly gasping as if stunned, ready to pounce on her at any moment.
“What are you doing now!”
Teacher Bimen yelled, his voice cracking unpleasantly.
Mayana immediately retorted,
“It seems like I’m the one who has something to say to you, teacher. Your job is to educate the young lady, not to flog her with a cane. She’s seven years old, don’t you know? The young lady is only seven!”
Teacher Bimen hit the table hard with his thin cane, seeming even angrier at her audacity.
“A member of a noble family must have awareness fitting to their station! Seven is old enough for that. Yet, Lady Ariante has no such consciousness. She has very bad habits! If you don’t teach her manners properly now, she will cause serious embarrassment to the ducal house in the future!”
“Aren’t you expecting too much from a sevenyearold? Do you think she can even understand what awareness means, what it means to serve her family? And she shouldn’t understand. Seven is an age with the right not to know such things. Do you think there can be a child who can sit like a doll studying all day without a proper breakfast, without snacks?”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
