But the steward shook his head sadly. “And I’m sure that’s why they’re excellent fighters. However, if they cannot learn to control their emotions, they will grow into adults who use violence to get their way. If you wish to prevent this, why not send them to a proper school? A boarding school would allow them to learn basic knowledge as well.”
A boarding school was a place where students both lived and studied. There were nine particularly prestigious boarding schools, including Eton College and Harrow School, where nobles and the wealthy sent their children.
I’d never considered placing the twins in a dormitory before. The proposal left me flustered.
“School is important, but I don’t know if Dum and Dee can live outside the Liddell home…” I hesitated.
“Most parents struggle with those same concerns when they send their children off to school. It’s no different from birds who force their young out of their nests once they’re old enough. Schools are like microcosms of society, containing the strong and the weak, the wise and the foolish. Their boyhood memories will support these twins for the rest of their lives. The fact that their lives will be spent in the Liddell home is all the more reason they must expand their horizons now while they still can.”
The weight of his words caused my spine to tense.
I was born into the Liddell family. I obeyed my father’s every word throughout my life, spending my days studying with a governess, memorizing the traps within the manor, and learning how to handle weapons.
My whole world consisted of the manor, the garden with its fountain, my parents, and the servants. I was happy in that miniature garden with all its roses and ignorant of the ways of the outside world because the adults in my life protected me.
After my miniature garden was destroyed…I always wished I knew more about the world.
“Would it really help them?”
My question came out hesitantly. The steward nodded.
“It won’t all be easy, but it’s an act of love.”
“Hang on, Gramps.” Dark interrupted us. He couldn’t bear to hear anymore. “You’d have to be mad to send the twins to boarding school. Why not get them a tutor instead? These two are Alice’s family and her guards. She’d be lost without them.”
“Lord Dark, do you mean to tell me you can’t protect Miss Alice without Mr. Dum and Mr. Dee around? How disheartening. I’d never expect the head of the Knightley family to be so powerless…”
“No, I can protect Alice on my own, but…”
The steward pressed a white handkerchief to his eyes, pretending to cry. Dark was at a loss for words.
I looked down at Dum and Dee, who were still clinging to my dress. “Dum, Dee, would you like to go to school?”
“You’ll be fine without us, Alice?”
“You’re sending us away, Alice?”
Black marks formed on Dum and Dee’s cheeks.
These rose-shaped patterns were called stigmas. Humans received them when a demon brought them back to life—all members of the Liddell family had the same symbol appear on their bodies when their emotions ran rampant.
It was proof of just how angry the twins were.
But all I asked was if they wanted to go to boarding school…
“Maybe this is their rebellious phase,” Dark muttered under his breath.
That reminded me of how some children could have rebellious periods. “Alice” didn’t have the kind of personality where her emotions ever overwhelmed her, so the idea of a rebellious phase never crossed my mind.
“I’m not saying that I want you to go away,” I asserted. “I’m suggesting it because it’s an important decision. What do you want to do, Dum, Dee?”
When I asked them to tell me their true desires, the twins untensed their grips on my dress. Their tiny shoulders sagged.
“We don’t know what to do for you.”
“We don’t know what to say to you.”
They lacked the words to express the murky feelings in their hearts.
Humans lose their temper when they can’t verbalize their emotions. The only way to avoid this was for Dum and Dee to learn things about themselves by studying and learning to communicate better.
Our lives being what they were, I’d never given them the education they needed. They were good at roundabout expressions but had no passion for studying.
“Gramps is right,” I said. “They can’t answer properly because they don’t know the words to express their feelings and intentions. You should go to school for your studies, and if it isn’t a good fit, you can always come back. How does that sound?”
Dum and Dee looked at each other and nodded.
“We’ll go.”
“We’ll go.”
I was scared to let them go, but I would find a way to make do for a few years. As the head of the Liddell family, it was my job to make sure they led happy lives.
“Dark, are there any suitable boarding schools for Dum and Dee?”
“There are nine prestigious schools with good reputations, but they cater to children of upper-class families, so the twins might not make it through the admission process,” Dark answered.
“I know the perfect place.” It was the butler who spoke up—his handkerchief now neatly folded up again. “How about Ark School? Lord Dark just received a petition from them asking that he become a new executive of the institution. They specifically requested he visit the campus personally.”
“Hmm. I suppose being an executive means I might be able to get the twins accepted into the school,” Dark said.
The opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time.
Dark pressed his hand to his chin in thought. I had something to ask of him as well.
“If you visit the school for an observation, I want you to take me with you. I can’t leave Dum and Dee at a school if it isn’t the right place for them. Wouldn’t it be awful if they ended up in a bad environment?”
Sensing my drive to protect my boys, Dark smiled awkwardly. “Let’s go together then. It’ll be a good chance for you to let go of your children, just like a parent would.”
“Huh?”
What does he mean by that?
But there was no time to think about it. Dark clapped his hands cheerfully.
“It’s time to prepare for a trip, in that case. Let’s get ready as soon as the party is over.”
“Are you ever coming back to the party, my lady?” Jack appeared on the terrace. He was tired of waiting for the two hosts to return.
He looked at Dark, the host most excited to turn the party into a spectacular event, the steward, who wasn’t expected to be here in the first place, and then at the two pouting twins.
“Tell me who you need me to kill.”