Chapter 16

‘What on earth is up with this guy?’

He was, by all accounts, a profoundly suspicious person.

I slightly averted my gaze from Frey’s uncomfortably glittering eyes.

“You really are a brilliant child. Though I expected as much.”

For some reason, Frey looked extremely excited.

At this point, I was beginning to genuinely wonder what on earth was going through his head.

“Look here, mister. If you don’t give me a straight answer, I can’t guarantee where this watering can might end up pointing.”

I said, casually turning the watering can in my hand toward him.

Only then did Frey stumble a little and hesitantly begin to explain.

“Well, the truth is, I really wanted to get close to you, so I started a conversation. This is a secret, but the priests assigned to this orphanage are evaluated by the children at the end of every year. Of course, it’s not done in an overt way, but the director will ask the kids about me, or something like that.”

“………”

Frey explained with a sweet, ingratiating smile.

In other words, what this process boiled down to was a sort of character review test.

“So you’re talking about adult politics?”

“You could say that. Now, since I’ve confessed honestly, won’t you help me out a little?”

Frey smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Seeing him make a face like that made him look right around his actual age.

“Well, I suppose life is a struggle for everyone just the same.”

I let out a small sigh and shrugged my shoulders.

It seemed that the bizarre sensation I had felt on January 1st was probably just my own imagination playing tricks on me.

“Still, I hope you won’t misunderstand too much. I really do like you, you know. I think we could be good friends.”

Frey chuckled heartily, looking down at me acting like an old soul. Then, he carefully reached out and gave my hair a light ruffle.

“There’s something I was really curious about—how on earth do you know me so well? And by any chance, didn’t our eyes meet back on January 1st?”

I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask Frey.

Why did he feel such intense goodwill toward me right from the start? Did he try to say something to me the moment our eyes locked, or…

“………”

Frey fell silent for a moment, as if lost in thought. But it didn’t even last more than a few seconds.

“Before I was assigned to the orphanage, I heard about you from the director. That you’re quite the popular figure here and that you have a big influence on many of the kids. And it’s true that I saw you on January 1st. After hearing such praise, it’s only natural that my gaze would drift toward you, isn’t it? I was surprised when you passed out right after that, though. Is there anywhere that hurts?”

“……No, there’s nothing wrong with my body at all.”

I answered concisely and clamped my mouth shut.

Frey’s explanation was utterly flawless. But why was it that an unpleasantly bitter aftertaste lingered in my mouth? Was that just my imagination?

“I completely understand why you’re being wary. It was my mistake for assuming you’d be just like any other kid.”

Frey added, looking down at me with those words.

An overwhelming, uncontainable surge of emotion radiated from Frey’s face as he spoke.

‘Right. That attitude of his is what’s weird.’

Looking into those blue eyes, I finally realized it.

No matter how logically I picked apart the reasons why Frey had suddenly approached me, not a single detail seemed out of place.

On top of that, his impression was extremely gentle, and his features—devoid of any harsh angles—were handsome enough to captivate anyone.

Yet, even so, the reverence I occasionally felt radiating from him whenever he looked at me felt deeply unnatural.

What seventeen-year-old looks at a child much younger than themselves with feelings of loyalty and sacred devotion?

That was precisely why I had consistently felt so uneasy and put-off by Frey.

‘He keeps trying to project a friendly image to me, but…’

Frey’s behavior felt strangely artificial.

Because, unlike his mouth curving into an easygoing smile, his eyes were burning with religious fervor.

‘Why on earth is he looking at me with that kind of gaze?’

No matter how much I thought about it, it made no sense.

‘Or am I simply overthinking things and imagining things that aren’t there?’

I almost wanted to ask Frey directly just so I could hear him call it my imagination, but this was a worry too embarrassing to lay out in the open.

If I asked Frey, “Why do you look at me like that?”, it was glaringly obvious that I’d just end up looking like the weird kid.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

In the end, I chose to keep my mouth shut.

Just because Frey’s presence made me uneasy didn’t mean there was anything I could do about it right this second.

It would be much wiser to just wait and watch a little longer.

‘He doesn’t seem to have any intention of harming me, after all.’

Judging by Frey’s attitude, he was bound to start hovering around me with annoying persistence starting from today anyway.

So today called for a tactical retreat.

I quickly wrapped up my tending of the flower bed and picked up the watering can.

“It was nice meeting you. I should get going now. I’m supposed to study with a friend.”

