* * *
“Is that a letter from Miss Jayna?”
Rosian, who was reading a letter with a happy expression, suddenly looked up in surprise.
“How did you know?”
He checked whether the sender’s address was visible to Elia but it wasn’t.
“It’s her…”
Elia could see it clearly on his face.
Jayna would be the only person he would make such an expression for.
“Rosian, what do you like about Jayna?”
“I like everything about her.”
“But if I have to choose one…”
At Elia’s question, Rosian was momentarily lost in thought.
Her glossy hair from behind, her soft and white cheeks, and her expressionless but cute-looking face were all good.
But if he had to express it…
“She’s like a lake in winter…”
Rosian skipped every poetry lesson because it was boring, but it seems he had learnt something somewhere.
Elia smiled and looked excitedly at Rosian who opened his mouth.
“The winter lake is always frozen, but it isn’t like that for me. It’s always calm, like an old man. Also, you can’t see the inside of a frozen lake, but Miss Jayna is always clear. It’s amazing. That’s why I want to keep looking at her.”
A bashful smile rose from Rasian as he thought of Jayna.
* * *
“This song is a cheerful one, yet my student played it in such a melancholic way.”
Charlotte, who was listening to Jayna’s performance, tilted her head.
“The person who played this was sad, but this was too gloomy… No, the atmosphere was good but there’s a bigger problem.”
Charlotte sat next to Jayna and made a displeased expression.
“You played it too slowly. I’ll show you how to play properly.”
Charlotte grabbed Jayna’s hand and began to hit the keys in a rough manner.
“Ah….”
Charlotte wasn’t worried about Jayna who was frowning in pain.
Her cruelty to Jayna didn’t just end there.
Perhaps because Izren was kicked out of the room, under the reason of being a nuisance, the intensity of her bullying became worse than usual.
“Why do we have music sheets if you’re going to do it like that? What you are doing right now is composing a song.”
Charlotte raised Jayna’s hands and forcibly split her fingers apart.
“Why are your hands so slow?”
[T/N: Referring to slow at playing whatever the instrument was called]
Jayna’s hand, which was half the size of Charlotte’s, was the most difficult obstacle to overcome when it came to playing the harpsichord.
The smaller and shorter your fingers were, the more difficult it would be to quickly hit the keys.
However the 10-years old Jayna was still a growing child, and obviously her hand would be smaller than Charlotte’s.
Knowing that, Charlotte still blamed Jayna’s hands.
“Then, shouldn’t we play songs which are easy for children to play?”
“Shut up. You being arrogant doesn’t improve your skills.”
Charlotte, holding a cane that she had prepared in advance, forcefully opened Jayna’s palms.
And began mercilessly hitting Jayna’s tiny palms.
Thwack!
Thwack! Thwack!
When Charlotte, an adult woman, hit the palms of Jayna, a child, a long and red mark appeared in no time.
Jayna, who was usually expressionless, had her face distorted which showed she couldn’t bear the pain she felt.
“The biggest problem with you is your temper. You have no guts. So even if you learn under a great teacher, your skills won’t improve.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Charlotte shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“Tsk, tsk, this is why homeschooling is a problem. I’ve heard you’re living alone and you’re an orphan right? If Diamide took you in because he feels sorry for you, shouldn’t you work harder? What are you doing?”
‘…’
As if she was elated by Jayna’s silence, Charlotte continued talking.
“It’s not just about your harpsichord skills, it’s about life which is filled with problems. The knight outside also has a lot of problems. Is everyone around you like this?”
Izren, who was outside the door, was unable to contain his anger that was generated by Charlotte’s remarks and was about to enter the room.
“You talk too much.”
Jayna, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly began talking.
“I don’t care what you say to me, but the person outside lives as a knight of the Tower Lord. Are you disrespecting his choice?”
“Oh, he was a knight, wasn’t he? So that’s why someone of such a race was in the Tower? Then what about you? What’s your relationship with the Tower Lord? I don’t think it’s a normal relationship if he asked his own disciple to find a teacher for you.”
[T/N: if you guys forgot, Diamide did ask Michael to find a teacher for Jayna]
It was a peculiar instinct of a person who was in love.
[T/N: If you forgot again, Charlotte was in love with Diamide
A match made in hell if you ask me]
The Tower Lord sought a teacher to teach someone the harpsichord.
And it was for a child with the same hair and eye colour as the Tower Lord.
‘Would the Tower Lord do all that for an ordinary child?’
When Charlotte first saw Jayna, she knew that the child was the Tower Lord’s daughter. They didn’t look similar but their atmosphere and moods were.
“Why do you live in the Tower when you’re not even a magician?”
Charlotte opened her eyes and put her face close to Jayna’s.
