Chapter 61

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Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
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Evi looked around while clutching her toy to her chest.

“Professor?”

Because she was holding the toy tightly with both hands, she couldn’t grab onto his clothes.

So when people rushed past, she was swept away by them and ended up in the side alley.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a place far away, so she thought she would be able to meet Professor Sian again if she returned to where she had been standing a moment ago.

However, when she returned to that previous spot, he was nowhere to be seen.

Startled, Evi looked around her surroundings.

But no matter how much she examined the passing people, only his figure could not be found.

“Professor!”

Evi tried calling him in a loud voice.

At that, the people passing by looked at her with eyes that seemed to wonder what was going on.

‘Where did he go?’

It really happened in an instant. It probably hadn’t even been 30 seconds since she had briefly stepped aside and come back…

‘He must be nearby.’

Evi stepped aside and stood between the shops, watching the people pass by.

Until just a moment ago, she had been in a good mood because she had obtained a prize.

The shops decorated for the festival were sparkling, and it was also fun to watch the people.

But now, she became afraid of the sight of the still-shining shops and laughing people, who had absolutely nothing to do with her anxious self.

‘It’s okay.’

Evi thought, biting her lip hard.

‘The director taught me what to do if I get lost or lose my party.’

She had said not to move any further from the place where one lost their group.

She told her to endure and wait there even if she was anxious and scared. Then, they would be able to come and find her again.

By now, the professor must have realized that she was not in sight. So he would come back again soon.

Therefore…

‘I just need to endure being scared for a little while.’

Evi stood there and waited for him while clutching the toy to her chest.

* * *

“You’re saying you’re going back already?”

At Arcel’s words that he would return earlier than scheduled, Duke Kaylan took on a disappointed expression.

“Is there something you haven’t finished yet?”

Duke Kaylan knew his son’s temperament well.

Arcel was calm and rational to a degree that was hard to believe for his young age.

He always moved according to plan, and it was rare for that to be disrupted.

“No, he resembles neither you nor me in personality. Where did we pick up our son?”

“He looks exactly like you, so what nonsense are you talking about.”

Recalling the memory of being poked in the side by his wife after saying something pointless, Duke Kaylan examined Arcel with a worried face.

“If you’re trying to go back early to study, I won’t call you anymore this evening, so comfortably in your room…”

“It’s not like that. I’m already studying enough, so there’s no need to do it so urgently.”

How did his 13-year-old son end up with such a boring personality?

Duke Kaylan clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Now that I look at him, his personality is exactly like His Majesty’s in his childhood.’

That might be why he was mentioned first whenever the story of the Emperor’s adopted son came up.

“Then why are you in such a hurry?”

“That is…”

At the sight of Arcel trailing off, the Duke looked at his son as if it were a rare occurrence.

Because it was the first time Arcel had hesitated to answer like this.

“If it’s hard to answer, you don’t have to. It’s normal to have one or two secrets at your age that you can’t tell your parents.”

“No, it’s not like that.”

When Arcel replied with an expression of disgust, the Duke laughed heartily and called the butler to prepare the carriage.

“Your heart is already there anyway, so what is the point of holding onto you. I’ll be waiting for the next outing day.”

After greeting his father with gratitude for not asking further, Arcel immediately put the things he had prepared into his bag and boarded the carriage.

As the carriage started, he looked at the bag he had placed beside him.

There were enough necessary items inside the Gifted Center anyway.

What he had packed separately were books from his library.

Books that he had already finished reading, and that someone might not have even touched.

‘She seemed to like travelogues. And she liked basic theoretical textbooks for subjects as well.’

They were polar opposite books. But Arcel liked both.

‘It seemed Evi liked both too.’

Evi Alden.

Arcel thought of the little kid who had waved her hand at him, telling him to have a good trip.

At first, he had only paid attention because she was the child the Emperor had chosen.

So when he met her again after being unable to win against Ruska’s badgering, he had also thought it was a bit troublesome.

And yet, he couldn’t ignore her. Because she kept catching his eye.

