CH 17

“Stay there.”

‘D, don’t do it.’

However, contrary to my wishes, Oscar turned around as if he had been waiting.

Dad put me down and approached Oscar.

“What did you just say?” 

“I just wasted my time on an idiot for no reason.”

“Ha.” 

Dad burst out laughing and clenched his teeth tightly.

“Apologize to my daughter.”

“Apologize for wasting my precious time like gold. So far, I have spent an hour and thirty-seven minutes.”

“Who came? It wouldn’t have been the case if the Lord of the Wizard Tower’s mate would have come personally. You came straight to a place where you weren’t even asked to go.”

“Because I have an expectation. Because you are the daughter of ‘that’ Enoch Rubinstein.”

Oscar said, arrogantly lifting his chin.

“But you were no different than any other pathetic parent. Do you know how many students apply for gifted education at the Wizard Tower?”

“….”

“Everyone is frantic about playing some silly numbers game. My children must be gifted, because it is so funny to see them inflated with unreasonable expectations.”

“Hey, I wasn’t like my daughter when I was seven. Who the hell can solve that at that age?”

“I did. Exactly seven years old.”

“….” 

Dad seemed speechless.

“…Apologize.”

“I don’t want to.” 

“What the hell this manner—!” 

“Enoch.” 

Grandfather intervened to mediate the harsh atmosphere.

“I’m the one who contacted you about my granddaughter, the Lord of the Wizard Tower. I’m sorry if it didn’t meet your expectations. Leave it at that and go home.”

“Aha, is that so? Sir Nordic seems to have aged too. Seeing that the insight I once admired was nowhere to be found.” 

…That madman.

There’s really no upside down.

“Lord of the Wizard Tower!” 

Dad couldn’t stand it and raised his voice.

Grandfather clasped Dad’s arm tightly, fearing that his hand might rise.

At that time, I was memorizing a spell inside.

‘Hold on. Be patient. Don’t talk, Lilith. There’s nothing good about me. Please.’

‘I don’t want to? Why are you holding on? Should I just let the guy who is arrogant even to Grandpa?’ 

It was because the reason that I had to endure it and the urge to flatten the nose of the guy who ate the wrapped rice was up and down in my mind.

“I welcome the return of the Duke to the capital. Your daughter is a widely spread fool on this floor, so don’t dream of nothing, and please rebuild the family you left behind for seven years.” 

…Is this brat going to do it until the end? 

Tuk, something broke in my mind.

The impulse won.

“Dad, wait!”

I ran and grabbed the hem of his pants before he got mad.

Then I said to Oscar, who looked down at me with a cheeky look.

“Did you solve that when you were seven?”

“Yeah.” 

“You are a genius.”

“That’s right. You’re a fool.”

“I’m glad I’m a fool. Because if I’m a genius, I won’t be able to learn manners if I go to the Wizard Tower. Dad will be sad if I grow up as spoiled as the Lord of the Wizard Tower.”

“…What?” 

For a moment, Oscar’s expression darkened.

Dad flinched, and he laughed.

“Uh, right. As long as you grow up healthy and polite, that’s enough, my daughter.”

“Five more minutes, please.”

I said without avoiding Oscar’s tenacious gaze.

“I’ll try to solve that problem again.”

“You?”

“Yes. If I get it right, please apologize for being disrespectful to Dad and Grandpa.”

“….” 

The silence has subsided.

And after a while, Oscar grinned, and she answered.

“Great. Try it.”

“Thank you for listening.”

I went back to the front of the blackboard.

And my Dad, who was bewildered, said.

“Lilith, princess. You don’t have to push yourself.”

While rereading the question on the blackboard.

‘Are you crazy? You’re an idiot.’

My reason is back.

I couldn’t stop myself from acting on a sudden urge, and what I did was enormous.

If I solve this now, I will hear the voice of a gifted child.

Furthermore, higher-level questions will continue to evaluate understanding and cognitive abilities.

To what extent can I pretend to be a gifted person, not actually a gifted person, but only solving problems that I already know with adults’ minds—.

‘No, no. Still I took off all the higher education courses in my previous life, right?’