“Oh? In that case, you’d better hurry along. May I say hello again if we run into each other next time?”

“Of course.”

I forced the corners of my lips up into a smile and replied.

True to the saying “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” putting on an act of sweet hypocrisy in return was the best course of action.

Finishing my greetings with Frey, I quickened my pace a little and stepped inside the building.

Hoping that my hurried strides didn’t look too unnatural.

***

For a while now, Theo and I had started studying together for the future.

We had heard the news that there was an academy anyone could enter as long as they passed the entrance exam, regardless of their social background.

It was the prestigious Habrona Academy.

Ever since then, we had harbored a glimmer of hope that perhaps we could enter the academy together and live a life entirely different from the one we had known so far.

Because of that, we always gathered in the designated lounge at our usual scheduled time.

“Did I keep you waiting long?”

I hurried slightly as I stepped into the spot where I had promised to meet Theo.

I had arrived a bit later than expected due to Frey’s sudden interruption.

“Theo?”

For some reason, Theo didn’t answer my call.

Instead, he was sitting there with a sulky, pouty expression on his face.

“Are you mad because I’m late?”

“No.”

“Then why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at that. You’re giving me a blunt answer right now, too. Is something wrong?”

Without a word, Theo turned his head away from me.

The posture practically shouted, “Go on, hurry up and coax me.”

Laying out the books I had brought in an orderly stack, I gave Theo’s side a gentle poke with my elbow.

“What’s wrong with you? Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s nothing like that.”

With his head still turned away, Theo stared fixedly out the window.

“Is there something out the window?”

“No. Don’t look.”

When I leaned my upper body toward Theo’s side to check, he blocked me, looking deeply displeased.

‘Hmph. Doesn’t he know that telling me not to look just makes me want to see it even more?’

A wave of frustration began to brew inside me toward Theo, who wouldn’t even tell me the reason for his attitude.

“What is it, then?”

“Aren’t you going to study?”

“I can just look at this first and do it after!”

Thus began a tug-of-war between me, trying to look out the window, and Theo, trying to stop me.

Risking my life to dodge Theo’s arm, I thrust my upper body forward toward the window ledge.

“……Huh?”

The sound of Theo sighing in defeat reached my ears from behind me.

I stared blankly out the window.

What came into direct view from the window seat where Theo was sitting was none other than the flower bed I had been tending to just a little while ago.

“………”

The scraping sound of a chair shifting echoed in the air, and a suffocating silence settled between Theo and me.

“I told you not to look.”

With those words, Theo brought a hand up to rub his face.

Peeking out from between his slightly grown-out locks of hair, his ears were dyed a bright, blazing red.

A voice laden with utter, mortified defeat reached me.

I quickly pulled my upper body back inside the classroom and began fumbling awkwardly with opening my book.

“U-um, where were we up to in our studying?”

When someone as unflappable as Theo reacted like this, it inevitably made even me painfully self-conscious.

Had Theo been sitting there watching me talk with Frey the whole time? And was that why he was in such a foul mood?

‘Such a little brat….’

Even as I thought that, my little heart was fluttering wildly inside my chest.

‘Pull yourself together, Iris. Do you actually think you’re a real eleven-year-old?’

Though I was the exact same age as Theo on paper, I firmly believed I possessed the mind of an adult.

So I couldn’t afford to go around acting like a genuine eleven-year-old child.

‘Though I’ve already acted childish plenty of times before, anyway…’

At any rate, right now was the time to focus on what mattered most to us.

“Iris, do you think we can really pass that exam?”

Theo brought up the topic tentatively.

The prestigious Habrona Academy granted eligibility to take the entrance exam to absolutely anyone. Regardless of age or social standing, it was open to all.

Actively seizing upon that fact, I had persuaded Theo that we should try applying for the entrance exam together.

True to form, Theo had nodded along to my suggestion without saying much, but deep down, he probably still harbored deep doubts about whether it was truly feasible.

“Why wouldn’t we be able to? There’s no rule saying orphans aren’t allowed to take the exam.”

“Iris….”

At my bold and confident reply, Theo narrowed his eyes slightly.

I knew what he was getting at.

“Right. If we actually pass, we’ll undoubtedly run into countless hurdles. But Theo, there’s a massive difference between trying and not trying at all.”

“………”

“At least we’re trying. We aren’t just sitting back passively and letting ourselves get dragged down the path handed to us.”