*seven days later*
{YUI'S POV}
"Try and read the sentence again, Suzume-chan." I encourage her.

Suzume nods. "The prince... ran to the castle and tolded the... knights that a... dragon is eating the townsfolk. But the knights... didn't believed him because nobody'd... ever seen a dragon before."

"That was so much better!" I praise. "Kiru, it's your turn. Let's see how far you've gotten with The Mice Who Ate The Moon."

"Eon's been staring at you!" Kiru points at the wooden bench behind me.

"He's smiling all weird!" Ichigo agrees, giggling and holding up a rather thick book. Of all the children, her reading comprehension has increased the fastest. I frown when I read the title. The Heiress And Her Rake. It's not one I purchased at Meno.

"Please, I'm not going to fall for such obvious lies." I huff. "You aren't escaping so easily!"

"Awwww!" The kids whine simultaneously, but it's all in good fun.

Kiru dutifully begins to read about silly mice who think the moon is made of cheese. We all clap once he's done, and I correct some of his grammar whilst praising him for improving so much.

Souta hesitantly raises a hand. "Yui, I'm still having trouble memorizing the letters."

"Let's see what you've done so far." I assess his work. "You're doing so good! But, memorization doesn't work very well. It'll just leave your mind like POOF when you stop thinking about it. Slow down and don't rush. We all have our own learning pace. Now, how about we try the exercise again?"

"Okay." Souta still looks a little down, but he concentrates on his work with determination.

Ichigo climbs into my lap. "Yui, what does this work mean? Mimi's hogging the dictionary again."

"Am not!" Mimi protests, despite the fact that the dictionary has been lying open in front of her since we set off this morning.

Ichigo sticks out her tongue at Mimi, then turns to me with angelic eyes. I shake my head at their antics.

"Let's see..." I look at the word Ichigo is pointing at. I blink. I read the paragraph for context and blink again. This is scandalous material! Where are their clothes?! "Ichigo-chan, where did you get this?!"

"Hmm?" Ichigo tilts her head. "Mama reads books like this a lot. She's always happy when she does."

"Pfft!" Eon laughs behind me. I turn around to see him doubled over on the wooden bench, failing miserably at holding back his laughter.

Ah, I see. So that's why Ichigo saw him smiling before. It had nothing to do with me, he was just amused by her choice of reading material.

"I'm confiscating this! It's for adults and you're only nine." I huff, extracting the indecent book from Ichigo's fingers. "I'll return it to your mother."

"What about me?" Mimi is curious now. "I'm already ten, can I read it?"

I cover my flaming face with my hands. Eon is rolling at this point. I glare at him through my hands. "You, Sire, are not helping."

"Come on, guys. Ease up." Eon says through tears in his eyes. The kids groan but listen dutifully.

"Young Master!" One of the older men yells. It's Jiro, who was performing feats of strength during the circus. "We're close to that place!"

Eon stiffens. The smile shrinks from his face. "Let's find a place to set up camp."

Huh? This isn't right. "Hold on, it's midday. Aren't we wasting precious daylight hours when we could continue traveling to Luerose?"

Luerose is the capital city of Cojaca and the next location on the circus's schedule. We've already passed into Cojacan territory and are making good time, if we want to be there in a week.

I look around, but it seems there's something going on here that only I'm not a part of. Even the kids cease chattering and avoid looking at me.

"I dislike not being in the know." I put my hands on my hips. Then I relax my posture, not wanting to be standoffish. "Can't you tell me?"

Eon looks torn, like he wants to tell me but can't. Then he smiles—a very fake smile. "Everyone's tired from traveling. I told Jiro we'd have a shorter day today to give everyone a much needed break."

"I see." I turn away. I thought that I was beginning to become part of the group. It seems I'm the only one who thought that. So be it.

"Yui—"

I clap. "Alright small humans, you know the drill. Pack up all of the books!"