28 - Can I Cry Now?
Chapter 28
Who is it?
Who came to find me?
Ibi, who was wide-eyed with surprise, quickly regained her composure and knocked on the door.
"I'm here! Please let me out!"
Who it was didn't matter now. The important thing was that someone had finally come to find her.
As Ibi pounded on the door with her hands and answered, she heard the sound of the latch being opened from the outside.
Creak, bang!
Soon, the thick door opened.
Then, the two people standing outside pushed each other and entered the portrait gallery as if competing to be the first.
"Are you okay?"
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
Just how frantically had they run?
Hair disheveled by the wind, panting breaths, sweat dripping down their faces, and even their uniforms were a mess.
Even in the moonlight, the two people's disheveled appearances were clearly visible.
Ibi called out their names with a surprised expression.
"Arcel? Ruska?"
She naturally assumed that the people calling her from outside were staff members of the Academy for the Gifted.
But why would people who had nothing to do with her come to find her?
Then, she realized that the two were looking at her with concern, even as they were panting.
"I'm okay! I was just sitting here quietly, so..."
"That's the problem!"
Ruska, who was catching his breath at Ibi's answer, shouted.
Ibi flinched at the loud noise, and he ran a hand over his face and sighed.
"Sorry. I'm not angry at you. But you've been here alone since noon..."
"I'm really okay!"
Meanwhile, Arcel turned his head and looked at the chair Ibi was sitting on.
More precisely, at the cloth Ibi was covering herself with.
It was clearly not a cloth meant to be used by a person.
It was a thick, stiff, and dusty cloth made for the purpose of covering objects in the first place.
Was she cold? The cloth on the chair still had the traces of Ibi having covered herself with it.
"Ah-choo!"
Just then, Ibi sneezed, making her claim that she was okay seem hollow, and she shivered.
Moreover, her face was slightly flushed.
Seeing that she seemed to be getting a fever, Arcel immediately took off his school uniform jacket.
"Here, wear this."
Then, he draped his clothes over Ibi's shoulders.
There was an age difference between the two, and Ibi was too small for her age, while Arcel was tall even among his peers.
In addition, there was the difference in size between a female student and a male student.
With all the different conditions, Ibi looked as if she was wrapped in a blanket when she put on his clothes.
"It's here!"
At that moment, the sound of more people's footsteps came from the hallway where the two had run from.
It was a sound of running as fast as Arcel and Ruska.
Then, the person standing at the very front opened the door wide and came inside.
"I found you! It's you!"
Seraphina strode inside and grabbed Ibi, who was wearing Arcel's clothes, and lifted her up in a hug.
"You don't have a severe fever, but you have a slight one. Is it a bit cold here? Ah, were you surprised? The light must have flashed because I used magic. Ah, by the way, have you ever thought about becoming a mage? I think we have incredibly compatible wavelengths..."
"Headmaster!"
"Seraphina!"
The staff and Ruska shouted at her at the same time, as she was holding Ibi and rattling off words non-stop.
"Okay, okay. Let's go back to the Academy for the Gifted and talk about it. Are you hungry?"
Seraphina shook her head as if to tell them to stop calling her.
Ibi looked at her and muttered.
"Headmaster...?"
She wondered who the person who suddenly ran over and lifted her up was.
But Headmaster?
Come to think of it, when she entered the Academy for the Gifted yesterday, she had seen the staff and professors, but she had never seen the Headmaster herself.
'I thought it would be an old person.'
The portraits of the former Headmasters hanging in the dormitory were all gray-haired old people.
Sometimes there were younger middle-aged people, but there was no one as young as Seraphina, who seemed to be only in her 30s.
"First, take care of this child's belongings. And..."
Seraphina's words stopped as she was about to give more instructions to the staff.
Her gaze was fixed on the portrait hanging on the wall.
Then, she gave a bitter smile.
"I thought I found her unusually quickly. It must have been Lilian's blessing."
Lilian.
Ibi's eyes lit up at that name.
It was a name in her memory. The grave in the forest, the name engraved on the tombstone.
