The Northern Duke’s Eldest Son’s Tutor

Come to think of it, now that Kyle is 17 years old, it’s time for him to debut in society.
5 years…
I thought 5 years would take an extremely long time, but it wasn’t like that at all.
If anything, it went by quickly.
Is it because life at Eristirol was enjoyable, or because spending time with Kyle was fun?
Well, it must include both.
“Elin, in that sense, we’ll have to reduce the swordsmanship lessons for a while.”
“Ah.. I see…”
Elin, looking a bit disappointed.
Over the years, I’ve learned that Elin expresses her emotions very well.
Expressions, voice, eyes, the way she breathes.
She shows her emotions in every way.
Even now, her disappointment was clearly visible.
Her lips were pouting, and her voice was slightly lower than usual.
“The Young Master’s debut is an extremely important event. It can’t be helped. You understand, right?”
“Of course.. it’s not like the lessons are being canceled, right?”
Of course.
Whether it’s swordsmanship or magic lessons, we’re reducing their frequency, not stopping them entirely.
We had already had several lessons before, but for young nobles, the debutante ball was more important than anything.
Dance, etiquette, rhetoric, and various other things needed to be reviewed and learned in the latest fashion.
It was always important to know about popular dances or young nobles’ interests.
Kyle… had been cooped up in the castle every year, so he couldn’t know about other nobles.
So we just collected information by exchanging letters with Catherine.
It might seem a bit strange for a tutor to exchange letters with a count’s daughter, but Catherine willingly sent replies.
“By the way.. now that the Young Master is debuting, a lot of time has passed. It feels like I was teaching him how to hold a sword just a few months ago.”
“You’re right.”
Children grow up that quickly.
It feels like yesterday when Kyle was a kid to me too.
Back then, he was shorter than me..
But yesterday, he was already at least a head taller than me.
Since Elin is tall for a woman, she doesn’t have as much of a height difference with Kyle, but I’m different.
These days, my neck hurts every time I look up at Kyle.
I’m jealous.
I wish I were tall like Elin.
If I were tall, my body would be better too..
These fat lumps were honestly useless.
There truly are no body parts as useless in daily life as breasts and buttocks.
I had to get separately sized underwear every time, and my shoulders would hurt terribly when running.
“Eek.. Sofia, why are you suddenly looking at my boobs?!”
“Because I’m jealous..”
I wish mine were just about that size.
It would be good if they were of a size that could be called modest, neither too big nor too small.
“….Sofia, you shouldn’t say things like that.”
“What..?”
“It’s nothing.. those who have them don’t understand.”
“…?”
“By the way, why does Sofia always wear a formal suit? Shouldn’t a woman wear a maid’s uniform?”
The reason I wear a servant’s formal suit?
It’s simple.
“I just came to the interview wearing a formal suit, and no one said anything, so I started with a formal suit and kept wearing it.”
There really was no special reason.
I wore a formal suit on the first day, and since no one said anything, I just continued wearing it.
If the head butler had said something about the attire on the first day, I would have done as told.
I have a slight aversion to wearing skirts, but.. for money, whatever.
“Aha… then please wear it when we go down to the village together next time!”
“Should I?”
There’s no reason to refuse when she’s asking.
I should wear it at least once.
“By the way.. who do you think our Young Master will marry? There’s a lot of talk in the domain, but I have no idea.”
“Well.. we’ll probably know once he makes his debut. He’s never gone outside the castle much.”
The only women Kyle has met until he turned 17 are the maids of the mansion, Elin, and Catherine.
Honestly, it seems like a too narrow range of relationships, but.. it was awkward to leave my position.
The head of the Eristirol family still hadn’t returned, and his younger sister hadn’t returned to the castle either.
There was news recently that they would come soon, but.. it only came very recently.
“But since the Young Master is very handsome, he’ll probably meet a pretty lady.”
“Yes.”
Of course he will.
I’ll work hard to make sure Kyle meets a good romantic partner.
Whether it’s a ducal family, a count’s family, or even a baron’s family, it doesn’t matter.
Even a commoner… well, if she’s a good woman, it probably doesn’t matter.
In animations and light novels, there are many stories of commoner protagonists dating princes or noble protagonists.
I don’t know if the world I’m living in is that kind of world, though.
