Alexander POV

…

*rrriiiiing*

Opening my eyes slowly, I was greeted with an unusual surprise, more than the usual one, "This…."

While looking around, I noticed that I was standing in the classroom where I previously wrote that math test, but this time I was in front of the class, where the teacher usually is, and everyone stared at me, 'What is happening now?!'

Looking at my doll teacher, who was sitting at my place, she smiled at me, "Are you ready?"

Being confused, I readied myself for the worst, "Ready for what?"

She winked at me while others started giggling, "Your oral test, of course, you dummy!"

Looking blankly at her, the corners of my mouth twitched slightly. I knew that I would do a test because I reached [Physics | 25], but nobody fucking said I needed to do it orally!

Looking upwards while rubbing the back of my neck, I was a little pissed, to be honest. Even more so because the teacher looked at me with curious eyes. I hate surprises such as these….

My instincts kicked in from my previous life. Looking back at the teacher and giving the class a friendly smile, I tried my best to be the most charming me.

While teachers like to pretend to be as objective as possible, it is but a lie – who are they kidding? Every human…well, humanoid creature? Whatever "they" is incredibly superficial – acting confident should already be a big plus.

Opening my arms like saying, "I am ready," I asked softly, "Teach, what will my test be about?"

She clapped her hands and beamed a smile at me, "Great! The topic will be…."

While saying that, I could see how her eyes rolled inside, like a slot machine, and suddenly stopped after 30 seconds. "Kinetic and potential energy!"

Exhaling slightly, I was pleased – while this topic is something you need to get prepared for, a bit at least, these Skills functioned like encyclopedias inside my head. Knowing, applying, transferring, and solving problems should be doable.

Holding my chin and thinking about how to start, I looked at the teacher, "Ok, no problem, where do I start? Should I first derive the E-kin and E-pot formula?"

She shook her head with a mischievous smile at me and held her hand towards "my" class. "They will be asking…."

She was pointing then back to me. "And you are answering!"

…

Why being so dramatic? It is honestly nothing new… actually, it is much easier than having first a presentation and, after that, a colloquium.

Shrugging my shoulders inwardly, I just nodded with a smile.

The first one to ask me was an action figure who smoked a cigar,

"What two measurements do we need to calculate kinetic energy?"

I did not even think for too long, "Velocity and mass, next."

…

...

…

After 30 minutes of getting asked basically everything in the book, the teacher stopped the oral examination. "Good job, you passed without any problems!"

Smiling, I wanted to get an answer out before I was transported back, "Tha.."

…

'I woke up.'

Sighing inwardly, I looked at my system [Physics | 26].

Perfect.

I glanced around curiously and saw that I left at max for a minute or two… hm… thoughts for later, I guess.

…

…

…

{After some months}

*riiiing*

Seeing all the "Faces" sitting around me, I knew I was back. Now was the Algorithmic test's turn. Whatever they throw at me, I am ready!

But to my displeasure, I got hit in the back of my head. As I turned around to find the source of that attack, I saw a dog plushie sitting there. It was blushing and smiling with its tongue out at me.

I smiled back for its sake, 'Is bullying a thing here too?'

It put a paw up and pointed towards a crumbled piece of paper on the floor. 'Oh, was this thrown at me?'

Taking it and uncrumpling, I instantly cringed.

+----------------------------------+

You are Paw-Some!

[ ] let us go on a walk!

+----------------------------------+

Wow, how pushy! Not even an out…wait, what the fuck am I thinking? First, I am not into dogs, and second, she is a plush toy…

*clank*

Before I could answer her love letter, the teacher was back in class and pointed at me, "You!"

I pointed at myself, being confused, "Me?"

A beaming smile was seen on her puppet-like face, "Yes, you! You are not even one year old, and you are racking one test after another!"

Hard coughing was heard behind me, but the teacher and I ignored it.

Getting more confused, I tilted my head, "So?"

The teacher's smile grew even more extensive. She looked so excited that I could see that her face was flushed, "Nothing! It is just so interesting! I never had such a student, so this will be fun! Don't disappoint me in the coming test, little pup!"

Smiling slightly, I responded excitedly but not as much as her, "Sure, teach!"

