110 - Side Story: Hermine's Perspective - A New Student 1
Due to Hermine's perspective, male character nicknames are completely wiped out. Alf→Alfred-sama, Leonardo→Mr. Dupre
It was mid-autumn when Alfred-sama sent me a letter saying he was looking for a tutor for a young girl. He said he was searching for a tutor for his friend's younger sister. There is only one person Alfred-sama would publicly call a friend. That man who became the target of a scandal in the capital several years ago.
The representative of all that is an enemy to women. He got his engaged princess pregnant, went off to the battlefield, then upon returning accused the princess of infidelity, asking whose child it was, broke off the engagement, and indulged himself in brothels. For some reason, this scandal ended with the princess alone bearing the mud, and it was settled by the White Knight who had supposedly gotten the princess pregnant marrying her instead, but I am not at all satisfied. Though I am not satisfied, marrying a White Knight will surely bring a brighter future for the princess than marrying a Black Knight who would commit such outrages. That was the only saving grace of this rumor.
...Well, since Alfred-sama, my elder brother, still calls him a friend, the rumors are probably just rumors after all.
Lending only one's ear to scandals without trying to see the truth is the act of a fool. I do think he is an enemy to women, but being able to know the rumored person up close might be a good experience for me.
...Besides, the fact that he is raising a girl with no blood relation as his sister piques my interest.
He is a man with scandals concerning women. When a pure young girl reaches a beautiful blooming age, I worry she might be betrayed and hurt by the man she trusted and adored as an older brother. If anything, perhaps that very worry is why Alfred-sama brought this matter to me. Thinking that way, though I was not keen on the employer, I felt a sense of mission that I must go.
Once I sent my letter of acceptance, I exchanged several letters with Leonardo Dupre, who would become my employer. His handwriting and words revealed glimpses of an honest character, but my strongest impression of him was still the scandal with the princess. As such, I could not bring myself to trust the character extracted from the information I could see.
"...Tina-san, is it?"
"Yes. I'd like you to call her Tina, not her real name."
In a room at Grenore Fortress, where I had arrived by horse-drawn carriage, I confirmed my student's name. When I read out her full name as I had been taught, I received a strange request.
"If I may speak, I am an educator. There is no need for a relationship where I use a nickname with a student."
"No, it is a nickname, but... in Tina's case, it is also her real name."
"You use her nickname as her real name? Is the young lady not a nobleman's daughter?"
Before coming to the city of Grenore, I had been given some explanation of the circumstances. The surviving girl of a village destroyed by disease, and as the daughter of his benefactor, Mr. Dupre had taken her in. Since the benefactor was originally of noble status, the benefactor's daughter taken in as a sister was also of noble standing.
"Tina wished not to return to nobility, but to live as my sister."
...Made to wish it, or forced to say it, would not that be more accurate?
Because of my bad first impression, I could not help but suspect Mr. Dupre's words prejudicially. Knowing this is not good, I thought I should have a thorough talk with the girl student once, away from her guardian's eyes.
Mr. Dupre said he wished to raise his sister by his own hand as she desired, but knighthood is a profession where one never knows when something might happen. Therefore, should something happen to him, he wanted his sister to be able to return to her noble relatives at any time. So that his sister would not struggle when she returned, he wanted to provide her with a lady's education now, he said.
...Whether he has a plan or he is a fool, I cannot tell.
Mr. Dupre's position was logically consistent, but it was not correct. The correct answer would be to promptly send the girl to her grandparents and remove himself from the picture.
No matter how much he may be a member of the Silver-White Knights, he is neither a true noble, nor family, nor does he have the female family members absolutely necessary in the process of raising a girl. Rather, one could say this is the worst possible environment for a household raising a girl. A young unmarried man with neither parenting experience nor marriage experience would be raising a girl who lost both parents. Raising a girl into a lady is, by ordinary reasoning, nearly impossible.
In the end, thanks to Alfred-sama's mediation, I agreed to use the nickname "Tina." Apparently her parents had always called her that, and there was no helping it since the girl herself surely would not understand even if called by her real name.
...If she is to return to nobility eventually, I think she should be getting used to it now though.
The girl being raised as Mr. Dupre's sister was, in any case, an adorable girl. When Mr. Dupre called for her, she poked her face out from the inner door, toddled into the room, and upon noticing my presence, was startled and hid behind Mr. Dupre's shadow. The puppy that followed her in and nestled at her feet was also adorable.
