Chapter 19

“Let’s get a private tutor.”

“What?”

Just as expected, Theo’s brow furrowed as if he thought it was completely absurd.

Still, I didn’t back down. I had the certainty that Theo would end up granting my request.

Just like that time when he raised his ‘hand’ right in front of the other kids at the orphanage.

“Studying all by ourselves just has its limits, you know. I happened to find the perfect person for the job.”

“……I’ll at least listen to who it is first.”

This was a pretty decent reaction.

Imagining the positive outcome that would unfold, I beamed happily.

“You know how priests come to visit our orphanage, right? Apparently, they drop by periodically. So….”

“No.”

Huh? That wasn’t how this was supposed to go!

Stunned by the swift and merciless rejection, I lost all words.

Convinced until just a few seconds ago that Theo would give me an affirmative answer, I stood there opening and closing my mouth, staring blankly at him.

And then, the single phrase that popped straight into my head spilled out: “Why?”

I simply couldn’t understand it.

No matter how wary Theo was of strangers, whenever he let out a sigh like he had just now, he would always give in and grant my requests.

Yet this time was different.

Why on earth?

“………”

“I asked why?”

Theo kept his lips tightly pressed together and said nothing.

I was driven to the verge of utter frustration.

It was the first time Theo, who always had such firm convictions of his own, was acting like this.

“Theo, this is a massive opportunity for us. If we play our cards right, we might actually get into the academy, you know?”

“I know.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

Theo knew it, too.

He knew how ridiculous our challenge was, and at the same time, how desperately we needed a teacher.

Yet, the fact that he was still saying no meant—

‘It means he hates it so badly he could die.’

Suppressing a groan, I carefully read Theo’s expression.

I had to devise a way to persuade him somehow.

Shall I try explaining a bit more first?

“There’s a priest named Frey, and I happened to run into him recently. He told me the reason the priests come to this orphanage is because of evaluations.”

“………”

“So I thought, “Ah, being a priest is tough work just the same.” Though that’s not the important part.”

“……”

“Anyway, after talking for a bit, I ran into him again at the library later, and it just so happened I was looking for books related to history.”

“………”

Theo maintained a remarkably consistent attitude of completely ignoring my words.

After a brief moment, he went right back to engrossing himself in his studies, completely indifferent to whether I rambled on or not.

“The priest saw that and struck up a conversation. He asked if I liked history. But you know me, right? That history is my least favorite subject.”

“………”

“So I just answered honestly. That I’m taking the academy entrance exam next spring.”

Theo was something else, but I was quite a piece of work myself.

Driven by the singular determination to persuade Theo, I instantly transformed into a certified chatterbox, rattling on and on.

“And then he immediately offered to help me out. He’s a much better person than I thought.”

That was a lie.

A good person, my foot—if it weren’t for our shared goal of the entrance exam, he was the kind of person who wouldn’t even have acknowledged my existence ever again.

Still, there was no other way if I wanted to plant a favorable image of Frey in Theo’s mind.

“So, feeling a bit skeptical, I listened to his explanation on history for a little while—and oh my god, he explains things so well.”

Snap!

“……?”

My mouth, which had been flapping nonstop, slammed shut at the sound of Theo’s quill snapping cleanly in half.

“Theo?”

“………”

Clueless as to what was going on, I called his name, only for Theo to turn around with an intensely annoyed expression.

‘I’m in big trouble.’

This was definitely ruined.

Aside from the time I first heard Theo tell me to get lost, I had never seen a murderous look like this in his eyes before.

“Are you mad?”

I asked timidly, whereupon Theo let out a puff of air that sounded like a deflating sigh. Then he said: “Go on. Do it more.”

“Huh?”

“I said, do it more.”

A twisted, crooked smile hung on Theo’s lips.

Seeing that smile, I hesitated internally.

‘Does he seriously want me to keep talking? Or is that his way of telling me to shut up?’

Even with several decades of life under my belt, counting my past life, I actually wasn’t all that great at reading the room.

So whenever I found myself in situations like this, things always spiraled toward the worst-case scenario.

“………”

“………”

No matter how hard I tried to read Theo’s expressions, the only piece of information I could gather was that he was currently angry to the very tips of his hair.

‘Eenie, meanie, miny, moe…’

In the end, I decided to deploy my trump card.

Since it was a method used by virtually the entire nation except for newborn babies, it carried a fair bit of reliability.

The result was—

‘Just do as you’re told.’

Inside my mind, I nodded obediently and picked up the conversation right where Theo had told me to: “So, I asked him to become my tutor if he didn’t mind. The priest was—”

Clatter.

The result was a total failure. A magnificent one, at that.

Before I could even finish my explanation, Theo shoved his chair back, stood up, and stormed right out of the classroom.

