Translator and Editor: Soju and Tide

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Chapter 8

Kiel had plenty of thought about his current situation, which differed drastically from the past.

Everything was much too realistic to be considered a dream.

In his life, he had hardly read books and found it strange to see the letter he had learned after entering the imperial palace.

There were eight years left until Kiel would find himself in the Imperial Palace again.

‘I don’t want to live a hellish life again.’

Kiel remembered the days where he had learned the basic alphabet in the Imperial Palace.

‘I can’t wait to learn what I can.’

Kiel carefully looked at the books in Bella’s study.

“Would you like to read a book or something?”

But there was no book Kiel was particularly interested in. Most of them were novellas. Kiel pulled out a random book and pretended to read, although he was secretly observing Bella.

Bella seemed to be the owner of this mansion, so she could get whatever she wanted.

The object in her hand was something he had never seen before.

‘What’s that? She always carries it around.’

It merely seemed like a black box, but he was amazed to see Bella extremely concentrated on it.

The morning sun illuminating her made it seem as though there were white wings sprouting from her back.

Bella looked up, locking eyes with Kiel. She smiled, “Kiel, can’t you read?”

Kiel was startled. He had been caught staring at Bella.

“I’ll teach you. Look, this is…”

She came to his side with a piece of paper and plopped herself down.

“Lion is spelled L, I, O, N. Lion. A lion looks like this, right?”

The lion Bella drew looked more like a sheep than a lion.

“Isn’t that a sheep?”

“A shee-No! Uh, it’s a lion.”

‘I’m sure I could draw better, even if I was drawing with my feet. All I can see are eyes, a nose, and a mouth attached to a bunch of furs.’

“You’re really bad at drawing.”

Nonetheless, Kiel found himself smiling at the amusing drawing.

***

It had already been a week since Bella began to organize the contents of the novel. However, she hadn’t even reviewed a quarter of the events yet. Kiel always seemed to be knocking on her door whenever she tried to review the novel during the day time.

“I’m giving this to you.”

Bella couldn’t refuse Kiel when she saw the wildflowers in his hands.

“Oh, my! You’re giving these to me?”

Bella lavishly praised Kiel, who began to read a book.

“Can I…read this?”

“Go ahead.”

Bella couldn’t concentrate at all. She found it odd that the main character in the novel was right in front of her.

‘I don’t think I will be able to concentrate.’

“How do you do this?” Kiel curiously asked Bella.

Bella peered over and guided him through the problem. “What happens when you mix sleep-inducing and wake-up herbs?”

‘These are questions that I don’t even know how to answer.’

“What kind of book are you reading that is asking these kinds of questions?”

Bella rarely read nonfiction.

Kiel covered the book he was reading and wiggled his finger. “I wonder…”

Bella could hardly answer any of Kiel’s questions, especially when it came to the history and geography of this world.

“Ca-can I get you a book?”

Kiel nodded as if he had been waiting for Bella to ask.

Bella had a lot of knowledge about the demon world but not so much about the human world. After all, she didn’t belong in the human world.

“I’ll let Jenkins handle your education.”

‘I can’t leave the most important person in this novel to just anyone.’

Eventually, during the day, Bella taught Kiel some information before reviewing the novel at night,

Kiel fought against his drowsiness. He tried to wake himself up by furiously rubbing his face with his cold hands.

He was scared he would miss an important moment in his life if he even dared to close his eyes for a second.

Bella didn’t turn off the lights in the study and pinched her cheeks.

Suddenly, she heard a rustle come from the window.

It was Jenkins.

Where was he going?

Bella stealthily followed him, hoping that he wouldn’t break her trust in him.

Jenkins ended up in a small pavilion in the garden that had not yet been cleaned up.

“Do you hate me that much?”

Bella quickly hid behind the corner of a building as Jenkins began to speak.

“How long are you going to stay here?”

Jenkins was talking to Zhanbarr.

For the last few days, Zhanbar had been showing a clear dislike for Jenkins.

“Until the princess kicks me out.”

“Why are you still here?”

“Should I know?”

“I don’t want you to be in my sight.”

Bella found their conversation strange.

Zhanbar could easily kill Jenkins.