I can kill my boredom. After all, I am too young as my real self, so I can't do much in the real world.

She *clapped* her hands as she started looking at everyone else, "Today, you all have self-learning class while I take this pup to the test area!"

…

*clank*

*tap*tap*tap*

While walking through the hallway, she started a conversation, "Don't you have any questions, little pup?"

I shook my head while following her through the very colorful school corridors, "Nope."

*tap*tap*tap*

She giggled and hinted at something, "You are more interesting than I thought – don't you want to know who I am, why you are here, and so on? Hehe."

A smile bloomed on my face as I was sure she couldn't answer the questions I wanted to know, "Do you want me to ask you those questions?"

*tap*tap*tap*

After walking for half a minute, she suddenly laughed out, "Bahahaha! You are not the first one who gave me such an answer."

*tap*tap*tap*

She, or the one behind her, should know that I am not from here since they perfectly replicated many aspects of Earth. As such, they rummaged for sure inside my memories... or they knew about Earth? This would be unlikely. Otherwise, they would bring things over I never saw or knew of. At least, I hope so.

There is also the problem that this "teacher" is so excited about me having so many tests... that makes no sense, since "they" knew what uniform I wore, what toys I had in my world, what kinds of sweets there were, etc.

Going by this alone, she should know that I am actually a guy with much more knowledge inside of this puppy's body and that clearing one test after the other in this short time frame should be expected and not celebrated.

If I deduce everything and do some guesswork, the chances of her being literally a puppet are high, or rather some AI, without the input I want to know. If she doesn't even know who the previous me is, I have no hope for her knowing the answers I seek.

*tap*tap*tap*

Putting this all together, she will never answer the questions I aim to know, and I don't really care for this common knowledge she would give me, that this is some world, made out of my memories, where I can pass my tests in the most comfortable environment for me. At least this much, I could guess, looking at my body, the environment, and attempting to make it look as familiar as possible to me... not considering this corporal overtake.

There could also be the possibility...

Her voice came like a hit, taking me out of my thoughts, "Almost little pup."

Standing still, my smile vanished. I looked at the teacher, who turned around and smiled at me while shrugging her shoulders. "I am Semi-autonomous, and you are right. At least subconsciously, I am here only to help you pass your Skill tests and can't answer questions unrelated to the Skill test because I was not given any more information than that. So you are right about that! Also..."

She put her hand on her hips while licking her lips, "Did you look cute in your previous life?"

I stepped back while sweat ran down my forehead.

Before I could run away or do anything, she laughed out loud, "BAHAHAHA, calm down, not like I would violate such a cute puppy!"

She gave me a wink and kept walking again. I followed her, but more than a couple of steps behind her this time.

*tap*tap*tap*

Suddenly, a question came to my mind, "What if I fail the skill test?"

She giggled while looking up into the void like she remembered something, "How worrisome is it wanting to be perfect... You will have another chance in a week. You can basically repeat it as much as you want, but the test will always change."

I nodded in understanding, "Seems fair."

…

Walking for another 2 minutes in silence, we reached the designated room for my test. "Oh, right – if you can't pass this test, no other test can be passed till this is done."

I clicked my tongue in annoyance since I knew it couldn't be that easy. But rather than a frown, I felt a big smile on my face building up. Isn't this fantastic?

Since transmigrating, all I was doing were tests, leveling up Skills, and training my Mana. Without any punishments, this kind of thing would be much more boring.

Smiling back at me, her voice sounded cheerful, "I knew you would like it. I bet I will see you much more often, little pup. Hopefully, you also like the test since algorithmics is a scarce skill."

Going inside a room which was rather a hall, there was a stage. Standing on it were ten puppets who wore hip-hop clothes.

On every outfit was a piece of paper with a number printed on it. The numbers went from 0 to 9, and they all stood disorderly – not sorted by any means.

Walking towards a table in the middle of the hall, I took the piece of paper on it. While reading it, I knew that I would succeed in this test.

"Build the most efficient sorting algorithm by sorting the dancers. The more efficient, the better the result. They should be sorted from the smallest number to largest."

Out of nowhere came a voice, "It is nice, isn't it."

Being scared, I jumped against the table *bang!* and hit my leg, "FUCKING DAMMIT SHIT!"

