The Marquis Carbodin’s daughter’s long eyelashes quivered when she was dismissed before even taking a seat. I had to acknowledge it: with her luxuriant red hair and amber-gold eyes, she possessed a beauty that could hold its own anywhere—even beside Duke Baniche.

“Your Grace, I am a person who has nothing to do with my brother.”

“Are you asking me to believe that, my lady?”

The Duke asked arrogantly.

“And even if it’s true that you have no contact with the Marquis, I cannot trust you.”

“This is unfair!”

The Marquis’s daughter gripped the skirt of her dress near her knees tightly.

‘…It’s a political issue.’

It wasn’t difficult to grasp the situation. Probably, the Carbodin Marquis family had been at odds with the Baniche Duke family for a long time. For a lady from such a family to apply to become a tutor, it must have been exasperating for Duke Baniche. However, there was one thing I wondered about…

“If you’re going to send me away without a proper interview, why didn’t you reject my application in the first place?”

“My aides submitted your application. Not me.”

“Still, you must have received it in advance, so you should have had enough time to refuse.”

Although the Marquis’s daughter didn’t back down even a single word to the Duke, Theodore Baniche’s cold attitude didn’t change.

“I’m not leisurely enough to look through the list in advance. Besides, since the lady attempted to approach my daughter, I thought it would be better to make it clear.”

“…You mean I shouldn’t even approach the young lady?”

The Marquis’s daughter spoke in a voice that seemed dumbfounded.

“Your Grace, excuse me, but do you not intend to even hold Elodie’s debutante ball? If you overprotect her like this from now…”

“Enough.”

The Duke ordered coldly.

“How I protect my daughter is none of the Marquis’s daughter’s business.”

The Marquis’s daughter’s lips trembled. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, then closed it again and slightly bowed her head.

“I understand Your Grace’s wishes. I will make sure not to intentionally approach the young lady.”

The Duke didn’t even bid her farewell and roughly marked an X on the document.

“…Huh.”

A sigh close to lamentation flowed from his mouth.

“To think she would be so brazen.”

“What happened?”

I carefully asked Duke Baniche.

“Could it be that the Carbodin Marquis family is related to Elodie’s disappearance?”

“No.”

The Duke shook his head.

“It has nothing to do with the disappearance. At that time, I was also wary of the Marquis family, so I searched thoroughly, but nothing came up. The problem is that they…”

He gripped the pen as if he would crush it.

“Have been insulting Elodie. Continuously. Since she came to me.”

I swallowed dryly. I didn’t have the courage to ask about the details, but there were a few points that stood out.

‘There’s no trace of the Duchess.’

If Elodie’s mother had been the Duchess, surely there should be traces of her somewhere. If she had died, they would have kept a portrait out of respect, and even if she had divorced, wouldn’t a normal mother at least visit once upon hearing the news that her precious daughter had returned? But Elodie’s mother couldn’t be found anywhere.

‘That means… Elodie is an illegitimate child.’

Of course, I couldn’t outright ask Duke Baniche if Elodie was illegitimate, so it wasn’t a certain assumption.

‘I should discreetly ask Sonya. If she knows anything about Elodie’s mother.’

Still, for now, I could sufficiently guess the pretext under which the Carbodin Marquis family had insulted Elodie. Even though it’s said that illegitimate children are treated equally with other children if they have their father’s approval, that’s only legally speaking. In reality, they were often ridiculed and despised behind their backs.

‘Even so, to attack a newborn baby like that…’

If I had known this fact beforehand, I would have thrown a word or two at the Marquis Carbodin’s daughter as well.

“How brazen.”

Before I knew it, a somewhat harsh comment slipped out of my mouth.

“To volunteer to become the tutor of a child her brother insulted.”

Duke Baniche stared into space. His slightly dazed face showed a dejected expression. Feeling as if I had glimpsed an intimate moment of someone who seemed to have no weaknesses, I turned my gaze away.

“How many are left?”

“Three.”

It shouldn’t have been difficult to count the remaining candidates, so this must be a question to change the atmosphere.

‘If so, I should play along.’

As I looked through the documents to think of a light conversation topic, a peculiar phrase caught my eye.

“Oh… it says this person is handsome in the document?”

Duke Baniche snorted.

“I’ve never seen a properly handsome man among those who go around saying such things about themselves.”

“But this wasn’t written by him.”

I replied with a smile. Indeed, the Baniche family’s informant who had investigated him had written that he was a handsome man who could be counted among the top ten in the capital.

“We’ll see when we meet him.”

“That’s right. It might be exaggerated.”

I chuckled while organizing the documents. I felt relieved that the atmosphere had lightened a bit. The candidate who entered shortly after…

‘It wasn’t an exaggeration.’

I opened my eyes wide. With soft silver hair that shimmered like silver thread and amethyst-colored eyes filled with melancholy, the tall candidate was undoubtedly an intellectual handsome man. Most of the male candidates we had seen today tended to show off their physical strength, but this type, who looked rather delicate, naturally put me at ease.

“Hello. My name is James Kist.”

From his voice that was neither too high nor too low, to his smooth greeting without a hint of nervousness. At least in terms of first impression, he passed.

But perhaps the too-good impression made the Duke wary. He asked in an extremely cold voice.

“What have you been doing and where until now? A man with all limbs intact like you must have many other things to do besides being a tutor.”

I glanced at him curiously, then turned my gaze back to James. James’s background and career were already written in the documents.

‘There’s nothing to fault.’

Moreover, his most recent job was as the principal of a fairly large school in the capital. Although schools, no matter how big, were only basic educational institutions, and working as a principal there was considered inferior to even a regular teacher at an academy, it was a sufficient experience for being a tutor.

“I find fulfillment in teaching children. But at the school, I kept feeling my limitations.”

I paid attention to his words. The resume was too perfect, so I thought perhaps it was just a well-polished facade. Duke Baniche seemed to have similar thoughts, as he shifted beside me and wrote something down with his pen.

“Moreover, I was under pressure to hand over the principal position to the landowner’s niece…”

James smiled bitterly.

“I quit in a fit of anger, but I was a bit lost about what to do next. That’s when I happened to see the notice for a tutor for the young lady. I applied without hesitation.”

He’s sincere. There’s no hint of lie. Compared to those who spout lies like they were born to serve Young Lady Elodie, he’s truly one in a million. The Duke also nodded, twirling his pen.

“I’d like to hear how you would teach if you become Elodie’s tutor.”

“I have experience teaching children from two years younger than the young lady to ten years older. First, I would assess the young lady’s level, and based on those results…”

It was a fluent answer. I leaned towards him with a slight smile.

“Elodie is an active child. Can you create an education plan that suits her?”

“Of course!”

James’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“There are children who are full of energy. Such children need a special curriculum. For example…”

The chain of questions only ended about thirty minutes later. In particular, Duke Baniche asked questions that seemed excessively detailed, but James answered all of them smoothly and perfectly.