Ch.317Education (1)

After the belated apology from the Teres royal family, Adelia’s face brightened considerably. She seemed to have completely let go of her lingering resentment, radiating an unmistakable aura of happiness.

While Frederick’s apology was significant, Hyria’s was probably the most impactful. She had slapped him soundly across the face, the clear sound echoing throughout the reception room.

The interesting part was that she had struck exactly the same spot I had. Adelia’s words during that slap remained vividly etched in my mind.

‘If you do this again, I’ll slap the other cheek, so remember that.’

‘Yes, yes! I understand, sister! I’ll absolutely comply!’

Hyria had been holding her swelling cheek while beaming with joy. She probably thought she had settled all her past debts.

Of course, I didn’t take any further action since I could turn her into a half-cripple anytime I wanted. If Hyria had any common sense, she wouldn’t push her luck again.

I wouldn’t have minded turning her into a slave or worse, but since Adelia didn’t want that, I let her go peacefully. I’m not someone who goes to such extremes unnecessarily.

Honestly, even as a slave, what use would she be? Her skills as a knight are inferior to Adelia’s, so she’d just be wasting food.

Anyway, Frederick and Hyria’s reconciliation ended like that. Laos remained, but Adelia refused to see him.

‘Why bother with such annoyance? I can’t stand the sight of him, so he should just get lost.’

Those were her exact words. Slapping Laos wouldn’t bring her any satisfaction, and she didn’t want to be entangled with the royal family anymore.

Instead, she gladly permitted Lara to visit. This was her last act of conscience, a kind of mercy in its own way.

Having finally ended our miserable connection with the Teres royal family, we returned to our peaceful daily routine.

Though “returning to daily routine” simply meant I handled remaining work while Adelia assisted me as usual.

“Good grief. When will I ever finish reading all this?”

The problem was the sheer volume of it all. I sighed at the mountain of letters piled on my desk.

These letters were fan mail and greetings from famous families. Various other types of correspondence were mixed in as well.

Naturally, these letters were addressed to Xenon—that is, to me. They used to go to the publisher, but after revealing my identity, they started coming directly to the mansion.

Unlike before when I maintained an air of mystery, now that people knew who Xenon was, the volume of letters had increased significantly. Just reading them all was nauseating, but that wasn’t the end of it.

“Wow. This drawing is really well done!”

“Who drew it?”

“Let’s see… Bernado Helinke? Do you know who that is?”

“No idea.”

Besides letters, packages containing various items were also arriving at the mansion in droves. What I could see already made me laugh in disbelief, but even that wasn’t all.

The letters and packages in my bedroom had all passed “inspection.” In other words, there were still more waiting to be checked.

Since I had revealed my identity, there was a risk of demon worshippers attempting terrorism, so everything had to be inspected individually. Mages dispatched from the Imperial Palace, Helium, and Alfheim were meticulously checking everything.

While letters might be less concerning, packages were being thoroughly examined. If any magic was detected, they were immediately sorted out. If there was explosive magic, the entire mansion could be in danger.

So I was only checking items that had passed inspection, but even those were overwhelming in quantity.

‘When will I be able to go back to the academy?’

As soon as I revealed my identity, the academy started accommodating me. While even royalty had a maximum leave period of one year, mine was unlimited.

It was a golden opportunity for the academy to claim the unprecedented honor of having Xenon as a graduate, and they weren’t about to miss it.

They even offered to let me graduate whenever I wanted and give me a professorship.

But that felt too unethical, and I still had much to learn under Elena, so I firmly declined. Besides, unlike the professors, I didn’t have extensive knowledge.

Let’s consider why professors are professors. They’re monsters in their fields who go beyond expertise to present various academic papers.

Even as a reincarnator with past-life experience, my knowledge of this world is woefully inadequate. Unless it was just an honorary position.

“Let me see how well it’s drawn.”

“Here you go.”