I turned around and saw my semi-autonomous teacher giggling, "Sorry!... hehe."

Holding her hand over her mouth, she kept on laughing, "...hehe..."

Frowning, I concentrated on the test on hand, but I had a question that interested me. So, I looked at her and tried to bring up an innocent smile, "Teacher, I have a question."

She pointed towards the wall, which had a giant clock drawn. The clock's hands had already started moving, "Sure, ask, but you only have an hour for the test."

Nodding, I looked back at her and asked, "What I mean to ask is, what is the difference between barely passing and perfectly passing the test?"

She smiled at me and held a finger up, "It is pretty straightforward. The better your test, the easier will the leveling be for the following 25 levels until the next test."

I held onto my chin and thought about it, 'So, it doesn't really matter in the end so much.'

Turning the sheet of paper around, I looked at the teacher with my hand open, requesting, "I need a pen."

Raising an eyebrow, she put her hand into her Décolleté and got a pencil out. Now, I raised an eyebrow and just took it while commenting on this behavior, "This is not really hygienic, teach."

She opened her eyes wide open and laughed out loud, "BAHAHAHA! You are a weird little pup!"

Ignoring her, I concentrated on the most efficient sorting algorithm. Sighing, I looked at the front and wondered if there was some trap. I glanced again at my teacher. She was laughing her ass off.

I happily stopped her weird behavior, "Teach, do I need to sort only these 10 dancers?"

Stopping her, she took a look at me and smiled pretty wide, "Good question! Yes! Don't worry. The first test will always give you a little taste of what is about to come in the future."

Examining my paper again, I already had an idea in mind.

…

…

…

After 40 minutes and rechecking the sorting algorithm at least ten times, I gave the sheet to my teacher.

She raised an eyebrow as she took it, mumbling, "It is quite new that someone actually wrote something. They usually say to me how it should be sorted… let me see…."

She looked at the sheet of paper, and her smile grew, yelling euphorically, "GREAT! Let us begin!"

While the music played and the dancers got in position, my thoughts were a bit of a mess.

I hoped I'd chosen the best one for this situation.

My first idea was a merge-sort algorithm, but I decided on something else, thinking about the relatively small "dataset."

…

They all stood in a row. Mannequins with no facial expressions. But I could feel that they were looking at me.

The second dancer [3] bowed to the first dancer [5]. They interlocked their feet while rhythmically moving (or rather jumping) towards the beat. While interlocking, both made one move simultaneously, a summersault, to end it by interlocking their feet again.

After they were done with their moves, the second dancer [3] did multiple spins while jumping around the first dancer [5] while also interlocking their feet after each spin. In the end, they changed positions.

Now the third dancer [2] bowed towards the first dancer [5], who was now, after the swap, in the second position of this array. Both jumped and made some insane moves!

… spin while somersaulting…

I always had respect for Hip-hop dancers. I have no idea how they cannot throw up mid-air.

After swapping positions, the third dancer [2], who is now in the second position, looked directly at the second dancer [3], who was in the first position. After some new move, they swapped positions.

A new marker was set, and it started anew.

…

A simple Insertion sort algorithm should bring the best case out in such a small dataset.

To explain it as simple as possible: I basically set a marker to the second [3] one. He is the "first" in the unsorted group.

We have only one array.

This unsorted and sorted group stuff is only for your imagination.

The first [5] one is set in the sorted group.

The marker, which I set up on the second [3] one, will always "look" towards the sorted group. He looks at them, one after another, and if he should swap or not (depending on how you want to sort).

He swaps along the way to the "back" until the correct sorting positions are reached, or rather, to the point it can't swap anymore in the sorted part.

Then the marker moves on to the third [2] one, as it is now the first one in the unsorted group, and it begins anew till it is sorted out.

…

After a couple of minutes, the dance concluded. I looked at the teacher in anticipation.

A frown was seen on her face, and I fell into panic inwardly, 'SHIT! I did something wrong!'

Then, she laughed while holding her stomach, mocking me, "Bahahaha, you should see your face!"

I started to frown while she tried to calm me down, "Don't worry, it was excellent. You passed!"

Looking sternly at her, I wanted to say something, but I suddenly woke up.

