Is My Young Lady a Bit Tsundere

After having dinner with the sisters Daili and Daisy, Daisy began pestering Laine again, asking him to teach her water magic.

Just as Laine was about to agree, Daili couldn't stand it anymore and dragged Daisy away to wash the dishes.

Looking around, Laine realized he had pretty much finished his work for the day, so he yawned and returned to his room.

Back in the butler's quarters, Laine lay down on the bed. Although old Ram had passed away there earlier that day, Laine felt no unease about it.

After all, sleeping next to the mangled corpses of fallen comrades had become commonplace for him.

Laine was quite satisfied with his day's work as a butler.

Taking care of children and handling miscellaneous tasks wasn't tiring at all, especially with two maids helping out.

It worked out well, since Laine had been disconnected from society for ten full years due to his duties as a knight. If he were to suddenly try living independently in the city now, even with the added benefit of his transmigrator's memories, he would likely struggle to find his footing.

Lying in bed, Laine carefully listened to the subtle sounds in the stillness outside as he slowly closed his eyes.

♤♡♢♧

As night fell, the door to Nanaly's chamber slowly opened. Her petite figure crept stealthily through the darkness until she reached the dining table.

Carefully pulling out a chair, Nanaly sat down without making the slightest sound.

Looking around the spacious environment, Nanaly let out a soft breath and extended her right hand. Her azure eyes gleamed faintly in the reflected moonlight.

"Through the meridians, feel..." she murmured, silently reciting an incantation in her mind.

In the next moment, Nanaly felt something being absorbed into her body, flowing through her, leaving trails of warmth in its wake.

Suddenly, a faint yellow glow emanated from her hand, and a small flame appeared, flickering in the darkness.

The flame was tiny, struggling against the encroaching darkness, seeming as if it might extinguish at any moment.

Even so, Nanaly's face lit up with joy.

Unfortunately, after a short while, the flame finally succumbed to the darkness and disappeared.

"...Still failed, huh."

The joy faded from Nanaly's small face along with the flame.

She tried casting the flame-summoning spell several more times, but each attempt ended in failure.

Finally, Nanaly gave up. Sitting in the silent darkness, she stared down at the table, lost in thought.

"Young miss, who taught you your magic? The teachers at Olcott Academy?"

A voice suddenly came from nearby.

Nanaly jumped in surprise, quickly lifting her head and turning toward the voice like a startled kitten.

She saw Laine standing not far from her, watching her with a smile.

Seeing him, Nanaly pressed her lips together, her face reddening as she asked, "When... when did you..."

Her voice was clearly flustered.

It was understandable - after all, specifically choosing the dead of night to practice magic alone without making any sound clearly indicated she didn't want anyone to see her.

Laine stroked his chin and said:

"I arrived during your third-to-last attempt at magic, young miss. Did I frighten you? I apologize."

After maintaining eye contact with Laine for a moment, Nanaly's emotions finally settled, and her tone regained its coldness:

"As you can see, I was just practicing magic. It has nothing to do with you. I hope you can forget everything you just saw."

It seemed the young miss still had some pride.

As for the coldness in Nanaly's voice, Laine noticed it seemed more like a facade, as if she was deliberately trying to hide something and keep others at a distance.

But Nanaly's deliberate concealment was somewhat clumsy.

Instead of responding to Nanaly's obvious attempt to dismiss him, Laine silently raised his hand.

As Nanaly looked questioningly at Laine's raised palm, a roaring flame suddenly appeared in it.

The flame was notably brighter than the small one Nanaly had summoned, dispelling large patches of darkness, its form reflecting in Nanaly's pupils.

"I actually know a thing or two about this kind of magic. Perhaps I could help you, young miss."

Laine said with a gentle smile, while carefully observing Nanaly's changing expressions.

Nanaly stared at the flame in Laine's hand for a moment, then opened her mouth as if to say something, but swallowed her words back with reddened cheeks.

After a while, Nanaly whispered in a barely audible voice: "Rolin..."

"Rolin?" Laine asked, puzzled.

"My magic teacher, Rolin Wenzer, is a renowned magic instructor in Atte City..."

Nanaly said bashfully, keeping her head down. If Laine looked closely, he would see that her face was red enough to drip blood.

This statement answered Laine's initial question while also indicating her acceptance of his help.

After all, Nanaly couldn't bring herself to directly ask Laine to teach her magic, both because of how she had just tried to dismiss him and because of her own personality.

Could it be that our young miss is a bit tsundere?

Laine seemed to have discovered some interesting traits in Nanaly.

As for the magic instructor she mentioned, Laine could tell there were problems with their teaching method just from watching Nanaly cast magic.

Everyone has different magical aptitudes, so the same method of casting can't be applied to everyone.

Nanaly had magical aptitude, but the instructor was clearly using the same approach for all students, which happened to be ineffective for her.

Logically, if this instructor had always used this method, there should be quite a few children like Nanaly.

To confirm this, Laine asked, "Among that instructor's students, roughly how many are unable to learn magic?"

"About two-thirds," Nanaly answered, notably more cooperative than before.

It was clear that she really wanted to learn magic.

This confirmed that the problem lay with the instructor.

However, even so, having one-third of the students able to cast magic seemed unusually high.

Likely, among these students, there were quite a few self-taught prodigies with exceptional talent.