Chapter 5
Rashid met his new tutor one week after the day he ran into Tericia in the garden.
“Good day, young master. I’m Adler Reissfeld.”
A man entered the library carrying a large basket, greeting Rashid with a polite bow.
The basket was covered with a cloth, hiding its contents.
Is it a snack? Rashid tilted his head curiously but quickly stood to greet him.
“Welcome.”
Well now—would you look at that.
For siblings who didn’t share blood, they were surprisingly alike.
Just like his sister, this boy had calm, composed eyes that didn’t match his age.
He was polite, yet a subtle wall could still be felt.
“You must be the new tutor? The butler mentioned you were coming.”
It seemed Rashid didn’t know that Tericia had arranged for Adler to be here.
What is that girl keeping so secretive for?
Adler grumbled inwardly but corrected him.
“I’m not your tutor just yet. You’ll need to pass a test first.”
“Oh…”
Rashid looked momentarily startled, as if the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind.
Compared to his sister, this expression of childish confusion was actually endearing.
Adler hid a small smirk.
“What kind of test?”
“May I sit?”
“Of course.”
Rashid gestured toward the chair at the desk, but Adler walked over to the sofa instead and sat down.
He carefully placed the basket on the low table in front of him.
“Come sit here. Exams should be taken comfortably, after all.”
“But… all my previous tutors insisted studying must be done at a desk…”
“That’s because tutors with no real talent obsess over things like location and textbooks. Come on.”
Rashid, still looking a little lost, quickly composed himself and followed the unexpected tutor’s instructions.
“You just need to answer the questions I give you.
You can take your time to think, or answer spontaneously—whichever you prefer. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
What polite siblings, Adler thought.
How was it they both spoke so formally and respectfully?
At the very least, they both pass the respect test.
Pleased, Adler’s lips curled into a slight grin.
It was the kind of grin Roben Heinz had once described as “seriously annoying.”
“Alright, let’s begin.”
“Yes.”
Rashid answered steadily.
“You’re familiar with the clock tower in the town square, aren’t you?”
“…Yes.”
The boy nodded. It was something he already knew.
He looked curious to see where Adler was going with it.
“Yes, it’s quite tall.
Some children even say it’s the tallest structure in the world.”
“……”
“And I happen to have a lump of gold.”
When Adler removed the cloth from the basket, what appeared was a large golden stone—roughly twice the size of a grown man’s fist—wrapped with a yellow ribbon.
He gently pushed the basket forward.
“Come up with a way to measure the height of the clock tower using this.”
“…Pardon?”
Even though Rashid looked surprised, Adler didn’t take back his words.
“…Uh…”
Rashid mumbled for a moment, but when he realized this wasn’t a joke, his expression grew serious.
He began thinking carefully.
After a short silence, he opened his mouth.
“There must be stairs inside the clock tower, right?”
“There are.”
“Then…”
Rashid looked from the golden stone to Adler.
“First…”
“Yes?”
“I’d measure the height of one step using the gold. Then I’d count all the stairs and calculate the total.”
Not a perfect answer—but better than using the gold to measure the height one stone at a time.
“Not bad. And?”
“One more thing. I’d tie a string to the gold and lower it from the top of the tower.
Then I’d measure the length of the string.”
“Oho.”
Adler let out a quiet breath of admiration before he could stop himself.
It was a better answer than he expected.
The young heir of House Hespelt was bright, quick-witted, and perceptive.
“He’s actually quite interesting.”
Adler’s opinion of Rashid had just taken a sharp turn upward.
“And finally…”
Rashid picked up a piece of paper, wrote something on it, folded it in half so the content wouldn’t be visible, and handed it to Adler.
“I hope you find it amusing.”
Adler glanced at the boy’s face before opening the note and reading it.
“…Ha.”
Letting out a breath like he was at a loss for words, he suddenly burst out laughing—loudly enough for those outside to hear.
Rashid simply waited with a calm face for the laughter to subside, his expression unwavering.
After laughing for quite a while, Adler wiped the corners of his eyes and looked at him.
“Why didn’t you just tell me this out loud?”
“To catch someone’s attention, you have to do things a little differently.”
Well, would you look at that.
There was a mischievous streak beneath the composed exterior.
Adler was honestly impressed.
“Wasn’t it more effective than just saying it out loud?”
“I admit—it was. Not bad at all.”
“Did you like my answer?”
“Yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard one I liked this much.”
With his laughter spent, Adler looked genuinely refreshed.
“Well then…”
“Lessons will begin in three days. Until then, get plenty of rest. My assignments won’t be easy.”
Relief flickered across Rashid’s face.
Up close, he still looked like a child. But that hidden sharpness made him far more appealing.
Adler was starting to think this student might actually be fun to teach.
“Thank you for answering my strange questions so sincerely.”
“They were interesting.”
“I thought so too.”
Rashid blinked for a moment, not quite used to Adler’s blunt honesty. It might take him a while to adjust to this tutor’s way of speaking.
“But regarding that method…”
Adler glanced at the paper again.
“Isn’t it a bit of a waste to use that much gold just for an experiment?”
“Well, it’s to welcome a teacher, after all. I shouldn’t be stingy.”
