NOVEL NEXT chapter 28
28 – Episode 28
I tried to slowly untie my arms, but Xenia was holding onto me so tightly that it was hard to get out.
Thanks to her, she had to wander around the grounds inside the school while being a spectacle.
Students gossip, I had no hands to cover my ears, so I listened with one ear and let it go through the other.
Of course, it’s not like I didn’t try to untie my arms.
“Xenia. Can you let go of this arm?”
“I just want to hang out, can’t I?”
“It’s burdensome because everyone around you is staring at you.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. It happens all the time.”
This answer came back.
“Rather than that, Eric, I heard you got first place in your department this time.”
Xenia seemed to be embarrassed too, blushing slightly and passing her words to another subject.
In the past, I wasn’t good at skipping conversations like this, but I guess I learned by hanging out with new people.
The more we talk, the more unfamiliar we start to feel.
The Xenia I know is not like this, should I say she feels the same way.
“Yes.”
“As expected, Eric is smart.
When I used to study at home, I started studying later than I did, but I progressed much faster.”
Xenia lowered her head and looked down at her floor with a slightly vague look.
She looked up to see if there was anything, but there was nothing.
She wanted to give me a compliment to cheer me up, but the look on her face didn’t seem like it.
She was just staring straight ahead with a slightly gloomy expression on her face.
“Even then, he played with me every day in the spare time.”
“What’s wrong, is school work hard?”
“Yes, it is extremely difficult. If I had known it would be like this, I would have taken classes properly instead of running away from the mansion all the time.”
At that, Xenia grumbled and yawned, then untied her arms and stretched her arms.
“Even if you say that, you will be skipping again if you go back.”
“I guess so, I guess.”
Xenia understands while listening.
Come to think of it, she skipped class and came to play with me more times than on the days she took classes.
To the point where Louise was in trouble.
“Come to think of it, I heard that she also met Misty a few times. Did they become close?”
“Sometimes it seems like we’re getting closer, and sometimes it’s not, and it’s kind of puzzling.
In the first place, that spellcaster always hangs out with the prince, the weird guy in my class, and the kids from the Magic Department, so there’s no time to talk!”
After that, Xenia started to tell me how annoying the humans next to Misty were.
Still, Miguel, he didn’t show his emotions like he did when he talked about that pig.
“But didn’t she come because she wanted to be friends with Misty?”
“Yeah, but… Well, there are always men around.
That’s only for very good people.”
Of course, you’re the main character.
The world loves you.
To make everything go smoothly.
Compared to that, what am I?
Huh.
It must have been about ten minutes since I walked.
She arrived at the dessert shop in the academy grounds.
Mal is a dessert shop that sells everything you can eat for dessert.
The perfect place to appear in a literal romance fantasy novel.
After entering the cafe, which looked like a mediocre three-story modern apartment on the outside, the interior looking around was quite fantastic.
The stairs look cool because they are round and round, but it seems like it would be easy to fall down while going up.
Deserts surrounded by glass that are rare in this world.
And, rather than a crazy chandelier, it has a simple round light fixture, giving it a neat feel.
And looking around, old thoughts come to mind.
It looks like a modern building.
As if I was bruised at the moment, Xenia lightly touched my shoulder.
“Eric, I’m not good at drinking bitter, so make it milk with sugar.”
“Okay. Dessert?”
“I just love any cake!”
“Is there anything you can’t eat?”
“Yes, if you give it to me, I will eat it all.”
Though I thought that it was not something that would come out of the mouth of an heir to the duchy, I went to pick out the menu.
The menu board has the name written in small letters next to the large picture, perhaps to be very kind and considerate of those who can’t read.
To the point where you can tell what you’re ordering just by pointing your finger at it.
I called Xenia before ordering the cake.
“What about lunch?”
“Let’s go eat cake and go to lunch again!”
Xenia replied while avoiding her gaze.
First of all, I ask for a seat.
And I started to check the menu again.
I wanted to drink a cold coffee with ice, but all the coffee here was hot.
One of the interiors of the store is incredibly fancy, but there seems to be no magician to make ice.
I had no choice but to order a hot cup of coffee, a latte filled with milk and sugar, and a piece of cake that looked moderately appetizing.
After some time, the maid brings a decent-sized piece of cake and two cups of coffee onto a pretty plate.