Clicking my tongue, I decided to sleep some more. It is really taxing having to deal with her, "Tsk..."

…

…

…

{3 Months later}

The light fell through the french window, and the tiny dust particles danced insight the sun's gift to the world. Reminiscing how such a beautiful present existed in our world, I was reminded of why I contemplated such things.

I am bored, very bored.

*clank*

But all of this changed when I saw my savior! "Big Shishder!"

A smile bloomed on Sarah, "What is it, little pup, want to play more?"

She probably loves everything cute, which you can see on her clothes, as she loves to wear summer dresses with all kinds of poppy colors and, as a waistband, a colorful and giant ribbon. Also, let's be honest, I am God damn cute!

Being relieved from my boredom, I cheered, "Yesh!"

Her mood also went up by a notch, "All right!"

Helping me out of my prison, she put me down and supported me while I tried to walk again. It is pretty annoying to learn again to walk!

*clank*

Someone came in, a Spider-kin butler, and spoke to my sister seriously, "Ms. Sarah?"

While not neglecting my support, she looked back, asking what he wanted, "Oh, Nori, how may I help you?"

He held on to his matter-of-fact tone, "Hm, the teacher is waiting for you."

She frowned quite heavily and took me into her arms, obviously trying to get out of this, "I think…."

Before she could continue, Nori interrupted her harshly, "Ms. Sarah, don't."

This situation already happened a couple of times when Sarah didn't want to learn and instead wanted to play with me. There were always some servants who came in to get her.

She frowned and gave me to Nori, "Alright..."

Smiling at me, she kissed me on my forehead, "I will come later to play!"

As she went out, I could say that her tail and ears were hanging low, 'Somebody is not happy about her education... at least some things are the same as on Earth.'

*tap*tap*tap*

*clank*

Watching Noriken's face, I couldn't decipher his expression for the life of it. He is like an enigma, never knowing what he thinks or feels.

He glanced at me, and I took my chances, "Play with me, big brodda!"

Using my Charm skill to the fullest, he shook his head, as I already could guess, "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander; I have a lot of work to do, and you should go to sleep."

Clicking my tongue inwardly, he laid me back into my bed and called a maid to watch me. Yeah, they are watching me with eagle eyes 24/7.

Once I was left alone and "tried" to flee this prison which they call "crib." Didn't end well, though.

Before even trying to flee, I got my tail stuck somewhere between the bars, down there in some crack or so, for hours.

Afterward was such a commotion that multiple healers/doctors visited me for days because I couldn't feel my tail. Luckily it lasted only for a couple of days, but I got a bigger crib and can move in it more freely!

Shivering slightly, I don't want to think about what happened to the carpenter who built that crib. I could even hear Mom screaming at the maid, who should have watched me but didn't.

I feel sorry for her, not that I could do anything about it, though. She was really at fault. While I might be brain-damaged, she could watch me at least once and see that I tried to get my tail out. Now, she is nowhere to be seen.

Now that I am already bored, lying again, bored out of my mind, I will check my system window before sleeping. This is really addictive! Even if I am sure that nothing happened, it is addictive seeing progress. This whole level thing is no good for gamers like me.

'System'

Hmm, not bad, I had a skill test in Logics a week ago, but it was a rather dull writing test which I aced, naturally.

Other than that, I could somehow unlock new skills like [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission].

[Mana Absorption] is pretty neat. I can absorb ambient Mana and accelerate my Mana regeneration by ~50%. With [Meditation] together, it can reach ~100%.

[Mana Emission], on the other hand, is… confusing. I get that I can push out my Mana, but I don't really know where to. Trying to push it into something, it just starts glowing.

…

Thinking strongly, I tried something that others should regard as dangerous. I thought this unconsciously. Consciously my mind went, "Nah, it's fine!"

Bringing my hands together while lying in my bed, I closed my eyes and tried to ascertain my Mana inside my body first.

I couldn't see it moving, but it felt like blood running through my veins… if you could actually feel it.

It has multiple exchange points. The bigger one is inside my solar plexus. The smaller areas are in the joints of my hands, the elbows, shoulders, hip, knees, feet, tail, ears, eyes, and so on.

