Green chalkboard and the center of the classroom, round big tables, and small chairs.

And a partitioned playroom behind, filled with numerous tiny toys and books.

In the kindergarten’s Sparrow class, filled with such small things for children to use, Emily was standing alone, gathering her thoughts early on.

Once called the queen bee of the academy, the noble young lady of the count’s family, Emily, who had once been so spirited.

Now, the head of her family, who had become noble beggars, the only thing she could do was to break through this crisis unconditionally and move on.

Emily, with this determination, raised her head and stretched her arms energetically.

‘Yay! Now, I only have to hide during the recess!’

The reason she was tearfully delighted was that she could entrust her child an hour earlier, limited to parents working in the imperial palace, and Nia was in that early morning class.

“Oh, Goddess Asir, let me hide safely today… Ah! Surprise!”

Emily quickly reached for her waist, feeling her skirt being stripped off.

“I have come.”

“Oh…! Ivanna, you’re here. You’re strong. But how did I tell you to greet the teacher?”

“Um, good morning. Teacher Emily.”

“That’s right. Well done. From tomorrow, you’ll do it this way?”

“Yes.”

“What does ‘yes’ mean? You should say ‘yes!'”

“Yes!”

It was already a week’s worth of taught content, but the massive Ivanna had not changed.

Watching her run into the playroom with clouded eyes, from behind her, a thin mumbling voice was heard.

“……Good morning. Teacher……!”

“Oh my! The prettiest and cutest Nia from the empire is here! Good morning. Did you sleep well last night? Teacher slept well.”

Yes. Nia, the top priority student who needed to be most visible for assurance.

Nia, who had been in the early morning class and arrived, retreated half a step, shyly nodding her head, and then ran to Ivanna.

Emily watched Nia’s retreating figure and suddenly wondered.

‘It doesn’t make sense. That timid child is the daughter of the cold Lucia.’

The child had the same black hair as her mother, but it seemed unbelievable that she was such a gentle and meek child that she couldn’t imagine her being Lucia’s daughter.

‘Well. Seeing that she cherishes her own child, she can grow up like that.’

Emily, who knew Lucia’s overprotection from the entrance ceremony alone, could tell.

‘Now that I think about it, the parents are surprisingly quiet? It would have been logical for a fuss if she was the child of the Black Knight’s commander…. Ah, most of them were from other countries this year? Then…’

This current silence was intentionally concealing their identity.

Had this been a highlevel class with grandchildren of highranking nobles, it might have been dangerous, but only Lucia, who had hidden herself for a full 10 years through 5 years of war and 5 years of training, recognized her.

So Emily decided to keep her mouth shut not to get involved in this potentially vicious guessing game.

With that determination, she fixed her stern face and gathered her eyes, cheerfully greeting the children as they came in one by one.

“Alright, Sparrow class friends. Now that everyone’s here, shall we gather?”

“Yes[Dash]!”

Most of the children in the playroom began to sit down one by one, and watching those pretty and cute children, Emily began to exude a bright energy for the first time in a while.

She was, in fact, in a very good mood today.

Today, she was going to receive a list of asset owners through the famous dark mediator.

Of course, she had squandered all the money she had saved for this request, but seeing Anna, who had married a local lord unknown from that information, flaunting a diamond wedding ring bigger than a sugar candy, she judged it worth the money.

She had heard that if involved, since it was digging into the nobles’ assets, there might be a risk of going to prison.

‘Hehe, after giving up the supreme count’s house now, honor means nothing; money is the best in the world!’

At this moment, she was the twofaced desire of lust, imagining herself, smiling more sweetly than anyone else, adorned with all kinds of gold and jewels.

“Today, a new friend is coming, so shall we all practice clapping for the friend who will sit over there?”

“Yes[Dash]!”

The place she pointed to was a round table where Nia, Ivanna, Roy, and Cesar were sitting.
The empty seat there had originally been Gedrin’s, but today it seemed that someone new would take that place.

As the children raised their small, plump hands following the teacher,

A knock sounded, just as the new child arrived.

“Come in[Dash]! Ah, it seems a new friend has arrived. As promised, when the teacher raises both hands~!”

Suddenly, fully armed imperial knights began to storm in like lightning out of a clear sky.

‘Could it be, the request has already been discovered?!’

Emil Lee, who was startled as if he had shot himself in the foot, clumsily raised both hands.