Chapter – 08
Books You Understand But Can’t Read
“Father, I want to read that!”
“Which one?”
Father and I were sitting properly on chairs too tall for our height, leaving everything to our fathers and pointing at things to communicate.
And what I pointed at wasā
“Um, *The History of the Pornlord Kingdom*? Really this one?”
“That one!”
I think this is probably the history of this country, right?
I never liked history class at school, but I felt the urge to at least take a peek, so I chose this.
“Haha! What a diligent child, how wonderful! You’ll have to learn history eventually anyway. Aria, you should read it together with her.”
“Okay! I’ll read it with Hikari-chan and Father!”
Whatever happened to her desire to teach Hikari-chan how to read?
She seems to be shifting entirely into book-reading mode.
Father placed the book in front of me and Aria-chan and opened to the first page.
“Pornlord, Father, how do you read this?”
“It’s ‘The History of the Pornlord Kingdom,’ okay?”
“So hard.”
Aria-chan frowned slightly and groaned.
“Father, what about this?”
I pointed at a character I should be able to read and turned my face toward my father.
“This one?”
“That’s the name of the first king.”
“How do you read it?”
I tried to read it myself, but what is this strange feeling?
“You read it as ‘His Majesty Lord.’ And over here is Queen Porn.”
“So the two of them founded the country?”
“That’s right! Hikari is so smart!”
“Hikari-chan is amazing!”
“Hehe!”
I understood that right away, but what is this? Why can I barely read anything?
“Aria-chan, what about this?”
“Um, this isā¦ theā¦ historyā¦ of Pornlord?”
“Aria’s correct! Aria is so smart!”
Despite my doubts, I recalled the words I’d memorized and the words I’d just heard, and worked out the answer.
And then my father heaped praise on me.
“Aria-chan is amazing!”
“Hehe!”
And at the same time, I vaguely realized the truth behind this strange feeling.
—
Thanks to my past life memories, I understand what’s being said, but my current brain hasn’t memorized the characters yet, so I can’t read.
Even though it’s supposed to be the same Japanese, I couldn’t read “Pornlord Kingdom.”
—
“Father, I want to learn to read! I want to read together with Aria-chan!”
“Hikari-chanā¦!”
“I suppose so. It’s a year early, but shall we try hiring a tutor?”
“Yay!”
Somehow, it feels like if I say it out loud, all my wishes will come true, but for now, securing a tutor!
I used to hate studying in my past life, but now I can’t wait for it.
I don’t even feel any sadness over “not being able to read characters I once could.”
This is the curiosity of a four-year-old.
I wish I could give some of this motivation to learn to my high school self.
After that, with the help of Aria-chan and our two fathers, we slowly read about five pages of *The History of the Pornlord Kingdom*.
It seems like it’ll still be quite a while before I learn about this world.
“Thank you so much for today!”
“Thank you so much!”
Aria-chan and I performed our copied bows.
“Duke, thank you for today! We had a truly wonderful time!”
“The pleasure is all mine, Earl! It’s been a while since I’ve had such a relaxing time with my daughter! Please, do come visit us at our estate sometime?”
“Are you sure?!”
“Of course! You’d be most welcome!”
(Ohā¦ I’ve never seen Father smile like that before.)
It wasn’t the loving gaze he gives me or Motherāhis eyes held the look of someone who’d found a good friend.
“Father, you’re smiling!”
“Yes, I am. Thanks to the Earl, and Aria, and Hikari-chan.”
The Duke knelt down on one knee in front of me and gently touched my hand.
“Thank you very much for today, Lady Hikari. Thanks to you, I was able to spend a truly meaningful time.”
“Meaningful? You mean fun?”
“You are so clever. Yes, exactly that.”
“I’m so glad!”
The Duke showed the warmest smile of the day.
This man is definitely a good husband.
“Alright Aria, let’s buy your mother a souvenir on the way home!”
“Yes! Let’s make Mother happy!”
“Let’s do that! Well then, Earl, we’ll take our leave here.”
“Yes, please do come again. Muse, please escort our important guests out.”
“Understood.”
“Bye-bye, Hikari-chan!”
“Yeah! Bye-bye!”
We waved at each other, and they left the room guided by Muse.
“Father.”
“What is it, Hikari?”
“That was so much fun!”
“Was it? I had fun too.”
And so, my time with Aria Serlight, the Duke’s daughter, came to an end.
By the way, did you notice?
The fact that Hikari-chan’s father never said a single word about Hikari-chan’s made-up appearance…