It connects to all the others through the main one via veins and arteries like lines that pulsate differently. With it, I can feel it flowing in and out.

Using [Mana Absorption], I can feel how Mana comes through my pores inside me. Basically, if you have contact with something, it can give you Mana, or you can take it.

Like the wood of my bed or the blanket, it all has Mana properties or saved up Mana inside them.

If I see Mana as something like heat (Energy), it should be able to function under the laws of thermodynamics or somewhat similarly like it.

Meaning: I can destroy Mana structures by pushing more energy into them and converting them, or take out Mana to consolidate their structure.

The problem is that I can't test it as I have barely any Mana, and let's not talk about control. What makes me more curious is how these Mana structures function.

In my previous life, there was no Mana, or at least shouldn't be. Was there? DAMMIT! Waggling my tail angrily, there were so many questions I needed to answer!

Regardless, how do the Mana structures affect the properties of Materials or rather particles? I need more Mana for this experimentation, and I need to clearly quantify and plot it…

Urgh, thinking about it, I saw a headache coming. Not having a computer at hand is really annoying. How do people do it before the 1970s... wait, when was the first computer-like machine built? Was it the one from IBN? How did this thing work? No, it was the one in the '50s...

I interrupted myself from drifting away, 'What am I doing here? Lying around like some slob!'

I don't know that I had a little scientist inside me... but I need to be more drastic... if Curry could do it, I can surely too!

Bringing my hands together, I wanted to feel out what happens if I push my own Mana around my body, it should be doable.

Concentrating and using [Mana Emission] with the left hand, [Mana Sense] in general, and [Mana Absorption] with the right hand, my whole body quickly heated at an insane pace up.

I could feel how I lost Mana at a crazy rate and how it flowed at least 4 to 5 times faster inside my body.

*keupuk*

Stopping after a couple of seconds, I could see that I had puked out blood. Oh, this is not…. good…

*tap*tap*tap*

Barely holding onto my consciousness, I could hear how the maid ran towards the door and screamed for help, and after less than 30 seconds, people came rushing in. Hopefully, Mom has the healer or doctor on the short-dial list… because… I …can barely… hold on…

…

…

…

*****

??? POV

Walking back and forth, I was so nervous that I started chewing my nails again.

I can't believe what happened. Luckily, I reacted instantly and called for help. Who knows what would happen if I didn't or was somehow distracted.

But it is not over yet. In the last 4 hours, half a dozen healers are at it, and there is no news.

The door opened, and 4 of the 6 healers came out and mumbled something barely audible between themselves.

I heard and saw the first one, a Fox-kin, clearly tired and with blood all over his robe, "I can't believe we barely did it."

The next one was a Seal-kin, barely walking, "How can he have such internal injuries?!"

A Toad-kin, who looked the oldest, was not much better than the two, chided in, "Don't talk. Your annoying voices will give me an even stronger headache now that I have barely any Mana."

"…"

I ran to them, bowing down slightly. I anxiously asked, "May I go in?"

They looked at me and were quite annoyed, being overworked like this… I could understand them.

One of them, the old Toad-kin, waved his hand. "Yeah, go inside. He is stable."

I instantly went inside the room. There were standing 2 other healers around and the family except for Ms. Lorient, who was on a training expedition with her protector.

Everyone glanced at me, seeing who actually came in, and returned to what they were doing. You could see the tiredness in their eyes, and the young Ms. Sarah was crying while she petted him, looking worryingly at him.

I held my hands before my chest, praying and hoping that he was healthy, "Is Mr.… Alexander fine?"

The Mistress looked at me, ignoring all etiquette, "Yeah, he could be saved thanks to you. He just needs a lot of rest."

I exhaled as I felt glad that he survived.

She came over, crossed her arms, and started questioning me, "You are Melina, right?"

I nodded, "Yes, Mistress."

She rubbed her eyes and commanded me to speak, "Good, now tell me every detail and what happened."

I kneeled instantly, and sweat began to form on my forehead.

Right! They could think that I could try to kill him! Or… I remembered how the other maid was yelled at and kicked out. I tried to appeal, "Mistress I…."

Before I could speak further, the Mistress interrupted me, "Calm down, we know that it wasn't anything external or poisonous – you have nothing to worry about, now stand up."

