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Chapter 5
* * *
Every Monday, Saint John’s College held a school Mass.
Since the word Saint was part of the school’s name, it was one of the most important traditions. Not a single Mass had been skipped since the college was founded.
Inside Saint John’s College stood an old temple.
New facilities were often built with donations, and renovations happened regularly, but the temple alone had remained unchanged for seven hundred years.
The ancient marble building was the only white structure among the gray buildings on campus.
The teachers sat in the front rows near the altar.
The students sat behind them, arranged by grade from highest to lowest.
Normally, the noisy temple would gradually grow quiet as the professors and priests entered.
Today was different.
Someone had put a pair of glasses on the sacred statue of the Goddess.
The thick lenses distorted the Goddess’s eyes in a ridiculous way.
Some people were horrified by the sight.
Others burst into laughter.
A few sharp-eyed students immediately looked toward Edward.
After the incident in the dining hall last week, Edward’s treatment among the second-year students had quietly become common knowledge throughout the school.
Edward quickly noticed the stares directed at him.
He could hear Charles and his group laughing behind him.
“……”
The glasses that had disappeared that day had been used for a childish prank.
But despite how immature it was, the consequences would surely be serious.
Edward bit the inside of his cheek and rose from his seat.
Or at least, he tried to.
“Goddess above…”
A shocked voice came from the back of the temple.
“Who committed such a disgraceful act?!”
Mr. Thompson, the temple caretaker, marched down the central aisle in outrage.
If there was one value that Mr. Thompson would choose above all others from Saint John’s College’s educational ideals, it would be faith.
He was the kind of man who would catch the culprit no matter what and hand out every punishment possible.
Knowing exactly how devoted he was, Edward hesitated.
The glasses on the Goddess statue were completely intact.
Not a scratch.
Not bent.
Nothing.
But if he admitted they were his, there was no telling what punishment Mr. Thompson might give him.
He did not want to suffer for something he had never done.
“Is no one going to step forward? If nobody confesses, then the entire student body will be punished.”
The moment those words were spoken, the students around him openly pressured Edward.
Mr. Thompson was a man who always kept his word.
“What is this? One person causes trouble and everyone suffers.”
“I have morning classes.”
“Mr. Thompson, punishing the entire school makes no sense. If my mother hears about this—”
Voices rose from every direction.
Several third-year students, whose grades were especially important, even began arguing with him.
“Isn’t that the glasses that guy lost last week?”
Everyone knew exactly who that guy was.
“Why isn’t he coming forward?”
One comment became dozens.
“Ednerd, look at the trouble you’re causing.”
Charles kicked the back of Edward’s chair threateningly.
Instantly, everyone’s attention focused on Edward.
“Harold, perhaps we should discuss this after Mass—”
“Father Carlo! This is exactly why we must find the culprit! Otherwise something this disrespectful will happen again!”
Although the priest tried to calm him down, Mr. Thompson refused to back down.
The students all knew that once Mr. Thompson started one of his outbursts, it would not end easily.
They wanted someone to step forward.
More specifically, they wanted the owner of the glasses to solve the problem.
Edward felt wronged.
He could not understand why everyone was blaming him.
The glasses were his, yes.
But the person responsible was Charles, not him.
Yet the entire school seemed to expect Edward to take responsibility.
“Quiet! Quiet! No punishment will be given. Just come forward.”
At last, the dean shouted.
“……”
Edward hesitated.
Then another commotion arose from the third-year section.
Someone stood up.
A neatly tied head of golden hair caught Edward’s eye.
He could only see her back, but he knew immediately who it was.
Genevieve.
“Miss Darling, why are you…? Ahem. Follow me after Mass.”
Not only the students, but even Mr. Thompson knew that the glasses did not belong to Genevieve.
Still, he decided that Mass came first.
Instead of scolding her immediately, he told her to sit back down.
“What the…”
Charles, who had been laughing moments ago, suddenly stiffened.
“Hey. You’re lucky.”
As he spoke, he repeatedly poked Edward’s head in annoyance.
* * *
Because of the unexpected disturbance, Mass ended later than usual.
At the front, Owen—the young man Edward had met before—was patting Genevieve’s shoulder and comforting her.
Edward hated that she was being scolded for something she had never done.
And it wasn’t even the first time she had suffered because of him.
“…I should have stepped forward the moment I heard it.”
The regret came too late.
Instead of going to breakfast, Edward headed toward Mr. Thompson’s office.
But nobody was there.
He had wandered around a little, but not enough to miss them completely.
Edward wanted to wait until Mr. Thompson returned and explain the truth.
However, he suddenly remembered that he had an exam in first period.
Reluctantly, he left.
As he passed the dining hall, the smell of delicious food filled the air.
Because Mass had ended late, there were only a few minutes left before class, yet the tables were still crowded with students.
When Edward entered, several students glared at him.
He thought it was understandable.
He hurriedly stuffed a sandwich into his mouth.
