Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Reserve Heir Classes Begin!
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‘Phew. Dad really must’ve been incredibly kind. To think he was unprecedented in this villain family!’
I’d tried to sort out my thoughts a bit before the lessons started, but the masked boy kept talking to me and ruined it. Still, there was a harvest.
From what the masked boy said, I was now completely convinced.
Dad really had been an angel-like existence.
‘He got chased out of the family, barely came back, and now his and my deaths are already treated as a done deal—even that little kid knows about it.’
Phew. Mountains beyond mountains, truly.
I’d asked the boy his name and tried to dig for more info while pretending otherwise, but now I decided to hold back.
It hurt too much.
‘This sucks, seriously.’
It saddened me that Dad’s kind heart was unprecedented ‘in family history.’
Just how alone had Dad been?
You... bad people...
‘How hard must it have been for Dad all this time, protecting his kind heart in this villain family? I’m so upset I could die.’
I clutched my heart tightly.
The boy, about ten years old, who’d been watching me, patted my shoulder and asked curiously.
“You, what’s wrong?”
“Feels like there’s a fishbone stuck here.”
Thinking about Dad struggling alone among all those bad guys made my heart prick like fishbones jabbing into it, over and over. And he was the sweet Dad who deboned my fish every day...
At my words, he muttered like he was talking to himself.
“...Guess I made her think of my tough past.”
The boy, who still hadn’t revealed his name, murmured so softly it was barely audible.
But I had no attention to spare for that.
‘It’s okay, Dad. Now I can protect you.’
I clenched my fist, like a clump of white cotton, and puffed out my cheeks—like a pufferfish swelling up to spray its potent venom.
Just then, footsteps stopped in front of the door.
The teacher had arrived.
***
“First time meeting you. I’m the education officer. Call me comfortably.”
“I’m the family’s discipline officer.”
The education officer had a long, slender body and a long face, while the discipline officer had a broad body and a broad face.
I looked at them and nodded.
“I am Sien, daughter of Matthias—khm khm, no, Matiers. What are your names?”
Unlike the discipline officer, who openly showed his displeasure, the education officer rubbed his hands together apologetically.
“My apologies. For fear of future issues, we can’t precisely disclose our positions or names.”
“I see. Understood.”
I nodded lightly.
But...
‘Hold on. There’s a problem I didn’t anticipate.’
In my second life, I needed to disguise my skills appropriately and play the part of an ordinary kid during these lessons. Only by acting like an unremarkable, average child could I put everyone at ease!
‘I don’t know the level of kids in this world.’
Back in my original rural village, there were hardly any kids. So it didn’t matter if I acted like someone in their second life.
But not here.
‘No, wait—what’s the skill level of a normal child?’
I looked up at the education officer standing before me with my round eyes. I figured I should test the teacher first.
“What are we doing today, Teachy?”
I smiled slightly, revealing my tiny bunny-like front teeth.
The teachers didn’t know, but this was none other than...
Dad’s favorite—Sien’s smile.
The smile that said, I’m just a super duper ordinary baby!
‘To keep kind-hearted Dad from getting startled, I’ll play the perfectly ordinary baby!’
Of course, the very wicked intentions hidden within were a secret.
I gazed at them with sparkling eyes, blinking cutely.
At my question of ‘what are we doing today,’ the mild-mannered education officer opened his mouth warmly.
“You’re still young, Lady Sien, and it hasn’t been long since you came up from the countryside, has it?”
I nodded my round head vigorously and answered energetically.
“Yep!”
He rummaged through the books he’d brought and said kindly.
“Then shall we start with picture books for ages 4-5?”
“Great, no, wonderful!”
I clapped my hands lightly. Picture books? Piece of cake—like eating cake lying down. This’ll be a breeze!
“Then now—”
“Does that make any sense?”
Just then, the discipline officer bellowed. The voice was too loud for my tiny baby ears to handle, so I suddenly covered them. The education officer glanced worriedly at my ears and asked.
“Lady Sien got startled. What doesn’t make sense?”
The discipline officer furrowed his brows like a lumpy potato and said.
“A daughter of the Mirmod family, and at five years old, mere picture books? Speak sense.”
