Chapter 16.5
Sharing Information Between Father and Tutor

Translated by: IceCherryEdited by: kemostt

In the Duke Saliente – Hals’s office, in front of the desk stood the man who was in charge of tutoring both Orsis and Alba. Horn was the second son of Count Aries, a family that served the Salientes, and was also a distant relative. He had originally been hired by Hals’s parents to give proper education to the next successor, as he had graduated with high honors from the Academy.

“During class the other day, Alba asked me whether Sophia-sama had not loved Orsis-kun.”

Once a week, Horn would report on Alba’s study progress while he went to Orsis’s school for lunch.

Hals smiled bitterly at Horn’s words. 

His ex-wife, Sophia, was the daughter of a relative whom his mother had doted on. Hals had not objected to the marriage because she was good-looking and worthy to be Duchess, so they ended up getting married. 　

A year later, Orsis was born, and the dukedom was finally secure. 

Hals and Sophia did not have a bad marriage. However, when they were asked if they loved each other, they would answer, “of course”, but in their hearts they would tilt their heads in doubt. A wife was necessary for the prosperity of the ducal family. But was love really necessary? 

His own father and mother had also gotten married because of political relationships. Perhaps that was why his father and mother’s attitudes toward Hals were similar to that of others, and why he had always been told that what was important was producing a good successor. He didn’t think that love was necessary in building a family. 

However, people around them said that they must be a happy couple because they were so close to each other at evening parties and other occasions. That was what was being said until Sophia’s death in a carriage accident.

Hals sighed, wondering if Alba had heard about their so-called ‘close relationship’ from somewhere. Or, when thinking that Alba might’ve known from some kind of form of his unconscious power, he tightened his expression. That was a top secret that could not be revealed to Horn.

In fact, Hals had never shown any affection for Orsis or Sophia until Floro and Alba had come. He only saw his son, Orsis, as his successor, and Orsis seemed to understand that. Orsis had always strived to excel, and he had accepted Orsis in his own way, but whether he loved him or not had been questionable. The nuances of their relationship were best understood by Horn, who had been teaching Orsis for a long time.

“That’s a very difficult question to answer.”

“Yes. Nevertheless, I couldn’t exactly answer yes to his question..”

“I know.”

“I couldn’t possibly lie to that kid.”

Hals wanted to laugh at the Horn’s attitude, which seemed a little mellow. Here’s another one who’s fallen for Alba’s charms, he thought.

At first, Horn had been ordered by the former Duchess of Saliente to make Alba  learn something that would break his self-esteem. 

Horn, who was in a lower position, could not overrule the order. He could easily imagine that if he quit his job as a tutor, someone else would be hired again and would be ordered to do the same thing, not to mention that there would be some sort of retaliation against his family. The Duchess had been a person who could be ruthless to any extent if she thought it would benefit the Duke’s family.

Horn took on the role of tutoring Alba while hiding his inner thoughts and carrying out his orders with clenched fists..

In fact, Alba, who had been bedridden and suffered from major seizures several times a year, had fallen behind in his studies and was not very good at anything but math.

“You can’t even remember that? Your brother Orsis learned this stuff in one night.”

A bitterness sank into Horn’s heart as he mentioned the name of Orsis, who had always been excellent, saying something sarcastic that he was sure would frustrate Alba. He swallowed his sigh as he grasped the pointer, thinking that his current face would be very distorted and ugly.

But Alba was straightforward, replying in a way he hadn’t thought of at all.

“I see! My brother is so brilliant! Wow, that’s just like Brother! I’ll try my best to catch up with him!”

At first, Horn was surprised, as he thought Alba was being sarcastic. However, his expression was twinkling too much, and didn’t look like he was being sarcastic at all. 

After that, he continued to compare Alba’s performance to Orsis’s whenever they came to subjects Alba was weak at, but Alba was pleased with everything.

This was what people referred to as putting someone off their stride.

When he looked at his surroundings, he saw that the ducal house, which had been cold for some time, had become warm and cozy; at the centre of it all was Alba. Hals and Orsis were completely smitten by Alba, who unobtrusively expressed that he loved Orsis whole-heartedly. Horn was also one of the people who became attracted to Alba. 

Before he knew it, he had come to want to tell Alba about the various ways in which Orsis, who was supposed to be the object of comparison, was doing things, and he even wanted to see joy on Alba’s face. Alba’s tutoring, which he had initially wanted to escape desperately, turned out to be one of the most enjoyable things he had ever done in his life. Nevertheless, Horn, knowing his position, created a somber atmosphere in front of the former Duke and Duchess, and only picked up and reported facts that would satisfy them, while in front of Hals, he reported Alba’s honest condition as it was.

Hals finished listening to Horn’s report, and when Horn left the room, he exhaled loudly.

Horn, who had been the former Duchess’s subordinate​, had been a very good tutor to Orsis. However, his harsh verbal treatment of Alba had clearly been overheard by the butler, and there was a time when the duke had seriously wondered whether he should fire him. The reason why he didn’t let him resign right away was because Alba had happily said, “That teacher praises my brother so much!” and, “He tells me how wonderful my brother is! He’s the best teacher ever!” when he reported about his tutor. 

He couldn’t tell Alba how many times he wanted to say with a straight face, “That’s him being sarcastic to you.”　

However, Alba would become a sorry sight when it came to Orsis, so he was unlikely to listen to Hals. Hals, who had bitterly chosen to send his parents to their territory and hold onto Horn, was amused enough to laugh when he finally saw that Horn had also become smitten with Alba. It was a laugh of joy.

Even Bruno, who had been brought in to deal with Alba’s illness, was somehow soft to the latter. 

One day, after his research had progressed, Bruno came to the office and bowed to Hals, asking him to enlarge the greenhouse since he was now able to use generative magic.

Bruno, who was still a child and had not yet developed much magic power, but was now able to use advanced earth magic such as generation magic, seemed to have decided to increase the number of Legare, which was used in Alba’s medicine. Bruno had no hesitation in asserting that he would use the advanced magic for Alba’s sake, even though it would cause him to collapse if he overexerted himself in his current form.

Hals had expanded the greenhouse without a second thought, and Bruno created a forest of Legare with his generating magic. The moment the magic was successful, Bruno collapsed and lost consciousness. At this point, he had won Hals’ trust, although he did not know it.

It might not be an exaggeration to say that the House of Saliente now revolved around Alba.

“I’m really happy that my husband loves Alba so much.”

In the bedroom, Floro smiled as she leaned her body against Hals, looking really happy. It took him quite a long time to come this far, which was why Hals was thrilled by Floro’s fawning attitude. Thinking back, he suddenly remembered his late wife, Sophia had never smiled like this at Orsis.1

“Alba said he couldn’t get mad at me because I look like Orsis.”

“Well, if that child really likes Orsis that much, won’t that be a bit problematic?”

“No, it’s not a problem. Orsis looks very happy.”

“But I wonder whether he is disturbing him, even following him to school.”

“Orsis had begged me, so by all means, so let him do as he pleases.”

Hals hugged Floro’s shoulders and scooped up a tuft of her soft colored hair, which looked just like Alba’s, and kissed it. Floro’s face beamed with happiness before she then frowned a little.

“My husband, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Floro gently pushed Hals’ body, and looked up at him with a blush on her cheeks.

 

IceCherry: I want an extra story of them somehow I’m curious how is their first meeting.