Chapter 43

When Aethlyn entered the drawing room with an expressionless face, Janet greeted her with an obviously fabricated smile.

“Aethlyn.”

“Mother.”

After exchanging greetings far too curt to befit a mother and daughter, Janet gestured toward the empty chair across from her.

“Sit.”

“What did you want to speak to me about?”

“My, dear. Why don’t you sit down first?”

Without another word, Aethlyn took her seat.

Janet immediately chided her.

“You really are so cold. Does a mother need a reason to call for her daughter?”

“You only ever call me when you have one.”

“Aethlyn.”

“Go ahead. Is this about my dog again?”

“…”

“If you’re that worried it’ll attack Arthur—”

Janet suddenly snapped, cutting her off.

“Aethlyn. Would you let someone finish speaking for once?”

The mask of the refined noblewoman had fallen away in less than a minute.

Aethlyn fell silent.

A tense silence settled between them.

Whenever there were no witnesses, their conversations always went like this.

Neither of them yielded.

Neither even bothered to keep up basic appearances.

This would be no different.

Wearing a bored expression, Aethlyn waited for her stepmother to unleash another round of venom.

Instead…

Things took an unexpected turn.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Janet spoke again in a calm voice.

“I’d like you to tutor Arthur for the next month, starting tomorrow.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. It’s hardly unusual for an older sibling to teach a younger one, is it? Your father taught your uncles as well.”

“But Arthur already has magic tutors.”

More accurately…

Tutors.

Plural.

Aethlyn didn’t know the exact number because she’d never cared enough to find out, but she knew there had been more than one.

Seeing her disbelief, Janet replied matter-of-factly.

“They resigned yesterday.”

“What about the others…?”

“They all resigned. The last one left the estate yesterday.”

Janet answered while pointedly avoiding Aethlyn’s gaze.

‘They all resigned? Every single one of them?’

…What on earth had happened?

A chill briefly settled in the pit of her stomach.

But that wasn’t her concern.

Keeping her tone as indifferent as possible, Aethlyn replied,

“Really? Then hire someone else.”

“I already posted a new recruitment notice. But as you know, you can’t choose a magic tutor as casually as picking fruit at the market. We have to examine what family they come from, review their Academy grades, check their reputation… Even moving as quickly as possible, it’ll take at least a month. I’m only asking you to help until then.”

“That’s convenient. Then why don’t you just let Arthur take a month’s break?”

“You really…”

Aethlyn could tell Janet was doing everything she could to suppress her anger.

She didn’t care.

“Arthur is still just a child. He’s only six years old. Right now, it’d do him more good to go outside and play in the dirt than to study magic.”

Though her words carried a hint of sarcasm, Aethlyn genuinely meant them.

Arthur was only six years old—too young to even properly be called a boy.

Yet Janet kept him shut up in his room, making him study magic day after day.

Aethlyn had never interfered before, but she could never agree with her stepmother’s approach.

‘It takes more than magical talent to become a truly great mage…’

Dedication.

Honor.

Those things mattered too.

The importance of those virtues became even clearer when one remembered the ancient age when “madness and magical rampages” had nearly brought the entire magical world to ruin.

Of course, Janet would never understand what she meant.

Or rather…

She wouldn’t want to.

She’d simply assume Aethlyn was acting like a know-it-all again.

That part didn’t bother Aethlyn.

She had long since grown used to Janet’s misunderstandings and baseless assumptions.

“Such a pretty face… yet you don’t have even a trace of the sweetness a girl your age should have.”

Poor woman.

Those were the words Janet had spoken eight years ago, the first time the two of them had been alone together.

The moment those words came from the mouth of a woman who outwardly looked so graceful and refined…

Aethlyn understood.

‘*She doesn’t want me to be lovable.*’

Because if I weren’t…

…it would be so much easier for her to hate me.

That realization had protected Aethlyn ever since.

It allowed her to live without being hurt, no matter what her stepmother thought or said about her.

‘But…’

Even so, there was one lingering unease she could never quite shake.

Arthur himself.

Young as he was, Aethlyn couldn’t find even a trace of compassion or goodwill toward others in him.