“No. Lady Sien just came up from the countryside recently.”
Watching the two men bicker, I glanced at the boy sitting beside me. He was silently spectating with great interest, showing no intention of taking sides.
So I had no choice but to worry.
‘Just what’s considered average in this family? No one to ask.’
When I tilted my head slightly with a puzzled look, my chubby cheeks jiggled.
“Then what should we do?”
The education officer, who’d been staring blankly at me, clutched his heart and muttered.
“So cute... those tiny baby cheeks...”
Finally, someone in the Mirmod family was falling for my cuteness! I cockily tilted my head and made a flower bud pose toward him.
“Hm?”
At that, the education officer—who’d been dazed and wobbly—widened his eyes and shouted.
“No. Let’s read picture books, picture books right away!”
That was when.
“Don’t let personal feelings interfere with duties.”
The discipline officer, holding a large book, quietly pulled out the one tucked under his arm and declared.
“Lady Sien. Picture books are for two-year-olds.”
“Two?”
“Yes. You’re five this year, as I understand. Not an age for trivial picture books.”
He looked down at me coldly. His eyes were frozen solid.
‘My cuteness attack doesn’t work on this guy.’
The discipline officer was blatantly looking down on me, plain as day.
And why not? In his eyes, I was just a doughy country bumpkin kid. Honestly, any goodwill from him would’ve been the weird part.
‘Still, this uncle’s open disdain is kinda annoying?’
“Coming from the countryside with no knowledge of family laws, you should start with this book.”
I narrowed my eyes at the thick, gold-embossed hardcover he held out.
“What’s this?”
“A basic etiquette manual of the Empire.”
“No, that’s too adva—”
“No. Lord Illed did it all.”
“True, but unlike Lord Illed, Lady Sien is still—”
“Are you insulting Lady Sien right now?”
“Shouldn’t we have her try it first, then adjust the difficulty?”
Even the clearly mild-mannered education officer seemed to be losing ground.
‘I need to act just ordinary enough to blend into this family perfectly. Too underestimated or too standout is trouble.’
One discipline officer, one education officer. And one mysterious masked boy next to me who kept staring at my profile.
After several rounds of debate, the discipline officer finally flashed a victorious smile.
He held out the large book to me, smirking with just the corner of his mouth.
“Here you go, Lady Sien. Give it a read.”
“Hm.”
I tilted my head at the book on the desk. The education officer handed me a small pencil and whispered.
“With this pencil, just try the first page. If it’s too hard, you don’t have to.”
“She’ll do it all, obviously.”
“Hm, looks pretty tough.”
Doing half would satisfy both their expectations.
I hummed a tune and scribbled answers away.
***
The discipline officer, Rilmi, snorted down at Sien—the little girl who’d only recently returned to the family after her banishment was lifted.
Consistent with his sour expression, he inwardly despised her.
‘Damn it. Thought I’d be teaching a tyrant’s child!’
He was a prestigious scholar from the Academy.
When first invited as the ducal house’s discipline officer, he’d been swollen with ambition for power. He’d expected at least fifteen-year-old young masters.
‘One’s the daughter of a fallen former heir, the other’s a masked adoptee who could drop dead anytime. What a bunch of losers.’
He’d thought he’d teach the young masters and ladies closest in the succession race!
To end up teaching these pathetic brats infuriated him.
So picking a book so tough even adults struggled to parse was pure spite. He’d mock her plenty if she failed.
‘Not their fault, but damn, it pisses me off.’
The top powers in the Mirmod family now were Axel and Delphia Mirmod, tipped as leading ducal candidates.
He’d fawn over kids close to such powers mentally, but he could torment a worthless adoptee and a dumb country kid.
‘That’s the law of the jungle world.’
Looking down at Sien’s round head, he decided to vent his anger.
‘...Wait, hold on.’
But then, he flinched at the adoptee’s glare stabbing his face.
Leonhardt or Reinhardt—whatever that subtle name was. He’d heard the kid was gloomy and quiet.
‘Serpent-like prying eyes.’
Cheeky for an adoptee.
Rilmi thought he’d properly educate Sien to crush her self-esteem, then target Leonhardt next.
