As Sezh reminded herself of her goals, she glanced over at Raytan. Even after she finished solving the problems he assigned her, he continued to read the book he had picked out for himself today.

He must really like reading.

Her attention then turned to the book in his hand.

His choice today was surprisingly tame compared to the titles Sezh normally observed him perusing. She did find it a little strange that he had chosen a book about wizards, especially since this interest seemed to come out of nowhere as far as she knew.

I had no idea, but I guess he seems to be fascinated with magic. Last time, he was reading a book about monarchies and stuff… Was that just meaningless to him?

Sezh tilted her head and took a moment to observe Raytan directly. She had never had the opportunity to properly appreciate his appearance before, and this intimate session gave her the chance to notice the nuances in his face more closely.

She had thought this way about him before, but Raytan was truly a handsome prince. His features reminded her of a finely sculpted statue that she had glimpsed a few years ago when she had been in the habit of collecting art. Although, the most notable—and perhaps strangest—part of his appearance was that he didn’t resemble the current emperor at all. No matter how long she stared, he didn’t look like him in the slightest.

Of course, Raytan certainly resembled Lise; however, Sezh couldn’t confidently say that all of his features matched his mother’s. His sharp and impassive demeanour was too cool to have come from someone as angelic as Lise. He was undoubtedly attractive, and if it weren’t for his black hair and his red eyes—no, even if he had yellow eyes, he might have led a better life than now.

Despite his appearance, he had all the makings of a perfect prince: he was tall, fluent in a foreign language, and seemed quite intelligent despite his taciturn nature. Considering the successful coup d’état that he had singlehandedly carried out against the Imperial Family in Sezh’s previous life, Raytan excelled in martial arts as well…

If it wasn’t for the legend, he would be living a comfortable life as one of the most esteemed noble children.

Sezh’s gaze wandered back to the book in Raytan’s hand.

So who was the person who even prophesized that legend in the first place? I think someone said that he was a famous wizard…

“What are you looking at?”

Raytan’s sudden question surprised Sezh from her train of thought.

“If you don’t want to learn, go back to your palace. I’m not teaching you because I want to do this.”

“No, it’s nothing. I’m so sorry.”

His face is handsome but his personality is so fucked up. At this point, I’m afraid to say anything to him.

Sezh shut her mouth and squeezed her pen.

My purpose isn’t to learn or speak Kazaki. Leaning Kazaki is just an excuse… How long do you want me to solve these problems for, anyway? What’s the difference between studying here versus alone in my palace if you’re not going to properly teach me?

She glanced at him as she grumbled internally about his attitude, though she didn’t have the courage to actually speak her mind to him. Sezh pouted her lips in frustration and kept all her thoughts to herself. Raytan looked at her with a twisted expression and said something she never expected from him.

“I’m a stupid princess who can’t do anything.”

“Pardon…?”

“Try writing exactly as I said in Kazaki.”

Sezh’s blue irises widened in response to his instructions as if he was some sort of crazy person, yet she had no time to object to his orders. His irritation looked ready to boil over any minute

“I’ve been teaching you for hours,” Raytan continued, his tone laced with sarcasm, “so surely you should know how to do something so simple, shouldn’t you?”

“Bu-, but I might make a mistake when I try to write it.”

“If you don’t want to do this, then you better stop learning and get out. Just stay in your palace and read your books.”

This is a disaster. It’s not like I can’t speak or understand Kazaki—I’m actually good at that. It’s just my writing abilities are not very strong…

She flushed with embarrassment at his command.

And what kind of phrase is that? ‘Stupid princess’?

…. I have never ever seen any brother act so maliciously. Granted I didn’t know him well in my previous life, but I never dreamed that Raytan would be such a twisted person. In all honesty, I would rather go back to being alone and trying to run away than stay and curry favour with the likes of him.

“Can’t you hear me?!” Raytan raised his voice as he impatiently pressed her to continue.

What should I do?

Sezh hesitantly held her pen in mid-air. A drop of ink fell from the nib.

At that moment, a raucous voice interrupted the tense silence.

“The West Library is like a warehouse.”

She lowered her head against the desk and discreetly turned around to see who the owner of the voice was.

“I guess that’s not all. Look’s like there are two unlucky things here.”

Just arrived at the library was a group of Sezh’s half-brothers and sisters whom she hated the most.

Oh, that damned wench was here. Sezh recognized one of the girls in the group as Lily, her half-sister who would slap her for simply meeting her eyes.

As for the one who had called her and Raytan unlucky things…

As far as she remembered, that person was Bern, who always was the leader when it came to harassing Raytan. They stared at Raytan and Sezh with disgust. Sezh looked at Raytan without realizing it herself and saw that his face was stiff.

“Kazaki language?”

Before Sezh could register what was happening, Bern approached them and laughed scornfully at the books on the desk. He picked one up and threw it at Raytan. Sezh was powerless to stop him.

The book flew and collided with Raytan’s forehead. Sezh closed her mouth before she could get the chance to talk back.

“Are you going to run away?” Bern sneered. “People said you can’t hide the shallow blood flowing through your veins. You’re just like your wanderer mother, aren’t you?”

Drip, drop…

The corner of the book had cut open Raytan’s forehead, and dark, red blood trickled down.