Chapter 36
Evan answered Riette’s question.
“I just somehow felt like you’d be there.”
At such a ridiculous answer, Riette looked away from the window. Then, frowning, she looked back at Evan.
“What, are you some kind of fortune teller?”
“How else would I know and come here?”
A slight smile appeared at the corner of Evan’s mouth. It was the first smile he’d made since they met at the fountain.
Riette thought it didn’t really matter what Evan answered. Even if he said that, it had to be a coincidence. Otherwise, there was no way he could have appeared right at that timing.
“Aren’t you going to ask what happened?”
Considering she had been picking up paper scraps at the fountain, it was natural to be curious about the whole story, but Evan just approached silently and helped her.
“There’s no need to ask what I already know.”
That made sense. During the exam period, when every second counted, seeing her wandering around the fountain picking up trash, he probably didn’t think she was volunteering. He must have just guessed the situation roughly from what he saw. He was perceptive like that.
After that, the two remained silent.
The carriage stopped, and Riette and Evan entered the Kroit mansion. Feeling the evening air, the dampness of her clothes felt cold. She wanted to soak her body in hot water quickly.
“Is your uncle home, by any chance?”
Riette glanced slightly up the stairs and asked. Evan shook his head.
“He’s been busy with work lately, so he’s coming home late.”
“That’s a relief.”
Riette sighed in relief at the answer she wanted.
“What’s so relieving about that?”
“I just… don’t want him to see me like this.”
The shirt Riette was wearing had patches of water stains, and the ends of her wet hair were messily tangled.
When she was younger, she used to roll around on the dirt floor, standing in front of her uncle all filthy, proudly boasting about her achievements during playtime. But now, many things had changed since then.
At sixteen, she would become a debutante in two years and an adult. She was no longer a child playing in the dirt and had to take care of herself. That was why she no longer wanted to show him such a state. She knew he would worry.
“You worry about our father more than necessary.”
Evan looked away and said in a tone harsher than before.
“That’s because I thought he might worry. Uncle probably thinks of me more like his own child than you.”
Riette replied slyly.
Evan, thinking it wasn’t worth responding, turned and walked ahead. His back looked strangely cold.
Riette didn’t understand Evan but decided not to care much. For now, detaching the clinging sleeves from her body was more important.
Evan, who was walking ahead, stopped in front of his room and opened the door for her.
“Wash up in my bathroom. I’ll call Emma.”
Unintentionally, she was about to take over the owner’s bathroom. But with a mansion this big, there was surely more than one bathroom…
“Where will you wash up?”
Feeling guilty, Riette asked out of courtesy.
“Anywhere.”
Just as she thought from his earlier posture, Evan had been in a low mood since their brief conversation. That careless answer was proof.
She didn’t know why he was like that, but since she was indebted to Evan today, she wanted to cheer him up.
Riette looked at Evan playfully with a teasing smile.
“If there’s no place to wash, want to wash with me?”
Then she shrugged and added,
“I don’t mind, though.”
At this point, a look of sheer horror would probably shoot from his eyes. Riette looked at Evan with the eyes of someone who had already predicted that.
But Evan stared blankly at Riette for a moment, then lowered his head and wiped his face. Puzzled by his strange reaction, Riette asked,
“Evan…?”
Even after Riette’s question, Evan didn’t respond for a long time. She tilted her head.
‘He doesn’t seem angry… Was the offer to wash together really that embarrassing?’
She thought it was a joke they could easily share, but today he was clearly not in the mood for playful banter.
Riette raised her hand to meet Evan’s gaze by touching his cheek. His skin was warm. Evan usually had a high body temperature, but now it was far beyond his normal range.
“Hey… lift your head.”
Then Evan pushed away Riette’s hand that was touching his face. She withdrew her hand with a dumbfounded look.
Looking closely, Evan’s neck and even the back of his ears were flushed red.
‘No wonder I feel like a bad kid teasing an innocent child.’
Feeling awkward, Riette’s mouth began to dry.
“Uh, um… you know I was joking, right, Evan?”
“…”
“Thanks for the bathroom. I’ll go wash now. You should wash up quickly, too… The air doesn’t look great today. You should wash it off quickly…?”
Riette babbled excuses as she slowly entered Evan’s room and closed the door behind her. She was bothered by Evan not raising his head until the end, but it was water under the bridge now.
‘Why get so sensitive over a joke between friends?’
Not anymore, she thought. Evan probably didn’t have any feelings for her now. Riette, crossing her arms and pouting, soon remembered her age.
Just like Evan said, she was more worried about her uncle and wanted to show a mature side, but ironically, her childish side kept popping out in front of Evan.
She thought even after her debutante ball, marriage, and having kids, she would still want to play such silly pranks on Evan.
But apparently, Evan wasn’t like that.
Had Evan grown up alone? Was he no longer interested in her childish jokes?
Riette felt a strange unease.
“Miss Riette, I will help you with your bath.”
Hearing the housekeeper Emma’s voice, Riette pulled her thoughts back.