'The person in that portrait must also be named Lilian.'
Seraphina left the exhibition hall with Ibi in her arms. Behind her, Arcel and Ruska, along with the staff, picked up the bag that Ibi had placed on the chair and came out.
As she came out, Ibi waved her hand slightly towards the portrait.
It still felt like the feeling from before was still on her head.
The feeling of patting and stroking her head, telling her not to worry.
Waving her hand until the moment the door closed, Ibi promised in her heart.
I'll come again.
\ \ \
Ibi remained in Seraphina's arms as they returned to the Academy for the Gifted.
"I can walk."
"No. Stay still until I can examine you properly. More importantly, do you have any other pain?"
"No."
Then, Arcel, who was following behind, suddenly said.
"No, her hand must be hurt."
At those words, Ibi looked at her hand.
Perhaps it was because she had worked hard to knock on the door to call someone during the day. Even to her, she could see that her hand was swollen more than usual, with red marks.
Seraphina also looked at Ibi's hand and asked Arcel.
"That's right. Arcel, how did you know?"
"I figured she would have knocked since she was trapped."
Ruska, who was standing next to him, chimed in.
"And there were many traces of hitting the lock part of the door. That means she shook it a lot from the inside."
"Oh dear..."
Seraphina's face hardened at the two people's words.
She entered the staff's building and then sat Ibi down on a chair and examined her hand.
"That's right. It's very swollen. Fortunately, it's not torn. Still, it will be a bit uncomfortable to hold things or write for a few days."
Seraphina instructed the staff to bring medicine and bandages.
After the staff left, she looked at Arcel and Ruska.
"Now, then. Before everyone comes back, I'd like to hear how the two of you found this child before I did."
Then, Ruska immediately stepped forward.
"We heard from other students that they seemed to know where she was."
"Then how did those students know? And why didn't they tell the other staff or professors until things got this bad?"
"That's..."
Ruska quickly shut his mouth. Then, he gave Arcel a desperate look, as if to say, what are you doing, hurry up and help.
Arcel sighed lightly and then said in a calm voice.
"I can't tell you the details. That was the condition under which we heard it. We promised on the name of our family."
"I see."
In that case, Seraphina couldn't force them to say who it was.
Then, Arcel opened his mouth again with the same bright smile he had given the female students earlier.
"But I promised not to say who those students were, not that I wouldn't say who caused this."
\ \ \
"Ah, I'm full..."
Limora sat on the sofa and leaned back.
Even lying still, the corners of her lips turned up on their own.
'They probably haven't found her yet, right?'
She won't die. However, since it's still a museum before its official opening, they'll only be able to find her after the staff there come to work tomorrow.
The museum was quite secluded even during the day.
In particular, the portrait gallery only has high windows that let in minimal natural light to protect the paintings, and there are no other windows on the walls.
To have to spend the whole night with those creepy portraits in such a place.
'She's probably crying her eyes out in fear.'
She's a child. If she cries all day and comes back, she'll definitely whine that she doesn't want to be here and that she wants to go back to where she lived.
At least, that's what will happen.
'Then only I benefit.'
Limora recalled the pleasant things she had been thinking about all day.
Participating in the Academy for the Gifted's event with Arcel as the runner-up.
Naturally building a friendship with Ruska, and if things go well, even becoming friends with Irene Terrence and borrowing jewels from her when she becomes empress someday...
It was when Limora was grinning as if the things in her imagination had already happened.
Knock knock.
She straightened up at the sound of knocking on the door.
Was it her roommate? Just as she was thinking, she heard a voice from outside.
"Miss Limora Icell? Are you inside?"
"Who..."
Limora opened the door at the unfamiliar voice, and a dormitory staff member was standing outside.
The student who used the room across from Limora's also opened the door and looked at the two, wondering if something was wrong.
In an instant, Limora's body stiffened with tension.
Why? Why is a staff member looking for me at this hour?
Then, the staff member smiled and said.
"We have some lost items that have been turned in, so would you like to come downstairs to identify them, fill out the paperwork, and pick them up?"
