Chapter 5: 5

“Kiana came? now?”

Seukali Prelai, head of the Duke Prelai family, looked shocked at the butler’s report.

“Yes, she said that she was tired and that she should go to sleep, and that she would greet you tomorrow.”

At the butler’s continued report, Seukali let out a sigh.

Seukali Prelai,  was the duke of Prelai, a very handsome old man of great stature and sharp chiseled features.

As one of the few sword masters in the empire, his solid body exuded a sense of intimidation.

With a taciturn personality and always boasting a presence like a mountain, he frowned and muttered.

“Suddenly without any notice that you are coming? what the hell is going on…”

Concern crossed Scaree’s icy face.

The 16-year-old Kiana was vivid in his memory.

She was the little girl who stayed up in her room all day and bullied Melissa to death.

Even though she tried to warmly approach him, he was rather awkward and avoided his granddaughter.

In fact, Kiana, who only strayed from Seukali, was too difficult. So even when Kiana ledt for htacademy and she never returns the whole time, she’s pretty embarrassed.

In fact, Kiana who was always off the rails, was very difficult for Seukali. So it was pretty embarrassing even when Kiana left for the academy and never came back

“Kiana… will stay here? She’ve never been to the duke’s mansion? Did the scolding at the end hurt your heart that much?”

To that, Joshua, her second grandson, grumbled in reply.

“Well, I had to admit that it was something she would get scolded for.”

“Anyway, how many years has she been in that corner? Bring her here… ”

“Oh, leave it alone. If you forcefully drag it, she will backfire like me, she must hate this place too, and i hate it to, she must have things things to do there.”

“No, what do you hate about this place? uh?”

“A mother who abandoned her child and cheated on his husband, a father who left his child and left home, a grandfather who found it difficult to comfort his adolescent grandchildren because of the generation gap, and… ”

“… ”

“Eldest brother Alex, who is always running around with a knife, handsome and with a good fashion sense but rebellious second brother, Joshua, and cousin Melissa, who scratches her insides with a kind face*, maybe it’s that?”

tln: good face but bad attitude

At that, Seukali had no choice but to keep his silence. Because, after hearing it, it was obviously not a place somebody wanted to come back

Well, the environment was too bad to hope that the children would grow up well. In fact, all he had was money, power, honor, and status.

‘But anyway, the sudden return… Haven’t you had a change of heart after puberty? Have you grown up?’

Kiana and Seukali didn’t have a close relationship.

But that wasn’t anything special. Because no one in House Prelai was close to each other.

But anyway, Kiana was like Seukali’s sore finger among them… 

‘This time, I’ll have to talk more honestly, adult to adult.’’

Anyway, Kiana’s sudden return was the most surprising thing that had happened to him in a while. In fact, even more so than the previous assassination attempt.

“First of all, Alex left immediately to track down Helen’s relatives as ordered. I sent a letter to Julius, I  think I should have witten ‘insight’ in the letter….”

So despite the butler’s continued report, Seukali just nodded his head indifferently. Then he gave a low command.

“Please assign a smart maid to Kiana first. A person who can report quickly if Kiana acts strangely. In particular, assign her a strong child so that she doesn’t cling too much to Prince Rodrigo.”

“Yes, I understand. It’s already late at night, should I tell her to get ready for bed?”

“No.”

Seukali shook her head.

“I’ll stop by the greenhouse for a while.”

The butler bowed deeply as a sign of understanding and left.

Left alone, the old patriarch slowly got up with a tired face and disappeared into the greenhouse atthe corner of the garden.

* * *

Maybe it’s been a long time since I came home, but my dream was very fierce. It was a dream that I often had when I was at the duke’s house.

“Pyeol is Kiana ‘s pet! Pyeol was stolen by Melissa!”

I woke up early in the morning because I kept having nightmares.

‘Since I graduated from the academy, there’s no paper pressure, so I wanted to sleep in.’

“It’s unfortunate I’m really, really unfortunate…”

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Not to mention the young mother, who looks just like me, lying on the ground and crying…

“Marquis Cesare Levine has donated a huge research fund this time. I picked Professor Kiana Prely. Your place is the Academy. The academy can’t be without a princess, ha ha.”

It was a nightmare that had even been upgraded, with the dean’s face appearing at the end.

Anyway, when I woke up, I was already assigned a dedicated maid. She was a tall, well-muscled maid for her size.

I glanced at her hard forearms and asked softly.

“Is Grandpa awake?”

“The Duke fell asleep at dawn. Won’t you be up in the afternoon?”

“Really? I see. I’ll say hello in the afternoon.”

“Yes, I understand. Ah, the Great prince, the Little prince, and Princess Melissa… No, the priestess isn’t there either.”

“I know.”

My first brother, Alex, must have left for the province yesterday at the order of my grandfather, and my second brother, Joshua, had moved aways long time ago.

Melissa had also gone to the monastery the other day, so it was only my grandfather and me at home.

“And I got a bunch of letters from the academy last night.”

“Oh yeah? Just throw it all away.”

It was obvious what the academy would send.

They must be talking about what to do with the ongoing research. It was to the point where there was almost no research going on at the academy without me.

Since I’m so smart and hard-working, I’ve been flooded with research assignments since I was a doctoral student. It was to the point where, when requesting a research from outside, there were cases where they put my name in the request.

‘I was a co-researcher on all kinds of projects, so without me, the academy would be in complete emergency.’

And by now, it will be a fuss to know that I have applied for cancellation of all the patents I had agreed to before the academy.

‘The dean hates being pushed for money the most, so he must be in great pain right now. I’ll make them suffer as much as I want, and then I’ll torment them at a higher level later.’

I did not forget the grudge I had against the dean, what I did last time was only  a short-term resentment, now I was going to do long-term bullying.

As I was grinding my teeth, the maid asked politely.

“Then can I prepare breakfast for you now, princess?”

“No, I’m not very good in the morning. Just a cup of coffee, please. And I’m going out, so get ready.”

At my words, the maid looked very shocked. And she asked cautiously.

“Huh, princess? You’re not feeling well.. Coffee?”

My status before returning was a professor. Therefore, I was genuinely surprised and praised the novelty.

“Are you talking back to me just now? This is a situation you’ve never even imagined?”

The maid immediately shut her mouth.

I added nonchalantly.

“I know it’s from grandfather, but you’ll still have to listen to my orders.”

“… What?”

“No? You’re the spy my grandfather put on me to watch.”

To my words, the maid did not respond. However, she had a look of embarrassment with a face as if she had been caught and folded her waist down.

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay. You didn’t want to do it, you were told to do that, I know from my graduate school days. I don’t need a sincere apology. Can you go and get me coffee?”

“A-aren’t you changing maids?”

“What are you doing? Then she’ll have another spy, but you’d better keep doing what you’re doing. It’s not going to be a career for you either.”

“For what? Then another spy will come, so it’s better if the one who was doing it continues, that’s your job”

It was an era of unemployment.

I spoke attentively and kindly, caring about her maid’s career as I had treated my students when I was a professor.

“It takes at least a month before you can proudly say, ‘I have a history of spying on an ignorant, naive princess who obeyed the highest authority in the family.’”

“…”

“Thank you for your consideration. So hurry up and get some coffee, spy. And I warn you, if the phrase ‘bring me coffee’ comes out of my mouth again….”

And I was an advisor with a balanced perspective that also showed the coldness of reality.

“I know how to fire dishonorably and making you say ‘I know how to do a real spy job, but I am a fool who can not bring a cup of coffee in my job.’ ”

“I-I’ll be back right away!”

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