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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
Only a few people knew that Towa had been appointed as the headmaster of the academy.
Parents who send their children to the school were told that only those close to the royal family were appointed to such positions.
However, in the newly founded Razequa Amamiya, very few people were from the royal family. Strictly speaking, there was Queen, Floria, and her husband, Kousuke, in addition, their three children. These five were the only members of the royal family.
Floria’s father, Alec, was not strictly speaking a member of the royal family of Razequa Amamiya. In fact, he himself had kept his position vague and up for debate.
Fewer knew who the true headmaster was because they had an acting headmaster, Jill Bizza. She was known to be a talented individual even though she came from a lower class noble family. In fact, with her, there was basically no problem in the management of the school.
Some of the nobles who read too much into it even rumored that Queen Floria was the headmaster of the school, and that Jill Bizza had been assigned to be in her place because of the Queen’s busy schedule.
With all these speculations and false perceptions, it was of great surprise to see Towa come in when Marquis Nico had asked to see the headmaster…
The first surprise was that a true royal oversaw the academy.
The other surprise was that a 10-year-old child, despite being a 10-year-old child, had been appointed to such an important position as school headmaster.
The Marquis was smiling in his heart, thinking that if he was dealing with a child, he would be able to do what he wanted.
He did not know that the child in front of him was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Towa, on the other hand, was deeply pondering, unlike any other 10-year-old child. He was thinking about how he was going to carry on the conversation.
He had heard about what happened from the staff member before he came into the room.
It was clear the Marquis in front of him was here to complain about the way he had treated his son the other day.
[I guess in this case, if he was dealing with a child then he would treat him as a child, and a parent if he was dealing with a parent.]
Razequa Amamiya, like Crown, was strict when it came to the treatment of slaves. In other words, slaves were not to be abused.
Even so, there was discrimination. It was expected for a noble to receive education from other nobles, not slaves.
The Marquis’ son, who caused the incident the other day, most likely forgot or was ill-equipped to tell his father about the school’s view of teachers. It turned out, the son had entered the school a few days late, missing the entrance ceremony. He did not get briefed and it seemed like this father as well.
Due to this, such a major expectation of noble children had not been properly conveyed. This manifested in that incident.
The other students, who were briefed, were naturally puzzled by that scene. They did not act in this manner because they had heard about this already.
Unfortunately, it was an oversight to expect those who entered a few days late to receive such notice from their peers.
Due to missing the announcement on the first day of school, when the child told his father, the Marquis, what had happened that day, much information was left out. This caused the current situation, where the Marquis himself had come down to see the headmaster.
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Towa was thinking about how to make best use of this situation after considering all the information he had – learnt from that staff member.
This was proof of how Towa was no ordinary child. It was this ability, as an older brother, that made his two younger siblings think that they would never be able to match him when it came to strategy and politics.
However, the Marquis had been completely fooled by his childlike behavior. The Marquis mocked him inside, at this child who was childishly ignoring the decorum of a handshake as he sat down on the recommended sofa.
“Well, I was surprised. I didn’t expect Towa-sama to be accompanying the school’s headmaster.”
The Marquis, who was supposed to speak to Towa, ignored the boy. In fact, he was rudely speaking without looking at him. After all, in his mind, he was dealing with a tactless child. Not the actual headmaster (Towa was just a figurehead).
Towa, not seeming bothered by this, smiled and jovially spoke.
“Yes. I thought so as well when I got this position, but Mother told me it would be alright, so I decided to take up the job.”
Towa, who said this with flushed cheeks, was, from the Marquis’ point of view, too innocent to hold any real power in the school.
Jill, who was standing next to Towa, was inwardly upset, but she did not show it on her face.
If Jill’s inner thoughts could be put into words, it would be screams of ‘how can such a ten-year-old deceive a grown up like this? How did they raise this child!?’
She was there to follow up on Towa’s mistakes, but she felt like there was no need to do so at all.
Regardless of Jill’s feelings, their conversation continued.
“Oh-ho. So this is the decision of the Queen, right?”
“Yes.”
The Marquis scoffs inwardly, mocking that even the Queen was naive about the people who she had assigned. Naturally, he did not verbalize it. He just thought that the current situation was advantageous for him. After all, how hard would it be to deceive a child with power and get the result he wanted?
“So, then, headmaster, Prince Towa, have you heard what happened the other day?”
“The other day, the commotion caused by your son?”
