WBWB | Chapter 10

What Baldr wanted from her wasn’t simple manual labor, like transcribing texts or carrying stones. If she felt she wasn’t being compensated for her work, resentment would build, leading to negligence, which would ultimately harm him and his adopted daughter.

Baldr pondered hard for a solution to this situation.

“Has your family ever dealt with Golden Shield Bank?”

Banking was prevalent in various places, but its services were limited to noble families, merchants, and royalty, not individuals. Among them, the Golden Shield Bank had the most branches across the land.

“…Yes, we have an account.”

“That bank also does business with our family. I’ll arrange a meeting with a banker soon. Depositing your wages in your family’s account would solve the security issue, wouldn’t it? Of course, other family members with access to the account could also use the money, but if you don’t want that…”

“Is that possible?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can my family use my wages?”

“Why wouldn’t they be able to?”

He had warned her of the risks, but the woman’s face brightened like the sun emerging from behind clouds. He was very pleased with her reaction.

“I’ll inform Madame Pauline. If you need anything, you can trade with the merchants who come and go from the mansion. And most importantly… those clothes.”

His gaze fell on her plain brown dress, devoid of any ornaments, which had been bothering him since earlier. Under the chandelier light, the clothes looked shabby.

“It’s not appropriate for the tutor of the Duke’s household to be dressed like a servant. I’ll provide you with an allowance for maintaining your appearance so buy some new clothes. I expect not to see you in such clothing next time.”

He didn’t know that she had been sent into exile immediately after being released from prison, without time to pack. How an exile arrived at their destination wasn’t something he needed to know. At his words, the woman’s pale face turned crimson.

“Thank you.”

“If there is anything else you wish to request, speak now.”

He asked, extending his generosity.

“Um… would it be alright for me to take walks outside of lesson hours?”

“Walks?”

“I won’t go far, and I’ll definitely be back before dinner.”

“Very well.”

“And I would like the key to the library.”

“…”

“I feel like I’m bothering Madame Pauline too much by constantly asking her to let me in to look for teaching materials for the Lady…”

He raised one eyebrow for a moment. Books were as valuable as silverware. But he soon agreed.

“Go ahead. I trust you’ll manage the key and the books responsibly.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

It wasn’t an unreasonable request. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t understand why she was requesting the key to the library.

‘She has nothing to do but teach, so she needs something to entertain herself. But if she has that much free time…’

“However,”

Instead, he added a condition.

“Run.”

“Pardon? Run…?”

The tutor didn’t understand immediately.

“Run three laps around the training grounds every morning before breakfast.”

“…”

“A sound mind grows in a sound body. You look far too frail. How will you survive the winter here? There’s a training ground behind the mansion used by my soldiers. I’ll grant you access. Run three laps.”

Baldr believed that running was the best form of physical training. He and his personal soldiers ran ten laps around the training grounds before breakfast every day to prepare for the harsh winter.

“You can run more if you have time. That will help you build a foundation of physical strength.”

Jeanne’s mouth remained open at his words. Her expression was as if she had been struck by lightning.

“Your… Your Grace? Are you telling me to run on the training grounds?”

“Yes.”

“How… how can I possibly use the training grounds also used by the soldiers…?”

“What do you mean ‘how’? You have two legs, so use them to run.”

“I! I have a lot of work to do! I have to prepare for the Lady’s lessons!”

“Then just reduce the time you spend walking. Now leave.”

Having concluded the conversation, Baldr dismissed the tutor. With a pale face and shaking hands, she left the office with an incredulous expression.

* * *

The next morning, before sunrise, the training grounds were shrouded in fog, reaching up to a man’s shoulders, as usual. Baldr and his soldiers began their run. They did this every day, even when it rained or snowed. He was disappointed that the tutor didn’t show up.

‘Just as I thought.’

But why did he feel disappointed? As if he had expected something from her. 

But then again, she was just another noble from Franc. Baldr held prejudice against the nobles of Franc. He saw them as arrogant, lazy, and despite being of lower rank, they would look down on his family just because they were descendants of barbarians.

He began his run, thinking about what punishment he would give her. But as he was completing his third lap around the training grounds and was heading back to his starting point, a lone figure emerged from the fog. It was the woman in the familiar brown dress, her face pale.

‘Even though I told her not to wear that… well, I suppose clothes don’t just magically appear overnight.’

He heard the soldiers murmuring, noticing the woman who had come on the training grounds. He silenced them with a sharp command. 

Jeanne hesitated, looking around nervously, and then started running after the soldiers had all passed.

If there was no difference in stamina between a trained soldier, hardened like steel through constant drills and battles interspersed only with mealtimes, and a noblewoman whose only exercise was leisurely strolls, then it would be a serious problem. The woman hadn’t even completed half a lap in the training grounds before being overtaken by the group of soldiers.

He glanced at Jeanne as he passed her. 

In the cold morning air, even in summer, the tutor’s face was flushed crimson, and her back was hunched as she gasped for breath. But Jeanne didn’t give up and continued running. 

Long after the soldiers finished their ten laps, the woman, alternating between running and walking, finally completed her three laps. And then she stumbled away, almost crawling.

He had expected her to collapse and give up, but the woman appeared the next day as well. And again the day after that, when the sky drizzled with a misty rain.

* * *

‘The Duke of Skadi is a madman.’

What kind of employer made their tutor run in the mornings? And with the soldiers, no less? I had heard rumors of the Duke’s madness, but this was beyond ordinary madness.

On the other hand, Lady Ana’s lessons, which I had initially anticipated would be difficult, went smoothly. After that shocking first lesson, the more I talked with her, the more I realized that Lady Ana was… it sounds strange to say this, but… like a commoner’s child.

Lady Ana had milked goats, carried hay, made butter, and knew how to sew. When describing things she had done, liked, or was good at, she spoke fluently, cheerfully, and wittily. To the extent that I, listening to her, was unconsciously drawn in.

‘This child has a natural talent for speaking. She’s also clever and witty.’

Such a child couldn’t possibly have low intelligence. She simply hadn’t had the opportunity to learn anything up until now.

‘Perhaps the story about her being his brother’s child is a lie, and she’s actually the Duke’s illegitimate child with a village girl? And the village girl raised her like an ordinary child…’

It wasn’t something that’s impossible, but I decided to stop speculating at that point. As a tutor, I didn’t really need to pry into my employer’s secrets. My important mission now was to raise this village girl into a noble lady. A lady who might even become a queen of a country in the distant future.

They say you feel closer to people who share similar experiences. 

I, too, quickly grew fond of Lady Ana. Our circumstances were surprisingly similar. We had both been suddenly separated from our families and placed in unfamiliar surroundings, with no one to rely on. And I had a much younger sister. I decided to treat her like a new little sister I had gained here.

Every day, when I arrived at the study, I untied her tightly bound hair, which her nanny had pulled too hard, and braided it differently depending on her mood. 

Lady Ana liked it best when I braided it like a silken thread along her hairline. My favorite hairstyles for her were braiding her wheat-colored blond hair like stalks of rice and letting it drape over one shoulder, or parting her hair down the middle and styling it in two horn-like braids on either side of her head.