Adelia, who was examining things for any potential issues, handed me the drawing. Though I’d seen numerous works at exhibitions, this was the first drawing sent to the mansion.

One might wonder what we’d been doing until now, but as I mentioned, the inspection process takes time. Nothing can be overlooked, even a 0.001% chance of danger.

So today I received this mountain of fan letters and packages. The problem is that these are just the sorted ones—more will surely come.

The thought alone is dizzying, but let’s examine the drawing first.

“Is this Jin and Lily?”

The drawing Adelia showed me depicted Jin and Lily, the popular couple from Xenon’s Biography. Lily stood in front, hands clasped in prayer, with Jin standing behind her.

It perfectly captured their relationship. Particularly impressive was how Jin willingly became the shadow for Lily’s light.

Though the era’s limitations meant it differed significantly from illustrations in my past life, the fact that it was fan art created for me remained unchanged.

Moreover, the composition was excellent, fully embodying the unique sentiment of watercolor.

“I should ask Mother or Marie about this later. Come to think of it, I don’t know any other artists.”

“Oh… Isaac. Look at this too.”

“Hmm?”

As I was thinking it wouldn’t be bad to meet some masters, Adelia handed me another drawing.

Her face was subtly flushed as she passed it to me, both in admiration and something else. Though curious about her expression, I accepted it without suspicion.

Then I could only blink at the drawing I received.

“…This is Lilith, right?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

It was fan art of Lilith, who represents lust. Given the character, the exposure was beyond daring—practically nude.

The drawing was all the more provocative because only her most intimate parts were cleverly concealed by wings. Since Lilith was modeled after Cecilly, I kept seeing overlaps between them.

The quality was so impressive that I wondered if Helium might arrest the artist. It seemed to push Cecilly’s sexiness to its limit.

I placed the drawing on the desk before any strange thoughts could form. Though I’d seen the real thing, not just a drawing, it was still quite stimulating.

‘There will be more explicit ones coming…’

The problem is that my future plans include intimate scenes between Xenon and Mary.

Before reclaiming Elfheim from the demons, they reaffirm their feelings for what could be their last time.

This applies not only to the protagonists but also to Jin and Lily. Since this often happens on real battlefields, it’s not lacking in plausibility.

The dilemma is whether to include all my experiences or use metaphorical expressions to describe it more tastefully.

‘Marie said it was fine, but…’

The psychological description would be easy if I recalled my first night with Marie, but writing about our lovemaking in detail would be too intense and obscene.

Despite it being the first time for both of us, we were as fierce as beasts in heat. Looking back, I never knew I had such stamina.

It’s an open secret that Marie, having awakened to sexuality, devoured me almost daily afterward.

Currently, I’ve even obtained her consent to faithfully depict our sex life in the book. However, when it came to actually including it, various difficulties arose.

‘Drawing is fine. The problem is the children and teenagers who might see it.’

I could overlook the erotic drawing I just saw. Though a bit embarrassing, it’s just an image and doesn’t directly depict Marie and me.

But the age range of the readers is concerning. Xenon’s Biography is read by people of all ages.

In other words, it’s read by minors too. While nobles receive mandatory sex education, commoners are different, as Kate’s case shows.

Those living in cities might receive higher education, but rural areas vastly outnumber urban ones. Even the Mayshall domain, right next to the capital, was a quiet countryside before development.

Though some major domains have achieved urbanization comparable to the capital, they’re still very few. Naturally, the quality of education suffers.

‘Even on Earth with its highly developed culture, people either remain ignorant or imitate what they see. How much worse must it be here?’

Sometimes people make mistakes after gaining incorrect sexual knowledge from pornography or thin books. It’s no different here.

Erotic novels? In a place that makes simple text as difficult as English exams, one shouldn’t expect much.

Even erotic novels emerged after the French Revolution to defame royalty and nobility, so the timing doesn’t match either.

With so many concerns, it’s inevitably a difficult situation. I plan to include it in volume 24, after volume 23 ends with the battle against Envy.

