🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 8
“You’re Senior Genevieve Darling, right?”
A pleasant, low voice spoke Genevieve’s name.
Assuming he was a younger student, Genevieve instinctively checked his hair and eye color.
Behind his thick glasses were light brown eyes.
His hair was the same light brown color.
The boy wore a somewhat old but well-maintained uniform.
Something about his innocent and modest appearance felt strangely out of place.
Who was he again?
Other than students she was already close to or younger students from Cardir, Genevieve wasn’t particularly attentive to the people around her.
She vaguely remembered seeing him a few times at the beginning of the semester while she was busy searching for the protagonists.
A moment later, Genevieve realized she had been staring at him long enough to make him uncomfortable.
She also became aware that her current appearance was far from presentable.
Knowing it was already too late, she brushed her loose hair behind her ear and tried to tidy herself up.
I wish I could at least tie my hair again…
Despite feeling embarrassed, Genevieve greeted him with a bright smile.
The boy politely explained that he needed The Responsibility of a Ruler.
It was surprising.
Even among third-year students, very few people had heard of the philosopher who wrote it, yet this younger student knew exactly what it was.
Genevieve wanted to lend it to him.
However, Owen still needed it.
Or at least, he was supposed to.
After Genevieve explained her complicated situation, the boy accepted it without complaint.
“Is it for Professor O’Dein’s Governance class?”
The professor’s name had suddenly come to her mind.
The boy nodded as if surprised that she had guessed correctly.
“If the deadline is Wednesday, then there’s not much time left. We can read it together if you’d like. Of course, only if you’re comfortable with it! If not, feel free to refuse. Your name was…”
Only then did Genevieve realize they hadn’t introduced themselves.
“…Edward.”
“Edward, then.”
When she spoke his name aloud, a strange sense of familiarity washed over her.
…It sounds familiar somehow.
But Edward was an extremely common name in both Avonria and Cardir.
Genevieve didn’t think much of it and returned her attention to her assignment.
Edward was difficult to talk to.
He was polite enough, but he always seemed to keep a certain distance from other people.
Genevieve felt it would be difficult to become close friends with him.
Besides, chatting instead of working on assignments isn’t exactly productive.
Stopping her wandering thoughts, Genevieve focused on her work once again.
Contrary to her expectations, three hours passed and she still hadn’t finished.
She kept revising what she had written and was still stuck on page seven.
It’s already six o’clock.
Checking the time, Genevieve glanced toward Edward.
Judging by how smoothly he was writing, he seemed completely unaware of how much time had passed.
After informing him that it was dinner time, she invited him to eat together.
However, he declined without giving a particular reason and left the lounge.
Had she made him uncomfortable by acting too familiar?
The thought left Genevieve feeling slightly embarrassed.
After organizing the books on the table, she changed into lighter clothes and quickly headed to the dining hall.
Determined not to repeat the morning’s mistake, she safely stored her assignment in her bag.
She also braided her hair neatly into a single braid to make herself look more presentable.
The dining hall was much livelier than it had been that morning.
The table Genevieve usually sat at was relatively close to the second-year section.
Considering that two club presidents sat there regularly, it was a natural choice.
Blanca and James had already arrived.
Instead of eating, they were playing chess on a miniature board that looked as though it had been brought from the dormitory.
“Genevieve, did you finish your assignment?”
“Almost.”
She answered briefly while moving a white bishop that apparently belonged to neither of them.
The move proved decisive.
“Hey! If you hadn’t blocked that, I would’ve won!”
“Thanks. That just earned me one crown.”
Apparently, they had bet money on the game.
Blanca reluctantly handed James a coin.
Around the time James slipped it into his pocket, Owen arrived.
Seeing the chessboard, he immediately insisted on joining, and before long a team match began.
“I told you to move to C4!”
“This position is better.”
“You got captured!”
“That’s just how games work—”
The four of them had already played several matches when it happened.
“Were you taught to hit people?”
A shout suddenly came from the second-year section.
Two students were arguing.
The boy was enormous.
He stood nearly two meters tall, with short gray hair and a threatening glare.
His rough features weren’t unpleasant to look at, but every word that came out of his mouth sounded crude.
