Chapter 57

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Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
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The dormitory was noisy from Friday evening with children preparing to go out.

“Mom and Dad will be waiting in front of the Imperial Palace!”

“I decided to go to a famous restaurant with my whole family today.”

Children whose classes ended early hurriedly changed their clothes and headed to the entrance of the Imperial Palace.

Tired of wearing only school uniforms, the children, without exception, dressed up colorfully and headed out.

“Emily!”

“Keith!”

As the children came out, parents who had been waiting anxiously outside called their children’s names and ran toward them.

To them, they were all children to be proud of.

First of all, they were sufficiently proud of the fact that they had entered the Gifted Center, and unlike the children who couldn’t endure and quit, weren’t they still doing well?

There were children who clung to their parents, saying they missed them, and children who burst into tears first.

The older students were instead embarrassed and asked why their parents had come to pick them up, yet they couldn’t entirely hide their joyful expressions.

After Friday evening passed noisily and Saturday morning arrived, the Gifted Center truly became silent.

‘It’s really quiet.’

Evi opened the window and looked outside.

Normally, it would have been full of the sounds of people coming and going and the voices of children, but now there was only the sound of birds chirping.

It was the first time the Gifted Center was this quiet, so it felt somewhat awkward.

Evi, who had changed into her school uniform again today, walked down the dormitory stairs with short steps.

It was natural that there were no students, and the number of staff was much smaller than usual.

In fact, it was the first vacation for everyone since the Gifted Center had reopened.

Since everyone had lived only inside the Gifted Center for over a month, they felt stifled.

Moreover, children whose homes were far away or who had no other place to stay in the capital did not come out of their rooms.

They felt a little ashamed of the fact that they had nowhere to go while everyone else was going out to play.

Evi enjoyed the silence and then sat on a sofa in the common lobby.

‘It’s nice that it’s quiet.’

It wasn’t that she disliked noisiness. Even now, she felt a little lonely not hearing Irene’s voice.

‘Irene felt very sorry, didn’t she?’

Irene had left the Gifted Center last night.

“I really want to go out with you, but all the branch relatives happened to gather at the capital townhouse. Besides, all the other people I don’t like have come too… It won’t be good to take you to a house full of such people, so I’m going alone. Really! I’m not leaving you behind because I dislike you!”

The person staying was Evi, but it was Irene, who was leaving, who was on the verge of tears.

Then she suddenly made a determined expression.

“Next time we go out, I’ll clear them all out so we can go together.”

Exactly what she was going to clear out was a mystery.

It was an ambiguous statement that left Evi unsure whether she should cheer or not.

Meanwhile, before leaving, Irene had boasted about the Terence family’s townhouse.

“There’s a big fountain, and the garden is very wide. Even though it’s a townhouse, it has a small forest.”

Then she explained everything from the history of that townhouse to the appearance of each room.

“Let’s definitely go to my house together next time we go out. Promise.”

While saying that, Irene hooked her pinky. Evi nodded her head frantically.

As if she understood all of Irene’s feelings.

Since there were no classes and no Irene, there was nothing in particular to do.

After sitting on the sofa for a long time, Evi went back to her room and took out the math book Professor Malles had given her.

‘Arcel knew all of this, didn’t he?’

They were the top and second-ranked students. So Evi had thought that she and Arcel might know similar amounts.

However, there was a vast difference between the two.

‘I want to know more too.’

When she was having difficulty because of something she didn’t know, Arcel had quietly told her how to solve it.

‘He explained it very easily and well.’

Professor Malles also taught kindly, but it was easier to understand when Arcel told her.

‘Because the professor sometimes uses difficult words…’

Moreover, Professor Malles was busy because he had to teach Irene and Ruska in addition to Evi.

“Ruska, you boy! Do you call this writing! I told you to write the solution properly, didn’t I!”

“Aaargh, my ear! My ear!”

When those two were bickering like that, Arcel would especially swallow a sigh and become even kinder.

While murmuring, “Sorry for bringing an idiot.”

Evi, who chuckled while remembering that time, grabbed a pen.

