Chapter 190: Mark’s Objective
Translator: Blushy
Editor: Sam
“Mark, you…” Nii-sama put his hand on his forehead and shook his head as if Mark was a troublesome person.
“You came to our house a lot to study last year. I think I’ve already taught you all you need to know.”
I guess he was talking about the Albans mansion when he said house. I didn’t know that Mark came over.
“It was when you weren’t there Lei,” Nii-sama explained since he had seen my questioning look. I see. Then I wouldn’t have seen him.
“Well, isn’t it fine? We’re not as busy as our fathers. I’m only playing with the children once a week.”
Oh, I think your true intentions just slipped out. Nico looked sternly at Mark.
“We’re not playing around. We’re studying.”
“You’re right, Your Highness,” Mark replied politely to Nico. But his opinion didn’t waver.
“Felicia is here, so it’s not strange for me to be here. Now, let’s start studying.”
“Well, okay.” Nii-sama surprisingly started circulation practice without any resistance. The class went well with the addition of an experienced adult.
As everyone was laughing and shaking their magic, I suddenly felt like there were more guards here than usual.
“Thath’sh Gracesh.” (That’s Graces)
“Lei, concentrate.”
I felt like I saw a familiar guard and raised my voice, but Nii-sama scolded me softly. I’ll ask him again later.
But I’ve always thought that I never made it to the end of class because Nii-sama came in the afternoon. I fell asleep while helping Nico and Chris.
When I woke up after another good nap that day, Mark was gone, and the person who I thought was Graces was gone too.
Felicia, who was leaving with Chris, was still here, and she rubbed my head while I rubbed my eyes after waking up. Chris climbed up onto the bed and smiled.
“You’re such a good sleeper. Chris used to sleep a lot too.”
“Doesn’t Lei sleep too much?” Nico asked Felicia grumpily.
“I think it’s normal. Chris takes naps sometimes too.”
“Sometimes. I’m not a baby anymore.”
“Lei ishn’th eithher.” I quickly claimed.
“Where’sh Marw?”
“He left already. But he’s coming back next week. He seemed to be enjoying himself as a teacher and as a student. I didn’t expect him to be like that.”
Felicia also seemed to be enjoying herself as she put her hand on her check.
“I want to come and take Mark’s class too if I have time. Exploring the castle is so exciting!”
Nii-sama and Gill smiled wryly, but they couldn’t come since they had classes at the Academy. I wondered if I was still the Prince’s playmate and if the classroom was still for the toddlers to use.
◊♦◊♦◊♦◊ Nii-sama’s Perspective
“Gill! Higher!”
“Gill! Me too!”
“Chris. No, it’s dangerous.”
Gill took Prince Nico and Chris to climb trees. Felicia was worried about Chris and it was funny to see her hovering around Gill and interrupting him instead. Mark, the eldest one, should be watching them, but this easy-going and only child of one of the Four Marquises Houses, had no sense of taking care of children and his light coat hem was swaying in the spring wind.
Even Otou-sama didn’t know how to take care of his children; I guess that’s what being a noble is all about.
“So, Mark. What’s your real purpose?”
“My real purpose? I’m going to relearn how to manipulate magic.”
“Then, I’ll rephrase my question. What is your purpose for relearning how to manipulate your magic?”
“Hmm.”
I was annoyed when he looked at me as if I had done well. I was supposed to be the teacher today, and Mark was supposed to be learning.
“You visited our mansion the other day with Gill, right?”
“I gave you a souvenir then, but I heard you asked Lei for more souvenirs,” I said in annoyance. Why is he begging a two year old, or rather, Lei, for a souvenir? Otou-sama was appalled. It couldn’t be helped that he went to Lei and asked her for a rock.
“I’ww give Otou-syama thhish rocw. Ith’sh thhe shame cowour ash your eyesh.” (I’ll give Otou-sama this rock. It’s the same colour as your eyes) She gave him a pinkish rock rather than a purple one, but it should be fine since he seemed happy about it.
“Isn’t it fine? I would have given up if she said she didn’t have any for me, but she gave me one, so I took it. I decorated my room with it.”
“You took Lei’s rock, so you should do that much.”
Mark chuckled.
“This is fun. I never would have thought that the Four Marquises would gather together like this a year ago.”
“Yeah. Since both the royal family and the Four Marquises are independent, they try to stay out of each other’s ways.”
This was so that the royal family wouldn’t give preferential treatment to one family, or it could also be that collusion among the Four Marquis was too dangerous since there would be too much influence in one place.
But I think the real reason is that no one had an interest in the other.
“But the royal family approached the Albans. To be precise, they had simply chosen Leila as the Prince’s playmate, but it doesn’t look like that from the outside.”
“Yeah. It’s annoying.”
“But the Remingtons sent their youngest daughter. I guess they hated the power balance leaning towards the Albans, but the public’s view of the Albans has weakened as a result, right?”
“Yes. I’m surprised even Felicia showed up.”
Gill and I came here as teachers before Felicia came alone, but it was no secret that the Albans and Lisburn got along well, so it wasn’t a big deal. Rather, it would look to others as if Gill was the teacher and I was just there because of my age. That was fine with me.
“Well, it’s also because I don’t want people to think that the Moleseys have been left out of the loop.”
“That’s true. In fact, I’m sure our Otou-samas get along well with each other.”
“Well… But it’s not just about how it looks to outsiders,” the teasing tone in Mark’s voice disappeared. I looked up at Mark, who was standing next to me.
“When you came over to my house the other day, we talked about what we Moleseys thought about the Third Prince of Easter, right? I wasn’t planning on meeting him, but I did have the opportunity to meet him a little at some party.”
“Yes. It was nice to hear your opinion on him.”
I visited the Molesey House to gather information.
“But, you see, I’m more anxious about the Remingtons.”
“The Remingtons, you say?”
Sure, there were a lot of weird things like letting a little girl like Chris have a matchmaking.
“We Moleseys, well, we get along with the Albans. The Albans and Lisburns are friends. Therefore, the Moleseys aren’t on bad terms with the Lisburns either.”
“Yes, I know.”
“But I don’t know about the Remingtons.”
I thought about the reason when he said this. The Molesey House didn’t associate with anyone in the first place. They became closer to the Albans House because of Lei. As a result, they didn’t have a bad relationship with the Lisburn House either. But the Remington House wasn’t connected to any of the other Houses.
“I don’t think the Remingtons should be isolated.”
The conversation Mark started was a surprising one.