For now, I hope Kyle’s relationships broaden.
Friends, women, whatever kind, it would be good.
“Ah, time’s up. Elin, I need to go pick up the Young Master.”
“Okay. Let’s have tea together tomorrow too.”
“Yes.”
I left the room, leaving behind Elin who was waving goodbye while seated at the tea table.
It was time for Kyle’s magic lesson to end, so I had to go pick him up.
Since I had already told Louise about reducing the lessons, there was no need to do it separately.
After the magic lesson… today we need to practice dancing again.
“Young Master, I’ve come to pick you up.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Sofia~ Want to have a late-night snack together tonight?”
“I don’t know, let’s talk about it later.”
I gave a perfunctory answer to Louise, who was talking nonsense as soon as she saw me, and left the classroom with Kyle.
Since there was no swordsmanship lesson today, Kyle wasn’t sweating.
Although Kyle’s sweat smell is good, sweating while dancing would inevitably be a demerit.
I especially felt that way because I didn’t know how other women would perceive it.
“Young Master, let’s dance right away. Since you don’t need to stretch anyway.”
It’s a bit difficult to dance while wearing formal pants, but practice is something Kyle needs to do, not me.
I just need to dance normally, and Kyle needs to lead me.
I don’t know who he’ll dance with at his society debut, but if Kyle is led by a woman… it might damage his image as a young lord.
A maid sitting nearby played the piano.
A beautiful yet somewhat ordinary-feeling melody, the most common type of music used during nobles’ dance time.
Not like the dance music from my past life, but a calm yet exciting tempo song.
Originally, there should have been other instruments besides the piano, but this was just practice.
There was no need to invite an orchestra for practice.
Having too many eyes watching would make it uncomfortable.
“Young Master, a bit more gently.”
“Yes.”
I cautioned Kyle when he held my hand and wrist too strongly.
A woman’s wrist is delicate.
I had to give these cautions right away rather than dancing with ladies who don’t exercise and are delicate and then getting into trouble.
“And when holding the waist, you should place your hand more inwards, not outwards like that.”
I grabbed Kyle’s hand, which was holding my side rather than my waist, and placed it more inwards.
Now the posture was complete.
Yes, this is how dancing should be done.
If we hadn’t had lessons because of previous experience, he would certainly have become a laughingstock when actually dancing.
It was really… fortunate.
“Young Master, you shouldn’t remain expressionless while dancing.”
Dancing is meant to be enjoyable.
There might be dances for sad times, but most are for excitement, fun, and pleasure.
So being expressionless with completely closed lips like now was not good.
I looked up at Kyle while slightly lifting the corners of my mouth.
Indeed, being short was a very sad thing.
“Like this, just a slight smile would make most ladies absolutely delighted.”
That’s what women are like—if he’s handsome, they’ll be pleased just with a single smile.
And Kyle isn’t just handsome, he’s extremely handsome, so it would be even more effective.
“The Young Master is extremely handsome, so there’s no need for difficult words to seduce them.”
“..Is that so?”
“Yes, it’s true.”
Does he not look in the mirror usually?
Just looking in the mirror would easily show him how handsome he is.
“In your view, Miss Sofia, am I that handsome?”
“Of course. Among all the men I’ve seen around, the Young Master is the most handsome.”
It might be seen as somewhat flattery, but the truth is the truth.
Even Catherine, who had been interested in me, would surely rate Kyle as handsome if she saw his current appearance.
“….”
“Now, let’s dance again. Your feet have stopped.”
Our two bodies moving again, following the oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah rhythm.
We continued dancing, swaying our bodies up and down and taking steps.
Kyle handled even the slightly high-difficulty move of lifting a woman without any problem.
Perhaps due to his strength, he lifted me very lightly.
“Phew.. since you learned when you were young, you follow easily. What would you like to do? Continue dancing or go back?”
We’ve already practiced enough today.
But if he wanted to do more, I was willing to go along.
Doing what Kyle wants is part of being a personal servant.
“If the Young Master wishes, we can continue at least until dinner time.”
“Then let’s do a bit more and go back.”
Even though his shirt was already getting soaked with sweat, since Kyle said he wanted to do more, we practiced for nearly another hour before finally ending.