Chapter 130

On Saturday morning, I go to the greenhouse and use household magic to infuse mana only into the leaf buds. Before I realized I could do this, it used to take a tremendous amount of time.

“Honestly, I wonder why Professor Mathias told me I shouldn’t use household magic?”

When spoken aloud, my words get filtered into “Patience-manner-mode.” In my mind, I was actually cursing, You stubborn, mean old hag! But at this moment, I was grateful for the translation.

“That’s because your mana control is so poor you’d cause a magical rampage, that’s why. You really ought to study in the Mage Course.”

Eek! I didn’t sense her at all, but Professor Mathias had walked into the greenhouse.

“I dislike attack magic, so I won’t be taking the Mage Course.”

Professor Mathias cackles her usual laugh.

“The only reason you can say such soft-hearted things is that there hasn’t been a war for the past decade or so. But anyone who slacks on their preparations just because there’s no war is a fool. If your own life or the lives of your family were threatened, would you still be able to say you dislike attack magic?”

My heart skipped a beat. I had let my guard down just because the Kingdom of Laurence was peaceful. In a parallel world, wars can break out over truly trivial matters. Even though I learned about it in World History, I hadn’t thought of it as something that could happen to me.

“Besides, when you cast your sloppy household magic on the detox herbs before, the stems shot straight up and became completely useless. But if you keep growing them like this, they’ll turn into highly potent detox herbs.”

“Keep working hard!” with that, Professor Mathias leaves the greenhouse, moving surprisingly fast for her appearance. She’s definitely lying about her age!

While I don’t have the leeway to take full Mage Course classes, I should think about it. After all, Patience is slow on her feet, so if something were to attack us, she’d probably be the first to die. Besides, I want to protect my younger brothers.

Until Mary comes to fetch me, I pull out the course guide and look through it. Taking the Mage Course is definitely impossible. But maybe it’s fine to take a few individual subjects? Like Mana Control or Defensive Magic… It would be great if I could use Healing Magic, but that’s probably Light Magic, isn’t it? What a shame!

“Sorry I’m late. A letter arrived from Countess Northcote this morning, so I’ll hand it to you now.”

She could have just handed it to me at home instead of here, though. I already pretty much know what it says.

“I need to take these hot water bottles home with me. I’ll help carry them, too.”

Mary makes a strange face at the hot water bottles, but she wraps them in cloth—five in each bundle—and carries them alongside the bag with my change of clothes. All I carried was a few books for the study group. Even though I offered to carry one of the bundles with the five hot water bottles, Mary refused.

Riding in the carriage, I read the letter from Aunt Liliana. As expected, it was a letter about the study group in the afternoon. She’s asking about Prince Keith’s favorite sweets and things like that. Yeah, he definitely doesn’t like those crunchy-sugar cakes.

“Hey, Mary. Would it be bad manners if I dispatched Eva to the Earl of Northcote’s estate to help bake sweets?”

Mary didn’t particularly like Aunt Liliana. That’s because even though she lived so close by, she never offered us any financial help. However, she views my cousin Samuel playing with my younger brothers in a favorable light. Today’s study group is for that very Samuel and Prince Keith.

“If Countess Northcote desires it, it won’t be bad manners at all.”

Right, because Prince Keith probably wouldn’t touch those crunchy-sugar sweets anyway.

On top of that, it seems I also have to eat lunch at the Earl of Northcote’s estate. Aunt Liliana is completely hyperventilating, feeling that she must be there to greet Prince Keith when he arrives in the afternoon. My time with my younger brothers is going to be even shorter now. I can’t help but sigh.

When I arrive home, I charge up my energy first. Hugging my younger brothers gives me a burst of strength!

“Sister, are you going to Samuel’s house?”

“Henry, I’d love to take you with me, but please bear with it since it’s a Classics study group.”

Nacius has a puzzled look on his face. Right, since he actually likes Classics, he can’t understand the struggle.

“Sister, can a hatred for Classics really be cured in a single study session?”

He must have heard from Samuel during riding practice that he hates Classics.

“I will do my best!”

Because I want to get it over with in one go! I really don’t want to ruin my precious Saturdays multiple times.

After that, I explain how to use the hot water bottles to Mary.