So when he found out that she was being ostracized by the female students along with Irene Terence, he didn’t say anything even though he knew he and Ruska were being used.

Because he thought it would be a good thing if the situation improved by attending classes and having meals together.

Then a question suddenly occurred to him. The question of whether he would have gone this far if it were anyone else.

Arcel looked at the bag again.

As soon as he arrived home, he went to the library and spent the whole day picking and choosing books.

Among the things he had seen, the ones that were the most interesting and good.

‘I wonder if she’ll like them.’

The image of her being happy every time Professor Malles showed her a new book came vividly to mind.

Since Evi was someone who liked looking at even such old-fashioned math books, she would surely be even more delighted if he gave her the books he brought.

Those round green eyes would crinkle softly, and her small face would be filled with a smile.

He wished she would always be smiling like that…

“…!”

At that moment, Arcel, who was looking at the street filled with festival crowds, jumped up from his seat.

‘Just now…’

He thought he saw Evi.

Beside a stall selling food, standing with a tearful face while wearing the old clothes he had seen on the first day, not the clothes of the Gifted Center.

Arcel, who was about to hurriedly stop the carriage, leaned out and examined the outside again.

However, the carriage had already passed that spot, and the place where Evi had been seen was hidden among people and was no longer visible.

“Did I see it wrong?”

If he thought about it, there was no way Evi would be outside. She had decided to stay at the Gifted Center. Furthermore, students under the age of 10 cannot go out without a guardian.

Then who would have taken Evi out?

‘Professor Malles also said he was going home, so there’s no one to go out with.’

So what he saw was surely an illusion.

Even while thinking so, Arcel kept sticking his face out and looking back.

Strangely, the uneasy feeling did not disappear.

* * *

“Uh, Mom… hng…”

Evi looked at the child sitting on the chair next to her, crying and looking for his mother.

The boy, around the same age as Evi, had been shedding tears ever since he came here.

Evi looked at the cloth attached to the front of the chair.

[Lost Child Shelter]

After losing Professor Sian, Evi had continued to stand in that spot for 30 minutes. But he did not appear.

When she was about to think of returning to the Gifted Center even by herself, people who had been hovering nearby approached.

Evi was wary of them.

She had heard that there were many people who dragged away and sold children who became orphans after the war.

Even at the orphanage, the director used to worry a lot and look for the children all day long if they were not in sight.

“Did you happen to lose your parents?”

“No, I…”

“You did. I saw you being alone continuously.”

The rough-looking man said so and then grabbed Evi’s hand.

The moment Evi was about to scream for help, the man shouted first.

“Hey, guards! There’s a lost child here!”

At those words, the guards who were roaming the area immediately ran over, and saying ‘Be sure to find your parents and return home safely,’ the man waved his hand at Evi.

And so she had come to this place.

The people of the guard gave warm cocoa to the children who came in crying and consoled them earnestly, saying they could go home soon.

Just as they said, the children who came here were soon picked up by their families.

Then the children, throwing away even the cocoa, ran and clung to them while crying.

Evi watched that sight quietly.

After a while, the boy who had been sitting next to Evi was also picked up by his family.

Watching the child returning while holding the hands of his mom and dad, Evi curled her body.

‘Everyone’s mom and dad are coming to pick them up.’

But she didn’t have parents. Then who would come to pick her up?

Evi buried her face in her knees. Tears did not come out.

It was only hard for her anyway even if she tried crying.

Even if she was crying because it was hard, there was no one to console her. It was a relief if she wasn’t hit for being annoying.

She had known that fact well since she was young.

‘Let’s go back alone.’

Professor Sian must have gone back first.

So she should just tell the guards that she was a student of the Gifted Center and ask them to take her back.

Then they would take her back soon. So…

‘Just for a very little while, stay here and…’

It was the moment Evi curled her body even more while clutching the wooden doll.

“Evi!”

Suddenly her body was lifted up.

When she lifted her head, Clois, drenched in sweat, was standing before Evi’s eyes.