The Price of Knowledge
My daughter, Monica, was quite bright, but...
“Ugh…”
In stark contrast, Edward was struggling to hold onto a picture book in front of Vera. I had taught him how to write the name “Edward,” but looking at his attempt, it was hard to tell if he had written it or just drawn a series of squiggles.
“*Snore*…”
He was now nodding off completely.
“Wake up, student Edward.”
“…Mm. Ah. My apologies.”
As far as Vera remembered, that book was the same textbook Monica had used when she was ten. He didn’t seem dim-witted when he spoke, so why was he so incapable of focusing?
“You seem very tired. Shall we stop here for today?”
At the mention of ending the lesson, the look in Edward’s eyes changed instantly. The lingering drowsiness vanished as if it had never been there. Fearing she might change her mind, Edward hurriedly offered a greeting and bolted out of the room. Seeing him move with such agility, it was clear he really, really hated studying.
“What should I do…”
Vera pondered the new task she had taken on. What was the best way to make Edward focus on his studies? Monica had been so easy to teach because she was brilliant; it seemed she would need to devise a completely new method for someone like Edward.
‘For focus, one needs goals and rewards…’
That evening, the two of us were having a simple dinner in the dining room.
“Sir Edward, what is in your room?”
“My room, you say?”
Why was she asking that in the middle of a meal? What was in there, anyway… “A bed, a candlestick, a wardrobe…”
“Nothing special besides those?”
“Hmm, nothing comes to mind.”
I hadn’t been using that room for very long to begin with. I’d spent more nights sleeping outside during the expedition than I had in that bed. And the room I used before the Regression was a completely different place.
“Then it would be better for me to go and see for myself. May I go and take a look after we finish eating?”
“Yes, but what is this about…”
“I’ll tell you when we get there.”
Having finished dinner quickly, Vera and I headed up to my room. Vera held a small notebook and a pen in her hands. Is it study time again?
Vera looked around my room and began scribbling something rapidly into her notebook. The pages flipped with a rhythmic flap-flap sound, as if there were so much to write. Then, she set the pen down and began tearing out pages one by one, placing them on various objects around the room.
Is this that thing?
“There, it will be much easier to learn now.”
“Are these the charms that witches use?”
“It’s nothing like that.”
Seeing the letters scattered everywhere already attacking my brain, I was fairly certain they were cursed talismans.
“Writing is something you learn best by writing it often and being exposed to it frequently. If I write the names on everything you see like this…”
Vera pulled out another sheet, wrote something on it, and pinned it to the front of her bodice. She could have just laid it there without the pin.
“What is written on that one?”
“My name. It says ‘Vera’.”
“Oho.”
I caught the drift. So the paper on the bed said ‘Bed,’ and the one on the book said ‘Book,’ I suppose.
“I’ve written the names of the objects on everything that catches your eye. This should make it easier to understand how to pronounce and write them, right?”
“Ah, I’m so tired…”
“I know you washed up and took a nap before dinner.”
Certainly, if things were set up like this and I kept looking at them, the words would naturally come to mind. I’ll just take it slow.
“And since I’m afraid you’ll just go to sleep if I tell you to memorize them, I’ll give you a reward if you memorize them all.”
“A reward?”
That changed things.
“Do you like snacks?”
Vera pulled a cookie from a jar. Ugh, there were way too many raisins in it.
“No, I’m not a fan of raisins…”
Crunch—
“It’s delicious… Shall we go with something else then?”
“How about you grant me one wish?”
“A wish? Isn’t that a bit too much…”
“Come now, would I ask for something unreasonable? And you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. You can listen to it first and decide if it’s something you can fulfill.”
“…Nothing lewd. And you have to memorize them all tonight for me to grant it.”
I would make it happen tonight, no matter what.
“That’s impossible…”
Judging by how he was acting earlier, I thought it would be impossible to finish tonight. But once a reward was on the line, Edward began memorizing the words at a terrifying speed.
Thirty minutes was enough to memorize twenty words. The test was conducted by collecting the papers, shuffling them, and picking one at random to quiz him, and Edward succeeded in reading every single one without a single mistake.
“Were you just not trying hard on purpose?”
“Oh, not at all. I’m just working harder now.”
