Early morning when the sun does not rise. Theon left the palace to return to Fried.
“I think His Majesty Ray and Princess Dorothea haven’t woken up yet.”
Clara said to Theon, who was leaving the private palace in the early morning alone. It was too early to wake up the two.
“It’s okay because I said goodbye to everyone yesterday. I’m even more sorry to wake you up because it’s too early. Thank you very much for the past few days.”
Theon greeted Clara and the servants who had seen him off. Then he looked up and looked at the detached palace for a moment.
However, someone was looking at him from the second-floor window. It was Dorothea.
‘Did you not sleep tonight?’
Dorothea met Theon’s eyes and disappeared behind the curtain in surprise.
Theon, who was about to wave his hand, lowered the hand he had raised. There was no way that anyone woke up this morning without anybody waking them up on time, so it was more reasonable to assume that she did not sleep.
“the princess seems to be having a hard time sleeping…”
When Theon saw and said that Dorothea was awake right now, it was like asking Dorothea to see him off, so Clara said back.
“Ah, the princess is a bit sleepy. She tends to sleep late and wake up early. Oh, did you ever feel a little uncomfortable about it during your stay, Master?”
“No, not at all. I’m just worried.”
“Don’t Worry. Because the princess usually sleeps little.”
Clara smile.
Dorothea couldn’t sleep for a long time, probably because of insomnia. From what Clara had heard from Dorothea’s former nanny, Dorothea has slept much less than children of the same age since she was a baby. Fortunately, she doesn’t cry often and she is calm, so it wasn’t difficult to take care of her. Even now, Dorothea slept for five hours without Clara waking her up.
“Ah, that’s good.”
‘Dorothea used to sleep very little. Isn’t it special that she was awake the night she dropped my handkerchief and that She is awake now?’
Theon looked into Dorothea’s room once more before getting into the carriage. Dorothea was out of sight.
“Then be careful, young master.”
The carriage’s door closed, and the coachman’s whip drove the horse. The sound of squeaking horses’ hooves moved away.
* * *
“Pour me some tea.”
In my words, Ray brewed tea in hot water and served it. The crimson water was sparkling in the white teacup.
“Do you want me to feed you?”
Then I glared at Ray and drank the tea with my hand.
“How does it taste? it’s okay?”
“It is too tasteless.”
“Sorry. Shall I make it again?”
Ray looked as if he had become my servant. Clara left Crown Prince Ray to do so. Because Ray wanted to relieve the burden on His heart like this.
“No, That’s enough.”
‘If the Crown Prince, who will become emperor, is not dignified…’
He pours tea as instructed, fan if it’s hot, and covers me with a blanket if it’s cold. It was more suited to a servant who was cared for rather than an emperor who served people.
‘I’ll do everything you ask me to do.’
Even if I deliberately twisted the work, Ray said it was okay and helped me with a wide smile. If it had been someone else, they would have already been annoyed and had to quit. I thought that I should get down to business with the silly Ray.
“Ray.”
“yes!”
“Pen and ink. A lot of paper too.”
“Okay! wait!”
As soon as I had finished speaking, Ray ran to Clara and asked where the pen and paper were and brought them back.
There is no other dog that listens well.
I cleared the table of tea and dessert, then laid the paper down.
“I can’t write because I hurt my hand, so please write for me.”
“Okay! What should I write?!”
Ray took a seat next to me and picked up a pen. His bright eyes were waiting for my lips to open.
“Large on top. The study of kingship.”
“The King of Heaven?”
“The study of kingship.”
When Ray asked the question with his eyes wide open, I answered firmly. Ray nodded and scribbled the words ‘the study of kingship’ on the top of the paper. I didn’t like Ray’s bad handwriting, but I kept my mouth shut and said the next verse.
“Medium font, Chapter 1. the genealogy of the Milanaires.”
“Chapter 1 Milanaires,…yes….”
Ray followed the letters as I said them. A crackling sound was heard along the ink-pen, and I looked with hawk eyes to see if Ray had spelled it wrong.
“I wrote it all down.”
“Then write In small letters, In the beginning, there was a first Emperor, Milanaire who dealt with the Spirit of Light.”
“In the beginning…The spirit of light…”
Ray wrote down my verse in a posture that seemed to hit his head on a piece of paper.
I recited a few more lines about the Milanaires, the roots of the Milanaire imperial family, and Ray gently filled the paper. However, when he reached the 3rd Emperor, Rad Milanaire, Ray raised his head and shook his hand as if his hand was hurting.
“Wait, Dorothea. My fingers hurt so much.”
Ray put his pen over the ink bottle and held his hand.
“But why are we suddenly writing about the study of kingship?”
