The Reserved Daughter Of a Duke And The Cold-Headed Emperor

The Demon Forest the place where Alexei was killed and dropped off is located about ten days by carriage from the Imperial City. A wasteland that is completely uninhabited by humans. Due to occasional outbreaks of Demonic beasts that come out of the Demon Forest, there are four Knight Corps who specializes in demon subjugation in the north, south, east, and west of the demon forest.

Alexei was killed before he could get to the Devil’s Forest, And his corpse was carried by a slave into the demon forest. The slave was later killed by a demonic beast upon entering the Demon Forest.

Meanwhile, the green-skinned woman whom Alexei had been calling Pie had ventured into the Demon Forest by herself. She was born in a family of poor farmers who had many children, but because of her light green skin, she creeped out her family and raised without being given a name. And she came to be known as the monster, no matter who she was.

She was reserved and worked tirelessly from a very young age, but as she grew, her skin started turning a darker green color. Skin started becoming even more gnarled and droopy, and her face and body didn’t appear to be that of a human. She felt sympathy for her parents who were cut off by villagers due to her so she silently left when she turned 12.

After that, she wandered around by herself and finally ended up in the demon forest. In the Demon Forest, she befriended the demonic beasts and enjoyed the lush forest life with them. She had loved animals since she was a child.

「Animals are good. They aren’t afraid of me.」

She couldn’t differentiate animals from demonic beasts. To her, both animals and demonic beasts were gentle creatures that did not discriminate against her. Strangely enough, neither the animals nor demonic beasts attacked her. It was as if they could communicate with each other.

It was much easier to live in the forest than to live in the village. I’m a monster, but I’ve got a family of my own.

「I’m going to be part of your family! I’ll be your mother, and you all are my children!」

She saw herself as a mother and treated the demonic beasts as if they were her children.

Life in the woods was quite comfortable. Living in a cave and eating the bounty of the forest And using the native hemp, she could weave cloth, although it was very coarse.

There was no one here who despised her. Only her lovely new family.

She picked up Alexei about ten years after she came to live in the forest. She liked the whip-smart Alexei with silver hair and eyes with the color of the clear blue sky.

Their life together passed in the form of her taking care of Alexei.

It was the happiest time of her life.

「Ham, you’re so troublesome. And what do you think you’re doing?」

One day, when Alexei drew a picture of himself and her on the ground to pass the time, he also added the words 「Me and Pie」 to it. When she saw it, she became extremely happy.

「Is this me and Ham? Is this literature? What does it say? Ham’s a good writer, isn’t he? That’s awesome, you’re so smart! No one in my village can read. Even the mayor couldn’t write, so I asked the next town’s leaders to help me.」

「What? I learned that literacy rates are higher in the Empire than in any other country? Half of the population can read and write. We were also taught that by increasing the literacy rate, we would increase the strength of the country and the disparity between people would disappear.」

「I don’t know how difficult it is for me, but should I be able to read the letters.」

She looks at Alexei curiously.

「That’s true. If you can’t read letters, you can’t read books, and if you can’t read books, it’s difficult to learn.」

「That’s right. I don’t understand. But I’ve found out that Ham is a very clever boy.」

Then she patted Alexei’s head. Alexei was happy to be praised while muttering that it wasn’t a big deal. He had received a strict upbringing in the past, but he never received any praise. On the contrary, he was told to work even harder. Even though he was only six years old, Alexei had already been educated enough to get into the academy, an institution of higher learning.

「It’s no big deal」

「It’s not just anything! Ham-chan’s amazing. You’re not only fast, but you’re also smart. Ham-chan is a genius!」

She opened her eyes, which were almost hidden by the skin covering them.

「Are you sure? Do you think I’ll ever learn to write?」

Alexei smiled.

「Yes. I’m going to teach you to write a little at a time. We don’t have any paper or pens here, so we’ll have to write on the ground with branches.」

「Really! Thank you so much, Ham. In this kind of situation, you’re called a Sensei, right? Ham-sensei!」

「Stop, just call me Ham.」

Alexei was glad that he was no longer just being cared for and protected.