“Then, I’ll guess I’ll be staying.”

Bella’s eyes sparkled.

‘I chose well.’

Jenkins seemed to be staying to annoy Zhanbar.

Bella walked toward them to make her appearance.

“What were you doing there?”

What an awkward little greeting.

“Are you having a lover’s quarrel over here?”

Bella thought she was rather tenacious while she was talking.

The two blushed and were at a loss for words.

“What? What kind of nonsense—”

“Sigh. Anyways, Jenkins, you’ve stayed in the human world for a long time. I think you should be in charge of Kiel’s education.”

“Me?”

“If you do well, I’ll keep you around as a bookkeeper when we invade the human world.”

Surprised, Jenkins was at a loss for words. “You’re allowing a half-demon to do these kinds of things?”

Most of the time, Zhanbar was the bookkeeper, but he was rather stupid.

“He’s smarter than you.”

Fortunately, Kiel didn’t seem to dislike studying with Jenkins. Rather, he seemed to enjoy it very much.

‘It hurts my pride.’

Bella used her free time to organize the novel.

She dined in her study and took meticulous notes, sorted by year and event.

Bella worked hard to organize her novel as if she were preparing for the civil service exam.

She wrote down all the knowledge and information from when Kiel was not yet an adult.

“Jenkins, can you teach herbal medicine?” Bella asked.

“Yes, Miss.”

Kiel was as smart as he was in the novel, and Jenkins thought he was fun to teach.

What a wholesome story.

“Jenkins, do you know any court etiquette?”

“Well, just a little…”

“Do you happen to know about any of the relationships between nobility?”

“Sorry, not really.”

Well, that was enough for now.

After many days, Bella finally finished reviewing the book.

“Finally done with my notes!”

After writing her notes, Bella almost threw her phone away.

Bella, who was more thorough than she seemed, made another copy of the novel using magic and hid it.

She left the study and entered the mansion’s big hall.

“What is this? Why is this curtain here?”

“I ordered it and put it on.”

“When?”

“I told you about it yesterday.”

Bella followed Jenkins and touched her neck with her hands.

“Was I too absorbed in studying?”

When Bella entered the dining room, she was surprised to see a long luxurious table.

“When did this arrive?”

“This morning.”

Bella didn’t care much about the mansion. There were some changes, but what surprised her the most was the trash can full of broken glass.

“What is this?”

“Oh, it’s a plate. A lot of plates have been breaking lately.”

Bella was sure it was because of Zhanbar.

Well, there was not much she could do about it.

“Find Zhanbar. Don’t clean this up.”

“Where’s Zhanbar?”

“Well…”

Bella wasn’t quite sure.

Suddenly, she heard a cracking sound. Bella rushed to the source to find Zhanbar clearing a broken vase with Kiel at the foot of the staircase.

“Kiel, you’ll get hurt if you pick it up with your hands.”

Bella grabbed Kiel, scared he would get injured, and pulled him away. When Jenkins arrived with a broom, Bella clicked her tongue and scolded Zhanbar.

“Zhanbar, do you want to destroy the whole house? Is there anything you can do?”

“That little boy was gone!”

“What are you talking about? You’re being mean to Kiel.”

Zhanbar grumbled, and Kiel carefully apologized, biting his lips and looking up at Bella.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Bella hurried to make an excuse. “No. Why was the vase here in the first place? Jenkins!”

Bella glared at Jenkins, but he coughed a few times as he swept the broom into the glass. “The old lady told me to leave it here because she thinks you’ll like it.”

Bella quickly blamed Zanbar.

Kiel wiggled his fingers in tears.

“That’s what the kid did.”

Bella grabbed Kiel’s whimpering shoulders and hugged him.

“Break as many plates as you want. We can buy it again. Can’t we, Jenkins?”

“I’m sorry…”

Bella bent down to look at Kiel in the eye.

‘Did he have a hard time?’

“Are you hurt?”

Kiel’s fingers bled because he had tried to clean the glass up in a hurry.

“Tch, I’ll do it for you.” Bella grabbed his fingers and wiped Kiel’s tears away.

“Isn’t the temperature difference too much?”

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