Ethan narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side. As if the answer wasn’t quite satisfactory. Connie slightly averted her gaze, her feet tingling under his gaze.

“That day, it was the first time in four years of university that you spoke to me first, and it was to congratulate me on graduating?”

“Yes.”

“I see. I thought……”

‘I thought’? Did he have some other expectation from me?

“Then…… see you next time. I need to prepare for tomorrow’s class.”

Though she was a bit curious about what was going on in Ethan’s mind, she deliberately suppressed it. After all, he had another woman in his heart, and he was the heir to the Steen Foundation that employed her.

“Okay, oh! You said first grade, right? Which class?”

“Class 3.”

“First grade, Class 3…… I should remember that.”

Why?

But she swallowed this question too. As the vice principal, it would naturally be something he should remember.

“Alright, I’ll go then.”

Connie nodded slightly and turned around. Somehow, it felt like Ethan Schwab was watching her from behind, but that was just her expectation. Soon after, she heard the sound of his heels moving away.

As always, it was an unhindered and brisk footstep sound.

⁕⁕⁕

From the first day of school, the children came with their guardians for five days. On the first day, the guardians stayed with them for an hour and then went home. The next day, they stayed together for an hour, then the guardians went to receive parent education, and the children stayed in the classroom for another hour before leaving. For the next three days, the guardians only brought the children to the front of the classroom and left immediately.

On the first day, it was impossible to tell who was whose guardian, but by the fifth day, it finally became clear whether the person bringing the child was a parent, an uncle, or a nanny.

Including Her Majesty the Queen, most were brought by the child’s mother, but Callian Brightling was consistently brought by his uncle from the first day when he was late. William Wayne, who was six years old and had entered school a year early from the legal elementary school entrance age of seven in the Kingdom of Greet, came with his father. A girl named Sana Lancelot, who was eight years old after delaying a year, strangely came alone without a guardian.

Although all children would have to come from the school gate to the classroom alone starting next week, it was puzzling why Sana came alone even during the first week.

“I’m sorry.”

When Connie called Sana as she was leaving school and asked why, Sana bowed her head and answered.

“Huh? For what?”

“For my parents not coming with me. I’m sorry for making you worry about me.”

“……”

Connie was momentarily speechless. Even though she was a year older, Sana was still only eight years old, yet her manner of speaking was too polite and mature. It wasn’t just her way of speaking. The content of her words was even stranger. To the point where her chest felt chilled by the old memories that came rushing in.

“My parents are busy. They have a lot to worry about because of me. They drop me off at the school gate in the morning, so I can find my way to the classroom well. So you don’t need to worry about me.”

“It’s natural for a teacher to worry about you, so there’s no reason for you to feel sorry toward your teacher. But Sana, did your parents come on the first day of school?”

On that day, there were some families where both parents came specially, so the number of children and guardians didn’t match exactly. Since she hadn’t checked the attendance of parents, she couldn’t know for sure if Sana’s parents had come.

“That day, I came with the madam, no, my mother.”

Madam?

Though she immediately corrected herself, she definitely seemed to have said ‘madam’ first.

Madam…… A word she hadn’t heard in a long time, but one she never wanted to hear again. The chill in Connie’s heart now felt like frost had settled.

The children at Steen Elementary School, where tuition was comparable to university fees, were from wealthy families. Most were children of noble families, and even those who weren’t nobles were children of the highest-level asset holders among the gentry class. Because of this, the children who lived scattered throughout the city all commuted to and from school in their own family carriages.

As a result, when it was time to leave school, carriages coming to pick up the children lined up in front of the school. Although there was a slight time difference for each grade’s dismissal time, with more than thirty students in just one grade, the carriages couldn’t stay for too long.

Soon the second-grade children would also be leaving, so she couldn’t hold Sana and ask more questions.

“Okay, Sana. I understand. You can go now.”

“Yes, goodbye then.”

“No! No, let’s go out together.”

Connie stood up as she saw Sana bowing politely. She wanted to personally escort her to the carriage to see who had come to pick her up. She also wanted to accompany her home since she was a child who always came alone.

