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n“How’s the princess doing?

nDak! Their swords screeched in protest at their slightly weakened swings. Noel frowned, roughly parrying the boy’s strike.

n“Why are you curious about that?”

n“What? Of course I’m curious. She’s an Imperial guest.”

nImperial guest?

nNoel somehow didn’t like the words.

nA guest? Would she have to leave someday?

n“The princess is not a guest.”

n“Pardon? What is she, if not a guest?”

n“……I think I said before that we should focus on practice, not that useless thing.”

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n

nNoel fixed his posture and struck the boy on the shoulder.

nPerhaps due to Noel’s fluctuating emotions, the Count’s boy fell to the ground, possibly injured.

n“….Ah.”

nThe sword that flew out of his grasp bounced, landing in front of Noel.

nNoel generously picked up the sword, a true gentleman in all aspects.

n“Thank you, Sir Noel.”

n“You’re welcome. On a side note…”

nNoel frowned slightly, inspecting the poor characters scrawled on the child’s sword.

n“What is this?”

n“Ah, that’s..”

nThe count’s boy looked to his younger brother, who was a short distance away.

n“My cute little brother recently started to learn how to write.”

n“…..!”

n“Young master?”

n“Oh lord, I’m a genius!”

nNoel hastened back to the mansion, hurriedly bidding his partner farewell.

nHe shouted to the butler.

n“Princess?!”

n“She’s in her room….Young Master?”

nEven before the butler finished answering, Noel charged towards Rieta’s room.

nHe knocked, and Rieta opened the door. Noel was a little pleased to see her quaint eyes. It wasn’t that he was happy that Rieta was asking for help, but that it was nice that his genius brain could assist with his clever plans.

n“It’s stupid to just sit and cram!”

nNagging, he took one of her notepads.

n“Noel?”

n“Trust me, you can’t properly memorize straight from the dictionary.”

nHe wrote “desk” on the note, gluing it on her desk with his own superglue. Not even a strong wind could blow it off.

n“What do you think?”

nNoel asked bossily.

n“….What do you mean?”

n“Isn’t this just genius?”

nHe just put a note that said “desk” on a desk, what was the big deal?

nWhen Rieta didn’t respond, he was a little frustrated, but this time he wrote “sofa” and glued it to her sofa.

n“You may call me a genius.”

n“In the kingdom, the term genius is used as a compliment….”

n“That’s still a compliment in the Empire!”

nHe wrote ‘Great Gentleman and Genius’ on a note and pasted it on his chest.

n“Don’t forget to memorize the words on me as well.”

nAfter looking up the word “gentleman” in the dictionary, Rieta gently shook her head.

nAnyway, his proposition was rather amusing, so Rieta wrote “vase” on the note, as it was the word she was memorizing a moment ago.

nThe two people went out to the hallway on the second floor with the note saying “vase,” attaching it to the decorative vase placed under a portrait.

n“Vase.”

nRieta had studied the words “pretty” and “vase” many times throughout her stay.

n“This is a pretty vase.”

nNoel gave her a thumbs-up at her accurate sentence.

n“Exactly, it’s ‘a precious vase below a portrait of a royal.’ Alright, next!”

nGlancing at the painting above the vase, Rieta scribbled ‘portrait’.

nNoel placed a note saying ‘portrait’ on the nose of his revered grandfather, the late emperor. Perhaps the note stuck on well because Noel’s glue was of good quality.

nOf course, another “portrait” notecard was pasted onto the forehead of the emperor.

n“It’s called a portrait. Okay?”

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n

nSticking out his chest, Noel named more objects, from handrails to stairs to walls to handles to doors and decor.

nHe didn’t know if this studying method was effective, but boy, was it fun!

nAfter attaching notes to everything in the second floor’s corridor, they advanced to the first floor, where there were even more delights.

nEspecially in the kitchen.

nThe two rushed through the dictionary, giggling amongst the servants.

nOf course, Rieta remembered “sugar” without looking into the dictionary. When she was caught dipping sugar in the past, she was punished.

nThe two’s study method was rather intriguing, so the servants also brought out various items from the cupboard.

n“Princess, this is ‘basket.’ Ah, you put it as ‘beskit’ here.”

n“I also brought some tea. Would you like a cup?”

nPrecisely in time, a delicious smell wafted out of where Rieta pasted “oven.” Thus, Rieta and Noel took a snack break. Searching the dictionary, they wrote ‘It’s snack time,’ and left together.

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