Chapter 14
“Well… arithmetic and composition?”
“Is that all you’ve got?”
Karina asked back a bit startled. At that rate, Roland and Melissa would have mastered it.
The shock was even greater because the school Karina knew from her past life’s memories taught her much more than that.
“Isn’t that enough? What else should they teach you?”
“Well, history or…”
Wilder burst into laughter.
“Mrs. Bloe, if you teach history at school, your parents will rise right away! Why are you teaching things that are of no use to the children? Use a tutor to teach them.”
* * *
Karina thought about school on her way back home.
‘It’s about arithmetic and composition, so is it really necessary to send them?’
Both were essential to magic, so it was one of the harshest lessons from the time the siblings came to Lord Lenque’s mansion.
If Wilder is right, the children won’t learn much after going to school. But Karina decided to ask the children’s wishes for now.
The children had a hard time understanding the concept of school, but at least they liked the fact that they didn’t have to stay in a stuffy inn all day.
“What are we learning?”
“Umm, I heard they teach arithmetic and writing.”
“We won’t do magic?”
“You won’t.”
Roland was visibly relieved, but Melissa looked slightly disappointed. After all, learning meant nothing but magic for them.
Seeing that scene made her feel like that she should go to school instead.
‘Yeah, if they don’t like it, they can just stop. What’s the problem?’
Karina drew out a magic card that could persuade the children in an instant.
“You guys, don’t you want to make friends?”
“Friends…?”
Roland’s and Melissa’s identical new blue eyes widened.
“There must be a lot of kids your age at school. You can go see them, and if you don’t fit in you can quit.”
“We want to go!”
The two children’s eyes lit up.
Everything went smoothly after that.
With Wilder’s help, Karina enrolled her two children right away at school and bought them a stone slab that they need to go to school.
The children played so well with the stone slab that she wondered if she should have bought them from the beginning.
Karina often found magic circles on Melissa’s stone slab but decided not to say anything for the time being.
On the children’s first day of school, Karina returned to the inn with her heart pounding as if it was her school day.
Even in the morning, the children looked a little nervous, so she was half worried and half looking forward.
But as soon as she opened the door to their room, all her worries disappeared when she saw the children running towards her.
“It was fun!”
Melissa shouted more energetically than ever.
“It was really fun. The teacher said I read really well. I even got candy today!”
“That’s great. How about Roland?
“I liked it too.”
But Karina felt an unusual shadow on Roland’s face, which seemed as bright as usual. Most of all, Melissa was so excited, but she didn’t quite understand how calm Roland was.
Perhaps because they had grown up alone in an orphanage, Roland was more than just a caring brother for Melissa.
When Melissa gets excited, Roland gets excited too. When Melissa had a hard time, Roland had a hard time too.
That is exactly what Lord Lenque took advantage of harshly.
Karina asked softly toward Roland.
“Roland, what happened?”
Roland was really surprised as if he had never expected such a question, but then he answered in a calm and plain tone.
“Nothing.”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
Melissa alternately stared at Karina and Roland with a look that seemed to know something.
Karina isn’t indifferent enough to ask Roland in front of Melissa, so she turned the topic to Melissa’s school life. Fortunately, Melissa seemed to have had a really good time.
Karina checked the children’s lunch boxes. The children emptied out the sandwiches she had thoroughly made sure they like.
‘I’m glad you enjoyed your lunch.’
If Roland was in such a difficult situation that he couldn’t even eat lunch properly, she would have gone to school right away.
Fortunately, that’s not the case now.
A few hours later.
Melissa fell asleep much earlier than Roland as usual. Karina nudged Roland, who’s still tossing and turning in the bed.
“Mom…?”
“Roland, can we talk?”
Roland hesitated but didn’t refuse.
“…Yes.”
“Let’s go. I’ll buy you honey tea.”
Roland’s face lit up. Honey tea sold in the lobby of the inn was one of the children’s favorite drinks.
Karina bought two cups of honey tea with two coins and handed one to Roland. Roland sipped the honey tea frantically.
“Is it that good?”
“Yeah.”
Roland’s round eyes sparkled.
“Buy it often. I’ll give you an allowance every month from now on.”
“…?”
Roland’s mouth fell open.
He wanted to express his gratitude but nothing seemed to come out, he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“I don’t give a lot. But it’ll be enough for you guys to play.”
Karina hasn’t given the children allowances in the meantime. It was because she had never received any allowance and had no idea how much she should give.
However, seeing the children paying attention to even a single honey tea, which can be bought with a penny made her want to give them an allowance.
“Th-Thank you.”
“You have nothing to be thankful for. I want you guys to be happy with the allowance that I give to you.”
“Well, it’s my first time getting an allowance.”
Roland’s eyes sparkled.
Karina fully understood the child’s mind.
When she was young, there were many children of Karina’s age in Lord Lenque’s mansion. The children were given allowance on their birthdays, which came only once a year.
Thinking about it now, it was only enough money to buy a few cups of honey tea, but how envious she was of the fact that they receive allowance!
Karina waited until Roland’s excitement subsided before quietly opened her mouth.
“I never got one.”
“…Mom.”
Roland sounded like he was about to cry.
“I didn’t have a father since I was born, and my mother… it was like I didn’t have one. That’s why I always envied the other kids.”
“W-we did too.”
Roland’s face darkened in an instant. It reminded him of his time at the orphanage.
“So I want to raise you guys happier than anyone else in the world.”
“Mom…”
Karina looked at Roland with a big heart. It may have been simple, but she couldn’t just ignore the child who was struggling.
“Roland, what was the most difficult thing at school today?”
“…!”
Roland was greatly flustered when he was asked an unexpected question.
“If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to. But if you think it’s going to make your school life difficult, feel free to ask me for help.”
She has a pretty good guess.
The children may have made fun of Roland for being a widow’s son. They might have made fun of him for looking poor.
Or maybe Roland was struggling for a variety of reasons Karina didn’t think of. In any case, Karina didn’t want to let Roland go through the hardship alone.
“…It’s not like that.”
“Can you tell me?”
“…”
Roland hesitated and opened his mouth, but then closed it again. Karina patted Roland on the back to reassure him.
There was plenty of time. She could have spent the night together with Roland. The truth finally came out of his mouth, which had been silent for a long time.
“That… They say I can’t be with Melissa. Of course, I thought we’d be together forever…”
“…”
Karina looked at Roland for a moment, speechless.
In her vague past-life memory of school, students were divided into classes by age, learning proficiency, and gender.
So of course, Karina thought that Roland and Melissa would be studying separately, but she had no idea what impact it would have on both of them.
“So I asked to be in the same classroom as Melissa. I keep asking… I begged, but no one listened to me.”
“…Roland, have you ever thought about why Melissa and you ended up in another classroom?”
“They say that I can read a little better than Melissa. I know how to count better. If I knew this would happen, I would have pretended not to know.”
Karina sighed.
She knew well what it meant for Roland to be separated from Melissa, so she tried to ask for them to be in the same class if possible. But there’s such a standard, so she can’t just ask for it.
‘Maybe this is what’s better for both of them.’
Karina swallowed her dry saliva.
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Roland tried to stay close to Melissa’s side as much as possible in Lord Lenque’s mansion. He couldn’t live like this for the rest of his life.
“Roland, you don’t have to stay with Melissa all the time.”
“I have to protect Melissa!”
* * *
(T/N: It was always emphasized how much Melissa means to Roland, but this chapter just proves it. I hope he’ll be able to move on from his trauma at the mansion soon ◕︵◕)