That didn’t mean he treated people cruelly.

Rather…

He simply ignored everyone except a select few he had personally chosen.

In other words…

He barely even acknowledged that anyone else existed.

“Young Master, is there anything you need?”

Even when Kaen, the elderly butler who had served the estate for decades, warmly spoke to him, Arthur would often walk straight past without so much as a reply.

At first, that could be dismissed as shyness.

The real problem was that his attitude changed depending on who he was dealing with.

He generally ignored everyone.

But at least when it came to mages…

He would look at them.

Granted…

All he did was silently stare.

What Aethlyn couldn’t understand was why neither of his parents seemed troubled by any of this.

As parents, shouldn’t they have been concerned?

Instead…

They devoted all of their attention to evaluating Arthur’s magical ability.

‘*Maybe if he actually went outside and played for once… he’d become more sociable.*’

She deliberately refrained from thinking that her little brother had no manners.

Such vulgar language wasn’t befitting a Wintercrown.

Either way, Janet seemed to dismiss Aethlyn’s sincere concern as nothing more than an excuse.

She let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

“So you’d have him take a month off? Is that your way of turning him into an idiot?”

“…”

The remark was so unexpected that Aethlyn was momentarily speechless.

“Is that it? Are you really so afraid your little brother might catch up to you?”

“…What are you even talking about?”

The accusation was so absurd she couldn’t even bring herself to get angry.

A dry laugh escaped her inwardly.

‘*I never imagined she’d expose herself so completely.*’

Janet seemed to realize she’d let something slip.

After barely regaining her composure, she continued,

“I wouldn’t normally ask you for something like this. Honestly, it’s ridiculous that I even have to ask you to look after your own little brother. But what choice do I have, Aethlyn? Arthur listens to you.”

“You just asked if I was afraid of my younger brother catching up to me. And now you’re saying you trust me enough to leave Arthur in my care?”

Janet fell silent.

Her tightly pressed crimson lips trembled.

After a long pause, she finally spoke again.

“It’ll only be for a month. Just one month. You still have one more Academy examination left anyway. Think of it as practice while you’re studying.”

“…No.”

This is ridiculous.

Aethlyn barely managed to suppress the sigh threatening to escape.

Seeing her stepmother refuse to accept “no” made one bitter fact painfully clear once again.

Janet was only a mage in name.

“A mage in name.”

That was the term used for someone born to mage parents and possessing magic circuits, yet unable to use magic for one reason or another.

Illness or accidents could sometimes cause it.

But in most cases…

The reason was simple.

A lack of magical education during childhood.

Although Esta had many magic academies, magical education was fundamentally based on apprenticeship.

Especially during early childhood, instruction almost always took place within the family.

Usually, parents taught their own children.

If that wasn’t possible, relatives stepped in.

Failing that, wealthy families hired private tutors at great expense.

Just as Janet was doing now.

The problem was that if a child failed to receive close magical instruction from a mentor during those formative years, they would spend the rest of their life as nothing more than a “mage in name.”

It was no different from a child who never learned to speak during early childhood being unable to properly learn language as an adult.

To prevent this, there had once been a nationwide movement to establish elementary magic schools. However, the effort quickly collapsed after prestigious noble houses fiercely opposed the idea, arguing that mages could never be properly trained through such an inadequate system.

In the end…

Janet had simply been one of the unfortunate cases.

She had never received magical education as a child.

Her parents had been so consumed by gambling that they never even considered raising young Janet as a mage.

Simply put…

They had neglected her.

Knowing that, Aethlyn could understand why Janet was now obsessed with Arthur’s magical education.

Remembering Janet’s past softened the rigid resolve in Aethlyn’s heart ever so slightly.

‘*I probably won’t be much help to Arthur… but seeing how anxious my stepmother is… maybe I should help after all…*’

Even then, she offered one final objection.

“But I haven’t even entered the Academy yet…”

“No, no, Aethlyn. You’re incredibly talented. You’re an exceptional girl. I’m sure Arthur will learn so much just by watching you.”

The moment Janet sensed Aethlyn beginning to relent, she instantly changed her demeanor and began showering her with praise.