It was liberal arts, though.

But it’s a combination of liberal arts— and even though it wasn’t gifted, it was still to the point of talented.

Don’t I remember that I worked as a math tutor to pay off my student loan? 

For reference, I teach a high school student who wants to go to Soul University’s math education department.

‘Yeah, let’s go crazy. I have already crossed a river of no return.’

I picked up the chalk.

While everyone is holding their breath.

Tak, tak, tak.

Only the sound of chalk on the blackboard began to be heard clearly.

Many scenes in the movie come to mind, where geniuses solve problems without hesitation on the blackboard—.

Of course, they’re real geniuses, and I’m just pretending to be geniuses.

‘I’ve already decided to cosplay as gifted child, let’s do it well!’

What’s there to life?

I decided to act without hesitation with a thick iron plate on my face.

I made the final point while never stopping moving the chalk.

Then, I put the chalk down and turned around.

Robert, Dad, and Grandpa—.

It looked like their eyes were about to pop out.

“W, what did I see… No, I… D, Duke… W, what is that?”

Robert blankly rubbed his eyes and asked Dad who was next to him.

“…I, I don’t know.”

Dad shook his head with his mouth wide open.

Meanwhile, Oscar had a strange expression on his face.

“Lord of the Wizard Tower.” 

I said, wiping my chalk-dusted hands. 

“It’s seventeen.”

* * *

Oscar Manuel isn’t just a rude person. 

He knew very well what manner was.

As promised, he bowed 90 degrees to his waist, acknowledging his disrespect to my Dad and Grandfather.

I was not impressed or satisfied because it was a victory I received so easily.

All that’s left is for me to regret my actions, which made my work a lot harder without any countermeasures.

“Ha, life…”

Sitting alone in the study room, I stared blankly into the air.

“What did I do?”

I just wanted to see Oscar’s face gasping with anger—.

Rather, his eyes shone with madness, perhaps from the satisfaction of finding the gifted one.

‘As expected, he must be crazy.’

He even had dinner at my house and even offered to teach me personally.

Of course, since I had a connection with the Lord of the Wizard Tower, I had just accepted it to try to recruit him.

Drrrk.

“You surprised me.” 

Suddenly I heard the sound of a chair being pulled out, and when I turned around in shock, it was Oscar who had finished eating.

“Ukk—” 

“….?” 

“I ate it.”

After one big burp, Oscar patted his stomach.

‘W, what the hell?’

If it wasn’t for his handsome face, it was unacceptable.

Oscar smiled as he looked at me dumbfounded.

‘…What is it? How can you be like a different person?’

For some reason, he had a completely different atmosphere from before.

“Where should we study more?”

Oscar made a light chin, and a paper and pen flew in front of me.

“Wow.”

“It’s amazing, right?

“Yes.” 

“Every space has coordinates. To create a magic formula, you need to formulate the concept of this space.”

Aha. Formulating space—.

So, it seemed to make a magic formula by knowing about the concept of a vector (*vector: an element that composes an abstract vector space), which is a higher education curriculum.

‘Isn’t magic pretty systematic?’

I got a little interested.

If it’s a vector, I can solve it enough based on my knowledge.

“Do you know any number less than zero?”

“Can it be less than zero?”

As I pretend to be innocent, Oscar grinned, resting his chin on his hand and swiping his pen on the paper.

3-5 =

“Do it.” 

“Hmm.” 

Oscar seemed to be teaching me the concept of negative numbers.

Well, I guess I’ll just have to pretend to think about it for a bit and give the answer.

With the tip of the pen in mouth and looking at the question, Oscar mumbled.

“…Small.”

“Yes? What? The number?” 

“No.” 

Looking back, Oscar was smiling strangely for some reason.

“I’m talking about you.” 

“…Yes?” 

“Even if you’re small, you’re too small.”

For a moment, I was dumbfounded.

Oscar added, putting his chin on his hand and carefully looking at me.

“To be seven years old…I don’t think it’s too big to be weird.”

“….” 

Thump.

I felt like I heard a heart drop.

Yes, I was smaller than my age.

And there’s a reason for that.

‘W, what is this punk trying to say?’