38
Iggy was still taking her lessons on her own.
When she went to attend a history lesson, she noticed that the children who had arrived before her and taken their seats clearly expressed their desire for her not to sit next to them.
Thus, despite arriving rather early, Evie was forced to sit in the more secluded seat in the corner.
When the lesson ended, the situation did not change. Everyone was gathering in small groups, heading with their friends to the dining hall, while Evie entered alone.
Because everyone was so crowded in such a short time compared to breakfast and dinner, Evie couldn't find a place to sit in the hall.
She eventually had to take a packaged sandwich and juice to eat out.
Then I looked for a place as quiet as possible and sat there. From afar, someone was watching Evie like this.
“Look, it's Evie.”
Lusca said as he looked out the window, then approached Arcel and pulled him towards him. Arcel removed Lusca's hand that was roughly holding his shirt collar, as he straightened his clothes.
“What next?”
He replied in a calm, indifferent voice, but his eyes turned to the window.
“Under that tree over there, see it?”
Luska pointed to where Ephebe was sitting alone eating her sandwich.
"Yes."
When Arcel made a knowing gesture, Lusca sighed exasperatedly.
“Until the last time we saw her, she didn't seem close to others, and she's still alone now.”
“She is a common student, and she did not make any friends before she came, so it is normal for them to ostracize her.”
This was the first time in a long time that the Gifted Academy had been opened.
The nobles were doing their best to introduce their children or relatives to it.
But for a commoner girl to occupy a place they couldn't reach was something they couldn't like, even if she had earned this place by her own merit and abilities.
“Let's get to it.”
“Why?”
“Why? Don’t you see how sad she is? And after that, didn’t you go with me to look for Evie last time? So why is she acting so cold again?”
Arcel looked at Lusca with a look of exasperation, and said:
“That time, I went with you because I was afraid something serious might have happened to her. And after that, didn’t we spend two whole days with her? I think we did our duty.”
“Wow, how good you are at saying emotionless things!”
Lusca replied in a tone that indicated that his patience had run out, but Arcel continued speaking with an expressionless face:
“Just being with her last time was enough to upset the other students, right?”
"Know."
“Then control your actions. If you continue to interfere unnecessarily and take care of that girl, it will make things more difficult for her. Or do you intend to constantly accompany her from now on?”
Despite his words, Arcel's eyes remained fixed on Evie who was sitting alone.
Maybe she brought the sandwich from the dining hall.
The sandwich was almost as big as her head, and she chewed it hungrily.
She showed no sign of frustration with her loneliness. Rather, it seemed as if she had become accustomed to this situation, behaving completely naturally. This is what upset Arcel.
How could this situation be normal for her?
He felt a wave of anger rising within him, when Lusca interrupted him in a calm and playful tone:
"Maybe? That sounds like a good idea, right?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
“About what? Didn’t she ask if I intended to accompany her constantly? Well, why not? I’ll go to Evie’s now. You stay here. See you.”
Lusca patted Arcel on the shoulder, then put his school jacket on his shoulders and quickly left.
“Losca... huh...”
Arcel tried to summon her, but was satisfied with a long sigh.
Lusca was constantly complaining, accusing him of caring for Evie, but it was clear that the real one was him.
Arcel knew that leaving Evie alone was the best option
. In such circumstances, him or Lusca getting close to her would definitely backfire. He was well aware of this, however...
“Fuck.”
Arcel tried to focus on what he was doing, but when he saw Lusca running towards Evie and starting to talk to her, he couldn't stay still.
He stood up from his seat, knowing that he had better stop that reckless boy before he complicated matters further.
—
“This reminds me of my high school days.”
As Evie ate her sandwich alone, memories of the past came flooding back to her mind. At first, she was doing simple cleaning in high school to help out the orphanage.
In those days, high school students didn't show any interest in it. She was just a miserable girl from the orphanage, who came to clean up.
But when Evie began listening to their lessons from behind the windows and memorizing them, and when the school principal found out and allowed her to attend lessons with them, everything changed.