“I like to study,” I answered, sipping tea with my left hand.
“It is, but….”
Ray knew that Dorothea liked to study. From a very young age, Dorothea loved to read and knew many things that Ray didn’t know.
“Ray.”
“yes?”
“My throat hurts because I keep reciting it for you.”
Ray’s face glowed as I cleared my throat and frowned. He thought that this genealogy study would now be over. However, Ray’s expectations were completely wrong.
“Aren’t you memorizing all the royal studies? I won’t recite for you because I have a sore throat. Please write it to the end.”
“The study of kingship…to the end?”
Rey opened His mouth and stiffened.
The study of Kingships was an old guidebook, a thick book series with a total of twenty chapters. The first chapter, the genealogy of the Milanaire imperial family alone, had more than one hundred pages.
In addition, it consisted of extensive content such as reward and punishment, military science, world geography, diplomacy, narration, tolerance, economics, and history. It was only called the kingship studies, but it was actually a name that grouped several books into one.
“Did you not memorize it?”
You go to Episteme. In Episteme, we did not learn it in one book but divided it into several classes and learned the subject. Therefore, the Milanaire imperial family had the Crown Prince memorize kingship studies from an early age. It was one of the terrible private education methods for sending the Crown Prince to Episteme.
“that is… In the old days, I memorized everything, but I quickly forgot it.”
“If you forgot, you wouldn’t have memorized it.”
“Uh… But I almost remember it, so I’ll try it!”
Ray picked up the pen again and began to continue from the next verse.
I looked through Ray’s letter by letter through the watcher’s eyes. If he couldn’t remember, Ray paused and tapped his chin with the tip of a pen, lost in thought, and repeated the next verse.
“It was Ethar, not Chamber, who built the Stone of Brilliance.”
When I Pointed out a mistake, Ray was startled and corrected the typo, but fortunately, he didn’t repeat the same mistake. When his hand hurts, he puts his pen down for a moment and then grinned at me.
“That’s enough. That’s it for today. Your hand hurts.”
“Really? it’s okay?”
“Yes.”
I glanced through Rey’s writing, then nodded. Until the time when Croesus lost the Spirit Stone that the first Milanaire had contracted with the Spirit. Ray wrote that much.
‘Still, this is enough.’
I again pointed out and explained some mistakes, but it was perfect except in a few places. Ray smiled proudly as he saw me nod my head when I saw his results.
“Chapter 1 is done, let’s start with Chapter 2 tomorrow.”
“Chapter 2? Reward and punishment and criminal law?”
“You don’t like it?”
“No, it’s not…”
Ray is somehow trying to help Dorothea, but he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that he was studying. Of course, it’s true that Dorothea is studying because Dorothea is next to him and teaches him the wrong parts or misspelled words…
Ray scratched her half-curly blonde hair, trying to comprehend the strange pang.
* * *
Meanwhile, Dorothea piled up the paper one after another and put them on one side of the bookshelf.
“You know, Dorothea. Dorothea is smart. Your Swordsmanship is the best.”
Ray followed her back and asked.
“So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
At Rey’s question, Dorothea’s feet just stopped. ‘What do I want to be?’ She felt caught off guard by Ray.
Emperor, that’s what Dorothea wanted to be. And that worked but failed. What she wants to be this time is…Well, good people?
“Why are you asking that?”
Dorothea got nervous at Ray because she couldn’t answer. If Stefan had asked her, she might have thought and answered with a little calm, but when Ray asked such a question, she couldn’t afford to do so.
“Just curious. What does Dorothea want to do?… Because I think someone like Dorothea can do anything.”
Ray noticed Dorothea Sharpening and looked up and said.
‘Can I do anything? Did I?’
Dorothea frowned for a moment, then laughed. right. She could’ve cut Ray’s throat and robbed the throne, so she could do anything. Even if it’s bad.
“You know, I want to be a farmer when I grow up. I grow wheat, radishes, carrots, eggplants, and tomatoes in the field, and dogs, chickens, and goats in the yard! Raising a cow too.”
Ray looked at Dorothea’s hardened expression and turned to his own story. He even hummed while imagining the idyllic countryside in which he would live. There is a large table in the garden, where guests make food with vegetables they grow and hold a party, also make bread with eggs from their own chickens and harvested wheat. Ray thinks that it would be good to come and stay in a detached house like that.
“Actually, I didn’t like eggplant, but the eggplant I grew myself was very tasty. At that time, I thought it would be good to become a farmer.”
“ Are you still growing your garden?”
“Uh? Oh no. It was before. And I think it would be nice to go hunting while digging mushrooms and grass in the mountains and living like that.”
But the story he made, Dorothea thinks, is even more absurd.
* * *
