Chapter 49

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Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.

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Irene looked at Ruska greeting Evi and said as if she wasn’t pleased.

“That one doesn’t necessarily have to take this class.”

Ruska didn’t back down either.

“You don’t necessarily have to take the class with Evi either, do you? I don’t know why you’re suddenly doing this, leaving behind all the female students you always kept by your side.”

Irene and Ruska looked at each other like cats with their fur standing up and raised their eyebrows.

Next to them, Professor Malles put his hand on his forehead and was lamenting.

“No, why on earth did the number of students suddenly increase… I didn’t intend for this to happen…”

At those words, Irene, who had been growling at Ruska, pulled Evi to her side and said.

“Anyway, Evi, let’s change to another class.”

At those words, Ruska’s eyes widened and he said.

“Are you thinking of changing classes? Then how about Professor Luster’s class?”

This time, Arcel also chimed in.

“Professor Luster’s class is in a classroom on the first floor of the main building…”

“Wait! You rascals!”

Malles huffed and cut off the children’s conversation.

“To say in my class time that you’ll take another professor’s class! Is that something to say in front of me!”

Then Irene, Ruska, and Arcel said to him at the same time.

“But it’s too far!”

“It’s way too far!”

“I also think the classroom is a bit far.”

At the answers that burst out simultaneously, Professor Malles looked at Evi.

“My child! What do you think!”

Then Evi answered with an embarrassed smile.

“Hmm… it’s a bit far.”

At Evi’s answer, the other three poured out words to Malles again.

“As you saw earlier, Professor, what if Evi falls or gets hurt again while running to class every day like this?”

“He’s right, Professor. It’s fine for me to run around, but it’s hard for such a small child!”

“I also think this classroom is not suitable for smooth movement between classes. Therefore, I believe recommending another class in a classroom close to the main building is the right…”

“Alright! I get it! I get it! I’ll change the classroom to the main building no matter what! So!”

Professor Malles said powerlessly while offering a silent prayer for his vanished quiet future.

“Don’t change the class. And stop bringing other children.”

At Professor Malles’s words, the three besides Evi showed satisfied smiles.

They also hoped that no more students would enter this class.

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Saying he would talk to the Dean, Professor Malles ended the class early.

Thanks to that, Evi and the other children were also able to leave the classroom a bit earlier and come toward the main building.

“It’s almost lunchtime, so let’s go to the dining hall. My next period is free. How about you, Evi?”

“Mine is also free next period.”

As the two were about to head to the dining hall joyfully, Ruska poked his face between the two.

“Let’s go together. My next period is also free. Oh, Arcel, you’re going back, right?”

Ruska turned back and said to Arcel.

“I’ll go too.”

“Huh? You’re going to have lunch together?”

“Yeah. Why are you so surprised?”

“No, it’s just…”

Arcel didn’t particularly like showing himself eating to others.

So when they first met, didn’t it take several weeks for even Ruska to have a meal with him?

But to say he would go together.

‘Everything is happening.’

This guy, why is he doing things he doesn’t usually do?

But he couldn’t tease Arcel for being strange.

Ruska also thought he was being strange.

‘I woke up early today.’

Ruska is someone who habitually says he would do anything if he could sleep for just five more minutes.

But today was different.

As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, he jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Then he washed himself clean from head to toe.

If his father had seen it, he would have been surprised, saying all sorts of things happen.

Because Ruska, who likes to play, often stays up late and wakes up late.

Furthermore, he would eventually wash, but until he went in to wash, he would squirm inside the quilt like a caterpillar and mutter that he hated it.

Such a Ruska woke up first even though Arcel didn’t wake him, washed, and got dressed.

And he even knocked on Arcel’s door to tell him to hurry.

‘But I kept being expectant.’

The small child he saw on the day he first entered the Gifted Center kept flickering before his eyes.

‘Strangely, I feel like we’re friends who met after a long time.’

That can’t be. He heard Evi is a child from an orphanage in a very distant place.

So she wouldn’t have met him, yet he didn’t know why he liked her as soon as he saw her and wanted to take care of her.

At that moment, a name that had been buried in his memory for a long time came to Ruska’s mind.

‘Lilian?’

He stopped his steps in surprise.

‘There’s no way.’

The day Lilian passed away, he cried all day.

And from the next day, he smiled again. Like a person who had forgotten the person named Lilian.

Later, when Clois became the Emperor and he made a tomb inside the Imperial Palace, he had told Ruska and Arcel.

“Lilian cherished you both quite a bit. You may visit if you wish.”

But neither Ruska nor Arcel went to that tomb.

‘Arcel probably had the same thought as me.’

Because if they go there and see the tomb, they have to accept that Lilian really died.

Furthermore, because they have to admit that the child Lilian had asked for also died.

So after that, the two didn’t bring up Lilian’s story to each other anymore.

It was somewhat effective. Since then, there were no people who reminded him of Lilian.

Because Lilian is Lilian.

‘But why…’

It’s not that he’s reminded of Lilian just because the eye color is the same.

Because there are plenty of green eyes in the world.

‘Then what on earth is similar?’

At that moment, his eyes met Evi’s.

The green eyes smiled brightly without a single bit of wariness while looking at Ruska.

“Ah.”

Ruska let out a sigh without realizing it.

He wondered what was similar, and it was…

Ruska stopped his steps for a moment.

He knows it’s a vain thought.

Nevertheless, the thought of ‘what if’ kept occurring.

What if Lilian hadn’t died… so if Princess Evbien, who said she was looking forward to the day she would meet you both someday, hadn’t died…

“Master Ruska?”

Was it strange that he had stopped dazed?

Evi, who was going ahead, let go of Irene’s hand for a moment, ran over, and stood in front of him.

At the green eyes looking at him worriedly, Ruska still couldn’t continue his words.

“Hey, Evi. Do you by any chance…”

But Ruska couldn’t continue his words further.

The Emperor himself recovered Princess Evbien’s body and buried it in the Imperial Palace.

So the imagination he had just now was nothing more than nonsense.

“Never mind. Let’s hurry.”

Ruska felt his throat choking and deliberately made a playful smile, then passed Evi and walked first.

Normally, he would have told Arcel everything, even trivial matters.

He couldn’t possibly tell him this thought.

Because Arcel is also a person who wants to see Lilian as much as he does.

‘Rather…’

He might tell him not to talk nonsense, and might even distance himself from Evi. He hated that.

In the end, Ruska and Arcel walked along with Evi, following in front and behind her, without knowing that they were having the same thought.

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“It was worth coming early.”

Entering the dining hall, Ruska whistled at the many empty seats.

He was glad they could come before the other dining halls became crowded, thanks to Professor Malles ending the class early.

The four who had put down their bags went to the place where they received food.

At the very front, the names of the meals prepared for today’s lunch were written.

Evi stared blankly at it.

“What is it? Can’t you choose?”

When Irene asked, Evi nodded.

Actually, in the meantime, Evi had never really agonized over choosing meals.

Breakfast was always fixed with a similar menu. Salad, fruit, and juice. And an omelet with mushrooms and cheese.

And for dinner, she always ate last, so she asked about the remaining menus and received one of them.

For lunch, she always took a sandwich and ate it to avoid other students.

As a result, she had never chosen a meal during lunch when the menu was diverse.

‘There’s too much food!’

She had never even thought about getting close to the menu because it was always crowded with students, but to think there would be this many!

Evi quickly looked at the menu. Even at a glance, there were more than 7 types of food. Furthermore…

‘I don’t know what they are.’