But something was off.
Sien shook the book with a bright, lively voice, flashing her bunny teeth in a grin.
“Done.”
He glanced down, ready to sneer all he wanted.
He surely had.
***
Truth be told, the book he’d given wasn’t that hard for me, a reincarnator, to handle.
Reborn with my memories intact, I’d spent ages reading with the god who sent me here—to blend naturally into this world.
But I couldn’t reveal all I knew, so I planned to show just half.
“No—”
The two stared at the book I handed them, frozen speechless.
‘What? This feels ominous?’
I bit my lip slightly.
“You... solved all of this?”
“Nope. Some I didn’t know.”
Truth is, I knew everything here. Second life, plus merits from the god: book knowledge as a penalty bonus.
—But I couldn’t say that.
“Even this much is impressive.”
“How is this possible?”
“If we’d done picture books, we’d have missed this treasure of a display. If you were truly alone in the countryside, at this level... are you perhaps a genius?”
The education officer gaped at me with wide eyes.
‘Genius? Something’s going wrong?’
I hurriedly denied it.
“Nope. Not smart at all.”
“You’re truly brilliant.”
I doubled down on the denial.
“Just guessed.”
At my words, the kind education uncle shook his head firmly.
“Pardon? How do you guess subjective questions right? So humble too.”
His eyes sparkled!
Smiling so brightly, his mouth split like a Jaws shark!
Nice guy, but overwhelming!
‘Stuck between a rock and a hard place? Should I have pretended to be a total idiot who can’t even read?’
Sweat trickled down my back from the unexpected turn, but I forced a casual smile.
“Duchess Lukella will be overjoyed to hear this!”
The discipline officer, Rilmi, coming to his senses, grumbled.
“Hmph, even if the Duchess knows, she’s already backroom—”
“Already what?”
He itched to say the Duchess was already a backroom old hag.
But even if the Duchess was a backroom old hag in this villain family, she could easily toss out a mere successor discipline officer?
Realizing that late, Rilmi coughed awkwardly a couple times and said.
“Well... isn’t that excessive praise? It’s just what others, even Lord Illed, solved. We’ll bring a harder book tomorrow.”
“What? Isn’t Lord Illed a once-in-a-thousand-years genius?”
Pressing down that discipline officer’s arrogance was satisfying. But seeing the flush on their faces, I got a bit flustered.
‘Tried to hide my power, but too eye-catching?’
The boy who’d been silently watching tapped my desk.
“Dumbass.”
I glanced over and froze.
Intensely burning eyes.
I think this villain’s wary of me—
“Super cool.”
He handed me a small notepad and pen, grinning.
“Autograph.”
Take back what I said earlier.
I think I’ve latched onto the wrong one.
While the two middle-aged education staff exchanged shocked looks, the unknown ten-ish-year-old boy smiled dazzlingly at me and said.
“You. Meet me later real quick. Got something.”
I stared at him blankly.
“No. Don’t wanna.”
“I’ll give you something good.”
Leonhardt’s beautiful lips curved up slightly.
‘...What’s with that smile?’
I swear, this unnamed kid’s smile was the most unsettling I’d ever seen.
***
A few hours later. Duchess Lukella was receiving reports on the direct bloodline children’s every move. Her son Matthias was there too.
The Duchess pushed up her glasses and murmured lowly.
“A honey jar wrapped in cloth said I’m the best?”
Matthias’s expression twisted.
He spoke.
“There must be a misunderstanding. Attendant.”
“L-Lady Sien clearly defended the Duchess—”
The Duchess’s low voice cut off the hesitant attendant.
“So, that little honey jar worried for me that much.”
“Yes. And in her first lesson, she showed astonishing achievement.”
“I see.”
Duchess Lukella glanced at her son Matthias. He was expressionless. But a faint tremor laced his voice.
“My daughter, after all.”
Looking at such Matthias, the Duchess feigned displeasure and spoke.
“We must give a light reward.”
The attendant thought.
What... maybe some candy?
“As reward ----- . Not too grand, so it’ll suffice. Prepare it now.”
At that moment, the attendant’s jaw dropped.
The report in his hand rolled across the floor.