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Chapter 30
“Wait… did you just say Daniel?”
Rune frowned, doubting her own ears, and Daniel, looking wronged, cried out with a wobbly voice.
“Yes! I’m Daniel, you idiot!”
At that moment, something trickled down from beneath Daniel’s sharp nose. Huh? When he hastily wiped under his nose, his pupils wavered aimlessly.
“Damn it, a nosebleed!”
As he panicked at the sight of the blood on the back of his hand, Elen tossed him a towel from nearby.
“You said you’d come at night. What brings you here at this hour?”
“Well, you guys would all be asleep by then! I just thought I’d sneak a peek at that guy’s face, but… ow, ow!”
Grumbling as though he really had broken a bone, Daniel pressed the towel against his nose and glared.
“Since you were a kid, you were always trouble, and now you’ve turned into a full-blown thug, you damn—ACK!!”
Thwack!
With the sound of bones shifting, Daniel collapsed onto the bed.
Oops. She meant to cover his mouth, but her foot flew out before she could think.
Flustered, Rune quietly lowered her lightly extended leg and approached Daniel.
“…Hey, are you okay?”
Even when she poked him with her finger, he only twitched and showed no sign of getting up. Looks like he’d really been knocked out from the hit to the jaw.
Unbelievable… this huge guy is Daniel Tutor.
Though his broad back seemed unfamiliar, almost too big for the bed, the bright, wheat-colored curls were unmistakably familiar.
…But the bigger problem is this one.
She glanced at Elen, who stood frozen with a pale face, and smiled faintly.
“You heard, right?”
*
“What on earth happened?”
Daniel, with cotton stuffed into both nostrils, crossed his arms grumpily.
Who was he to talk? Rune, standing the same way, frowned and shot back.
“More like what happened to you? Repeating a year?”
“Uh, well… that’s…”
Under her sharp questioning, Daniel held his sore nose and avoided her eyes.
Daniel was the eldest son of Baron Tutor, who ran a small merchant guild in Marquis Este’s lands. As a child, he often accompanied his father to the castle. By chance, when his aura manifested, his father took notice of him.
So the troublemaking student repeating a year at Lefium was someone my father supported…
And yet his own son hadn’t even been allowed to apply for admission.
“You’d better explain yourself properly.”
When she narrowed her eyes, Daniel nervously twisted his hair.
“Well, uh, it’s just that…”
“They say you didn’t attend enough classes,” Elen cut in.
Daniel’s face flushed red, and he raised his voice.
“Not didn’t attend, I just couldn’t make up the hours! Say it properly!”
“You lacked them, so you couldn’t make them up. Same thing.”
At Elen’s dry reply, Daniel furiously ruffled his hair.
“Do you think people like me have the luxury to just sit back and enjoy academy life? Do you even know how many younger siblings I have to support?”
With messy hair, he finally flopped back onto the bed and muttered,
“I know. This place is better suited for people like you, not half-baked types like me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean cut me some slack. Last year I was in a real bind, all right?”
Rune frowned at his cryptic words and looked to Elen. His firmly shut mouth suggested he had no intention of explaining further.
“Don’t worry. I’ll graduate properly and become a knight of the Light Knights—”
“Whether they’ll hire you is up to your employer.”
“Ugh, would you stop cutting me off already?”
Daniel glared, while Elen shrugged indifferently. Rune sighed at the bickering.
“Elen. Since when did you know?”
Elen, leaning back in his chair, looked at her expressionlessly.
“What, that the student repeating a year was Daniel Tutor? Or that you’re a girl—mph!”
“You really—”
Rune clapped a hand over his mouth, and Daniel snorted, saying she might as well have punched his jaw too.
Elen, frowning slightly, removed her hand and continued.
“Este’s family was supporting someone, so I just asked if you knew him.”
“Hah! What a joke.”
Pulling out one of the cotton plugs from his nose, Daniel burst out laughing.
“This guy was suspicious from the start. Said he came to grab some stuff, but he already knew I was getting support and suddenly started talking about you!”
“Sure, I tested him lightly.”
“Your patron is Marquis Este, right? Then he must also know you’ve got a daughter?”
“How do you…!”