Standing up, I calmed down a bit, "Thank you, Mistress."

Mistress waved her hand to calm me down. Even looking this tired, she is rational and pragmatic. I expect nothing less from such a knight.

She urged me to speak, "So, tell me every detail of what happened."

I thought for a moment and chose to tell everything. Even if I would stand out badly, I hoped that Mistress wouldn't blame me, "I… was sitting close to young Master in the chair, reading a book and sometimes looking at him…."

Looking back at Mistress, she just nodded and signaled to keep talking.

I nodded. "...well, then after… maybe an hour, he moved around a bit.

It was like he was annoyed or something but nothing else when I looked...."

I thought about every little detail for a moment, "...but after a short moment, he put his hands together, and then shortly after that, he puked out blood…."

Looking at Mistress, I could see that she was in deep thought.

After 10 minutes, nobody said or did anything except for Ms. Sarah and Mr. Narsiz, who kept on caressing Mr. Alexander… such a poor child always is something… I… don't know what I would do if something happened to my children like this.

Suddenly she looked and pointed at me. "You reacted well and fast. You will be Alex's personal maid from this day onward."

I was quite perplexed. Being a personal maid is one of the most prestigious positions inside the Estate, besides head maid or head butler!

I stuttered, barely bringing out a word, "B… But Mistress, I... I don't think…."

She held her hand up to stop me from talking and reassured me, "It doesn't matter what you think. You are the right person – we will sort out rooms close to here in the next few days and temporarily give you a neighboring room. Also, we will give you 2 maids or butlers to help you watch after Alex. We clearly don't know what happened, but it could happen again, and I want him to be observed all the time. Do I make myself clear?"

I bowed down with the right hand on my heart, "Yes, Mistress!"

She nodded and went back to Mr. Alexander.

She suddenly turned around and instructed me, "Go tomorrow to Salyna and Noriken. Let them everything know. If you have family, bring them in here too, but we will need to make the same investigation and contracts as we did with you."

The investigation was a lie detection test, and we also needed to show our system window. While this is considered taboo, the Leonandra Estate did something like this openly for every new applicant.

Because of their strictness, they paid much more than other Nobles and even coupled benefits like education of the worker's children and free yearly health checks from healers, so nobody really saw a problem with it, well, at least the commoners.

Other Nobles didn't like it because some of their talented workers switched to our Estate. In the end, showing our system window is only considered taboo for Nobles for different reasons.

Most commoners don't really care about something like this, and we care even less about things like honor or pride.

The contract was a Mana contract which ensures our loyalty. The clauses are reasonable, but the penalty for breaking the contract is immense. Nonetheless, it should be fine as long as you don't try to assassinate somebody.

I bowed down again, "Yes, Mistress, I will bring them tomorrow to the Estate."

The Mistress nodded, "Good, now go home. We will look after Alex ourselves tonight."

Nodding myself, I headed out.

*****

Alexander POV

Opening my eyes, I felt a stinging pain in my head. Also, my body felt so sore, as I was training for hours without a break, doing Martial Arts. In short, I felt like crap…

Why? Ah, right. I fucked up, big time.

But now I know what can happen. Forcefully circulating your Mana inside your body like this will basically make you a living overclocked PC. I overheated my whole body.

At least I am alive… thank the gods!

'System'

The HP and MP explain why I feel so terrible… hm…! I got a new skill: [Body Overload (Mana) | 1].

It is pretty self-explanatory… if I want to "overclock" again, I need either a strong body or a team of doctors standing behind me.

But! Something good happened…

My [Constitution], [Spirit], and [Perception] increased by +1. I would attribute it indirectly to the skill. I think it is rather that I overtaxed my body to the brink of death, so my body kind of adjusted itself.

Hehe, I am a genius…ouch! My head is killing me, and I am hungry… Looking around, I saw Mom sitting there…

…

I don't know when, but I started to accept her as my new Mom… Now I feel horrible because of what I did… Shit…

I should start to look after myself to look after my new family. Sighing inwardly, I was really annoyed by my stupidity.

Now, to a bigger problem… *grumble* But I really don't want to wake her up. She was probably stressed enough having a braindead son.

Hearing something, I saw that Mom woke up and stood beside me.

