Chapter 177: School Days
At the moment Henrietta was currently in class, silently listening to the teacher explain basic arithmetic, in the classroom around her were a bunch of female students her own age. Under Berengar's public education system he had separated it by Gender in order to avoid any unnecessary distractions, especially among those who might be entering their adolescent years. This way he was also able to design the curriculum in a way that catered to the ways in which boys and girls tended to study. As such this was an all-girls school, with only female instructors. The woman in charge of teaching basic mathematics was a noblewoman who had at Berengar's request filled the position, after all, there was not much for a woman of her status in life to do, and it felt good to aid in the development of the next generation.
Charlotte was sitting next to Henrietta and was struggling with the basic concepts, she was by no means a prodigy when it came to math, but she had a fairly creative mind, unlike Henrietta who's mind greatly resembled Berengar's in so far that it functioned well with mathematics, and critical thinking. After the basic instruction was concluded the girls were split into groups to work on the problems where Henrietta and Charlotte grouped up together with a third girl who was nearby. The problem was a simple product of multiplication. However, the other girls were struggling with the concept, as such Henrietta showed the multiplication table Berengar had designed and informed them as to her understanding as to how it worked.
"2 x 2 = 4, because it is the addition of two, twos. However, 2 x 3 = 6, because it is the addition of three twos, and so on and so forth."
Charlotte, on the other hand, was incredibly frustrated, it was basic mathematics, and yet she was already struggling, one could tell she was not destined to be an engineer or anything which utilized a great deal of math. Instead, she had drawn a picture of a bird, which for her age and lack of proper education was quite acceptable. She of course drew it on the back of her worksheet, which caused Henrietta to lecture the girl.
"Of course you are not going to understand it if you keep drawing on the back of your worksheets instead of paying attention to the lecture!"
On the other hand, the other girl in the group perfectly understood Henrietta's explanation and thanked her for the help.
"Thank Henrietta, you are always a great help!"
This caused Henrietta to smile, she never knew it would be so fun to interact with people of her same age. If it was not for Berengar insisting she go to school, and interact with the other girls she probably would have been sheltered alone in the Castle her entire life. As such she responded to the girl's compliment
"It is no problem!"
seeing Henrietta and the other girl get along so well Charlotte began to pout. She was quite a cute girl with a dirty blonde ponytail, and mint green eyes. Though compared to Henrietta her appearance was severely lacking, after all, she was dressed in a peasant gown, compared to Henrietta's luxurious noble attire. By the expression on her face, she greatly desired to monopolize Henrietta to herself. Of course, the young girl quickly found a way out of work and began to ask Henrietta questions about her older brother.
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"Henrietta tell us another tale about Berengar! I heard that he has an eyepatch now that looks super cool!"
The moment Charlotte brought up such a topic all of the girls in the class began to listen in to Henrietta and the tale she would tell this time. They had completely forgotten about the lesson plan and were attracted by the stories of the dashing young Count of Tyrol. Remembering what her brother had told her, Henrietta decided to tell a story from Berengar's past that was not super embarrassing.
"Hmm... Where should I begin, I suppose you could say that Berengar was always sickly growing up, ever since he was a small child, yet despite that he tried not to let his frail nature get in the way of living his life. For example when I was five, and he was roughly fifteen at the time. Some older kids among the nobility began to bully me, they had stolen my doll and tossed it up into a tree. When Berengar found out about it he decided to climb the tree and get the doll himself, despite being incredibly weak. He initially fell down from the tree after only managing to climb a few steps. However, he was determined, and as such, despite not having the strength to climb the tree himself, he found a ladder and used it to scale the tree and get my doll back. Afterward, he told me that if I was ever bullied again, to come to get him, and he would give the girls a scolding."
Charlotte's eyes began to glitter in excitement when she heard the chivalric actions of Berengar helping his beloved little sister, she could not help but ask the question on her mind.
"What happened next?"
Henrietta instantly realized the remainder of the story was not favorable to Berengar's prestigious image, but the entire class was staring at her with curiosity, and as such her resistance immediately collapsed and she revealed the embarrassing details.
"Erm... The girls returned and bullied me again, so I did as my big brother instructed and went to get his help. After he chastised them for their behavior the older girls... well... they beat him up..."
The cute and innocent expression on Henrietta's face when she revealed another embarrassing secret of Berengar's made the girls in the class instantly break out in laughter. Even the teacher began to chuckle when she heard about this side of the man often referred to as "Berengar the Indomitable" by his supporters. To think the man who ruled over the region with supreme authority, and dominance was so pitiful in the past, was truly an entertaining thought.
Henrietta continued her story for a brief bit longer as she addressed the class.
"After that, I learned that I should not rely on Berengar when I needed to teach someone a lesson, instead I went to my other brother Lambert... Though I guess that is no longer the case..."
The girls were curious about Lambert as most of them had not heard the name before, this sparked curiosity among Henrietta's classmates as they began to daydream about who Lambert was. Surely if he was the stronger of the two brothers then he would be a renowned warrior, thus one of the girls quickly asked about Lambert.
"Who is Lambert? Where is he now?"
Henrietta's expression sunk, though her family did not explicitly tell her that Lambert had done something horribly wrong, she was not foolish enough to believe he was innocent. She knew Lambert must have done some unspeakable act to be exiled from her family, she just did not know what exactly had transpired. Thus, a gloomy expression appeared on her face as she went silent. The teacher noticed the sullen expression on the girl's face and immediately tried to redirect the girls' attention so that they would focus on their work and give Henrietta some reprieve. Though she was not aware of Lambert's fate, she knew it could not be something good by the way Henrietta looked when he was mentioned.
"Come on girls, pay attention, and get your work done!"
The classroom full of young girls all began to moan in displeasure, but they eventually did what they were told and got back to work. Charlotte whispered to Henrietta while they were going over their worksheets
"That was really funny! Your big brother is the best!"
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To which Henrietta blushed in embarrassment, she knew full well that she should not be revealing such info to the girls in her class. However, they all seemed so interested in the story, and as such she could not prevent herself from leaking the information. As such, she felt slightly guilty for her actions, but not enough to prevent her from doing it again. Henrietta quickly buried herself in her work, and it would not be until lunch period where she was vocal about Berengar's embarrassing past once more.
...
Meanwhile, in Berengar's office, the young Count felt a sudden itch in his nose, and before he knew it he had sneezed loudly, enough so that if one were nearby they might think it was a blast of thunder. After doing so he rubbed his nose and instantly said his thoughts aloud.
"Who is talking shit about me?"
Berengar had no way of knowing that Henrietta had revealed another embarrassing event from his past, for if he did he would surely grab ahold of her puffy little cheeks and pull on them until she was red in the face. However, being unaware of Henrietta's revealing his embarrassing secrets for social clout, he quickly got back to work on approving budgetary concerns.