The twins’ arrival time was unknown, according to Clemens.

“They should’ve been home by now.”

Clemens said the twins’ semester should’ve already ended.

Nevertheless, when we reached out to the dormitory, the reply came that the twins had already packed up and left.

Bart and Krissy went to Rosen to find the twins, whose whereabouts were unknown.

‘Could something have happened?’

Even though they were villains, they were still children. Hearing that the twins were missing made us uneasy.

“Clemens, are you worried about the twins?”

“Yes, I am.”

Clemens heaved a deep sigh.

“Who knows what sort of trouble they’re causing by not coming home. The knights should find them as soon as possible.”

‘…So they weren’t worried about the twins.’

Villains wouldn’t be. Gaining this realization, I focused on holding my pen again.

“You don’t have to worry about it. Now, try writing this again.”

“Ah, okay.”

Clemens pointed to a letter. I put more force into my hand.

I wrote cautiously, but the characters on the paper were all crooked.

‘If only my fingers were longer, I could write better!’

I could read, so naturally, I should be able to write.

No, I had always thought that way.

Until I realized I couldn’t hold the pen with one hand.

‘I need to grow a bit more to hold a pen.’

Shocked by this realization, I still practiced writing.

I had to send a letter to the kingdom, after all.

Then, my actions were discovered by Sophia.

Sophia excitedly offered to teach me, but couldn’t.

The news reached Phyllis, then the Duke, and eventually Clemens became in charge of my writing education.

“Aren’t you busy, Clemens?”

“No, I have some free time right now.”

It would have been better if Sophia had taught me. According to Clemens, Sophia was too busy.

At first, I was really nervous about Clemens teaching me.

However, Clemens turned out to be a much more kind and fun teacher than I’d thought.

It wasn’t just boring reading and writing; he also gave me quizzes involving specific words.

Thanks to this, although I knew the letters, the lessons were not that boring.

“Now, look. Duck, orange, what other words start with the same letter?”

“Cucumber?”

“And another?”

“Um, squid!”

“…Yes, well done.”

It seemed strange that he only gave quizzes starting with the letter ‘O’.

Within a week, I could roughly write.

It wasn’t surprising since I could already read.

However, Sophia and Delma looked incredibly surprised.

On the other hand, I remembered how proud Clemens seemed.

‘I knew it from the first time I saw you.’

Although I worried it might make me seem extraordinary, it was better than pretending to be illiterate forever.

Walking down the corridor, my eyes landed on the 11th letter I had written myself.

“Hello, Your Grace. I am Diane Crustel. I’ve heard a lot about you from the Duke and am sending my regards. I hope we can meet and become friends in the future.”

Knowing how to write and writing well were different things. Although I put effort into the letter, I was unsatisfied with the result.

‘…I don’t like it.’

The crooked handwriting caught my eye. I sighed heavily, but it was inevitable.

The best I could do with my fingers was to make it legible to whoever would read it.
Today, I had torn up as many as 10 letters that I had written all morning because they were not to my liking.

At some point, my fingers felt as if they were about to cramp, so I decided to be satisfied with what I had.

‘I want to send the letter as soon as possible, anyway.’

Philen had said I could take my time and send the letter after resting enough, according to Kkami.

Ah, Kkami was the new name Philen had given to my messenger bird. He had named it for its allblack feathers.

‘Where is Philen?’

To send Kkami, I had to meet with Philen, but when I asked the other servants about his whereabouts, they told me he was in the largest room on the first floor of the annex.

Still, the thought that sending the letter would mark the end of my tasks for the day made my steps light.

As soon as I opened the door to the largest room on the first floor of the annex, I came to a halt.

The eyes of the people sitting around the large table all turned towards me at once.

Amid the murmuring, the Duke, who was sitting at the front of the table, looked up.

His eyes narrowed slightly as our eyes met.

“What is it?”

To the question asking why I was here, my eyes darted around quickly. But no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t see Philen, whom the servants had mentioned.

‘They said he’s here!’

I had foolishly believed what the servants had said and opened the door to this room.

Then the Duke gestured slightly towards me.

‘Is he asking me to leave without causing any trouble?’

I slowly stepped back, which only seemed to deepen the Duke’s frown.

For a moment, I walked briskly towards him. Only then did the furrow in his brow relax.

As I got close enough to touch the Duke’s hand, he lifted me up in his arms.

‘I’m used to it now.’