While Riette sat and waited, Emma filled the bath and helped prepare for the bath.
Riette slowly dipped her feet into the steaming water. The warm water warmly embraced her cold skin. It was a completely different feeling from dipping her hand into the cold water at the fountain.
‘Ah, the fountain…’
Thinking of the fountain, she also remembered the paper scraps floating on the water. Remembering that fact, which she had momentarily forgotten, felt like cold water was pouring on her head, unlike her warm body. Feeling a chill, Riette lowered herself deeper into the bath.
Someone had done this deliberately. Two people who had recently had trouble with her immediately came to mind.
‘Was it Henry…? Or Pierre?’
Simply put, those two were suspicious. But lately, they had been unusually quiet.
For some reason, they hadn’t even made eye contact with Riette recently. Seeing that, she didn’t think they would have secretly thrown away her book.
Or perhaps, people’s hearts are unpredictable. What if they had been acting intentionally?
Her thoughts were all tangled.
But one thing was clear. At this point, it was impossible to know who did it, and it wasn’t even important.
‘Even if I find out who did it, the exam is next week and the textbook is torn to pieces—that fact won’t change.’
Instead, Riette had to admit her own fault.
Despite knowing she had many enemies at school, she hadn’t taken good care of her books. It was like failing to properly manage your weapon on a battlefield.
With many thoughts, Riette called Emma to help wash her face just as her eyes began to close from the heat.
After finishing the bath and stepping outside, the lukewarm night air felt pleasant on her warmly heated body. Just as she was wondering what to wear, Emma brought Riette’s clothes that had been hanging on a hanger.
“I washed off the stained parts and lightly dried them with an iron.”
“Thank you.”
The clothes were definitely much cleaner than before.
Riette admired Emma’s thoughtful actions and put on the clothes. Emma skillfully dried Riette’s damp hair as well.
“The young master asked me to call him once you’re done washing. Shall I bring him now?”
Looking at her refreshed reflection in the mirror, Riette nodded.
Soon, a knock sounded and Evan appeared.
“Bathroom was good. It’s my first time coming in here, and it’s big and nice.”
Saying that, Riette glanced at Evan.
His expression was like usual, different from when they parted in front of the bathroom earlier. Looks like his mood had improved. Riette sighed with relief inside.
“Here.”
Evan placed a book in front of Riette. The cover was familiar to her.
When Riette looked up with a “what’s this?” expression, Evan answered calmly.
“It’s my textbook.”
“I know that.”
The cover was so familiar she had seen it countless times. Besides, she had just picked up torn pieces of this book.
“The exam’s coming soon. Use this to study.”
Riette frowned at Evan’s calm words.
“What about you?”
Evan tapped his own head silently. Riette soon understood what he meant.
‘Ah… That guy memorizes everything just by looking once.’
She recalled Evan’s monstrous ability.
The textbook’s pristine condition proved that ability once again. Although the midterms had passed, the pages were clean. Of course — he probably never looked at any page twice.
Riette stared intently at the untouched book and pushed it back toward Evan.
“I don’t need it.”
“Why? Have you developed an ability to memorize everything at once too?”
Evan leaned on the table with a crooked posture, making eye contact with Riette.
“If you had that ability, you wouldn’t have struggled so much at the fountain earlier.”
“Then why won’t you accept it?”
Evan’s lips hardened stiffly as he asked.
Riette found it strange that Evan was upset. If anything, she was the one feeling bad.
Did he think she would gratefully accept the book if he generously offered it? Giving a weapon to the enemy on the battlefield was the same as showing disrespect.
“I don’t need it.”
“Isn’t now the time to set pride aside? If you don’t study and take the exam like this, you’re the one who’ll suffer.”
Riette knew that painfully well too. But her refusal wasn’t just about pride.
“Your book won’t really help me much anyway.”
Evan raised an eyebrow as if asking why. Riette reached out, opened the book, and flipped through the pages. As expected, not a single line of notes was written anywhere.
“See? Nothing’s written in it.”
“No need to write anything down.”
Evan looked at her as if wondering what the problem was. Riette slammed the book shut and placed it on the table.
“Yeah, you probably don’t need to take notes because you remember everything from the class. But I don’t have that talent, so I write down everything the teacher says.”
You can’t do well on exams by just studying what’s in the textbook. If that were the case, scoring would be easy, but unfortunately, many exam questions come from the teachers’ explanations and experiences during class.
And Evan’s pristine textbook contained none of those explanations.
Understanding what Riette meant, Evan made a guilty expression. Then he plopped down in the chair beside her.
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“I don’t know. I only found out about the torn textbook a few hours ago, so I haven’t had time to think of a plan.”
Sigh. Evan’s black eyes looked unusually deep.
“But why are you so calm about this?”
Of course, she wasn’t calm either. Her dream of becoming a duke’s wife was drifting away, even falling apart. But she couldn’t just sit around and give up.
“I’ve been restless enough for now.”
Even if this exam was inevitable, she still had a year and a half left. During that time, she had to find a way.