At that moment, Izren’s voice was heard through the door.
“Jayna, is your teacher bothering you? Should I come inside?”
“You don’t even know your place…”
The moment Charlotte tried to snap at Izren,
Darkness slowly crept up from the floor and lifted Charlotte’s ankle.
Charlotte got up right up from her seat, surprised by a strange sensation digging into her dress.
“Argh! What is this!”
Thud!
Charlotte, looked down at the darkness with a terrified expression, and soon fell to the floor.
Jayna looked at her indifferently, as if she was a pebble on the side of the road.
“I don’t think my teacher is feeling very well, therefore, I think you should go home and get some rest.”
Jayna opened the door and called Izren who was standing outside.
“Izren-nim, I’m sorry but could you bring my teacher to her room? She’s not feeling well.”
[T/N: P.S. Charbish lives in the tower]
“Of course.”
As Izren approached Charlotte and held her arm, she pushed him away and shouted.
“What the hell did you just do?!”
“I didn’t do anything. I don’t think you’re feeling well, seeing that you’re hallucinating.”
“Jayna, do you think I’ll let this go? I’m going to Diamide right away that you used magic. And if you play tricks like this again, you will be punished severely. Be prepared!”
Jayna pushed Charlotte’s back and tried to get her out, but Izren grabbed Jayna’s hand in surprise.
He saw a red line on the back of her hand.
“Jayna…”
Jayna quickly hid her hand when her wound was discovered by him.
“I’m all right. It’ll soon disappear.”
“You should talk to the Tower Lord.”
“I would say it but I shouldn’t be making a fuss. Please keep this a secret.”
Jayna looked at Izren with a piercing glance.
“I don’t know why the Tower Lord assigned you to me, but I don’t want to offend him in any way.”
When Jayna spoke in her usual calm voice, Izren immediately nodded.
It didn’t mean anything special. It was a nod which showed he was convinced.
Izren now knew why he (Micheal) attached himself to Jayna and why he’s howerving around her with all sorts of excuses.
After taking Charlotte to her room, Izren headed straight to Diamide’s room.
[There’s something happening between the harpsichord teacher and the lady, and she keeps trying to hide it.]
After hearing Izren’s words, Diamide asked back in a calm voice.
[Elaborate.]
[I don’t know the exact details as the teacher prevented me from entering the room under an excuse…]
Izren reported everything Charlotte had done to Diamide.
***
“Tower Lord, did you call for me? No, would it be better to say ‘nice to meet you’?”
Charlotte grabbed the hem of her dress gently and smiled softly.
“Ah, this isn’t right.”
Charlotte didn’t like the way she looked in the mirror on this particular day.
Charlotte looked in the mirror, and pouted her lips.
“My Lady, you look extremely beautiful in my eyes.”
“What’s the point if it’s you? Lord Diamide should like it. How noisy, come here and touch up my hair again.”
Charlotte sighed loudly.
‘I was finally called by the Tower Lord.’
When Charlotte heard that Diamide was looking for a harpsichord teacher, she was happy, but also felt strange.
The Tower isn’t a place for children. Moreover, as far as Charlotte knew, Diamide was single.
An ominous thought passed in her head, but Charlotte shook her head and tried to erase the thought. It was clear that an opportunity like this would never come again.
Considering her career and reputation, it would have been better if she had become a teacher of a young and powerful lady, but Charlotte decided to take an uncertain path.
It was all because of one person.
‘The Tower Lord.’
Diamide was an unsociable man who only stayed in Wizard Tower, which was far from the Empire.
However, Charlotte once had the opportunity to see his face from close-up. It was love at first sight. Her very first love at age 13, and she was still in love with him.
Charlotte headed to the Tower to fulfill her first love, despite the opposition from people around her. There, she finally met the ‘Child of the Tower’, which she only heard about in rumours.
There were only a few meaningless resemblances between the Tower Lord and her, but from her atmosphere and colour of her eyes, Charlotte felt as if she was his daughter.
She went back and forth between the Tower to collect information about Jayna from the wizards and maids.
It didn’t help a lot compared to the effort she spent, but she could now know one thing for sure.
‘She hasn’t been recognized by the Tower Lord.’
[T/N: As his daughter]
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be as much exchange between a father and his daughter.
It doesn’t make sense that the people of Tower don’t know about her identity.
Having concluded that Jayna was an illegitimate child, Charlotte decided to use Jayna as a stepping stone to approach Diamide.
‘I will give birth to a boy who looks like him.’
As soon as she succeeded in capturing Diamide’s heart, Charlotte planned to abandon that forsaken child.
Then one day, the opportunity she was looking for had come.
Finally, she could meet the Tower Lord without that blasted child.
[Q/N: lmao I think you will be the one that’s blasted away.]