My eyes became teary. I almost choked, saying her name, "…Mom…."

Leaning over towards me, she smiled lightly. She looked terrible. Messy hair, rings under her eyes, and tiredness showing on her face, like going through a war.

Tears were flowing out. I tried to apologize, feeling horrible, "I shorry, Mom…."

She shook her head, clearly making me feel better, "It's all right. Are you hungry?"

I nodded. She picked me up and went to the kitchen to feed me. It was a quiet night, which I enjoyed even while feeling bad. Knowing that I have people who love me that much brings me to tears, not out of sadness but out of happiness.

In my previous life, while having a great family, I was, in the end, the one who was always the adult. Looking after my siblings and their needs…

It was an incredible burden for me – never being really at ease… but this now is soothing to my soul… hopefully, my family will not discover too fast that I am a moron by heart…

*****

Melina POV

He looks fine…?

It was already the next day, and I brought my husband and my 2 children over to Salyna and Noriken for the investigation. They wouldn't fail, but even if they do, nothing bad will happen.

They would just not be allowed to the Estate, which is acceptable…if looking at the incentives. I could send whoever fails money, and my husband could stay with them.

I saw the new rooms for my family. They are 3x times bigger than our old house. Also, I get paid 4x times my old wage with much more incentives for my family and me.

If I can stay his personal maid after he goes through the Divine Legacy, my direct family members and I will become part of the Leonandra family.

It is pretty unique in the Leonandra clan, and their only requirement is absolute loyalty.

Only because of this little pup… I need to do everything in my power to protect him!

Standing beside the crib, I saw that little pup walking inside it while holding onto the grid and mumbling.

He noticed me and smiled wildly, "Who you big shishda?"

It is incredible. He is not even 1 year old and can already speak coherent sentences! While not fluid and a bit broken, it is nonetheless impressive!

Coming out of my daze, I did my bow with my right hand over my heart, pledging my loyalty, "Mr. Alexander, I am your new personal maid, Melina."

He tilted his head cutely to the side, "Oh, og! Whad gan I do fur you Meilna?”

This…

Getting back into a standing position, with both hands before me and putting on a stern face, I tried my best to follow the etiquette, "I am here to support you through your day, Mr. Alexander."

He swung his fluffy snow-white tail and looked at me with his golden eyes. Responding cheerily, "Good! Gan you shaw me how do read and wride?"

Twitching my eyebrow slightly, I couldn't believe what I heard right now! A not even 1-year-old pup wants to learn how to read and write from me…

Usually, the wolf-kin age slower than most other kins, except for Fox-kin, Tiger-kin, and so on, which age around the same, only beaten by Turtle- or Elephant-kin. Thus, they usually also need longer to learn how to walk, read, write, etc. The perk is also that they have higher longevity.

I sighed slightly, trying to advise him, "Mr. Alexander, I think you are too young to learn it."

Watching him frown, my heart stopped for a moment. But then… he started to look really sad…, "Bud you said you will helb me?"

I frowned inwardly. Not that I don't want to show it to him, even I learned the basic skills of [Reading] and [Writing] while working here, which is very rare for commoners.

I don't want to see him feeling bad if he fails… It is too early to learn for him!

Trying to reject, I was interrupted, "Mr. Alexan…."

He interrupted me instantly, with a facial expression that said, "I know what you want to say, so stop.", “Sdob, led us mage a deal, og?”

Sighing, now without restraint, I broke already the etiquette, but he weirdly liked it and smiled at me. But thinking about what he said, I should at least listen to him. So, I just nodded.

He clapped his hands and fell, "Gread!"

My heart stopped for a moment, but before I could help him up, he already held his palm towards me to stop me, reassuring me, "I am wine…where was I? Oh, righd, the deal!"

While standing up, he talked. I was fascinated by his deal, "So, you will deach me for a weeg, if I gand learn id, you sdob, og?"

He stood again and gave me an expectant smile, which I couldn't even think of resisting. DAMN IT!

Sighing again, I accepted his "deal" with a nod. His smile widened considerably, and his fluffy tail wagged enthusiastically, "Good! Led us sdard afder eading something, og?"

This… I just nodded again and hoped for the best.

Why can't he just want to play something?