I Became the Tyrant’s Translator - Chapter 17

“I’m not very talented…. Just, Your Highness, you said ankylosaurus, but I don’t know what it was.”

 

“Ankylosaurus?”

 

Lord George frowned.

 

“Is that a word that you made up?”

 

“……!”

 

Lord George looked at Leticia with wide eyes as if he had realized something.

 

“Miss Woods, don’t you know what ankylosaurus is?”

 

“It’s, it’s my first time hearing it. For the first time in my life.”

 

“That was it!”

 

Lord George jumped out of his seat.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Miss Woods, have you ever been to the zoo?”

 

[T note : Ok… here I kinda doubt about the animal name cuz obviously ankylosaurus is a dinosaur and I already did some research in case there is any animal with the name ‘안킬록스’ but there are none of them. So does that mean they had dinosaurs during their time and they kept the dinosaurs at the zoo???]

 

I have heard that there is a zoo somewhere in the capital.

 

But Leticia had neither the money nor the time to go there, so she could only imagine it.

 

“N, no.”

 

“Ankylosaurus is an animal from across the sea. Not every single animal lives in the empire. No wonder Miss Woods doesn’t know.”

 

“Then how did His Highness know?”

 

“There was a time when an ankylosaurus was exhibited in the Imperial Palace for about a month and then sent to the zoo.”

 

[T note : Let’s just assume that they talk about fossils.]

 

“……!”

 

“I remember Your Highness showing some interest in ankylosaurus at that time. Yeah, it was…..”

 

Leticia bit her lips. Of course, she knew that she and Michael were from a different world.

 

But it was a little hard to bear that something that was everyday for Michael was unimaginable for her.

 

In the future, the gap between her and Michael will be discovered countless times.

 

Each time, her only value, her ability to interpret, will drop to the bottom. Leticia looked up and looked straight at Lord George.

 

“Do you have a picture of ankylosaurus?”

 

“Picture?”

 

Lord George looked at the bookshelf for a long time and took out a book.

 

<Beasts Outside The Empire>

 

He found a page with ankylosaurus on it and showed it to Leticia.

 

“They drew the neck longer than I thought. His teeth look a lot more fierce than this. The colors were much more colorful than what was drawn here……”

 

Leticia looked carefully at the picture, listening to Lord George’s words.

 

Ankylosaurus was a very unusual looking animal, not like any other animal that Leticia had ever seen.

 

The biggest feature was the bumps on the flat back like turtles.

 

Hard and large hump, like vertebrae protruding like crazy, filled the ankylosaurus’ back.

 

‘……!’

 

The golden eyes widened.

 

Leticia alternately looked at ankylosaurus and Michael.

 

“Now I know.”

 

“Really?”

 

Lord George looked like he couldn’t believe it.

 

“Yes.”

 

Leticia nodded her head.

 

“The teacher…. What he asked us was why there were so many small countries on the continent before the empire was founded.”

 

Leticia wasn’t sure if she remembered the question correctly, but seeing Lord George nod, it didn’t seem like much nonsense.

 

Having gained courage, Leticia continued.

 

“It has a lot of bumps on its back. It looks like…. a mountain range.”

 

“…..!”

 

“Ou, our Debrandt aren’t the only ones with mountains…. but there are a lot of them anyway. I also grew up going up and down mountains.”

 

“Yeah, that’s right. Everything Miss Woods said is correct.”

 

Lord George muttered blankly.

 

“Not only mountains, but all kinds of terrain exist all over Debrandt…. until the roads were repaired, goods could not be transported properly to each place.”

 

“Yes, I think that’s exactly what Your Highness said. Our empire had many rugged terrains like mountains, so there were many small countries.”

 

Instead of answering, Lord George looked at Michael with genuinely moved eyes.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“What are you sorry about?”

 

“I couldn’t do my job properly…..”

 

“What do you mean you can’t do it properly? Don’t say anything weird. Miss Woods is doing very well.”

 

“But the, the teacher left.”

 

“……”

 

Lord George was lost in thought for a moment.

 

“It’s all because of me that the teacher left! Your Highness Michael, you answered correctly. So I’m gonna go see teacher in person, and I, I gonna explain everything……”

 

“You don’t have to do that.”

 

Lord George sighed.

 

“Professor Schweiger emphasized that there is only one chance. He’s gone, so he won’t come back.”

 

“Then what?”

 

Leticia bit her lips nervously.

 

Lord George must have put a great deal of effort into bringing Professor Schweiger in.

 

Countless teachers have already left Michael, and even Professor Schweiger has left, so who is going to teach Michael?

 

“I think….”

 

Lord George snapped off his words. He bent his knees to meet Michael’s eyes level, who was still sitting.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

“…..”

 

“How about I teach you for the time being? Of course, I won’t be able to live up to your level, but only until I find another teacher.”

 

“Strawberry.”

 

“He likes it.”

 

Michael smiled.

