Chapter: 09
“Ugh… I’m so tired…”
How long had the carriage been traveling?
By the time I opened my eyes, I was standing inside a new building.
In front of me stood a gray-haired woman with a stern expression.
Plain gray hair… A collateral member of the Orca Clan.
The attendant handed me over to the woman.
“Please take good care of the Young Lady.”
“Of course. We will educate her well in our class.”
I watched the attendant bow before turning to leave.
Before departing, he said he would return when today’s lessons were over.
The woman walked for a short distance before setting me down in the hallway.
So I’m finally here.
Across my previous three lives, I had only come here once.
In my first and second lives, Grandmother had judged that I wasn’t even worth educating.
Branded as a discarded child from the very beginning, I had lived in virtual confinement until I was eventually sold away.
In my third life, I somehow managed to step through the doors of the academy…
…Only to be mocked, ridiculed, and expelled before long.
For a direct descendant of the Orca Clan to be expelled was an enormous disgrace.
After all, they were the rulers of this land.
Still, I calmly looked around without much emotion.
It doesn’t look much different from my third life.
“Young Lady, I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
I turned toward the woman who addressed me.
Just as I remembered—she still had that strict expression.
I had met her in my previous life as well.
“My name is Laila. I oversee the entire Beginner Education Institute.”
As she introduced herself, she was the administrator of the beginner education institute.
Essentially the principal—or perhaps the director.
She was as strict as a knife…
I bore her no ill feelings.
Because of something that had happened in my previous life.
There had been a time when I became entangled in one of the more vicious collateral members’ schemes.
By the time I realized what had happened, I had been falsely accused of stealing someone else’s belongings.
For a direct descendant, it had been an utterly humiliating ordeal.
“My precious jewel was stolen by that Young Lady! It’s a family heirloom!”
“That’s right! We found it in her bag!”
As the matter grew serious, all of the beginner institute administrators gathered to hold a disciplinary meeting.
Naturally, the discussion turned against me.
Not a single person stood up for me.
“So the classroom was empty. Is there anyone who actually witnessed Lady Calypso stealing it?”
“Huh? Lady Laila, but it came out of Calypso’s bag!”
“This is not a classroom. You will address her properly as ‘Young Lady.’ Alfonso.”
“…Urgh!”
That was when I first met this woman.
“There is no proof that Lady Calypso is innocent. But neither is there proof that she is guilty. The classroom door was left open, meaning anyone could have placed the item inside her bag.”
Her eyes had been cold and severe.
They weren’t the eyes of someone trying to defend me.
“With insufficient evidence, disciplinary action cannot be taken. This meeting is concluded.”
She had simply listed the facts with calm rationality.
That left a deep impression on me.
But by the time I returned in a later life to seize the position of family head…
She was no longer here.
“It’s nice to meet you, Laila.”
When I greeted her clearly, Laila’s black eyes widened slightly before returning to normal.
“I had heard the rumors… but this is still astonishing. To think that, at merely three years old, you not only speak but pronounce every word perfectly.”
However, her amazement ended there.
“Please follow me. I will take you to your assigned class. I will also be observing your lessons for today, so keep that in mind.”
Laila turned around.
I followed after her.
…Huh? Her pace…
The height difference between us was that of an adult and a toddler.
Yet I had no trouble keeping up.
Behind that expressionless face, she had quietly adjusted her walking speed to match my tiny steps.
Come to think of it… I never got the chance to thank her in my previous life.
Why had she been dismissed?
It was only a guess, but…
She wasn’t exactly the type of person her superiors would have liked.
Maybe she’d simply been pushed out.
“We’re here.”
After our short walk, we arrived at the classroom assigned to me.
That afternoon.
Laila, the head administrator of the Beginner Education Institute for aquatic beastfolk, found herself unable to hide her astonishment.
Just who… is this child?
The purpose of the Beginner Education Institute was simple.
To gather young aquatic beastfolk…
…and identify those with outstanding potential.
These children would one day become the foundation of the aquatic races’ prosperity.
As the one responsible for judging the very first stage of that process, Laila took immense pride in her work.
Her most important duty was overseeing the whale beastfolk children—the rulers of the aquatic races.
In particular, the children of the Orca Clan who enrolled here, whether direct or collateral descendants, were all subjected to systematic supervision according to the will of the ruling family.
“Management” was little more than another word for surveillance.
For the past twenty years, Laila had held this position.
She had always believed her judgment was never wrong.
