A student protested quickly at my words.

“Me too!”

“Me too! Me too!”

“I’m going to present well and brag to my friends!”

“I’ll do better than you!”

The children’s tag turned into a competition for presentations.

The principal finally sighed heavily.

“If you promise to prioritize the children’s safety without any conditions…….”

I grinned.

“Of course.”

It seemed that I should ask the Duke and Duchess to bring along a few servants.

Then, I saw Douglas Youngae clinging to Ana. These days, Ana had been busy following Douglas Youngae, whether the children around were playing tag or jumping around.

“Teacher, teacher. I’ve learned. If ice melts, it becomes water, and if you boil water, it becomes st… st… steam.”

Ana wrinkled her brow as if she couldn’t remember well.

“Steam.”

Douglas Youngae answered, and Ana clapped her hands.

“That’s right. It becomes that. Like air. Teacher, if the air isn’t scary, then the water isn’t scary either, right?”

“Yes.”

Douglas Youngae answered with a carefree face, as if she was no longer bothered to argue that she had no more fear of water.

“When steam cools down, it becomes water.”

Ana counted on her fingers and earnestly recited what she had learned.

“Ana, you’ll present too, right?”

At Douglas Youngae’s sudden question, Ana blinked slowly.

“Present……?”

After hesitating for a moment, Ana awkwardly avoided my gaze.

“I’m not sure……. I don’t think I can do something like a presentation.”

“You can.”

When Douglas Youngae suddenly intervened, Ana’s eyes widened.

“Really?”

Douglas Youngae spoke firmly, but her eyes wandered, making her look somewhat shaken. She bit her lip once and then nodded.

“Of course. If not you, then who?”

Douglas Youngae carefully took Ana’s hand. At Douglas Youngae’s first hand reaching out, Ana’s eyes were greatly shaken.

“You’ll present, right?”

As she looked down at her hand held by Douglas Youngae, Ana’s eyes filled with tears for a moment. But the girl who held back smiled brightly.

“Yes! I’ll definitely do it!”

It was a heartwarming sight, but for some reason, I felt uneasy.

And that was for a reason. Despite Ana’s strong response, Douglas Youngae did not smile.

No, her face seemed to get stiffer and stiffer. It seemed as if the tips of her fingers peeping between her sleeves were turning pale.

(This is a time divider.)

After finishing the last lesson and before getting on the carriage, the principal suddenly called Douglas Youngae.

“Douglas Youngae. I really wanted to say thank you.”

“Me?”

Douglas Youngae, who had been clashing with the principal from day one, pointed to herself with a bewildered expression.

“Yes. Thank you so much for taking good care of Ana.”

The principal opened her mouth again after a moment’s hesitation.
“Actually, Anna had a trauma similar to the teacher’s. After her parents passed away, the relatives who took care of Anna neither fed her properly nor clothed her, but harshly abused her, calling her filthy.”

The principal looked at Anna, who was playing with dirt with her friends in the orphanage yard, with a worried expression.

“When she first came to the orphanage, she was extremely obsessed with washing, always calling herself filthy. She has improved gradually, but she definitely brightened up after meeting Douglas Youngae.”

The principal, not noticing the stern expression on Douglas Youngae’s face, showed a warm smile.

“I think she might have gradually forgotten her own wounds by following and caring for Douglas Youngae so specially.”

Douglas Youngae clenched her fist tightly until it turned white.

“I wanted to thank the teacher.”

Douglas Youngae also reluctantly pulled up the corners of her mouth at the principal’s warm smile.

“Don’t mention it.”

Douglas Youngae’s voice, barely coming out, was somehow stiff.

The principal, accustomed to Youngae’s always cold attitude, didn’t sense anything strange and laughed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Douglas Youngae was different than usual.

(This is a time separator.)

“Are you sure the commoner child came today?”

Walking into the party room’s lounge and making sure that no one could hear them, Lamira Youngae lowered her voice and questioned Douglas Youngae.

Douglas Youngae clasped her hands together and hesitated but then nodded her head with a dark face.

Lamira Youngae closed her eyes sweetly, satisfied, and smiled.

“I hope I can tell Father this time. That Youngae has been of great help to me.”

Lamira Youngae pretended to be worried and blinked her big eyes.

“I heard that Douglas’s situation hasn’t been good lately, and we should help each other especially at times like this.”

With a pitiful expression, Lamira Youngae cupped one cheek with her hand.

“There’s no friend who thinks of Youngae like I do.”

“What do I have to do today?”

Unable to look any longer at the scene before her, Douglas Youngae asked through tightly closed lips.

“Nothing much. I have prepared everything.”

Lamira Youngae started examining her reflection in the mirror with a sly smile.

Apparently having gathered a proper amount of money through the engagement, her dress today matched the splendor of those often worn by the princesses.

If the princess’s dresses were luxurious and elegant, Lamira Youngae’s dress had some sort of gaudy aspect.

“Bringing the illmannered maid, and praising Lady Aneri, who is famous for her clumsy personality, that the diamond necklace she wore last time suited her so well, it’s all me.”

Lamira Youngae stopped fussing with her hair and looked back at Douglas Youngae.

“Douglas Youngae, just put the necklace in that commoner’s pocket, and when announcing, secretly cut the pocket with a knife. So that the necklace spills out in front of everyone.”