 

***

 

What Lord George brought was surprisingly a level of a history textbook that Leticia could understand.

 

There were many colorful paintings, so it was a textbook made for young children, but Leticia didn’t care much.

 

It was much better than Professor Schweiger’s class, which was full of incomprehensible words.

 

Leticia excitedly opened the textbook and began to read.

 

‘It’s fun?’

 

The textbook, which started from a very long time ago, before the founding of the Empire, felt like an interesting storybook.

 

Even names familiar to Leticia appeared everywhere. Uranos rules the sky, and Gaia rules the earth….

 

Leticia was absorbed in the textbook, and when she realized that it was Michael who had barely come to learn, she looked around.

 

Surprisingly, Lord George looked very depressed. Leticia glanced sideways at Michael.

 

“…..?”

 

Michael only looked carefully at the first page and did not think about turning it over.

 

“Your Highness, don’t you like it?”

 

“Paper.”

 

“The paper material…. You don’t like it?”

 

Lord George asked with a puzzled face. Michael repeatedly said with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

 

“Paper.”

 

Thud!

 

It was the sound of a book falling from Leticia’s hand. But Leticia didn’t even think about picking up the book and only stared at Michael.

 

“Your Highness Michael.”

 

“…..”

 

“Perhaps….. you can’t read the text?”

 

“Text.”

 

Michael immediately confirmed Leticia’s guess was correct.

 

“That, that’s what he says.”

 

There was no reply from Lord George. Instead, he drew his sword. The cool blade, not suitable for a warm study, glistened in the sunlight.

 

“Knight!”

 

“Those bastards…. I’m gonna find them all and kill them.”

 

“Wh, who are they?”

 

“The guards who raised His Highness. No, the guards that I thought raised His Highness.”

 

Leticia tried to stop Lord George, trembling at the ghastly blade.

 

In the book, Lord George was close to a gentle right arm in contrast to a tyrant, but looking in this way, he was hot-tempered.

 

“If you kill them, who’s gonna work for His Highness!”

 

“They’re all mercenaries! No one would care if I cut their throat and put it on display in the square.”

 

Leticia swallowed down her dry saliva.

 

“You’re not that kind of person.”

 

Lord George slumped on the carpet. Leticia carefully pulled out the chair, but he shook his head.

 

“Guess I’ll have to crawl the floor for the rest of my life. While apologizing to Your Highness.”

 

“It’s not the knight’s fault.”

 

“It’s my fault.”

 

Lord George punched the floor. It was such a heavy punch that I thought it was fortunate that there was a soft carpet on the floor.

 

“During that time, I have lived foolishly by His Majesty’s orders. Thinking it was the only way to help Young Master Michael….! I didn’t even think about going to see how Young Master Michael lived.”

 

“…..”

 

“Even after checking Young Master Michael’s condition, naturally I thought the guards taught him the letters…. and I should have known they weren’t. It’s all my fault.”

 

Leticia wanted to comfort Lord George, but there was nothing she could do because every word he said that stabbed himself like a dagger was right.

 

Come to think of it, it was strange that no one had ever noticed that Michael could not read.

 

He can’t speak properly, how can he read. Just because he is from an imperial family doesn’t mean he’s born with learning characters from birth.

 

‘Ah…..!’

 

For a moment, the memories of her previous life flashed through Leticia’s head.

 

There were many people in the world of her previous life who thought like Lord George. In fact, she also thought like that in her previous life.

 

Most people in the world have learned to write since they were very young. It was impossible for a ten-year-old to be unable to read.

 

But the previous life was just a past life.

 

Right now, even in Leticia’s hometown, there were many children who could not read properly.

 

The 1 year simplified class, which sometimes visits the village and teaches writing and arithmetic, was once every five years, and unfortunately, if you don’t learn at that time, it’s like you can’t learn it for the rest of your life.

 

‘The aristocracy must be different.’

 

Leticia didn’t know how the aristocratic young boys and girls were doing, but she could fully imagine.

 

They will definitely learn letters from the moment they start speaking.

 

But Michael would never have had a chance to learn letters.

 

‘He couldn’t talk properly, there’s no way he could have learned the letters properly.’

 

It was such natural reasoning for Leticia, but it was unimaginable for Lord George and other aristocrats.

 

Michael approached Lord George, who was still sitting on the floor.

 

“Your Highness…..?”

 

“Sunlight.”

 

“Your Highness is okay. In the end, everything’s gonna be okay…..”

 

Leticia smiled at Lord George. In the end, tomorrow the sun rises. Even on a day when the sun does not rise, sunlight shines in the world during the day.

 

“Your Highness…….”

 

Lord George was about to shed tears of emotion, but he soon came to his senses and hardened his face.

 

“Then I’ll have to teach you the letters first.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Leticia swallowed down her dry saliva. It took quite a lot of courage to put it out of her mouth, which had lingered in her heart for a while.

 

“If you don’t mind, can I teach you?”