“My, not only will it not be cold at night, but you can also use the hot water to wash your face in the morning? What a convenient tool!”

Exactly. For a life in poverty, it’s a revolutionary item!

“There’s enough for everyone, so please use them!”

With this, I can safely leave the hot water bottles in her hands. Next, I’ll write a letter to Aunt Liliana about Eva and have someone deliver it. I’m going over there at noon anyway, but it’s better to tell her in advance. I also wrote down the ingredients for pancakes and other things.

Ah, I still need to talk to Wyatt about having the Barnes Merchant Guild manufacture the hot water bottles, but it might be better to do that after they’ve actually tried using them. Let’s talk about it on Sunday!

Oh, right! I should report to Father just in case, too. I need to tell him about the study group as well.

Father listened with a chuckle when I mentioned teaching Classics to Samuel, but he was surprised to hear about teaching Prince Keith. Yeah, honestly, it really would be better if he were taught by a royal palace tutor.

“Patience, make sure to enjoy teaching him.”

Geez! As expected, Father is so out of touch. The only ones I enjoy teaching are my younger brothers (angels)!

A reply came from Countess Northcote saying she would send a carriage to pick me up. It seems Eva will come over after serving lunch here. They live close by, after all.

Even though it’s just a short time, I pick strawberries in the greenhouse with my younger brothers. I plan to bring these as a gift for the Earl of Northcote’s estate.

I get into the sent carriage with Mary. Even though it’s my aunt’s house, is a maid really necessary? Mary has stuffed cloth for hot water bottle covers into her handbag. She plans to sew them in the waiting room. Well, it might be nice since it’s warmer than our house. The Granger house is currently kept at a level where it’s just “not freezing.” Let’s just consider it eco-friendly.

Ah, Aunt Liliana is there to greet us. She is clearly floating on cloud nine.

“Patience, does Prince Keith really dislike cakes?”

Skipping the greetings entirely, she immediately goes into checking Prince Keith’s preferences!

“Yes, he hasn’t touched them even once at the upper-class dining salon. However, he ate the pancakes served at the summer villa, saying they were delicious. Eva knows how to make them, so it will be fine.”

Aunt Liliana settled down a bit with a “I see,” so Mary handed the basket of strawberries to the butler.

“Oh, strawberries! The Granger family’s strawberries are delicious!”

Samuel, you’ve been eating the strawberries from our greenhouse, haven’t you?! Those are for sale, you know!

“My, Samuel, where are your manners? But they are so pretty, so let’s serve them to Prince Keith as well.”

That’s fine and all, but has she forgotten that this is a study group?

“Aunt Liliana, we will be using the Hanon piano for today’s study group. Would the children’s room be alright?”

After that, it was absolute chaos. She mobilized all the servants to re-clean the children’s room, swapping out the chairs and desks for luxurious ones in a hectic rush.

I sat in the drawing room drinking tea with Samuel and the Earl of Northcote. Aunt Liliana looked busy supervising everything.

“Thanks to you, Patience, Samuel was able to join the Music Club and was blessed with good friends. You have my gratitude.”

Ah, Daniel, Bardish, and Klaus are in Class A, so they’re sons from good families, aren’t they?

“On top of that, it is truly an honor that Samuel is allowed to participate in Prince Keith’s study group.”

No, no… originally I came up with the idea to teach Samuel Classics, and Prince Keith just forcefully joined in. …Is what I definitely won’t say out loud.

Once the tidying up of the second-floor children’s room was finished, Aunt Liliana came back downstairs as well.

“Let’s have lunch soon. We must finish before Prince Keith arrives, after all.”

Since he said he’d come in the afternoon, there’s no way he’d arrive during lunch. But I’ll go along with it anyway.

“Aunt Liliana, Prince Keith is coming specifically for the study group, after all.”

I made sure to mention it once lunch was finished.

“My, I am well aware. Samuel told me as much, too. However, a tea break will surely be necessary, won’t it? I feel it would be rude to serve that in the children’s room.”

Understood.

“In that case, we will come down to the drawing room during tea time—probably about two hours after we begin studying.”

Samuel makes a grossed-out face. Since he’s in front of his parents, he held back from complaining out loud.