The school had extended breakfast time because Mass ended late, but nobody had told Edward.
When he found out later, he concluded that it was probably their way of getting revenge on him.
Not far away, he spotted Genevieve’s table.
But Genevieve herself wasn’t there.
Since it was clearly his fault that she had missed breakfast, Edward carefully wrapped up two meat pies.
* * *
“Since we started later than usual, the exam will be moved to Wednesday. Now, please open to page 139.”
Relieved sighs echoed throughout the classroom.
Edward was one of those students.
As always, he had prepared perfectly.
But in his current state, he had no confidence that he could focus on an exam.
After that, he tried his best to pay attention to the lesson.
Of course, trying and succeeding were two different things.
“…We’ll continue from page 144 next class.”
The moment class ended, Edward rushed out of the room.
He headed straight toward the third-year hallway.
Fortunately, finding Genevieve wasn’t difficult.
She was talking with someone he had never seen before.
The two looked quite friendly.
It wasn’t Owen.
Nor was it one of the people who had played cards with her over the weekend.
After thinking for a moment, Edward realized it was the young man who had been sitting beside Owen during the morning Mass.
Watching from a distance, Edward was reminded once again of how many people surrounded Genevieve.
He wondered when he should approach.
But there was a bigger problem.
The young man handed Genevieve something.
Edward couldn’t see it clearly, but after she unwrapped it and put it into her mouth, it was obvious it was food.
Of course Genevieve wouldn’t be like him.
It was natural for good people to have good people around them.
Suddenly, Edward felt embarrassed.
“Edward! What brings you here? I was actually about to look for you. Can you read minds or something?”
Just as Edward stared at the wrapped food in his hand, Genevieve spotted him.
There was no resentment on her face.
No irritation.
Instead, she greeted him brightly.
“…Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? Here. This is yours, right? Thompson— I mean, Mr. Thompson gave it back.”
Genevieve handed him his glasses.
“Were you punished?”
Without even having a chance to apologize, Edward asked the question that had worried him all morning.
“You’re funny. Mr. Thompson knows I don’t wear glasses.”
As Edward listened to her explanation, he put the glasses on.
He had worried they might be fake glasses made to mock him.
But the moment he wore them, the world became clear again.
They were definitely his.
Slowly, Edward looked up.
What he had always thought were light green eyes actually contained hints of gold.
The color was closer to deep green.
The golden flecks were what made them seem lighter from a distance.
Only when Genevieve gave him an awkward smile did Edward realize he had been staring far too long.
“Oh. I’ve… never really seen you properly before, Senior. I mean… um…”
On their first day together, he had been too focused on the assignment.
After that, the crack in his lenses had blurred his vision.
Panicked, Edward hurriedly tried to explain himself.
“You’ve had a hard time wearing broken glasses all this time.”
Genevieve cut him off smoothly, as if she completely understood.
Thanks to her, he didn’t have to continue his embarrassing explanation.
His face warmed.
“…Thank you for helping me every time.”
“We’re supposed to help each other, aren’t we? Ah! I almost forgot.”
Balancing several books in her arms, Genevieve tucked them against her side.
Then she began searching through her skirt pockets.
It looked surprisingly difficult, so Edward took the books from her.
“Ah, thanks. I wanted to give you this.”
Genevieve smiled brightly.
Apparently she had found what she was looking for.
She pulled a white object from her left pocket.
It took Edward a moment to realize what it was.
“This is… You really didn’t have to return it.”
It was the handkerchief he had given her a week ago to wipe up the spilled ink.
He had assumed she had thrown it away.
Somehow, every trace of the stain had disappeared.
It looked brand new.
“I had a hard time getting the ink out. There were a few spots that just wouldn’t disappear, so I covered them with embroidery. Is that okay?”
Genevieve pointed at the flowers she had sewn onto the fabric.
“If you don’t like it, tell me. It’s been a long time since I embroidered anything, and some of the flowers came out ugly.”
The flowers covered the place where the original blue label had been.
Contrary to her words, they looked perfectly fine.
Yet her expression was serious enough that it didn’t seem like false modesty.
Edward realized that Genevieve was surprisingly strict with herself.
“Yes. I like it.”
As he answered, he wondered whether she held everyone else to the same standards she applied to herself.
If she did, he couldn’t help wondering how foolish he must appear in her eyes.
“Is something wrong?”
Perhaps his expression had changed.
Genevieve asked as if she had read his mind.
“…No.”
His voice sounded anything but fine.
It came out darker than he intended, making him feel embarrassed.
“And… this.”
Before Genevieve could ask anything else, Edward handed her the package he had brought.
“…I thought you missed breakfast because of me, so I brought this…”
Maybe it had been a pointless thing to do.
Giving breakfast to someone who had already eaten breakfast was strange.
Edward almost pulled it back.
But before he could, Genevieve smiled brightly.
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
And she smiled beautifully as she said it.
