43
In a fleeting moment, the quiet of the dormitory turned into overwhelming noise. As soon as the news of the arrival of the gifts spread, the students who were still asleep woke up, rubbing their eyes and rushing to get dressed and go outside.
As the children streamed in, Irene quickly moved away from Evie, knowing for sure that seeing others with Evie would expose the latter to harsh comments from her colleagues.
Evie looked at Erin as she walked away, a sad look on her face.
“No way,” she thought to herself.
Her presence with Irene might also tarnish the latter's reputation. But she reassured herself: “At least she said I could talk to her inside the room.”
And that was enough for her at that moment. Evie dodged the descending students, took the side stairs back to her room, where she placed the flower she was carrying, and then went out again.
She grabbed onto the railing, raising herself on her tiptoes to look down. The hallway was crowded with female dormitory students, so much so that it seemed as if every female student in the institute had rushed there.
The girls were looking at the gift boxes piled up in the hallway, filled with joy and enthusiasm.
“It's finally here! I've been waiting for it since I joined the institute!” one of them said.
“Me too! I almost lost my patience from waiting so long!” another answered.
“My parents told me that these guardian gifts are very important,” a third added.
Evie listened to the students' conversation emanating from below, and was able to extract some facts.
After the students join the institute, once things settle down, the guardians send them gifts.
These gifts are evidence of the guardian’s status and influence, so they are careful to choose valuable and distinctive things.
“There will be no present for me,” Evie thought sadly. Evie has been no stranger to receiving gifts her entire life.
Once a year, the orphanage director distributed gifts to the children on the last day of the year.
Like normal children, they couldn't choose what they wanted, so they all received the same thing: candy from the sweet shop where the children were lined up, just three pieces each.
They were not fancy gifts, but the children received them with faces shining with happiness.
The joy did not stem only from the sweetness of the candy, but from their feeling that someone had given them something.
So was Evie; She could feel her heart racing as she stood in line, waiting her turn to receive candy.
That wasn't the only time she received a gift. Some high school teachers, pitying her condition, gave her notebooks or pens.
One time, when she helped in the kitchen, the restaurant owner gave her several large loaves of bread to share with the other children.
But all these gifts came from people who knew her difficult circumstances.
“But he has no reason to give me anything.”
Evie thought as she remembered Professor Cian, whom she had met in the forest.
This man she met on her first day here, a tall man, but he did not intimidate her though.
When she learned that he was her guardian, she felt a strange mixture of joy and gratitude, as if she had finally met someone she had waited for so long. “Maybe I'm the only one who thinks like that,” she said to herself.
She had read in a booklet explaining the life of the institute about the guardians.
To ease the anxiety of children who are suddenly separated from their families, guardians are chosen from among people associated with the palace, institute or academy.
If there is no one to take charge of a student's guardianship, one of the institute's professors is assigned this task.
“No one would have chosen to be my guardian, so maybe he would be forced to accept me,” Evie thought.
Therefore, she did not expect him to send her a gift, especially since the guardians' gifts were so expensive and luxurious.
However, Evie couldn't return to her room. She was curious to know what kind of gifts would arrive, even if she had no part in them.
Seeing the other students happy was enough to make her happy. As she looked at the joyful faces, all the gift boxes carried by the carts piled up in the hallway.
“Whoever's name is called, come forward to confirm his identity and receive his gift!” shouted one of the employees, trying to organize the students rushing towards the boxes.
“Elisha Lydia!”
“I'm here!” the first student answered, moving forward with excitement and confusion.
The clerk verified her name and the name of her guardian, then handed her the gift box. It seemed as if Elisha knew in advance what would happen to her, as she rushed to her friends and began opening the box in front of them with dignity and pride.
The tape slipped violently, and the wrapping paper was quickly torn. When she removed the wrapping, a delicately engraved box appeared.
She slowly opened it in front of everyone, revealing a brooch studded with a jewel that shone with a magical luster. The students' eyes sparkled with envy, while Elisha beamed with pride as she pinned the brooch on her school uniform.
Her friends gathered around her, showering her with compliments: “He's so amazing!” “How lucky you are!”
The employee continued calling out names, and each student who received her gift flaunted it in front of the others.
The hallway began to get more crowded, turning into chaos.
Some students, who felt that their gifts were less splendid than others, preferred to return to their rooms to open them on their own, quickly carrying their boxes and leaving.
“Maybe I should go back too,” Evie thought, trying to hide her sadness. She was enjoying looking at the gifts, but decided to leave.
She turned to go back, but at that moment, the employee's voice rang out in the hallway:
"Evie Alden! Is Evie Alden here?"
At first, she thought she misheard, but the employee clearly repeated her name. Evie quickly turned her body, shocked. “I'm here!” she shouted, raising herself on her tiptoes to see the employee. He was waving to her, holding out a large box.
“Come and pick it up quickly!” he said.
“Is this possible?” Evie thought as she hurried down the stairs, her little feet clacking on the stone steps.
She reached the employee panting, and he said: “Here, take him.”
“Is this really mine?” Evie asked cautiously. How could a guardian who was forced to accept it send her a gift?
The employee looked at her, then asked for confirmation: “Is your guardian’s name Sian Ruochen?”
“Yes, that's true,” she replied.
“Then this is definitely yours. Carry it carefully.”
The clerk gave her the box, and her small body almost staggered from the weight of it, even though it was not very large. She heard the murmurs of the students around her:
"What is this? Does she have a guardian too?"
“I heard that some people trade guardian positions when poor people join the institute. Isn't that what happened to her?”
Evie ignored those comments and walked away from the crowd, holding the box. She looked at him with sparkling eyes.
It was wrapped in a way that clearly showed that it was a gift, which made her heart skip a beat.
“Did Professor Sian really send me a gift?” she wondered, remembering her encounter with him in the forest.
That man she felt familiar with from the first moment, as if she had known him for a long time. If it wasn't night, if she had more time, she would have liked to talk to him for a long time.
She held the box with difficulty in her arm, and touched the decorated ribbon with her fingers.
You've never received a gift wrapped like this.
A gift she doesn't know what's inside, makes her heart dance with joy and anticipation. “Is it really mine?” she repeated the question in her mind.
She had checked the sender's name many times, but she couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety.
“What if it was for someone else?” I thought. If she opened the box and found it wasn't hers, that would be embarrassing.
Evie hesitated, fumbling with the tape without daring to open it. At that moment, I noticed a small envelope taped to the side of the box.
“What is this?” I wondered. She carefully removed the envelope, and as soon as she glanced at its contents, her face shone with the light of joy.
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