Left all by myself in the middle of the room, I pressed my lips into a tight line and let out a sigh.

‘I should’ve just stuck to calling him ‘Mr Know-It-All’.’

I gave Theo’s shoulder a light tap with my fingertip.

“Theo~”

It was the most cloyingly sweet, syrupy voice I had ever used in my entire life.

“………”

“Are you still mad?”

Yet, just as I half-expected, Theo was still nursing his hurt feelings.

Instead of answering my question, Theo just kept the corners of his mouth clenched tight.

‘Hmph. Is getting a little bit of tutoring together really something to get this mad over?’

It had already been three full days since Theo threw his tantrum.

Fortunately, he didn’t up and disappear on me like he used to before.

If anything, we consistently studied together and ate our meals side-by-side.

He probably still felt guilty about the time I cried before.

“This is its own special kind of torture.”

It was certainly better than running around stamping my feet in anxiety all by myself, but having to walk on eggshells around Theo for three whole days straight was absolute agony.

Even when I asked him why on earth he was angry, he wouldn’t give me an answer, actively defaulting to words like “I don’t know” and “Whatever.”

Thanks to that, I was currently pulling off all sorts of silly antics like a one-person clown troupe dedicated solely to Theo.

Truth be told, I still didn’t know the exact reason why Theo was mad.

Even so, it was blatantly obvious that Theo was pissed off at me, and I didn’t want things between us to turn awkward.

“Theo, eat this, too.”

I placed my share of the croissant from lunch right onto Theo’s plate.

At that, Theo’s gaze shifted toward me.

“It’s my absolute, absolute, absolute favorite, but I’ll make an exception and yield it to you!”

“………”

This time, it was a failure, too.

I clicked my tongue as I watched Theo sharply snap his head away from me.

I shouldn’t have given it to him if it was going to end like this.

My efforts didn’t stop there.

I picked a few flowers from the flower bed I worked so hard to maintain—

“They bloomed the prettiest today.”

—and presented them to him with a wink and a killer line.

I even asked the younger kids at the orphanage to deliver them: “Iris asked me to give this to you.”

—sending him little notes promising a “One-Day Wish Voucher.”

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, every single time I did that, Theo would glare at me with every ounce of strength he had!

‘Is he the type who hates receiving romantic gestures or surprises?’

At this point, he should’ve broken into a smile against his own will.

My master plan to piggyback on Theo’s smile and force a makeshift reconciliation was facing a massive roadblock.

‘If neither this nor that works, the direct approach is always best.’

In the end, that was the conclusion I arrived at.

If indirect hinting wasn’t going to cut it, there was only one option left.

Theo showed up at the lounge at the scheduled time today, just like always.

Having arrived a bit earlier than usual, I stepped forward right as Theo crossed the threshold of the lounge.

Then, stretching out my arm, I braced my hand against the wall. With nowhere left to retreat, Theo found himself hopelessly trapped inside the circle of my arms.

“……What?”

Startled, Theo’s pupils trembled right in front of my nose.

“………”

I spent a moment thoroughly scanning every inch of Theo’s face. He looked surprised, but his face didn’t look angry.

Stuck flush against the door, I took a brief breath as I looked down at the trapped Theo.

As long as I stuck strictly to the script, there wouldn’t be any problems.

“If you don’t have anything to say—”

“Theo!”

When I shouted his name like a rallying cry, Theo flinched and looked at me as if I were some kind of alien.

“W-What is it…?”

It was a flustered side of Theo you could count on one hand per year.

I bit my lip hard and steeled my resolve. And then—

“I’m sorry!”

I groveled so hard I practically offered up my hands and feet as footwear.

“……What did you say?”

Theo asked back, looking thoroughly bewildered. But my stance didn’t waver.

Gathering every ounce of groveling humility buried deep within me, I apologized to him.

“I’m sorry. To be completely honest, I still have no clue what I did wrong. Even so, if I made you upset, I’m sorry. So can you please stop being mad now?”

“………”

“Lately, I’ve been so stressed out over you that I can’t even eat properly, and on top of that, my studying isn’t going well either! It’s no fun when I can’t hang out with you, either. Huh? Come on, huh?”

“………”

If he still didn’t drop his anger even after I went this far, there was literally nothing left for me to do.

That was why I poured my absolute best into explaining my feelings.

“……”

Trembling with anxiety, I watched Theo’s expression. I desperately hoped he would give me some kind of answer.

Theo looked down at me in silence. Then, all of a sudden, didn’t he quickly cover his mouth with the back of his hand?

I furrowed my brow at that action. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it meant.

“Theo?”

Right then, Theo’s shoulders began to tremble slightly.

“Are you crying?”