Months went by in a blur.

Maric was now used to living as a noble. He never questioned whether he was actually good enough at adapting or not, at least he knew that life was precious.

Because of that motive too, Maric was always alert to the little things around him.

He knew from experience, underestimating something could result in death just like when he took advantage of some people to get food in the past.

It was the same that he was experiencing now. Being a noble and enjoying life as a noble, Maric should at least take more advantage of what he had now, but it must not violate his morals.

The vile ways Maric had practiced during the war, he had already left behind. He would not repeat it again because it was not necessary.

There was a kind of worry in Maric's mind. He knew that the future was very difficult to predict.

Having all the comforts of the present did not mean that they would not disappear. Maric had no idea what dangerous disasters might befall him in the future.

Especially when he realized that the competition in the kingdom was not as simple as it seemed, even though it looked peaceful but that peace was often deceiving.

"Replacing the lives lost in two years is impossible. The effects of the war will not disappear that easily."

He did not see it firsthand, Maric only knew some information from the conversation between the knights in the mansion and the documents in Mr. Franz's office.

From all that information, he could conclude that the kingdom's economy had not recovered.

"This is serious. Obviously, everyone needs to eat, if such basic needs are not met, I can guess that criminals will spring up. And rebellion- no, no matter how many rebels there are, if they try to fight back, I'm sure they will be crushed by the official knights."

The official knights were definitely more powerful than a group of people carrying farming tools as weapons.

Granted that the number of knights in the kingdom had been greatly reduced due to the war, but they were still organized knights, their strength was more than enough to destroy a small town if necessary.

Maric remembered clearly, the knights with their sharp swords and magic were much more likely to win the battle if the rebels decided to start a coup.

But Maric could not be sure of that.

If only he could see into the future, maybe he would find some clues.

Maric then took the magic stone from his pocket and watched.

'What exactly is this thing? I still can't remember anything about the events of that night. Olivia clearly said that this thing can see the future, right? But it won't be of any use if I don't remember it.'

Maric tried to recall and then failed repeatedly. The only thing she remembered was the warm feeling of the fire and the cold temperature like snow.

Looking back at the stone in his hand, the luster of the stone had completely disappeared, the bright color had turned dark and the ancient Kislev inscription seemed to have never existed at all on it.

Now, if Maric tried to sell the magic stone at a high price, no one would buy it.

"At least, money is not an urgent need for now."

From Maric's current position lying on the green grass just below the apple tree, he then heard his sister comment.

"Mom... Look at that, I'm sure brother is thinking of a girl."

'Where did I think of a girl?

"Fufu- boys his age are like that."

Deana who was sitting on a wooden chair while drinking tea said that.

Maric who couldn't take the nonsense from his mother and sister decided to explain what he was really doing- at least.

Maric put away the magic stone again and played with his hair bangs with his right hand while looking at the apple tree.

"I'm waiting for an apple to fall on my head so that I become a genius."

"Since when did someone become a genius just because an apple fell on his head."

Tina replied to Maric's words.

Maric heard that and winked.

"Hmm... you don't know? It's happened before..."

"I don't believe it... I know you lie a lot, and this one I'm sure is a lie too."

For Maric who had lied repeatedly to protect his sister from seeing reality with negative thoughts, he could not do much to cover up the truth, but in the past, it was necessary. Otherwise, Tina might follow what her biological mother had done in the past and leave Maric alone.

As a result, because of all the lies, Tina gained a certain level of distrust for Maric.

"Lies? Who said that? I've always spoken with complete honesty."

"Honesty, honesty and truthfulness. I can't believe that would come out of your mouth at all. What's with someone suddenly becoming a genius just because an apple fell on his head. Who would believe that?"

Hearing Maric and Tina fussing about a lie and the truth, caused Deana who was watching it all, to chuckle.

"...My children are cute... you guys really get along well."

Tina and Maric simultaneously turned to Deana. From their eyes, there was a small sparkle.

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But since Tina was the younger sister, she had the opportunity to take that advantage. Tina then opened her mouth to try to create an ally.

"Mom...mom... You agree with me, right? What big brother said is obviously just nonsense."

But Tina didn't know that creating allies was definitely not easy.

There were times when some people chose not to take sides.

Deana then looked at Maric and Tina in turn. She looked a little hesitant, but now she had decided.

"Instead of questioning about it. What if you guys try it yourselves?"

"I bet if I dropped an apple on my head, it would hurt. I don't like it."

"No, that's not what I meant, Tina. Hmm...what Maric said is impossible, but if you want to be a genius, you can go to school."

Deana who saw Tina and Maric then played with her hands to try to explain.

"Tomorrow, for the first time in the kingdom's history, children of commoners can go to school for free. I think this is good for you, so I plan to tell the priest from the Church to take you as students too."

Tina who heard that, slightly closed her eyes, from the reaction she showed indicating that she was not very interested.

Unlike Tina, Maric was slightly interested.

"Good idea, mom. Tina and I will go to school."

.....

Tomorrow...

Actually, Maric already knew part of what happened.

He couldn't be sure, but from the report in Mr. Franz's office. It seemed that the Noir family and many nobles had taken part in creating a new policy on education.

It had happened about six months ago. The policy was essentially about free schools paid for by the kingdom, and soon after, the local nobles built schools in their cities.

Previously, except for the nobles, rich merchants and the priests in the church, the common people had no opportunity to go to school. As a result, most of the people could not read or write, they only knew basic numbers for trading.

This was different with Maric, he personally started studying every piece of writing in the country when the war had just happened. He initially did it just to read a story book and then tell the story to his surviving brothers and sisters.

She also has quite a bit of experience as she has lived in an orphanage.

