10
For a fleeting moment, Cloïs wondered to himself if Effie had known that this place was the tomb of the Empress and Princess, and had tried to woo him.
Others have done this before.
Those who thought, in false hopes, that if they pretended to venerate the memory of the Empress and Princess whom the Emperor would not forget, they might be looked upon favorably.
He wondered if Evie was that kind of person. But once he thought about the matter a little, he realized that this assumption was not correct.
Evie is the child he personally chose from the orphanage, and she entered the palace for the first time today. How could such a child know a hidden path in the jungle that leads to the emperor’s favorite place, and come to him to win his favor? It's an impossible idea.
“I should close this road first,” Cloys thought.
It seemed that a huge monster had made its way through this corridor as it roamed, during the period when the Genius Institute remained abandoned.
If the matter is left alone, another child from the institute may come here. Not only was it dangerous, but the idea of someone else arriving in this place made Cloyce feel deeply upset.
“Unless it's that little girl,” he said privately.
Then his own thought struck him: Could it be okay for Eppie to come here? A child with whom he has no connection. He only saw her once, so why should he exclude her? Why this feeling?
While Cloyce was deep in thought, the sky began to darken. After a while, a bell rang from the Institute of Geniuses, an initial bell, followed by another bell announcing a complete curfew.
Cloyce noticed the sound, so he got up and approached Lillian's shrine. There, looking at the wreath that still smelled of wild herbs, he addressed her in a warm tone, as if his wife was still present:
“Lillian, would Ephebian look like this if she were alive?”
If Ephebian were alive, she would be seven years old, like Effie. Cloyce remembered the features of Evie he had just seen.
Now, she is small and thin, but if she lives in the Genius Institute with good care, there is no doubt that she will gain weight like her peers.
Then, the sparkle would return to her pale golden hair, and her green eyes would sparkle even more.
But suddenly, Cloyce's body trembled. From the first moment, he felt a strange familiarity with this child whom he had never seen before.
And now, I realize why: the color of her green eyes is exactly the same as Lillian's.
In fact, if her hair were a little darker, it would be as golden as his own. As if she was the child he had imagined one day, when Lillian was pregnant...
“Wake up!”
Cloyce chided himself, shaking his head to expel these thoughts. He buried Lillian with his own hands, and with her Evpian, who was being held by her mother.
Everyone in the castle was saying that Lillian, to save the people of the castle, had carried little Evpian up to the battlements, and then had thrown herself in as the enemy had commanded. Then the enemy came and tore their bodies apart...
“Ah!”
Cloyce jerked, wiping cold sweat from his forehead, coming back from his trance of thoughts.
If he stayed here any longer, he would drown in useless obsessions. He looked at the shrine one last time, then turned back to the palace.
—
After a while, Cloyce returned to his private suite, and sat on the sofa looking at the bouquet of flowers that he had accidentally carried with him.
He played with it for a while, then took out the decorated flowers from a vase in the room, and placed his bouquet instead.
Suddenly, he realized that he had brought Evie's handkerchief with him as well.
“Wow!” he said to himself. There was no doubt that this handkerchief was new, and now he had taken it from her, wasting something she had just had.
“I must return it to her,” he decided.
That wouldn't be difficult, he could send it through one of his followers, while concealing that it was the Emperor who sent it.
However, he found himself repeatedly thinking about how he himself could go to the Institute of Geniuses to return the handkerchief.
Then he realized something else: it was not the handkerchief that concerned him, but his desire to see Effie Alden again.
Cloyce smiled bitterly:
“I seem to have become very weak.”
For this reason, he finds himself searching for Evbian features in the face of another child.
He placed the handkerchief on the table, and decided that when daylight came, he would ask one of his followers to return it in a proper manner.
—
**knock…knock…knock…**
The full curfew bell rang at the Genius Institute. Evie was in the dormitory hallway, panting as she tried to regain her breath. When she heard the first bell, she ran out of the woods and, fortunately, was able to get back to the dorm before the full curfew rang.
While she was breathing hard, some employees who were arranging papers approached her and said, laughing:
“Looks like you came running? You better start back early tomorrow.”
She was expecting to be scolded for coming back at the last minute, but, fortunately for her, the staff were kind, probably because it was her first day.
She replied that she would be more careful tomorrow, and was about to go up to her room, but suddenly she remembered something, so she approached the employees and asked:
“Excuse me, can I find out who my sponsor is from here?”
“Your sponsor? It’s not difficult, but… didn’t you know that already?”
Children who enter the Genius Institute usually have met their sponsor at least once before coming, or at least know his name.
“No, I did not know about the existence of this system, but I read in a book that every student must have a sponsor. I want to know who my sponsor is.”
"What is your name?"
“I'm Evie Alden.”
The employee brought over a file containing student information and began leafing through it.
“Let me see... Effie Alden... there she is!” he then replied:
“Your sponsor is Professor Sian Rushen, and he holds the title of baronet.”
“What? Xian Ruochen?” Evie’s voice rose in surprise. Then she realized that she had spoken too loudly, so she quickly closed her mouth.
"What's going on? Is there a problem?"
“No, nothing. Thank you for your help.”
Evie said goodbye to the staff and headed up the stairs to her room.
“Xian Ruochen!” she repeated secretly. She pricked her ears when she heard the name.
The strange man she met in the forest a while ago was named Cian Ruochen. Didn't he himself say that he is a professor at the Institute of Geniuses?
“But why is he my sponsor?”
Just as she didn't know Sian, it seemed like he didn't know her either. How did he become her sponsor?
“Perhaps the Genius Institute asked the professors to adopt children who had no sponsors?” This is the most logical explanation I have come up with.
As she remembered the Xian Ruochen she had met in the forest, Eppie felt a lightness in her step as she headed to her room.
Even though she had only met him for the first time, she felt a strange familiarity, as if she had known him for a long time.
Rather, for the first time, she did not feel afraid of an adult man of this size.
On the contrary, if she had had more time, she would have wanted to talk to him more.
Although she rushed back when she heard the bell, a feeling of regret remained with her all the way. However, if he is her sponsor, it means she will meet him again.
“Since he is a professor at the institute, I might meet him in a class one day,” I thought.
Then I remembered something important:
“My handkerchief!”
She realizes that she left her handkerchief with Professor Sian and usually never gets it back. She looked in her pockets hoping to find it, but found nothing.
“It's true that they said we could order more supplies, but...”
In the orphanage, Evie was accustomed to frugality in everything. For her, a new handkerchief was a great asset.
The thought that she had missed one on the first day made her feel guilty. But, at the same time, I felt relieved. I have now found a legitimate justification for Professor Sian's visit.
“But the map I saved did not include the location of Professor Sian’s office,” she recalled.
The map she studied had the locations of the professors' offices, but she was sure Sian's name was not on it.
“I'll ask the staff tomorrow,” she decided, excited to see him again.
Evie opened the door to room 305, and at that moment:
“!”
She froze in place. There were dozens of female students standing inside the room, and their eyes crossed with hers in silence.