Chapter 37: I Seduced the Tutor.
“I couldn’t interrupt you there, so I’ll ask now—”
“If you couldn’t ask there, then don’t ask at all.”
This happened after today’s training, after lunch, after Eric and the others had gone home, and after Ati had returned to her room for an afternoon nap.
I immediately rejected the words of Samuel, the tutor, who had secretly approached me in the mansion’s corridor.
Samuel looked bitter for a moment, but he seemed to regain his composure and opened his mouth again.
“What do you intend to do by teaching Ati-sama how to handle a knife?”
Ah. So, even though he looked like he agreed and was teaching Ati various things, he was actually wondering about it in his heart.
…If that’s the case, he should have stopped me from the beginning.
Was he being considerate of Ati, or was he being considerate of Eric and Ilias?
That’s not what you call “consideration.”
“If you have doubts about my actions and think I shouldn’t teach Ati, please speak up on the spot. I’ll explain my intentions properly, make sure Ati understands, and if I’m convinced by your argument, I’ll stop teaching her.”
“Easy for you to say… You had no intention of stopping even if I did say something…”
What is this man? Complaining and complaining after the fact.
Moreover, what a way to put it. How rude. I do listen, you know.
“I will stop. You are Ati’s tutor and responsible for her education. I have no intention of forcibly teaching Ati something you say is ‘no good.’
Well, I’ll try to persuade you until you’re convinced, though. If you’re not convinced, I’ll stop teaching her.
I don’t think I’m completely right either. I’m just a barbaric? ‘Raging Stallion of the North,’ after all? It would be terrible if my vulgarity were to infect Ati, wouldn’t it?”
“Guh…”
When I threw those sarcastic remarks at him, the tutor, Samuel, choked on his words.
That’s right. What I just said were the words you spat out at me directly before.
“…Then you—Selene-sama—do you have a legitimate reason for thinking it’s better to teach Ati-sama how to handle a knife?”
Oh. He recovered. He’s surprisingly resilient.
Samuel, who quickly adjusted his monocle, asked me again with a serious face.
I nodded, of course.
“Certainly, noble daughters rarely use knives in their daily lives.
However, that’s only if things go smoothly.
We don’t know what the future holds. There’s a possibility she might not be a noble daughter anymore.”
Yes, for example, if I mess up and Ati ends up being condemned as a villainess after all.
“If she relies on others for everything and can’t do anything on her own, Ati herself will be in trouble when ‘that time’ comes.
It’s ideal if that day never comes, but there’s no guarantee that it won’t.”
There’s a world of difference between ‘not doing’ and ‘not being able to do.’
“Using a knife is a basic life skill. I’m not saying she needs to be able to butcher a deer like I can.”
“…You can butcher a deer…?”
No need to comment on that.
“But if she’s not even used to using a knife, she won’t be able to live at all.
If ‘that time’ comes, I might be able to be by her side, but there’s also the possibility that I won’t be. There’s even a chance I might suddenly die tomorrow.”
“You’re saying something quite pessimistic.”
Samuel muttered his thoughts.
Indeed. If you call it pessimistic, it might be.
But for the villainess, Ati, that pessimistic future is highly likely. It’s not a waste of time to explore countermeasures now.
“There are things you can’t do, even if you want to be optimistic.”
When I said that, a wry smile involuntarily escaped.
I want to live carefree if I can, too.
But there are more situations where that’s not allowed for a woman born into a noble family. No, it’s not limited to nobles. In the current situation, if you’re born a woman, you can’t live optimistically.
Ah, that’s right.
I forgot to ask the tutor, Samuel, something important.
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
When I said that again, Samuel shuddered for some reason. Why?
“W-What is it?”
Don’t be so defensive.
“Do you also think that ‘marrying a noble man and bearing his children, especially boys, is the only right answer’ for Ati?”
I lowered my tone, but asked Samuel seriously and slowly, as if chewing over the words.
Samuel almost opened his mouth immediately, but he seemed to realize what I was trying to say and swallowed his words.
Then, he pondered.
That’s right. Try replying with something like, “So what?”
I’ll return all the insults you threw at me before.
Think carefully before you answer.
Samuel, who had been shifting his gaze for a while, took a small breath, raised his face, looked straight at me, and spoke.
“I don’t think it’s the only right answer. But it’s one path.”
That’s right.
That’s the word I wanted to hear.
But, is that all?
Samuel, noticing that I was just smiling and waiting for a further response from him, lowered his gaze for a moment.
“…If you asked me if I wanted Ati-sama to do that. Honestly, I would want her to. Because I think that’s the ‘safe way for Ati-sama to live.'”
I was a little relieved by his response.
Good. It seems he’s not just mindlessly following convention.
I was wondering what I would do if he said something like, “That’s just how things are.” I wouldn’t hit him, okay? I would have just tripped him up and let him fall.
That’s right.
As Samuel said, the standard path for a woman to live safely in the current situation is that.
If that’s the standard, it’s normal for him, as her tutor, to guide Ati down that path.
Hearing his words, I smiled slightly.
“—If there were other paths, what would you do?”
When I asked that, Samuel’s eyes widened for a moment.
And then,
“Does that lead to ‘Ati-sama inheriting the Family Headship’?”
The words from when I asked him before came out again.
I nodded slightly.
“That’s right. That’s also one of the many paths.”
“But it’s impossible. The country doesn’t allow it.”
Samuel immediately denied it. Certainly. That’s what the country’s laws say.
“For now, yes.”
When I smiled like that, he looked shocked.
“…You have a wicked look on your face.”
Ah, really? Maybe. I’m having so much fun right now.
“Everything has a ‘precedent.’ That precedent must have been ‘something that was never possible before,’ right?”
“That’s true, but…”
I leaned closer to Samuel, who was hesitating, and whispered to him.
“If someone were to create that ‘precedent,’ if the person who created it, the person who guided it, would be criticized as a heretic at first… but if that later became the standard. How would they be referred to?”
I finished speaking and moved away from him.
When I took a step back and observed him closely.
He was holding his mouth, staring at his feet, and thinking deeply.
“…Everything has a beginning, huh?”
My ears didn’t miss him muttering that!
Alright. I did it.
I’ve finished planting the seed of thought in Samuel.
I really like how honest, simple, and willing to listen he is.
Leaving Samuel, who was deep in thought, in that place, I headed towards my room.
Then, I stopped for a moment and looked back.
When he noticed that and raised his face,
“It’s important to prepare for the ‘worst’ case scenario, of course, but don’t you think it’s also necessary to work towards the ‘best’?”
I showed him a smile.
The expression he showed at that time, as if drawn in by me, was one of slightly relaxed cheeks.