...I must separate them quickly.
She is this adorable even at her young age. When she grows up, she will surely become a beauty. And her caretaker is a man with a scandal about being loose below the waist. If I do not separate them urgently, the girl will surely meet an unhappy fate.
With renewed resolve, I faced the girl, and Mr. Dupre introduced me to her.
"This is Ms. Hermine Hartmann."
It was an introduction, so it could not be helped, but being named by Mr. Dupre made my brow twitch with displeasure. I suppressed it with effort. To a young girl, an adult whose eyebrow twitches during a first greeting would be nothing but terrifying.
"I am Hermine, Tina-san. I can teach you language arts and foreign languages, but your brother has requested that I primarily serve as a lecturer in etiquette."
From now on, I must conduct myself as a model for this girl. That sense of duty overcame my aversion to Mr. Dupre. Sharpening my senses from the top of my head to my fingertips, I performed an elegant curtsy. The girl stared at me with a blank expression for a moment.
...It seems I have captured her interest.
Her cheeks faintly flushed, and the girl shyly introduced herself to me as "Tina." Her slightly lisped speech was noticeable, but her pronunciation was clear. With patient practice, she would soon be able to speak without issue.
Having heard she was rescued from a remote village, I had wondered what kind of wild mountain girl I would have to correct into a lady, but Tina was more well-behaved than ordinary noble children. Her appearance was adorable, but each of her gestures was also charming. Her clinging to Mr. Dupre was a flaw that needed urgent correction for someone aiming to be a lady, but the way she sat before the fireplace alongside the puppy named Kokumaro, and the way she used honorifics like "-san" for servants and honestly said words like "thank you" and "I'm sorry" were splendid.
...She must hate me now.
She completely hates me. I am certain of it. From what I heard, Mr. Dupre took Tina in but kept leaving her alone at the residence for work, and though she was taken in early spring, she only started attending Menhishumi Church in early autumn. Until then, the two servants had apparently been Tina's primary companions. Of course she would grow attached to them. Anyone would. More to the caretaker who took her in, to the servants who actually looked after her.
And to those servants who had been Tina's emotional support, I told her, "Servants do not need honorifics" and "You do not need to specially say thank you or apologize." When I explained the reasons thoroughly, Tina understood and eventually began calling them without honorifics, though reluctantly. I could see her inner conflict. The truly pained face she made when correcting herself to direct address.
My student was a girl of the most adorable appearance and gestures. But being hated by her is my job. To me, who is aware of my stern features, Tina had miraculously seemed to like me from our first meeting for some reason, but surely today's instruction made her hate me. She asked me whether a tutor was the same. If servants did not need honorifics, what about a tutor? I left that answer to Tina. Whether she considered me a servant or a teacher. The answer Tina gave was so rational it was hard to believe she was a nine-year-old girl. She said that since she was the one being taught, she would treat me as a teacher.
After that as well, I have often been strict with Tina. After all, she is a child who has been neglected, to put it nicely, and left to her own devices up to now. Though she was well-behaved for a commoner child, her education as a lady is far too lacking. One must not descend stairs noisily, one must not enter a man's bedroom even after a scary dream, one is no longer at an age to sit on a guardian's lap. I forbade various things. Each time, I braced myself thinking she would surely hate me now, but oddly enough, Tina never showed fear or aversion toward me. I could not understand it at all, so I once asked her. Whether she did not dislike me, I said. Then Tina answered with a slightly mischievous smile that the appropriate strictness was rather nice. Since she had an older brother figure who was too sweet, a stricter tutor would provide balance, she said.
...She truly is an unusual child.
She neither wavered at my stern face nor rejected my strict instruction, even when conflicted she swallowed it. A truly mysterious child. Her posture was good from the start, and there was no need for correction, which was also strange. I had heard her father was of noble origin, so perhaps it was her father's discipline. At the very least, it was certainly not Mr. Dupre's education. That man, far from disciplining his sister, only spoils her. So much so that the sister herself feels uneasy and seeks strictness from others. Excessively sweet, in any case.
...Giving a child a gold coin as allowance, how absurd.
When I first heard this story from Tina, I got a headache from the sheer thoughtlessness. After that, I understood well why Tina, who told me this, felt uneasy about her overly indulgent guardian and welcomed someone strict like myself.
...If she came to recognize this life as normal, she could return neither to a noble's child nor a commoner's child, after all.