Elen smirked, recalling Daniel’s foolish face.
“Didn’t expect your answer to be just as careless, though.”
Perhaps stung, Daniel waved his hands frantically in denial.
“No, no! Before I even said anything, this guy already knew! I didn’t just blabber without thinking, okay?”
Muttering about not making a mistake, Daniel insisted earnestly,
“It’s not like I wanted to know anyway! What did I know back then? I just saw some kid squatting down to pee and—”
“Daniel Tutor.”
Rune’s low voice made him clamp his mouth shut instantly.
Back then, they were so young they hadn’t even grasped the concept of gender.
She too hadn’t realized she had to hide being a girl, so she treated Daniel casually. As a result, he naturally learned the truth.
In a way, that was also when she began realizing her own identity.
“Why do you pee sitting down?”
“…Why do you pee standing up?”
That unforgettable moment had happened when they’d both rushed into the bushes outside the castle to relieve themselves.
When Jun found out, he scolded them and made them swear secrecy, but…
Why did it have to be Daniel, of all people, who learned that dark history?
Rubbing her temple, Rune fixed her gaze on Elen.
“So you already knew, Elen.”
“Yeah. I knew.”
Rune stared in disbelief.
“Since when?”
“From the beginning.”
Good grief. Her eyes widened in shock.
“Wait, then from the very first time we met in the Academic Office—you already knew?”
When he nodded calmly, Rune bit her lip in dismay.
Was it really that obvious? Could others have noticed too?
Sensing her worry, Elen spoke lightly.
“Relax. My eyes just see more than others, that’s all.”
Leaning back, he closed his eyes as uncomfortable memories surfaced.
Since childhood, he’d been painfully perceptive, picking up even the smallest things others tried to hide—his mother’s fleeting guilt before she abandoned him, his father’s quiet contempt.
Being able to see through such things only made life more troublesome, just like now.
“Why did you help me then?” Rune asked.
“….”
Elen opened his sharp gray-brown eyes and quietly studied her face.
Really, he should’ve ignored it like always.
“…I just didn’t want a fuss.”
“How very like you.”
Rune sighed, pressing her temple. She still couldn’t understand him.
“Do you really not care that I’m a girl?”
“Yeah. Why should it matter?”
Elen shrugged casually.
“What’s wrong with someone who loves the sword wanting to learn the sword?”
“What?”
Now Rune looked stunned, as if struck.
“Don’t worry. I’m not the type to gossip. Honestly, I think the only one you really need to watch out for is him.”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean about me!”
Daniel bristled, but Elen didn’t even flinch.
“You’re loud. And careless.”
As the two started bickering again, Rune sighed and said,
“All right. Then do me this one favor. I won’t ask for help, but… please keep pretending you don’t know.”
She meant it seriously, but apparently she was the only one being serious.
“Hah, what’s so hard about that?”
“Fine.”
Both nodded without hesitation. Rune blinked.
“…That’s it?”
“Yeah? What else do you want?” Daniel tilted his head. Elen too looked puzzled.
Seeing how lightly they took it, Rune felt both relieved and oddly deflated. She almost laughed at the absurdity.
To think that what she’d struggled so long to hide was so easily accepted by these two.
“Anyway, enough of that. Hey! Did you really forget me? From where to where exactly?”
“You’re still on about that?” Rune clicked her tongue, exasperated. For Daniel, the fact she didn’t remember him seemed more important.
“It’s not that I don’t remember at all. My memories after I turned ten are incomplete.”
Her last memory of Daniel was from when they were about nine. Because of that gap, even seeing him before her now, she couldn’t bridge the distance.
She still clearly remembered Daniel with missing front teeth, sneaking through dog holes with her.
Looking at his now broad shoulders, Rune chuckled softly.
“You wouldn’t fit through a dog hole anymore.”
“Hmph, there are other ways.”
Daniel removed the last cotton plug from his nose with a snort. Stretching, he then waved cheerfully.
“Well, since you’ve seen me, I’d better be off! Take care, you two! Haha!”
Rune grabbed him by the scruff just as he turned. Choking, Daniel clutched at his collar.
Not so fast.
She gave him a clear, bright smile as he looked back, face pale.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