That cheeky answer made Adler’s lips curl into a grin. At the very least, he believed people should know how to use their talents wisely.
In that regard, the young heir passed with flying colors.
He’d fully grasped the problem and presented the best solution he could offer.
Fourteen years old…
The clever younger brother Tericia spoke of had turned out to be more impressive than expected.
“I look forward to learning from you, Master.”
“And I look forward to teaching you, young master.”
Rashid bowed politely, and Adler returned the gesture—this time with genuine respect.
It had been a long while since anything broke the monotony of his life.
As Adler stepped out of the room, he ran into none other than Roben Heinz, who had been pacing nervously nearby.
Seeing him now running up, panting, he looked more like a flustered bear than the commander of the knights.
“Tell me nothing went wrong! I heard laughter all the way outside.
You didn’t do anything weird, did you? You didn’t offend the young master, right?”
“Pick one thing to worry about. One.”
Adler replied with laughter still lingering in his voice.
Seeing him in such a good mood—something exceedingly rare—Heinz began to feel even more uneasy.
“Wait… don’t tell me… you gave him that ridiculous gold-rock question?”
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s the perfect way to weed out blockheads.”
“You didn’t!?”
Heinz went pale. Adler just clicked his tongue and shook his head in disbelief.
And this guy’s supposed to be a knight commander? The young master honestly seemed more mature.
“You—Commander of the Knights—always acting like—”
“So, what happened?!”
“We start in three days.”
“Really?!”
Heinz’s face brightened immediately.
“Your young master… he’s something else. I liked him.”
Adler gave him a light tap on the chest and strode off, his steps lighter than usual.
He didn’t even spare a glance for his friend, who stood frozen with a bewildered expression.
“…What’s with him?”
Heinz muttered as he stared after him.
He was starting to worry—was it really a good idea to let Adler teach the young master?
Back in the study, Rashid remained alone.
On the table sat the basket with the gold stone wrapped in yellow ribbon, and beside it, the folded paper that had made Adler laugh out loud.
Rashid quietly stared at the final answer he had written.
“Bribe the architect with gold to find out the height of the clock tower.”
It was, by far, the most absurd answer he’d come up with.
And yet, it was the first idea that came to mind—and oddly enough, he liked it.
He had chosen to write it down rather than say it aloud, thinking it would have more impact that way.
And it had. Far more than he’d expected.
Adler had seemed genuinely pleased with the answer.
Rashid hadn’t anticipated that much laughter.
Adler Reissfeld.
The third son of the Reissfeld family, a genius disowned by his own house.
Opinions about him were sharply divided,
but he was well-known enough that even Rashid had heard his name.
He was someone Lady Boren would never have allowed inside the estate—so how had he gotten here?
Tericia’s face briefly crossed his mind.
“…No way.”
It didn’t make sense.
Seven years.
They had spent seven years as if strangers,
living in the same household but barely acknowledging each other.
But lately… Tericia had seemed different.
She looked a little thinner—perhaps she really had been sick.
Her complexion wasn’t great, and she looked fragile, like she might collapse at any moment.
But her eyes—her eyes were different.
They didn’t avoid him anymore.
They looked at him warmly, longingly, like…
“Rashid. My little brother. My precious little brother.”
Just like back then.
No. He couldn’t allow himself to hope.
He couldn’t be foolish enough to believe again.
To reach out, only to be abandoned once more.
And yet… if, by some miracle, the sister he remembered had returned…
“…Ridiculous.”
The disbelief in his voice trembled slightly, betraying the fragile hope behind it.
His heart began to race as if he had just thought something he shouldn’t have.
The next day, a message came from the Duke.
Rashid was to move into the main residence.
Specifically—into the finest room on the third floor.
The room that had once belonged to Tericia.
＊＊＊
Smack!
A sharp crack echoed through the room, and Mandy gasped as she instinctively inhaled.
Tericia’s hairpin flew across the floor and landed with a dull thud.
It was the amber-studded pin Mandy had chosen that morning, thinking it would suit her hair color.
“Tericia, you—!”
Crash!
Lady Boren couldn’t control her fury and slammed her hand against the table beside her.
A flower vase went flying.
It shattered, scattering fragments across the floor.
Thankfully, no one was hurt.
“I told you not to get any ideas!
And yet—you! You!”
Mandy, standing behind Tericia, flinched at Lady Boren’s shrill, hysterical voice.
She wanted to run from the room immediately,
but with her mistress standing perfectly still, she couldn’t move either.
“How dare you do this?
Do you know what I went through to have that brat banished to the annex?
And now you bring him back? Are you trying to hand the dukedom over to him?!”
It was never ours to begin with, Mother.
Tericia said nothing, even as the thought crossed her mind.
She knew that saying it aloud would mean nothing—her mother would never accept it.
She blinked slowly, deliberately.
“It was bound to happen eventually.
Better to step aside gracefully than be thrown out in disgrace.”
“Bound to happen? Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch it happen? Do you really think I’ll let that brat take the dukedom?! This never would’ve happened if you hadn’t spoken to His Grace!”
Why was her mother so obsessed with the dukedom?
Tericia’s brow creased slightly—barely enough to notice.
