Chapter 37
‘Claude is just helping me. Because I’m really bad at this.’
But then, why…
Was it because the hand that I thought would be rough and calloused from holding a sword was, surprisingly, soft?
Or was it because everywhere his touch grazed, it left behind a deep warmth?
‘Please, don’t be conscious of it…!’
I don’t want to notice, but my body reacts on its own.
My vision starts to spin.
Even if I try to think rationally, the more I do, the hazier my mind becomes.
Well, of course it would.
‘How could I not notice!’
A handsome man was standing right behind me, so close like this.
With that voice that sounded as though it could melt my eardrums, and with those confident hands guiding me.
It was impossible not to be aware.
I truly wanted to scream out loud.
“…Are you even listening to my explanation right now?”
Of course not.
My head was spinning and my mind was reeling, so not a single word Claude said was entering my ears.
‘First, I need to get out of this situation.’
Otherwise, I won’t be able to listen, practice, or do anything.
I carefully parted my lips.
“Um, excuse me… Don’t you think we’re standing a little too close?”
Even if we were nothing to each other…
If this kept up, my poor heart wouldn’t survive.
I’m weak to handsome faces, after all.
“And your h-hands, if you could just—ugh!”
I had meant to say, if you could take them off me, I’d appreciate it, but instead—
An unexpected ticklish sensation made me let out a weird sound.
Claude’s hand had brushed against my side.
My body shrank on reflex, and the fragile balance I had been holding onto broke, causing the book in my arms to tumble forward.
Thud—!
The book cover hit the floor with a loud bang.
But I didn’t care about the book.
What concerned me more was the strange sound I had just made.
‘Oh no! No matter how ticklish it was, still!’
I clamped my hands over my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut.
‘Claude definitely heard that.’
I was certain, without a shred of doubt.
Because just before I closed my eyes, I had seen him frozen like a statue, not moving or saying a word—just like me, caught off guard.
Heat rushed up my face.
‘My ears must be bright red too.’
I had no idea what to do.
All I could manage was to stand perfectly still, pretending like nothing had happened.
Praying for someone—anyone—to break this atmosphere.
And my wish was quickly granted.
Clatter—
“Claude, is this really for me—what were you two just doing?”
It was Estelle, returning from retrieving her gift.
The tense, inexplicable air vanished in an instant.
And at the same time, my senses returned, and I practically flew away from Claude like a startled bird flapping its wings.
Thanks to that…
Thud—!
“Ahhh!”
I slammed my knee into the desk.
“Oh my goodness, Reina! Are you alright?”
“Ssshh—! Y-yeah, I’m fine.”
“I hope so, but… it looks like it’ll bruise.”
Estelle hurried over to me, who was crouched down clutching my knee, and examined it with worried eyes.
She looked like she wanted to say more, but since I insisted I was fine, she didn’t add anything.
To change the subject, I deliberately asked her a question.
“Anyway, what kind of gift was so exciting that you rushed in like that?”
“Oh, right. You won’t believe this!”
Estelle showed me what she had been holding close to her chest.
“Oh my, that’s… a uniform and textbooks?”
They were none other than the Academy uniform and textbooks.
As expected of Claude—his gifts were never ordinary.
Even someone with no eye for fabric could tell the uniform was made from high-quality material, and the textbooks were Pantora Academy’s official ones, which only enrolled students could get.
Estelle, recognizing this, looked utterly stunned.
Of course, her interest seemed far more fixed on the textbooks than the uniform.
“Claude, this really is for me?”
“Yes.”
“Wow!”
At his answer, Estelle raised both hands high in delight.
“This means I can preview the lessons in advance! Thank you so much, I’ll study really hard!”
She stood and bowed toward Claude, her cheeks pink and her face radiating happiness.
Meanwhile, my feelings were… complicated.
I was grateful to Claude for thinking of Estelle, but my mind couldn’t shake off what had just happened a few moments ago.
‘Yeah. I’ve decided. I’m running away.’
So I resolved to flee.
“I’m glad you like it. Then shall we continue fixing your posture?”
“Ah! Would you look at the time! Unfortunately, I really have to go. I’ve got something early tomorrow morning!”
I intentionally raised my voice and began bustling around, gathering my things in a rush.
Estelle tilted her head in confusion.
“Huh? But this morning, you said you had nothing tomorrow?”
“Uh—n-no. I do.”
I shook my head frantically.
I could feel her suspicious gaze, but I avoided her eyes.
Once I had finally packed up, I bowed deeply to Claude.
“Thank you again for today. I’ll be going now.”
“It’s late. I’ll escort you—”
“It’s not far, so I’ll be fine. See you next time!”
And without once meeting Claude’s eyes, I hurried out of the mansion.
* * *
Time flew by, and soon it was the day of Estelle’s Academy entrance exam.
“Please, God… Let Estelle do well on her exam…”
Like any parent on exam day, I dropped her off at the testing site and waited outside.
Praying that she would come out smiling.
“It should be ending now… she’ll be out any minute.”
Almost as if on cue, children began filing out of the test hall.
I craned my neck, searching among the crowd of students for that distinct golden-pink hair.
“Estelle!”
There—her shimmering pink locks caught the sunlight.
I raised my hand high and waved.
Spotting me, Estelle came running.
But something seemed off.
Her expression wasn’t good.
No way… it couldn’t be… but still—
‘Don’t tell me she failed?’
A chill of fear ran down my spine.
The exam had been easy for me.
But that was because I had gone through twelve years of school in my past life and remembered the test questions from the game.
For Estelle, however, this was her very first exam.
‘And if the questions were harder this time than when I took them…!’
Even someone as smart as Estelle might have been shaken.
I dashed to her side, worried.
“Estelle, are you okay? You don’t look good. Was the exam really hard?”
“Sigh…”
She let out a deep sigh without a word.
A sigh so heavy it made my heart sink too.
‘No… It can’t be, right?’
But then again, people say the worst happens when you least expect it.
No—I didn’t dare say it aloud. What if I jinxed it?
Swallowed by my own racing thoughts, I couldn’t open my mouth.
All I could do was wait for Estelle to speak, swallowing nervously.
Then—
“The exam was…”
“The exam was?”
“…Too easy.”
“Ah, so it was easy. That’s good, then. Sometimes it happens that—”
…Wait.
Easy?
Then why did she look so unhappy?
‘Ah.’
The tension drained from me all at once, and my legs gave out as I plopped onto the ground.
“What the heck, you scared me. Don’t tease me like that.”
“Tease you? What do you mean?”
“I thought you were saying it was too hard and you failed…”
Really, is Estelle teasing me now?
I looked up at her from where I sat, smiling weakly.
But unlike what I thought, Estelle wasn’t joking.
“That’s the problem! If it was easy for me, then it must have been easy for everyone else too! What if I don’t get accepted because of that?”
Her face was all scrunched up in worry, as if she genuinely believed it.
“That’s just because you studied hard, Estelle. That’s why it felt easy.”
In truth, I thought she was worrying needlessly.
‘There’s no way the Pantora Academy entrance exam was easy. It’s one of the most prestigious schools around.’
They were famous for deliberately making the test difficult every year, to ensure they only admitted top-level students.
There was no chance they would suddenly make the exam easy this year of all years.
UNLOCK SOON PLEASE!~