Ch#81
Ibi thought as she pressed her forehead to the floor.
‘Good thing it's soft.’
Fortunately, beneath her feet was a soft carpet far plusher than the one at Yeongjae Academy.
So even though she slammed her forehead down hard enough to make a thump, it didn't hurt much.
But the problem now wasn't her forehead.
‘I-is this the right way to greet him?’
Yeongjae Academy taught advanced etiquette like the greetings used inside the imperial palace. The issue was that it started from the second semester.
Besides, she had never thought she'd need to use it much, so Ibi hadn't paid particular attention yet.
Airin had shown her once, but she had only thought it seemed terribly complicated.
‘If I'd known it would be like this, I should've learned it in advance.’
She tried to recall and imitate the greetings others had given him in the professor's office, but her stiff body wouldn't cooperate.
It was probably because her mind was still in a daze too.
Ibi slammed her forehead once more before cautiously lifting her head.
The book said she could only look at the emperor's face after receiving permission, so she worried if her greeting was proper.
Lifting her head, she saw Clois's hardened expression and wanted to cry.
‘I must have gotten the greeting wrong!’
What should she do? There was no one here to teach her.
As Ibi floundered in confusion, Clois bent at the waist. He reached out and gently lifted her to meet his eyes.
“Who told you to greet like that?”
“Hic!”
At the low voice, Ibi unwittingly made a strange sound. For some reason, it seemed the emperor was angry.
“I-I haven't learned it properly yet, so I couldn't greet……”
As Ibi trembled in fear, Clois sighed and softened his hardened expression.
“I misspoke. I meant you don't need to do such a bothersome greeting when you're not feeling well.”
Clois patted the startled Ibi and sat her on the edge of the bed.
“Doesn't it still hurt? You don't need to sit up.”
He had heard from the imperial physician that there were no major issues beyond swelling and bruising, but now Clois saw Ibi as the most pained child in the world.
That was because nearly half her small face was covered in gauze applied by the physician.
The imperial physician had tried to apply it as small as possible, but with her still young and small face, there was no helping it.
“I'm really fine! It's already better! It doesn't hurt at all…… No, it doesn't hurt one bit!”
Ibi was confused about how exactly she should speak to Clois.
What if she misspoke?
In the end, Ibi shut her mouth.
In truth, she still couldn't quite believe the situation.
‘The professor is the emperor.’
There had been many strange things.
Like sitting alone before the empress and princess's graves.
Or resembling the portrait in the book so closely.
Or being an ordinary professor yet asking Dean Seraphina to deliver letters.
Ibi swallowed dryly and mustered her courage to ask him.
“Professor, are you really…… n-no, is Your Majesty really His Majesty the Emperor?”
After saying it, she realized it was a strange question. Is the emperor the emperor?
But Ibi was so tense she couldn't even notice the flaw in her own question.
“Pfft.”
Then Clois chuckled softly and replied.
“Yes. I am indeed Clois Arellkian Harkia, the current emperor of the Harkia Empire.”
“……”
At those words, Ibi was at a loss for words again.
‘What…… should I do now?’
Ibi recalled how she had acted toward Clois so far.
She hadn't been rude because she liked her professor, but what had she done to someone even Arcel, Ruska, and the dean had to bow to so respectfully?
Grabbed his clothes, asked him to take her to the festival, and even fallen asleep in his arms all the way back to Yeongjae Academy.
Old tales from books flashed through Ibi's mind.
In them, a single wrong word to the emperor meant your head rolling.
‘He probably wouldn't do that……’
Ibi stared blankly at Clois.
“……”
“……”
A long silence flowed between them.
Clois spoke first.
“Does it really not hurt?”
“I'm fine! I'm used to this much!”
His expression nearly hardened again at Ibi's reply, but he desperately held it back so she wouldn't get scared.
‘Used to it.’
She had only praised the Orphanage, so it wasn't from there.
‘I want to know where and how she lived before the Orphanage.’
But today didn't seem the time to ask.
For now, he needed to wrap up what happened at Yeongjae Academy.
“Ibi.”
“Yes, yep!”
“You don't need to be so tense.”
“But…… in Your Majesty's presence……”
At the word “Your Majesty” from Ibi's mouth, Clois felt a pang of disappointment.
Just a little while ago, she had run to him calling him “Professor” and clung tightly. Now she kept her distance, treating him with formality as if it had never happened.
At that moment, Clois realized.
The reason he had hidden being the emperor until the end wasn't just for Ibi's future, but because he wanted to preserve the time they had spent closely together.
So that if they ever met again pretending not to know, Ibi could run to him happily.
Clois swallowed his regret and asked Ibi.
“Ibi, may I ask you something I'm curious about?”
“Yes!”
Ibi nodded vigorously at his question.
“Why didn't you put new things in the box? If you'd asked the Yeongjae Academy supply room, they would have given you as many new pencils and notebooks as you wanted.”
If they were for studying, supplies were provided in any quantity needed.
So if it was to send as gifts to her Orphanage friends, she could have requested more and sent them. Why pick up and send things other children discarded?
Clois was curious about the reason.
At his question, Ibi hesitated before cautiously opening her mouth.
“Th-there's a school rule. It says you can't use or take out Yeongjae Academy items freely for personal greed…… So I thought I couldn't ask for more things to give to my Orphanage friends.”
Having answered with difficulty, Ibi bowed her head deeply again.
It was as Ibi said. The basic school rules likely included that to prevent wasteful consumption of supplies.
But no one paid much attention to it. It was an educational institution fully supported by the imperial family for a select few children.
They wouldn't restrict consumables like notebooks or pencils, and no one would complain even if used extravagantly.
Besides, the box Ibi had prepared was at most the size of an adult's head.
She could have filled that much at once, yet Ibi set aside her pride to pick up others' discards.
To not violate Yeongjae Academy's rules.
Clois knew how difficult that was.
To bend oneself and follow rules no one sees or cares about is something even adults rarely do.
Yet Ibi, so young, understood and strove to follow rules made for the whole.
For a moment, Clois thought of the two children he considered as successors.
How would Arcel and Ruska have acted in this situation?
They would have found a reasonable solution too.
But he wasn't sure they would have stubbornly followed the rules to the end like Ibi.
This quality of Ibi's was one of the greatest qualities he sought in a successor.
‘What a pity.’
If Ibi were from a noble family like the other children, he would have unhesitatingly added her to his successor candidates right now.
“Professor…… N-no. Your Majesty.”
His face wrinkled again at being called “Your Majesty.”
Words he always heard from others, yet why did it feel so disappointing when Ibi said it?
So Clois unwittingly said.
“Just keep calling me Professor.”
“Pardon?”
“I'll continue overseeing your foreign languages until this semester ends, so at least until then, call me Professor like before. If that's hard……”
Clois pondered briefly before saying.
“How about just calling me by name?”
