I quickly shook my head, choosing an excuse, and then paused.
âNo, wait. But maybe⊠Maybe itâs not a bad situation?â
Wouldnât there be at least one kid who was smarter than the others and had some ability with mental arithmetic?
Even I, the daughter of Enoch Rubinstein, who is equally superior.
âAs the main characterâs daughter, canât I be a little smarter?â
There is a lot of work to do, so I canât waste time learning multiplication tables repeatedly.
Rather, letâs take the basic level and start graduating sooner rather than later.
I say âyayâ after thinking about it.
âTeacher! Am I right?â
âY, yes⊠How did you do it?â
âUng! It was easy because the teacher taught me well!â
âNo, what did I tell youââ
âIf two apples pop up three times, it becomes six! Thank you for teaching me, teacher.â
I bowed politely in my seat.
âBut, I didnât tell you that if nineteen apples are made nine times, it becomes one hundred and seventy-oneâ.â
âT, teacher!â
Letâs just move on. Please.
I pretended I wanted to learn more as I rolled my short legs under the desk.
âYou said multiplication and then division! Itâs so much fun! Please tell me quickly!â
ââŠ.â
Mrs Lena blinked her eyes blankly, and then, with excitement, she looked over her dry lips.
She said this as she put the question papers she was holding on the table.
âI, in my opinion, princess⊠You must be an extraordinary genius of the world that comes out once in a hundred yearsâŠ.â
Ugh, this isâ.
âHuh. Lilith?â
âWhat is extraordinary?â
Theo and Leon say one word at a time.
âPrincess, I will do my best in your education from now on.â
Mrs Lena is determined.
In the meantime, when I solved a few multiplication problems and heard the sound of a genius, I felt so embarrassed that I couldnât even put it into words.
I never dreamed that this action would lead to a huge future disasterâ.
* * *
Late in the afternoon.
Enoch was constantly scribbling his pen in his office.
âHaa.â
His daughterâs guesses that he would be busy turned out to be true.
In order to take over all the duties of the duke that Nordic had been in charge of, even ten of his bodies were not enough.
âI donât have time to play with the princessâŠ.â
It was a pain to get used to the Dukeâs title again after abandoning it for seven years, but he worked hard.
To stay as Duke Enoch rather than James Brown, his return to work is an unavoidable task.
âWow, no more!â
There were still half of the papers piled up like a mountain, but Enoch jumped up to his feet.
He didnât want to be an ugly dad who didnât even play with her because he was busy.
âI have to play with the princess.â
Enoch threw the pen away and quickly left the office.
Bump.
When he opened the door, the butler was standing there as if he was just about to come in.
âOh, Rem.â
âWhere are you going?â
âTo my daughter.â
âBut the princess is going out?â
âWhat? with who?â
âLady Ordia took her out. She said that she would go to a dessert shop after fitting the princessâ clothes in the dressing room. The twins Young Master also went with them.â
âWow, Nunim. Sheâs so mean. Without me?
âHoho, is it time for the Young Lord to go on a leisurely trip to the capital?â
Enoch muttered as he returned to his seat after seeing Remâs big smile.
ââŠThen I will just finish it, well. But why are you here?â
âIâm going to report this and that because I think youâll be curious. Didnât the princess have her first class today?
âThatâs right, I asked my father to give her a etiquette teacher. How was my daughter? She probably had a hard time studying, which wasnât fun.â
âOh, no. All the teachers really praised me and returned home. The Great Lord is very pleased with the report.â
Rem held up both thumbs.
âAs expected, Young Lord. The princess did not neglect her education either.â
âWhat are you talking about. What have I done? What happened to my daughter? No, andâ wait. Teachers? Did you say âteachersâ now?â
âYes. Social Studies, Mathematics, Economics, Literature, History, and Etiquette. Even though it was my first classââ
Remâs words were blurred.
It was because of Enochâs reaction, which shook his chin as if he were angry.
âW, what happened? Is there a problem?â
âGet out of the way.â
âYoung Lord? Excuse me?â
Enoch came out with a loud noise after pushing Rem.
The place where he was furiously headed was his fatherâs office, Nordic Rubinstein.
âFather!â
When Enoch slammed the door open without knocking, Nordic, who was talking to the woman with glasses, gave a sharp impression.
âWhat are you doing?â
âAre you joking? Still, father, I trusted you and entrusted her to you, but you leave her at her desk all day?â
Bangâ!
âOh, my!â
The woman standing next to him was surprised when Enoch, who approached like lightning, stamped his fist on the desk.