“It seems like the report is different from what actually happened. From what I heard from my son, it seems like students are receiving education from people who was unfit to be teachers.”
“What do you mean by ‘unfit to be a teacher’?”
Towa tilted his head, and the Marquis leaned forward and started to complain.
According to the staff member’s briefing, the Marquis’ son had told him that a teacher, who was a slave, was teaching at the school. When his son asked to consider his position, the school ignored him.
It was clear his son did not tell the Marquis that it was Towa who stepped in to mediate the situation. Otherwise, the other party just lacked the initiative to bring it up to the staff member.
When the Marquis spoke, he had a boastful tone. He seemed to treat his, and his son’s, stance as irrefutable. He talked down to Towa, thinking this child knew nothing about the situation.
“I heard that a person of slave status is a teacher at this school. I can’t help but think that it is not appropriate for a person in such a position to be teaching the students of this school.”
“Unworthy?”
Towa gave the Marquis a deliberate look of astonishment.
To the Marquis, this was an expected reaction from a native child. He nodded his head in bold agreement.
“That is so. Most of the slaves are not well-educated, you see.”
At this point, the Marquis had already forgotten that the person in front of him was the Crown Prince. If he had spoken this way in the royal castle, a lot of criticism would have been directed towards him. It could be said that the lack of other nobles present had removed all inhibitions in the Marquis’ thoughts.
Towa, who had let go of the Marquis’ attitude, allowing the flow of the conversation to continue as it were, suddenly let loose a trap in his remark.
“So what do you suggest we do in regards to the education given by that unworthy one?”
“That, of course, would be to replace that person with someone who is worthy. An aristocrat. To prevent this from happening again, the teachers in the academy should all immediately be composed exclusively of nobles.”
“I see… So you are suggesting that because they are not nobles…?”
“That’s right.”
The Marquis was completely put off by Towa’s downcast gaze.
That was why he was caught off guard by Towa’s next words.
“So the Marquis is saying that I and my siblings, who were learning spirit arts for several years from that slave, are not worthy to be royalty?”
“…What!?”
Towa pretended to not have noticed the Marquis hung his mouth, dumbfounded, and continued.
“Cecil, the slave teacher you speak of, has been teaching us spiritual arts as our private tutor. This was at the suggestion of our mother, the Queen. Ah, so you are saying that our mother, who recommended her as our teacher, is not worthy of being royalty either.”
The Marquis did not change his expression as Towa proceeded to speak without making eye contact with him. Nevertheless, cold sweat started to slide down his back as Towa continued.
If Towa’s words were true, what the Marquis had just said could be considered treason against the Queen. After all, he had said those words in front of the Crown Prince, her son.
Towa, who had been lying face down, looked up, smiled. He spoke to the Marquis, who was thinking desperately about how he could justify what he just said.
“So, how should we deal with this?”
When the Marquis saw Towa’s expression, he forgot to mend his expression and his face instantly paled.
It was only at this point that the Marquis finally realized that the conversation had been going exactly as Towa had hoped.
This was not a feat that a child of only ten would normally be able to pull off.
The Marquis was made to understand that his earlier perception of the Queen was fundamentally wrong.
This whole conversation had been conducted to elicit his next words.
“No, well, I guess I was out of line earlier. It seems that even if they are slaves, as teachers, there are those who are worthy.”
Hearing this, Towa let out a childish sigh of relief.
Of course, such a gesture was understandable to the Marquis now that the Marquis knew the boy was just acting, and that everything had been settled.
“I see. So you are saying that it was a mistake for the Marquis to come here?”
“Yes, I suppose so. It appears that there was a misunderstanding with my son.”
Towa nodded in agreement to the Marquis’s words.
It was a whitewashed conversation, but such exchanges such as these were sometimes necessary.
The Marquis, who had completely lost his initial momentum, ended up leaving the place without being able to change anything about the school.
As the Marquis was about to quickly leave the room, Towa threw in a few last words.
“Oh, yes. I forgot to mention, if the Marquis said more than necessary, I might have a good conversation with my mother about it.”
He was implying that if the Marquis spread word around about what happened, Towa would report this matter to the Queen about everything, without omission.
When the Marquis heard this, the way he saw Towa changed completely. He was truly not dealing with a child! It was a veteran wearing the skin of a child!
The Marquis did not say anything in response, but returned a bow to Towa and left the place.
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