49 - Can I Cry Now?
49
Irene watched Ruska greeting Ibi and said, displeased.
“I don’t think you necessarily need to take this class.”
Ruska didn’t back down either.
“You’re the one who doesn’t need to take this class with Ibi, right? I wonder where all the female students you always had clinging to your side went, that you’re suddenly acting like this.”
Irene and Ruska glared at each other like cats with their fur raised.
Beside them, Professor Maless put a hand on his forehead and lamented.
“No, why did the number of students suddenly increase like this… That wasn’t the plan…”
At those words, Irene, who had been growling at Ruska, pulled Ibi closer to her and said.
“Anyway, Ibi, let’s switch to another class.”
At those words, Ruska’s eyes widened, and he said.
“You’re thinking of changing classes? Then how about Professor Rooster’s class?”
This time, Arcel chimed in.
“Professor Rooster’s class is in a classroom on the first floor of the main building…”
“Wait! You guys!”
Malles huffed and cut off the children’s conversation.
“You come to my class and talk about taking another professor’s class! Are you saying that in front of me!”
Then Irene, Ruska, and Arcel simultaneously said to him.
“But it’s too far!”
“It’s too far!”
“I think the classroom is a bit far.”
At the simultaneous answers, Professor Maless looked at Ibi.
“Kid! What do you think!”
Then Ibi answered with an embarrassed smile.
“Um… it’s a little far.”
At Ibi’s answer, the other three poured out words to Malles again.
“As you saw earlier, Professor, what if Ibi keeps running to class like this and falls or gets hurt again?”
“That’s right, Professor. It’s okay for me to run, but it’s hard for such a small child!”
“I also think this classroom is not suitable for smooth movement between classes. So, recommending a class in another classroom closer to the main building is the right…”
“Okay! I get it! I get it! I’ll change the classroom to the main building no matter what! So!”
Professor Maless said weakly, offering a silent prayer for his lost peaceful future.
“Please don’t change classes. And stop bringing in other kids.”
At Professor Maless’s words, the three people except for Ibi smiled contentedly.
They also wanted no more students to enter this class.
\ \ \
Professor Maless ended the class early, saying he would talk to the dean.
Thanks to that, Ibi and the other children were also able to leave the classroom a little earlier and come to the main building.
“It’s almost lunchtime, so let’s go to the cafeteria. My next class is free. What about you, Ibi?”
“My next class is free too.”
As the two were about to head to the cafeteria happily, Ruska poked his face between them.
“Let’s go together. My next class is free too. Ah, Arcel, you’re going back, right?”
Ruska said, looking back at Arcel.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Huh? You’re going to have lunch together?”
“Yeah. Why are you so surprised?”
“No, it’s just…”
Arcel didn’t really like showing others how he ate.
So, when they first met, didn’t it take Ruska several weeks to eat with him?
But he’s saying he’ll go together.
‘There’s all kinds of things.’
Why is this guy doing things he doesn’t usually do?
But Arcel couldn’t tease Arcel for being strange.
Ruska also thought he was strange.
‘I woke up early today.’
Ruska always said as a habit that he would do anything to 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 from head to toe.
If his father had seen it, he would have been surprised that all sorts of things were happening.
Ruska, who liked to play, often went to bed late and woke up late.
Besides, he would eventually wash, but until he went in to wash, he would wriggle in the blanket like a caterpillar and mutter that he didn’t want to.
Such Ruska woke up before Arcel woke him up, washed, and put on clothes.
Then he even knocked on Arcel’s door, urging him to hurry.
‘But I kept looking forward to it.’
The little child he saw on the day he first entered the Academy for the Gifted kept appearing before his eyes.
‘It strangely feels like I’m meeting a friend I haven’t seen in a long time.’
That can’t be. Ibi was said to be a child from the Poorhouse in a very distant place.
So, they couldn’t have met, but he didn’t know why he liked her so much and wanted to take care of her as soon as he saw her.
At that moment, Ruska remembered a name that had been buried in his memory for a long time.
‘Lilian?’
He stopped in surprise.
‘That can’t be.’
On the day Lilian passed away, he cried all day.
And from the next day, he smiled again. Like someone who had forgotten the person named Lilian.
Later, when Clois became the emperor and made a tomb inside the Imperial Palace, he told Ruska and Arcel.
“Lilian cherished you very much. You can visit if you want.”
But neither Ruska nor Arcel went to that tomb.
‘Maybe Arcel was thinking the same thing as me.’
If they went there and saw the tomb, they would have to accept that Lilian was really dead.
Besides, they would have to admit that her child, whom Lilian had asked for, had also died.
So, after that, the two of them no longer brought up Lilian’s story.
It was somewhat effective. After that, there was no one who reminded them of Lilian.
Lilian was Lilian.
‘But why…’
Just because the eye color is the same doesn’t mean Lilian comes to mind.
There are plenty of green eyes in the world.
‘Then what exactly is similar?’
At that time, Ibi’s eyes met his.
The green eyes looked at Ruska and smiled brightly without any wariness.
“Ah.”
Ruska unknowingly let out a sigh.
He wondered what was similar…
Ruska stopped walking for a moment.
He knows it’s a foolish thought.
But he kept thinking about what if.
What if Lilian hadn’t died… So, what if Princess Evevien, who said she was looking forward to the day she would meet you someday, hadn’t died…
“Sir Ruska?”
Was it because he was standing still blankly that she thought it was strange?
Ibi, who was walking ahead, let go of Irene’s hand for a moment and ran to stand in front of him.
Ruska still couldn’t speak at the green eyes that were looking at him worriedly.
“Hey, Ibi. Maybe you…”
But Ruska couldn’t continue speaking.
The Emperor personally collected Princess Evevien’s body and buried it in the Imperial Palace.
So, all the imaginations he’s having now are just nonsense.
“No, let’s hurry.”
Ruska felt his throat tighten and forced a playful smile, then walked past Ibi first.
He would usually tell Arcel everything, even trivial things.
But he couldn’t bring himself to tell him this thought.
Because Arcel was someone who wanted to see Lilian as much as he did.
‘Rather…’
He might tell him not to talk nonsense and even distance himself from Ibi. He didn’t want that.
In the end, Ruska and Arcel walked together, following Ibi in front and behind, without knowing that they were thinking the same thing.
\ \ \
“It’s worth coming early.”
Ruska, who entered the cafeteria, whistled at the many empty seats.
It was fortunate that Professor Maless had finished early, so they were able to come before the other cafeterias were crowded.
The four people who put down their bags went to the place where they received food.
The name of the meal prepared for lunch today was written at the very front.
Ibi stared at it intently.
“What’s wrong? Can’t you choose?”
When Irene asked, Ibi nodded.
In fact, Ibi had never really worried about choosing a meal before.
Breakfast was always fixed with a similar menu. Salad, fruit, and juice. And an omelet with mushrooms and cheese.
And since she always ate dinner last, she would ask about the remaining menu and receive one of them.
She always brought a sandwich to eat for lunch to avoid eating with other students.
So, she had never chosen a meal during lunchtime when there were various menus.
‘There’s too much food!’
She had never even thought of going near the menu board because there were always so many students, but there were so many!
Ibi quickly looked at the menu board. At first glance, there were more than seven types of food. Besides…
‘I don’t know what they are.’
