On the day Decker confessed to Dorothea, he actually had no intention of doing so.
He had been in love with Dorothea for a long time, but he also knew that she was aiming to be the empress. He also considered himself to be of a lower status than a noble, so he thought it was presumptuous of him to covet the daughter of the Baron Raphelt.
The subtle atmosphere between them had started a few days before.
"Baron! The school building is complete!"
"Oh, finally!"
Decker rejoiced at the news that the school, which had been delayed due to various circumstances, was finally completed. He was happy with Dorothea and the others.
"Asha should come soon so we can hold the opening ceremony…."
Still, Decker was proud of the fact that he had accomplished something even in Asha's absence. That is, until Dorothea pointed out a problem that he had not even considered.
"But… have you secured the teachers?"
"Yes? Teachers?"
"Yes. Of course you need teachers to open a school."
"Oh, right…!"
Decker's face turned pale. He had never been to a school himself, so he had only focused on building the building. He had not thought about teachers or textbooks.
"This is… If Asha had been here, she would have pointed it out. I'm so clumsy when I try to do things on my own. Haha."
Decker felt ashamed that his ignorance had been exposed in front of 'that' Giles Raphelt's daughter.
However, Dorothea did not laugh at him or disappoint him.
Instead, she offered to help him find teachers.
"Actually, there are very few territories that have schools for commoners. It's a very innovative idea to build a school for the people of the territory."
"Is, is that so? I built it because Asha said I should…"
"As expected, Countess Pervaz is a very open-minded person. Anyway, it won't be easy to find teachers for a school, not just a tutor."
"Yes? Why not? Aren't they all the same?"
Dorothea smiled faintly and shook her head at Decker's question, who didn't know anything.
"Those who are knowledgeable enough to be teachers would be nobles, right?"
"That's right."
"Nobles don't want to teach poor commoner children."
"Oh…!"
It was a simple fact that anyone could understand with a little thought, but Decker felt like he had been hit in the back of the head.
He had the title of Baron, but he had no territory and no name, so he lived a life no different from a commoner.
That's why, to him, there was no difference between nobles and commoners. He thought that only the rich had better food and clothing, but that humans were all the same.
However, the other nobles did not think so. They found it even offensive to be in the same space as commoners.
"Sigh… what am I going to do…"
As he sighed and scratched his head, Dorothea tried to sound hopeful.
"But there are many cases where wealthy commoner families hire impoverished noblewomen as governesses. If we can persuade them well, it might be possible…"
"I don't even know where to start."
When he was told that he needed to find a teacher, he had vaguely thought that he could just use Elsir's employment agency.
However, thinking about it now, it didn't seem likely that nobles would use an employment agency. They would probably work through word of mouth.
So where in Pervaz, where there were no noble connections at all, would he find someone to work as a teacher? What words could he use to persuade them?
Decker felt overwhelmed.
"I guess we'll have to leave the school building empty for a while."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Baron. You've had so much on your mind besides this.
"I'm ashamed. If only Asha had been here, it wouldn't have been this bad…"
"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that Countess Pervaz relies heavily on you. Don't say that. Why don't you show me around the completed school building?"
Dorothea took Decker's arm, who was berating himself, and pulled him up.
Of course, there was no way that she, a petite woman, could have physically lifted the burly Decker. It would be more accurate to say that Decker involuntarily stood up at her touch.
TL/N: AWWW, THEY'RE SO CUTE^^
Decker, who was now standing upright, and Dorothea, who looked a little shy, looked around the well-built school.
"But if we can just find a teacher, we can start classes right away, right? The desks, chairs, and blackboards are all ready."
"The children of the territory have been waiting eagerly for the opening since these were purchased. I don't know what to do about the rumors that it will be delayed again."
Decker thought back to the children who had come up to him to watch when he had stacked the small blackboards that would be distributed to each student.
[What are these?]
[These are the blackboards that you will each receive when you enter school. You will use them to write letters and numbers and study.]
[Wow!]
At that moment, he could not forget the sparkling eyes of the children.
However, after that, Pervaz Castle was attacked, and winter came. With no time to spare for the school, the completion of the school was postponed again and again.