Once I took a bite of the coffee, it was hard to say that the taste was good, but it was a vague taste that was hard to say was bad either.
Just plain taste.
“So what did you get rid of the kids who were following you and met me today to talk about?”
“So, um, ah, what should I say? Reconciliation…? I called because I wanted to do something like that.
As you know, these days we don’t hang out like we did in the past, and it’s awkward.
Especially after entering the academy.”
Reconciliation, we’ve never fought before, so what should we do?
You were just ignoring me by yourself.
But it’s okay.
I have to listen to you as much as you want.
If you’re angry, you have to listen to what you have to say and be the one to vent your anger on.
If you are sad, I have to sit quietly next to you and comfort you.
That was the reason I lived, and it might be one of the reasons I’m still alive.
I don’t know how long that will be, but at least for now.
“Xenia, have we ever fought?”
“…No, why?”
“Then there’s no need to reconcile. We didn’t fight or criticize each other.
You don’t have to be so sorry, it’s just that I was a little shy.”
“Uh…Uh, it can’t be. I’d be very angry if I thought Eric did that to me.”
I have to whisper to myself that I am not angry even when I am angry and meet you with a smile.
Until now, I have never been in a position where I could be angry, and I will never be.
“It’s okay, I wasn’t even angry in the first place.”
“Then you weren’t disappointed with me?”
“Who would dare to disappoint you.”
In order to be disappointed in you, wouldn’t it be possible for me to be disappointed if I occupy about four seats?
To me, he is too tall.
As in the old days, she naturally reached out and put her hair back behind her ears.
The chubby cheeks look soft because they haven’t fallen out yet.
I wanted to try pulling it like before, but I took her hand away from Xenia because I felt the distance without realizing it.
“This is the lady Xenia of the Breslau family.”
“… See It’s true that you’re mad at me too.
You said that before, how dare you be angry with me because I was pulling your hair and fighting, no, I was angry with myself.
And you didn’t play with me or talk to me for almost a week.”
Ah, was it?
I don’t remember very well.
It was just a passing day for me no matter what happened.
At that time, Xenia probably went to the Duchess and took care of her all day long.
And the Duchess, tired of Xenia, would take me and bully her to relieve her stress.
The reason she didn’t play with her or talk to her for a week was probably because she couldn’t stand the duchess’ bullying any longer.
At that time, there was an atmosphere that said, let alone apologize, to play with me again.
“Hey, Xenia.”
“Why?”
“Then, will you trust me no matter what I do?
Will you come to me like today, talk about this and that, comfort me awkwardly like last time, and affirm me?”
A girl who frowns saying that studying is hard.
A girl full of followers without a single true friend.
A girl who pretends not to be a tomboy who gets swayed here and there by rumors around her.
Can a child like this really do it?
Maybe I’d rather help.
Huh.
“Muh… I don’t know what that means. Why are you suddenly saying that?”
“It’s a simple question that just needs to be answered. You won’t hate me, will you?
Are you going to criticize and ignore me like everyone else, and not even distance yourself from me, claiming that I am of low bloodline like this time?”
“…… Huh.”
Look, you’re hesitating.
Still, I’m glad you answered.
“Thank you.”
I answered with a smile, and Xenia nodded her head with a smile on her face.
“Ugh..”
“Should we go out? I think we’re done.”
“Let’s do it.”
As soon as I came out of the store, I sat down on a bench and naturally asked for a cigarette.
Then Xenia frowns and starts nagging her.
“Doesn’t that smell bad and bad for you?”
“But what if it has become a habit?”
“Then why don’t you try quitting today? Even if it’s a habit in the first place, why do you keep smoking things that are bad for your body?
You and my father both seem to have tobacco in their mouths all day.”
I heard that and rubbed the waste tobacco on the floor.
And I found a suitable trash can and threw it in.
“Then Eric, now lunch…”
“I’m a bit tired today, I’ll go in first.”
“Eric…?”
“It was just sleeping time during the probation period.
I’ll go in first. Sorry.”
“Uh, uhh! Goodbye!”
Then Xenia heads to her restaurant for lunch.
She stares at it for a while, then takes out a cigarette pack from her bosom and touches it with her finger.
Two cigarettes came out at the beginning of the year.
I put the unsightly sticking tobacco into the pack, took out one cigarette, and bit it into her mouth.
Then, after lighting her fire, he looked at Xenia’s back for a long while.