âI definitely told you to just give her an etiquette teacher.â
âLower your voice.â
âDid you lock up a seven-year-old in the study room, except for meals?â
He only asked for the basic etiquette of the nobles because she needed to learn it.
Society and economyâwhat else? Enochâs eyes were turned upside down upon receiving Remâs absurd report.
Nordic responded back calmly.
âShe is a child with the surname of Rubinstein.. Should I do that when she lack learning?â
âMy daughter is seven years old. Sheâs still old enough to want to play. And before she entered the training center, you said you would only teach her basic etiquette. When she get back, Iâll figure it out andâ!â
âStop it. I also asked the teachers to only doing introduction today. It was Lilith who said she wanted to take a class.â
âHa, father.â
With a desperate breath of anger, Enoch swept his hair.
âLilith is a mature child. She had already reading her grandfatherâs eyes. She couldnât just say hello and send the teacher away, so she would have had to take the class more than once.â
âIs that so? But thatâs not what I was told. Instead, they all said that Lilith seemed to have received her education not appropriate for her age.â
âShe didnât really teach anything. Sheâs just a smart kid.â
Enoch added, grinding his teeth.
âEnough, send everyone back except the etiquette teacher. And father, get rid of my daughterâs education. Sheâll do the rest with after she go to the training center.â
Enoch, who had warned him, turned around and tried to leave, but only then found the woman standing next to him and stared at her.
âWho are you?â
âI, I, the mathââ
Enoch closed his eyes and took his time to calm down.
âExcuse me, Duke? Would you like to listen to me for a moment?â
âStop being angry and listen to the teacher. Itâs Mrs. Lena, who is in charge of mathematics.â
âI have nothing to listen to.â
Enoch, who looked at Mrs Lena with displeasure, added.
âYou donât have to come tomorrow.â
âI, I canât. Duke.â
âWhat?â
âThe Princess has a natural talent for mathematics. She is also passionate about learning. I have to teach her more now.â
âIâll take care of it. Iâm not saying I wonât teach her. Slowly for her ageââ
Srrk.
Mrs Lena unfolded a rolled-up piece of paper in front of Enoch, who was talking.
The crooked handwriting belonged to Lilith.
Enoch, who was looking at the paper for a moment, gritted his teeth.
ââŠYou made a seven-year-old do multiplication. Even 19 times 9âŠ.â
âThis is not all!â
âIâve only taught you addition and subtraction yetââ
âYes, yes! I asked the princess about her progress, and she said she even learned subtraction from the Duke. When she asked me to teach her multiplication, I only taught her the principle that 2 times 3 equals 6. But.â
Mrs Lena opened some more sheets of paper she was holding on her desk.
There were traces of division, regular operation, and even fractions and prime numbers.
Enochâs mouth opened wide when he saw it.
âAre you kidding me now? What did you do to a seven-year-old?â
âP, please calm down. I was afraid it would be difficult, so I said I would only tell her about division, but the princess said it was so much fun and asked me to teach her more.â
Mrs Lena calmly pointed to the test paper.
âBesides, look. She didnât get a single question wrong. I recognized 19 times 9 since she calculated it with her head.â
Mrs Lena added in her serious voice.
âThe princess is a genius. She is a math genius who might only show up once every hundred years.â
ââŠ.â
âIf I teach one, she know ten. When I told her about division, she immediately learned the concept of fractions. She was curious about the number between 0 and 1, so she tried to count the decimal point by herself.â
âThatâsââ
âI really didnât do anything. I was curious if this was really the level of a seven-year-old child, so I asked other teachers.â
âLook.â
After receiving Mrs Lenaâs words, Nordic took out the results from todayâs class that he had kept in a drawer.
âThe other teachers were only thinking about getting to know Lilith. Lilith was the one who said it was fun and asked them to teach her. Looking at it, it wasnât like she was forced to do something she didnât want to do.â
Enoch quietly scanned his daughterâs crooked handwriting.
Society, economy, literature, historyâ.
It was definitely something she had learned for the first time, but it was well organized.
âDuke.â
Mrs Lena said it as she lifted up her glasses.
âThe princess is definitely a genius. And watching her as she did it, no. You can never make up a face that enjoys learning.â
ââŠ.â
âGenius.â
Enochâs eyes, which had been silent, blinked slowly.
âShe is really genius.â
Mrs Lenaâs voice was like a devil whispering in his ear.
âA total genius.â
Soon, the corners of Enochâs lips twitched as if they were going to rise.