But what happened? A mistake. When it happened Maric realized too late that it wasn't just children who were affected by the war, adults would also be affected and even worse.

Adults who are ignorant, adults who don't have inspiration and motivation in their heads because they don't have access to knowledge, will eventually look for a short alternative path.

And that is what happened.

His mother had succumbed to fate and followed what some families in the city were doing.

Maric who was currently sitting on a wooden chair thought about that. Next to him, Tina was watching the teacher teaching the 10-year-olds how to read and write.

'I've tried many times, but I didn't find an effective way to try to teach others, if I hadn't become part of the Noir family, I'm afraid that Tina might never be able to read or write....I didn't know that being a good teacher was so hard.'

Maric didn't know how to teach others, so the idea of taking Tina to school even though Tina could already read wasn't a bad idea for him.

But there was a problem.

Maric then looked around the classroom with 60 children sitting in their wooden chairs. There was a kind of nervousness that was very obvious as if they didn't know what to do.

'No confidence.... I think this is very natural, after all this is the first time in history that a school for commoners has been established and their parents probably never taught them how to behave as a student. I doubt if their parents even went to school..."

A first in history is like a book without writing, without an example, people cannot possibly know how to behave.

There were no seniors to set an example as this was the first year in history that children from the common people could go to school. What remains in this classroom is only silence.

Even when the children seemed to be paying attention to the teacher, they couldn't make any comments.

'As time goes by, I'm sure they'll get used to it. But I'm worried that some of them might become naughty and maybe even too naughty. No problem, they're just kids.'

Some extreme bullying might appear, but Maric would never care about that... because Maric knew that even innocent and stupid children would never try to harm Maric because he now came from a noble family.

With their fancy clothes, Maric and Tina looked very different from the other children.

As the teacher continued to explain, Maric occasionally stroked Tina's head to try and calm her down.

'This girl, she's not used to talking to other kids. I know it's hard for you, but you don't have to worry about it because I won't let you grow up to be a moody girl.'

In this world, the only thing Maric was grateful for was the fact that he had real brothers and sisters along with parents who raised them despite being destroyed by the reality of war.

Maric then placed his left hand under his chin to support his head, while enjoying the sensation of his sister's silky hair Maric tried to think of what he should do for Tina's future.

'Some people may end up becoming miserable criminals because of their bad childhood. In a bad environment, one has a great chance of following the bad behavior of the people around them. I don't want Tina to experience that, I at least want to make her into a good girl who will never give in to fate or be willing to go to heinous lengths for her own gain.'

Maric continued to stroke Tina's head. Maric's bare hand could feel every fine hair that had been well groomed.

Because of what Maric was doing, Tina who was nervous a moment ago now felt uncomfortable.

"Sister..."

"What's wrong?"

"I think you should reflect on yourself."

Hearing that, Maric then stopped stroking Tina's hair.

Tina continued in a low voice.

"I'm serious, you should reflect on yourself. It will help you realize what you've done."

"What have I done?"

Maric asked in confusion.

"....Therefore, you should reflect and look in the mirror to realize it. Why do I have to repeat those words over and over again... The point is that you have to realize it yourself."

Tina's face instantly turned red. From her reaction, Maric then realized something. The key words were mirror and mirroring.

"Geez, Tina. why don't you just tell me if you want to ask me to take you to the bathroom."

Tina then turned her head with an expression that hid a feeling of embarrassment. It was all because Maric could guess what Tina really wanted to do.

"If you had realized that earlier, couldn't you have helped me now? I don't know what to do."

"You can tell the teacher that you need to go to the bathroom."

"I can't say that..."

Once again, Maric then looked around. From the looks of it, there were also kids like Tina who didn't dare to say anything to the teacher, even though they desperately wanted to go to the bathroom.

Soon, Maric raised one of his hands and began to say.

"Teacher... My sister wants to go to the bathroom."

The teacher who heard Maric's words then stopped while adjusting his slightly crooked glasses.

"Oh.. if you want to go to the bathroom, you can go now."

Maric then looked at Tina to say that he couldn't help any more than this.

"The men's and women's bathrooms are separate, so you have to go there yourself. This should be something easy for a noble like you."

With those words, Tina who was listening immediately got up from the wooden chair to exit the classroom.

After Tina left the classroom, Maric started thinking.

'Tina is too dependent on me. She rarely talks to other children her age. If I keep this up, I'm afraid she won't have any self-confidence.'

If Tina doesn't have some kind of confidence, it will make it hard for her to socialize with others.

Of course, Maric wouldn't let that happen because he knew from experience that it would be troublesome when Tina became a teenage girl. So how to get Tina to build up her confidence?

Maric's attention was then diverted, he looked at the teacher and then raised his hand again.

"Teacher... class president election, it's time for the class president election."

".... Mr. Noir, you're right, a class needs a class president, the class president position is still vacant, if you want it you can become class president."

Maric then shook his head.

"No, it's not me... a moment ago, my sister, Tina told me that she wants to be class president. What about her?"

"Very good, from now on I will officially appoint Miss Noir as class president."

In unison, all the students in the class nodded slowly. Some of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Right when all the children and the teacher agreed. Tina returned from the bathroom and entered the classroom. But she did not immediately sit next to Maric.

"Here comes our class leader."

The teacher's hand then signaled for Tina to come closer to her. With a face that didn't know what was happening, her whole body was now trembling slightly as she realized all eyes were looking at her.

Not forgetting, Tina asked Maric for help.

"Brother...."

But Maric didn't help. Tina's eyes grew wide open as she realized that no one would be able to help her now.

Her body was now falling down while shaking and crying.