“Uaaah…”

How many hours had passed? Evi stretched and closed the book.

Although she liked studying, sitting down all the time was indeed boring.

So this time, she opened another book. It was a book with illustrations of the capital that Irene had lent her.

“It’s really… wide.”

Evi marveled while looking at the appearance of the capital drawn in the book.

The Gifted Center where she stayed was also wide enough that it took a whole day of walking to barely complete one round.

However, the Gifted Center was only a part of the Imperial Palace.

She had come to know while touring the Imperial Palace how wide this place was.

Surely, the Imperial Palace must be several times wider than Elam City where she had lived.

But even this wide Imperial Palace was only a part of the capital.

‘It might take a week, no, a month to wander around the whole capital.’

Evi continued to turn the pages.

Inside the book, landmarks of the capital were also introduced along with illustrations.

The central avenue full of shops to the end of the road, the fountain of founding heroes in the middle, the river flowing to the south of the capital and the numerous bridges placed over that river, and even the giant parks.

Evi couldn’t take her eyes off the book for a long time due to the illustrations, which were drawn more vividly than the books she had seen in the upper school library, and the detailed explanations.

But after reading that book all the way through, she again had nothing to do.

‘Is there somewhere I can go?’

Since she couldn’t go out, she thought she might wander around inside the Gifted Center, and Evi thought about where she hadn’t gone yet.

Then she jumped up.

“That’s right, Professor Sian!”

Evi, who got up hurriedly, took out the slip of paper she had received from the faculty office staff from her drawer.

“Building 21, Room 408…”

After checking the location of that building by taking out the Gifted Center book, Evi left the room carrying a small bag.

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The building was located in a secluded spot. It was a place where people didn’t go often, much like the classroom Professor Malles had first chosen.

However, it was a building with a more elegant and calm atmosphere than that place.

Perhaps because most were on holiday, the door was open, but there was no separate staff member guarding the front.

So Evi hesitated for a moment and then climbed the stairs.

“Room 408… here it is.”

Evi, who found the attached nameplate, took a deep breath in front of the door and then raised her small hand and knocked.

Knock knock.

As was to be expected.

No answer came from inside.

Evi, who pondered for a long time again, knocked a few more times and then carefully opened the door.

“Excuse me.”

Evi’s face brightened as she took a peek inside.

She had worried that she might have come to the wrong place. She had wondered what she would do if it were an empty professor’s office…

“It seems to be the professor’s room.”

On the desk, there was a nameplate that read ‘Sian Roshen’.

The inside of the room was tidily organized. The bookshelf was filled with books, and stationery was neatly placed on the dark-colored, antique desk.

They say a room resembles its owner.

Indeed, this professor’s office resembled the atmosphere of Professor Sian she had seen.

Evi stood in front of the bookshelf.

‘Come to think of it, what does the professor teach?’

Evi examined the books plugged into the bookshelf.

And she soon realized what Professor Sian’s specialty was.

“Foreign languages.”

The bookshelf was full of books in various languages.

On the continent, in addition to the Imperial language, which is the common language, there were regional languages for the east, west, south, and north.

Named Resid, Tyril, Arsis, and Lombard, taking after the names of the kingdoms there.

“It seems the professor can speak all of these.”

Evi’s eyes busily scanned the titles of the books.

Her mouth hung open.

‘I can only speak the Imperial language!’

Suddenly, it felt as if a halo was shining behind Professor Sian.

‘The professor is truly an amazing person.’

But why weren’t there any classes of his in the Gifted Center?

‘If there were even one, I would have applied for it first.’

Evi looked at the bookshelf regretfully.

It was written in the school rules that students could enter the professor’s room freely at any time.

Still, she felt that she shouldn’t stay in a room without its owner for long.

Since she had confirmed that this was Professor Sian’s office, her task was finished.

Evi, who was about to go back out, saw a paper and a pen that seemed to have been prepared for a student guestbook and reached out her hand.

“To Professor Sian…”

Then she began to write a letter to him.

* * *

An hour later.

“Huh?”

Clois was picking up the paper placed on the table.