Chapter 43

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Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.

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The quiet dormitory became noisy in an instant.

At the words that gifts had arrived, even students who were still sleeping rubbed their eyes, hurriedly got dressed, and came outside.

As the children flocked out, Irene quickly distanced herself from Evi.

It was because she was certain that if other students saw her with Evi, they would surely say something to Evi again.

Evi looked at the distancing Irene with a look of regret.

‘It can’t be helped.’

If Irene stayed with her, there was a high possibility that even Irene’s reputation would turn bad.

‘Still, she said I can talk to her inside the room.’

That alone was enough for now.

Evi avoided the descending children, returned to her room via the side stairs, left the flowers, and came back out.

Evi held onto the railing and stood on her tiptoes to look down.

The lobby was filled with female students from the dormitory, with no room to step.

It seemed as if all the students in the dormitory had flocked out.

The students looked at the gift boxes piling up in the lobby and were joyful.

“It finally arrived. Actually, I’ve been waiting for it since I entered the academy.”

“Me too! I waited so long for it to come that my neck almost fell off.”

“My parents told me that the guardian’s gift is really important.”

Evi listened to the students’ conversation coming from below.

Thanks to that, she was able to learn a few facts.

After entering the Gifted Center, once things were somewhat settled, the guardians would send gifts.

And because those gifts were proof of how great a person’s guardianship they were receiving, they would pay a lot of attention and send something precious.

‘There won’t be a gift for me.’

It wasn’t that Evi had never received a gift in her life.

Once a year, the Director of the orphanage gave gifts to the children on the last day of the year.

Since they weren’t in a position to receive what they wanted like normal children, all the children received the same thing.

It wasn’t anything great.

Candy from the snack shop where children always stood in line.

And even then, it was only three per person.

However, all the children received the candy given by the Director with happy faces.

They were happy to receive sweet candy, but the fact that someone gave them a gift made them even happier.

It was the same for Evi.

When she stood in line to receive candy, how her heart would throb when her turn came.

Of course, she had received gifts other than that.

Among the teachers at the upper school, there were teachers who felt sorry for her and gave her notebooks or pens.

When she went to help with kitchen work, the owner of the restaurant had packed several large loaves of bread for her to take and eat with the children.

But those were all gifts given by people who knew her situation.

‘That person has no reason to give me a gift.’

Evi thought of Professor Sian, whom she had met in the forest.

The person she met on the first day she came here. The person who was surprisingly not scary even though he was a tall adult male.

When she found out that he was her guardian, she felt a strange sensation.

She felt happy, yet somehow overwhelmed with emotion.

It was a feeling like meeting someone she had been waiting for a very long time.

‘Only I would think that way, though.’

Evi looked up information about guardians in the book explaining life at the Gifted Center.

It said that to soothe the anxiety of children living away from their families suddenly, people who were acquainted among those who traveled between the Imperial Palace, the Gifted Center, or the Academy were set as guardians.

If there was no one to serve as a guardian, a professor from the Gifted Center would arbitrarily take over.

‘Since there’s no one to be my guardian, he must have taken it on by force.’

So he probably wouldn’t have sent a gift.

Besides, didn’t they say that guardians’ gifts are sent as something very precious and expensive?

Even though she thought there wouldn’t be anything for her, Evi couldn’t return to her room.

Looking at the faces of the joyful students, she became curious about what kind of gifts were coming.

It didn’t matter if she didn’t receive one. Seeing others happy made her happy as well.

Before long, all the gifts that had been loaded on the carriage were piled in the lobby.

“When your name is called, confirm it and take it!”

The staff calmed the students flocking to the piled gifts and called out the names on the list.

“Elisha Lydia!”

“It’s me!”

The first student called stepped forward, not knowing what to do.

The staff confirmed the student’s name and the guardian’s name and handed over the gift box.

Perhaps because she already knew the gift she would receive and was confident, the student who received the first one returned among her friends and unwrapped the packaging as if showing off.

With hurried hands, the ribbon was roughly untied and the wrapping paper was torn.

Once all the packaging was torn off, a delicately crafted box appeared inside.

She shrugged and opened it slowly while thrusting the box in front of her friends so that as many people as possible could see.

Then, a brooch embedded with shimmering jewels came out from inside the box.

The students’ eyes sparkled with envy.

The student who received the gift shrugged and pinned it onto her school uniform.

Friends gathered by her side, saying it was so pretty and that they were so jealous, envying the guardian’s gift.

The staff soon called another student.

The students who received the gifts that arrived for them in the order they were called showed off their gifts while glancing at each other.

As more people gathered, the lobby became chaotic.

Meanwhile, students who thought the gift they received was shabbier than their friends’ said they wanted to see it alone in their room and quickly carried it up.

‘I should go in too.’

Actually, she wanted to watch a bit more.

Because watching other students’ gifts was also fun.

Evi turned her body, hiding her envy.

It was then.

“Evi Alden! Is Evi Alden not here?”

The loud voice of the staff looking for Evi rang out from the lobby.

At first, she doubted her ears, but the staff was definitely calling Evi’s name.

Startled, Evi immediately turned her body.

“I’m here!”

Why on earth was the staff looking for her?

When Evi stood on her heels and looked down, the staff waved a large box and waved to Evi.

“Come and get it quickly!”

Even though she thought it couldn’t be, Evi hurriedly descended the stairs.

Her small feet made a pattering sound as they ran quickly down the stone steps.

Evi, who came down so hurriedly that she had to catch her breath, approached the staff.

“Here, take this.”

“Excuse me… Is it really for me?”

Normally, they wouldn’t take care of gifts for children they took on by force, so how did this happen?

As Evi stood with a puzzled face, the staff asked back just in case.

“Is your guardian’s name Sian Roshen?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then it has come correctly. Hold it carefully.”

The staff placed the box in Evi’s arms.

What could be inside?

Even though the box wasn’t large, it was quite heavy, causing her small body to stagger.

Seeing Evi like that, students whispered.

“What, she had a guardian too?”

“I heard that when commoners enter, there are people who eye the guardian position. I heard that in the past, they even traded with money. Isn’t she something like that too?”

Leaving those voices behind, Evi looked at the gift she had received.

Evi’s heart throbbed at the appearance that anyone could clearly see was a ‘gift’.

‘Did that person really send me a gift?’

Evi thought of Professor Sian, whom she had seen in the forest.

Even though it was their first meeting, he was somehow a welcome person.

Enough that if it hadn’t been evening then, if there had been more time, she would have wanted to talk for a very long time.

Evi fumbled with the ribbon of the packaging while holding the box with one arm with difficulty.

It was the first time in her life that she had received a gift packaged like this.

A gift that made her heart throb because she didn’t know what was inside.

‘It’s really a gift for me, right?’

She confirmed the sender’s name with the staff and checked several times that it was for her.

Nevertheless, because it was her first time receiving such a gift, she kept feeling anxious.

‘What if it belongs to someone else?’

If she opened the packaging as she pleased and it turned out to be a gift for someone else…

Due to her worried heart, she only fumbled with it and couldn’t easily unwrap the packaging.

Then she discovered a small paper envelope attached to the side of the gift box.

“What is this?”

The moment she plucked off the envelope, which seemed to have been lightly attached with glue, and looked inside, Evi’s face brightened.