Vera felt like she had been completely fooled by Edward. If she had known, she would have prepared much harder questions.
“Well, I made a promise to my student, so I must keep it… What is your wish?”
Vera’s mind grew complicated. What could the wish be? He must have brought it up because there was something he desired. Money? Power? If he wanted those things, he would have asked Monica, not her.
‘Or is he going to ask for something lewd again?’
She had told him lewd things were off-limits. But Vera thought that if it were the headstrong Edward, he might demand it anyway. When she considered that his libido might be pent up from the expedition, her suspicion turned into near-certainty.
What would he ask for? With her hands? With her breasts like last time? Or would he ask to actually put it in…?
While Vera’s mind was spiraling into delusions, Edward rose from his seat. A pleasant scent drifted from him as he slowly approached. A strange, intoxicating mixture of his natural scent and herbs. As Edward trapped her by resting his arms on the chair, Vera had no choice but to ask in a trembling voice.
“W-what reward did you want, I asked?”
“Vera. Kiss me.”
“A kiss?”
She felt a slight sense of deflation. They had done much more than that, so she had expected him to ask for something more direct, but it was just a kiss. Vera felt her overheated brain cool down slightly.
“I told you, nothing lewd.”
“How is a kiss lewd?”
“It is lewd. And where is it appropriate to call your teacher by her first name? Hurry up and state your wish properly.”
“Teacher. Please kiss me.”
“What’s forbidden is forbidden. If you don’t change your wish, I’ll consider the wish null and void.”
“A-alright, Teacher.”
Edward fell into deep thought. After a short silence, what came out of Edward’s mouth was quite unexpected for Vera.
“Teacher. May I postpone making my wish?”
“You’re not doing it now?”
Like a horse with a carrot dangled in front of it, Edward’s abilities rose exponentially when a reward was placed before his eyes. He wanted to postpone the very motivation that drove him?
“I feel like I’ll study better if I do it now, and wouldn’t it be a shame if the momentum were broken while asking for a wish?”
“Hmm…”
In Vera’s opinion, Edward wasn’t the type to be lazy. When it came to studying, it was best to take breaks regularly and have someone by his side to help him study in between.
“Are you protesting because I didn’t kiss you just now?”
“That’s not the reason. Though it would be a lie to say I don’t have that desire at all…”
“Fine. A student says he wants to study hard on his own, so a teacher shouldn’t stop him. In that case, since the difficulty has increased, I should increase the reward, right? If you study without resting, I’ll consider granting an even bigger wish.”
At the mention of increasing the scale of the wish, Edward silently began to study hard. Just how big was the wish he wanted to ask of her that he was memorizing so diligently? Vera, who had expected him to grow tired and quit after a while, began to feel a creeping sense of anxiety as Edward memorized two more sets of words.
Just what kind of demand was he planning to make?
‘Don’t tell me, this time he’s going to ask for my body?’
Until now, Edward and Vera had only repeated sexual acts without penetration. And since the last time was before the expedition, if he hadn’t taken care of it himself, he would surely ask Vera to take care of it, claiming his pent-up libido was causing him trouble. Perhaps he wanted to use his wish to ensure they had a proper relationship.
She had said lewd acts were absolutely forbidden, but hadn’t he shamelessly asked for a kiss just a moment ago? But would she be able to firmly refuse Edward? Because of the nights she had spent alone during the expedition, Vera couldn’t answer that question with any confidence.
When she thought about whether she could coldly cut off a young man who was working this hard with the sole determination of taking her body, a thought would suddenly pop up in a corner of her heart: He studied this hard, surely this much is fine.
As Vera was lost in such thoughts, her eyes landed on Edward, who had been stuck on one spot for several minutes, unable to continue his studies.
“That’s enough for now~”
“Ah…”
Edward showed a hint of disappointment.
“Rest is also a part of studying. Doesn’t your head feel like it’s going to split?”
“A little, yes.”
“That’s because you studied too hard without resting.”
“But my wish…”
“I’ll grant you almost anything even if you ask now. Don’t worry.”
It had already been proven that he had studied as hard as he could to his limit.
“It’s because it’s not just ‘almost anything’.”
“Even so, I have to know what it is to know what you’re talking about. Hurry up and tell me.”
“C-can you cancel the marriage with Monica?”