Steel Empire
School

Henrietta was in the classroom, quietly listening to the teacher explain basic arithmetic, in the classroom around her were a group of female students her age. Under Berengar's public education system, he has segregated it by Gender to avoid unnecessary distractions, especially among those who may be entering adolescence. In this way he can also design the curriculum in a way that suits the way boys and girls learn. Because of this, it is a girls-only school, with only female instructors. The woman responsible for teaching basic mathematics was a noblewoman who at Berengar's request filled the position, after all, there was not much that a woman with status in life could do, either, and feel happy to be able to help the development of the next generation. 

Charlotte sits next to Henrietta and struggles with basic concepts, she is by no means a child prodigy when it comes to maths, but she has a pretty creative mind, unlike Henrietta whose mind is very similar to Berengar so far it functions well with mathematics, and critical thinking. After basic instructions were completed, the girls were divided into groups to work on the matter where Henrietta and Charlotte were grouped together with a third girl who was nearby. The problem is simple multiplication products. However, the other girls struggled with the concept, as Henrietta pointed out the multiplication table Berengar had designed and told them about her understanding of how it worked. 

"2 x 2 \= 4, because it is the sum of two, two, but 2 x 3 \= 6, because it is the sum of three two, and so on."

Charlotte, on the other hand, is very frustrated, it is basic math, yet she is already struggling, one can say that she is not destined to be an engineer or anything that uses a lot of math. Instead, he had drawn a bird, which for his age and lack of proper education was quite acceptable. He of course drew it on the back of his worksheet, which caused Henrietta to lecture the girl. 

"Of course you wouldn't understand if you kept drawing behind your worksheet rather than paying attention to the lecture!"

On the other hand, the other girl in the group perfectly understood Henrietta's explanation and thanked her for her help.

"Thank you, Henrietta, you've always been so helpful!"

This caused Henrietta to smile, she never knew it would be so much fun interacting with people her age. If it wasn't for Berengar insisting he go to school, and interact with other girls, he would probably have been sheltered alone in the Castle all his life. Therefore he responded to the compliment of the girl

"That's no problem!"

seeing Henrietta and the other girls getting along well, Charlotte started to frown. She is a pretty sweet girl with dirty blonde ponytails, and mint green eyes. Although compared to Henrietta her appearance was very lacking, after all, she wore a peasant dress, compared to the luxurious noble outfit of Henrietta. From the look on his face, he was eager to monopolize Henrietta on himself. Of course, the young girl quickly found a way out of her job and started asking Henrietta questions about her older brother.

"Henrietta tells another story about Berengar! I heard he has an eye patch right now that looks really cool!"

As Charlotte brought up such a topic, all the girls in the class started listening to Henrietta and the story she was about to tell this time. They completely forgot about the lesson plan and were attracted by the stories of the dashing young Count of Tyrol. Recalling what her sister told her, Henrietta decided to tell a story from Berengar's not-so-shame past. 

"Hm... Where should I start, I guess you can say that Berengar has always been sickly growing, ever since he was a child, he said, but even so he tried not to let his weak nature get in the way of his life. .For example when I was five years old, and he was about fifteen at the time. Some of the older children among the nobles started to bully me, they had stolen my doll and threw it into a tree. When Berengar found out, he decided to climb a tree and get the doll himself, albeit very weakly. He initially fell from the tree after only managing to climb a few steps. However, he was determined, and therefore, despite not having the strength to climb the tree himself. Afterwards, she told me that if I was bullied again, to come pick her up, and she would scold the girls."

Charlotte's eyes began to sparkle with excitement when she heard the actions of knight Berengar helping her beloved sister, inevitably she asked a question in her mind.

"What happens next?"

Henrietta soon realizes the rest of the story does not benefit Berengar's prestigious image, but the whole class looks at him with curiosity, and therefore his resistance soon collapses and he reveals embarrassing details.

The cute and innocent expression on Henrietta's face as she revealed another embarrassing secret from Berengar made the girls in the class instantly laugh out loud. Even the teacher began to laugh amusedly when he heard the side of the man who is often referred to as "Hearing the Tough" by his supporters. To think of the man who ruled the territory with the highest authority, and the dominance was so miserable in the past, was truly an entertaining thought.

Henrietta continued her story a little longer as she spoke in front of the class.

"After that, I learned that I should not rely on Berengar when I need to teach someone a lesson, instead I went to my other brother, Lambert ... Although I guess it no longer happens ..."

The girls were curious about Lambert because most of them had never heard of the name before, this sparks curiosity among Henrietta's classmates as they begin to daydream about who Lambert is. Surely if she was stronger than the two brothers then she would become a famous warrior, so one of the girls quickly asked about Lambert.

"Who's Lambert? Where is he now?"

Henrietta's expression sank, although her family did not explicitly tell her that Lambert had committed a terrible mistake, she was not foolish enough to believe that she was innocent. He knew Lambert must have committed some unspeakable act of being exiled from his family, he just had no idea what had really happened. Thus, a gloomy expression appeared on his face as he fell silent. The teacher noticed the pouting expression on the girl's face and immediately tried to distract the girls so that they would focus on their work and give Henrietta some reprieve. Although she was unaware of Lambert's fate, she knew it was not something good from Henrietta's performance when she was mentioned. 

"Come on girls, watch, and get your work done!"

The classroom full of young girls all started moaning out of displeasure, but they ended up doing what they were told and went back to work. Charlotte whispered to Henrietta as they checked their worksheets

"That's really funny! Your brother's the best!"

What made Henrietta blush shy, she knew very well that she should not reveal such info to the girls in her class. However, they all seemed very interested in the story, and therefore he was unable to prevent himself from leaking the information. Therefore, he felt a little guilty for his actions, but not enough to prevent him from doing so again. Henrietta quickly buries herself in her work, and it won't happen until lunchtime where she voices about Berengar's shameful past once again. 

...

Meanwhile, in Berengar's office, the young Count suddenly felt an itch in his nose, and before he realized it, he sneezed loudly, so that if anyone was nearby, he could not help but feel the pain, they probably thought it was a lightning strike. After doing so, he rubbed his nose and directly said his thoughts out loud.

"Who's talking nonsense about me?"

Berengar was unlikely to find out that Henrietta had revealed another embarrassing event from her past, because if she did, she would definitely hold her swollen little cheeks and pull her up until her face flushed red. However, unaware Henrietta is revealing her embarrassing secret to social influence, she quickly returns to work to agree to budget issues.