It had been a few weeks since Vince first started working as Estelle’s retainer. And today as well, he was going to attend her once he was done with his morning lessons. Today was his last day receiving those lessons too.

To call him on cloud nine was an understatement. He was finally going to have more time to study stuff. Even though he proved that he didn’t need any of those lessons, they still obliged him to take some lessons. Seeing his potential, the von Sideria decided to make him the best butler one could think of having, at least of that age.

Instead of receiving lessons over etiquette and whatnot, he was taught political strategies instead. And that came bundled with a lot of insider knowledge about all the other noble houses in the kingdom.

Top tier attendants were expected to know all of this stuff to help their masters during social meetings and many other situations. Only by knowing every little particular an attendant would be able to understand what their lords were planning, be able to break down their thought process and support them with any means possible.

Too bad all of this didn’t hold true because a certain someone refused to get taught all of this. And Vince knew he would end up being the one tutoring her during all those meetings because of her negligence.

That certain someone, none other than Estelle Xanthia von Sideria, was currently messing around with Vince as always.

“Milady, you should resume your studying. In a mere few weeks, we will get into the academy, which will also be your social debut. If you don’t at least know something about the big families, you might end up messing up. You don’t want that to happen, now, do you?”

“But I don’t want to. It’s way too boring learning all this stuff. You should learn it instead and do things for me. You’re my attendant after all, so it’s expected of you to do something like this, isn’t it?”

“As I already said countless times, I already learnt all of this. Hell, maybe even more. But it’s no good if only I know it. I can be of help, but I cannot be the one doing the speaking, ever. Just trying to speak with a noble while not having any status is seen as a very disgraceful thing, even if I’m your attendant. The only times I can intervene are when the other party is the one initiating the conversation.

And stop it with that smug; you cannot just tell them to speak to me instead. It would be seen as an act of pure contempt. Doing something like that would be like saying: ‘look, I have such a low esteem of you that you are only allowed to talk to my servant and not me.’”

Every word struck her harder. No matter what she thought of, she felt like her mind was split open for him to see. Having all her escape routes barred, there was only one thing she could do. And it also happened to be what she was best at. Violence.

“Shut up, you damned attendant! You are coming up on the spot with all of that because you don’t want to learn it! Admit it! As long as you admit it I’ll spare you from getting beaten up!”

Estelle started charging at him, prepared to restrain him. This uncouth servant dared to talk back, so giving him a little punishment was a given. Every lord should punish his subjects if they misbehaved. That was what she was taught since she could remember.

‘Not again, this girl wants to restrain me again! She thinks that violence can solve everything! What is wrong with everyone in this world? Punching a few bricks won’t make them turn into a house, you damned muscle heads…’

Vince did not even try to evade. Even if he fought back, it would just end with Estelle chasing him all across the mansion as always. He had long grown tired of it. Therefore, he decided to change his approach. This time, he would let her do her thing.

And Estelle didn’t hesitate, not even for an instant. She jumped on him, pushing him onto the ground, while she sat on his torso.

“Have you finally given up because you comprehend how far apart we are? Have you finally decided to recognise my superiority?”

“…”

“Why are you silent? It’s no fun if you just don’t say anything. The more you wait to say those words, the worse the punishment will get, got it?”

“…ah sure. You are a supreme being, while I’m a mere worm, looking up at you. I can never hope to achieve what you will achieve, neither what you already achieved just by being born. The bards will sing your stories for centuries narrating your deeds, and whatever. Happy now? Can you study now?”

Estelle nodded all throughout his flattery as if everything that was being said was something natural. Satisfied with what she achieved, she decided that maybe this servant was not so blind, and therefore he didn’t deserve a punishment.

“Since you praised me so sincerely, I will show you how big the disparity is. All of that studying material is nothing for a superior being such as myself!”

Happy with the results, she stood up and went towards the desk, where the pile of books laid waiting for her. Although the academy was supposed to teach all of this, in reality, it was more like a stage for the big noble houses to confront their younger generation. Therefore the quality of education of the academy, especially in politics, was nowhere near what the big noble houses taught their children.

‘Was it that easy? Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe it’s true that flattery can get you anywhere.’

While still in disbelief, Vince stood up and went into the other room to prepare some tea and fetch some sweets. Since the little pest was behaving for once, he didn’t mind spoiling her a little.

Once he had everything ready, he prepared to serve. He put the neatly decorated silver tray on a similarly decorated cart and started pushing it to towards the room Estelle was in.

What greeted him was the sight of a cute little girl sitting on a too-tall chair for her. Her feet didn’t even come close to the ground. Her golden hair gently touched the desk, while her head bent forward showed how focused she was on the textbook before her.

Vince calmly approached her, but she completely ignored him. Only when a cup of tea and a bunch of sweets were put under her nose did she realise.

‘Isn’t this one too big of a change? Just with a bit of empty flattery, she turned from an annoying lass to an obedient child who works hard… What is wrong with people, for real. For her to be this much attention-seeking, nobody must have ever given her any attentions.’

“Why are there only these many sweets?”

“You can’t say I’m stealing them if there are none in the first place, right?”

“Mou~”

‘Hey, don’t look at me like that… I was the one getting beaten up over this…’

After staring at him with puppy eyes for a little more, Estelle resumed reading the book while taking progressively smaller bites on the few sweets she had.

“By the way, milady, I was told tomorrow we’re going to go to the shopping district to buy all of our necessities for the academy. There’s not much time left until we have to take the entrance exams, and we need to have everything ready by then. So, tomorrow we will have to get everything.”

“Are you coming as well?”

“I am indeed. It would help if you remembered that I’m going to be your attendant at the academy. Therefore I also need to buy necessities. I was asked to tell you to be ready by nine in the morning. We are heading out shortly after and will probably stay out all day.”

“Got it.”

A while later, Estelle finally flipped the last page of the book she had in front of her. The sun was setting, and her room was brightly lit with a warm orange hue. As she looked at her surroundings, she noticed Vince sitting on the couch reading a book.

Feeling her gaze, he slowly raised his head and stared back at the big blue eyes that were fixed on him.

“So, are you done studying?”

“Yes, I finished studying that book I had to read.”

“Very well, see that pile of books next to your desk? You should read all of them.”

“WHAT? How do you even define that a pile? It’s more like a mountain… And what are all those books for?”

“Since you so diligently studied that book, I thought I could assign you more. By the time we take the test, you should have read all of those. Reading them now will make your time at the academy way easier.”

“I refuse. No way I’m going to read all those books. Why don’t you read them instead?”

“Already read all of them and decided those are the essentials you need to read for the academy.”

“Essentials? I doubt we will read that many over the next five years.”

“Essentials for you to not disgrace your house, of course. You don’t want to fall out of the top ten, do you?”

“Top ten? What do you mean?”

“So you were not told, huh. The academy is a place thought to grow the newer generations in an environment of equality. The students, while inside the academy, won’t be able to rely on their noble titles. The resources of the academy will be split according to merits and not lineage. Therefore if you want to make full use of the academy, you have to consistently rank high in order to get a lot of resources.

You want to become strong, don’t you? Remember that in the assessment, the theory ranking will be considered as well. Thus, if you want to live leisurely and have a bright future ahead of you, you should get high assessments in theory as well.”

“WHAT? Why was I never told beforehand?”

“Well, that doesn’t matter now. Try to read as many of those books as possible, and you won’t have a hard time.”

“I want to cry already.”

And leaving behind this shocking revelation, Vince left the room. Now only a despairing girl was left with a lot of anxiety. She might be among the best in combat, but she for sure had no confidence at all in theory.