I Became a Human’s Daughter

“This is a big deal.”

The Grand Duke ruffled his hair violently as he looked in the mirror.

On his tall forehead, a reddish-brown hump was set in a crooked manner. It was a bump from being hit by Ariel last night.

The real issue was that his eyes, which can capture the hearts of many women, were not visible due to the swelling. It looks funny but bowing down his head a little would be enough to cover it.

“I don’t think I could go in the dining hall like this.”

It would be better if the bruise was a cut from the enemy’s sword in the battlefield, rather than from being hit by the hands and feet of a sleeping child.

The Grand Duke sighed, wiping his messy face.

“Your Highness, this is Martin.”

“Come in…No, wait…!”

The Grand Duke, who was about to tell him to come in as usual, hastily reversed his words.

No matter how long they’ve been together, how can he appear looking like this?

But it was already too late.

“Your Highness, it’s already past meal time, so maybe something…Ghah?!”

Martin gasped as he approached the Grand Duke’s uncovered face.

“This, Your Highness, why are your eyes…What the hell happened last night…Wait, Your Highness was also stung by a bee? Did the bees really get into this mansion?”

The Grand Duke frowned at Martin’s hastily uttered words.

“What nonsense is that?”

“No, it’s because it looks the same…”

“Same?”

The Grand Duke looked in the mirror again and he realized that the face of the child he thought so strange yesterday was not much different from his.

‘Damn it.’

The Grand Duke was wrinkling his brow, and Martin felt sorry for him.

“I thought it would be strange for someone so regular to be late for some reason…”

The Duke’s ears lit up reddishly and the sound of a small click on his tongue was heard. After all, as an imperial family, it was shameful to see such a disheveled appearance.

“But you can’t skip meals. I will tell the chef to prepare the meal again. I will bring it to the office myself.”

Martin, who could not be ignorant of the Grand Duke’s heart, came up with a good plan.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Martin raised the tip of his lips and thought that the prince that everyone finds difficult to deal with is in fact, has a cute side.

He was smiling as he looked at his master’s reddened ears.

“Okay, that’s all there is to it?”

“Oh, there’s one more thing.”

“Please tell me.”

“I would like to her education once her condition calmed down to some extent.”

“Education?”

The Duke’s head was tilted slightly.

“Yeah, but there’s no need to rush since she’s still young. Still, wouldn’t it be better to let her learn to at least sleep properly?”

What kind of education do you want to give to the child you took back not too long ago?

With a puzzled expression on his face, Martin still nodded his head as if he understood.

‘It’s not a bad idea to decide educating the miss to become a capable lady.’

“Do that.”

“Yes, my lord. Then I will prepare a meal and come back.”

Martin left the room and the Grand Duke looked back to the mirror. Until the swelling was gone, he was stuck eating here.

‘But now that I know that the crow can’t go through the window, I don’t have to suffer anymore.’

But that was a mistake.

That night, Ariel still came to him.

“What aren’t you coming? It’s now time for me to sleep.”

“Sleep, what do you mean?”

The Grand Duke, who heard the ridiculous remark, stiffened.

“Wait, are you saying I have to sleep beside you again today?”

“Of course. I heard that vicious bird chirping a while ago. Come fast!”

After saying those words, Ariel, who had left the room, hurriedly turned around again.

“Hmm? Where did your one eye go?”

The Grand Duke’s face wrinkled instantly. After all, it had been a week since the Grand Duke had gone to hell every night.

***

When Ariel’s face returned to normal, Martin immediately called the tutor. She was an old lady with good looks and fair hair.

“Nice to meet you, miss. My name is Martha Gallia.”

With only a decade of her tutoring career, she is already so adept at dealing with children. But in essence, learning is boring. So Ariel soon grew tired of learning the letters.

“Wait, why do I have to learn human letters?”

Ariel strongly rejected the class, but her thought was not accepted.

“You have to study hard to please the Grand Duke. Your Highness loves you so much, so you might become a real princess.”

“Real princess? What is that? “

“Let’s say it’s a much better position than yours now. When you become a great princess, no one’s going to pick on you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ariel had no choice but to tilt her head and listen to her class.

But that’s only for a while.

Ariel, unable to overcome her boredom, disappeared after her class was over. No matter how tightly she was guarded, they would just notice that she already disappeared like a ghost.

That’s how Ariel and her servants started playing strange tricks.

And now Ariel…

“…What are you doing here?”

Ahin asked, looking at Ariel crouching in his closet.

“Shh!”

Ariel scolded him, putting her short finger to his lips.

“Quiet. What are you going to do if someone finds out!”

“Who knows. No one can enter this room without my permission.”

“Really? No one can come in here without your permission?”

“Of course.”

As soon as she heard the answer, Ariel immediately crawled out of the closet. Her legs were numb after crouching in a small place.

“Ugh, my shoulders.”

Ariel kept stretching, so Ahin asked.

“Who are you trying to avoid? The servants are busy, is it because of you?”

“Yeah, so shut up. I shouldn’t be caught by them!”

“Why?”

“Of course, if I get caught by those people, I have to learn strange characters.”

“You mean letters? Ah…”

‘Come to think of it, I heard she had a tutor. Is she doing this because she don’t want to attend class?’

After understanding the situation, Ahin shook his head.

“What’s so difficult in learning the letters that made you run away like this?”

He was such an outstanding genius. There were even rumors going around that he had learned letter before starting to walk. So, of course, there’s no way he could understand Ariel’s behavior.

Ariel looked at Ahin as if he spouted some nonsense.

“It’s not that it’s hard, there’s just no reason to learn! But they keep telling me to!”

In the first place, why does she, a goddess, needs to learn how to read human letters?

‘I’ll be returning to the new realm soon anyway!’

Ahin, not knowing this, shook his head as if it was nonsense.

“You don’t simply need to learn. You need to know letters to read books, because reading books is to acquire knowledge. Are you going to live your whole life as a half that doesn’t know anything?”

“What? Half?”

That was Ariel’s most hated word. Because it was a word the gods used mainly to ridicule Ariel.

“Yeah, no matter how high you are, if you don’t know how to write, you won’t be respected and will end up being ignored. Do you really want to be like that?”

“Who dares to ignore me!”

Ariel stood up in a frenzy, her jewel-like pale green eyes were quivering with anger.

“If you don’t like it, you have to learn the letters.”

“However…”

The class of Mrs. Gallia, who kept writing the same letters over and over, was boring. Besides, that shaky voice made her sleepy.

‘What a pain…’

Ahin burst into laughter as he saw Ariel weeping. She really looks like a child while crying like that.

‘Still, I can’t let Claudif’s bloodline live with a weak link.’

Ahin decided. For the sake of the family’s face, he will convince the child learn the letters.

The secret weapon that Ahin brought out to make Ariel interested in studying was none other than a cookie. Each time she will learned a letter, he will give her a cookie.

If it’s cookie, considering Ariel’s eating power, she will rush over it even with her fancy dress.

It was a kind of carrot training method.

Not surprisingly, Ariel immediately became interested in studying and learned the letters at lightning speed.

But there were also downsides.

“Are you really eating alone, lady? But why do we have to bake so many cookies?”

The victims of Ahin’s training were none other than the kitchen workers.

They had to get up early every morning to make dough and bake cookies without a break.

“Now, just smelling cookies makes me sick!”

“Where do all these cookies go in that little body?”

Just when they are complaining, an ominous sound of footsteps was heard.

“This, I guess…”

“No, please not.”

“No way!”

They denied the situation with their pale faces.

But,

“The cookies are all gone! Come on, bake another plate!”

The servants cried out.

“This is a cookie hell…”