There were three carriages left in front of the school gate.

“Which carriage is your family’s?”

“Well…… It seems the carriage left first.”

“……What?”

They were a bit late coming out because they were talking, but it was only about five minutes, a short time. It didn’t make sense that they wouldn’t wait and just leave.

“Where do you live?”

“Sonak. Sonak 8th Avenue.”

That’s not even close.

“Then how will you get home? I’d like to take you, but I can’t leave work yet.”

“I can walk by myself.”

An eight-year-old child says she’ll walk alone? It was clearly a distance that would take more than an hour on foot, though it might take twenty minutes by carriage.

“Ma…… Mother told me to remember the way home well, so I’ve already memorized it all. Teacher, goodbye.”

Sana quickly turned around and started walking away rapidly, as if afraid Connie might try to stop her.

It seems like she was about to say ‘madam’ again…… Why does she keep saying ‘madam’?

Connie stood watching as Sana walked away. For some reason, her chest felt constricted.

〈’Mother,’ you say. Just because we adopted you, do you think you’ve really become a noble’s daughter? How dare you, a lowly commoner! Call me ‘madam.’ Don’t bother me, go and do your work.〉

The words she had heard from her aunt when she first met her at twelve years old seemed to echo in her ears, and her aunt’s words kept overlapping with Sana’s.

That can’t be right…… If she were in the same situation as me, Sana wouldn’t be attending Steen Elementary School in the first place. My aunt thought the tuition for me was too expensive and didn’t want to send me to even a much cheaper public school, let alone a private noble elementary school like this.

Connie tried hard to shake off the ominous feeling. But her footsteps were already quickening as she returned to the classroom. Even to people who hadn’t looked closely at Connie herself, she sometimes appeared to be a child who had changed from a commoner to a noble thanks to her noble uncle and his wife adopting her.

There might be something in the student’s home environment survey that could tell whether Sana was a truly cherished daughter of a noble family or an abused child who was only nominally a noble, like Connie herself.

Her steps grew faster and faster until she finally ran so hard she was out of breath, but she stopped abruptly as she was about to enter the classroom.

“William?”

William and his father were coming out of the classroom. It seemed they had returned to the classroom while Connie was at the school gate with Sana.

“Hello, teacher.”

William’s father greeted her respectfully.

“Yes, Father, hello. Did William leave something behind?”

“Yes, he said he left the book he was reading during break time in his drawer.”

“Ah, I see.”

Now that she looked, William had a storybook in his hand. She remembered that William had been reading books during every break time.

“You like books, don’t you, William.”

When Connie stroked William’s head, William nodded and smiled.

Oh, how pretty. Like a baby angel.

William’s smile was so lovely that Connie unconsciously almost stroked his cheek too. But feeling the Duke’s gaze on her, she quickly came to her senses and lowered her hand.

Even though he was a student in her class, she felt concerned that she had touched the child too unconsciously.

“William, Dad has something to talk about with the teacher briefly, would you like to go to the carriage first and read your book?”

Fortunately, the Duke didn’t seem displeased.

At his father’s words, William nodded and immediately left the classroom.

“Would you like to sit down?”

Connie asked William’s father, offering him a seat.

“No, I can’t keep William waiting for long, so I should speak briefly and go.”

“Yes, Father.”

William was on the quiet side, but he tended to say what he wanted to say. Although he was six years old, having entered school a year early, he seemed even more intelligent than the other children. His classroom attitude was good, and his manners were polished, like seeing the bud of a model student.

“Actually, William lost his mother three months ago. I didn’t think it would be good for a child to spend a lot of time in a house without a mother, so I decided to send him to school a year early.”

“Ah…… yes.”

“I thought it would be better for you to know this when guiding William. Of course, you would know from the student records, but you might not know yet, so I’m telling you this in person while I have the chance.”

“I see.”

I had been wondering why William came to school with only his father every day and had imagined various reasons, but it turned out to be the most heartbreaking one……