A gold coin is not an amount to give to a child. Quite the opposite, it is dangerous. After complaining to Mr. Dupre, I left the room and caught a glimpse of Tina's retreating back as she ran away. It seemed she had been eavesdropping on her brother being scolded. Though I had forgotten he was my employer and ended up getting genuinely angry, for some reason it seemed to earn Tina's trust. Probably because there was no one around who would scold Mr. Dupre.
...So, Alfred-sama, my student is this brother and sister, is that it?
Tina, whom I thought would hate me more the more I instructed her, ended up liking me, while Mr. Dupre seemed to develop a sense of being intimidated by me. It was the complete opposite of a normal household.
Perhaps disciplining the brother is actually my job. Once I realized that, I could not think otherwise. After all, Tina, who should be my student, requires almost no effort. She follows instructions, quickly learns what she is taught, does not run from her studies, and is so motivated that she even brings books to me and asks me to teach her the parts she cannot read. A child this enjoyable to teach is rare.
The only thing that bothers me is the ugly cat cushion she always sits on. It seems she made it herself to pass the time, but I cannot tolerate Tina carrying around something that is neither a cushion nor a stuffed toy, just roughly stitched from shabby cloth. A lovely girl in fine clothes looks like she is clutching a rag. That one point alone is shabby and unacceptable.
However, seeing how she uses this cat cushion, I can understand the worn fabric and rough craftsmanship. The ugly cat cushion is placed directly on the floor when Tina wants to sit closer to the fireplace, and it is also used as a bed for the puppy. Especially when the puppy uses it, it bites the edges, pulls at it, handling it roughly. That must be why she used old fabric that could be treated roughly.
...If I consider it a puppy's toy, I can understand the roughness, but I should probably teach her sewing properly as well.
Embroidery is included in a lady's hobbies. Sewing should serve Tina well, both as part of her lady's education and as vocational training.
When I taught her sewing, Tina stitched the fabric together beautifully. So much so that I wondered if this was really the work of the same person who made that rough cat cushion. When I honestly asked her about it, she answered that the ugly cat cushion was intentionally made ugly, so the craftsmanship was also rough. This way it has more character, she said. It seems this adorable young girl has some issues with her aesthetic sense.
Since her sewing was fine when I had her try it, I decided to repair the cat cushion while teaching her embroidery beside me.
"Hermine-sensei, the eyes were intentionally made different sizes, so if you make them even, it will not work deshu."
She seemed focused on her embroidery, so I tried to surreptitiously fix the cat cushion beside her, but I was caught. Her face puffing out in complaint was adorable, but since it was not good manners, I scolded her and made her stop. Since she had noticed, I gave up on evening out the eyes and decided to only fix the rough craftsmanship. I evened out the stitches and adjusted the lopsided ear shapes. As a bonus, I embroidered the front paws to stitch them in place. The whiskers and eyes, which had been barely more than lines as if the work was done with the attitude of "as long as it looks like a face," were properly re-embroidered. I managed to repair it to the extent of not destroying Tina's original design. Improving the material would essentially mean remaking it, so I had to give up on that.
"I am done, mashita. Hermine-sensei, please check it."
Around the time I finished repairing the cat cushion, Tina's embroidery was also complete. She presented the beautifully embroidered cloth, and I was amazed at the quality. It was such magnificent embroidery that it was hard to believe it was from the same person who had made the ugly cat cushion.
"...You are very skilled."
"Did I do it properly, deshu?"
"Yes, so much so that I can hardly believe you made this cat cushion...?"
The difference between the cat cushion and the embroidery was too great, and I could not help but tilt my head. That someone capable of such splendid embroidery would make such a shabby cat cushion.
...It seems the cat cushion really was made intentionally.
When I praised her, saying it was truly well done, Tina shyly asked if it was good enough to make someone happy, and it clicked.
"Is this perhaps a gift for your brother?"
When I pointed this out, Tina showed a shy, embarrassed smile. She truly was an adorable girl. If the brother she seemed to adore were not that scandalous man, I could have simply watched over her fondly.
...I still have much to learn. After all, scandals are nothing but rumors in the end.
No matter what, the scandal with the princess flickers in my mind, and I cannot look at the man himself with a clear heart.
As for the gift, I suggested embroidering something for the Spring Flower Festival.
It will not end so I am splitting it. Hermine-sensei is a man-hater with distrust of men. Also, she loves children but is a strict teacher so children tend to dislike her.
I will fix typos and errors another day.
I found and fixed some typos and errors.