Then, when Carlyle regained the throne and provided supplies, the construction of the school finally began to pick up speed.
As Decker sighed softly, rumors that the school was finally completed must have spread, as children began to cling to the windows from the outside and look inside.
"Hey, hey…! That's dangerous, you guys!"
Decker hurriedly rushed to the window and pulled the children away.
The ground was slightly elevated, so if the small children hung from the window and fell, they could get hurt.
"Don't be shy, come in and take a look. Don't hang there dangerously."
With Decker's permission, the children entered the building as if they had been waiting. However, they did not enter the classroom but stretched their necks and looked inside.
"What are you doing, kids?"
But the children only giggled among themselves.
Then Dorothea stepped forward.
"Come in, children. This is the classroom where you will study."
Only when she made a gentle gesture did the children hesitantly step inside. But once they took that first step, they rushed in.
"Wow, look at this!"
"Sister, sister! It's a desk!"
"There are even such small chairs? My feet touch the ground!"
"This is amazing!"
The children chattered and rummaged through the classroom. However, they did not handle the objects roughly, perhaps because they were aware of Decker and Dorothea.
Dorothea felt like she was going to cry at the sight of their hands, like maple leaves, carefully touching the surface of the new desks.
Then a little girl who looked about six years old looked up at Dorothea and asked.
"Are you our teacher?"
Then the boy who seemed to be her older brother ran over and covered the girl's mouth, shaking his head several times.
"I'm sorry! She's young and doesn't know the Lady! Please forgive her!"
The boy who said that had probably never seen the 'Lady' before either.
Dorothea patted the boy's head, which she hadn't noticed for a while.
"Don't worry, I won't scold her. Your sister is very cute."
The boy's cheeks turned red, and the girl, who didn't understand what was going on, tilted her head and asked again.
"You're not the teacher? You look like a teacher."
"Be quiet, Mia!"
Dorothea found their behavior so cute that she felt a little playful.
She stood behind the teacher's desk and tapped the top of the desk with a small gavel.
"Children! Everyone, take your seats!"
At that word, the children opened their eyes in surprise and rushed to occupy their own desks.
A flush of anticipation rose over their round cheeks.
"How old is the youngest friend here?"
"It's Thomson! He's five!"
"Then who is the oldest?"
"Me! I'm twelve."
Decker, who had been smiling next to her, added.
"In the territory, children help with housework from a young age. Children who come to school will only be able to do so until they are twelve years old."
"But twelve is still young.... Shouldn't we give them educational opportunities until they are at least thirteen?"
"I don't know if the parents will send them to school."
"In the long run, it will benefit each household if more people can read and write. And even more so if they can learn to count numbers."
Decker hummed and nodded.
Due to the long war, the illiteracy rate in the territory was much higher than in other regions, and the education level was poor.
Although the territory is developing day by day with Carlyle's full support, if the illiteracy rate is high, it could lead to foreigners who come to Pervaz to make money being exploited.
"Miss Dorothea is right. We should make it compulsory."
"That's right! There will be a lot of opposition at first, but the parents will eventually realize it. That this is the way for everyone to live."
Then, a girl sitting in the front row, bored with the adults' conversation, raised her hand and shouted.
"Teach me how to read and write, teacher!"
At those words, Dorothea smiled and asked Decker for permission with a gesture. When Decker pointed to the chalk placed under the blackboard, meaning 'of course', Dorothea picked up the chalk and wrote the imperial language letters on the blackboard.
"Well, this is what the letters used in our country look like. There are a total of twenty-eight letters. Shall we read the first letter?"
She read, pointing to the letters with a pointer.
"Ar."
"Ar!"
"Nup."
"Nup!"
The children read aloud after Dorothea. Some of the children couldn't contain their excitement and banged on their desks.
"Finally, Kahht."
"Kahht!"
"You all did a great job following along. Will you be able to study hard like this when the next teacher comes?"
"Yes!"
Dorothea's short lesson ended with her reading twenty-eight letters.
The children went out in a wave, like an ebb tide, as they had come, and only Decker and Dorothea were left in the classroom.