From that moment on, the High School students began to show open hostility.
She was younger than them, and started school late, yet, she surpassed them with amazing speed without any support, just a girl from the orphanage.
They felt afraid of her. This fear manifested itself in various forms of small and large violence.
At first, they threw balls of paper at them, then they switched to throwing them with small pebbles.
They would deliberately bump into her in the hallways, and on one occasion, they put sticky resin on her chair.
Evie then realized that the days when they ignored her were much better.
“In those days too, I used to eat alone like this.”
When Evie was going to high school, the orphanage principal would prepare her a lunch of boiled potatoes every day.
During lunchtime, Evie would always eat out alone. Even if she stayed with them, she would only hear hurtful words, and they would have fun stealing her potatoes and throwing them away.
“But compared to those days, no one throws anything at me now, and I can eat more.”
Evie looked at the sandwich in her hand with a satisfied smile.
She never told the orphanage director the real reason she came to the Gifted Academy: the food.
In the orphanage, she shared food with other children, so she had to suppress her desire to eat more and settle for less.
But here, it's different. In the dining hall, ingredients the likes of which she had never seen before were piling up in abundance.
Even if all the academy students and staff ate, the food would still be plentiful.
So she allowed herself for the first time to take what she wanted without hesitation. The result was the sandwich that now fills her hand.
A sandwich piled high with meat, cheese, butter, egg salad, and vegetables, so thick that her little mouth would hardly bite down in one go.
“It's delicious.”
But she soon became sad.
“If I could send the leftovers from here to the orphanage.”
To Evie, the sandwich was like the food of heaven, but many of the academy's students refused to even touch such food, complaining about its quality.
Therefore, a lot of food was wasted in the hall. Every time she saw the food thrown away after the time was up, Evie's heart ached.
She and her friends at the orphanage were doing their best to get an extra piece, while here the food turns into waste.
“Maybe I can save some cake for later.”
While Evie was thinking about this, she suddenly heard a voice:
“Hey, Evie!”
Evie startled and raised her head. Luska was standing there, smiling and waving his hand. Evie quickly got up and bowed to him in greeting.
“Mr. Lusca!”
“How have you been? I haven’t seen you in days, but it seems like a long time. I was very busy with the male student dormitory schedule, and I wanted to ask you about the classes you are taking, but I didn’t have time. Which classes did you sign up for? And with which professor?”
Luska approached, speaking excitedly, making Evie feel confused.
She thought that the previous encounter with her, when he had helped her, would be her last. She didn't expect Lusca himself to come and greet her like this.
“Enough, Lusca.”
I heard Arcel's voice coming from behind. Lusca responded in an indifferent tone, as if he had been expecting him to come, and raised his hand in greeting:
“Oh, you came?”
When Evie saw Arcel also appear, her eyes widened in surprise.
Over the past few days, although she didn't mix much with others, she heard a lot about Arcel and Luska.
They were the heirs to the most powerful families in the empire, and the most likely candidates to become the emperor's adopted sons.
To Evie, they were unattainable figures, difficult for her to even look at, let alone talk to. Therefore, she was concerned that she might have made a mistake or behaved inappropriately towards them.
Seeing Evie confused, unsure of how to react, Luska asked her again:
“What classes are you taking? By the way, don’t sign up for math with Professor Eindel. They say he teaches math in a very boring way.”
“Oh, no, I'm not taking that subject. I'm studying with Professor Mallis...”
"Great! Are you taking history lessons? What about philosophy?"
Under Luska's barrage of questions, Evie found herself unconsciously talking about all the classes she had signed up for. Then Lusca turned to Arcel:
“You heard everything, didn't you? There's still time to adjust the recording of the lessons, so let's change our lessons to the same as hers.”
“Why should I take the same lessons...”
"What? Why?"
Before Arcel could finish his sentence, Ephebe screamed in surprise. It was clear from her expression that she did not understand the reason for this decision. Evie's reaction made Arcel feel a little uncomfortable.
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