“…Abigail?”
The girl, on the other hand, was familiar.
“Isn’t she from the Polo Club?”
The girl arguing with him was Abigail Rittman, a fellow member of Genevieve’s Polo Club.
Genevieve had never seen Abigail angry before.
She couldn’t help wondering what the boy had done to provoke her so badly.
This was the first real disturbance she had seen since entering the college.
“That’s Charles Collins, isn’t it?”
James seemed to recognize the boy.
“You know him?”
Blanca asked.
“He joined the rowing club last year. We accepted him because he was physically gifted, but his personality was impossible to handle. His temper is way too short, and rowing depends on teamwork. After we demoted him to the second team, he quit immediately. According to Dylan, he’s in the fencing club now. The Collins family donates a lot to the fencing club, so they put him on the first team.”
James’s explanation painted a clear picture of Charles’s character.
“Ednerd!”
Charles shouted irritably, showing no intention of ending the commotion.
Ednerd?
For a moment, Genevieve wondered what kind of parents would name their child something that sounded like “nerd.”
Then she realized it wasn’t a name.
It was an insult.
Scrrrape—
The sound of a chair being pushed back echoed through the hall.
It was Edward.
The two exchanged words from a distance.
The atmosphere became increasingly hostile.
Naturally, the laughter that had filled the room gradually faded away.
“People like that are the problem.”
James clicked his tongue after seeing Charles raise a threatening hand.
“Is he really allowed to do that?”
Blanca asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Someone should stop them. Owen, I’ll handle Collins and—”
“Do you think this dining hall belongs only to you?”
Before Owen and James could decide who would intervene, Genevieve stood up first.
She didn’t bother hiding her irritation as she looked at Charles.
“Take your anger out somewhere else. Stop picking on innocent people. And stop ruining everyone else’s dinner. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
After speaking, Genevieve turned toward Edward.
He was searching the floor for something.
Charles glared at her fiercely.
His displeasure was obvious.
The students sitting with him began mocking her behind her back.
“Who do they think they are talking about you like that? I’ll—!”
After overhearing them, Blanca burst out in her native language and looked ready to start a fight herself.
“Blanca, calm down. I’m fine.”
“How am I supposed to calm down? Oh, Genevieve. If it were me, I’d fight them even if it got me disciplined.”
“I don’t want to get disciplined because of people like them…”
Genevieve soothed her friend, who seemed even angrier than she was.
Soon, the dining hall returned to normal.
Casual conversations resumed as though nothing had happened.
Where did he go?
Only then did Genevieve realize Edward was gone.
His seat was completely empty.
“I’ll head out first.”
After barely touching her food all evening, Genevieve put down her spoon.
“To work on your assignment?”
She nodded and hurried toward the student lounge.
Contrary to her expectations, the lounge was empty.
She wanted to check on Edward, but she had no idea where he might be.
“Maybe I should’ve followed him…”
She swore before God that she had never imagined school bullying existed here as well.
She had assumed that, even if people were the same everywhere, noble students would at least hide behind polite hypocrisy for the sake of appearances.
The image of Edward she had seen earlier lingered in her mind.
Every time she heard footsteps, she looked up.
She lost count of how many times she glanced toward the entrance.
Then, finally, she saw him.
Edward appeared at the end of the corridor.
Like his uniform, the sweater he wore was old but carefully maintained.
As he approached, a pleasant scent of soap drifted through the air.
His hair was still damp, as though he had just taken a shower in the dormitory.
Yet his neat appearance couldn’t hide his condition.
His left cheek was swollen.
And the lens of his glasses, which had been perfectly fine before, now had a long crack running across it.
“Um… I know I look terrible. Sorry for making you worry. I’ll stay quiet so I won’t disturb your assignment.”
That was the answer she received when she asked whether he was alright.
Why are you apologizing?
Genevieve was speechless.
Despite Edward’s repeated insistence that he was fine, she dragged him to the infirmary.
Then she demonstrated a talent better suited to a pickpocket and began treating him.
Only after placing fresh gauze on him did she finally look at Edward properly.
And for a brief moment—
Genevieve froze.