That confidence extended to the newly enrolled direct descendant, Lady Calypso.
“Lady Laila, did you hear? The Young Lady whom the Family Head personally acknowledged is enrolling in our institute.”
“Hm… Was she really acknowledged? According to the rumors, she can’t even use the Power of Water.”
“I heard she was originally supposed to be sold as the Dragon’s Bride.”
For a direct descendant of the Orca Clan, being unable to wield the Power of Water was no different from being born without an arm or a leg.
Collateral descendants had to awaken the power through effort.
Direct descendants did not.
Among the proud and arrogant ruling bloodline…
Such a defective child had no place.
Normally, they would simply be hidden away until they were eventually discarded somewhere.
In Calypso’s case…
She had been destined to become the Dragon’s Bride.
A sacrifice meant to be offered to the Dragon.
“But they say she’s unbelievably intelligent. Is that true?”
“I even heard she speaks perfectly. Isn’t that why the Family Head acknowledged her?”
“This is all so strange…”
Yet after surviving until the age of three and finally meeting the Family Head…
Everything about Calypso’s life changed.
Laila believed the rumors were half true and half false.
The idea that a three-year-old could speak flawlessly was absurd.
Whales were mammals.
Because of their slow developmental process before reaching maturity, every whale child normally learned to speak only around the age of seven or eight.
“Uwaaa?”
“Awoo! Awoo!”
Exactly.
Children like Calypso, around three or four years old, could normally express themselves only through gestures and sounds.
But…
“Hm? You want to play with blocks? Sorry, but I’m not interested in childish games like that.”
“Uwaaa! Uwaa!”
“Now, now. Crying won’t do. A fine orca never cries. There, there.”
“Hic… okay…”
“That’s better. You certainly have potential.”
The rumor everyone had doubted—
Or rather, the rumor that most people believed couldn’t possibly be true—
Was completely real.
“Nice to meet you, Laila.”
The moment Calypso clearly pronounced her name…
Laila felt an overwhelming sense of incongruity.
As if proving the rumors true, Calypso was utterly out of place in a classroom filled with three-year-olds.
“Um… Lady Laila…”
Someone cautiously approached Laila, who was quietly observing from the corner of the classroom.
It was Hanya, the supervising teacher of Whale Class C for ages three to four.
“Wh-What should we do?”
“What happened?”
“Well… as you can see… We’re supposed to begin today’s activity, but none of the children will leave the Young Lady alone.”
That was right.
Calypso had demonstrated far more than extraordinary language ability.
“When we try to separate them, they start crying…”
“We can’t continue the lesson…!”
That morning, Calypso had confidently entered the classroom and calmly taken her seat after walking past the other children.
Naturally, the curious children approached the newcomer.
But astonishingly…
Within moments, she had somehow gathered them around herself with an unbelievable level of charisma—or perhaps magnetism.
None of them wanted to leave her side.
“Abu! Abubu!”
“I don’t eat candy that’s already been licked by someone else. You keep it.”
“Buaaah!”
“Oh? Plankton candy? Thank you. I’ll gladly accept that.”
“Kyaaah!”
Calypso gently patted the child on the head after accepting the candy.
Strangely enough, that child had only recently enrolled and was so shy that even the teachers had struggled to approach them.
Normally, children judge appearances.
No… children are often even harsher than adults.
Looking at it that way…
Calypso’s appearance certainly stood out.
She was so beautiful that it was hard to believe she had failed to awaken the Power of Water.
Based on her looks alone, anyone would believe she had perfectly inherited the beauty of her father, Pierre.
“…Wow. The new Young Lady really is incredibly beautiful.”
The assistant teacher, Henny, murmured under her breath.
“But if this keeps up, today’s lessons are going to be impossible. What should we do, Lady Laila?”
The Beginner Institute wasn’t run carelessly simply because it taught young children.
Quite the opposite.
As their first educational institution, it maintained strict standards appropriate for each age group.
Each day had mandatory lesson quotas that had to be completed.
At this rate…
Was I wrong?
Laila herself had believed the rumors were either complete nonsense or at least ninety percent exaggerated.
She had thought a class for three- and four-year-olds would be more than sufficient for the Young Lady.
I can’t leave her here.
At the very least, she absolutely doesn’t belong in the three-to-four-year-old class.
But then… which class should I assign her to?
The moment Laila narrowed her eyes in thought…
As if sensing her gaze…
Calypso suddenly whipped her head around and looked directly at Laila.
