The velvet jacket was gorgeously embroidered with gold thread, so when he looked in the mirror, it practically screamed, ‘I’m a noble child!’
“It suits you remarkably well.”
Looking deeply moved, Melissa clapped her hands.
Shushu rubbed his nose to hide his shyness.
Wearing cool clothes boosted his confidence.
His instinctively hunched shoulders straightened right up.
With his hair styled on top of that, his purely cute appearance shifted into that of a handsome little boy.
As Shushu stepped out into the hallway fully dressed, the servants turned to stare at him in astonishment.
Outside Callix’s office, Cain knocked on his behalf.
“Young Duke, it is Young Master Damian.”
“Come in.”
Before opening the door, Shushu rubbed the blue velvet jacket with his hand to smooth out any wrinkles.
Seeing Shushu enter, Callix, who was seated at his desk, stayed silent for a long moment.
Does it not suit me?
“……You’re wearing my old clothes, Damian.”
“Ye-es, Big Brother.”
“It suits you very well.”
A large hand gave the top of Shushu’s head a firm, affectionate pat.
He turned out to be a much gentler older brother than expected.
Callix scooped Shushu up into his arms and sat him on his lap.
Telling him he would correct his pronunciation and accent, Callix handed him a prepared book and told him to read aloud.
“I don’t know how to read.”
“Ah, right. You said you can’t read yet. Then listen carefully to me and repeat after me. Ton tonton tond ton thon.”
Shushu stared with an absurd look at the older brother who kept forcing him to repeat the exact same repetitive syllables.
“Hurry up and say it.”
To Shushu’s ears, what he was saying sounded right now like:
“Dung-doh-dong tong-tong.”
“‘Your’ is ton. ‘Uncle’ is tonton. ‘Tuna’ is thon. I made a sentence using these. You should pronounce it as, ‘Ton tonton tond ton thon.'”
What was this nonsense about tong-tong that he was being forced to pronounce?
Annoyed, Shushu crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks with air.
With a soft chuckle, as if finding him adorable, Callix poked Shushu’s puffed cheek with his index finger.
“Damian, ver. Repeat after me. Ver.”
“Bur-rae.” (Bug)
“ver. Listen closely. ver. That’s how you pronounce it.”
“Bug.”
“That’s right.”
Callix pronounced it as ver once again.
But Callix pointed out that he wasn’t pronouncing it correctly.
“That’s not it. It’s different from a bug. Vert. Green.”
“Beel.”
“vert. That’s the pronunciation. Can’t you hear the subtle difference?”
“Green.”
When he finally managed to follow along with “Green,” Callix gave him another similar-sounding word right after.
“Toward.”
“Bug.”
“No, toward. vers.”
Keeping up the cycle of repeating ‘bug’ while being told that wasn’t the right pronunciation left him frustrated and upset.
Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, but he held them back because Melissa was watching.
“Glass.”
“Bug.”
“verre. Why can’t you pronounce it when the sounds are different? Hm?”
I’m sorry, but Shushu’s patience had already reached its absolute limit, and he felt the strong urge to smack Callix right across the cheek.
Completely oblivious to those inner thoughts of his, the man kept talking about weird sentences, repeating “Ver, ver.”
“Le ver vert va vers le verre vert.”
Shushu repeated it just as he heard it.
“Bug bug bug buuug bug.”
“You have to pronounce it like this: Le ver vert va vers le verre vert.”
Phrases built from similar-sounding words sounded as beautiful as a song when spoken with Callix’s precise pronunciation and accent.
It was still a level of skill too difficult for him to catch up to.
Pressing his lips tightly together, Shushu glared at Callix for teaching such a difficult lesson right from day one.
If he had really been a five-year-old child, he would have thought himself a total fool and never dared to attempt learning how to speak ever again!
You’re supposed to tailor education to the student’s level—teaching calculus to a first-grader in elementary school was insane!
Yet Shushu didn’t want to give up.
Gritting his teeth, he vowed to nail the pronunciation and knock Callix down a peg.
About two hours passed like that. It felt as though his tongue was getting tangled in cramps and his forehead was burning up with heat.
“Le ver vert va vers le verre vert.”
A proper sentence finally came out of his mouth.
“You did exceptionally well, Damian.”
Though it was just a single sentence of praise, Shushu felt a sudden surge of emotion that made his eyes water.
Callix patted Shushu reassuringly on the back.
Even though this guy was the root cause of all his suffering, he ended up getting comforted by the very person who tormented him.
“Since you studied hard today, Big Brother will give you something delicious. What do you want to eat?”
“Marsh-mellow.”
“Alright, will that do?”
The attendant returned carrying freshly baked marshmallows.
Shushu blew gently on the hot marshmallow and carefully popped it into his mouth.
The outside roasted over the fire was chewy, while the inside melted away softly.
He wanted to give some to Melissa too, so he only ate a single bite.
As Shushu wrapped the plate holding the remaining marshmallow in a handkerchief, Callix asked what he was doing.
“I’m gonna eat it later.”
“Eat that one now. I’ll have them pack some more for you later.”
If he was going to get more packed for him, there was no reason to ration it.
Shushu spread out three fingers wide.
“Give me three.”
“If you eat that many, you won’t be able to eat dinner later, you know.”
“I’m gonna give ’em to Melissa and Cain.”
Callix realized that his younger brother was trying to save marshmallows to give to his own people.
The remaining one was probably intended for himself.
“How kind of you.”
Patting Damian’s pink hair affectionately, Callix praised him, then hurried him out because his schedule was running two hours behind.
He had the business management tutor brought into his office.
While he was deep in his lesson, the sound of knocking came from an unusually low position.
“Come in.”
Seeing an unexpected visitor, he felt a sensation as though his ears had gone deaf from being plunged deep into the sea.
Damian had come to find him, carrying a plate loaded with marshmallows.
“It’s a preshent.” (It’s a present.)
Shushu had brought the super-sweet marshmallows specifically to exact revenge on Callix for putting him through hell today.
He figured that rather than eating one more tasty snack, tormenting an enemy who couldn’t eat sweets would be far more satisfying.
“I’ll enjoy eating it.”
Unaware of that fact, the touched older brother accepted what his younger brother gave him and placed it right on his desk.
“It’s yummy. It’s sho yummy.”
Even after dropping off his gift, Damian showed no signs of leaving.
He seemed intent on staying to watch him eat it.
Left with no choice, Callix tossed the marshmallow into his mouth.
The extreme sweetness made his expression twist into a deep scowl.
He hurriedly chugged black tea to wash out the stinging sweetness from his mouth.
Seeing him eat the marshmallow, Damian looked thrilled, lifting his heels off the ground and bouncing up and down in delight.
“Bye-bye!”
Having completed his business, Damian left as he pleased.