I originally planned to reveal the hidden origins of elves in volume 24, but due to lack of plausibility, I’ve postponed it. I’ll just drop some hints and leave it at that.

‘Human psychology dictates they’ll definitely read it. I need to write with that in mind.’

Some might criticize me for overthinking a single scene. Part of me wants to write everything that happened on our first night.

The problem is that people worldwide, not just from specific countries, will read it. Even in my past life, I’d seen such content but never written it.

This means I need to convey exactly what I saw and felt. And for two scenes at that.

I glanced at the drawing that was practically erotic art, then looked away. Shifting my gaze, I saw Adelia opening another package and admiring a different drawing.

“Noona.”

“Yes? Did you call me?”

When I called her name, Adelia blinked her sky-blue eyes and looked at me. Come to think of it, our first night was just as passionate as with Marie.

For a moment, strange thoughts entered my mind, but I suppressed them. Right now, figuring out how to write was the priority.

It would be more efficient to write the most difficult scene first, then the main story. So I asked Adelia:

“How old were you when you entered the palace?”

“About 12, I think? Around that age.”

“Did you receive sex education before that?”

“Sex education?”

“Yes.”

Adelia was slightly taken aback by my question, her face flushing a bit. But noticing my seriousness, she cleared her throat and answered quietly.

“…As you know, my mother was a prostitute. Because of that, she taught me rather practically.”

“Practically meaning…”

“How to please men more. She focused solely on physical pleasure, without any confirmation of mutual affection.”

“So that night service back then…”

“Are you asking for a scolding?”

When I made a mischievous joke, Adelia scolded me. Having completely shed her past, she could now handle such provocative conversations with ease.

I smiled weakly, then set aside the jokes and returned to the main topic.

“Do you know how commoners receive sex education?”

“It varies. There are academies, but commoners who receive education before that are usually very wealthy. Most are taught by their parents.”

“Hmm… I see.”

Not every domain has schools or academies, and pre-adult education is entirely the responsibility of parents.

Lifestyles vary so much that there’s no standardization.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, volume 24’s conclusion will include intimate scenes. Between Xenon and Mary, and Jin and Lily.”

“What? It’s finally happening? Finally?”

When I mentioned the scenes, Adelia’s eyes widened in surprise. She even stepped closer to me.

I flinched slightly at her pressing expression, as if demanding to know if I was serious. Come to think of it, Adelia was also a fan of Jin and Lily.

She had felt that Jin, who spent a miserable and depressing childhood, was a reflection of herself. They even shared the experience of being abandoned by their biological fathers.

Thanks to that, she had good conversations with my mother, as I recall.

“Uh… yes. As we’re heading toward the conclusion, shouldn’t there be events like this?”

“Ah! Finally…”

Adelia clasped her hands together in emotion. Was it my imagination that she reminded me of my mother?

While I wore a dubious expression, Adelia, brimming with anticipation, said to me:

“Were you worrying about something so trivial? Just write it out clearly.”

“But some people might imitate it. We should at least ensure no incorrect sexual knowledge is imparted.”

“Hmm… I guess writing exactly what we did would be a bit much.”

“Right?”

There’s also one person in particular whose reaction I’m concerned about.

“I wouldn’t want to inadvertently impart strange knowledge to an innocent person. We should prevent that as much as possible.”

*****

Meanwhile, around the same time, at the Church of Luminus in the Mayshall domain.

“Achoo!”

Kate, who had been devoutly praying, suddenly sneezed.

[What’s wrong, child?]

‘Hmm. Nothing. My nose just suddenly itched…’

Kate, who could now communicate directly with Luminus like Isaac.

‘So, Luminus, when will I be able to receive his light?’

[…Perhaps soon.]

‘Really?’

[It depends on how you receive it.]

‘Ah!’

She could barely contain her joy at receiving what was essentially an oracle from Luminus.